2009-2010 Boston University Application Thread

[Homoochan]

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Gosh..

I wish I could just know what is going on with my app!

I see so many people getting an interview (or a rejection) but no news for me from ANY school! so frustrating maybe they just threw it in the trash can because it's not even worth sending rejection mail.

 

[Appless]

Gosh..

I wish I could just know what is going on with my app!

I see so many people getting an interview (or a rejection) but no news for me from ANY school! so frustrating maybe they just threw it in the trash can because it's not even worth sending rejection mail.

rejecting you isnt worth the waste of paper haha...what a thought.

Seriously though at this point at most schools no news is good news in my opinion. Only the top applicants that will likely have multiple acceptances will get the early interviews. At least u are not rejected off the bat.

 

[Homoochan]

I was complete 7/10 for those who were asking, and my stats are higher than their average, but I'm not arrogant enough to consider any med school a safety...I don't know what their method of rejecting people is, but it sucks :/ Honestly, I have to believe that its just kind of random...I'm sure its not a trend and doesn't mean anything in the long run so we rejectees shouldn't stress, there are tons of other great schools out there.

i was complete on 7/9/2009.
i also didn't fill out the "optional section"
the guys that got rejected, did you fill that out?

I was complete on 7/14 so it's gonna be ANY minute now

 

[camaras2480]

rejecting you isnt worth the waste of paper haha...what a thought.

lol

Seriously though at this point at most schools no news is good news in my opinion. Only the top applicants that will likely have multiple acceptances will get the early interviews. At least u are not rejected off the bat.

Yeah true. And I'm pretty sure BU does not reject for not filling out an optional essay lol, thats ridiculous.

 

[BlueElmo]

But then again, they must be looking for any way to cut down the applicant numbers.

 

[camaras2480]

But then again, they must be looking for any way to cut down the applicant numbers.

I guess... but still... lol

 

[BlueElmo]

I guess... but still... lol

you lol too much. LOL.

 

[camaras2480]

you lol too much. LOL.

lol laughing is good! lol and plus, i lol at like everything in real life too lol. im tellin ya, lol'ing is good lol - never stop lol'ing!

 

[BlueElmo]

lol laughing is good! lol and plus, i lol at like everything in real life too lol. im tellin ya, lol'ing is good lol - never stop lol'ing!

.

 

[camaras2480]

.

 

[OneMCATAway]

you guys are LOL funny, im stuck here instead of my secondaries.. somebody shoot me please

 

[BlueElmo]

you guys are LOL funny, im stuck here instead of my secondaries.. somebody shoot me please

Don't do anything. Just push all of them to tomorrow.

 

[OneMCATAway]

Don't do anything. Just push all of them to tomorrow.

probably going to happen 😉

 

[camaras2480]

probably going to happen 😉

And yet, the little green light is still on under your name. 🙂

 

[OneMCATAway]

And yet, you the little green light is still on under your name. 🙂

haha i didnt know about that green light, i just went to get me late night dinner (more like breakfast) and now im back just gathering some school info but really gonna start everything tomorrow 😉

 

[redsquareblack]

GPA:
AO:3.9
BCPM: 3.7
Overall: 3.8
MCAT: 37
Top 30 Undergrad
Lots of research, research grant, thesis awards, clinical volunteering, shadowing 2 years

Rejected post-secondary 🙁

Hypothetical situation for you: Let's just say, unscientifically and for the sake of argument, that BU is a solid mid-tier school. They get an awful lot of applications, and of course can only interview and admit so many people. Now... let's just say that applicant with your stats comes across their table. Obviously, with those numbers, this person is in pretty good shape for many, if not most, of the high-tier schools. Now, they have a choice: They can either invite the applicant to interview, thinking that there's a good likelihood that he/she will attend BU if admitted, OR they can turn him/her away, assuming that the applicant would choose to attend another school, and thus save an interview spot for a more likely matriculant.

This is, of course, lacking any inside knowledge of the process. It's just a hypothetical. 😏

 

[redsquareblack]

BU tend to reject a lot of qualified people because they get so many applicants and they don't want to be considered as safety school.

They tend to accept middle the road applicants who are still competitive. So if you have top scores and BU is your top choice, it would be helpful to send some kind of LOI

I disagree. Per a member of the BU AdCom: "Let the process work before starting to contact the Admissions Office & sending them additional materials".

 

[BlueElmo]

Hypothetical situation for you: Let's just say, unscientifically and for the sake of argument, that BU is a solid mid-tier school. They get an awful lot of applications, and of course can only interview and admit so many people. Now... let's just say that applicant with your stats comes across their table. Obviously, with those numbers, this person is in pretty good shape for many, if not most, of the high-tier schools. Now, they have a choice: They can either invite the applicant to interview, thinking that there's a good likelihood that he/she will attend BU if admitted, OR they can turn him/her away, assuming that the applicant would choose to attend another school, and thus save an interview spot for a more likely matriculant.

This is, of course, lacking any inside knowledge of the process. It's just a hypothetical. 😏

That's a good point. Well said.

 

[camaras2480]

Hypothetical situation for you: Let's just say, unscientifically and for the sake of argument, that BU is a solid mid-tier school. They get an awful lot of applications, and of course can only interview and admit so many people. Now... let's just say that applicant with your stats comes across their table. Obviously, with those numbers, this person is in pretty good shape for many, if not most, of the high-tier schools. Now, they have a choice: They can either invite the applicant to interview, thinking that there's a good likelihood that he/she will attend BU if admitted, OR they can turn him/her away, assuming that the applicant would choose to attend another school, and thus save an interview spot for a more likely matriculant.

This is, of course, lacking any inside knowledge of the process. It's just a hypothetical. 😏

Not hypothetical.

 

[Appless]

Not hypothetical.

so by that logic, someone who is slightly below their average, they would know im going to attend since i dont have the top tier stats. so they would be sure to interview me😉....dont ruin my fantasy camaras🙂

 

[Homoochan]

Hypothetical situation for you: Let's just say, unscientifically and for the sake of argument, that BU is a solid mid-tier school. They get an awful lot of applications, and of course can only interview and admit so many people. Now... let's just say that applicant with your stats comes across their table. Obviously, with those numbers, this person is in pretty good shape for many, if not most, of the high-tier schools. Now, they have a choice: They can either invite the applicant to interview, thinking that there's a good likelihood that he/she will attend BU if admitted, OR they can turn him/her away, assuming that the applicant would choose to attend another school, and thus save an interview spot for a more likely matriculant.

This is, of course, lacking any inside knowledge of the process. It's just a hypothetical. 😏

I don't think this can be true though.. despite what everyone else is saying..
Why would ANY school reject applicants because they have high stats? How do they even know they are not going to attend that school once accepted?
So if someone has high stats his/her only options are JHU and harvard? does not make sense

 

[Appless]

I don't think this can be true though.. despite what everyone else is saying..
Why would ANY school reject applicants because they have high stats? How do they even know they are not going to attend that school once accepted?
So if someone has high stats his/her only options are JHU and harvard? does not make sense

you are misunderstanding. Someone who has a 3.9 and 37 mcat will probably have acceptances to many schools in the likes of upenn, pittsburgh, michigan, etc etc...Schools like boston, RFU, NYMC, etc etc...these schools while not bad are certainly not on the "prestige" level that the other schools are at. How often do you hear of someone say oh yeah forget u mich or u penn im going to rosalind franklin university? The answer is never. Adcoms are not stupid and they know these students with ridicualous stats and applications will in all likelyhood not end up attending here as soon as a better school comes along (and in all likelyhood it will) they will reject a school like boston. So whats the point in interviewing a bunch of people with 4.0 and 38 mcats when probably near none of them will matriculate? People dont like to think this happens but it does. Some schools may do this and others may not. Also the point was not that if you have a 3.9 38 mcat you are auto rejected. Just a quick look through the msar shows that, that is false. Just they might question should we really interview this guy? would he truly attend here or is this his safety school?

Ive known a few people with sick stats who interviewed at lower tier schools and they were straight up asked are we your safety school? Whats the point ofus accepting you when you will reject us as soon as something better comes along? You better have a good answer to that. Some schools do have ceiling limits, this i know for a fact from an adcom.

 

[camaras2480]

so by that logic, someone who is slightly below their average, they would know im going to attend since i dont have the top tier stats. so they would be sure to interview me😉....dont ruin my fantasy camaras🙂

lol im rooting for you! let me know if you get an interview, when it is!

 

[camaras2480]

I don't think this can be true though.. despite what everyone else is saying..
Why would ANY school reject applicants because they have high stats? How do they even know they are not going to attend that school once accepted?
So if someone has high stats his/her only options are JHU and harvard? does not make sense

What we are talking about applies to schools like BU and GWU, who get a TON of applications. They don't have time to interview more than 10% of applicants, which is why the "hypothetical" (but not hypothetical) situation is applicable.

 

[camaras2480]

you are misunderstanding. Someone who has a 3.9 and 37 mcat will probably have acceptances to many schools in the likes of upenn, pittsburgh, michigan, etc etc...Schools like boston, RFU, NYMC, etc etc...these schools while not bad are certainly not on the prestige level that the other schools are at. How often do you hear of someone say oh yeah forget u mich or u penn im going to rosalind franklin university? The answer is never. Adcoms are not stupid and they know these students with ridicualous stats and applications will in all likelyhood not end up attending here as soon as a better school comes along (and in all likelyhood it will) they will reject a school like boston. So whats the point in interviewing a bunch of people with 4.0 and 38 mcats when probably near none of them will matriculate? People dont like to think this happens but it does. Some schools may do this and others may not. Also the point was not that if you have a 3.9 38 mcat you are auto rejected. Just a quick look through the msar shows that, that is false. Just they might question should we really interview this guy? would he truly attend here or is this his safety school?

Ive known a few people with sick stats who interviewed at lower tier schools and they were straight up asked are we your safety school? Whats the point ofus accepting you when you will reject us as soon as something better comes along? You better have a good answer to that. Some schools do have ceiling limits, this i know for a fact from an adcom.

Yeah. Not to say that BU has ceiling limits, but they do throw people out that may be 'overqualified' - they have to - again, barely 10% of applicants get interviewed.

 

[BlueElmo]

Just to stick up for this school, BU is actually quite prestigious. Probably better regarded than GW and others. It's ranked in the US News, too.👍

 

[Appless]

Just to stick up for this school, BU is actually quite prestigious. Probably better regarded than GW and others. It's ranked in the US News, too.👍

i wasnt saying it was not prestigous or good, just that it seems many use it as a safety. If you wanted to use rankings its certainyl "higher" then GWU, drexel, nymc, or many of the other schools that are thought of as "safeties." Boston is an excellent school that if we wanted to go by what people on SDN say, is probably a pretty solid mid-upper tier school. Its just madly expensive and im fairly sure their financial aid dept is not all that generous with free aid and such. At least i get that impression from their debt ratio the students have. Correct me if im wrong camaras.

lol im rooting for you! let me know if you get an interview, when it is!

Will do 🙂. Though i wasnt complete until a few days after these people who were already rejected...hopefully i will get no bad news next week!

 

[camaras2480]

Just to stick up for this school, BU is actually quite prestigious. Probably better regarded than GW and others. It's ranked in the US News, too.👍

Oh definitely, and it has been consistently moving up the ranks over the past few years. Definitely promising.

 

[camaras2480]

i wasnt saying it was not prestigous or good, just that it seems many use it as a safety. If you wanted to use rankings its certainyl "higher" then GWU, drexel, nymc, or many of the other schools that are thought of as "safeties." Boston is an excellent school that if we wanted to go by what people on SDN say, is probably a pretty solid mid-upper tier school. Its just madly expensive and im fairly sure their financial aid dept is not all that generous with free aid and such. At least i get that impression from their debt ratio the students have. Correct me if im wrong camaras.

They are madly expensive, certainly among the top in that respect. Their aid isn't that bad though, but surely won't cover a huge %. It also doesn't help that they have a largerish class size, so they have to split the pot.

And yes, it is certainly "higher" than many schools, and is a definite upper-mid tier. Using it as a safety is sort of not smart. BU does look for that - again, only interviewing ~10%, they have to look rather carefully.

Will do 🙂. Though i wasnt complete until a few days after these people who were already rejected...hopefully i will get no bad news next week!

Good luck!!

 

[DNAbaby]

Its just madly expensive and im fairly sure their financial aid dept is not all that generous with free aid and such. At least i get that impression from their debt ratio the students have.

You're right, BU is very expensive. Scholarship amount is capped at 15K/yr regardless of student's financial need. Tufts suffers from similarly high cost of attendance.

 

[Appless]

You're right, BU is very expensive. Scholarship amount is capped at 15K/yr regardless of student's financial need. Tufts suffers from similarly high cost of attendance.

taht seems odd to cap it like that. any idea as to why? I mean is there some sort of law or is it just they dont want to spend money?

 

[OneMCATAway]

omggGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
My email got hacked 😱😱😱

i just got an email from BU saying thank you for your email we will get back to you in 3 days and im like what email? and then i see in my sent messages that an email was sent saying hey, check out this company blah blah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


omg omg omg im going to kill myself why dammet they are gonna think im such an idiot! i just opend this email too and its only for my application stuff and nothing else

what should i do??????????

 

[ihms2010]

.

 

[ziggydoc]

omggGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
My email got hacked 😱😱😱

i just got an email from BU saying thank you for your email we will get back to you in 3 days and im like what email? and then i see in my sent messages that an email was sent saying hey, check out this company blah blah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


omg omg omg im going to kill myself why dammet they are gonna think im such an idiot! i just opend this email too and its only for my application stuff and nothing else

what should i do??????????

OH crap!! Change your password first of all, then call the school Monday morning and let them know someone hacked into your email.

 

[alibai3ah]

omggGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
My email got hacked 😱😱😱

i just got an email from BU saying thank you for your email we will get back to you in 3 days and im like what email? and then i see in my sent messages that an email was sent saying hey, check out this company blah blah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


omg omg omg im going to kill myself why dammet they are gonna think im such an idiot! i just opend this email too and its only for my application stuff and nothing else

what should i do??????????

Jesus that's horrible, i'm so sorry. Contact them as soon as you can. God some people are awful....

 

[ziggydoc]

omggGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
My email got hacked 😱😱😱

i just got an email from BU saying thank you for your email we will get back to you in 3 days and im like what email? and then i see in my sent messages that an email was sent saying hey, check out this company blah blah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


omg omg omg im going to kill myself why dammet they are gonna think im such an idiot! i just opend this email too and its only for my application stuff and nothing else

what should i do??????????

Also, I hope the company isn't sell shady/inappropriate things...

 

[Appless]

omggGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
My email got hacked 😱😱😱

i just got an email from BU saying thank you for your email we will get back to you in 3 days and im like what email? and then i see in my sent messages that an email was sent saying hey, check out this company blah blah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


omg omg omg im going to kill myself why dammet they are gonna think im such an idiot! i just opend this email too and its only for my application stuff and nothing else

what should i do??????????

omfg dude sme thing here.....wth....

 

[ziggydoc]

omfg dude sme thing here.....wth....

geez, wtf? what email service do you guys use, and what company did they send to BU?

 

[camaras2480]

Interesting - I kind of hope it DOES sell shady/inappropriate things - that would be much easier to justify as something you did not send.

What email server are you guys using? And, did it send to other schools/addresses as well?

 

[camaras2480]

omggGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
My email got hacked 😱😱😱

i just got an email from BU saying thank you for your email we will get back to you in 3 days and im like what email? and then i see in my sent messages that an email was sent saying hey, check out this company blah blah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


omg omg omg im going to kill myself why dammet they are gonna think im such an idiot! i just opend this email too and its only for my application stuff and nothing else

what should i do??????????

I'm sorry, but this post made me chuckle a little bit lol, its cute 😛

*hug* you will be fineeee!

 

[OneMCATAway]

Interesting - I kind of hope it DOES sell shady/inappropriate things - that would be much easier to justify as something you did not send.

What email server are you guys using? And, did it send to other schools/addresses as well?

i know! it sells electronics so it could totally be me! dammit its like im trying to sell them stuff now while they are reviewing my application! at first i totally thought the BU email was my rejection coming to ruin my weekend but now i think that is not going to be much later (maybe a response to this email even grrrrrrrrr)

if you guys have yahoo or hotmail change your password, that email got sent to all of the schools i had in my contact list (some that i really cared about too 🙁)

 

[Appless]

Interesting - I kind of hope it DOES sell shady/inappropriate things - that would be much easier to justify as something you did not send.

What email server are you guys using? And, did it send to other schools/addresses as well?

i use hotmail and onemcat uses yahoo. I think we got the same email...its an email selling electronics or something on some web site, it then says viist us we sell cheap blah blah. The thing is somehow they hacked in and send a bcc to everyone on your contact list, then it erases your contact list. In mcats case he had med schools on that list, I had only friends so hopefully thats all it was. Im just scared because all my med school emails are saved on my hotmail and they ahve all my passwords....i mean if someone wanted to they could ruin my entire cycle...judging from the email though and what it does, i think it was just some advertisting type thing? ****ing microsoft i hate them, everything i use of theirs is viruses, gets hacked, or dies...should have just stuck with gmail ugh

 

[camaras2480]

I think you will be fine. The fact that it happened to two of you in this small pool of applicants means it will happen to more, and schools will surely understand that the premeds are not forming an alliance and selling electronics as a backup career plan.

Still, I think a phone call, and a nice, slightly humorous explanation will be just fine!

 

[BlueElmo]

You guys should just use your school email account. It's much more secure.👍

 

[Appless]

You guys should just use your school email account. It's much more secure.👍

i wont have access to it by the end of dec though since ill be graduating 🙁. hence y i never used it

 

[BlueElmo]

i wont have access to it by the end of dec though since ill be graduating 🙁. hence y i never used it

Oh ****! I forgot I'm also graduating December. Oh ****, what do I do?

 

[camaras2480]

Oh ****! I forgot I'm also graduating December. Oh ****, what do I do?

Just contact schools individually at that point, where you are still active, and inform them of an email change. No biggie, just a pain to call them all haha.

 

[trueBelief]

I am not sure as to how secure gmail is but I used it for all my schools because my school email will also expire before everything gets finalized.

I am sure you guys will be fine. I agree that if in such a small pool there are 2 of you who go hacked, there are more out there and schools will understand. Something out of your control like a spam email is not something schools should reject you on the basis of but I would surely go ahead and call/email them to explain.

And yes, change your passwords!

 

[DNAbaby]

taht seems odd to cap it like that. any idea as to why? I mean is there some sort of law or is it just they dont want to spend money?

Elijah,

There is definitely no such law in MA that caps the amount of scholarship money a school is allowed to award. The amount of cash (scholarship support) that any school offers its students is a function of 1) its endowment 2) the size of the student body and 3) the decision of its board of trustees. Tufts and BU are very expensive and give very little scholarship money (Tufts had serious money mismanagement issues twenty years ago). Harvard, by contrast, has lower cost of attendance and is very generous with its financial aid. I am not familiar with UMass financial aid system.

 

[camaras2480]

Elijah,

There is definitely no such law in MA that caps the amount of scholarship money a school is allowed to award. The amount of cash (scholarship support) that any school offers its students is a function of 1) its endowment 2) the size of the student body and 3) the decision of its board of trustees. Tufts and BU are very expensive and give very little scholarship money (Tufts had serious money mismanagement issues twenty years ago). Harvard, by contrast, has lower cost of attendance and is very generous with its financial aid. I am not familiar with UMass financial aid system.

Harvard also has just litttttle bit more of an endowment... lol