2009-2010 Mercer University Application Thread

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kyteas said:
I believe they do pre-screen and that not everyone gets a secondary. Are you waiting to get your secondary or waiting to hear about an interview after submitting your secondary?
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i'm waiting for my secondaries. i called Mary about a week ago asking about it and she said "we won't be sending those out for a while, we're just finishing up the ED's"

so i'm just wondering if anyone's gotten their RD secondaries, if i should still hope for one or assume i didn't pass the screening
 
Hey guys! I got my acceptance call Wednesday night! I was so excited that I forgot to post. Congrats to those accepted and best of lick for those still waiting. Can't wait to meet all of you this fall!
 
cland18 said:
Hey guys! I got my acceptance call Wednesday night! I was so excited that I forgot to post. Congrats to those accepted and best of lick for those still waiting. Can't wait to meet all of you this fall!
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It's a good thing you forgot to post. I would have been completely stressed out knowing they had already started making calls that early! Congrats on your acceptance! Welcome to the Class of 2014
 
If you've gotten a RD interview, would you mind posting?? I was waiting to cross the 10.01 threshold, but now it's come and gone and no interview!! Need some relative info, please. Thanks!
 
Congrats to everyone accepted!

I'm a long time reader but first time poster. I'm at Mercer and I'm enjoying medical school. You had better be ready to "check out of life" once school starts! Because thats what happened to me! Its like a whole damn semester in only 6 weeks! If you are accepted, enjoy your time off! And once the first week of class starts, better hit the ground running by studying harder than you ever have in your life or else you will quickly be left behind.

I love mercer and will always be grateful to them, but after a few semesters of the whole PBL teching method I kinda wish I would have taken up my acceptance at MCG (or any other american MD school!) where they have a traditional teaching system because this PBL frustrating at times. I feel like I waste an hour everyday just trying to figure out what exactly in the 500-1000 pages of reading I'm supposed to know. Ughh.. Its still a great school and I'm really happy to be here.

It feels like a big family of students and teachers and I think everyone accepted will be happy as a student here. (although if you get accepted to another MD school, I would REALLY consider going there!)
 
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krwhite said:
If you've gotten a RD interview, would you mind posting?? I was waiting to cross the 10.01 threshold, but now it's come and gone and no interview!! Need some relative info, please. Thanks!
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I got a call for an interview last Monday and interviewed today. It was the first RD interview day, so I wouldn't worry yet. Good luck!
 
Interview!!!! A week from today... October 15th. Awesome. Lol.
 
SuperCountry MD said:
Congrats to everyone accepted!

I'm a long time reader but first time poster. I'm at Mercer and I'm enjoying medical school. You had better be ready to "check out of life" once school starts! Because thats what happened to me! Its like a whole damn semester in only 6 weeks! If you are accepted, enjoy your time off! And once the first week of class starts, better hit the ground running by studying harder than you ever have in your life or else you will quickly be left behind.

I love mercer and will always be grateful to them, but after a few semesters of the whole PBL teching method I kinda wish I would have taken up my acceptance at MCG (or any other american MD school!) where they have a traditional teaching system because this PBL frustrating at times. I feel like I waste an hour everyday just trying to figure out what exactly in the 500-1000 pages of reading I'm supposed to know. Ughh.. Its still a great school and I'm really happy to be here.

It feels like a big family of students and teachers and I think everyone accepted will be happy as a student here. (although if you get accepted to another MD school, I would REALLY consider going there!)
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That is probably easy to say because you are frustrated, but no med school will be easy. I know people at lecture based schools that were assigned 200 pages of reading on the first day of class that had to be completed by the second day. There is a lot of reading and working hard at every med school. You are telling people to go to a program (MCG) that you have never attended yourself and no real experience with. The grass is always greener on the other side. A lecture based med school will not be like a lecture based undergrad program, so unless you have been through a lecture based med school then you can't say it's better. Really it sounds like you are just having a tough time, but this is not the forum for your post. This is a forum for people applying who want to discuss their application, get advice on how to improve it, and to talk with other people who are applying as well. If you wanted things to be easy then you should have chosen a different career.
 
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SuperCountry MD said:
Congrats to everyone accepted!

I'm a long time reader but first time poster. I'm at Mercer and I'm enjoying medical school. You had better be ready to "check out of life" once school starts! Because thats what happened to me! Its like a whole damn semester in only 6 weeks! If you are accepted, enjoy your time off! And once the first week of class starts, better hit the ground running by studying harder than you ever have in your life or else you will quickly be left behind.

I love mercer and will always be grateful to them, but after a few semesters of the whole PBL teching method I kinda wish I would have taken up my acceptance at MCG (or any other american MD school!) where they have a traditional teaching system because this PBL frustrating at times. I feel like I waste an hour everyday just trying to figure out what exactly in the 500-1000 pages of reading I'm supposed to know. Ughh.. Its still a great school and I'm really happy to be here.

It feels like a big family of students and teachers and I think everyone accepted will be happy as a student here. (although if you get accepted to another MD school, I would REALLY consider going there!)
Click to expand...

Just wanted to add my point of view to the PBL curriculum at Mercer and in no way am I saying you are wrong, just that I have a different take on it. The response to the curriculum here varies form person to person, it really depends on your learning style. Me personally I love it. I was actually accepted to MCG as well and I can tell you I have never wondered if things would be better there. I feel PBL challeneges you in a way that other curriculums do not. Instead of being given a powerpoint we have to seek the information out. I feel that by analyzing the cases we are taught to look at our patients and develop a hypothesis about the case, something that I feel as doctors will be our main mode of thinking when we actually practice. This I feel is the strongest point of PBL. Instead of being told what to know I am taught how to find what I need to know and what questions to ask to get there. I feel this will prepare me better than lectures when we finally hit the clinical side of things. But like I said it varies form person to person. I know people who love our curriculum and people who hate it. It just depends on what learning style you like. Me I was homeschooled and very motivated to study myself. I do not need a lecture to tell me what I need to know because aside from college I never really had lectures. Admittedly there is ALOT of reading, about 1400-1700 pages over a six week period, but it is managable and you learn to deal with it. You don't have to give up living life. I still get about a good 2-3 hours free a day, go to the gym, what tv, talk to family and friends. Granted I do not have a perfect "GPA" but I have never failed an exam or gotten close for that matter. So youe learn to balance things and deal with it. Medical school is no matter what the curriculum is, its just with our curriculum there is more reading. But at the end of the day I feel that I would not choose any medical school over Mercer. I love it here and feel it is the best environment to learn medicine. So like I said I am not challenging your point of view supercountryMD just offer a counter point. 😉
 
krwhite said:
Interview!!!! A week from today... October 15th. Awesome. Lol.
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Congrats!!! If you don't mind me asking, when did you get a complete email? Just trying to get an idea of where they are in the process...
 
SuperCountry MD said:
Congrats to everyone accepted!

I'm a long time reader but first time poster. I'm at Mercer and I'm enjoying medical school. You had better be ready to "check out of life" once school starts! Because thats what happened to me! Its like a whole damn semester in only 6 weeks! If you are accepted, enjoy your time off! And once the first week of class starts, better hit the ground running by studying harder than you ever have in your life or else you will quickly be left behind.

I love mercer and will always be grateful to them, but after a few semesters of the whole PBL teching method I kinda wish I would have taken up my acceptance at MCG (or any other american MD school!) where they have a traditional teaching system because this PBL frustrating at times. I feel like I waste an hour everyday just trying to figure out what exactly in the 500-1000 pages of reading I'm supposed to know. Ughh.. Its still a great school and I'm really happy to be here.

It feels like a big family of students and teachers and I think everyone accepted will be happy as a student here. (although if you get accepted to another MD school, I would REALLY consider going there!)
Click to expand...


I think this person's opinion highlights something important for Mercer applicants to consider. I'm a current Mercer student and I adore the PBL method. However, I know a few people in my class who, like the poster above, are frustrated with it. When applying to Mercer, you should really take a long look at how you would prefer to learn before accepting a spot in the class. I see PBL as a wonderful method, good training in self-learning for the future, and the only way I could learn the vast amounts of material covered in med school. I was never a powerpoint junky. If you are, definitely consider whether Mercer is where you belong.

Part of me wants to say that PBL can be inefficient because you have to decide where to start and, sometimes when confronted with thousands of pages of reading, you can waste time trying to figure it out. However, after our latest bout of community medicine (aka public health indoctrination), I appreciate the fact that we don't get all of our information through lectures. I appreciate it because we had some really bad lectures during those two weeks, and I am so thankful that I am in a program that doesn't hinge on the communication ability of a professor.
 
Whatayear said:
Just wanted to add my point of view to the PBL curriculum at Mercer and in no way am I saying you are wrong, just that I have a different take on it. The response to the curriculum here varies form person to person, it really depends on your learning style. Me personally I love it. I was actually accepted to MCG as well and I can tell you I have never wondered if things would be better there. I feel PBL challeneges you in a way that other curriculums do not. Instead of being given a powerpoint we have to seek the information out. I feel that by analyzing the cases we are taught to look at our patients and develop a hypothesis about the case, something that I feel as doctors will be our main mode of thinking when we actually practice. This I feel is the strongest point of PBL. Instead of being told what to know I am taught how to find what I need to know and what questions to ask to get there. I feel this will prepare me better than lectures when we finally hit the clinical side of things. But like I said it varies form person to person. I know people who love our curriculum and people who hate it. It just depends on what learning style you like. Me I was homeschooled and very motivated to study myself. I do not need a lecture to tell me what I need to know because aside from college I never really had lectures. Admittedly there is ALOT of reading, about 1400-1700 pages over a six week period, but it is managable and you learn to deal with it. You don't have to give up living life. I still get about a good 2-3 hours free a day, go to the gym, what tv, talk to family and friends. Granted I do not have a perfect "GPA" but I have never failed an exam or gotten close for that matter. So youe learn to balance things and deal with it. Medical school is no matter what the curriculum is, its just with our curriculum there is more reading. But at the end of the day I feel that I would not choose any medical school over Mercer. I love it here and feel it is the best environment to learn medicine. So like I said I am not challenging your point of view supercountryMD just offer a counter point. 😉
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Since you said you get 2-3 hours a day free, I was wondering how many days a week you spend at school.
 
scottkx28 said:
Since you said you get 2-3 hours a day free, I was wondering how many days a week you spend at school.
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We are required to be at school only on MWF 9-12 for group, for clinical skills stuff (usually once or twice a month with a lecture on Mon and a practicum on Wed), and the occasional extra thing but these are not very often. However some weeks you have one or two lectures which are optional and their times vary. I would say on average I spend four days a week on campus doing something school related. With that said I like to study at school so I end up spending almost everyday over there but it is by choice and I am studying. Alot of people study at home (I did this 1st year) and that is fine.
 
Hey Guys, I got some crap about this on another post, but do I stand a chance at Mercer for an interview with at 23N? Just trying to figure out when to start saving up for a class and when to retake MCAT. I just don't want to wait until I get my rejection letters b/c that could be April until I find something out. I also, had a 3.75 GPA and tons of ECs and clinical experience with my PharmD. Thanks
 
VCU07 said:
Hey Guys, I got some crap about this on another post, but do I stand a chance at Mercer for an interview with at 23N? Just trying to figure out when to start saving up for a class and when to retake MCAT. I just don't want to wait until I get my rejection letters b/c that could be April until I find something out. I also, had a 3.75 GPA and tons of ECs and clinical experience with my PharmD. Thanks
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That is a solid GPA and Mercer LOVES well-rounded clinical experience (I found this out the hard way my first time applying). So you seem good to go there. I don't think Mercer has a cut-off for interviews (MCG has a 24 cut-off). I'm not sure though. I do think a 23 might not be as competitive during the regular cycle. I've heard people say that Dr. Clifton told them to shoot for at least 26. If it were me I would start saving up and be prepared to retake just in case. But I certainly wouldn't be discouraged at all. I mean, this is just a matter of a few points, which is not a bad situation at all. I don't know about you but I have test anxiety, so what I did was set up 3 or 4 of the AAMC practice tests exactly like the real thing. Get up at the same time. Drive around. Eat the same snacks. Even wear headphones. Definitely timed! Make it real and it will be more stressful and therefore more helpful, I think.

I'd be surprised if you didn't get an interview, though.

I'm rooting for you!
 
bravewayner said:
That is a solid GPA and Mercer LOVES well-rounded clinical experience (I found this out the hard way my first time applying). So you seem good to go there. I don't think Mercer has a cut-off for interviews (MCG has a 24 cut-off). I'm not sure though. I do think a 23 might not be as competitive during the regular cycle. I've heard people say that Dr. Clifton told them to shoot for at least 26. If it were me I would start saving up and be prepared to retake just in case. But I certainly wouldn't be discouraged at all. I mean, this is just a matter of a few points, which is not a bad situation at all. I don't know about you but I have test anxiety, so what I did was set up 3 or 4 of the AAMC practice tests exactly like the real thing. Get up at the same time. Drive around. Eat the same snacks. Even wear headphones. Definitely timed! Make it real and it will be more stressful and therefore more helpful, I think.

I'd be surprised if you didn't get an interview, though.

I'm rooting for you!
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Thanks for your reply! I consider my app. to be competitive, except for the MCAT. I took it twice, the first time I made a 18, then the 23. I really don't want to have to reapply next year, but I understand that this is a great possiblity. I was placed on preinterview hold at Morehouse and I am not expecting much from MCG, but I am praying for at least an interview from Mercer. Def. not giving up, it has been 8 yrs or so since I was in my first few yrs of undergrad so I think a classroom based course would help inc. my MCAT score. I guess I will deal with that when the time comes. Def. going to be hard working full time then trying to make those classes and time for studying (that was my problem the first time around). We will see, thanks again!
 
I'm wondering if any one is familiar with how long it takes to hear about a decision after an interview?? I have an interview this Thursday, and I was just wondering what kind of time frame I would be biting my nails hysterically after I left there... Lol. Any takers for this question??
 
krwhite said:
I'm wondering if any one is familiar with how long it takes to hear about a decision after an interview?? I have an interview this Thursday, and I was just wondering what kind of time frame I would be biting my nails hysterically after I left there... Lol. Any takers for this question??
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When I was there for my interview they said the admissions committee is meeting once a month right now and that the next meeting is October 28th. You should hear something either that day or the next I think.
 
applying2010 said:
When I was there for my interview they said the admissions committee is meeting once a month right now and that the next meeting is October 28th. You should hear something either that day or the next I think.
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Wow! That's soon! And how, may I ask, was your interview? Did they ask you any ethical questions?
 
krwhite said:
Wow! That's soon! And how, may I ask, was your interview? Did they ask you any ethical questions?
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Interviews were better than I expected. I was really nervous because it was my first interview and because I'd really like to go there, but everyone was really nice. You have two interviews and then lunch with a student. I was not asked any ethical questions or questions regarding health care reform, but I didn't ask any of the other interviewees if they were.
 
Haha, I have heard some stories of interviewers asking some political/ethical interview questions. I did not have any at my interview in 2008, but it wasn't the same climate then. Best thing to remember is that some faculty at Mercer like to push the students towards primary care. While going to Mercer in no way limits you to primary care (last year's class of 60 had 3 students match in ophthalmology and 2 to ENT), they can spend significant time trying to convince you it's a good deal. Health care reform, as it stands now will most likely increase the number of primary care physicians and their lifestyle. So, that being said, I would try not to answer a question about health care reform with your politics, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with it. You can probably dodge that question with an expressed wish for everyone to have access to health care, and then let the interviewer share their political stance with you. That's probably all they really wanted to do anyway.
 
guys, for those of you that have been invited for interviews(RD), what was the approximate time frame between secondary completion and invitation notice?
 
trekrrr2009 said:
guys, for those of you that have been invited for interviews(RD), what was the approximate time frame between secondary completion and invitation notice?
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My secondary was complete on July 21st and I received the call for an interview on September 28th (interviewed October 6th).
 
tdk3084 said:
Congrats!!! If you don't mind me asking, when did you get a complete email? Just trying to get an idea of where they are in the process...
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Sorry, tdk, I didn't see your reply earlier! I was complete way back in July, actually. They were just waiting on my second MCAT scores and, of course, to complete the EDP cycle. So I'd say it's still early!
 
krwhite said:
Sorry, tdk, I didn't see your reply earlier! I was complete way back in July, actually. They were just waiting on my second MCAT scores and, of course, to complete the EDP cycle. So I'd say it's still early!
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no worries! 🙂
 
trekrrr2009 said:
guys, for those of you that have been invited for interviews(RD), what was the approximate time frame between secondary completion and invitation notice?
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I sent mine in they day they came out and still haven't heard anything
 
Any more interview invites? Still waiting to hear back. Hasn't been much activity lately.
 
VCU07 said:
Any more interview invites? Still waiting to hear back. Hasn't been much activity lately.
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According to an earlier poster, the adcom will be meeting tomorrow the 28th. So lets see what happens then.
 
VCU07 said:
Any more interview invites? Still waiting to hear back. Hasn't been much activity lately.
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I had an interview a week ago (tue, 20 oct) at the savannah campus. It went alright, great with the non-adcom member, who was a fourth year student. The Adcom member was tough to read though.
 
Do you guys know if they have a min. MCAT cut off this yr? I know last yrs thread mentioned a 24. If you end up with a score below that, wouldn't they just automatically send you a rejection?
 
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VCU07 said:
Do you guys know if they have a min. MCAT cut off this yr? I know last yrs thread mentioned a 24. If you end up with a score below that, wouldn't they just automatically send you a rejection?
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Did you try calling them?
 
trekrrr2009 said:
Did you try calling them?
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Yeah, unfortunatley, it will be a 24 (my 23 just didn't make it). They said scores below 24 will not be considered this year. I wish I had known this before applying so I could have saved some money. The min. used to be a 21. Obvisouly, they they rasied it as competition has increased over the last cpl of yrs.
 
I know at least one person from my interview group that has... Personally still waiting on my call. Fingers crossed and prayers lifted up...
 
got the acceptance call about an hour ago. Interviewed on the 20th at savannah.
 
just to those of you who are wondering, all of the acceptance phone calls have been made. congrats to those who got accepted! my application was placed "in the mix" according to Mary and will be reconsidered when the committee meets again on Nov 19 at 5pm. I assume most applicants who did not get accepted will be in the same position. An email to Mary still wouldn't hurt. 😳
 
I wouldn't worry to much yet...I called last week and was told they were significantly behind on processing apps (not that it helps my any at this point). Anyway, I was complete around 9/16 and she said it would be a few more weeks before I get my formal rejection letter lol (I didn't make the MCAT cut off this yr of 24 with my 23). GL to the rest of you...looks like I will be reapplying next yr.
 
hey guys,

interview invite scheduled for Nov. 10. I got a call from Mary last week. The adcom meeting was last Wednesday, if that helps. I think I was complete late august
 
Interviewing tomorrow!
Wish me luck! The good kind 🙂
 
Wow I was finished July 24th, and I got an interview invite today! (11/9) Is that normal? It seems like that took a long time.
 
dp1 said:
Wow I was finished July 24th, and I got an interview invite today! (11/9) Is that normal? It seems like that took a long time.
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Congrats! I'm still holding out for one...
 
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