2009-2010 Mount Sinai Application Thread

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Is it strange that I have not recieved a rejection or invitation from Sinai yet...?
 
Mandiblespeaks said:
Is it strange that I have not recieved a rejection or invitation from Sinai yet...?
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Unfortunately, the last batch of invitations for interview were sent out on March 1st... If you haven't heard anything, I would venture to guess that they were waiting until after this past committee meeting to send out a batch mailing for anyone they hadn't communicated with yet.
 
phantomx87 said:
Unfortunately, the last batch of invitations for interview were sent out on March 1st... If you haven't heard anything, I would venture to guess that they were waiting until after this past committee meeting to send out a batch mailing for anyone they hadn't communicated with yet.
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I figured it was a rejection. Really. Just annoyed I havent heard anything. Invitations via email, rejections via snail mail?
 
i just got an email today for a second look on april 9. but i'm on the waitlist--is that unusual? also, didn't other people say second look weekend is april 30? do you think they have separate revisit days for alternates and acceptees?

second Q: since i'm not accepted yet, do you think there's an evaluation component that will affect my application?
 
I think someone mentioned earlier that second looks are offered to all URM waitlisters but I'm not entirely sure.
 
this may seem like a stupid question, but is sinai's alternate list the same as their waitlist?
 
I simply cannot imagine their method. They decided on people from Feb 1 to the last week of interviews. What could separate those who heard from those who didn't other than rejection? I'm so curious.
 
The only reasonable idea I can come up with is that they stagger the acceptance/waitlist emails so as to prevent "rejects" from knowing their fate too early. By sending them out periodically over one week, those who do not hear on the first day cannot automatically assume they have been rejected.

Either this, or they're are cruelly giving us false hope!
 
hereinafter96 said:
The only reasonable idea I can come up with is that they stagger the acceptance/waitlist emails so as to prevent "rejects" from knowing their fate too early. By sending them out periodically over one week, those who do not hear on the first day cannot automatically assume they have been rejected.

Either this, or they're are cruelly giving us false hope!
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I think it's safe to assume no medical schools take into account SDN members telling each other of acceptances or waitlists or rejections. Most candidates at Sinai don't post here, or have any idea of when other candidates have heard.
 
mdeast said:
I think it's safe to assume no medical schools take into account SDN members telling each other of acceptances or waitlists or rejections. Most candidates at Sinai don't post here, or have any idea of when other candidates have heard.
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The only other thing I could think of is if there is some kind of pre-interview rank system, and that different tiers within that system are hearing back respective to their category. I suppose any categorization would apply too, rather than ranks per se. Still, I don't see the reason for not emailing everyone at once, unless some decisions haven't been made, or they are expecting a 24 hour turnaround on withdrawals from the waitlist.
 
UCSFdreamin said:
The only other thing I could think of is if there is some kind of pre-interview rank system, and that different tiers within that system are hearing back respective to their category. I suppose any categorization would apply too, rather than ranks per se. Still, I don't see the reason for not emailing everyone at once, unless some decisions haven't been made, or they are expecting a 24 hour turnaround on withdrawals from the waitlist.
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Maybe this is partially because I've become a complete pessimist after going through this process (and I still wish you the best of luck no matter what), but there is the possibility the group of people who haven't heard back will be receiving rejection letters and that the woman on the phone didn't want to announce this while on the line. If it was the office assistant you talked to, she explained pretty clearly on interview day that she hates giving people bad news and I personally could see her trying to avoid telling someone who called.
 
I highly doubt they would downright lie and tell us another wave of acceptances/waitlists were coming.

Adcoms, I'm sure, have evolved much more subtle means of telling us that a rejection letter is coming without downright saying it, or needing to blatantly lie.
 
Frankly, I agree, and I've said as much above. But two people said that they were explicitly told that decisions would come out today and Wednesday. So the questions are:

Why outright lie? They could answer honestly and diplomatically: "the ad com told us that decisions will be released throughout the next week, that's all I know". Also, why such a specific lie, noting Wed and Fri, rather than "acceptances will still be issued throughout next several days"?

I've already come to terms with a rejection but I'm supercurious as to why they do it this way.
 
UCSFdreamin said:
Frankly, I agree, and I've said as much above. But two people said that they were explicitly told that decisions would come out today and Wednesday. So the questions are:

Why outright lie? They could answer honestly and diplomatically: "the ad com told us that decisions will be released throughout the next week, that's all I know". Also, why such a specific lie, noting Wed and Fri, rather than "acceptances will still be issued throughout next several days"?

I've already come to terms with a rejection but I'm supercurious as to why they do it this way.
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Again, I'm just playing the role of the pessimist. And I seriously hope you get in, because Sinai is a great school and you guys all seem passionate about going.
 
UCSFdreamin said:
Frankly, I agree, and I've said as much above. But two people said that they were explicitly told that decisions would come out today and Wednesday. So the questions are:

Why outright lie? They could answer honestly and diplomatically: "the ad com told us that decisions will be released throughout the next week, that's all I know". Also, why such a specific lie, noting Wed and Fri, rather than "acceptances will still be issued throughout next several days"?

I've already come to terms with a rejection but I'm supercurious as to why they do it this way.
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What she told me was today AND/OR Wednesday... She never said explicitly (at least to me) that it would be one or the other. She didn't know.

I truly believe that a medical school would not lie to applicants and give them false hope. Besides being completely unethical (and isn't that a main tenet of medical education???), it would just be bad for business... And that's exactly what medical school is - a business. We'll hear one way or the other on Wednesday.

If I am wrong, you can all beat me with poo-covered sticks :meanie:
 
I think you should all join me in celebrating the end of the week today... Go get wasted, calm down, play MW2 all weekend, and then get back to the standard SDN waiting-to-happen heart attacks that we all know and love.
 
phantom, didnt you say youre a big ex-navy guy? im staying away from you and the poo-sticks, thank you very much.
 
Hey guys, I have a few questions
1. Does anyone know how many waitlisters eventually got accepted last year?
2. How do they select people from the waitlist?
3. 3.7GPA + 37Q MCAT. How does this compare to the school average?
 
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lms1712 said:
Hey guys, I have a few questions
1. Does anyone know how many waitlisters eventually got accepted last year?
2. How do they select people from the waitlist?
3. 3.7GPA + 37Q MCAT. How does this compare to the school average?
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I think the average for Sinai is just under a 3.7 and just under a 35 (matriculated students). Median accepted student is 3.8, 36 MCAT according to MSAR. So your stats are above average for matriculated students (which I think is a more important statistic). But, just like any school, other factors are considered as well.
 
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mdeast said:
I think the average for Sinai is just under a 3.7 and just under a 35 (matriculated students). Median accepted student is 3.8, 36 MCAT according to MSAR. So your stats are above average for matriculated students (which I think is a more important statistic). But, just like any school, other factors are considered as well.
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Danke schön!
But how about the waitlist? Do you have any idea?
 
lms1712 said:
Danke schön!
But how about the waitlist? Do you have any idea?
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There's movement. It seems to happen in early June. And estimates put it at about ~30-40 students coming in off the waitlist every year (1/3 of the class). Sinai has the HuMed program (~25 students) and MD/PhD (~10 students) so it only actually needs to fill about 105 MD-regular slots. And given 6500 applications, it's not terribly difficult to do.
 
mdeast said:
There's movement. It seems to happen in early June. And estimates put it at about ~30-40 students coming in off the waitlist every year (1/3 of the class). Sinai has the HuMed program (~25 students) and MD/PhD (~10 students) so it only actually needs to fill about 105 MD-regular slots. And given 6500 applications, it's not terribly difficult to do.
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Sounds tough to get off the list.... Hmmph... Any idea on how to improve the chance?
 
It's ranked so apparently nothing you send in will change your ranking. Though I thought I heard someone on interview day say that we should keep in touch with them while on the waitlist because it lets them know we're still interested. Sort of conflicting information if all they're going to do is go down a list.
 
Yeah, I'm similarly confused...now I'm not sure if the letter of intent that I am obsessively poring over will even have any effect at the end of the day. 🙁
 
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doc4doc4doc said:
i just got an email today for a second look on april 9. but i'm on the waitlist--is that unusual? also, didn't other people say second look weekend is april 30? do you think they have separate revisit days for alternates and acceptees?

second Q: since i'm not accepted yet, do you think there's an evaluation component that will affect my application?
Click to expand...
Has anyone else heard of this? Is it for only URM? I don't think I can attend Mount Sinai's second look, but really want to...I wonder if I could go to this day even if not URM? (I'm accepted, not waitlisted)...
 
where is this info about a ranked waitlist coming from...i specifically remember the person on my interview day saying to write letters if interested because they like to take interested wait listees

i feel like the person who propagated the "ranked waitlist" rumor is really just trying to make you guys stop writing LOIs so he/she can stand out 🙄
 
pelliper said:
where is this info about a ranked waitlist coming from...i specifically remember the person on my interview day saying to write letters if interested because they like to take interested wait listees

i feel like the person who propagated the "ranked waitlist" rumor is really just trying to make you guys stop writing LOIs so he/she can stand out 🙄
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Honestly, if you are interested in going to the school it can't hurt to show interest. It would be great to include updates regarding grades, research, volunteering or anything else that may help. Even if it is ranked it doesn't mean it is set in stone. We don't know exactly what it means even if it is ranked, so my advice is to write a nice letter on some nice paper and hopefully it can help. If it makes absolutely no difference, then what did you really lose? (yes except a couple of hours, but at least you know you gave it a shot). :luck:
 
Hey guys..just called. They said all final decisions have been sent out/made -- some are letters some are emails. So i'm guessing if we didn't receive an email, then we're getting the letter in the mail with the bad news 🙁 This kinda sucks. She didn't say anything else other than that.
 
they definitely sent out all WL/acceptance emails last wednesday then lied to us about their intention to send out additional ones. I'm pissed but there's really nothing that can be done...it's over🙁
 
It could just be that the e-mails went out last Wednesday and they sent out letters Friday/today but...sorry 🙁
 
Orientation is aug 18th, classes start on aug 23rd.
 
pelliper said:
where is this info about a ranked waitlist coming from...i specifically remember the person on my interview day saying to write letters if interested because they like to take interested wait listees
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1. How many/how often do you think you should write letters. I don't want to go overboard and harass them.
2. Is handwritten really better than email?
3. As for content of letters, how elaborate do you need to make it? Should each letter describe another reason why I like mount sinai?

If the waitlist isn't ranked how do they evaluate it. I doubt they really re-review each file for 1 open spot periodically, so they must have some system they use that they just don't share.

Also on interview day, I didn't really click with Dr. Parkas. I tried asking questions that I thought were insightful but I got the impression that she didn't quite understand what I was asking. I didn't say anything egregious but it couldn't have helped. I'm not sure if she even knew my name on that day, or would remember me now. Do you think that things like that could break my chances at getting in off the WL? Or if things were really so bad would they have just rejected be outright instead of waitlisting me?
 
smmypnts said:
1. How many/how often do you think you should write letters. I don't want to go overboard and harass them.
2. Is handwritten really better than email?
3. As for content of letters, how elaborate do you need to make it? Should each letter describe another reason why I like mount sinai?

If the waitlist isn't ranked how do they evaluate it. I doubt they really re-review each file for 1 open spot periodically, so they must have some system they use that they just don't share.

Also on interview day, I didn't really click with Dr. Parkas. I tried asking questions that I thought were insightful but I got the impression that she didn't quite understand what I was asking. I didn't say anything egregious but it couldn't have helped. I'm not sure if she even knew my name on that day, or would remember me now. Do you think that things like that could break my chances at getting in off the WL? Or if things were really so bad would they have just rejected be outright instead of waitlisting me?
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I'll give you my opinion to your questions, but I'm a bit out of the loop, so hopefully others in your position can give a better answer.

1. No one knows how many you should write. Most people only write one. If you're in the mood to do more, maybe one a month, but definitely not more.

2. The only advantage to handwritten is that it can be added to your file. I feel that e-mail would be more personal and more likely to receive a reply. When applying to residency this year, all of my communication was through e-mail. However, I understand that the medical school process is different than the residency process, so I'm not sure.

3. Most people do a combination of why they like the school plus any updates. I'll be honest though, I feel that the most important thing is the fact that you're sending a LOI itself and not what the content is. Schools want to know that those on their waitlist have a continued desire to attend, so that if you were to be accepted off the waitlist, you will attend.

I wouldn't worry about not clicking with Dr. Parkas. We tend to only remember the embarrassing or stupid things we did during interviews and not the good things. Plus, worrying about these things already implies a defeatist attitude. So just move forward with all that you have and hope things work out. Feel free to PM me any questions that Dr. Parkas didn't answer, maybe I can help out.
 
smmypnts said:
2. Is handwritten really better than email?
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You mean mailed vs. email, right? A handwritten letter (that is, not typed up and printed out, but written with pen and pencil) seems more appropriate when writing a correspondence to someone personal. In a business setting I'd think it would come off as sloppy.
 
Velocity said:
You mean mailed vs. email, right? A handwritten letter (that is, not typed up and printed out, but written with pen and pencil) seems more appropriate when writing a correspondence to someone personal. In a business setting I'd think it would come off as sloppy.
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I think most people prefer email nowadays. It's quick, easy and there's a record of it saved in your sent box.
 
Velocity said:
You mean mailed vs. email, right? A handwritten letter (that is, not typed up and printed out, but written with pen and pencil) seems more appropriate when writing a correspondence to someone personal. In a business setting I'd think it would come off as sloppy.
Click to expand...

I'm a fan of the handwritten note. Maybe send a more formal email and follow-up with a handwritten card to the Dean?
 
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