2009-2010 Northwestern University Application Thread

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I'm going to be in Chicago this September (thanks UofC!!), and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to wait on buying plane tickets to hopefully schedule the interviews together if I luck on out an interview with Northwestern as well. What do you all think?

What exactly is the consensus on telling schools you're going to be "in the area"?
 
FluffyRabbit said:
I'm going to be in Chicago this September (thanks UofC!!), and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to wait on buying plane tickets to hopefully schedule the interviews together if I luck on out an interview with Northwestern as well. What do you all think?

What exactly is the consensus on telling schools you're going to be "in the area"?
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My premed advisory board has said that it is completely acceptable to contact the admissions office and say that you're going to be in the area and you were wondering if you could find out whether or not you're going to be invited for an interview to save money on plane tickets. These schools know it's really expensive to fly across the country for interviews. I'd probably wait until someone has posted that they've gotten an interview though, so you know that they are actually reviewing apps.
 
HereGoesNothing said:
I just turned it in. After submitting a couple of essays, I had to shorten them to be 400 words or less. Silly me, I though "about 400 words" meant we'd get a little wiggle room. After quickly making a couple of changes and saving the essays, I submitted my secondary thinking I'd have a chance to look over the whole thing and check my edited essays. No such luck. I probably had some typos in there. So to warn you guys, (1) about 400 words actually means 400 or less and (2) you won't get a chance to check your application again after you start the submission process. Hopefully my mistake will help someone, even if it cost me an interview.
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I submitted before going back to see if my essays were intact and not cut off at the end. I didn't bother to do this because I copied and pasted knowing that my essays were 400 words or less. But now I'm freaking out because the prompt says "limit essay to this space OR about 400 words." Any chance that my essays could have been cut off at the end? I also made paragraph breaks and indentations...maybe it'll be okay cause I knew my essays were less than 400 words?
 
lilelf624 said:
I submitted before going back to see if my essays were intact and not cut off at the end. I didn't bother to do this because I copied and pasted knowing that my essays were 400 words or less. But now I'm freaking out because the prompt says "limit essay to this space OR about 400 words." Any chance that my essays could have been cut off at the end? I also made paragraph breaks and indentations...maybe it'll be okay cause I knew my essays were less than 400 words?
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I think you'll be fine. Mine essays were cut off by just a couple of words and they were about 405-410 when I cut-and-pasted.
 
I submitted my secondary last night around 7 pm, got an email this morning about it, and then checked the application website, and I'm already complete. Wahoo! That was fast!
 
Hey All,
I handed in my supplemental and had recs and MCAT cleared and I received an email saying my secondary was in and fee was paid but I never received a "Complete" email. Did you guys receive a "Complete" email.


Thanks a lot,
 
PhiAlpha said:
Hey All,
I handed in my supplemental and had recs and MCAT cleared and I received an email saying my secondary was in and fee was paid but I never received a "Complete" email. Did you guys receive a "Complete" email.


Thanks a lot,
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Go to the status page. It should say something like "app complete. under review." That's all I needed to classify it as complete in my excel spreadsheet.
 
for the first essay question, are you all sticking to the typical diversity essay (including diverse education, work experience, etc.), or because they say "personal characteristics", you have to stick with things like race, hard-work, problem-solver, etc?
 
what do you think is a good amount of time to wait after submitting LORs without that being reflected on the status page before contacting them?
 
im applying URM and i got an email from this school this morning...do they handle minorities differently here?
 
drzing said:
im applying URM and i got an email from this school this morning...do they handle minorities differently here?
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An invite?

Edit: To answer your question; According to the recent MSAR , they only had one African-American matriculant last year. So I doubt they view URMs any differently.
 
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MegaProjectile said:
An invite?

Edit: To answer your question; According to the recent MSAR , they only had one African-American matriculant last year. So I doubt they view URMs any differently.
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man. thats rough for that guy. at least it's a city.
 
MegaProjectile said:
An invite?

Edit: To answer your question; According to the recent MSAR , they only had one African-American matriculant last year. So I doubt they view URMs any differently.
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no it was "by your mcat your very comepetitve. if your GPA is too then send us your app, we'll even waive the secondary fee"

haha 1? thats insane. thats almost as bad as West virginia, where they had ZERO african americans
 
MegaProjectile said:
An invite?

Edit: To answer your question; According to the recent MSAR , they only had one African-American matriculant last year. So I doubt they view URMs any differently.
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That's weird, I bet they had to have accepted more African Americans. I just visited chicago with the fam this weekend and saw both northwestern's campus and the U of Chicago's. I'll tell you one thing, Feinberg has to be on one of the most desirable locations of any med school in the country. I mean the school is downtown close to a lot of awesome places. Its a few blocs from the hancock tower for gods sake!!
 
Do you think it would be OK to talk about a study abroad experience for question 3? The study abroad I did was in archaeology so it's not the typical sit in the classroom kind of thing...or would that still be considered a "traditional educational pursuit"?
 
atoz said:
Do you think it would be OK to talk about a study abroad experience for question 3? The study abroad I did was in archaeology so it's not the typical sit in the classroom kind of thing...or would that still be considered a "traditional educational pursuit"?
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I'm also unsure about that question. I was thinking of writing about being a long-time athlete but like you, it wasn't "away from" academic pursuits but was paired with them during college.
 
atoz said:
Do you think it would be OK to talk about a study abroad experience for question 3? The study abroad I did was in archaeology so it's not the typical sit in the classroom kind of thing...or would that still be considered a "traditional educational pursuit"?
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Hmm...you might want to call and ask just because Northwestern can be picky about things, but I would say yes use it. It sounds very interesting and something not a lot of applicants could write about. Good luck deciding 🙂
 
vette2k10 said:
That's weird, I bet they had to have accepted more African Americans. I just visited chicago with the fam this weekend and saw both northwestern's campus and the U of Chicago's. I'll tell you one thing, Feinberg has to be on one of the most desirable locations of any med school in the country. I mean the school is downtown close to a lot of awesome places. Its a few blocs from the hancock tower for gods sake!!
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Perhaps. Northwestern is not the kind of school you turn down easily. So I'm guessing the AA they accepted were joggling other top schools too.
 
"Describe your experiences away from traditional educational pursuits, such as travel or time spent in the work force (other than summer or part-time employment). If you have been in school continuously describe a non-academic activity which has been fomrative"

So...I graduated (not in school continuously)...does this mean i should only describe the job i had since? i already talked about it in AMCAS...so i wonder if i should use the opportunity to talk about a non-traditional educational experience in high school that was "formative." But perhaps that is considered too long ago and that option is only for ppl who have been in school continuously. Is this one of these list type questions where you briefly describe your responsibilities and say how many hours per week? or are we supposed to talk about how it shaped us. thanks for your help!
 
MDplease123 said:
"Describe your experiences away from traditional educational pursuits, such as travel or time spent in the work force (other than summer or part-time employment). If you have been in school continuously describe a non-academic activity which has been fomrative"

So...I graduated (not in school continuously)...does this mean i should only describe the job i had since? i already talked about it in AMCAS...so i wonder if i should use the opportunity to talk about a non-traditional educational experience in high school that was "formative." But perhaps that is considered too long ago and that option is only for ppl who have been in school continuously. Is this one of these list type questions where you briefly describe your responsibilities and say how many hours per week? or are we supposed to talk about how it shaped us. thanks for your help!
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I graduated in May, so I was feeling still tied to college but excited about my new job when I wrote that essay. I ended up describing an important college experience, but one I didn't want to write 400 words about, and also spent some time describing my new job. So, I guess I did both. For the formative experience, I spoke about why it was important (leaving out technicalities like how many hours, etc.), and for my job, I described what I do and what my responsibilities are because since it's so new (just a month or so), I don't know how it will impact me later, although I can certainly speak to why I took the position and how I hope it will influence me.

I think high school experiences would only really serve you well if they somehow influenced or drove some decisions or interests of yours that pursued later. You know how med schools like to see themes or continuity over time.

Hope that helps, and good luck!
 
Thanks Snurping...I guess I'll stick with the post-college experiences...But what im wondering is if I need to reflect and write about how it has shaped me or something because it does just say " describe your experiences...specify time frame" just seems like repeating AMCAS activities a bit...
 
MDplease123 said:
Thanks Snurping...I guess I'll stick with the post-college experiences...But what im wondering is if I need to reflect and write about how it has shaped me or something because it does just say " describe your experiences...specify time frame" just seems like repeating AMCAS activities a bit...
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I doubt it could hurt to reflect - keeps it from being too dry and tells them something about you!
 
As a general rule, is it ok to interpret questions pretty loosely, or should we stick to literal interpretations of the prompt?
For question 2, " .Describe how you coped when confronted with a difficult personal (non-academic) situation," ..would it be ok to talk about a trend of life events that spanned a few years rather than talking about ONE situation?
.
 
Rach83 said:
As a general rule, is it ok to interpret questions pretty loosely, or should we stick to literal interpretations of the prompt?
For question 2, " .Describe how you coped when confronted with a difficult personal (non-academic) situation," ..would it be ok to talk about a trend of life events that spanned a few years rather than talking about ONE situation?
.
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do you feel like the trends are connected and follow a constant theme? i wouldn't give them a random mixture of difficult things that happened to you, but if there's an obvious story that someone could follow, then i think it could work. hope that helps!
 
Snurping said:
do you feel like the trends are connected and follow a constant theme? i wouldn't give them a random mixture of difficult things that happened to you, but if there's an obvious story that someone could follow, then i think it could work. hope that helps!
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That does help.... Thanks! It definitely would have one theme and would be easy to follow. It would better demonstrate who I am but I was just scared that it could be a problem for me to interpret the prompt a little more loosely. I guess we'll see! 🙂
 
just got my secondary and am working on it....should be done hopefully by tonight. really excited about this school and hope i get in!..that would be amazing
 
according to a friend, invites went out last night. just so you know!
 
I've seen a couple of invites go out via the MDApps trackboard. I guess people just don't want to post.
 
just finished the secondary...this one i felt was one of the harder ones to complete...oh well, heres to hoping i get an interview!:idea:
 
interview invite e-mail!!! yaayy.... they only have interviews on fridays and they chose september 18th, 25th, or oct 2nd for me. I have to call and see if i can reschedule because I have a friday interview from now till oct 16th.
 
makeshift123 said:
interview invite e-mail!!! yaayy.... they only have interviews on fridays and they chose september 18th, 25th, or oct 2nd for me. I have to call and see if i can reschedule because I have a friday interview from now till oct 16th.
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nice! when were you complete?
 
JasonE said:
nice! when were you complete?
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I don't remember cuz I don't keep my complete e-mails. I do know that I submitted my secondary on August 1st, and my letters were already in way before that.
 
Got my invite on Friday too. Complete on 8/6. Soooo happy!!!!
 
Hey... I got my invite today as well!!!... complete 8/21 if that helps.

I tried searching for this online, but I was unsuccessful. Does anyone know how many students Northwestern interviewed last season? and how many are accepted? thanks in advance =)
 
sunshine22 said:
Hey... I got my invite today as well!!!... complete 8/21 if that helps.

I tried searching for this online, but I was unsuccessful. Does anyone know how many students Northwestern interviewed last season? and how many are accepted? thanks in advance =)
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Pretty sweet turn-around time for you! 😀
 
Does anyone know if they send out rejections as well or are they one of the silent rejection schools?
 
MegaProjectile said:
An invite?

Edit: To answer your question; According to the recent MSAR , they only had one African-American matriculant last year. So I doubt they view URMs any differently.
Click to expand...


Just FYI in case any of you were wondering, I'm an M1 right now at NW and we have a handful of African American students in our class--I'd estimate 5 or so.
 
wontonman86 said:
Just FYI in case any of you were wondering, I'm an M1 right now at NW and we have a handful of African American students in our class--I'd estimate 5 or so.
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oh wow that is not alot at all.....i wonder if its because AA students didnt apply or if the school doesnt consider diversity that big of an issue
 
drzing said:
oh wow that is not alot at all.....i wonder if its because AA students didnt apply or if the school doesnt consider diversity that big of an issue
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Eh, I'd say that there are quite a few med schools (i.e. not state schools and not HBCUs) that have <10 AA students per class...it's pretty common
 
congrats to everyone with invites so far! Still crossing my fingers to get this interview, I love this school, the hospital, and of course Chicago! I honestly don't think this school could be in a better location.
 
redwinger47 said:
congrats to everyone with invites so far! Still crossing my fingers to get this interview, I love this school, the hospital, and of course Chicago! I honestly don't think this school could be in a better location.
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could be in the Playboy mansion... or on the International Space Station... or in the Playboy mansion within the International Space Station... there's always a better location.

btw, Steve Yzerman, best captain ever... GO WINGS!
 
FuSoYa said:
could be in the Playboy mansion... or on the International Space Station... or in the Playboy mansion within the International Space Station... there's always a better location.

btw, Steve Yzerman, best captain ever... GO WINGS!
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Hahaha I love it dude. You are absolutely right, no one can touch Yzerman, go Wings indeed!!!
 
redwinger47 said:
Hahaha I love it dude. You are absolutely right, no one can touch Yzerman, go Wings indeed!!!
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I'm from MN but I gotta say I love the Wings. The Dynasty.

Also, interview invite! This morning by e-mail. I was complete a few days after the secondary came out... 8/3 I think?

I'm very excited about this one. This and UCSF are two of my top choices by a long shot.
 
makeshift123 said:
interview invite e-mail!!! yaayy.... they only have interviews on fridays and they chose september 18th, 25th, or oct 2nd for me. I have to call and see if i can reschedule because I have a friday interview from now till oct 16th.
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Bryson17 said:
Got my invite on Friday too. Complete on 8/6. Soooo happy!!!!
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sunshine22 said:
Hey... I got my invite today as well!!!... complete 8/21 if that helps.

I tried searching for this online, but I was unsuccessful. Does anyone know how many students Northwestern interviewed last season? and how many are accepted? thanks in advance =)
Click to expand...

congrats guys! could you, or anyone else on this thread, tell me how long they gave you to respond to the invite?
 
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