2009-2010 Penn State Application Thread

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I know in the post-interview hold letter they designate that decisions will be made based on what is currently available to them (indication that they don't want update letters)... is a letter of intent an update letter?

I pretty much have everything riding on psu and if a LoI could possibly increase my chances (even barely) then I really should get to it...

3rd app, haven't lost the will to be a doctor, but definitely losing the will to apply
 
Interviewed Nov 16 and still waiting for a decision? 14 weeks....wow....anyone else in the same boat?
 
I Doctor said:
Interviewed Nov 16 and still waiting for a decision? 14 weeks....wow....anyone else in the same boat?
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I went from an interview on Oct 14th to an early Feb acceptance without hearing anything. But who knows maybe I was placed on hold without knowing it. Do what you can to avoid going crazy.. This process is almost over.
 
Congratulation !!
Just wondering when did you get CBC email and what is the postmark date?

Thanks

inaheartbeat said:
i interviewed january 8th and received the acceptance packet last weekend
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just wondering for those of you who have interviewed, have any of you visited chocolate world or the hershey story? how is it? just thought i'd do some touristy stuff since i'll be there for 2 days...
 
roarroar said:
just wondering for those of you who have interviewed, have any of you visited chocolate world or the hershey story? how is it? just thought i'd do some touristy stuff since i'll be there for 2 days...
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Well when I was there I didn't check out chocolate world. But I did go to The Chocolate Avenue Grill and had a delicious Chocolate Stout. That was touristy enough for me 🙂. In all seriousness the entire park wasn't fully open when I was there (early December) but they did have a lot of Christmas lights set up and a few rides open. I don't know the full park is open at the moment or not.
 
Seeing a few early Jan Interviewers get acceptances. I interviewed Jan 4th :-/
I'm trying to wait till the 8 weeks are up before I start becoming sad, but my mind wont let me.
 
anyone get a letter stating that you'll be re-evaluated later on in the season? is this a death sentence?
 
Anyone interviewing the 26th? PM me...
 
Accepted! OOS (Montana) 3.9 science and overall GPA, 29Q MCAT.

Interview - 11/4
Hold letter dated 1/6
Background check email 2/11
Acceptance letter dated 2/11

So excited...my wife and I loved the area and the school.😍

Good luck to everyone and keep the faith! I thought I was out of the running when I got the hold letter, but it appears the hold list is starting to move...
 
Congratulations!!! Nice to see some more acceptances from the hold list... keeping my fingers crossed
 
thanks question answreed
 
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Heyy I got an invite for an interview today. I think I completed the application sometime in December... does anyone know if they're interviewing for waitlist spots??
 
SGTPepprs said:
Heyy I got an invite for an interview today. I think I completed the application sometime in December... does anyone know if they're interviewing for waitlist spots??
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Congrats!! How did you hear from them - email?
 
SGTPepprs said:
Heyy I got an invite for an interview today. I think I completed the application sometime in December... does anyone know if they're interviewing for waitlist spots??
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Congratulation.
To answer your question there should still be spots available. When I interviewed in mid January, they told us they keep some spots open until last set of interviews (that is the reason why so many people get get put on hold). they also said they never interview people just to put them on hold.

good luck with your interview.
 
Does anyone know when the latest that PSU interviews people? And how far in advance do they usually inform you that you have been chosen for an interview?
 
UCLAneuro said:
Does anyone know when the latest that PSU interviews people? And how far in advance do they usually inform you that you have been chosen for an interview?
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From last year's thread, they interviewed till march 26 so there's a lot of time left. I interviewed a month after getting an invite. however, people withdraw and change dates so you may be able to schedule your interview soon after you get an invite.
 
I'm sorry about the bad news, hopefully you'll get into one of your other schools... May I ask how you were notified?
 
Interviewed December 9th.

On "Hold List" letter received today...
 
Interviewed Jan 18

Hold listed letter received today.🙁🙁🙁
 
anyone interviewing on 2/22? i have all day tomorrow to explore hershey but it'll be nice to do that with someone. pls pm me if you are interested.
 
Wow man... seems like more people get put on hold than anything else... good luck to us all...
 
Hold today, Interviewed Jan. 4th. Son of a biznatch.
 
amikhchi said:
I'm sorry about the bad news, hopefully you'll get into one of your other schools... May I ask how you were notified?
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Good news...my mom told me about the rejection letter but she confused upstate and penn state...so i actually got rejected from upstate...which is great because now i still have a shot at penn state. i hope this hold list starts movin!
 
I came across the old thread of 2005/2008 about Pen state wait list. About 15 to 20% of class size are accepted from the hold list. That means out of 144 class size, 25 to 30 are pulled from hold list. Not a great news. The real killing part; hold list will start moving in first or second week of June until end of July. This wait is really terrible.
if you are interested, read this 3 page thread.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=187912&page=3
 
Post-interview hold circa last week. BTW I'm a re-applicant and my friend at PSU said re-applicants are held against crazy standards there. I have a really high MCAT but i guess not high enough 🙁 Screw it I already have a DO acceptance.
 
NEWHER said:
Congrats!! How did you hear from them - email?
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I heard back through e-mail. I got the first email about them reviewing my application on Jan20th (i dunno if that helps at all).

&& thanks NarutoDoc =)
 
I withdrew my application today so my interview slot for feb 24th at 8:30am is open if anyone wants to try to move theirs up.

Sorry for the short notice.
 
For anyone who interviewed at the 1030 time slot... what time did you guys finish?
 
s2thindi said:
For anyone who interviewed at the 1030 time slot... what time did you guys finish?
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it depends on your interviewer and when your interview is scheduled for. some people in my group were done by 3:30 b/c they had interviews from 2-2:45, 2:45-3:30, but i was done at 4:30. hope that helps!
 
vman51 said:
this..so is it pretty much game over for penn? should i bother with an update letter?
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They don't accept update letters unless its an official transcript. I'm not sure if we're done or not. I called them, and they said they will get around to looking at people who were on pre-interview hold, but it was in more of a "wait for the cycle to complete kind of way". My guess is pre-int hold was a rejection; I just wish they had told us so.
 
So far, Few people have gotten off post-int hold. Does anyone know are they getting off in order they were put on hold (earlier hold people first) or are they randomly selected?

I was wondering about this because adcom doesn't rank their hold list, which means that they might have to look at significant number or all hold applicant when they are accepting people off hold list.
 
Narutodoc said:
So far, Few people have gotten off post-int hold. Does anyone know are they getting off in order they were put on hold (earlier hold people first) or are they randomly selected?

I was wondering about this because adcom doesn't rank their hold list, which means that they might have to look at significant number or all hold applicant when they are accepting people off hold list.
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I'm not sure about this. We can start a list, though, of those accepted off the wait-list and see what comes up. I'll start it:

Hold - Jan. 7th Accepted - Feb 11th
 
Hold - Nov. 27th, Accepted - January 27th
Hold - Jan. 7th Accepted - Feb 11th
 
Quick analysis of this poll (2.45 pm EST 2/25/10)

Sample size n = 31 (more than 10% of total pool)

Out of the Hold List

Not interested in Penn State : 61%
Interested in Penn State : 39%

Assume Hold list pool is 200

Not interested students : 122
Interested students : 78

If Hold list is pool is 300

Not interested students : 183
Interested students : 117

from the research and communication with current Penn State student, around 30 matriculated students are from Hold list.

If hold list pool is 200, 78 interested students are competing for potentially available slot of 30 (around 40 percent of interested student will pulled off from Hold list.)

It is difficult to predict who is going to be accepted. Following AAMC report can help.

http://www.aamc.org/members/gsa/meet...sticreview.pdf

Page 10 indicates important ratings: Invitation of interview
Page 11 indicates Important ratings : Offer of acceptance
Interview recommendation has highest ratings 4.5 out of 5, followed by LOR and Undergrad GPA.

The variables rated as
most important for offer of acceptance (mean
≥ 3.5) were:
Interview
recommendations
Letters of
recommendation
Undergraduate GPAs
Community service medical/ clinical experience

Bottom Line : If you have really good interview, you have high chance
I hope this will help to folks who are on Hold list. Good luck !!

kmd34 said:
If you are on "Hold list" at Penn State Hershey, please vote in this poll.
This may help estimating how hold list will move.

PS : LizzyM = 10*cGPA + Total MCAT

Thanks

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=704493
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JayMor1001 said:
They don't accept update letters unless its an official transcript. I'm not sure if we're done or not. I called them, and they said they will get around to looking at people who were on pre-interview hold, but it was in more of a "wait for the cycle to complete kind of way". My guess is pre-int hold was a rejection; I just wish they had told us so.
Click to expand...


can anyone confirm this? what is the process of sending an update letter or updated transcript?

thank you
 
MS-1 here, just an update about 2nd Look Day.
It appears to be scheduled for the weekend of 4/23 - 4/24. We are trying to get students to volunteer free couches/futons/beds in their apartments to accommodate everyone.
 
DrMattOglesby said:
MS-1 here, just an update about 2nd Look Day.
It appears to be scheduled for the weekend of 4/23 - 4/24. We are trying to get students to volunteer free couches/futons/beds in their apartments to accommodate everyone.
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Is the 2nd-look day both days or just the 24th (Saturday)? Thanks!
 
DrMattOglesby said:
MS-1 here, just an update about 2nd Look Day.
It appears to be scheduled for the weekend of 4/23 - 4/24. We are trying to get students to volunteer free couches/futons/beds in their apartments to accommodate everyone.
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
Is the 2nd look day another day for potential students to check out the campus or is there more to it?
 
specialK32 said:
Is the 2nd-look day both days or just the 24th (Saturday)? Thanks!
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I'm sorry, I don't have that information as I'm not on the committee. I just know that we currently have google docs going around asking students to sign up for picking up premeds from the airport, hosting them in their place over night, and providing entertainment (hanging with you guys until everyone shows up....due to people having different times of arriving flights). I am aware that there will also be a tour provided by some medical students covering various locations of the hospital as well as some university apartments. Additional living options from nearby apartment complexes will be holding open houses the day after Second Look (i heard this is a Sunday, so that would make second look a Saturday).

AyCaramba said:
Thanks
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yer welcome.
amikhchi said:
Is the 2nd look day another day for potential students to check out the campus or is there more to it?
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i never went to my second look day, but i imagine it was originally designed for students who were holding multiple acceptances and needed a second look at the school to make a final decision. However, I do know that some classmates of mine did attend second look day despite it being their only acceptance, they reported a good time. I am sure many accepted students will be getting their invitation to attend in due time, and I will try to make sure that the details of the day are clearly detailed so you guys can make a solid financial decision to determine if attending this event will be worth the financial cost of the airplane tix.
 
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DrMattOglesby said:
MS-1 here, just an update about 2nd Look Day.
It appears to be scheduled for the weekend of 4/23 - 4/24. We are trying to get students to volunteer free couches/futons/beds in their apartments to accommodate everyone.
Click to expand...

My wife and I are both planning to come to the 2nd look weekend...I don't think any student would want both my wife and I to crash on their couch/futon/bed. :laugh:

That being said...recommend a good hotel (or is the Days Inn the one)?
 
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