2009-2010 Stanford Application Thread

BU Medical Sciences
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Crash88 said:
did you guys send thank you letters?
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Nope. But, I haven't done this for any school and just sort of don't get the point of thank you letters. I thank my interviewers after each interview for their time, and I just don't really get the formality of writing a letter afterwards...especially because most interviewers are probably too busy to care about it anyway.
 
Only to my faculty interviewer. I meant to send one to my student interviewer, but then my computer was stolen and I honestly got stuck on a lot of other things, and then it seemed awkwardly delayed to send a note 2 weeks later...
 
mdeast said:
Nope. But, I haven't done this for any school and just sort of don't get the point of thank you letters. I thank my interviewers after each interview for their time, and I just don't really get the formality of writing a letter afterwards...especially because most interviewers are probably too busy to care about it anyway.
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Well in both cases (student and faculty interviewers) I had something to follow-up on. My student interviewer inquired as to the faculty that I would like to work with. I didn't have any specific names in mind, so I browsed the Stanford website afterwards and identified the people with whom I would like to work. That was the heart of my "Thank You" message.

My faculty interviewer wanted to know a good mathematics book to relearn calculus. I first suggested the Stewart book because it is used at many schools, but I also recalled the name of a better book. Turns out the book's name is "Calculus" by Michael Spivak. It presents the material from a constructivist perspective, building upon prior calculus knowledge to ensure the learner obtains a deep understanding of the content. I included this book in my "Thank You" note.
 
StanfordStudent said:
Hey everyone! I've kinda been lurking since my first posts, but thought I would just say hi and let people know I'm still here if anyone has any questions. Again, I'm a 1st year student, no affiliation with admissions or anything like that. I was so happy to hear about all the good news about interview invites and acceptances!!!

I'm glad to hear you had a great experience mdeast!!! Let me know if anyone has more questions after your interview too! I found mdeast's assessment to be almost dead on (and yes, the high living cost does suck, I hate to say it, but it's true). Though, I was surprised about the less focus on clinical skills than other schools and was curious what gave you that impression, I actually find it to be the opposite because we have clinical skills training regularly twice a week with standardized patients, and really early exposure to real patients both in the classroom environment, but also in the free clinics where I've worked at 3 times already in my first quarter taking patient histories and vitals, and this quarter am going in to practice physical exams.

The other con you mentioned is less emphasis in primary care, which is an unfortunate reality. I myself am really into public health and can't imagine doing anything else but primary care, and I think the resources here are great for that interest, but for some reason, overall, Stanford doesn't recruit as many people interested in primary care. It might just because the other parts of the med school are so strong. However, there are still great resources for those interested in primary care and us primary care people gotta stick together ;-).

Good luck everyone!
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Hey didn't realized you replied to my post. I met a few first year students the night I stayed over, but everyone seemed to be studying for a microbiology exam. Maybe we ran into each other! But yeah, I was sort of surprised about how expensive everything was...mainly housing. $800 seemed a lot per person for a standard room...and the most expensive places ranged up to $1500. I live in a big US East Coast city, in an expensive neighborhood, and only pay $750/month for a shared townhouse (with the help of other roommates of course... but still).

Which housing option do you live in? Have you ever considered living off campus for cheaper/nicer digs?

Edit: I also haven't been accepted yet (just interviewed), so this is way pre-mature to be worrying about.
 
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I think that is the only city on the east coast that you can get really affordable housing. The apartment I stayed at with my host was really nice and completely worth $800 (i.e. it would have been double or more in Manhattan), so I think your location might be a bit of a spoiler price-wise!
 
Question123 said:
I think that is the only city on the east coast that you can get really affordable housing. The apartment I stayed at with my host was really nice and completely worth $800 (i.e. it would have been double or more in Manhattan), so I think your location might be a bit of a spoiler price-wise!
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Alas this is true. Philly housing is just so freaking cheap compared to other major cities. If I had a couple of hundred thousand dollars I'd buy a house here though. Give it 10-20 years and everything here will be just as expensive as the rest of the Northeast.
 
Thanks for sending a letter, even if it is only three sentences long.
 
Thus passes the two week mark with no news! : (

Oh well! I have plenty of stuff to do.
 
mitzi82 said:
Thanks for sending a letter, even if it is only three sentences long.
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sorry to hear that, man. did the send you an email too/has your status page changed? When were you complete? Sorry for all the questions, it's just that I have been complete here since like August and still no news. Silent rejections blow.
 
s2thindi said:
Do you know when they submitted their secondary.... scary...
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It doesn't answer you question directly but from mdapps it looks like a few people have been rejected after being complete since late August/early September... which is interesting since I've been complete since mid August :scared:.
 
JonnyD33 said:
It doesn't answer you question directly but from mdapps it looks like a few people have been rejected after being complete since late August/early September... which is interesting since I've been complete since mid August :scared:.
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Probably sometime late August/early September. I'm not sure, he submitted a few weeks after me...and I was complete mid-August. Letter was a short 3 sentences...dated February 3rd. Something along the lines of "We aren't going to further your application. Thanks for taking the time. We hope med school works out."
 
brygguy1 said:
Do y'all know if they're still handing out interviews?
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I'd say yes. They seemed to hand out interviews through early-Mid March last year.

:xf: to hear back this week or next!
 
rejected via snail mail (letter received on 2/12)! been complete for about half a year, since early august. good luck to those who are still waiting!
 
What a crappy pre interview reject letter. it was like a photocopy of a photocopy.. hope my secondary money was well spent, Stanford.
 
I wonder what percent of pre-interview rejections have gone out already. If we haven't received one, could there be hope for an interview invite? I've been complete for so long.
 
FutureScaresMe said:
I wonder what percent of pre-interview rejections have gone out already. If we haven't received one, could there be hope for an interview invite? I've been complete for so long.
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I'm in the same boat and wondering the same thing...
 
brygguy1 said:
Do y'all know if they're still handing out interviews?
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yup, pretty sure. they handed out interview till march 30th last year. I think someone said they are ending about a week earlier this year. so maybe till march 15-20th? so still a wholeee month! good luck 🙂

and btw, does anyone know what e-mail to send in the area e-mails? I know a few have done that in the past. i just got an interview to ucsf, and live far away, so was hoping I could ask if they made a decision on my app yet.

thanks!
 
FutureScaresMe said:
I wonder what percent of pre-interview rejections have gone out already. If we haven't received one, could there be hope for an interview invite? I've been complete for so long.
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I'm hoping for that as well. I'd love to send updates or a LOI but it's not allowed unless you get an interview.
 
All seems quiet....I hit my 2 week mark today. Can't wait to hear!
 
My interview is this Friday and it is my last one. I couldn't be more excited! Any words of wisdom?
 
ok so i should be hoping for no mail this week.. anyone complete in august get an interview lately?
 
LSU Gladiator said:
My interview is this Friday and it is my last one. I couldn't be more excited! Any words of wisdom?
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Prepare some questions to ask during the curriculum presentation (it's not a presentation, more like a Q&A). Look over scholarly concentrations you might be interested in. Convey how you'll be someone who would take advantage of all the resources Stanford has.
 
yah interviewed 4 weeks ago...actually just called and was told my file is before the committee and no decision made yet....quite nerve racking...
 
confusedchild said:
yah interviewed 4 weeks ago...actually just called and was told my file is before the committee and no decision made yet....quite nerve racking...
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How long did they say it would take during your wrap up session?
 
mdeast said:
How long did they say it would take during your wrap up session?
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I interviewed almost 5 weeks ago... they said it could be up to 8 weeks but given the speed of post interview phone calls, I'm thinking that realistically its quick if you get accpeted and slower if they snail mail WL or reject you. Maybe this is me sandbagging, but I'm not realistically hoping for that happy call anymore...
 
Question123 said:
I interviewed almost 5 weeks ago... they said it could be up to 8 weeks but given the speed of post interview phone calls, I'm thinking that realistically its quick if you get accpeted and slower if they snail mail WL or reject you. Maybe this is me sandbagging, but I'm not realistically hoping for that happy call anymore...
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I'm worried that this is true too. It's been 2.5 weeks since my interview and no news. However, my fortune cookie today said "All your hard work will soon payoff."
 
Naijaba said:
I'm worried that this is true too. It's been 2.5 weeks since my interview and no news. However, my fortune cookie today said "All your hard work will soon payoff."
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Thats an awesome fortune cookie at this time 👍
 
its okay guys. palo alto is super boring anyways 🙄
 
Naijaba said:
I'm worried that this is true too. It's been 2.5 weeks since my interview and no news. However, my fortune cookie today said "All your hard work will soon payoff."
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Seeing as how the last accepted student interviewed 1/14 I think you shouldn't worry too much. It hasn't been very long. And look at this way...I'm sure you're in a similar situation...I interviewed at some places in early October and haven't heard back from them yet.
 
mdeast said:
Seeing as how the last accepted student interviewed 1/14 I think you shouldn't worry too much. It hasn't been very long. And look at this way...I'm sure you're in a similar situation...I interviewed at some places in early October and haven't heard back from them yet.
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Hahah, well I don't know if its a good sign then if I interview prior 1/14...then again, maybe someone had a cold for a few weeks...
 
yah...i interviewed after 1/14 so i guess there's still hope out there for me...but yah I do agree with the trend of receiving a phone call relatively fast if they want you and waiting for a while for a WL or reject if they don't want you - seems to be the case with a lot of the schools i interviewed at...

responding to someone's question above, during the wrap-up session, the admissions officer told us 3 to 4 weeks. 3 weeks at the fastest and most likely within 4 weeks but if no information by 4 weeks give them a call, which I did this morning....
 
I would not worry too much if you do not hear back within 2 weeks after your interview. To my knowledge, the admissions committee only meets once a month, so if your interviewers do not return their evaluations before the meeting, you won't get reviewed until the next month's meeting. (a student interviewer I talked to said he spends 2-3 hours writing up evaluations for every interviewee, so it does take them some time). Good luck everyone!
 
what time are we supposed to arrive? the schedule they sent me says 9AM but the website says "The usual arrival time is 7:30 a.m. If you need a parking permit, please arrive at our office by 7:20 a.m."
 
Rejected by snail mail. I was expecting this. I've heard that no one from my undergrad has gotten into here for 10 years. It's funny that the schools that have rejected me pre-interview are all in California. I would've figured my chances would be better in Cali. Anyways, GL everyone!
 
allen5055 said:
Rejected by snail mail. I was expecting this. I've heard that no one from my undergrad has gotten into here for 10 years. It's funny that the schools that have rejected me pre-interview are all in California. I would've figured my chances would be better in Cali. Anyways, GL everyone!
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It's Cali. I've had better luck with the Ivy's than Cali schools. And I'd trade all of them for Stanford. But I'm likely to get that snail mail letter too.
 
allen5055 said:
Rejected by snail mail. I was expecting this. I've heard that no one from my undergrad has gotten into here for 10 years. It's funny that the schools that have rejected me pre-interview are all in California. I would've figured my chances would be better in Cali. Anyways, GL everyone!
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UCI, UCSD, and UCLA? I think you're doing fine in Cali...
 
rwongega said:
It's Cali. I've had better luck with the Ivy's than Cali schools. And I'd trade all of them for Stanford. But I'm likely to get that snail mail letter too.
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I actually want to get out of California. Stanford is too close to home. My mom would never leave me alone.
 
allen5055 said:
I actually want to get out of California. Stanford is too close to home. My mom would never leave me alone.
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I'd prefer not to freeze to death before an exam so I'd actually want to stay in California. Besides, using study as an excuse to avoid parents ought to be some good.
 
newapple said:
what time are we supposed to arrive? the schedule they sent me says 9AM but the website says "The usual arrival time is 7:30 a.m. If you need a parking permit, please arrive at our office by 7:20 a.m."
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i followed the schedule they sent me
 
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