2009-2010 University at Buffalo (SUNY) Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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BlueElmo said:
No, it never did. Why, is yours under review?
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no, but I'm so tired of looking st "NO ACTION" and also want to know if my application is under review already or just waiting to be reviewed. I don't know, probly just tired of waiting 😀
 
NEWHER said:
no, but I'm so tired of looking st "NO ACTION" and also want to know if my application is under review already or just waiting to be reviewed. I don't know, probly just tired of waiting 😀
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Email Mr. Rosso. He's super nice and will let you know your status.
 
BlueElmo said:
Email Mr. Rosso. He's super nice and will let you know your status.
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I called several times and think that I spoke to Mr. Rosso. He is really nice, and he explained to me that applications are reviewed in random order and that I should just wait till my application will be reviewed. So I assume that my application wasn't reviewed yet😱
 
Accepted off the wait list today! FINALLY my first acceptance!

Good luck to those of you still waiting
 
JMill87 said:
Accepted off the wait list today! FINALLY my first acceptance!

Good luck to those of you still waiting
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When did you interview and were you on the high waitlist, middle, or something like that?

Congrats.
 
BlueElmo said:
When did you interview and were you on the high waitlist, middle, or something like that?

Congrats.
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I interviewed Nov. 11th. I'm not sure where I was on the waitlist...the original waitlist e-mail said to call back in January to find out what third of the waitlist I was on.
 
i also went from "no-action" to "non-accept"

this must have happened in the past 2 days or so.

submitted early october i think
 
JMill87 said:
Accepted off the wait list today! FINALLY my first acceptance!

Good luck to those of you still waiting
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Congrats! 👍 That must have felt awesome. It's good to know there's some movement happening.

I went ahead and sent a letter of interest earlier this week - not sure if there's any way it can help, since the waitlist e-mail explains that the list is ranked already, but I figure it can't hurt. Buffalo's awesome.
 
accepted.

they stress teamwork up there and do not want students gunning. They do not even post class ranking so there is really no reason to gun. The staff up there seem like really genuine people. Their match list is insane, seven students matching into ENT is just ridiculous. They have a program where they assign you to a mentor from your freshman year. The mentor will help guide you into the specialty that you are interested in, including the necessary research. After I heard Dr. Severin speak I was sold on the school.

The school tour was really long. Definitely the most detailed school tour i've been on. Make sure you eat breakfast, i didnt and almost passed out. Just be yourself and you should be fine on your interview. Make sure you read the questions from the interview feedback because you'll definitely get a lot of those. You have to write an essay that your interviewers will read so make sure you do a good job on that. Really walked away motivated after the visit.

Only thing I did not like was the weather 🙂 eek
 
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BlueElmo said:
Oh my.😱
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It wasn't the worst we've ever had, but there was a lot of loose, piled up snow- so when the wind kicked up (which was often), there was white out conditions. Also, it just kept coming so fast that the plows really couldn't keep up with it. The highways are usually the cleanest of all roads, but as you can see they weren't today. It took me about 40 minutes to get to Roswell Park, it is normally a 15/20 minute drive (bad roads + lots of accidents= 👎). Oh well, tis the season I guess 😀 haha.

EDIT: also, in the last pic- that is coming off of route 33, towards Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Buffalo is straight ahead, on a clear day 🙂
 
KG216 said:
It wasn't the worst we've ever had, but there was a lot of loose, piled up snow- so when the wind kicked up (which was often), there was white out conditions. Also, it just kept coming so fast that the plows really couldn't keep up with it. The highways are usually the cleanest of all roads, but as you can see they weren't today. It took me about 40 minutes to get to Roswell Park, it is normally a 15/20 minute drive (bad roads + lots of accidents= 👎). Oh well, tis the season I guess 😀 haha.

EDIT: also, in the last pic- that is coming off of route 33, towards Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Buffalo is straight ahead, on a clear day 🙂
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Traffic was HORRENDOUS in Rochester today as well. Like you said, not the worst we've had at all. It just seems that everyone forgets how to drive in the snow during the first big snowfall. It took me 2 hours to get to my interview at U of R... and 2.5 hours to get home. I live 15 minutes away.

I spent less time traveling when I went to NYC for interviews! :laugh:
 
Zona Pellucida said:
Traffic was HORRENDOUS in Rochester today as well. Like you said, not the worst we've had at all. It just seems that everyone forgets how to drive in the snow during the first big snowfall. It took me 2 hours to get to my interview at U of R... and 2.5 hours to get home. I live 15 minutes away.

I spent less time traveling when I went to NYC for interviews! :laugh:
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Wow, thats awful! If the roads were plowed a little better, I am sure things would've went a little more smoothly for the both of us. Glad you safely made it there and back! 👍
 
bowzer said:
accepted.

they stress teamwork up there and do not want students gunning. They do not even post class ranking so there is really no reason to gun. The staff up there seem like really genuine people. Their match list is insane, seven students matching into ENT is just ridiculous. They have a program where they assign you to a mentor from your freshman year. The mentor will help guide you into the specialty that you are interested in, including the necessary research. After I heard Dr. Severin speak I was sold on the school.

The school tour was really long. Definitely the most detailed school tour i've been on. Make sure you eat breakfast, i didnt and almost passed out. Just be yourself and you should be fine on your interview. Make sure you read the questions from the interview feedback because you'll definitely get a lot of those. You have to write an essay that your interviewers will read so make sure you do a good job on that. Really walked away motivated after the visit.

Only thing I did not like was the weather 🙂 eek
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Ditto. I was happy for an interview but after Dr.Severin's really genuine talk, I was in love with the place.

That tour...boy, was my back hurting from standing and walking for 2hrs, though the "ancient med tools" in the library were neat.

I gave Int Feedback, mine was on nov 18th, so all future interviewees read and good luck!

I happen to love snow btw, I live in NYC and this rain is bumming me out.
 
Oh god, tour is 2 hrs? Bummers.🙁

By the way, is it true they place most interviewees in the wait list? It's what previous posts seem to say.
 
Hi all,

If anyone could spare an opinion of what happened during my UB interview, I would be very appreciative.

I recently interviewed there and absolutely loved everything I saw (it's one of my top choices so I had gone on 3 tours before that)- even the other interviewees were some of the nicest and most incredible people I ever met (I got the chance to meet 3/4 of them since the day lasted 7 hrs). The first interview was very enjoyable but I had a rather interesting second interview discussion about my ethnicity.

I am a mix of mostly Northern African ("white") and some Southern ("black"). I always put "other" or "mixed" when asked about ethnicity (I don't really consider myself conventional black or conventional white), but the AMCAS had no such options and I could not write them in. At the time, I thought nothing of it- figured it was for statistical purposes only- so I guessed putting white and black would be the most accurate description for the statisticians at the AAMC (plus it felt like denying part of my heritage to just put white) and quickly moved on. I did NOT put down disadvantaged. I worked with disadvantaged children, have seen the very real hardship they go through (for example one of the happiest days of my life was when a few of the 8th graders I taught stopped hanging out with a group of teens that were going to ruin the kids' lives). I would never ever try to take advantage of that, as I was fortunate enough to grow up without such hardship and these kids really need all the help the can get to break the cycle of poverty. Hence, I figured what I put for ethnicity didn't really matter at all since I put no to disadvantaged and made no claims or insinuations to being a disadvantaged minority.

But my second interviewer seemed to think differently. After asking warm-up questions like how old my parents are, he promptly asked me why I put black on my application. At first I thought he might just be curious or conversational, but his body language coupled with his tone of voice and the fact that he was taking very careful notes on what I said quickly assured me of the gravity of the situation at hand. He spent a considerable part of the interview asking me what was the "black" part of me (ie what percentage, asked about tribe's history, asked about side of family, etc.). I tried to say it shouldn't matter since I didn't claim to be a minority, but he ignored me. It was truly one of the most degrading and humiliating experiences of my life having someone tearing into the identity at my very core (even worse than being held at the border for 9 hrs post-9/11 for being "one of them"). Of course I tried to act as composed as possible and responded politely and respectfully. But it did hurt, a lot, especially walking out of a school that I love in my city that I love. Furthermore, I felt the questioning was completely uncalled for. If I tried to use that small ethnic percentage to my advantage by claiming minority/disadvantaged status, then by all means I deserved a rejection for such a tasteless and unethical move (and even a letter to my home institution). But I did not, so ethnicity should have been absolutely no issue. I feel discriminated against just for being open about who I am, and can now understand how our homosexual army personnel feel under "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policies. I learned my lesson- always leave ethnicity blank (though its a sad day in America when you are afraid to be open about your ethnicity for fear of repercussions from admissions committees). But at the same time I feel very badly about how I may have made my interviewer feel.

Make no mistake, I am criticizing the mindset not the interviewer. My interviewer was a great stand-up kind of guy. His appointment to Clinical Service Director of a major pathology/lab department attests to his leadership and fantastic character qualities. He is very generous, and donated quite significant sums of money to causes like a physician advocacy group, the local zoo, art gallery, and philharmonic orchestra. He is a devoted father, having raised a son who attended UB Med and became an oral/maxillofacial surgeon. Inspiringly, even after facing the tragedy of loosing his wife 4 years ago, he continues to give back to the medical school by serving on such capacities as faculty council member and admissions committee member. I can completely understand the angle he came from. Before training at Walter Reed, he attended Howard Medical as an African American from the mid to late 1960s in the midst of such events as the assassination of MLK, the Selma/Montgomery marches, and the 1965 Voting Rights act. I have no doubt he faced significant challenges and turmoil to get to where he is now. Such experiences would give him a special sense of empathy toward those who are truly disadvantaged today. If I were in such a position and I believed a student was trying to take advantage of a system designed to help the disadvantaged, I would not only be angry, but hurt and saddened too. UB gave me a wait list spot which I am incredibly grateful for after expecting rejection, but i have no doubt that the incident was thoroughly discussed by the committee.

Sorry for the rant, so here are my three questions: 1)Is my thought process reasonable, or am I way off base? 2)I feel badly about what happened, what's the best way to apologize for any offense he may have felt ? 3)And how can we stop such a situation- where both the interviewer and interviewee can get hurt- from ever happening again?

I intend to contact the AAMC with a prepared argument supporting the creation of an "other" for ethnicity with an open-ended text box field. But as a longer term solution I hope discussion is had about possibly having a separate section for "disadvantaged/underrepresented" where the applicant can explain what makes him/her disadvantaged (ex. minority, socioeconomically, etc.). In such a situation, information in the ethnicity section would be unnecessary for schools supporting affirmative action to have (since it would be covered in the disadvantaged/ underrepresented section). Thus, I think schools should not have access to the ethnicity section until after the admissions cycle, for statistical purposes only. This would ensure that the data is not misused. But of course I am only a premed and am in no position to say what works and what won't.

What are your thoughts? Any other ideas?

I know this was a bit long, but if anybody does wind up responding, I really do appreciate it. I know that time is a very precious commodity.
 
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heartCatsnDogs said:
Hi all,

1)Is my thought process reasonable, or am I way off base? 2)I feel badly about what happened, what's the best way to apologize for any offense he may have felt ? 3)And how can we stop such a situation- where both the interviewer and interviewee can get hurt- from ever happening again?
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First of all, interesting post and sorry that this was an issue.

1) It is a reasonable thought process because any normal person (interviewer) would not continually press deeper and deeper into someones personal ethnic background. If I said I am of Italian descent, the furthest I would expect that to go would be "What part of Italy is your family from?" or something of that nature... and then it should be done with. I can't understand why he would continually press the issue unless he needs to fill some sort of "diversity quota" in the school and was trying to decide how to classify you? Odd.

2) You could contact the admissions office and get an address to personally send out a well thought out letter to him explaining how you felt. This is a good option because I'm sure in the moment, it was tough to think clearly.

3) Unfortunately, I don't think this is possible. People are people and things get said that can be taken as offensive and unless every interviewer around the country changes their personality, then this is basically impossible.

Good luck to you!
 
Wow. If you've described this experience accurately, then I would say your interviewer was completely out of line and should be reprimanded by the school.

I would address a letter - similar to your thoughtful, heartfelt posting here - to the Dean. If you are still interested in attending Buffalo, then I would request a third interview, request that the information from this interview be disregarded, and request a second post-interview evaluation of your candidacy by the committee. If you're worried about jeopardizing your chances, then you could wait it out for the wait-list to convert to acceptance. I hope ultimately you will act, though.

Interviewers have no business asking any questions, actually, about a candidate's race, age, religious belief, or sexual orientation.

And by the way, I also don't think your description of what you suspect your interviewer's character to be is relevant, nor should you feel at all responsible for how your 'ethnicity' check-box made one of your interviewers feel.

Best wishes to you.
 
Sorry about what you went through. I agree perhaps you should contact Buffalo and explain what happened, and maybe request a third interview. Your interviewer seemed to have acted inappropriately, and it's not your fault so don't feel bad. But yeah, call Mr. Rosso or someone at the top and explan the situation. Hope everything works out.
 
Uncle Vanya said:
Wow. If you've described this experience accurately, then I would say your interviewer was completely out of line and should be reprimanded by the school.
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I disagree.

If an applicant claims they are black and show up to the interview looking white they have a lot to answer for. If AMCAS is allowed to ask the question about race, then the interviewer didn't overstep his boundaries at all.

I agree with the poster that an "other" category should be added. If I'm a descendant of the Zulu tribe I should be able to put that on my application.

But as an anthropologist, I must say that race is an extremely outdated concept. Disadvantaged status, such as growing up in a culture of poverty and crime, should take priority above race/ethnicity.
 
softmed said:
I disagree.

If an applicant claims they are black and show up to the interview looking white they have a lot to answer for. If AMCAS is allowed to ask the question about race, then the interviewer didn't overstep his boundaries at all.

I agree with the poster that an "other" category should be added. If I'm a descendant of the Zulu tribe I should be able to put that on my application.

But as an anthropologist, I must say that race is an extremely outdated concept. Disadvantaged status, such as growing up in a culture of poverty and crime, should take priority above race/ethnicity.
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i think the major issue is not that he was asked, but rather, that the interviewer kept probing and came off as accusatory. i concur that race is a flawed, oversimplified concept, but it's the only one we have. and IMO, he should be considered as URM. The man must have encountered individuals trying to take advantage of URM status and unfairly took it out on him.
 
Ethnicity information is optional on AMCAS. A medical school would only have some right to inquire about a student's race or ethnicity (or religion, sexual orientation, etc.) if the student had discussed this extensively in his application.

This being said, I think most of us tolerate a certain number of questions concerning this kind of personal information because we can't imagine an interviewer would be so boorish as to use that information against us.

So I agree with FIREitUP that the greater problem is that the interviewer made the student feel "degraded and humiliated" through the accusatory tone of the questioning.
 
I had a similar experience during my interview at Buffalo. It seemed like my interviewers were constantly trying to "trick" me into admitting that I didn't tell the truth on my AMCAS application (e.g., my sexual orientation, family history, etc.). They would ask me the same questions over and over again, just word them differently, and then point out what they thought were discrepancies in my story... I got really nervous and think it screwed up my entire interview. I heard and read similar stories from other people who interviewed there, so this seems to be a common theme. I have two acceptances to top medical schools, and was waitlisted at Buffalo. I would really love to go there....I was really impressed by the school and loved the staff and faculty. I intend on writing a letter also, letting Dr. Severin know that these kinds of interviews don't necessarily get the "truth" out of interviewees, but rather really screw up the experience for the students who really want to go there.
 
Uncle Vanya said:
Ethnicity information is optional on AMCAS. A medical school would only have some right to inquire about a student's race or ethnicity (or religion, sexual orientation, etc.) if the student had discussed this extensively in his application.
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That's true. But in this case, since the applicant volunteered that information on his application it was a perfectly valid question. Otherwise people could just put "African American/Black" so they could get special consideration by the ADCOM (and yes, even if you're not disadvantaged being an underrepresented minority DOES help you get into school).

I actually had opted to not answer that question last time I applied to medical schools. I think I got a question on why I decided to do that, so this year I changed my answer to "white". Nothing to be ashamed of I guess.
 
Zona Pellucida, Uncle Vanya, BlueElmo, softmed, FIREitUP, and xxDOCxx

Thank you all for your replies, they were really insightful and I appreciate it a lot. I don't know what the interviewer thought, but in the end, the committee exercised good judgment and gave me the benefit of the doubt rather than go with a more cynical explanation. Considering they have several thousand applicants, they could easily say "this isn't even worth our time" and just reject me. Such consideration for me as an individual makes my respect for UB grow even greater and makes me want to go/get accepted there even more. I really can't complain about what happened.

I did not realize some people may still consider race automatically even if you don't put underrepresented /disadvantaged. I simply tried to be as honest as possible. Maybe they should have a Miranda statement: anything marked for ethnicity can be used against you at in the office of admissions.

My purpose in posting is that I don't want this to happen to anyone else. I'll be in contact with the AAMC and post back should anyone be curious what happens. I know chances are nothing will come of it, but at least I would have tried.
 
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I'm very glad to to hear that the school has done right by you, for the most part. Best of luck to you.
 
bowzer said:
accepted.

You have to write an essay that your interviewers will read so make sure you do a good job on that.
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Oh god on the spot essay? I didn't know Buffalo did this, those make me very nervous. How long was it, what was the general topic, and did you have enough time to do it. Do you have any tips on preparing for it?
 
We have to write an essay on the interview day? That's new to me.
 
cardiology88 said:
Oh god on the spot essay? I didn't know Buffalo did this, those make me very nervous. How long was it, what was the general topic, and did you have enough time to do it. Do you have any tips on preparing for it?
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BlueElmo said:
We have to write an essay on the interview day? That's new to me.
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They explained that the essay is primarily used to describe the incoming class at their white-coating ceremony, not for making admissions decisions. (I don't remember whether it plays into the decision - I got the impression that it was minimal. I personally imagine that it's not considered important unless you write a red-flag answer - but again, that's just the impression I got.) Specifically, we were told that if we spent more than 10 minutes on it, we were taking it too seriously.

The question was open and easy, very similar to the past examples posted on the Interview Feedback section. I only spent about 5 minutes on mine, but I have no regrets about that - I had thought about the question a lot (without knowing it would ever be a 'pop-essay' question), so it just took 5 minutes to write my answer down. (Waitlisted, though, to be fair.)
 
Oh okay, thanks for clearing that up marele87.
 
My application was complete in early October and I have not heard anything yet. Is that a good or bad thing (generally speaking)?
I called them and they said no decision has been made yet and that they'll let me know.
I am just wondering if this is a good thing? Perhaps I will get an interview?
I am just confused because my MCAT is low and I thought I would get rejected asap. My friend's app was completed after mine (late October) and she was rejected weeks ago.
Thoughts?
 
rainashley said:
My application was complete in early October and I have not heard anything yet. Is that a good or bad thing (generally speaking)?
I called them and they said no decision has been made yet and that they'll let me know.
I am just wondering if this is a good thing? Perhaps I will get an interview?
I am just confused because my MCAT is low and I thought I would get rejected asap. My friend's app was completed after mine (late October) and she was rejected weeks ago.
Thoughts?
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How is your GPA? UB tends to favor GPA over MCAT - of course, not a solid rule, but a tendency I've noticed around these parts (I know many UB students).
 
~3.4 overall GPA, 3.3 BCPM (from Ivy League)… 24 MCAT
I also sent them an update letter that i will be taking more undergrad bio classes next semester and retaking the mcat in january

illegallysmooth said:
How is your GPA? UB tends to favor GPA over MCAT - of course, not a solid rule, but a tendency I've noticed around these parts (I know many UB students).
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rainashley said:
~3.4 overall GPA, 3.3 BCPM (from Ivy League)… 24 MCAT
I also sent them an update letter that i will be taking more undergrad bio classes next semester and retaking the mcat in january
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No offense to you, I'm just being honest.

But those stats are too low for almost any MD schools. Check out the "What are My Chances" forum. Good luck.
 
BlueElmo said:
No offense to you, I'm just being honest.

But those stats are too low for almost any MD schools. Check out the "What are My Chances" forum. Good luck.
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even as a minority?
miracles do happen
 
rainashley said:
even as a minority?
miracles do happen
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URM? Oh, then that might be different.

I mean, I don't think there's anything you can do right now other than just wait out and see what happens. Maybe send another update or something.
 
"will be retaking the mcat in january"

I emailed Mr. Rosso about my committee score (he said they will not release it) and asked if it helps to retake the MCAT in Jan. He said no it would not; i'm on the wait list, though, so that might be different.
 
NO ACTION since late June/early July... cmon UB, I haven't given up on you but I probably should give up on checking my status a couple of times a day!
 
As a heads up, the UB interview day essay is really simple and they use it to read at the WC ceremony.

Mine was very abstract, just philosophize for 10 mins about medicine following a prompt, two or three P's and you'll be set. Severin said it's not a decision factor regardless.
 
Interview invite today. Complete 08/11

I am not sure how they are reviewing files, but it is definitely not gameover for people who were complete early and haven't gotten interviews yet.

I haven't read through this entire thread yet, but I hope to do so soon. Can anyone from Suny buff evaluate it against the other SUNY schools/NYMC?

Congrats to everyone who got in, and good luck to everyone waiting!
 
SayVYas said:
Interview invite today. Complete 08/11

I am not sure how they are reviewing files, but it is definitely not gameover for people who were complete early and haven't gotten interviews yet.

I haven't read through this entire thread yet, but I hope to do so soon. Can anyone from Suny buff evaluate it against the other SUNY schools/NYMC?

Congrats to everyone who got in, and good luck to everyone waiting!
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Congrats, when are you interviewing? I'm doing it late January.
 
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