2009-2010 University of Michigan Application Thread

[witness23]

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I just got their auto-interview invite, but ...hold on,let me quote the email I received:

"Congratulations! I am pleased to invite you to interview for a position in the Class of 2013 at the University of Michigan Medical School. We hope you will find the interview day at the University of Michigan informative, enjoyable and rewarding......."

What the heck is that? Is it a typo or....hehe
Hope that they are not sending me the invitation due to error!😕

they created a time machine and you are the first batch of guinea pigs

 

[Alvarez13]

the msar says:
Med GPA:3.8
Med BPCM:3.8
Med MCAT:36

eep!

 

[longhorn09]

I just got their auto-interview invite, but ...hold on,let me quote the email I received:

"Congratulations! I am pleased to invite you to interview for a position in the Class of 2013 at the University of Michigan Medical School. We hope you will find the interview day at the University of Michigan informative, enjoyable and rewarding......."

What the heck is that? Is it a typo or....hehe
Hope that they are not sending me the invitation due to error!😕

Am I the only one to encounter this problem???😕

 

[longhorn09]

they created a time machine and you are the first batch of guinea pigs

WoW that's so exciting

 

[BlueElmo]

Average GPA is 3.74 and average MCAT is 11.6 for each section, according to their site.

 

[xcrunner01]

I called the admissions office and asked them what to do with listing my lab. The lady was puzzled at first with the lack of there being a separate lab tab and told me to include the lab course in parenthesis on the same line as the lecture info. I tried it out but the information didn't fit so I just put (CHEM ###, Lab, # units) and selected "yes" under "course included lab" instead. Not sure what to do otherwise. 😕

Thanks for the tip! That's weird that yours didn't fit. Mine look like this entry:

CHEM 2006 (S1) CHEM 105 General Chemistry I 3.00 (CHEM 106 General Chemistry I LAB 1.00)

Everything fit for me. Can you abbreviate the names a little?

 

[xcrunner01]

I consider those to be academic activities

Thanks for the help. So what are some examples of activities you guys put? If research, tutoring, TAing, honors programs, etc, count as academic activities, I'm pretty much limited to volunteering and hobbies for the 6 activities. Trouble is, it's tough to fill 6 slots with that. I have two long-term volunteering experiences I could list, a few short term volunteer experiences, one non-academic club, and I guess I could include a hobby (running), but that seems to be pushing it a bit. What do you guys think?

 

[megafoofie]

Thanks for the tip! That's weird that yours didn't fit. Mine look like this entry:

CHEM 2006 (S1) CHEM 105 General Chemistry I 3.00 (CHEM 106 General Chemistry I LAB 1.00)

Everything fit for me. Can you abbreviate the names a little?

Thanks for the help. So what are some examples of activities you guys put? If research, tutoring, TAing, honors programs, etc, count as academic activities, I'm pretty much limited to volunteering and hobbies for the 6 activities. Trouble is, it's tough to fill 6 slots with that. I have two long-term volunteering experiences I could list, a few short term volunteer experiences, one non-academic club, and I guess I could include a hobby (running), but that seems to be pushing it a bit. What do you guys think?

Thanks! I tried your method and it worked beautifully. For non-academic activities, I included my place of employment, more significant service projects (non-medical), and some hobbies (i.e. car enthusiast). Just be aware of Essay 1 which calls for describing one of the six that you list in influencing your decision to go into medicine. ^_^

 

[xcrunner01]

what do i do if i haven't taken biochem yet. do i just leave that part blank on the coursework section?

I don't think you should leave it blank. Fill it in with the appropriate semester for the upcoming year that reflects when you will take it.

 

[SteinUmStein]

Is research still considered academic if it's not at an academic institution? And yes, I'm having trouble filling these slots. 😛

 

[xcrunner01]

Is research still considered academic if it's not at an academic institution? And yes, I'm having trouble filling these slots. 😛

Hmmm, I'm wondering the same thing, actually. I'm doing research at the NIH right now, and I want to put that as an activity. I'll probably go for it...it wasn't at my undergrad institution, so it's not exactly academic. I'd say you could probably do the same.

 

[witness23]

research is academic. volunteering as a "recreation", because it makes you feel warm on the inside, is not.

 

[shemarty]

congrats on the invites! you can call them to ask if you can switch to a later date. they obviously wanna fill the earlier ones first.

last year i signed up for sept 5th but called to switch to sept 19th (i got more invites, i wanted to connect multiple interviews in one trip to save on airfare, michigan was very understanding about this and let me change my date)

 

[LiveUninhibited]

how daunting is their secondary?

Not very:

A. NON-ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES. List up to six of your most valued recent non-academic activities. Include information about hours per week and duration of involvement for each.

EXAMPLE: Fayette County Health Department. Nurse's aide for migrant worker program. 8 hrs/wk. 3 months.
B.1 ESSAY.
Select one experience from your list in part A (Non-Academic Activities) and describe in a brief essay its impact on your decision to go into medicine. Do not exceed 1500 characters (about 250 words).
MSTP applicants: Instead of the above, briefly describe why you decided to apply to the University of Michigan MSTP. If you are interested in a specific department, program, or area of research for your Ph.D., please provide a brief explanation (we recognize that your interests may change).
B.2 ESSAY.
At the University of Michigan Medical School, we are committed to building a superb educational community with students of diverse talents, experiences, opinions, and backgrounds. What would you as an individual bring to our medical school community? Do not exceed 1500 characters (about 250 words).

And then they have you list courses to make sure you meet the course requirements, give your contact information, have you agree to the background check, and of course payment.

i got an auto-invite...38/3.77 from UT-Austin..not sure if being engr'ing had any influence though

My stats are just below that: 37, 3.7, but it sounds like that's probably just below the threshold. Are they done doing auto-invites or do they continue to do them for awhile?

 

[P0tat0dude]

Am I the only one to encounter this problem???😕

Well, my secondary email stated that my AMCAS was "for the entering class of 2009" so I'm assuming that they just screwed up and failed to update their welcome messages from last year. Either that, or Michigan is stuck in a time warp .

At least the contact information tab has been fixed now.

 

[JasonE]

From last years secondary:

List up to six of your most valued recent non-academic activities (such as research, clinical experiences, community service, employment). Include information about hours per week and duration of involvement for each.


looks as if research is okay to list here

 

[pharaoh88]

So...apparently it is possible to get an auto-interview after the email secondary invite. Just happened to me via status page! 🙂

Also, I am NOT at a top 25 undergrad...so I guess it's possible to get one w/o being on "the list."

 

[P0tat0dude]

So...apparently it is possible to get an auto-interview after the email secondary invite. Just happened to me via status page! 🙂

Also, I am NOT at a top 25 undergrad...so I guess it's possible to get one w/o being on "the list."

Really? Congrats man!

I guess it could be that on the first day when they send out secondary invites, the people at the top 25 schools with qualifying stats (3.8 GPA, 38 MCAT) automatically get interviews and then, if there's still more spots available, they start giving them out to other applicants with those stats.

 

[LAman10]

So...apparently it is possible to get an auto-interview after the email secondary invite. Just happened to me via status page! 🙂

Also, I am NOT at a top 25 undergrad...so I guess it's possible to get one w/o being on "the list."

congrats! did they email you or did you just have to check the status page?

 

[pharaoh88]

It was weird. They emailed me that my status had been changed...then I checked the status page and was asked to schedule an interview and upload a photo. I was shocked to say the least! Good luck to all of you.

 

[longhorn09]

Really? Congrats man!

I guess it could be that on the first day when they send out secondary invites, the people at the top 25 schools with qualifying stats (3.8 GPA, 38 MCAT) automatically get interviews and then, if there's still more spots available, they start giving them out to other applicants with those stats.

I don't know, I got the invite yeserday. Maybe top applicants got their invates on 24th, I have no clue.

 

[SteinUmStein]

I just got an e-mail this morning without any regular text, just a big blue and yellow image with congratulations, you have been offered an interview, go to this website to schedule it. I wonder why they didn't send them all out at the same time?

 

[xcrunner01]

I just got an e-mail this morning without any regular text, just a big blue and yellow image with congratulations, you have been offered an interview, go to this website to schedule it. I wonder why they didn't send them all out at the same time?

Congrats! I am so jealous!

 

[radi0headfan]

I don't know, I got the invite yeserday. Maybe top applicants got their invates on 24th, I have no clue.

always good to see another longhorn!

 

[osumc2014]

this might be a stupid question, but is TAing considered a non academic activity?

 

[osumc2014]

Are clubs we are in, such as a premed club a non academic activity? And what about shadowing?

 

[JasonE]

Are clubs we are in, such as a premed club a non academic activity? And what about shadowing?

you can put both those. if you read last year's promt, its a bit more descriptive of what you can include. most experiences are academic in some way, so don't worry too much.

 

[osumc2014]

you can put both those. if you read last year's promt, its a bit more descriptive of what you can include. most experiences are academic in some way, so don't worry too much.

So research counts then? (according to last year's prompt)

 

[JasonE]

So research counts then? (according to last year's prompt)

if it was important to you, then i would say yes. the question is really gearing you up to write the following essay.

 

[Physicalmusic]

Received auto-invite 6/29. Ivy league, 3.96/40.

Anyone else going 8/28??

 

[SteinUmStein]

I'm interviewing 8/28. I'm pretty nervous, I'll have to do some practice interviews or something to get ready.

 

[pharaoh88]

8/28 for me as well. Let the fun begin!

 

[musicgeek]

Not very:


And then they have you list courses to make sure you meet the course requirements, give your contact information, have you agree to the background check, and of course payment.



My stats are just below that: 37, 3.7, but it sounds like that's probably just below the threshold. Are they done doing auto-invites or do they continue to do them for awhile?

Sorry if I missed this information earlier. Do we have to do both essays of part B, or do we choose one?

 

[osumc2014]

Sorry if I missed this information earlier. Do we have to do both essays of part B, or do we choose one?

do both

 

[kuriosity]

8/28 for me as well. Let the fun begin!

Me too for 8/28! 🙂

 

[Art8718]

My status page has been updated to say that I have undergone initial review and additional reviews will be conducted once my file is complete (I'm still missing one letter).

Has anyone else seen this? What's an "initial review"?

 

[SteinUmStein]

How strict are they with requiring a non-science faculty letter?

We require three letters and prefer one from a science faculty member, one from a non-science faculty member, and one from another recommender of your choice (a pre-medical committee letter may be substituted).

It says on their website that we can request a substitution, but the only reason I don't have one is because I don't know any non-science faculty well enough to get one. Is that a good enough reason to get a substitution, and is it worth it to contact them about this? 😕

We prefer that you provide the non-science faculty letter as requested, however we recognize that in some cases such as the applicant who has been out of school for a number of years, getting such a letter may not be feasible. A substitution may be requested from the Admissions Office for any particular type of recommendation letter.

 

[Sam32]

Applications Received: 817
Interviews Offered:
46 of 725 Admissions Offers made: 0%
(First offer: 10/15) (Updated 07/02/09)



I got these numbers from their site.

 

[osumc2014]

How strict are they with requiring a non-science faculty letter?

It says on their website that we can request a substitution, but the only reason I don't have one is because I don't know any non-science faculty well enough to get one. Is that a good enough reason to get a substitution, and is it worth it to contact them about this? 😕

HAHA it seems we often wonder the same thing. I emailed their office and this was their response:

[FONT='PrimaSans BT,Verdana,sans-serif']There is no official policy on LOR substitution. Whatever substitution
letter you have for your non-science LOR is fine. Once you have
submitted your secondary application a link will appear on the left side
of your status page called "Update My Application". Please inform us of
your LOR substitution at this site..

 

[osumc2014]

Applications Received: 817
Interviews Offered:
46 of 725 Admissions Offers made: 0%
(First offer: 10/15) (Updated 07/02/09)



I got these numbers from their site.

wow and what 10 of those invites are from SDN?? lol awesome!

 

[CielloStelatto]

this makes me feel a little better - they've only received a total of 817 applications, and they normally get circa 6000. So people applying now really aren't that late in the game at all.

 

[SteinUmStein]

this makes me feel a little better - they've only received a total of 817 applications, and they normally get circa 6000. So people applying now really aren't that late in the game at all.

Only on SDN would a July application be considered "late in the game." 🙄

Actually, most of the pre-meds I know from my undergraduate institution are either currently working on their primary application or have just recently submitted it. They're not on SDN for the most part though...

 

[osumc2014]

Was anyone complete and received an invite that is not auto so far?

 

[vette2k10]

Only on SDN would a July application be considered "late in the game." 🙄

Actually, most of the pre-meds I know from my undergraduate institution are either currently working on their primary application or have just recently submitted it. They're not on SDN for the most part though...

ya ditto, I was one of three that submitted in June. and a good portion either recently took their mcat or are taking it in august.

 

[vette2k10]

Btw whoever said that they instantly get LORs wasn't kidding. I sent mine last night and got a conformation at 6:00AM...let the waiting begin.

 

[vette2k10]

yo so i just checked my status page and saw that they entered one of my LORs twice.....is that going to cause problems? I'm gonna call them later today

 

[osumc2014]

yo so i just checked my status page and saw that they entered one of my LORs twice.....is that going to cause problems? I'm gonna call them later today

I wouldn't worry about it...as long as they aren't missing one you re fine

 

[Snoopy2006]

For the secondary prompt - is it frowned upon to write an essay on something you already talked about in your personal statement? I can expand a bit on it, but I talked about it quite a bit in my personal statement.

 

[STLINI]

Does Michigan require a specific computer, or did I make that up?

 

[zizou232]

Sooo did you guys receive an email invitation from Michigan to fill out their secondary? Because I just logged onto their secondary app and it says they've gotten my LORs and are awaiting my secondary and payment... but I was never invited to fill this out like I have been with other schools. Thoughts?