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I think a better question is, "when are January rejections coming out?" They tend to send out a big wave around the middle of the month.
2009-2010 University of Utah Application Thread
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Nope...but that Utah3219 guy seems to know what he's talking about, but I'd like to know his sources.
Rejected, OOS. Kinda sad, but not that sad since I already have an acceptance elsewhere. It would have been nice to have had an option closer to my family, but I like the other program better anyway. Good luck to everyone else!
Oh I have no doubts that they have been giving acceptances, I was just wondering if anyone actually knows someone who has received one (I haven't noticed anyone posting an acceptance yet in this thread, but it seems that there aren't too many Utah applicants on SDN). The closest I've heard of is a friend of a friend. I do have one friend who was rejected about a month ago, but I don't personally know anyone who has been accepted yet. It'll be interesting to see if we do in fact start hearing more from the U around the middle of the month.
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I haven't heard of anyone personally. Not at my school, nor have my friends at other Utah schools heard about anyone getting in yet. Was your rejected friend in-state? How was his application?
Yeah he is a Utah resident, with a great application. 3.9 GPA, good ECs, multiple research publications, and I imagine that he interviewed well. I couldn't believe it when he got rejected so early. To be honest, I thought that he had a better chance at the U than me.
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I almost wish you hadn't told us this. Up until now I haven't been worried about hearing anything from the U, but now that there is chance of an update I'm going to be checking my email neurotically until I hear.
Here's to getting the good news soon....
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Good luck
But remember it's coming by paper mail
Thanks, good luck to you as well if you're applying.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the paper mail route....that actually saves me a lot of email checking grief. Do the rejections come via paper mail as well?
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O boy... I'm going to be anxiously waiting for the mail over the next few days.
Sorry to hear about the rejection.
Thanks. I have one acceptance so I don't feel too terrible but it would have been nice to get instate love. I thought I had competitive numbers, good EC's, good interview etc. Oh well. Good luck to everyone else!
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I feel for ya. I thankfully avoided rejection this round, but one of my friends got it. It's scary because his application is far and away stronger than mine, so I think I dodged a bullet.
The envelope was postmarked Jan. 6th.
I have an interview on the 12th can anyone shed any light on what to expect. Like an overview of the Interviews. I have done a couple mock interviews but I am still quite nervous, so I am sure any info would be helpful.
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SDN's new interview feedback link for the U is right here and it gives a lot of examples of questions people were asked in the past. Most interviewers there focus heavily on your primary and secondary applications, including your essays. Expect questions about your research, clinical exposure and volunteer experience. And most of all, don't be too nervous! Show them that you're the real deal and you would make a great student there. Good luck!
I know of 3 people personally who have gotten acceptances. When I interviewed in mid December I believe 6 people had already been accepted. The 3rd person I know just got their acceptance today. I believe they interviewed in early December.
I'm all anxious now...
I'm all anxious now...
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Hey guys, I recently talked with someone on one of the admissions committees at the U and they gave some frank answers to a lot of my questions. I thought I might share some of the responses here though they might be old hat to a lot of us.
- The rejections sent out last week were due to post-interview reviews. Basically, if one (or both) of your interviewers didn't approve of you, you got the boot. If you didn't get a rejection, your application has already made it to the selections committee and they've probably already reviewed it and assigned you a score.
- The selections committee, of course, doesn't know your gpa or mcat so they are rating you solely by what they read on your application (minus the classes you took, what your grades were, etc). This part is very subjective in that a person could react negatively to one sentence you wrote in your application (hypothetically speaking). After everyone has voted, your gpa and mcat are added in and carry a 10% weight each.
- After that, you are basically on a waiting list where your application sits while Dr. Samuelson sends acceptance letters each week to one or two people who are at the top of the list and maybe one or two rejections to those who are at the very bottom. At this point they've already sent out 30 acceptance letters (!).
- By March 15, everyone will know whether they've been accepted, rejected, or put on the official wait list (I'm not sure I believe that, but we'll see if they make the date).
- At this moment, the class size will still be 82 for next year. The reduction last year was political posturing and the state legislature called their bluff. Now the U is in a weird position where they didn't get the extra funding they wanted, but if they go back on their decision to reduce the class sizes they'll appear weak. Right now it's up to Michael Young (the U president) as to whether they increase the class size back up to 102. The person I talked to strongly suggests that students/family/community focus their efforts on petitioning him to increase the class size.
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First off, that was extremely helpful jordhen. Thanks for sharing that with the rest of us. It's nice to know what is going on behind the scenes a little bit.
Second, you can certainly count me in for a petition.
Me too. That is great info, jordhen, thank you! As they say, no news is good news (at least last week).
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Thanks for doing the research. It's nice have a little perspective on what's going on with our applications there. I hope they stick to their guns about the March 15th date of letting us know either way. I just want to know one way or the other so I can move on with planning my life.
I'm surprised they've already given out 30 acceptances. Assuming the worst (that they were all in-state), that leaves about 30 more out there for the rest of us, right?
At a meeting with the deans just yesterday, it was stressed that the reduction in class size was NOT political posturing and retaliation to not getting the funding the school wanted. They seemed sincere that there was no blame of the state, and were frustrated that this rumor is being perpetuated. Size cuts were necessitated by the loss of 10 million dollars in federal money, which the state could simply not replace. To maintain a quality education, twenty seats were cut so that the dollar amount spent per student could be maintained. As for the petition, we were advised to contact our state representatives and pressure them to find the money to replace funding, they suggested an increase in the tobacco tax, and therefore increase class size. With a 9% tuition increase on the books for the entire university, asking at the university level to increase class size without funding will not do much.
Good luck to everyone waiting to hear.
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Maybe my sources have just been blowing smoke, that's certainly a possibility. But I remain utterly unconvinced that 20 measly students carry a pricetag of $10 million. Maybe if that money was needed for other things like construction projects or equipment upgrades, but so far everything that the school has implied publicly is that 20 students=$10 million. Don't get me wrong, I think the school needs more funds now than ever wherever they can get it, but the legislature is a dubious source. Even now they are looking for more places where they can cut the state budget. Other groups are also proposing a tabacco tax increase, but for projects that have nothing to do with education.
With all that said, I really appreciate you commenting. It's nice to have an actual med student from the U posting here.
With all that said, I really appreciate you commenting. It's nice to have an actual med student from the U posting here.
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Whooohooo! I'm accepted in the U! Letter dated January 8th! All I need is 1 acceptance=MD. Good look to the rest of u!
Last year when I was applying we all heard that exact same thing and I certainly believed it. What made their $10 million logic more convincing to me was that the "estimated" cost of our education is $85,000 per year times four years times 20 students. Adding in the additional cost of MDs teaching time especially in 3rd and 4th year, I can actually believe their accounting (kind of).
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I certainly agree that medical education is not cheap, it's just that $10 million means $125,000 over 20 students over 4 years, which is quite a bit higher than $85k (and this doesn't even include the $20k each student is contributing each year). To be honest, I really don't know the in's and out's of their accounting, including how much it costs to compensate the doctors who spend time with MS3's, but I get skeptical when the numbers they give us clearly don't add up.
On a unrelated note, what do you (or anyone else out there) think of Dean Bjorkman? I personally have never met the guy.
On a unrelated note, what do you (or anyone else out there) think of Dean Bjorkman? I personally have never met the guy.
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Congrats to you. Care to share if you're in state or out?
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Rejection letter in the mail for me today.
I would like to know why, but will probably never find out.
At least UVM wants me.
I would like to know why, but will probably never find out.
At least UVM wants me.
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I am an MS who was also at the meeting the other day, and before attending the meeting I agreed with all of you. I didn't think there was any way they would really need $10 million a year just for a few more kids to sit in the back of a classroom and learn. As they put it, there would be no problem if this was the case and medical school was 4 years of classroom work. The problem is in the 3rd and 4th years when they have to compensate the departments for time their docs are taking out of seeing pt's. After I realized this point it became much more obvious why it costs so much. Most pt's hospital bills are thousands of dollars a week or even per day depending on the problem, not to mention surgical proceedures. Times that # by 20 students for two years and you will probably find more than ten million in expenses.
As far as what we can do to increase the class size and keep tuition low is find a way to persuade the govornor to increase the tobacco tax (the gov. was recently quoted saying under no circumstances would he raise ANY taxes) and actually give it to the people that are going to be caring for the people using tobacco. The deans said the tax would raise something like 50 million a year (dont quote me on that number) and all we need is 10.
As far as what we can do to increase the class size and keep tuition low is find a way to persuade the govornor to increase the tobacco tax (the gov. was recently quoted saying under no circumstances would he raise ANY taxes) and actually give it to the people that are going to be caring for the people using tobacco. The deans said the tax would raise something like 50 million a year (dont quote me on that number) and all we need is 10.
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Here is what it all comes down to: You can either petition the legislature or the school. I personally don't think it's wrong to disagree with the dean on an issue. The legislature already knows that the lost funding was the direct result of misappropriated medicare dollars, so you're going to need a lot of muscle if you pursue that route. Deans Betz and Bjorkman voted last year for the reduction and Michael Young approved it. President Young is the only one who can overturn that decision and I propose we send our petitions to his office. Besides the pre-meds at my school, I know lots of people who are doctors, have children who want to become doctors, or have to schedule appointments far in advance because there is a shortage of doctors who would be more than willing to sign a petition. Please post if you agree. If you disagree, then I strongly urge you only do so if you are willing to put forth the effort to petition the legislature instead. Those extra 20 seats could mean an acceptance for you or a friend of yours. Thanks for all your input, good luck to you all.
By the way, if the budget cut came over a year ago, how are they able to afford the 102 MS3s (and MS4s) who are doing rotations now? Food for thought.
By the way, if the budget cut came over a year ago, how are they able to afford the 102 MS3s (and MS4s) who are doing rotations now? Food for thought.
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I am currently a MS3 at the UofU. Having recently taken the boards last June along with the rest of my class I can comment on USMLE Step I performance. As a class our average was 218-219. Yes, that is a few below the national average, but you should also know that the curve was very bimodal. There were quite a few students that scored really well (240+) with a class high of 263 last I heard. There were, however, a good number of students who scored below average (200-220) and even a few that scored sub 200s or even failed it the first time (<185). I feel like this spread was very accurate in portraying our class as a whole. There are a lot of students who are on top of there game and work very hard. They set goals to score well on the boards and did so. There were also students who struggled to motivate themselves to study hard for the test. Not ironically this seemed to be the same breakdown throughout 1st and 2nd year. Some students simply settled for P=MD, and that mind set stuck with them on the USMLE. Student attitudes toward preparation aside, I feel that UofU SOM amply prepared students to not only pass, but do very well on the boards. Sure, there were weaknesses in the curriculum, but find me a school that doesn't. Overall, basic sciences at the U laid a good foundation of knowledge for Step I. I studied in a group of four students. We all worked very hard and spent months in preparation, and I can tell you that we all scored 245+.
Now, as far as the 2009 match. It is not a rumor. ~10% had to scramble. I do however believe that they all scrambled into a spot, but it just may have not been the spot they wanted. The big question is why didn't they match? After talking to some people (i.e. Deans, Program Directors, and Attendings) it was fairly obvious what happened. These students applied for residencies that they were simply not competitive enough to match in. One example in particular was one of those P=MD students with below average Step scores who half way through 3rd year decided that he wanted to match into a competitive residency (Radiology I think). The word is that he was not the only student who was faced with this issue. Hence, the scramble. I don't think this necessarily demonstrates any deficiencies in the UofU SOM, just some of its students.🙄 If anything the school needs to sit down with 4th year students at the beginning of the year and talk to them about their expectations and counsel them on whether or not they reachable or not.
Anyway, hope this helps. UofU SOM is a great school. They have surpassed my expectations as a medical school and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. You would be lucky to land a spot in the 1st year class. The new curriculum may have some glitches to work out, but looks to be very promising in the very near future. Best O' Luck!!!
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I am currently a MS3 at the UofU. Having recently taken the boards last June along with the rest of my class I can comment on USMLE Step I performance. As a class our average was 218-219. Yes, that is a few below the national average, but you should also know that the curve was very bimodal. There were quite a few students that scored really well (240+) with a class high of 263 last I heard. There were, however, a good number of students who scored below average (200-220) and even a few that scored sub 200s or even failed it the first time (<185). I feel like this spread was very accurate in portraying our class as a whole. There are a lot of students who are on top of there game and work very hard. They set goals to score well on the boards and did so. There were also students who struggled to motivate themselves to study hard for the test. Not ironically this seemed to be the same breakdown throughout 1st and 2nd year. Some students simply settled for P=MD, and that mind set stuck with them on the USMLE. Student attitudes toward preparation aside, I feel that UofU SOM amply prepared students to not only pass, but do very well on the boards. Sure, there were weaknesses in the curriculum, but find me a school that doesn't. Overall, basic sciences at the U laid a good foundation of knowledge for Step I. I studied in a group of four students. We all worked very hard and spent months in preparation, and I can tell you that we all scored 245+.
Now, as far as the 2009 match. It is not a rumor. ~10% had to scramble. I do however believe that they all scrambled into a spot, but it just may have not been the spot they wanted. The big question is why didn't they match? After talking to some people (i.e. Deans, Program Directors, and Attendings) it was fairly obvious what happened. These students applied for residencies that they were simply not competitive enough to match in. One example in particular was one of those P=MD students with below average Step scores who half way through 3rd year decided that he wanted to match into a competitive residency (Radiology I think). The word is that he was not the only student who was faced with this issue. Hence, the scramble. I don't think this necessarily demonstrates any deficiencies in the UofU SOM, just some of its students.🙄 If anything the school needs to sit down with 4th year students at the beginning of the year and talk to them about their expectations and counsel them on whether or not they reachable or not.
Anyway, hope this helps. UofU SOM is a great school. They have surpassed my expectations as a medical school and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. You would be lucky to land a spot in the 1st year class. The new curriculum may have some glitches to work out, but looks to be very promising in the very near future. Best O' Luck!!!
Interesting stuff, thanks for posting. It confirms my thoughts that it's not the school you go to that determines how you do on the boards, it's your own personal attitude and preparation.
I had another question for you if you're willing to answer. As an M3 (and M4), where are you doing the majority of your rotations? Are you mostly staying up at the University Hospital, or do they send you out into some other clinics and facilities across the Wasatch Front? I interviewed at the U back in the early fall, so they may have told us then, but I don't remember. It was also one of my first interviews, and I wasn't really curious about M3/M4 rotation locations at the time.
Maybe I can help answer this. My buddy is an M3 at Utah and his rotations have been split between the IMC in Murray, the VA Hospital, and the University Hospital. I believe he did his first medicine rotation out at IMC, psych at the VA, and is now at the University Hospital for pediatrics and OB/GYN. But I think this varies from student to student.
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