2009-2010 Vanderbilt University Application Thread

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ApoK said:
Unfriendly and non-conversational. When we did converse, it was not about anything really meaningful at all. The questions were not meant to "assess my personality" either. She had a couple questions that took up 10 minutes and then she asked was like "anything else?" It was like she wanted me out of there as fast as possible. Total BS.
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haha... glad that vandy is not your first choice then...

any ethical question that was overly unfair?
 
bannie22 said:
for those who had bad interview experiences, was it because the interviewers did not care to learn more about you by talking the entire time, or was it because the interviewer was asking short questions and being non-conversational?

please let me know.
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I had a "meh" experience, with my interviewer just having my AMCAS on his computer and not really asking me to elaborate on anything. We talked almost equally, but it just seemed he asked me dead-end questions and when I tried to be conversational, he either sat there or took it in a different, pointless direction. Didn't seem like he wanted to learn much about me.

Despite this, I loved Vandy and would give almost anything to go there.
 
metallica81788 said:
I had a "meh" experience, with my interviewer just having my AMCAS on his computer and not really asking me to elaborate on anything. We talked almost equally, but it just seemed he asked me dead-end questions and when I tried to be conversational, he either sat there or took it in a different, pointless direction. Didn't seem like he wanted to learn much about me.

Despite this, I loved Vandy and would give almost anything to go there.
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hope you hear good news then!

:xf:
 
metallica81788 said:
I had a "meh" experience, with my interviewer just having my AMCAS on his computer and not really asking me to elaborate on anything. We talked almost equally, but it just seemed he asked me dead-end questions and when I tried to be conversational, he either sat there or took it in a different, pointless direction. Didn't seem like he wanted to learn much about me.

Despite this, I loved Vandy and would give almost anything to go there.
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i had a 'meh' interview too (it was my very first interview - i was pretty jumpy). but given my outcome its clear that the interview is not the only deciding factor 😛! so for those of you who are anxious about hearing back, take comfort in knowing vandy puts serious weight on your secondaries and LORs. i think they provide you with a unique opportunity to make a great case for yourself alongside what your interviewer has to say.
 
Rejected pre-secondary 🙁
I was hoping that my wife being an alum might help with my low GPA since all my other stats are good but I guess not.
 
Eh, as I said, I had some truly awful interviews in other places. It's part of the inherent "fun" of this process.

In other news, I heard that our average step 1 score this year is likely the highest in the country by quite a few points. Exciting!

Also I was reading some news about how Vandy made it into the top 10 for NIH research, USNews, and now some other big ranking system that takes into account stuff like patient satisfaction scores (usually a huge issue in big academic centers, actually, the patients are often unhappy cause the doctors are arrogant and only interested in research) put us in the top 10. There are only two hospitals to be in the top 10 for all this stuff, and we're one (Duke is the other). So that's awesome.

And finally, we just finished building a ginormous addition to our adult hospital. 13 floors, huge awesome rooms and ORs and walls of windows everywhere and the coolest lobby ever. It'll be for acute care patients.

Anyway, wanted to bring some "yay Vandy" back into this...😉
 
ButImLETired said:
Anyway, wanted to bring some "yay Vandy" back into this...😉
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Well, you can bring it by getting me an update. 😛

I interviewed 9/22 and have heard nothing. Is it one of those schools where if your interviewer isn't able to present you, you get bumped to the next round?
 
Jolt21 said:
Well, you can bring it by getting me an update. 😛

I interviewed 9/22 and have heard nothing. Is it one of those schools where if your interviewer isn't able to present you, you get bumped to the next round?
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All interviewers do is fill out a report. Then 3 people on the committee look it over and make the decision.
 
rockaction said:
All interviewers do is fill out a report. Then 3 people on the committee look it over and make the decision.
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Dang. Well I'll keep praying that I keep missing that waitlist letter. :xf:
 
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Just wanted to add my name to the list of people who had a bad interview experience at Vandy. Of the 10 schools at which I interviewed it was easily the worst.

For me it was both the structure/organization of the interview day (will leave out details for now since it would be pretty easy to i.d. me) as well as a completely uninterested, border-line rude interviewer.

I will say, however, that I still really would have loved to go to Vandy, it's obviously a great medical school, but I was waitlisted.
 
The Beav said:
Just wanted to add my name to the list of people who had a bad interview experience at Vandy. Of the 10 schools at which I interviewed it was easily the worst.

For me it was both the structure/organization of the interview day (will leave out details for now since it would be pretty easy to i.d. me) as well as a completely uninterested, border-line rude interviewer.

I will say, however, that I still really would have loved to go to Vandy, it's obviously a great medical school, but I was waitlisted.
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I'm sorry to hear that man. That's such a bummer. Hopefully they'll give you a shot off the waitlist. Send letters and show your interest. :luck:
 
Jolt21 said:
Dang. Well I'll keep praying crossed that I keep missing that waitlist letter. :xf:
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Haha, I couldn't help but point this out because I'm trying to picture it in my head 😕:laugh:
 
Contrarian said:
then why make us burn all that cash on an interview?
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To make sure you have a decent personality and to sell you the school. Most ppl that vandy interview tend to get into multiple med schools and Vandy is one of those schools that are awesome but not on the top of ppl's minds.
 
crx said:
To make sure you have a decent personality and to sell you the school. Most ppl that vandy interview tend to get into multiple med schools and Vandy is one of those schools that are awesome but not on the top of ppl's minds.
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none of this goes on

for a school that really tries to sell you, try Pitt. their interview day is like an infomercial. Vandy knows it's "all that", it doesn't try to impress anyone (at least that was the gist me and a couple friends of mine who also interviewed there got).
 
crx said:
To make sure you have a decent personality and to sell you the school. Most ppl that vandy interview tend to get into multiple med schools and Vandy is one of those schools that are awesome but not on the top of ppl's minds.
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This is definitely not the purpose of most interviews, although I admit I have experienced this at many of my interviews. I think Penn tries to do what you're saying with it's interview. I guess I'll find out when I'm there...
 
ButImLETired said:
Also I was reading some news about how Vandy made it into the top 10 for NIH research, USNews, and now some other big ranking system that takes into account stuff like patient satisfaction scores (usually a huge issue in big academic centers, actually, the patients are often unhappy cause the doctors are arrogant and only interested in research) put us in the top 10. There are only two hospitals to be in the top 10 for all this stuff, and we're one (Duke is the other). So that's awesome.)
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Maybe they meant top 20? Last I checked, Vanderbilt was ranked 15 by US News and 10 for NIH funding.
 
rockaction said:
none of this goes on

for a school that really tries to sell you, try Pitt. their interview day is like an infomercial. Vandy knows it's "all that", it doesn't try to impress anyone (at least that was the gist me and a couple friends of mine who also interviewed there got).
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haha yeah Pitt's day really was like an infomercial....and I'm not gonna lie, they definitely got me to bite.
 
rockaction said:
none of this goes on

for a school that really tries to sell you, try Pitt. their interview day is like an infomercial. Vandy knows it's "all that", it doesn't try to impress anyone (at least that was the gist me and a couple friends of mine who also interviewed there got).
Click to expand...

Pitt got me to bite hard too. I dunno, when I visited, vandy was all about the "we're a big family" message. I guess "selling" the school it's not the correct wording, but rather each school tries to express themselves so the applicants know if they're a fit or not as well. I stayed with a host on my interview and ended up hanging out with a ton of first years, it definitely seemed like the class was selected to mesh to me.
 
rockaction said:
none of this goes on

for a school that really tries to sell you, try Pitt. their interview day is like an infomercial. Vandy knows it's "all that", it doesn't try to impress anyone (at least that was the gist me and a couple friends of mine who also interviewed there got).
Click to expand...

Contrarian said:
haha yeah Pitt's day really was like an infomercial....and I'm not gonna lie, they definitely got me to bite.
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For a school that really doesn't try to sell you, try UCLA. 😛

On a slightly more related note, anyone know when the decisions are coming out for the week of 10/5?
 
I got the secondary today! Yay! Oddly enough, they told me they didn't even get my application until mid-October, even though I submitted my application back in August. Anyway, I'm very excited! 🙂
 
lstone13 said:
I got the secondary today! Yay! Oddly enough, they told me they didn't even get my application until mid-October, even though I submitted my application back in August. Anyway, I'm very excited! 🙂
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👍 Congrats!! Don't let previous posters fool you. Vandy is love. Good luck!
 
received a letter in the mail requesting a secondary application and personal interview! so excited! 🙂
 
greenbeans08 said:
👍 Congrats!! Don't let previous posters fool you. Vandy is love. Good luck!
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i'm one of the guys who had an er interesting interview (that I posted about earlier). Although my interview was kinda whack - I have to say I still loved vandy. I don't think anyone would really disagree with that. Well I guess there's always a minority who'll think vandy's weird too - but I'm sure most of us agree that vandy (as a school and the students there) rock
 
Has anybody received an acceptance letter without getting a call? IIRC, this happened in last year's thread with the call coming later. Just trying to figure out if a letter is definitively bad news.
 
Anyone know anything about student hosting for interviews? As far as I can tell, information about this isn't given on the secondary website.
 
taciturngirl said:
Anyone know anything about student hosting for interviews? As far as I can tell, information about this isn't given on the secondary website.
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There's an option to request a student host on your secondary.
 
just got the call. i totally melted while on the phone.

no mention of a scholarship. do they tell you over the phone or in the snail mail? or both? or not yet?
 
i got the call about an hour and a half ago! i started crying! dream come true. i still can't believe i got an interview let alone an acceptance! i feel so extremely fortunate! definitely my dream school!
 
misstiger said:
i got the call about an hour and a half ago! i started crying! dream come true. i still can't believe i got an interview let alone an acceptance! i feel so extremely fortunate! definitely my dream school!
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Congratulations! I believe we met at the MUSC day. 🙂
 
so does anyone that knows anything (i'm looking at you LET), know if people that are waitlisted ACTUALLY get off the waitlist before the end of the cycle as opposed to that event just happening "in theory." I know they SAY that we are reconsidered, but how heavily are we actually reconsidered, and do people get off before May?

Thanks
 
ElegantWeapon said:
so does anyone that knows anything (i'm looking at you LET), know if people that are waitlisted ACTUALLY get off the waitlist before the end of the cycle as opposed to that event just happening "in theory." I know they SAY that we are reconsidered, but how heavily are we actually reconsidered, and do people get off before May?

Thanks
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I second this question, throwing in the whole "Is the waitlist basically saying you're rejected without actually saying it?" question.
 
Hey!

First of all, big fat congrats to all of you who've gotten in! Dean Zic is getting sneakier every year, what with calling on a sunday afternoon...as always, let me know if you have any questions about student life, activities, the curriculum, grading, etc etc...we have a big test coming up in 10 days :scared: so I might be MIA for a little bit, but I'll try to check my PM's when I'm taking breaks.

As for the waitlist, I wish I could tell you for sure, but I really don't know because I haven't asked people in my class whether they got in off the waitlist or right away. For what it's worth, there were at least one or 2 SDNers last year who got in like a month after receiving the waitlist letter, way before May 15th, so it DOES happen. How often, or how likely, or how many, I just don't know. Either way, if you love Vandy, I'm sure it wouldnt hurt to let them know! We usually have pretty good yield, but every year is different I'm sure. Don't give up! Pester Dr. Sagen and Dean Zic if necessary (don't tell them I said that...😳). Be your own advocate.

Again, congrats to all the new acceptees, and hopefully I'll see y'all at second look. It's totally worth it by the way- Vandy pays for the hotel, which is ridiculously nice, and you have all kinds of fun events and there's a lot of meeting and greeting to be done. I'm still really close to most of the people I met on that weekend. Just sayin.
 
Congrats everyone, I interviewed Oct 30th, so if you guys heard back today, and you were first week or october, I should probably not expect anything for another 4-5 weeks 🙁
 
I don't suppose I can ask for you guys to send me a little mercy/karma my way please? 🙂

please please please ;((

interviewed on 10/06. I am a re-applicant(failed last year miserably), really want this, but I have horrid luck/success in life...


Heres to never giving up!
 
I got the call today. Well, technically voicemail. The fact that it went to voicemail & I didn't answer (it was on silent, I didn't expect anything this early) won't affect my chances of scholarship, will it?

tensoranalysis said:
I don't suppose I can ask for you guys to send me a little mercy/karma my way please? 🙂

please please please ;((

interviewed on 10/06. I am a re-applicant(failed last year miserably), really want this, but I have horrid luck/success in life...


Heres to never giving up!
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Good luck! I interviewed 10/6, I wonder if we met...
 
jmmr said:
The fact that it went to voicemail & I didn't answer (it was on silent, I didn't expect anything this early) won't affect my chances of scholarship, will it?
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Probably the most neurotic thing I've read on this site, haha. No, it won't.
 
jmmr said:
I got the call today. Well, technically voicemail. The fact that it went to voicemail & I didn't answer (it was on silent, I didn't expect anything this early) won't affect my chances of scholarship, will it?



Good luck! I interviewed 10/6, I wonder if we met...
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Haha aw you premeds, you...no, the voicemail won't affect your chances at getting a scholarship. Dean Zic had to leave me a voicemail too (my phone had some kind of a seizure on 10/15 even though I was sitting with it in my lap and it just didn't ring) and I eventually got a scholarship. I haven't heard of any scholarships being offered along with the acceptance (though I imagine it's possible). I think the committees to decide who gets the merit money meet later on, so I'd expect some of the scholarships to be given out to the early acceptees in a couple of weeks or so, if things go as they did last year. I got in Oct 15 and got my scholarship around December 18th or something like that, and there were a few SDNers who got theirs a week or two before I did.
 
Oh. my. god. My heart sank when I first read all these acceptance posts (congrats btw!). I saw all the 10/6 people getting accepted and at first thought I'd been waitlisted because they interviewed later than me... Then I remember that my interview was 10/13, not 9/13 like I thought in my state of panic. I LOVE vandy, and here's to hoping I get that call in the next round and get to join the celebration
 
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