2010-2011 Hofstra University Application Thread

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For those who interviewed, did anyone stay at a hotel in queens the night before? If so, how did you go to the interview the following day?

I've tried looking at all the possible bus/train combinations at hopstop, but the minimum travel time is 2 hours. That means I have to wake up at 5:30 for my interview. Any ideas? Thx!
 
IDreamtIChased said:
For those who interviewed, did anyone stay at a hotel in queens the night before? If so, how did you go to the interview the following day?

I've tried looking at all the possible bus/train combinations at hopstop, but the minimum travel time is 2 hours. That means I have to wake up at 5:30 for my interview. Any ideas? Thx!
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You know that there is a hotel next to the school, right?

Long island doesn't have a lot of public transportation being that its suburbia. Your best bet is finding a way to the LIRR which would most likely mean getting to Jamaica Station. All of this depends on where in Queens you are staying since its pretty large. Best of Luck.
 
IDreamtIChased said:
For those who interviewed, did anyone stay at a hotel in queens the night before? If so, how did you go to the interview the following day?

I've tried looking at all the possible bus/train combinations at hopstop, but the minimum travel time is 2 hours. That means I have to wake up at 5:30 for my interview. Any ideas? Thx!
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Is there any reason you are staying in Queens? As MedLove pointed out, there are far more convenient hotels closer to the school. Unless you are close to an LIRR stop in Queens, it's going to be rather time consuming to get to Hofstra via public transportation.
 
You can also get the LIRR in Forest Hills: Continental Ave/71st Ave.
 
I see a lot of kids asking if they should apply late...just to put this in perspective. This school said they were planning to interview nearly 1,000 kids; out of what I suspect will be out of 4-6000 applicants. For 40 seats.

Applying gives you at best a 1% chance before interview and even if you get an interview, you're still just upgraded to a 4% chance. Not very good odds for $100+ bucks. Do what you want with your money, but not past September and definitely NOT in December.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of class they put together, and what they offer those kids to come. As I suspect the top 40 kids they pick will all have other acceptances. January will be a real kick in the teeth if they don't offer some major incentive, or pick a truly bold group.
 
Withdrawing my interview on Jan 28 and application bc I have been accepted to my state school. Hope someone gets this interview who really wants it:luck:
 
EnginDoc said:
I see a lot of kids asking if they should apply late...just to put this in perspective. This school said they were planning to interview nearly 1,000 kids; out of what I suspect will be out of 4-6000 applicants. For 40 seats.

Applying gives you at best a 1% chance before interview and even if you get an interview, you're still just upgraded to a 4% chance. Not very good odds for $100+ bucks. Do what you want with your money, but not past September and definitely NOT in December.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of class they put together, and what they offer those kids to come. As I suspect the top 40 kids they pick will all have other acceptances. January will be a real kick in the teeth if they don't offer some major incentive, or pick a truly bold group.
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I respectfully disagree. The school started sending secondaries late in the cycle and the Admissions Office was clear about the fact that time was not a major factor in their decision for the inaugural class. Granted, the chances for being accepted here are slimmer than other schools, but you must realize that they will probably have to accept 2-3x the number of seats due to people with multiple acceptances going to other schools. As far as incentives go, the school has been talking about waiving the tuition for the first year of classes for the inaugural class. At the same time, their financial packages may be better than at other private schools. According to their financial aid officer, The hospital system, North Shore - LIJ, will be providing low interest loans to cover any part of the tuition that is not covered by the federal loans.
 
super6 said:
I respectfully disagree. The school started sending secondaries late in the cycle and the Admissions Office was clear about the fact that time was not a major factor in their decision for the inaugural class. Granted, the chances for being accepted here are slimmer than other schools, but you must realize that they will probably have to accept 2-3x the number of seats due to people with multiple acceptances going to other schools. As far as incentives go, the school has been talking about waiving the tuition for the first year of classes for the inaugural class. At the same time, their financial packages may be better than at other private schools. According to their financial aid officer, The hospital system, North Shore - LIJ, will be providing low interest loans to cover any part of the tuition that is not covered by the federal loans.
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The reasons you gave, among others, are going to result in a very low chance of acceptance. 2-3x is still 120 people, which is at least half of what most schools accept, and many of those schools interview even less people. Thing is, I think the people who they accept and end up attending are going to be unique people, not necessarily the typical premed. Although this school is new, they have a lot of things going for it. It is at the top of many people's lists, and if they are offering tuition breaks, it will draw even more people. To be perfectly honest, I think it is very late to be applying anywhere, much less at a school that will be one of the hardest schools to get into. That said, if someone truly believes this is a great fit for them, they have to go for it. I just wouldn't use this school as one to improve your chances of an acceptance to med school overall. For the most part, they will be looking for people that hold other acceptances.
 
Hello Future Docs,

Can those of u who interviewed at this school paint me a picture of how was it like? What did they ask you? How was the entire experience? Were they friendly or out there to get you? 😛.

Thnks
 
I interviewed in mid October...everyone there was EXTREMELY nice. The day is a bit long though so I would recommend getting a good nights sleep the night before! Once you get there you can start eating breakfast and the Dean talks for a bit.. then you have 2 interviews. My interviewers were both really nice, asked general application based questions...my 2nd interviewer only said "Tell me about yourself", and the conversation took off from there. Both interviews are back to back so that everyone is done by lunch which is nice because then you really get to enjoy 🙂 Then there is a tour of the school along with a bus tour of their facilities. I think that was about it.. I would recommend knowing a bit about their curriculum as it is really innovative and different and not fit to everyone's learning style (Very independent, absolutely no lecture time). But they do a really great job at explaining more about this during breakfast! Good luck!
 
NYR56 said:
Is there any reason you are staying in Queens? As MedLove pointed out, there are far more convenient hotels closer to the school. Unless you are close to an LIRR stop in Queens, it's going to be rather time consuming to get to Hofstra via public transportation.
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I have an interview the previous day at Queens. But I'll take your advice and move to a nearby hotel the night before.

Thx for the help everyone..
 
Anyone want to throw out a wild and non-sense prediction for when they'll send out the first batch?

I will categorize into three sets: Jan 1st - Jan 7th; 8-15; 15-30.

Ready....set.....place your bets!
 
EnginDoc said:
Anyone want to throw out a wild and non-sense prediction for when they'll send out the first batch?

I will categorize into three sets: Jan 1st - Jan 7th; 8-15; 15-30.

Ready....set.....place your bets!
Click to expand...

I'm betting on the first week. They seem very excited to send them out. I hope it's the first week anyway! :xf:
 
Hmm so if they do start sending acceptances in the first week, I wonder how long it'll be before those of us interviewing after that will hear any news.
 
They sent out an email saying they will send out the first acceptance letters in early January...thus I am voting the first week of January also.
 
FYI - The entire campus shuts down between Christmas and New Years. And knowing Hofstra (I'm a junior), I wouldn't expect anything until Jan 15th.
 
Where are people getting this number that they will interview 1000 people? It doesn't even make sense. I interviewed in November and their were roughly 15 people in my interview group. Even if they interview every week with a 15-20 person interview group, that would never come to 1000 people being interviewed.
 
Lunch Beast said:
Where are people getting this number that they will interview 1000 people? It doesn't even make sense. I interviewed in November and their were roughly 15 people in my interview group. Even if they interview every week with a 15-20 person interview group, that would never come to 1000 people being interviewed.
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The number that I heard at my interview was 800 people. also, they said they interviewed 4x a week. So figure 4 days x 20 people x 10 weeks = 800 people interviewed. Again, they might interview less, but who knows.

Either way, good luck!
 
EnginDoc said:
Anyone want to throw out a wild and non-sense prediction for when they'll send out the first batch?

I will categorize into three sets: Jan 1st - Jan 7th; 8-15; 15-30.

Ready....set.....place your bets!
Click to expand...


I think probably wednesday or thursday this week! at least I hope its this week
 
800 interviews seems like overkill for 40 spots. Given, they have to offer more than 40 to fill the class, but 800 seems like a gigantic number. Some of the established schools who take 100+ in the incoming class don't even interview 800. So, in my opinion, 800 is way too high.
 
GoWiththeFlo said:
800 interviews seems like overkill for 40 spots. Given, they have to offer more than 40 to fill the class, but 800 seems like a gigantic number. Some of the established schools who take 100+ in the incoming class don't even interview 800. So, in my opinion, 800 is way too high.
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800 is definitely way too many interviews for 40 spots. IMO, I think the school is trying to weed out the interviewees who are using the school as a safety because they think its easier to get into as a brand new school. Also, unlike other brand new med schools, they have a reputation to uphold from the get-go since they are connected to such a large and established health system.
 
super6 said:
The number that I heard at my interview was 800 people. also, they said they interviewed 4x a week. So figure 4 days x 20 people x 10 weeks = 800 people interviewed. Again, they might interview less, but who knows.

Either way, good luck!
Click to expand...

pretty sure my interview day had like... 12 people?

also, arent all the new schools affliated with a healthcare system? Oakland has Beaumont (sp?), Vtech has carilion, hofstra with northshore-lij? Maybe the one i'm missing is the Scranton school?
 
The med school isn't just affiliated with NSLIJ, it's co-owned by them, which is unlike any other med school.

I'm not sure why you all think 800 is excessive. They are looking for a specific type of applicant, and considering they probably will end up accepting over 100 people, 800 isn't crazy. Most med schools interview about that many, and they don't have to try and weed out nearly as much as Hofstra-NSLIJ will (as Super6 pointed out), nor do they have such an unpredictable applicant pool.
 
Confirmed by 3 different people during my interview day: 4000 applicants, 800 interview spots (assuming they are all filled) and 40 seats.

Jodi explained that they were interviewing 800 people because they did not know what to expect statistically. The LCME is not being lenient with the 40, if they over enroll by even 2 students they are going to be in some sort of trouble.

She also explained that most of us wouldn't be hearing back very soon... the priorities were the 20 acceptances in January. Although she did mention that if we were rejected we'd hear sooner than later because they didn't want to 'string us along'. They're ranking the waitlist but won't be sharing the rank with waitlisted students (she seemed offended when someone asked this).
 
O Jodi. We love you. Amazing how we all now have a "face" we now associate with the school. I didn't associate anyone with my other interviews, just crowds of people.

I also noticed a bit of resentment from the faculty when certain questions were asked about numbers on acceptances, taking external courses, potential problems with the new curriculum, etc. To be expected with a new school, very on the defensive.

Making a waitlist this early on is rough, however, to be fair to students you should really tell them their rank. Kids on the bottom of a 100 person list will likely withdraw and make the school's decision all the more simple.

800 people for 40 spots its tough, especially with only 20 acceptances by mid-January, but they have to play it safe. They can't give out all 40 seats right away, or else future people won't accept interview offers. I would turn down an interview if all I had going for me was a "maybe" waitlist chance for 1-2 seats. It's a political game, but so long as their require $100 bucks and give 2 weeks to make a decision, you'll likely cycle 2-3 times before the May 15 deadline. 80% of us will probably hear nothing til then.

Did anyone hear "how" they would contact us? Email/phone/letter?
 
EnginDoc said:
Making a waitlist this early on is rough, however, to be fair to students you should really tell them their rank. Kids on the bottom of a 100 person list will likely withdraw and make the school's decision all the more simple.

800 people for 40 spots its tough, especially with only 20 acceptances by mid-January, but they have to play it safe. They can't give out all 40 seats right away, or else future people won't accept interview offers. I would turn down an interview if all I had going for me was a "maybe" waitlist chance for 1-2 seats. It's a political game, but so long as their require $100 bucks and give 2 weeks to make a decision, you'll likely cycle 2-3 times before the May 15 deadline. 80% of us will probably hear nothing til then.
Click to expand...

Most of the med schools I've interviewed at have had a waitlist for months, so a waitlist "this early on" is really nothing unusual. Some schools communicate the waitlist position early, while others simply don't tell you until March, but I don't think what's going on behind the scenes is any different.

BTW, a waitlist position at Hofstra is really not a bad thing. I wouldn't be surprised if ~60+ people end up being accepted off of the waitlist.
 
5 days left in "early" January. Goooooooooo Hofstra, mail mail mail mail.
 
Yeah it's def early Jan--says so in the letter they sent in December. And they'll offer 20 seats, but that doesn't mean they'll be filled.
 
Im assuming they will give out acceptances on a wednesday because they interview on all other weekdays. Hopefully thats today!!! :xf:
 
EnginDoc said:
Did anyone hear "how" they would contact us? Email/phone/letter?
Click to expand...


Hey, I called today because I'm somewhat briefly out of the country and was worried if they called about anything or snail mailed stuff that needed a prompt reply I'd be out of luck. The woman I spoke with said post-interview correspondence would be by e-mail.
 
NovaWildcat07 said:
Hey, I called today because I'm somewhat briefly out of the country and was worried if they called about anything or snail mailed stuff that needed a prompt reply I'd be out of luck. The woman I spoke with said post-interview correspondence would be by e-mail.
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Hey Nova
Did the person say when they would start to go out?
 
their acceptances have been pushed back to the end of january according to admissions.
 
That's not cool....It went from Early Dec, to Late Dec, to Early Jan, now to late Jan? They have over 400 kids (hand picked out of several thousands) to choose 20 from. How much more do you need to make a decision? I wonder if they'll just pull a Ivy league move and make final decisions in March.

At least tell us in advance you plan on stringing us along for months and months.
 
They sent us an email last time indicating we would hear in early Jan. They haven't updated us since so I'm skeptical they're pushing it off.
 
nnuk said:
their acceptances have been pushed back to the end of january according to admissions.
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just in time for them to give me an acceptance!

i'm pumped for my jan 13 interview. good luck to everyone still waiting.
 
Called and confirmed. They're pushing it back 2 weeks.
 
ERmaven said:
Reason?
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They probably got 600+ updates/emails/transcripts from applicants over the Christmas break and need to sift through them to make sure they aren’t accepting someone who failed all their fall classes.

Obviously this is a total guess. I have no inside info!
 
One great thing about interviewing here was how genuinely nice and excited everyone was. I've interviewed other places where they seemed tired and jaded, or where my interviewers seemed like, well, they weren't so excited to be interviewing students, you know?

However, at Hofstra, it seems like the interviewers are thrilled to be involved in developing and rolling out the new curriculum, and that this excitement really energizes them. I felt like they really went in-depth with my application, like they had a feel for what I had to offer, asked good questions about the drawbacks, and that they really engaged me on what I could bring to both the school, and a medical career.

Not to say that my interviews were softballs. One was easier, more conversational, and the other was with someone who asked a lot of difficult, no-good-answer, keep-you-on-your-toes questions (but even that interviewer was still thoughtful and basically positive, although obviously looking with a critical lens).
Even if it doesn't work out (and frankly, they're interviewing a ton of people for very few slots, so chances are slim), I felt like it was a positive experience interviewing there. Like, they might not be able to take us, but they were still excited to have us there.

The only thing that seemed tricky to me about going to school there that didn't seem fully addressed is that it seems that students really will need cars, especially given their early involvement with patients. They mentioned that students would be heavily involved with the care of a pregnant woman early on, with the thought that the student would be present for the birth. Given the diffuse locations of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, I don't think that the shuttle bus is going to cut it when a student gets the call that he/she needs to be wherever for that.

There's a lot of talk here about the fact that they talk about interviewing 700-800 students for a class of 40. I suspect that they're interviewing sooo many people for so few slots because they'll need to be accustomed to interviewing that many when they work up to their full class size in a few years. Just a thought.
 
TheNotoriousMPH said:
One great thing about interviewing here was how genuinely nice and excited everyone was. I've interviewed other places where they seemed tired and jaded, or where my interviewers seemed like, well, they weren't so excited to be interviewing students, you know?

However, at Hofstra, it seems like the interviewers are thrilled to be involved in developing and rolling out the new curriculum, and that this excitement really energizes them. I felt like they really went in-depth with my application, like they had a feel for what I had to offer, asked good questions about the drawbacks, and that they really engaged me on what I could bring to both the school, and a medical career.

Not to say that my interviews were softballs. One was easier, more conversational, and the other was with someone who asked a lot of difficult, no-good-answer, keep-you-on-your-toes questions (but even that interviewer was still thoughtful and basically positive, although obviously looking with a critical lens).
Even if it doesn't work out (and frankly, they're interviewing a ton of people for very few slots, so chances are slim), I felt like it was a positive experience interviewing there. Like, they might not be able to take us, but they were still excited to have us there.

The only thing that seemed tricky to me about going to school there that didn't seem fully addressed is that it seems that students really will need cars, especially given their early involvement with patients. They mentioned that students would be heavily involved with the care of a pregnant woman early on, with the thought that the student would be present for the birth. Given the diffuse locations of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, I don't think that the shuttle bus is going to cut it when a student gets the call that he/she needs to be wherever for that.

There's a lot of talk here about the fact that they talk about interviewing 700-800 students for a class of 40. I suspect that they're interviewing sooo many people for so few slots because they'll need to be accustomed to interviewing that many when they work up to their full class size in a few years. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

I was led to think that you did need a car and that the only time they would shuttle you around is when they shuttled the whole class somewhere
 
It's Long Island. Even if you didn't need a car for med school specifically, you would want one to get around anyway. They did say there should be ample parking I believe.
 
Did they say we'd hear only about acceptances? Rejections too?
 
Probably just acceptances. They won't rush to eliminate people.
 
dear hofstra,

thank you for the mid-afternoon heart attack. really made my monday special.

(no)love,
please stop send tease emails
 
medlove87 said:
dear hofstra,

thank you for the mid-afternoon heart attack. really made my monday special.

(no)love,
please stop send tease emails
Click to expand...

They're going to be sending out status updates "soon".. why even bother at this point?
 
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