2010-2011 Jefferson Application Thread

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This concludes the third day of no secondary invite for me. Anyone else still waiting on this one or just me? Seems extremely slow. Also tried calling admissions- no answer at 1pm on a Friday?
 
Suncrusher- I wouldn't worry about calling the admissions office, I doubt the people answering the phone are on the admissions committee. I think some (non-exemplary) med student just had a little pent-up aggression to release on the internet.

You're right. The people who answer the phone in the admissions office aren't on the Admissions Committee. But that fact is irrelevant since he never stated that he called the admissions office. What he said was that he emailed the Director of Admissions, apparently more than once (in his words, "persistent, panicked questioning"), because he had not received a secondary within two to three hours of other applicants having received a secondary. Being a complete tool with Director of Admissions, the person in whose hands your fate at Jefferson may lie, didn't strike me as a good strategy.

Non-exemplary med student? UPenn undergrad, top 10% of my class at Jeff, and elected AOA as a third year. Give me a call when you've been accepted somewhere.
 
This concludes the third day of no secondary invite for me. Anyone else still waiting on this one or just me? Seems extremely slow. Also tried calling admissions- no answer at 1pm on a Friday?

I would start sending Dr. Callahan a series of emails in which you, in a persistent and panicked manner, question her regarding the fact that you have not received a secondary yet. That seems to have worked for another poster in this thread. :laugh: You should also demand an explanation as to why, on the Friday before a holiday weekend, when most business offices close early, no one was there to answer your call.
 
It was 2 emails; I was just trying to be funny and make myself feel better about what I had already realized was a stupid mistake 🙁 It was pretty panicked though, haha

But I was told in plain words that if I hadn't received the secondary by sometime the next day (that would have been July 1st), then I should contact them. The person who hasn't received it yet might want to risk looking into that? 😕 but if you do, be sure to do it in a different manner than
<-- this person
 
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Non-exemplary med student? UPenn undergrad, top 10% of my class at Jeff, and elected AOA as a third year. Give me a call when you've been accepted somewhere.

Nice work!👍
 
Can you submit additional letters than just the four asked for? I have letters from my current (research) employers including one who is an alumni and would like to include these.
 
For "Have you previously applied to Jefferson Medical College," do we answer No in the box under "Year"?

Instead of an essay, we can write separate paragraphs for unrelated topics right? (i.e. explain LOR, update on activities, etc.)

Also for LOR, I will be sending as a letter packet (5 LORs). However, I am missing physics and humanities but I do have a non-science LOR professor. Should I still explain this?

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
Haven't gotten this one yet either...not in my spam boxes 🙁

Guess I'll give it a day or two AFTER July 4 weekend before I call them up...
 
sml5t when did you get verified? yeah i haven't received mine yet. i'm going to give it probably two more days. I would feel awkward though if I had to call them... other people I guess are having troubles like this too?
 
sml5t when did you get verified? yeah i haven't received mine yet. i'm going to give it probably two more days. I would feel awkward though if I had to call them... other people I guess are having troubles like this too?

I was verified June 1 before noon...I was one of the first to submit lol. Not feeling too worried about it at the moment...just gives me more time to work on the six other secondaries I got while I was on vacation
 
Anyone have any luck calling their office? I need to ask how to apply my FAP status on there but no one ever picks up the phone...

Please let me know if you find out about applying FAP here 😕. Thanks!
 
Also for LOR, I will be sending as a letter packet (5 LORs). However, I am missing physics and humanities but I do have a non-science LOR professor. Should I still explain this?

Wow. I just noticed that I misread that section. I only have 2 science (biology) and 1 humanities recommendation. I'm pretty sure the chemistry letter I could have would be pretty weak and the physics teacher and I didn't get along.

Does anyone know if it's worth bothering applying if you don't have recommendations from all the different subjects? This is the first time I have been sad that my school doesn't have a premedical committee. I'll probably call and ask Tuesday... but they might tell me to submit just for the money they get when they easily toss out my application.

(and also -- why does every school have different recommendation requirements! Be consistent 😡)
 
Wow. I just noticed that I misread that section. I only have 2 science (biology) and 1 humanities recommendation. I'm pretty sure the chemistry letter I could have would be pretty weak and the physics teacher and I didn't get along.

Does anyone know if it's worth bothering applying if you don't have recommendations from all the different subjects? This is the first time I have been sad that my school doesn't have a premedical committee. I'll probably call and ask Tuesday... but they might tell me to submit just for the money they get when they easily toss out my application.

(and also -- why does every school have different recommendation requirements! Be consistent 😡)

I've heard through the grapevine that it's okay if you have 3 science letters and 1 humanities, but you should call and double check. I certainly don't have a physics letter, so I hope it'll be alright.
 
I've heard through the grapevine that it's okay if you have 3 science letters and 1 humanities, but you should call and double check. I certainly don't have a physics letter, so I hope it'll be alright.

Doing alittle more research, I saw that too. But I still only have 2 science letters (and one from an ortho surgeon I did independent research with for biology credit... and a former boss... and a non-science). <sigh>
 
Doing alittle more research, I saw that too. But I still only have 2 science letters (and one from an ortho surgeon I did independent research with for biology credit... and a former boss... and a non-science). <sigh>

Hm... you got biology credit for the one, I wonder if that would sneak through? I def. think a call to the office is in order, but you're probably not out of the running just yet. I'll think positive thoughts! :luck:
 
Doing alittle more research, I saw that too. But I still only have 2 science letters (and one from an ortho surgeon I did independent research with for biology credit... and a former boss... and a non-science). <sigh>

The LOR requirements are not carved in stone. Send an email to admissions asking if what you have is acceptable.
 
Just retyped my "Why Jeff?" essay twice...it's definitely 2000 characters *including spaces* for those of you who have yet to experience the joy of seeing the error message.

One down. Ten to go. Sweet.
 
WDF still no secondary from Jeff. anyone else verified before 6/25 and no secondaries?
 
WDF still no secondary from Jeff. anyone else verified before 6/25 and no secondaries?

They are experiencing technical difficulties and we should expect them within a few days.
 
WDF still no secondary from Jeff. anyone else verified before 6/25 and no secondaries?

Verified 6/2, still no secondary- I think there are a good amount of people still waiting.
 
Anyone know if they're fixing the faulty 2000 characters limit back to 4000 characters? Or we all have to cut short of that description by half?
 
Finally secondary for me arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippie:soexcited:
 
Whats with the ***no cut and paste*** ? Have you guys all been typing directly onto the application?
 
Whats with the ***no cut and paste*** ? Have you guys all been typing directly onto the application?

Yes. I just put my windows side by side and copied it. I think if you cut and paste it will give you an error message when you submit.
 
Also, I looked at both the electronic application and the printable one. It seems that there is space for about 100 words on the printable application but room for a 1 page essay on the electronic app.

Any idea what they are looking for here? how much are you guys writing?
 
this is, by far, the most frustrating secondary interface. I've had to re-write my essay three of four times, all of which tell me my essay is over the character limit, even though it is only 2100 characters. On top of that, when I hit the back button, all of the data I entered is wiped out.
 
this is, by far, the most frustrating secondary interface. I've had to re-write my essay three of four times, all of which tell me my essay is over the character limit, even though it is only 2100 characters. On top of that, when I hit the back button, all of the data I entered is wiped out.

Yeah, same thing happened to me, I rewrote it like 4 times. I was ready to give up if it hadn't worked that last time haha. The char limit is 2000, by the way, even though it says 4000.
 
what is everyone writing on additional information.
 
I didn't write anything extra- I get the feeling that the box is for special circumstances. Some people are writing a "why Jefferson?" essay but it seems to not matter much whether you do or not based on last year's thread, and they didn't actually ask for anything like that.. that's my opinion.
 
For “Have you previously applied to Jefferson Medical College,” do we answer No in the box under “Year”?!

No, you'll get an error message if you put anything other than a numerical value in that box. Just leave it blank.
 
I didn't write anything extra- I get the feeling that the box is for special circumstances. Some people are writing a "why Jefferson?" essay but it seems to not matter much whether you do or not based on last year's thread, and they didn't actually ask for anything like that.. that's my opinion.

This. Your application will not be given less consideration because you left this box blank.
 
I didn't write anything extra- I get the feeling that the box is for special circumstances. Some people are writing a "why Jefferson?" essay but it seems to not matter much whether you do or not based on last year's thread, and they didn't actually ask for anything like that.. that's my opinion.
yes i dont think we have to write something if they wanted to know y Jefferson, they would have said it... but apart from y jefferson is anyone else writing about some different?
 
Last year, they had 500 char limit. This year they gave us 4000 char limit.
I don't know whether that means anything or not. But what that does mean is that more people are going to be writing stuff

Also are Pennsylvanians considered in state on the MSAR?
 
I got this secondary last night! However, I don't see any option to make mention that my mom is a grad of the college of health professions, which I kinda figured I could based on some responses I got a few days ago. No big deal. I will mention it in my "anything additional" essay, which will definitely be a "Why Jefferson?" essay. It's one of my top two choices.
 
Am I the only one who can't access the online secondary? I can click the online status link just fine. I'm a re-applicant and I think they are just going to make me mail it in 🙁
 
yes i dont think we have to write something if they wanted to know y Jefferson, they would have said it... but apart from y jefferson is anyone else writing about some different?

Since I graduated in May, I wrote about my plans for this upcoming year.
 
Is anyone else having a problem with the credit card payment? I think it might be because my billing address doesn't match my address on the application, but it keeps on giving me an error (and there's nothing wrong with my card). The admissions office says that they're looking into it because others have had that error. Anyone have any experience with this?
 
So is it a 2000 or 4000 character additional information box? What should we end up writing in it?
 
how are you guys filling in the secondary? i click on it and it wont let me write anything.
 
It seems to me, from reading this discussion, that the current status of the optional essay is:

  • It says you may write 4000 characters
  • If you write over 2000, you receive an error and cannot submit
  • The admissions staff is aware of the problem, and attempting, very slowly, to fix it
  • In the interim, they have offered that you can upload a 4000 character essay using "Send Us Stuff"
  • I hope someone on this thread might let us know when the problem is fixed online
 
how are you guys filling in the secondary? i click on it and it wont let me write anything.

Contact the admissions office and let them know. I was having the same issue and they managed to fix it -- I just had to email them my additional info. The admissions office is super nice so you shouldn't have an issue.
 
how do u know if they have received your LOR?
 
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