2010-2011 Loyola (Stritch) Application Thread

[BBender716]

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Congrats guys! Must feel great! 🙂

I've been under review forever. Would it be wise to send a letter of interest or something to kind of nudge them into looking into sending me an interview invite? BBender?

Send an update letter! Detail all that's changed in your app and then include a SHORT paragraph at the end briefly saying what mainly interests you in Loyola and that if offerred an interview you would definitely attend. Best of luck!

Also, huge congrats to all accepted! If you have any questions at all about the school that were not answered, please feel free to PM me! 🙂

 

[dancer89]

have they called everyone who has been accepted?

 

[RNdoc]

My status changed to

"We have received your application. We ask that you please allow at least one month for downloading letters and completion of your file. Thank you. "

From something else that was similar saying that my letters were still not attached to my file... Weird. anyone else get this?

Hey, I got that too, not sure what it means but i figured it just means they're swamped. anyone know?

 

[sedaniel]

Send an update letter! Detail all that's changed in your app and then include a SHORT paragraph at the end briefly saying what mainly interests you in Loyola and that if offerred an interview you would definitely attend. Best of luck!

Also, huge congrats to all accepted! If you have any questions at all about the school that were not answered, please feel free to PM me! 🙂

This is what I was wondering too, thanks for answering! I was sort of waiting to hear from the MD programs I've already interviewed at. Do you think it's acceptable to mention in the update letter if we have received another MD acceptance? I have heard that acceptances can sometimes give you leverage at other schools but I'm not really sure how you actually let them know that. Advice?

 

[ejensen2]

Accepted by a phone call from the Dean on Saturday! I am very excited for this one... even withdrew a couple previous acceptances. Anyone else accepted have Loyola in their top schools?

 

[ilikepancakes]

Hey, I got that too, not sure what it means but i figured it just means they're swamped. anyone know?

I had this for about a week before being complete.

 

[piratesrock]

Has anyone who was accepted and got a call from the dean received their acceptance letter via mail yet??

 

[BBender716]

This is what I was wondering too, thanks for answering! I was sort of waiting to hear from the MD programs I've already interviewed at. Do you think it's acceptable to mention in the update letter if we have received another MD acceptance? I have heard that acceptances can sometimes give you leverage at other schools but I'm not really sure how you actually let them know that. Advice?

I would and am actually going to send them one myself. Just haven't gotten around to it. Letters of interest and update are always helpful if schools accept them. At the worst all they'll say is we can't accept it if they don't accept updates. At the best it may help you if you do it. Make it personal.

Write dear LUMC MD Admissions committee rather then To whom it may concern so it doesn't sound generic. Maybe perhaps even write a paragraph of what it is that interests you about that school.

I've not gotten to writing the paragraph about what interests about that school but I've updated with my activities and made sure not to make it say just To whom it may concern but mention the school's name in the way I said to address earlier because that helps make it seem more like its specifically meant for them.

Here's the generally accepted algorithm for what to send when:

Pre-interview invite: update letter (focuses on updates not interest, include a small paragraph at the end about what specifically interests you)
Post-interview, pre-decision/hold: letter of interest, detail what interests you about the school specifically, cite things you saw/heard about on interview day, end with anything you have to update them on
Post-interview, pre-decision/hold and it's your first choice: letter of intent, same as letter of interest but you also state that if accepted, you will assuredly matriculate even though you have other acceptances.

As for using acceptances as leverage, it only works if you have an acceptance from an "equivalent" school Loyola = Rush = UIC, for example. AND it's generally only useful for financial aid, not for getting an initial acceptance. So wait until you're accepted to both, then use for financial aid by CALLING Dean Jones and working with him.

 

[chicago88]

if you have a scheduled interview, is it possible/acceptable to call the school to ask who your interviewers will be do possibly to some research about their background?

 

[chrisoc13]

if you have a scheduled interview, is it possible/acceptable to call the school to ask who your interviewers will be do possibly to some research about their background?

I wouldn't. This comes up a lot and honestly I think it is worthless to try and figure out information about your interviewer. You can't really bring it up in the interview without looking like a stalker and honestly it won't tell you much.

At Loyola they give you a piece of paper when you arrive with the names of your interviewers and what they do. One is a student, the other is faculty. Mine was a physician so it said his specialty.

My suggestion would be to just be yourself and worry less about it. My interview at Loyola was very enjoyable. Both of the people who interviewed me were really just fun to talk to.

 

[chicago88]

oh really, one was a student?

do you know if this is standard? did anyone else have 1 faculty/1 student?

 

[chrisoc13]

oh really, one was a student?

do you know if this is standard? did anyone else have 1 faculty/1 student?

Everyone the day I was there had 1 student 1 faculty interview. I believe it is standard but I don't know for sure.

 

[chrisoc13]

Got my acceptance letter today, no deposit to hold your spot! Nice 🙂

 

[BBender716]

Got my acceptance letter today, no deposit to hold your spot! Nice 🙂

Congrats chrisoc! Definitely come to second look!

 

[BBender716]

Thanks buddy. The pre-interview description is what I was getting at. Thanks.

I gotchyo back. 😎

 

[toppers88]

hi, i'm working on my secondary, almost done.. but i realized that my essays are all around 15ish sentences long with one being 20.. that's a lot less than the max which is 25-30.. is this going to be perceived as a bad thing? i feel like my essays are sufficient, but dont want the adcoms thinking i didn't put much effort into it..

 

[MTBRider]

hi, i'm working on my secondary, almost done.. but i realized that my essays are all around 15ish sentences long with one being 20.. that's a lot less than the max which is 25-30.. is this going to be perceived as a bad thing? i feel like my essays are sufficient, but dont want the adcoms thinking i didn't put much effort into it..

if its potent, they may view it as a bit of a relief. if you fully developed everything in a few less lines, no one will penalize you.

 

[emsdan]

They will continue to compare your application to others throughout the cycle. They interview into May, I think.

They accept well over 50% of those they interview, so they are more careful about who they invite here. However, they save several spots for late interviews so if they invite you late in the game you aren't just interviewing for waitlist spots.

After a month or so, feel free to send updates or even just call on a Thursday to show you are interested. I submitted in Oct or Nov, and hadn't hear anything by early March. Then I called and asked about my status, and got an interview date within the next couple of days.

 

[emsdan]

K cool. Would it be better to call or send in a letter of update. I was going to send in a letter of update soon since its been now going on at the end of this week 6 weeks since post MCAT scores and 2 months since being completed with old scores or more then 2 months for that matter.

I had wanted to give an update about my current activities and small paragraph about why I like the school like mentioned by Bbender.

You think that's better then calling or calling is better?

If you are sending an update, you can send a letter or email it as an attachment (save as a .doc rather than a .docx). When I sent a letter of intent I just emailed it and that was fine.

I would also just call to inquire about your status; they will tell you it is being processed/reviewed, but that way they know you at least care enough to check. Only call on Thursday.

 

[BBender716]

Thanks.

Can I assume that you are a Loyola med student?

If you are, I have a few questions for your BBender.

My first question is does Loyola work like other schools where they reject you pretty early post review of your app if they want you or do they constantly compare you to others throughout the application cycle?

2 cycles ago I got rejected in late April but i think I submitted around November or something crazy like that. Hadn't gotten things in early like this time.

However, I heard some people say they were rejected already in this thread if I recall. So I am wondering how they assess things and how long it usually takes to hear anything from them i.e. interview, reject, etc.

Thanks for your help. 😀

Definitely safe to assume I go here 😉

From my experience, emsdan is right on with what he's saying. Also, for updates, I'd call to ask about your status and then inquire about how they'd best like you to submit your update letter (I never submitted an update to Loyola specifically).

If they say email, email it as a pdf attachment. Loyola invites slowly, I see the invites weekly and some weeks they interview 5 TOTAL, some weeks they interview 30. It really varies and they really do interview more spread out through the year as opposed to some schools that have 90% of their interviews done by December.

If you have any other Qs about the school, feel free to ask!

 

[Jonesie]

I can also confirm that Loyola keeps your app on file, constantly re-reviews it, and portions out acceptances so that they still have some to offer late in the interview season. I would recommend using e-mail communication as much as possible for updates and the like, as it is much easier on the admissions staff. Also, to answer the question about the secondary -- don't sweat it if it's 15 sentences instead of 20 (or whatever the number was). As long as you get your point across, the person reading it will likely appreciate your ability to be concise. 😉

 

[Jonesie]

Everyone the day I was there had 1 student 1 faculty interview. I believe it is standard but I don't know for sure.

There is no standard; it is based on which interviewers are available for that day. The admissions committee is comprised of faculty and a few students. Most interviewees will have two interviews, but occasionally some get three if that's how it works out. You will likely either get a faculty/faculty interview or a faculty/student interview -- meaning you would never be interviewed only by two students. Each interview carries the same weight.

 

[obgyny]

Definitely safe to assume I go here 😉

From my experience, emsdan is right on with what he's saying. Also, for updates, I'd call to ask about your status and then inquire about how they'd best like you to submit your update letter (I never submitted an update to Loyola specifically).

If they say email, email it as a pdf attachment. Loyola invites slowly, I see the invites weekly and some weeks they interview 5 TOTAL, some weeks they interview 30. It really varies and they really do interview more spread out through the year as opposed to some schools that have 90% of their interviews done by December.

If you have any other Qs about the school, feel free to ask!

Just curious, how come it is better to attach the update letter as a PDF or doc to an email? Rather than just writing the letter in the body of the email?

 

[taylormade2006]

Just curious, how come it is better to attach the update letter as a PDF or doc to an email? Rather than just writing the letter in the body of the email?

I don't know what Bender had in mind, but I also always send stuff as pdf's for a few reasons. One being that they are universally able to be read, regardless of platform and generally open quickly. Secondly, for the paranoid part in me, they are much more difficult for someone to manipulate than a word document.

 

[BrainBuff]

I don't know what Bender had in mind, but I also always send stuff as pdf's for a few reasons. One being that they are universally able to be read, regardless of platform and generally open quickly. Secondly, for the paranoid part in me, they are much more difficult for someone to manipulate than a word document.

During my interview here, I saw that the office gets a lot of update letters (which some staff members complained about being extra long). We could hear the secretaries answering questions to people who were clearly asking "about their status". It was kinda weird, since I could see myself on the other side of the phone being one of those callers. I learned that if I send an update, I would send something "brief and concise".

The interviews were about an hour long each. Very relaxed and conversational. The interviewers were blinded to our MCAT scores and GPA. (They did not ask me about my scores either). They touched on general topics, healthcare, reasons to go into medicine, and what I was looking for in a medical school, etc.

I really liked the school. The students are happy and the facilities are awesome. They have a very humanistic approach to medicine which I love. I could see myself very happy attending Loyola. My group should find out the decisions in a couple of weeks now.

Good luck everyone!

 

[BBender716]

Just wanted to echo everyone here regarding the update letters:

First, PDF is the way to go basically because it's a universal format (like taylormade said), but also, when it's printed out and goes in your file or distributed to the admissions committee, it prints out easily and nicely and doesn't have all that email garbage attached to it. So small, but nice reasons why to have it in PDF format.

Secondly, brief and concise is definitely the way to go. For update letters, they should rarely exceed 3/4 of a page. For letters of intent or letters of interest, they should be under a page.

 

[BBender716]

During my interview here, I saw that the office gets a lot of update letters (which some staff members complained about being extra long). We could hear the secretaries answering questions to people who were clearly asking "about their status". It was kinda weird, since I could see myself on the other side of the phone being one of those callers. I learned that if I send an update, I would send something "brief and concise".

The interviews were about an hour long each. Very relaxed and conversational. The interviewers were blinded to our MCAT scores and GPA. (They did not ask me about my scores either). They touched on general topics, healthcare, reasons to go into medicine, and what I was looking for in a medical school, etc.

I really liked the school. The students are happy and the facilities are awesome. They have a very humanistic approach to medicine which I love. I could see myself very happy attending Loyola. My group should find out the decisions in a couple of weeks now.

Good luck everyone!

Woot! Glad you had such a wonderful time. I can tell you, too, that out of all the schools I interviewed at last year, in addition to having very happy students, Loyola also seemed to have the best looking students.

I guess that's just how I knew I fit in there. lol

 

[bones123]

I interviewed mid October and remember them saying something about our decision notifications being sent out around Nov. 1. I may have made this up in my head too.. Anyone hear anything recently?

The waiting is killer!

 

[Soon2bDrH]

I interviewed mid October and remember them saying something about our decision notifications being sent out around Nov. 1. I may have made this up in my head too.. Anyone hear anything recently?

The waiting is killer!

I interviewed on 10/23 and received a call with an acceptance today around noon. Hopefully you'll hear some good news from them soon. Good luck.

 

[bones123]

I interviewed on 10/23 and received a call with an acceptance today around noon. Hopefully you'll hear some good news from them soon. Good luck.

Awesome. Congrats!!!

I was there the same week, so sounds like good or bad news is imminent.

 

[chicago88]

soon2be - were you told the committee meets nov.1 to make that decision? i interviewed only 4 days later, on oct 27, and was told the committee is meeting nov. 22. so were you told you'd make the earlier committee cycle or it just happened?

 

[Soon2bDrH]

soon2be - were you told the committee meets nov.1 to make that decision? i interviewed only 4 days later, on oct 27, and was told the committee is meeting nov. 22. so were you told you'd make the earlier committee cycle or it just happened?

Yeah at our interview Dean Jones said that we would just make it in time to be reviewed by the committee and recieve decisions on or around 11/1. The committee meets every 3-4 weeks so your interview group must have just missed the most recent committee meeting. Hope you hear some good news on 11/22.

 

[Shogun00]

I've been really slow with some secondary apps and feel dumb asking this now, but is Loyola really strict on the the 30 day deadline for submitting the secondary? If I have it post marked on day 30, will I be fine? I'm going to call them in the morning, but was just wondering if anyone knows here who can help me out

 

[BrainBuff]

Yeah at our interview Dean Jones said that we would just make it in time to be reviewed by the committee and recieve decisions on or around 11/1. The committee meets every 3-4 weeks so your interview group must have just missed the most recent committee meeting. Hope you hear some good news on 11/22.

This is exactly what my group was also told. There was a Committee meeting on 11/1, but that we would hear on 11/22. I thought that the Committee was taken that long to reach a decision, but I realize now that it meant we were not going to be discussed on 11/1.

 

[futbolboy]

My status is "We have received you application. We ask that you please allow at least one month for downloading letters and completion of your file." It's been like that for a few weeks now. How long does it take to be complete? And how long does it take between completion and interview invite?

 

[Shogun00]

If you've post marked you will be fine. But Loyola eventually makes the secondary disappear from the secondary link so that all that shows is your status page if you go too much past the deadline. So if you are going to be late I'd call them and ask them for an extension. But make sure you've printed it out with your answers before it disappears from the website.

I got mine in within the time frame they said, but some time after the 30 day mark I had logged in just to look at my file and responses and the actual secondary with my responses had disappeared. So becareful because they do take the stuff down not even leaving it in read only format.

And call them to let them know its going to be a bit late.

Good luck.

Thanks a lot!

In the supplemental application pdf it actually says 4-6 weeks (in the e-mail it just says 1 month). The person I called reassured me that there is an extra 2 weeks allowance time.

Just felt dumb if I missed the deadline for Loyola...considering I go to Loyola 😀

 

[uclaussr]

got the "entered primary screening" email today...this is gonna be a long wait..

 

[PinkNoise]

Ahhhhh!! A month ago, Loyola said to wait a month (11/18 for me) for any indication of being complete.

Checked my status today and I'm complete and under review! Ahhhhhhh!!

 

[roger32]

Ahhhhh!! A month ago, Loyola said to wait a month (11/18 for me) for any indication of being complete.

Checked my status today and I'm complete and under review! Ahhhhhhh!!

I've been complete and under review since 9/8.

 

[futbolboy]

Ahhhhh!! A month ago, Loyola said to wait a month (11/18 for me) for any indication of being complete.

Checked my status today and I'm complete and under review! Ahhhhhhh!!

You mean you mailed in the app on 10/18?

 

[PinkNoise]

You mean you mailed in the app on 10/18?

I mailed it 10/04 and was told to wait a month before it was certified complete. I'm just excited that my app is complete a few weeks early and is in the ready-to-be-reviewed pile.

 

[mbosman]

Just got rejected boo 🙁

This was one was shocking cuz I was rejected last time April 28th granted I applied late last time, and they sent an email and everything and an official rejection letter on pdf.

I guess another one down. 20 more and 21 when FAU app comes out to go.

Good luck to everyone else.

if you dont mind me asking.... what are your numbers and when did you apply?

 

[Mizoodles]

got an interview today. complete around mid-September, i believe. earliest interview date is into early January now.

 

[DaisyBuchanan]

So looks like today was decision day for people who were complete in mid september cuz I was complete in mid september too. But got the opposite of interview. haha.

I'm sorry to hear about the rejection, guju! Just wanted to chime in and say that I was complete Sept 2 and I'm still under review, so they probably take more than one pass at applications they're not sure about.

everyone!

 

[glasshalfMD]

I'm sorry to hear about the rejection, guju! Just wanted to chime in and say that I was complete Sept 2 and I'm still under review, so they probably take more than one pass at applications they're not sure about.

everyone!

I'm similar. Well, I submitted my secondary late August, so I assume I was complete early Sept. Luck to you, Daisy 👍

 

[sedaniel]

I'm sorry to hear about the rejection, guju! Just wanted to chime in and say that I was complete Sept 2 and I'm still under review, so they probably take more than one pass at applications they're not sure about.

everyone!

Yeah.. still under review here too.

 

[jadealer]

I've been complete and under review since the end of August and I didn't get rejected yet.. 😕

 

[turkaglew]

I've been complete and under review since the end of August and I didn't get rejected yet.. 😕

Complete in August too, still no decision. I tried calling the office today, they must be closed for veterans day

 

[courtnes]

I've been complete and under review since the end of August and I didn't get rejected yet.. 😕

Only complete since the end of September and also still hanging out in the under review group. It seems like Loyola is one of the schools that will hang onto your app and keep rereviewing it if they like what they see, so maybe it's a good sign, jadealer.

 

[korsian]

Only complete since the end of September and also still hanging out in the under review group. It seems like Loyola is one of the schools that will hang onto your app and keep rereviewing it if they like what they see, so maybe it's a good sign, jadealer.

Yeah - I was complete since September 1 or 2... still waiting!