2010-2011 Medical College of Wisconsin Application Thread

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Hey guys. Suncrusher, etc. Just fyi for everyone. I called George Washington to ask them about this. Couldn't get a hold of MCW. I assume all rolling admission schools follow this. If you submit without LORs you're not complete. So you won't start getting reviewed. They don't hold a spot for you in "line." You have to be marked as fully complete to start getting reviewed for an interview. There is really no advantage to turning in the secondary w/out LORs they said.
 
Right. But MCW has to check for secondary application completeness/LORs manually, and they check in the order the secondaries were submitted (at least, they told me they did). That's all I was trying to say, but I know I said it in a really disorganized way. Sorry that I confused you
 
haha it's all good. for some reason i havent been on my game lately either. Just to get this straight because I tried calling MCW and their phone system was weird.

Some guy has his sec turned in but no LORs. 1 hour later another guy has Some guy has sec + LOR turned in. The first guy w/ no LORs is in line first and gets reviewed? Maybe I was wrong, only GWU doesn't save spots in line?
 
ha ok Suncrusher, got an email from MCW. Basically order is based on completion and not submission. Am I even allowed to submit right now w/out the LORs? I keep thinking they'll see my app and then just disqualify me b/c I don't have them when I submitted.
 
Yes, interview order is based on completion and not submission. But completion (getting letters uploaded to the secondary) is based on submission

I promise I won't abandon you until you're clear on this 😛
 
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haha thanks man or girl? yeah just been tired and sloppy lately. kinda pissed about my LORs b/c it's not the writers or service I'm having a grudge with. it's the school's mail service that is super slow. we can't turn in our rec lec letters. professors have to do it themselves by hand or school mail.

i might turn in the secondaries that don't have any essays this weekend or monday. the thing i keep worrying about is "certification". b/c once i'm certified, i keep thinking b/c i dont have those letters they'll just toss me out. i'm paranoid w/ this for some reason.

thx for the help though.
 
Engineer2med said:
Same here! All but 1, all forwaded from amcas. I'm probably going to wait a few days since my mcat scores aren't ready anyways so I won't be complete until next month regardless.
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So I emailed the admissions office today and they said one letter wasn't on letterhead or signed, so it couldn't count towards letter requirements. I didn't even think about that. Apparently you can call AMCAS and verify that letters are on letterhead/signed.

Sadly, for me, that means attempting to contact my letter writer who no longer is at my school, and I won't be complete until they re-send the letter in. Seems a little ridiculous, to be honest.
 
duckgirl24 said:
So I emailed the admissions office today and they said one letter wasn't on letterhead or signed, so it couldn't count towards letter requirements. I didn't even think about that. Apparently you can call AMCAS and verify that letters are on letterhead/signed.

Sadly, for me, that means attempting to contact my letter writer who no longer is at my school, and I won't be complete until they re-send the letter in. Seems a little ridiculous, to be honest.
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You need to get on this right away. It could slow down your entire application to all the schools you applied to.

As for MCWs policy, the school will evaluate applications based on when they are considered complete. Regardless of when you submit, it is when you are overall complete that counts.
 
I actually had two letters rejected for not being on letterhead/signed. I am having problems getting my letter writers to understand why they have to re-send them and do it right. Its a pain. I know they are doing me a favor and I appreciate that, but I gave them great instructions that they seem to have disregarded. Oh well...hopefully it'll just be a few more days.
 
cubssox2000 said:
You need to get on this right away. It could slow down your entire application to all the schools you applied to.

As for MCWs policy, the school will evaluate applications based on when they are considered complete. Regardless of when you submit, it is when you are overall complete that counts.
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I know, the issue is that the writer doesn't work for my college anymore so I can't get ahold of him. Working on it. I'm worried because I'm no longer in college so there's really no one else I can get to write me a letter as of now. Yikes.
 
😕

So they have to either be on a letter head OR signed? Or both letter head AND signed?

I did not know the letter head thing was an issue....For my letters, the department at our school collects all the letters, makes sure they are signed and sends them out in one, large packet with a cover sheet.

When I ask a person to write me a letter, I have to include this waiver form that tells the person, explicitly, that there needs to be a letter head, or a business card, or contact information but I don't know whether or not the writers did this because I can't see the letters 😱

Crapo....if the letters are not on an official letter head, are the just thrown out?!
 
garyinthehouse said:
😕

So they have to either be on a letter head OR signed? Or both letter head AND signed?

I did not know the letter head thing was an issue....For my letters, the department at our school collects all the letters, makes sure they are signed and sends them out in one, large packet with a cover sheet.

When I ask a person to write me a letter, I have to include this waiver form that tells the person, explicitly, that there needs to be a letter head, or a business card, or contact information but I don't know whether or not the writers did this because I can't see the letters 😱

Crapo....if the letters are not on an official letter head, are the just thrown out?!
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You should be fine. My school did a very similar thing where I had to have my LOR writers send their letters to them, then they would put together the packet and send it out.
 
garyinthehouse said:
😕

So they have to either be on a letter head OR signed? Or both letter head AND signed?

I did not know the letter head thing was an issue....For my letters, the department at our school collects all the letters, makes sure they are signed and sends them out in one, large packet with a cover sheet.

When I ask a person to write me a letter, I have to include this waiver form that tells the person, explicitly, that there needs to be a letter head, or a business card, or contact information but I don't know whether or not the writers did this because I can't see the letters 😱

Crapo....if the letters are not on an official letter head, are the just thrown out?!
Click to expand...

Letterhead AND signed are necessary, if possible. If you are using Interfolio you can email them and ask them to check your documents to make sure. Its way easier to take care of it now then when you're wondering why you aren't checked off as complete. Interfolio staff is very friendly and willing to work with you to get your letters resubmitted if necessary.
 
taylormade2006 said:
Letterhead AND signed are necessary, if possible. If you are using Interfolio you can email them and ask them to check your documents to make sure. Its way easier to take care of it now then when you're wondering why you aren't checked off as complete. Interfolio staff is very friendly and willing to work with you to get your letters resubmitted if necessary.
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Bummer.....I don't use interfolio, I actually use a service run by my university and I sent them an email asking about this question, so I'll see how it goes. If they don't have letterheads I can't really contact those professors as I asked for them 2-3 years ago :|
 
Gary,

I wouldn't have known about the rules if it weren't for Interfolio. I don't know if it's necessarily "common sense" that you should have known about. I hope things work out for you.
 
They downloaded my letters from AMCAS and marked mine complete. Took 3 days, which is exactly how much time they said they would take. Impressive estimation skills, MCW admissions staff! 😛
 
This whole letterhead thing is confusing. I am complete at MCW but I got an email from Einstein saying I was on hold due to some of my letters not being on official letterhead. There seems to be some variety amongst the schools because I am complete at seven other schools and Einstein is the only one who has put me on hold. Or at least so far😱.
 
Suncrusher said:
They downloaded my letters from AMCAS and marked mine complete. Took 3 days, which is exactly how much time they said they would take. Impressive estimation skills, MCW admissions staff! 😛
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They've been doing this thing for a while now, they know their timelines 🙄

muffyd - whats with your signature? Your spending too much time on SDN. National average is still at 30-31 :laugh:
 
The signature comes with a long story that is mildly offensive to some people so we will just keep that a secret. But, you are definitely right. I spend way too much time here. I guess it just provides a break from all this secondary craziness. I have six that I'm trying to do today. This of course is because I have other scheduling conflicts. No one in their right mind should try to do six in one day!!!
 
Just as an additional opinion: I interviewed here last year and I went into the interview pessimistic and apathetic, and left impressed and hoping to get accepted. It's a nice school and a good area, so I'm excited about applying again!
 
once you submit and pay and everything...how long does it take for you to be complete?
 
Hi,
What kind of picture is everyone sending? Is it necessary to have a professional photograph?
Thanks!
 
Question: The letter I designated for MCW as a "biology" letter is actually a cognitive neuroscience professor in the department of psychology. However, IMO, this should be designated as a biology course due to the nature of the material - is this going to cause problems for me?

Also, what did you all submit for pictures? I just did a picture of me from graduation w/ my cap and gown on - figured it made me look studious :laugh:

Muchas gracias!
 
glasshalfMD said:
Question: The letter I designated for MCW as a "biology" letter is actually a cognitive neuroscience professor in the department of psychology. However, IMO, this should be designated as a biology course due to the nature of the material - is this going to cause problems for me?

Also, what did you all submit for pictures? I just did a picture of me from graduation w/ my cap and gown on - figured it made me look studious :laugh:

Muchas gracias!
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Haha, that's great... I just found one on Facebook of me that looked good. I was wearing nothing special--just a black t-shirt.

Regarding your letter though, you can get a fast, definitive reply if you just email the admissions staff (the email should be somewhere on the secondary site). For example, I emailed Wisconsin (Madison) about five days ago to see if I could substitute an academic letter with one from my supervisor/resident director because I was a post-baccalaureate student. Not only was the email forwarded to the proper person the next day, that person emailed me within two hours of receiving the forwarded email! So, in general, I bet questions like that can be quickly answered by the staff.
 
I would keep the pictures semi-professional. Definitely not one of you holding a handle of tequila with drunk people all around. I went with a graduation photo (not cap and gown, the suit under it).
 
betheltim said:
Haha, that's great... I just found one on Facebook of me that looked good. I was wearing nothing special--just a black t-shirt.

Regarding your letter though, you can get a fast, definitive reply if you just email the admissions staff (the email should be somewhere on the secondary site). For example, I emailed Wisconsin (Madison) about five days ago to see if I could substitute an academic letter with one from my supervisor/resident director because I was a post-baccalaureate student. Not only was the email forwarded to the proper person the next day, that person emailed me within two hours of receiving the forwarded email! So, in general, I bet questions like that can be quickly answered by the staff.
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Thanks, betheltim! Curious, what did Wisconsin say regarding your letter situation? I'm wondering about the leniency of the requirements - of course, I know not to generalize your situation to all schools, but maybe it'll give me a little more insight. I'll email MCW tomorrow and let others here know what they say in case you have similar questions! 🙂
 
glasshalfMD said:
Thanks, betheltim! Curious, what did Wisconsin say regarding your letter situation? I'm wondering about the leniency of the requirements - of course, I know not to generalize your situation to all schools, but maybe it'll give me a little more insight. I'll email MCW tomorrow and let others here know what they say in case you have similar questions! 🙂
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They said they understood that it could be difficult getting letters from three professors if a student has been out of school for a while, so they told me it was okay if I replaced one from a professor with one from my supervisor.

(I graduated in May 2009 and went back to the same school for an extra post-baccalaureate year, but I didn't have a lot of contact with my core professors, since I explored other interests and tried to take more classes in other areas, and I was an RA on top of that)
 
cubssox2000 said:
I would keep the pictures semi-professional. Definitely not one of you holding a handle of tequila with drunk people all around. I went with a graduation photo (not cap and gown, the suit under it).
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Haha, yeah, I definitely wouldn't give them a photo of me with any sort of alcohol... However, I still got an interview last year with a plain photo of me that I found on Facebook. But yes, nothing obnoxious.
 
Hey guys... I'm a new SDNer. Just wondering, is there any special button to officially submit the application (or is that what the certification is for?). If all the boxes are checked am I good to go?
 
Does MCW send out secondaries before AMCAS primary is verified?
 
For the "letters" section, what do you put in the "Title" box? Is that the professor's title (ie Associate Professor), or something else?
 
jmaggiekent said:
Does MCW send out secondaries before AMCAS primary is verified?
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I don't think that any school will send you a secondary before the primary is verified. That's the point of the primary - it lets schools know who is interested in applying.
 
thats what I thought too but I already got a secondary from my in state school so I was wondering if this was the trend or somewhat of an odd occurrence
 
cubssox2000 said:
I don't think that any school will send you a secondary before the primary is verified. That's the point of the primary - it lets schools know who is interested in applying.
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jmaggiekent said:
thats what I thought too but I already got a secondary from my in state school so I was wondering if this was the trend or somewhat of an odd occurrence
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I turned in my primary 7/1, so I'm not verified yet. The only secondary I've received is GWU.
 
jmaggiekent said:
thats what I thought too but I already got a secondary from my in state school so I was wondering if this was the trend or somewhat of an odd occurrence
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I think some schools will send you the secondary early once they receive info from AMCAS that you've applied, though before they actually get your application .. I had the same thing from GWU as well .. though, I think the vast majority of secondaries are only sent out after you're verified, .. I got 10 after being verified Wednesday morning
 
Hey, friends. Asked about the letter situation (see my post somewhere above) - they said using a 'cognitive neuroscience' letter will work as my science letter. It's encouraging that they seem to be pretty open when it comes to this requirement. Good luck, all. 🙂
 
glasshalfMD said:
Hey, friends. Asked about the letter situation (see my post somewhere above) - they said using a 'cognitive neuroscience' letter will work as my science letter. It's encouraging that they seem to be pretty open when it comes to this requirement. Good luck, all. 🙂
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Awesome, that's great to hear! Like I (might have) said, I doubt schools are that picky in the end. They just have to have a certain guideline so people aren't submitting them from their family, pastor, or Schwan's delivery man...

With that said, good luck (that goes for everyone)!
 
6760French said:
I was told by admissions that you need all 10's on the MCAT to be high priority for interviews. One of my friends got off the waitlist with one 9. I had an 8 and was small-pooled, but not interviewed. They do have cut offs also. If you have an 8 in one area of your MCAT, your application is reviewed twice before getting small-pooled. If you have a 7 or lower in any area of the MCAT, it doesn't pay to apply. It is essentially an auto-reject. If you have an 8 you might get small-pooled, but chances are very slim you will get an interview.
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MCAT isn't everything bud, my roommate had strait 11s and got denied pre-interview for two years in a row. I assume his problem was GPA he had a ~3.55

In any case, from what I gather, MCW is a little different in how they process applicants. Instead of viewing academics and extracurricular together, they split the process.

--First they look at purely academics. They look at just MCAT and GPA and using only this data, they decide interviews.
--Once interviews are sent, academics don't matter. Its pure LORs and extracurriculars that decide who gets accepted.

The dean explained to me that they do this so neither academics or other factors (trips to Africa, etc) have too much weight in your application. This makes MCW pretty unique in admissions. Once you get passed the interview stage, everyone gets placed on equal academic footing. It would be quite possible for a 4.0 GPA, 45 MCAT student to get denied if their extracurricular aren't up to par. Likewise, you could be a saint that personally saved 5,000 lives and have a LOR from Obama, but you could still be denied an interview if your academics aren't up to par. Pretty interesting really.
 
Enoko said:
MCAT isn't everything bud, my roommate had strait 11s and got denied pre-interview for two years in a row. I assume his problem was GPA he had a ~3.55

In any case, from what I gather, MCW is a little different in how they process applicants. Instead of viewing academics and extracurricular together, they split the process.

--First they look at purely academics. They look at just MCAT and GPA and using only this data, they decide interviews.
--Once interviews are sent, academics don't matter. Its pure LORs and extracurriculars that decide who gets accepted.

The dean explained to me that they do this so neither academics or other factors (trips to Africa, etc) have too much weight in your application. This makes MCW pretty unique in admissions. Once you get passed the interview stage, everyone gets placed on equal academic footing. It would be quite possible for a 4.0 GPA, 45 MCAT student to get denied if their extracurricular aren't up to par. Likewise, you could be a saint that personally saved 5,000 lives and have a LOR from Obama, but you could still be denied an interview if your academics aren't up to par. Pretty interesting really.
Click to expand...

It sounds like they invented a good way to get some mediocre students with good extracurriculars.
 
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