2011-2012 Harvard Application Thread

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there's been lots of II's and talk about the HST program (thanks alamo4 for sharing your experience), but what about NP? it seems like there havent been many people talking about their interviews or announcing II's for this program. it seems a little weird seeing that NP is a larger program than HST (and I only applied to NP:xf:) anyone have NP interviews recently or want to share their NP experiences? thanks and congrats to those with interviews!
 
egreen3 said:
there's been lots of II's and talk about the HST program (thanks alamo4 for sharing your experience), but what about NP? it seems like there havent been many people talking about their interviews or announcing II's for this program. it seems a little weird seeing that NP is a larger program than HST (and I only applied to NP:xf:) anyone have NP interviews recently or want to share their NP experiences? thanks and congrats to those with interviews!
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haven't been for NP but

it's the most unstructured interview day in existence; they pretty much ignore you outside the interviews. you don't tour the hospitals, unless you get sent to one for an interview. if you get an interview at mgh, you take a cab and get a voucher. the school tour is pretty cursory, tour guides are often late. you get a voucher for lunch to this tiny hole in the wall type cafe in the atrium, chat with some students.

nevertheless, hms knows they can get away with it.
 
chronicidal said:
haven't been for NP but

it's the most unstructured interview day in existence; they pretty much ignore you outside the interviews. you don't tour the hospitals, unless you get sent to one for an interview. if you get an interview at mgh, you take a cab and get a voucher. the school tour is pretty cursory, tour guides are often late. you get a voucher for lunch to this tiny hole in the wall type cafe in the atrium, chat with some students.

nevertheless, hms knows they can get away with it.
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Most tour guides get out of class later than you get to the atrium. (Says the dude who forgot he was leading a tour after posting about it on SDN hahaha)

Really though... what is useful about the tours you've been on at other schools? The most relevant stuff is where you'll be studying and living. Who cares what the hospital you may not even rotate in looks like? It looks like a hospital. Lots of beige and lots of vital sign doohickeys sitting around.
 
FlowRate said:
Most tour guides get out of class later than you get to the atrium. (Says the dude who forgot he was leading a tour after posting about it on SDN hahaha)

Really though... what is useful about the tours you've been on at other schools? The most relevant stuff is where you'll be studying and living. Who cares what the hospital you may not even rotate in looks like? It looks like a hospital. Lots of beige and lots of vital sign doohickeys sitting around.
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FlowRate, I think you were my tour guide when I went for my NP interview, and I thought it was good 🙂 thanks!
 
I think it's funny that people see the name Harvard and think it's crazy ridiculous to even be considered by them. I've looked at the numbers, and technically getting an interview from Emory(11.4%), Cornell(13.08%), and George Washington (7.79%) is more difficult than getting one from Harvard (13.9%). If I looked harder, I could probably find many more schools. And interestingly, Harvard's 10th percentile of MCAT scores starts is a 31 so they definitely consider a wide range of applicants.. not just elite 4.0GPA, 36+ MCAT people.

Still waiting to hear back from them!
 
All this is true. Obviously further analysis beyond the basic numbers is needed to conclusively determine a more realistic chance of receiving an interview from them. However, just the way people talk about Harvard though, you'd think that they would only interview/accept 1% of the applicants or something when this is far from the truth. And the fact that there are people in Harvard Med School right now with 31's and 32's on the MCAT shows that not everybody is créme de la créme statistics wise. That is my only point.
 
Beekachu said:
FlowRate, I think you were my tour guide when I went for my NP interview, and I thought it was good 🙂 thanks!
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Ah I'm glad you were satisfied!

dominicandoctor said:
All this is true. Obviously further analysis beyond the basic numbers is needed to conclusively determine a more realistic chance of receiving an interview from them. However, just the way people talk about Harvard though, you'd think that they would only interview/accept 1% of the applicants or something when this is far from the truth. And the fact that there are people in Harvard Med School right now with 31's and 32's on the MCAT shows that not everybody is créme de la créme statistics wise. That is my only point.
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Then you get to school and realize that the whole stats thing is unimportant. The folks with 31's are hard to discern from the folks with 42+ The 31's usually did some real impressive stuff. Heck, everyone did.
 
dominicandoctor said:
All this is true. Obviously further analysis beyond the basic numbers is needed to conclusively determine a more realistic chance of receiving an interview from them. However, just the way people talk about Harvard though, you'd think that they would only interview/accept 1% of the applicants or something when this is far from the truth. And the fact that there are people in Harvard Med School right now with 31's and 32's on the MCAT shows that not everybody is créme de la créme statistics wise. That is my only point.
Click to expand...

it doesn't help that some of HMS's close competitors offer lower tuition (Stanford) or merit scholarships to the creme de la creme (eg WashU, Penn, and maybe others) when HMS does not. After all, a fourth of the students (40-50) accepted choose to go elsewhere. So HMS can't have a monopoly on the best of the best. There is still a bell curve at HMS, a small number of people who do poorly on step 1 or don't match. My interviewer assured me that dunces exist in both HST and NP.
 
I interviewed about a month and a half ago... the holidays are not helping with the waiting. Anyone else feel the same way!? ha.
 
FlowRate said:
Ah I'm glad you were satisfied!



Then you get to school and realize that the whole stats thing is unimportant. The folks with 31's are hard to discern from the folks with 42+ The 31's usually did some real impressive stuff. Heck, everyone did.
Click to expand...

I realize Harvard's definitely at the top of the conventional spectrum, but really, multiple 42-or-higher scores in a single interview group? I'm not applying to Harvard; I just checked in here to see what the discussion was like. I scored a 41, and I looked up the statistics to know that only about 100 or so people a year do better than that. I guess it makes sense that they all seem to be getting interviews at Harvard.
 
Does anyone know the date in march that we are suppose to hear back from admissions? My interview group was just told "sometime in march".


Also does anyone know how non-rolling at HMS works? I've heard of some schools who are "non-rolling" but have an internal rolling process (interviewing earlier is more beneficial than interviewing later). Thanks.
 
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marshallmathers said:
Does anyone know the date in march that we are suppose to hear back from admissions? My interview group was just told "sometime in march".


Also does anyone know how non-rolling at HMS works? I've heard of some schools who are "non-rolling" but have an internal rolling process (interviewing earlier is more beneficial than interviewing later). Thanks.
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Short answer: it's internally rolling but, like other non-rolling internally-rolling schools, everyone is given a score. Only at the end of the season, the top scoring applicants get accepted.

The following passage is adapted from the HST Connector.
There is one HST committee, which contains three subcommittees, and one main committee with four NP subcommittees. There is a separate MD/PhD subcommittee.

All interviewed candidates are discussed in one of the subcommittees, with consideration given to academic and extracurricular records, letters of recommendation as well as reports from the interview. Approximately half of the interviewed applicants are then advanced to the main committee [this may be different for NP].

This committee then assesses these applicants on the basis of their application and the reports from interviewers and the subcommittee along the model of NIH study sections. A primary and two secondary reviewers presents the applicant, discussing strengths and weaknesses and recommending rough scoring ranges.

Following group discussion, applicants are scored by all members of the group, and these results are used to determine a rank order for admissions.

Subcommittees meet throughout the season, I believe, because I overheard the HST admissions director talking to a faculty member about attending the subcommittee meeting the next week (in December).

This set of recommendations is then presented to the HMS Admissions Executive Committee, which accepts them as proposed, usually.

For HST, last year, 165 students were interviewed, 80 advanced to the HST committee, ~40 were accepted.
 
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Thanks for the info! This subcommittee business makes me anxious. (According to the links, I'm in Subcommittee II.) I can just imagine that whole group of amazingly accomplished people picking apart every aspect of my application. Man, can't wait for March.
 
chronicidal said:
Short answer: it's internally rolling but, like other non-rolling internally-rolling schools, everyone is given a score. Only at the end of the season, the top scoring applicants get accepted.

The following passage is adapted from the HST Connector.
There is one HST committee, which contains three subcommittees, and one main committee with four NP subcommittees. There is a separate MD/PhD subcommittee.

All interviewed candidates are discussed in one of the subcommittees, with consideration given to academic and extracurricular records, letters of recommendation as well as reports from the interview. Approximately half of the interviewed applicants are then advanced to the main committee [this may be different for NP].

This committee then assesses these applicants on the basis of their application and the reports from interviewers and the subcommittee along the model of NIH study sections. A primary and two secondary reviewers presents the applicant, discussing strengths and weaknesses and recommending rough scoring ranges.

Following group discussion, applicants are scored by all members of the group, and these results are used to determine a rank order for admissions.

Subcommittees meet throughout the season, I believe, because I overheard the HST admissions director talking to a faculty member about attending the subcommittee meeting the next week (in December).

This set of recommendations is then presented to the HMS Admissions Executive Committee, which accepts them as proposed, usually.

For HST, last year, 165 students were interviewed, 80 advanced to the HST committee, ~40 were accepted.
Click to expand...

Chronicidal, thank you for your post about the post-interview process! I really appreciate all the info.
 
Does anyone know when the last interview day is/was? (for NP)
 
isabella1 said:
Does anyone know when the last interview day is/was? (for NP)
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I'm not sure when the last interview date for this year is but here is a post by an SDN member from last year's harvard thread.

I got an invite Friday the 14th. Available dates were Jan 25, 27, 28, 29, Feb 1. I was complete early November.

Hope that helps.
 
If they aren't planning on sending you an interview invite, does anyone know when they'll let you know?

I was complete the day before the secondary deadline, so really late in the grand scheme of things. I just got a Yale invite on Monday, though, and would sort of like to know if Harvard will be giving one out as well; the Eastern seaboard is a looong way to fly. :laugh: I'm holding off on booking the Yale slot for now, but can't do that for too long.
 
ElChamaco said:
%$#^ NP INVITE! I'm going dancing!
Click to expand...
Congrats!!! When were you complete? Also, what time was it sent out? I'm trying to figure out if there is a rhyme or reason to the timing of invitations...
 
ElChamaco said:
%$#^ NP INVITE! I'm going dancing!
Click to expand...

+1. NP invite last night at 11pm (??). Complete early Nov. Available interview dates were all mid-to-late January.
 
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masrawy said:
Congrats!!! When were you complete? Also, what time was it sent out? I'm trying to figure out if there is a rhyme or reason to the timing of invitations...
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Thank you 🙂

Complete 9/1. Interview invite came around 11:30pm.
 
Just called the Admissions Office, and the gentleman I talked to said that they were giving out invites for "another week or so."
 
Hey did anyone get a confirmation on the interview date yet after letting them know the three dates? I'm just afraid my email got lost =(
 
darkhope said:
Hey did anyone get a confirmation on the interview date yet after letting them know the three dates? I'm just afraid my email got lost =(
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It took them two days to get back to me with the interview confirmation after I sent in my dates. Trust 👍.
 
Got it over the weekend (Sunday) one day after i sent my dates.
 
It's the last week of invitations already 🙁
I think I have resigned to the fact that the HMS train has left the station.
 
Nooo, train! Come back! :cry:

Still, though, there are a few days left in the week for us.
 
Filius said:
Nooo, train! Come back! :cry:

Still, though, there are a few days left in the week for us.
Click to expand...


Haha, you're right. I will be staying up at least to 11:30pm every night (that is, for the next two nights until the week is over). So strange that they send them so late - but I won't say no to a late night email from Harvard 🙂
 
Filius said:
Nooo, train! Come back! :cry:

Still, though, there are a few days left in the week for us.
Click to expand...

Let's hope that some of us get invites, if not, we tried our best and HMS isn't for everyone nor is everyone for HMS (the latter is pretty obvious though haha).
 
Corbin25 said:
I interviewed about a month and a half ago... the holidays are not helping with the waiting. Anyone else feel the same way!? ha.
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March is friggin' so far away. I've been having NIGHTMARES about Harvard. O___o
 
huyem12 said:
March is friggin' so far away. I've been having NIGHTMARES about Harvard. O___o
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Ha, I've been sitting in class having sudden feelings of paranoia about my application/interview... It sucks that your only form of feedback in the whole process is in a decision that comes months after the fact!

For all those waiting for the train, best of luck to you :luck:. They may extend invitations for interview a while longer... you never know. I'm pullin' for you :xf:
 
interviewing tomorrow (for the NP program)! friday the 13th?? hahaha eek.
 
Does anyone know when Harvard starts reviewing applicants to make their decisions? (I interviewed in November)

Do they sit down to review things in the beginning of February?

Thanks!

Best of luck to everyone!
 
suavemx said:
NP II just now! This is crazy!!!!!
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I hate to be that person, but can people who are getting NP invites post their stats? I really hope to be one of these people, but I don't wanna get my hopes up if I'm nowhere in the ballpark. THANKS! 🙂
 
ru4real1666 said:
I hate to be that person, but can people who are getting NP invites post their stats? I really hope to be one of these people, but I don't wanna get my hopes up if I'm nowhere in the ballpark. THANKS! 🙂
Click to expand...

What are your stats?
 
Does anyone know the NP interview format? Or was it discussed earlier in the thread already? I heard some top schools have weird interview formats so I just wanna be prepared... going there late this month. Thanks
 
Frazier said:
Very straightforward. One was with a student and the other with a physician. One was 45min the other was around 1.25 hours.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC
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Thank you so much. Never had an interview longer than 1 hour so it's definitely good to know.
 
ace327 said:
Thank you so much. Never had an interview longer than 1 hour so it's definitely good to know.
Click to expand...

It varies; the interview day schedule here was strange. My faculty interview was early in the morning and exactly 30 min long, because she had another interview scheduled immediately after. My student interview was in the evening and lasted exactly an hour, because I had to run out and catch my plane. In between, I spent ~six hours exploring the environs, tanning in the quad (with a full suit on, no less) and intermittently dashing back to the admissions office for free coffee.
 
candav said:
It varies; the interview day schedule here was strange. My faculty interview was early in the morning and exactly 30 min long, because she had another interview scheduled immediately after. My student interview was in the evening and lasted exactly an hour, because I had to run out and catch my plane. In between, I spent ~six hours exploring the environs, tanning in the quad (with a full suit on, no less) and intermittently dashing back to the admissions office for free coffee.
Click to expand...
I see, thank you. I guess I can expect a pair of interviews: one long, one short.
 
When I interviewed I had two faculty interviews, both about hour long. Make sure you keep your cell phone with you, the admissions office called to reschedule my afternoon interview. I had 10 minutes to get there!
 
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