2011-2012 Oregon Health & Sciences University Application Thread

[AGLAIA]

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Step one, 500 interviewees- ~130 acceptances by the march time frame where med schools are required to have given out a class-worth of acceptances. This leaves 370 students. Here is where it gets cloudy. Taking last years acceptances as a model, 106 students were accepted off of the wait list. Now, if they have given out ~130 acceptances by May 15th, but they take 106 students off the wait list, that means they really only had 30 commitments. Now, another aspect to take into account is that 15% number which has been floating around. Say the bottom 15% were flat out rejected, that leaves 425. Subtract another 100 from this (which withdrew applications after acceptance), that gives 325 students waiting to hear back. 325 waiting to hear back who might land on the wait list. 106 students off the wait list out of 325 gives about 1/3rd.

Now going back to the cloudy part, there was a post in last years forum which plotted the wait list acceptances. 2010-2011 had 106 off off the wait list but 2009-2010 had only 36. That is a very large difference. I would love to hear if anybody has any more information regarding those numbers.

It isn't worth trying to play the numbers games. It'll just mess with your head. There was a lot of suspicion that our class hadn't been filled on May 15th and, since the wait list jumped to the high 30s before the form to stay on the list was due, I think that might be true. You guys having a brand new system this year means all bets are off.

No. It will have no bearing. OHSU explains that the way there system works is everyone receives a score value after their application is reviewed. People with a value above a certain number are automatically accepted, people below a certain value are automatically rejected, and people in the middle are placed on hold. These values dictate where people fall on the wait list. Once the committee receives your application and gives you a score value, that number DOESN'T change, regardless of updates/letters. This has been stated before in this and previous threads. The committee doesn't re-review the applications. In May they just give out the remaining acceptances (if any), set up the wait list, and give out the after hold rejections for those who didn't make the wait list.

^ this is true. Also, don't waste your time.

Be nice to each other folks. You don't want to spend orientation week wondering who "that one db on SDN" was.

GL

 

[mybubbles627]

do you know if they tell you early May or late May. I think i have to announce official matriculation to my other acceptance by May 31st so I'm hoping I would know before then.

Students with multiple acceptances are required to withdraw all but one acceptance by May 15th. That means OHSU will give out the wait list numbers, acceptances, and rejections right around then. I could be wrong, but even if you give the other school and official matriculation, you can change your mind. People get pulled off waitlist through June and July, and sometimes even August. These people then withdraw their acceptance to matriculate at one school and agree to the school they got in off the waitlist.

 

[Nibbly]

Checked my portal and saw that I was rejected (pre-interview) on 1/23. Sneaky! Make sure you're mentally prepared when checking the status page!

 

[Yraqi]

Checked my portal and saw that I was rejected (pre-interview) on 1/23. Sneaky! Make sure you're mentally prepared when checking the status page!

Damn. When were you complete?

 

[Nibbly]

Damn. When were you complete?

Submitted 9/5
Complete 10/1
Hold 11/15ish
R-bomb 1/23

Best of luck if they haven't already bombed you!

 

[mybubbles627]

Checked my portal and saw that I was rejected (pre-interview) on 1/23. Sneaky! Make sure you're mentally prepared when checking the status page!

I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah OHSU, isn't very nice when it comes to rejections. You think they would at least send an e-mail letting people know.

 

[Dianyla]

I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah OHSU, isn't very nice when it comes to rejections. You think they would at least send an e-mail letting people know.

Have they at least improved the verbiage in the online portal?

Last year it was just this single line:
Decision: Refuse mm/dd/yyyy

 

[Nibbly]

Have they at least improved the verbiage in the online portal?

Last year it was just this single line:
Decision: Refuse mm/dd/yyyy

Haha, yeah. It still says "Refuse." There is, however, the following little message:

The Admissions Committee for the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine regrets to inform you that placement in the entering class of 2012 cannot be offered to you.

Each year the Committee must select from a large applicant pool a well-qualified group of applicants to invite for interviews. From this group, a limited number are chosen for the entering class. During the process of screening the credentials of all applicants, your application was not selected for an interview invitation.

Receiving a notification of non-acceptance is a distressing experience. We offer our sincere regrets and thank you for your interest in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine. We wish you the best in your future academic and professional endeavors.

Oh well. For what it's worth, I thought it was nice of them to acknowledge that it's a "distressing experience."

 

[cheesehelpsall]

Interviewed on 11/18 and no word of accept/hold/denied yet - either by email or portal. Anybody same or similar?

Did the people who interviewed on 11/18 and hadn't gotten any news hear anything last week? I haven't.

 

[stay gold]

Just got an interview invite. Shocked and thrilled! 😀

 

[Yraqi]

Just got an interview invite. Shocked and thrilled! 😀

Yay, congrats! When were you complete?

 

[lucid interval]

Did the people who interviewed on 11/18 and hadn't gotten any news hear anything last week? I haven't.

I haven't heard anything either. By my count that's >10 weeks. I'm planning on trying a phone call to check in later this week if still no word....

 

[stay gold]

Yay, congrats! When were you complete?

Complete 11/11. OOS, 34 MCAT and 3.71cGPA.

 

[mybubbles627]

Just got an interview invite. Shocked and thrilled! 😀

Congratulations! What day's did they let you choose from and what day are you interviewing?

 

[stay gold]

Congratulations! What day's did they let you choose from and what day are you interviewing?

Dates that I could choose from:
Feb. 10
Feb. 17
Feb. 22
Feb. 24
Mar. 2

I requested February 10... the sooner I interview, the sooner I'll hear back, I'm hoping!

 

[cheesehelpsall]

I haven't heard anything either. By my count that's >10 weeks. I'm planning on trying a phone call to check in later this week if still no word....

Would you mind posting what they tell you when you call? Thanks!

 

[Signifier]

OHSU is officially the slowest school I've experienced. Just confirming it.

 

[Kekeirda]

... the sooner I interview, the sooner I'll hear back, I'm hoping!

That is generally not true for OHSU. They told us on our interview day that most of us probably wouldn't hear a decision until May.

 

[stay gold]

So I know that OHSU accepts far more IS students than OOS. Does this mean that OHSU gives far more IS interviews than OOS? If I have received an interview invite as an OOS student, do I have an equal chance of getting in as an IS student? I ask because I want to make sure I'm not spending >$500 going to this interview if I only have an exceedingly slim chance of getting accepted...

 

[ameriver]

Anyone know how OHSU feels about pre-interview updates (I've seen that updates after the interview won't be taken into account)? Since I'm taking most of my upper division prereqs this year (OChem, Biochem...), I'd love for them to see my fall term grades, as well as know about a couple of new EC's I've started since I filled out the secondary.

 

[MedSchoolGirl88]

hi everyone, i'm new to the thread. just read that rejections were posted on the portal last week. sorry for those that got that update. I am hanging in there, no reject yet and waiting for it to be mid-February to see if I'll make the interview cut. I'm instate 25/3.8 .

 

[mybubbles627]

So I know that OHSU accepts far more IS students than OOS. Does this mean that OHSU gives far more IS interviews than OOS? If I have received an interview invite as an OOS student, do I have an equal chance of getting in as an IS student? I ask because I want to make sure I'm not spending >$500 going to this interview if I only have an exceedingly slim chance of getting accepted...

Last year Debbie Melton came to my university and informed of us of the numbers for interviews given to IS versus OOS. 315 interviews were given to OOS and 225 were given to IS. Therefore, more interviews are given to OOS but that is also because more OOS people apply. It is true that more IS people attend, but I have heard that residency doesn't matter post interview for the decision on if people should be accepted or not. More IS people attend the school because of the price.

 

[Neuralbunny]

Anyone know how OHSU feels about pre-interview updates (I've seen that updates after the interview won't be taken into account)? Since I'm taking most of my upper division prereqs this year (OChem, Biochem...), I'd love for them to see my fall term grades, as well as know about a couple of new EC's I've started since I filled out the secondary.

If you look on your status page, it says that updates sent in after your file... wait, here, let me just copy it:

Updates submitted after the secondary application is complete may not impact your file.

So they probably don't even really look at it?

 

[stay gold]

Last year Debbie Melton came to my university and informed of us of the numbers for interviews given to IS versus OOS. 315 interviews were given to OOS and 225 were given to IS. Therefore, more interviews are given to OOS but that is also because more OOS people apply. It is true that more IS people attend, but I have heard that residency doesn't matter post interview for the decision on if people should be accepted or not. More IS people attend the school because of the price.

Interesting, thanks for the info! Can anyone corroborate the fact that IS and OOS students have an equal shot at acceptance post-interview?

 

[ameriver]

If you look on your status page, it says that updates sent in after your file... wait, here, let me just copy it:

So they probably don't even really look at it?

Yeah that's what I was afraid of.

 

[lucid interval]

Hey other 11/18 interviewers. Put on hold today. Hope you get better news.

 

[alexrgross]

If you look on your status page, it says that updates sent in after your file... wait, here, let me just copy it:

So they probably don't even really look at it?

I came here to do a cheery post about the snail mail update I sent in today...this post shut me right up...

 

[TabletopJoe]

Hey other 11/18 interviewers. Put on hold today. Hope you get better news.

11/18, hold. Thanks for the warning by the way.

 

[Neuralbunny]

I came here to do a cheery post about the snail mail update I sent in today...this post shut me right up...

I'm sorry 🙁 didn't mean to be discouraging! In return, I will cross my fingers that they actually do read your update 😀

 

[jayhvvip]

12/18 interview, IS, put on hold

 

[centrigeugle]

Hold, IS, interviewed 12/9.

Really surprised by this decision, this was my best shot at getting an acceptance.

 

[mybubbles627]

Hold, IS, interviewed 12/9.

Really surprised by this decision, this was my best shot at getting an acceptance.

A hold isn't a rejection, so stay positive. You still have a shot at an acceptance. The majority of people get placed on hold. That is just how OHSU works. They are interviewing less people this year than they normally do, so having received an interview and not been rejected post interview means you still have a good shot. Keep your chin up 🙂

 

[Docgirl2016]

ditto. Being on hold isn't a bad thing at this point. I'm predicting that within the first ~2 weeks of March quite a few people on hold will be hearing back from OHSU. This is b/c according to the AAMC traffic rules, the AAMC recommends that all med schools fill their classes by March 30th. And from this forum it doesn't seem like a lot of acceptances have gone out.

From AAMC Traffic Rules:
By March 30 of the matriculation year, March 15 for M.D.-Ph.D. programs, each school or program have issued a number of offers of acceptance at least equal to the expected number of students in its first-year entering class and have reported those acceptance actions to the AAMC Section for Medical School Application Services.

A hold isn't a rejection, so stay positive. You still have a shot at an acceptance. The majority of people get placed on hold. That is just how OHSU works. They are interviewing less people this year than they normally do, so having received an interview and not been rejected post interview means you still have a good shot. Keep your chin up 🙂

 

[centrigeugle]

fingers crossed

 

[mybubbles627]

From AAMC Traffic Rules:
By March 30 of the matriculation year, March 15 for M.D.-Ph.D. programs, each school or program have issued a number of offers of acceptance at least equal to the expected number of students in its first-year entering class and have reported those acceptance actions to the AAMC Section for Medical School Application Services.

I wonder how strict of a requirement this is. OHSU interviews through April and they are pretty slow on reviewing applicants post interview (6-10 weeks is what it seems to be) to give them their results. At the rate the are currently going, they will have only reviewed those applicants who interviewed up through the first half of February by March 30th. That leaves a month and a half worth of applicants who wouldn't have even been reviewed yet. And OHSU deliberately says they hold spots to give people who interview late an equal opportunity to receive a spot. I know all the people who receive acceptances won't take the offer, but for OHSU this seems odd since they continue to interview so late and say they hold spots till the end. Maybe they will offer the full 136 and the use the offers of the people who said no to be given to those applicants who interview late.

Edit: Disappointing news, this isn't a requirement but just a "recommendation". Go to the website below if you want the full details.

https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/recommendations/62826/policies_admissionofficers.html

 

[GoZags]

I just received mail from OHSU that's asking me to apply to the program and my question is if it is even worth it at this point??

I originally submitted AMCAS back in August and decided against applying to OHSU just due to geographical selection, and the odds seem pretty staggering. I guess what I'm asking is: Is this mail likely just a ploy to get more money for the admissions cycle? Or do I have a legitimate shot at landing at least an interview out of these kind of things? Maybe someone has experience with this

 

[naomisky]

I just received mail from OHSU that's asking me to apply to the program and my question is if it is even worth it at this point??

I originally submitted AMCAS back in August and decided against applying to OHSU just due to geographical selection, and the odds seem pretty staggering. I guess what I'm asking is: Is this mail likely just a ploy to get more money for the admissions cycle? Or do I have a legitimate shot at landing at least an interview out of these kind of things? Maybe someone has experience with this

I also got this letter... was intrigued at first, but then I noticed that they addressed it "Dear applicant" instead of "Dear Ms. ****" which makes me think it's nuthin special.

 

[jmj33]

I also got this letter... was intrigued at first, but then I noticed that they addressed it "Dear applicant" instead of "Dear Ms. ****" which makes me think it's nuthin special.

I got this too. I think I'm going to for it. I'm sure it is partially so that they can get money, but I'd hope that there is at least a small chance of getting an interview/acceptance if they go through the trouble of sending these out. It's nice actually having something to work on instead of just passively sitting and waiting to hear from slow, slow medical schools.

 

[madllama]

I just received mail from OHSU that's asking me to apply to the program and my question is if it is even worth it at this point??

I originally submitted AMCAS back in August and decided against applying to OHSU just due to geographical selection, and the odds seem pretty staggering. I guess what I'm asking is: Is this mail likely just a ploy to get more money for the admissions cycle? Or do I have a legitimate shot at landing at least an interview out of these kind of things? Maybe someone has experience with this

On one hand I think it's too cynical to think that they'd mail these out with no intention of giving out interviews to us...but on the other, there's no way submitting your secondary in February could help your original application. They're probably skimming for a few more stellar applicants who somehow didnt already get into other schools. The only other thing I could imagine is that their applicant pool somehow ended up lacking in some area, like diversity or something, but with every school getting thousands of applicants I cant see that being realistic either.

 

[Dianyla]

there's no way submitting your secondary in February could help your original application.

Exactly. This must be priming people for next year's app cycle. They're probably assuming that everyone applies to medical school 3 times before getting in.

Oh wait, that's just OHSU.

 

[Kekeirda]

They're probably skimming for a few more stellar applicants who somehow didnt already get into other schools. The only other thing I could imagine is that their applicant pool somehow ended up lacking in some area, like diversity or something, but with every school getting thousands of applicants I cant see that being realistic either.

They sent these out last year as well so I don't think it has anything to do with this year specifically. On the other hand though, they really don't finish filling their class until May 15th so there is still a chance of getting your name in the hat by completing it.

 

[GoZags]

Would be interested to see if the people they send letters out to fit the criteria listed in the letter? Or if it is just mass mail out to those who didn't complete the secondary. I'm going to call later today

WICHE, MD/Ph.D/, Non resident with good academic credentials, or URMs

 

[stay gold]

I just received mail from OHSU that's asking me to apply to the program and my question is if it is even worth it at this point??

I originally submitted AMCAS back in August and decided against applying to OHSU just due to geographical selection, and the odds seem pretty staggering. I guess what I'm asking is: Is this mail likely just a ploy to get more money for the admissions cycle? Or do I have a legitimate shot at landing at least an interview out of these kind of things? Maybe someone has experience with this

With regard to geographical selection, I'll say that I almost didn't send my secondary because I thought I'd have no chance as an Illinois resident. My stats are average, extra-currics are average, but I somehow got an interview. I'm not sure what this strategy is - encouraging people to submit in February - but I'll say this much: don't let geographical selection deter you.

 

[anon747]

I received an interview invitation last week. Pretty exciting because I wasn't expecting to hear anything from OHSU. Although I lived in Oregon for 27 years, I'm currently a Washington resident (having living in Washington for the past 3 1/2 years).

I'm not in any of OHSU's mission-based groups. I recall reading on the website that nobody got in last year from outside of these mission-based groups, so I just figured I probably have no chance. But I would love to go to OHSU if given the opportunity, so I've got nothing to lose by attending the interview. I just hope that I have more than a remote chance of getting accepted, assuming the interview goes reasonably well.

Anybody have any insight into this, in terms of likelihood of getting an offer when you aren't in one of the mission-based groups?

 

[GoZags]

I received an interview invitation last week. Pretty exciting because I wasn't expecting to hear anything from OHSU. Although I lived in Oregon for 27 years, I'm currently a Washington resident (having living in Washington for the past 3 1/2 years).

I'm not in any of OHSU's mission-based groups. I recall reading on the website that nobody got in last year from outside of these mission-based groups, so I just figured I probably have no chance. But I would love to go to OHSU if given the opportunity, so I've got nothing to lose by attending the interview. I just hope that I have more than a remote chance of getting accepted, assuming the interview goes reasonably well.

Anybody have any insight into this, in terms of likelihood of getting an offer when you aren't in one of the mission-based groups?

As per the MSAR:

OOS Applicants last year: 4097
OOS Interviewed: 297
OOS Matriculated: 29

Staggering Odds all the way around lol

 

[anon747]

As per the MSAR:

OOS Applicants last year: 4097
OOS Interviewed: 297
OOS Matriculated: 29

Staggering Odds all the way around lol

True. And I guess that doesn't necessarily take into account the question of how being in a mission-based group affects one's chances, since one could be an OOS applicant and still be part of a mission-based group.

On the website it says: "At this time we want to inform you that placement in the entering class of 2012 cannot be offered to applicants outside of these preference groups."

How exactly am I to interpret that, considering that they have invited me for an interview and I'm NOT in one of the preference groups? It sounds like they're saying, "We won't be able to admit you, but we'd still like to interview you." Seems a little contradictory.

Can anyone expand on this? Was anyone admitted to last year's class who was not in one of the preferred groups?

 

[GoZags]

True. And I guess that doesn't necessarily take into account the question of how being in a mission-based group affects one's chances, since one could be an OOS applicant and still be part of a mission-based group.

On the website it says: "At this time we want to inform you that placement in the entering class of 2012 cannot be offered to applicants outside of these preference groups."

How exactly am I to interpret that, considering that they have invited me for an interview and I'm NOT in one of the preference groups? It sounds like they're saying, "We won't be able to admit you, but we'd still like to interview you." Seems a little contradictory.

Can anyone expand on this? Was anyone admitted to last year's class who was not in one of the preferred groups?

Just look at your MDapps profile and you're definitely in the group dude lol....high GPA and MCAT

 

[anon747]

Just look at your MDapps profile and you're definitely in the group dude lol....high GPA and MCAT

Well, I would definitely like to think so. 🙂 BUT, the cGPA cutoff is 3.65 for preferred status, and I don't meet that particular criteria. So assuming that they are absolutely strict on all those criteria, I wouldn't be in a preferred group. That being said, I'd be curious to know how many people from past application cycles who were not in any of the preferred groups have gotten admission offers. It would be nice to know how common or uncommon that is.

 

[GoZags]

Well, I would definitely like to think so. 🙂 BUT, the cGPA cutoff is 3.65 for preferred status, and I don't meet that particular criteria. So assuming that they are absolutely strict on all those criteria, I wouldn't be in a preferred group. That being said, I'd be curious to know how many people from past application cycles who were not in any of the preferred groups have gotten admission offers. It would be nice to know how common or uncommon that is.

Yes you would think there may be some wiggle room, if your sGPA is 4.0 maybe that got you over the cusp haha

 

[ScribeDavid]

Well, I would definitely like to think so. 🙂 BUT, the cGPA cutoff is 3.65 for preferred status, and I don't meet that particular criteria.

I think to be an academic mission-based applicant it's either a GPA >/=3.65 OR an MCAT >/=32, which you have.