2011-2012 Penn State Application Thread

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Does the letter go to your permanent or preferred address? I can't remember from interview day.
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haha accepted today through a whole lot of prayers!!!! interviewed march 7th. Thank God!
 
Congratulations everyone! I interviewed this past Wednesday 3/28. I loved Hershey and would adore going there (I'm a Penn State student), but I'm out of state and it was very late in the application cycle, so I'm not holding out hope.
 
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crazy12 said:
haha accepted today through a whole lot of prayers!!!! interviewed march 7th. Thank God!
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March 7th? You heard in THREE weeks? I thought it was a six week wait minimum. Congrats!
 
yea i couldnt believe it either....im OOS with avg MCAT and a good GPA. There is still hope for anyone trying to get an acceptance. The letter actually was marked March 23th so i believe the process is moving alot faster now. Good luck! I also applied at like November....so I was extremely late
 
crazy12 said:
yea i couldnt believe it either....im OOS with avg MCAT and a good GPA. There is still hope for anyone trying to get an acceptance. The letter actually was marked March 23th so i believe the process is moving alot faster now. Good luck! I also applied at like November....so I was extremely late
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Just curious, did you get a background check email prior to getting your acceptance letter?
 
I interviewed march 7th also and also heard back in 3 weeks. News wasn't as good though... placed on the hold list. Any one know how good my chances are now? (how many people are on the list, heard from past years etc ...)
 
I got zip in the mail today. Interviewed March 9th. Glad they're turning things around more quickly though!
 
Nah i didnt get any emails from penn state yet, just a snail mail letter..If u interviewed two days later, you should be hearing soon it seems! I hope its good news for you as well
 
src922 said:
Just curious, did you get a background check email prior to getting your acceptance letter?
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I didn't receive a background check e-mail prior to acceptance. :D (Still beaming with disbelief)
 
crazy12 said:
Nah i didnt get any emails from penn state yet, just a snail mail letter..If u interviewed two days later, you should be hearing soon it seems! I hope its good news for you as well
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I interviewed Feb 13th and still haven't heard back, so I'm wondering if they always go in order...
 
crazy12 said:
Nah i didnt get any emails from penn state yet, just a snail mail letter..If u interviewed two days later, you should be hearing soon it seems! I hope its good news for you as well
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Thanks crazy!
 
Tabasco24 said:
@shivakamini: Do you have any advice for entering MS-1's in terms of how we should spend our summers? One person I asked said to relax and have fun, but what if we're non-traditional students who haven't been in study-mode for a while...? As of now, I'm planning on having as much fun as I possibly can, but a part of me feels like I should be prepping a bit...

Any insight?

Thanks in advance!
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Whoever told you to do "prep" work is an idiot. You'll start out with anatomy and there is no amount a preperation that would give you any advantage (ok, thats not entirely true). You'll be ready to roll once orientation week is over.

Nevertheless, don't waste your time. Seriously have as much fun as you possibly can. You'll be glad you did.
 
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Hey Everyone,
Is it possible to send an update letter to Penn State when we are on post interview hold? I was also wondering if we can submit additional letters of recommendations directly to the school from Professors? If yes, to whom would they be addressed?
 
I interviewed in late January and am still waiting for a letter... *Sigh.
 
ethioped said:
Hey Everyone,
Is it possible to send an update letter to Penn State when we are on post interview hold? I was also wondering if we can submit additional letters of recommendations directly to the school from Professors? If yes, to whom would they be addressed?
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When I contacted Penn State, the ONLY additional items they will accept are updated official transcripts. I sent Fall's grades and will send again in May.
 
I got waitlisted to Penn State. Can anyone tell me how big the waitlist is or what my likelyhood of getting of the waitlist is? Thanks in advance.
 
Pichuhunny said:
I got waitlisted to Penn State. Can anyone tell me how big the waitlist is or what my likelyhood of getting of the waitlist is? Thanks in advance.
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Acceptance from the waitlist usually happens till the end of May but can extend to a week before the new school year as accepted students decide to go elsewhere. A couple people from previous app cycle threads confirmed the waitlist is 3x the class size, but it's unclear if or how the prioritize the waitlist ranking.
 
Pichuhunny said:
I got waitlisted to Penn State. Can anyone tell me how big the waitlist is or what my likelyhood of getting of the waitlist is? Thanks in advance.
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Calls for acceptance from the hold list will occur late May through June/July. The number accepted from the hold list varies year to year, depending on how many acceptances were offered initially and how many people actually decide to matriculate here. There is no way of knowing this, and the admissions office won't tell you; so do not bother asking. The hold list is not ranked - adcom will review each application when a spot opens up.

I sent a LOI last year - not sure if it was put in my file or not, but I was accepted off of the hold list in June. So obviously, it didn't hurt to send an update letter. Choice is yours.
 
Thanks all for the info. I will send in my updated transcript and rec. letter and then hope for the best.
 
Anyone know when financial aid stuff will be going out?
 
StephBee said:
Anyone know when financial aid stuff will be going out?
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I called earlier this week.
They said the first award letters are going out this week and will arrive next week sometime. I'll let you know when I get mine.
 
sam500 said:
I called earlier this week.
They said the first award letters are going out this week and will arrive next week sometime. I'll let you know when I get mine.
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Alright, my award letter just arrived in the mail today.
70K in loans, 30K of that grad plus loans. Yeesh!
I don't understand how they consider someone who's been out of school for 9 years to be dependent on their parents. I really dislike "need-based". I'm 10 years closer to death than a traditional student. That seems pretty needful to me!

And not even one free chocolate bar in the mix! ;)
 
ACCEPTED!!!!!! Praise the LORD!!! Interviewed March 9th. Hershey is my first choice.

Best of luck to all and hope we meet in August!
 
Haha absolutely, but I will literally go wherever I'm accepted (though staying a Nittany Lion would be nice).

OH HEY! Welcome to Nittany Nation by the way! You're one of us now!
 
Got my financial aid letter today. Basically told me to borrow $62,000 a year. Does this school do any merit money? I figured with a 41 on MCAT, I would have a shot.
 
KnifeofIce said:
Haha absolutely, but I will literally go wherever I'm accepted (though staying a Nittany Lion would be nice).

OH HEY! Welcome to Nittany Nation by the way! You're one of us now!
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Already am a Nittany Lion! Happy to stay one!
 
tantacles said:
Guys. Guys. I just got a background check e-mail . . . And I interviewed in mid February. DOES THIS MEAN WHAT I THINK IT MEANS WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN
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Fingers crossed!
 
Just curious, but are anyone else's allowed living expenses $9,400/year? That's not even enough to cover student housing, so I'm a bit confused.
 
Has anyone moved off the waiting list into the program yet?
 
myrtle turtle said:
Just curious, but are anyone else's allowed living expenses $9,400/year? That's not even enough to cover student housing, so I'm a bit confused.
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Yep, $9,460 to be exact. And it is enough to cover university housing as long as you don't get a 1-bedroom and live in it by yourself. If you get a 3 bedroom and split it 3 ways, that's $370/month per person - for a whole year it's only $4440, leaving plenty of money left for groceries and other living expenses. The other apartments work out to be around the same, and the 1-bedroom is the same if you share the bedroom with another person.
 
Is there a FB group for 2012 entering students?
 
Got my financial aid letter yesterday. OOS.

~$46000 fed unsub + ~$24000 grad plus = :scared:
 
was everyone else's financial aid letter just 2 pages, one with the award letter and the other with the interest % thing? also, are these just for our records until we get more stuff later in the year?
 
justoneplease said:
was everyone else's financial aid letter just 2 pages, one with the award letter and the other with the interest % thing? also, are these just for our records until we get more stuff later in the year?
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I only got one page...
 
To the current medical students at PSU, what do you think of the program and professors? Do you feel as though the program is preparing you well for the USMLE as well as IRL? What are some things you do not like about the education at PSU?
I was just reading a thread at my state school where one student stated about half of his class were ill-prepared for step 1. Yikes... I do understand, however, that this statistic could just as well be attributed to the students' work ethic rather than the program.
Thanks in advance for your input.
 
Anyone know how big the incoming class is?
 
BlueTree said:
To the current medical students at PSU, what do you think of the program and professors? Do you feel as though the program is preparing you well for the USMLE as well as IRL? What are some things you do not like about the education at PSU?
I was just reading a thread at my state school where one student stated about half of his class were ill-prepared for step 1. Yikes... I do understand, however, that this statistic could just as well be attributed to the students' work ethic rather than the program.
Thanks in advance for your input.
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As an MS-I, it's too soon to tell how well prepared we are going to be for Step 1. However, I purchased a First Aid Step 1 book awhile back to highlight key points in our lectures that will mostly likely be tested on; and I would have to say that we are learning everything we need to, plus more. I'd say 80-90% of the professor are top notch. Some are just worthless, but you can navigate through their presented material on your own with supplemental review books and such. I think this is standard everywhere. Win some, lose some! We also have a ridiculous amount of clinical experiences our first year which helps get you comfortable with patients and boosts that motivation to get through memorizing prostaglandin and leukotriene synthesis (puke).

As you said, everything comes down to the students' work ethic and their dedication. The program provides ample resources and opportunities for learning, but they can't MAKE you learn the material. Personally, I feel that Penn State has provided me everything and more in terms of resources - the extent of my learning the material is my own doing.

Things I DON'T like are the every now-and-then mandatory 8 a.m. lectures (You can see sample MS-I and MS-II schedules on the website). Oh, and I can stand being around some of the gunners in our class. They live, eat, breathe and poop everything medical school. Robots, I tell ya - but again, you will find them at every school. Can't think of anything else, really. A lot of medical school is what you make it to be - you can go through the motions or take advantage of everything, including extra-curriculars (which we have more than enough to satisfy anyone medical student's needs).

I love PSUCOM and I love Hershey. I'm from a small town so my transition to Hershey was easy - some kids from out of state who are used to bigger cities had difficulty adjusting (which I don't get because there isn't much time to do much of anything else anyway...Cali-whiners ;)). We are close to Philly, DC, and Baltimore - all of which my friends and I have taken trips to after exams for some fun.

Alright, I'm out. We have an exam tomorrow. Thanks for the study break.
 
Thank you for your reply! I hope you kick butt on your exam tomorrow! :)
 
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