2011-2012 Temple Application Thread

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Sammich117

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Please PM the essays or lack thereof to me when the secondary is available and I will update this.

Best of luck with your application :luck::luck::luck:!

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1)What is the nature of your special interest in Temple University School of Medicine? (Use the following space. There is no character limit.)

2) If you indicated St. Luke's Regional Campus or one of our clinical campuses (Geisinger Health System or West Penn Allegheny Health System) as your first choice, please describe the nature of your special interest. Otherwise, please type N/A to continue. (Use the following space. There is no character limit.)

3) What are your plans for the current year- June 2011 until June 2012? (Use the following space. There is no character limit.)

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I would *love* to be in Philly.

And

FIRST! :laugh:
 
Good luck to all. Current first year here. I can answer any questions about the school you may have.
 
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hows the area? i know north philly isnt exactly the best place to live? just any comments about what you think of the general neighborhood would be nice
 
Did you apply to any of the other Philadelphia medical schools? I am curious to know your opinion of the others relative to Temple (Drexel, UPenn, Jeff) in terms of facilities, what your interview(s) were like, if you received any from the other schools
 
I applied to all the Philadelphia schools and interviewed at Temple, Jefferson, and Drexel. I liked all of them, but I definitely liked Temple and Jefferson over Drexel (and I will be attending Jefferson).

Drexel seemed OK and adequate, but it did not seem like a first choice for most people. The medical school is pretty far outside of center city and it is not near a hospital. There are 2 different curriculums to choose from, which is pretty nice. I interviewed with a faculty member and student, each for about half an hour. A lot of the clinical sites are scattered around PA. I was accepted about 5 weeks after the interview. I think I would have been happy there, but Temple and Jefferson were more appealing to me (I also think they have a better reputation).

Jefferson has somewhat of a campus feel because they have a quad area surrounded by several buildings. The buildings are somewhat older (except for 1 brand new one). Jefferson is right downtown and is across the street from the hospital. This was my favorite interview day out of all the schools I interviewed at. It was completely student run, so I really liked that the students gave the presentations about curriculum and opportunities (it was pretty interesting). I had a 20 minute interview with a doctor in his office a few blocks away from the campus. At the end of the day, you could mingle with other students as they were getting out of lecture, which was really nice. Most of the students seemed really enthusiastic about Jefferson. I was accepted 1 week after the interview.

Temple has a great medical school building and facilities (they are brand new). It is in a bad neighborhood, but this would provide good clinical opportunities. I interviewed with a staff member and student, each for about 30 minutes. The students seemed really nice and very happy they chose Temple. They had a really great 2nd look day where we got to tour through the SIM center and try out working with patient actors, training for laparoscopic surgery, and also working with the dummies to learn different heartbeat patterns. I was accepted about 2 weeks after the interview.

They all seemed nice, but it depends on what you are looking for in a medical school, and also what feels right for you. I had really nice and relaxing interviews at these 3 schools. Feel free to PM me.
 
hows the area? i know north philly isnt exactly the best place to live? just any comments about what you think of the general neighborhood would be nice

No, you don't want to live in North Philly. Some students live in renovated houses that are basically around the corner from campus, which I would think is alright, but I wouldn't want to venture beyond the bubble right around the campus. The Temple cops do a VERY good job of keeping the immediate area safe, and they keep it well-lit at night, too. As a Philly native, I'm probably more afraid of the neighborhood than students that weren't raised locally, though. :oops:

Did you apply to any of the other Philadelphia medical schools? I am curious to know your opinion of the others relative to Temple (Drexel, UPenn, Jeff) in terms of facilities, what your interview(s) were like, if you received any from the other schools

Like jmst, I applied to all (and only) the Philly schools and interviewed at Jeff, Temple and Drexel. Penn rejected me pre-interview and I didn't return my PCOM secondary. However, I will be matriculating at Temple. I loved it there. Also like jmst, I preferred Temple and Jefferson to Drexel, and much of his post echos my sentiments. My differences are as follows.

I also liked Jeff's interview day (Temple was my favorite, though), and also liked that it was student-run. Jeff has, without a doubt, the best location of the Philly schools, and everyone was very enthusiastic about Jefferson, which I liked, but so was everyone at Temple, but they felt more down-to-earth and genuine to me. I just felt home the whole day I was there and left loving the place. And yes, their new facilities are VERY nice and their Second Look day was a ton of fun (I owned at the laparoscopic surgery stuff... all that Xbox has payed off! :laugh:).

FWIW, Jefferson was my first choice going in, hands down. They were also my first interview and I think I let my nerves get the better of me and I choked on my interview and got HPWLed. I haven't really made any effort to get off it, since I loved Temple so much and they accepted me out-right (and they gave me money, woot woot!). Temple's hospital is also right across the street from the main school building, like Jeff. Both interview days were pretty similar in regards to schedule, while Drexel's was a little different, but that may have been because it was a weekend interview.

I agree that Drexel was "adequate". A lot of other people on SDN were more impressed with their interview day than I was. They did have some interesting points, especially the two different curriculums, but they just didn't do it for me. Perhaps they are just not as on-point with weekend interview days, but there were some major turn-offs for me, personally.

They all seemed nice, but it depends on what you are looking for in a medical school, and also what feels right for you. I had really nice and relaxing interviews at these 3 schools. Feel free to PM me.

+1 You can feel free to PM me as well.
 
I applied to all the Philadelphia schools and interviewed at Temple, Jefferson, and Drexel. I liked all of them, but I definitely liked Temple and Jefferson over Drexel (and I will be attending Jefferson).

Drexel seemed OK and adequate, but it did not seem like a first choice for most people. The medical school is pretty far outside of center city and it is not near a hospital. There are 2 different curriculums to choose from, which is pretty nice. I interviewed with a faculty member and student, each for about half an hour. A lot of the clinical sites are scattered around PA. I was accepted about 5 weeks after the interview. I think I would have been happy there, but Temple and Jefferson were more appealing to me (I also think they have a better reputation).

Jefferson has somewhat of a campus feel because they have a quad area surrounded by several buildings. The buildings are somewhat older (except for 1 brand new one). Jefferson is right downtown and is across the street from the hospital. This was my favorite interview day out of all the schools I interviewed at. It was completely student run, so I really liked that the students gave the presentations about curriculum and opportunities (it was pretty interesting). I had a 20 minute interview with a doctor in his office a few blocks away from the campus. At the end of the day, you could mingle with other students as they were getting out of lecture, which was really nice. Most of the students seemed really enthusiastic about Jefferson. I was accepted 1 week after the interview.

Temple has a great medical school building and facilities (they are brand new). It is in a bad neighborhood, but this would provide good clinical opportunities. I interviewed with a staff member and student, each for about 30 minutes. The students seemed really nice and very happy they chose Temple. They had a really great 2nd look day where we got to tour through the SIM center and try out working with patient actors, training for laparoscopic surgery, and also working with the dummies to learn different heartbeat patterns. I was accepted about 2 weeks after the interview.

They all seemed nice, but it depends on what you are looking for in a medical school, and also what feels right for you. I had really nice and relaxing interviews at these 3 schools. Feel free to PM me.

Wow- the trifecta acceptance for you. Congrats and good luck at Jefferson. This post was a lot of help to me. :)
 
As long as there are safety measures for students on campus and decent areas to live nearby, the whole "bad neighborhood" thing is pretty much a non-issue for me.

I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I'm really excited about this school based on what I've gathered from their website and from pm'ing people.
 
As long as there are safety measures for students on campus and decent areas to live nearby, the whole "bad neighborhood" thing is pretty much a non-issue for me.

I'm trying to keep an open mind, but I'm really excited about this school based on what I've gathered from their website and from pm'ing people.

There's a definite benefit to going to school and especially doing rotations in a bad neighborhood. Almost all of North Philly's trauma comes to Temple. And since the area is so low income you also get a lot of people that have waited too long to go to a doctor, and are now much sicker than patients you might see elsewhere.

And I got really excited about Temple based on what was being said by people that had interviewed before I did this past cycle. It didn't disappoint. :)
 
Having looked into Temple and Jefferson myself, if you're interested in research, I would pick Temple as they are doing very well in that area.

If I had to rank the philly schools on personal preference it would be UPenn > Temple > Jefferson > Drexel. I have a friend who is a second year at Temple who loves it, and another who will be an entering student who is ecstatic about getting in after being so impressed after his interview there (and he had 6 interviews total). And the general consensus is that the students there love it so Temple must be doing something right. The only reason why i didn't attend my Temple interview was b/c of the tuition and I knew there was no way I was getting a scholarship with my MCAT score. :laugh:
 
There's a definite benefit to going to school and especially doing rotations in a bad neighborhood. Almost all of North Philly's trauma comes to Temple. And since the area is so low income you also get a lot of people that have waited too long to go to a doctor, and are now much sicker than patients you might see elsewhere.

And I got really excited about Temple based on what was being said by people that had interviewed before I did this past cycle. It didn't disappoint. :)


The trauma and low-income area are what's drawing me towards Philly and Baltimore in particular (LA would be my third choice, but it's in CA, and we all know how CA schools go). I know it's going to be a bit of a gamble with my verbal score, but we'll see how things pan out this cycle.
 
The trauma and low-income area are what's drawing me towards Philly and Baltimore in particular (LA would be my third choice, but it's in CA, and we all know how CA schools go). I know it's going to be a bit of a gamble with my verbal score, but we'll see how things pan out this cycle.

There are probably some NYC schools that might meet those interests as well, though I couldn't tell you what their average stats are.

Another school to consider, a new one: http://www.rowan.edu/coopermed/ They just got preliminary accreditation and the go-ahead to start recruiting for students to enter in 2012. This will be right across the Delaware River from Philly in Camden. Let's just say you'll have plenty of trauma and low-income population care there, too. As the C/o 2016 will be their first class, you may have a better shot if your verbal score concerns you.
 
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There are probably some NYC schools that might meet those interests as well, though I couldn't tell you what their average stats are.

Another school to consider, a new one: http://www.rowan.edu/coopermed/ They just got preliminary accreditation and the go-ahead to start recruiting for students to enter in 2012. This will be right across the Delaware River from Philly in Camden. Let's just say you'll have plenty of trauma and low-income population care there, too. As the C/o 2016 will be their first class, you may have a better shot if your verbal score concerns you.

That's weird. I cannot find them on the AMCAS application page. :confused:
 
There is a line on the page that I'm interpretting as they won't be listed on AMCAS until the 20th. They just got the preliminary accrediation last week.
 
Nice. Another new school to consider. Definitely going to check it out!!
 
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It's in Jersey. :) But it's in Camden which is right across the river from Philadelphia.

Anyway, this thread is about Temple, which is awesome! Fight fight fight for the cherry and the white! One of Temple's football players got drafted into the Eagles this year, BTW. :)
 
It's in Jersey. :) But it's in Camden which is right across the river from Philadelphia.

Anyway, this thread is about Temple, which is awesome! Fight fight fight for the cherry and the white! One of Temple's football players got drafted into the Eagles this year, BTW. :)

Yea, I edited my post :) . Looks like an intriguing school.

Not losing sight of this being the Temple thread, though :D.
 
Def applying to Temple! :D This school seemed like a great fit for me. That's awesome to hear about the new school in Jersey. Camden, though...I want to work in an urban area but Camden is certainly *not* one of the nicer parts of the Philly metro area...
 
one of my top choices. they have been doing a really good job over the past couple of years to improve the school. also, if you are smart, philly (even the area temple is in) is not really that bad. most people who live in philly love it!
 
Seriously?!

Is Temple known for giving out a fair amount of financial aid? I know that you never know when it comes to med school admissions and you certainly never know about scholarships, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to apply if it's going to be 200k of debt for tuition alone.
 
the best part of this school is that they congratulate you for getting placed on their waitlist that no one comes off of. I shouldve scanned my waitlist letter; it's quite comical.
 
Seriously?!

Is Temple known for giving out a fair amount of financial aid? I know that you never know when it comes to med school admissions and you certainly never know about scholarships, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to apply if it's going to be 200k of debt for tuition alone.

Yeah, it's only ~ $10K cheaper for IS, too. They do have merit scholarships in addition to need, though, which is more than I think you can say for some of the other schools in Philly. I was lucky enough to receive one as were a few other people in the 2010-2011 SSD thread. We are STILL waiting on our financial aide packages, though, so I can't comment on the amount of need-based scholarship money. They also said at interview day that merit-based scholarships can be awarded after you matriculate as well, like for MS2 and on if you did particularly well during MS1. Still, expect the majority of the $$$ to come from loans.
 
I too was accepted to all three schools, and went to second looks for Temple & Jefferson, and attended a PBL class at Drexel after my acceptance.

Here are my impressions, I hope they are helpful:

Location

Jefferson is in center city Philadelphia, which is the best part of the city. Chinatown is a few blocks away, and the area is very safe and active all the time. There are more bars and restaurants in a five block radius than you'd be able to go to even if you picked a different place every day. It's also a very professional area so there are lots of things for young professionals to do (e.g bars, clubs, etc). It is a nice mile away from the riverfront area, which is great in the summer to walk to. Temple is in one of the worst areas of the city (North Philly), and you won't live there. However, many Temple students live in center city anyway, just like where the Jefferson students live, and it's a quick hop on the Broad street line to take you straight to campus. So you can still enjoy all the things about center city that you could if you went to Jefferson. Some other Temple students prefer to live out near the suburbs and drive to Temple. But then you do have to worry about Parking (you can get a pass to park in Temple's parking lot) or worrying about Septa (generally very reliable). I wouldn't worry about safety if you went to Temple since you won't be living in the area, but keep in mind that there will be a commute involved. Drexel is in a very residential area, and students from Drexel live all around Philly depending on their preference (some center city, some suburbs, some right around campus). So basically Jefferson students are generally clustered right around campus whereas Temple & Drexel has students spread out more (a function of both the location and the fact that only Jeff has dorms).

Campus/Facilities

Jefferson has a new building that's very shiny and has dorms and apartments for students right next door (like literally). It has a very campus feel with a quad, with the library and dorms on one side, the clinical buildings on the other, and the hospital right across the street. You can roll out of bed and be in class literally five minutes later if you wanted. Temple's undergrad campus is a little bit of a distance away (it's walkable but due to the area, you do not want to) but the medical science building is right across the hospital, just like with Jefferson. Temple's new medical building is VERY shiny, and pretty much puts most other new buildings to shame (probably the best building I saw on my interview trail). Temple's anatomy lab and other spaces were excellent and top notch. Jefferson's classrooms were great but the anatomy lab was being renovated so I didn't get to see it, so I can't compare. Really, Temple spent like $200 million on that building and it shows. The only downside is that it's standalone from the university. However, remember that though the medical building and the hospital are right across the street, you will have to commute to get there, unlike at Jeff where the dorms, medical building and the hospital are right next to each other (assuming you live on campus at Jeff). Drexel's campus is even more fragmented because the medical science building and the hospital are not next to each other - there is a shuttle that goes back and forth between the two every 15 or 30 minutes. The day I took it, it took about 35 minutes to go from the campus to the hospital but it was rush hour and a lot of traffic so I'm sure it's shorter without that. The medical science building is very suburban and is decent but not new like Jeff or Temples.

Research/Clinical

Temple has clearly placed a lot of efforts in becoming more of a leader in this front as can be seen from their rise in rankings recently. Jefferson has more of an emphasis on Clinical and Translational research rather than bench research, so that's something to consider. That's not to say there won't be opportunities for any of the three at any of the three schools, but it's something to keep in mind. One thing that was very instructive was when I was at Jefferson's second look, the Dean said (and I'm paraphrasing) that "Some schools are almost disappointed if their students end up taking care of patients as their primary responsibility, but not here at Jefferson." I think that focus really shines in their third and fourth year (you're required to do much more than the typical med student, e.g get there before the resident, do a lot of intern level work, etc). That is not at all to imply that you won't be a great clinical at any of the either places. Temple is higher on the research ratings, while Jefferson students scored higher on residency program director's clinical aptitude ratings (US News). But both are close enough so that you're just basically just nitpicking. Temple sees fantastic trauma and serves a really needy population compared to the other two places. Drexel has the PBL curriculum option, which gives you more free time than the other two schools if you want to also do research while being in class, so that is a plus for them. Temple has more overall research money so you will have more choices in terms of which labs to pick. Jefferson has just introduced the College Within The College program, which allows you to pick either translational/clinical research or population health research, where you'll work with a mentor on a project over four years - meaning it's more tightly wound into the curriculum (instead of being on your own and being separate) and you can be guaranteed to have something publishable by the time you graduate (which is good for residencies). So they each have their own strengths in this regard. Jefferson allows you to complete all your 3rd and 4th year rotations in Delaware or Philadelphia, while Temple has more options in terms of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and a couple other places as well if you want to stay away from campus for the last two years.

Curriculum

Jefferson is H/P/F for the first two years, where Honors is like 90%, but it's set at that number so theoretically everyone could get honors or no one could (e.g you're not competing against anyone else). Temple is also exactly the same way. Drexel is H/P/F as well. Drexel has the advantage in terms of offering a PBL curriculum. Initially, I thought it might be the case of the 'blind leading the blind' where students would have no idea about what to do and would waste time. However, having sat in on a PBL classroom, that wasn't the case. The person leading the discussion was very knowledgeable and seemed to ask the perfect questions at the right time to kind of keep them on track, as well as give them things to discuss. It was fantastic because everyone would prepare their own homework and teach it to the rest of the class (if you can teach it, you know it really well). I wish the other two schools had this curriculum, personally. Otherwise, Temple and Jefferon are similar in this regard. All three schools have H/HP/P/F for the last two years.

Final Thoughts

I haven't looked at the match list for Drexel but both Jefferson's and Temple's were really good this past year and both will get you exactly where you want to go. Really it's going to be more up to you than your school, so pick your school based on other factors, not match lists. You can't go wrong, and if you do well at one school, chances are you would have done well at other schools as well.

For the sake of full disclosure, I picked Jefferson out of the three because of the A) Location, B) Ability to live on campus, C) College within a College, and D) the best 'feel' from faculty/students. I'm sure others picked Temple or Drexel for the exact same reasons. :laugh: This is a very subjective decision. Apply to all of them, check them out, and make your decision based on what you find important.

I hope this was helpful. I've lived in Philly forever, and I would be happy to answer any questions via PM or this thread.
 
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Yeah, it's only ~ $10K cheaper for IS, too. They do have merit scholarships in addition to need, though, which is more than I think you can say for some of the other schools in Philly. I was lucky enough to receive one as were a few other people in the 2010-2011 SSD thread. We are STILL waiting on our financial aide packages, though, so I can't comment on the amount of need-based scholarship money. They also said at interview day that merit-based scholarships can be awarded after you matriculate as well, like for MS2 and on if you did particularly well during MS1. Still, expect the majority of the $$$ to come from loans.

That is a major selling point for me. Thanks for the info!
 
Great post, Shaggy. One thing, though. Temple is also H/P/F for the first two years. It used to be curved (some of the online syllabi still suggest that it is) but now it's based on class performance for honors, and I believe it's set at 92%. They said it never scales up but can scale downward if the class average is low enough (no idea what the threshold is for this, I'd guess it's at the professor's discretion). Like Jeff, everyone could potentially get honors and there's less competition. Since being put on probation a few years ago Temple has made a lot of changes and based some of them on student feedback. I believe the change in grading is one of them.
 
Are you sure? I was pretty sure that starting next year, they would be P/F. I distinctly remember that from my second look's talk with the faculty. I could be wrong of course, but for some reason that was one of the strong reasons that was pulling me towards temple. :laugh:
 
Also interesting to note that Temple will be opening a new school in Pittsburgh in association with West Penn Allegheny. Temple students can already choose to spend the last two years there.
 
Also interesting to note that Temple will be opening a new school in Pittsburgh in association with West Penn Allegheny. Temple students can already choose to spend the last two years there.

Huge + for me, since some of my fam is in Pitt. :thumbup:
 
You have to think about the quality of the hospitals though. UPMC literally owns Pittsburgh. I've spent many years in Pittsburgh and would not necessarily want to rotate through West Penn Allegheny system for all my rotations.
 
You have to think about the quality of the hospitals though. UPMC literally owns Pittsburgh. I've spent many years in Pittsburgh and would not necessarily want to rotate through West Penn Allegheny system for all my rotations.

Yea, I'd make my decision based on a wide variety of factors, but the fam thing is of course a pro-pitt factor.
 
Seriously?!

Is Temple known for giving out a fair amount of financial aid? I know that you never know when it comes to med school admissions and you certainly never know about scholarships, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to apply if it's going to be 200k of debt for tuition alone.

Not sure if you're from this part of the country or not, but as far as PA goes (for both undergraduate and graduate school), tuition in general is ridiculously expensive across the board.
 
does temple accept international student? if yes, whats the % of the international student in class?
thanks!
 
Last time I checked Temple's website, one of the prereqs was to have all humanities completed (6 creds.) upon applying. I just need 1 more humanities credit to complete 6 credits, which will not be complete until the end of this coming semester (December 2011). Do you think my application will be placed on hold until all humanities are complete? (In that case, I'll prob miss the boat if you know what I mean). Should I ask the school specifically about this? Thanks.
 
We should expect the secondary in the next day or two.
 
*cue Motownphilly* :love::love:
 
Just received secondary link. Is it just me or is this site super slow?
 
Yup, you can choose between the main campus and affiliates, St. Luke's in Bethlehem, Geisinger in Danville and West Allegheny in Pittsburgh to spend 3rd and 4th year. It seems like most people are able to get their first choice for that, as well.

http://www.temple.edu/medicine/education/mdprograms/clinical_teaching_sites.htm

hey, im filling out the secondary but i'm still confused about the differences between campuses...can someone please explain the differences?
Thank you!:)
 
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