2011-2012 University of South Alabama Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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I was waitlisted today as well.
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Alternate List

waiting15
AU012
drswagga
drswagga's friend
DrHKitty
gatorade848
OrangeJuice88
shock003
7nut12
A123S
jdmd2008
tigeri
 
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There are already 12 people here on SDN that have confirmed they are on the alternate list. I've been stalking the previous year's threads and have found this...

Last year: 13 SDNers on the alternate list with 5 waitlist acceptances
2 yrs ago: 17 SDNers on the alternate list with 9 waitlist acceptances

I wonder if this year's alternate list is similar in size to previous years, or if it is larger for some reason (maybe they are expecting to accept more alternates due to UAB's ealry moves). Completely speculating at this point. Anyway, hopefully the early movement at UAB will be a positive for us USA waitlistees (and UAB alternates as well). Now it is time to sit back annnnnnnnnnd wait.
 
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Alternate List
waiting15
AU012
drswagga
drswagga's friend
DrHKitty
gatorade848
OrangeJuice88
shock003
7nut12
A123S
jdmd2008
tigeri
futureUSACOMdr
 
Alternate List

waiting15
AU012
drswagga
drswagga's friend
DrHKitty
gatorade848
OrangeJuice88
shock003
7nut12
A123S
jdmd2008
tigeri
futureUSACOMdr
ssmith40
DrHKitty's friend #1
DrHKitty's friend #2


This list seems pretty long... Does anyone know of anyone who got rejected?
 
Hey everyone, I'm waitlisted third tier at uab but have an acceptance at south.. so I'm probabaly going to south. If anyone is looking for a roommate or knows of any apartments a lot of students live in, suggestions would be great! I'm not very familiar with mobile. Thanks, and good luck to everyone waiting!!
 
I know of someone who is not on SDN but is on the waitlist at South.
 
Alternate List
waiting15
AU012
drswagga
drswagga's friend
DrHKitty
gatorade848
OrangeJuice88
shock003
7nut12
A123S
jdmd2008
tigeri
futureUSACOMdr
ssmith40
DrHKitty's friend #1
DrHKitty's friend #2
shock003's friend
 
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You got accepted to South but waitlisted at UAB. Whats your GPA/MCAT if you dont mind me asking? first time applying?
 
IS gpa 3.9 mcat 32, science major, lots of ec's/volunteerwork/leadership and 4 years of reseach. and yeah first time applying
 
Alternate List

waiting15
AU012
drswagga
drswagga's friend
DrHKitty
gatorade848
OrangeJuice88
shock003
7nut12
A123S
jdmd2008
tigeri
futureUSACOMdr
ssmith40
DrHKitty's friend #1
DrHKitty's friend #2
shock003's friend
coop87
 
chockpock said:
Hey everyone, I'm waitlisted third tier at uab but have an acceptance at south.. so I'm probabaly going to south. If anyone is looking for a roommate or knows of any apartments a lot of students live in, suggestions would be great! I'm not very familiar with mobile. Thanks, and good luck to everyone waiting!!
Click to expand...

you are waitlisted at uab's lower third? your gpa is so much better than mine but I am on the middle tier at uab and waitlist at usa... med school admission is a strange thing lol
 
I'm in the same situation as him. Lower third at UAB and in at use USA (two weeks after interview). A bit better than middle of the waitlist at Wake (the best I can get out of them)

I carried a 3.12 as an undergraduate. 3.7 as a grad student. 35S. P12/B12/V11

I was a reapp to both. I think UAB's process for reapplicants hurt me a lot. I want to specialize. I interview with three primary care docs and an administrator (of rural primary care programs) at UAB. I feel like the seeming expectation UAB has for their reapplicants to be primary care focused hurt me a lot.
 
yeah its pretty strange. I know I had good rec letters and everything too, so I can't reason it out. And I agree UAB has a strong primary care push. I told them I was probably going to specialize, but I have a friend who knows of this one girl who was pretty adamant about primary care and got into uab with a 24, reg not rural.
 
I understand UAB's primary care push, considering there is a shortage, but I don't understand how you can punish an applicant for not wanting to enter that field. UAB's big motto is accepting applicants who have the potential to be "great" doctors, not primary care doctors. I am 99.99% sure I will specialize, but because of things I had heard about UAB, I stayed very neutral when asked that question (in every interview). If they want to push so hard that they discriminate based on what field you want to enter, they need to enlarge the class size some and set aside spots specifically for general primary care interest (similar to the rural track, but with no scholarships probably). Or state outright that they give preference to primary care interest (not just encourage it). Maybe they have more leeway to discriminate like that because they are a state school, but I have never really heard or seen much of that at South.
 
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Didn't UAB just a few years ago increase the class size in response to the AAMC and the state pushing for more primary care positions? I feel like its not so much a punishment to prospective students who want to specialize, but basically the state looking out for itself as much as it can....although if UAB and USA wanted to actually increase the number of students choosing primary care, they ought to just offer more scholarships towards those who promise to work in primary care rather than making people speculate and potentially lie about their future speciality.
 
Well what ends up happening at UAB is that most people say that they are strongly considering primary care when they aren't really. so I don't think that its a valid question to ask in an interview, and it does punish people who answer truthfully. But I agree, there should be specific spots for primary care. And yeah I think UABs big push is due to the fact that they are ranked for sending the most people off into primary care [that match in their top three or whatever]. They want to keep that ranking so they can say that they are a top medical school --when really I think the PC list is probably the rank list for all the lower tier med schools, because the top tier med schools are ranking in specialty matches like derm or anesthesiology.
 
I'm not sure about the class size, but I think it has been at 176 for the last 4 or 5 years. I heard that they were going to 187, but I don't know if that was decided against or pushed into the future. You are right that it is the state looking out for itself, but as a result of the primary care push applicants who want to specialize and are open about it will be punished to an extent. UAB has a bias towards those who are adamant about primary care in their interviews versus those who are open about specializing. The primary care push is fine, but I honestly feel like your answer to "What medical field do you want to be in?" plays a role in the admissions process. I may be wrong, but when you have 3 primary care doctors interviewing you (like I did), I don't think so. I don't know if less people are entering primary care than in the past, but I feel another significant problem may be the increasing size of the older population. However, about 40% of UAB's graduates have been entering some primary care field over the past few years, which is a large number when you think about it. There are a lot of people that enter primary care, but if there needs to be more, some kind of incentives or programs need to be implemented that don't impede the progression of those who want to specialize. A simple solution could be to accept more applicants into med school. Maybe South should go up to a class of 100. Scholarships are a good idea, but someone has to be willing to fork over that money. Don't forget who primary care physicians refer patients to, though. Specialists :)

And agreed, chockpock. UAB seems to be a school very concerned with their PC ranking, to the point that they seem deficient in some areas that South seems to excel in (a.k.a. South cares about you, lol). UAB does seem to have a pretty good national reputation, though, not just for primary care but for excellent research. But they definitely aren't up there with Harvard, UPenn, Yale, etc. The career path question is not fair in my opinion either, because like you said people are just going to lie or stay neutral. And many people don't know or will change their mind. Also, from what I've heard the biggest push needs to be in rural primary care, not exactly primary care in general (I could be wrong, not as well informed on that issue). So just increase the size of the rural track and add some more scholarships. But really the big push needs to be while people are in med school and not affecting the general admissions process.
 
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Has someone heard of anyone accepted off the waitlist. If not, does anyone have any info on when the waitlist will start to move (please nothing vague like "when UAB middle tier starts to blah blah blah"). Also, if anyone has spoken to admissions recently, it would be nice to hear what they're telling people.

Love,
OrangeJuice88
 
smooththrow said:
And agreed, chockpock. UAB seems to be a school very concerned with their PC ranking, to the point that they seem deficient in some areas that South seems to excel in
Click to expand...

Yeah like Board scores? Because despite their high overall school ranking, USA has consistantly had higher Board scores for a while now. Residency programs dont care about rankings. They care primarily about Board scores (like the MCAT to Med Schools)
 
OrangeJuice88 said:
Has someone heard of anyone accepted off the waitlist. If not, does anyone have any info on when the waitlist will start to move (please nothing vague like "when UAB middle tier starts to blah blah blah"). Also, if anyone has spoken to admissions recently, it would be nice to hear what they're telling people.

Love,
OrangeJuice88
Click to expand...

Have not heard of any watilist acceptances. I think movement at South is going to depend on the speed at which UAB's alternate list moves and if/how much they are oversubscriped. Looking back at the past 2-3 years, there has been some movement mid May, but most seems to occur early-mid June. I'm still holding out hope for early movement though :xf:
 
smooththrow said:
I'm not sure about the class size, but I think it has been at 176 for the last 4 or 5 years. I heard that they were going to 187, but I don't know if that was decided against or pushed into the future. You are right that it is the state looking out for itself, but as a result of the primary care push applicants who want to specialize and are open about it will be punished to an extent. UAB has a bias towards those who are adamant about primary care in their interviews versus those who are open about specializing. The primary care push is fine, but I honestly feel like your answer to "What medical field do you want to be in?" plays a role in the admissions process. I may be wrong, but when you have 3 primary care doctors interviewing you (like I did), I don't think so. I don't know if less people are entering primary care than in the past, but I feel another significant problem may be the increasing size of the older population. However, about 40% of UAB's graduates have been entering some primary care field over the past few years, which is a large number when you think about it. There are a lot of people that enter primary care, but if there needs to be more, some kind of incentives or programs need to be implemented that don't impede the progression of those who want to specialize. A simple solution could be to accept more applicants into med school. Maybe South should go up to a class of 100. Scholarships are a good idea, but someone has to be willing to fork over that money. Don't forget who primary care physicians refer patients to, though. Specialists :)

And agreed, chockpock. UAB seems to be a school very concerned with their PC ranking, to the point that they seem deficient in some areas that South seems to excel in (a.k.a. South cares about you, lol). UAB does seem to have a pretty good national reputation, though, not just for primary care but for excellent research. But they definitely aren't up there with Harvard, UPenn, Yale, etc. The career path question is not fair in my opinion either, because like you said people are just going to lie or stay neutral. And many people don't know or will change their mind. Also, from what I've heard the biggest push needs to be in rural primary care, not exactly primary care in general (I could be wrong, not as well informed on that issue). So just increase the size of the rural track and add some more scholarships. But really the big push needs to be while people are in med school and not affecting the general admissions process.
Click to expand...

I really wish that intended specialty didn't affect admissions. I think they should set up a system where no scholarship money is given out until specialties are chosen, then it is given for loan forgiveness to those who actually take a residency in a primary care field.

BTW my waitlist letter insisted their class is not oversubscribed...
 
tigeri said:
BTW my waitlist letter insisted their class is not oversubscribed...
Click to expand...

Let me clarify. I was referring to whether or not USA has oversubscribed and by how much if so.
 
AU11 said:
Yeah like Board scores? Because despite their high overall school ranking, USA has consistantly had higher Board scores for a while now. Residency programs dont care about rankings. They care primarily about Board scores (like the MCAT to Med Schools)
Click to expand...

I wasn't even aware of that. Do you know specifically what the average board scores are for USA and UAB?

tigeri said:
I really wish that intended specialty didn't affect admissions. I think they should set up a system where no scholarship money is given out until specialties are chosen, then it is given for loan forgiveness to those who actually take a residency in a primary care field.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty good idea, hadn't thought of doing something like that.
 
smooththrow said:
I wasn't even aware of that. Do you know specifically what the average board scores are for USA and UAB?
Click to expand...


Schools dont have to release their scores, so I havent found anywhere that has the exact scores posted. However, I have spoken to students from both UAB and USA that have said that South's scores are slightly higher.
 
Yeah I have heard the same thing. Do any of you have any opinions about the change to systems-based this next year? It sounds like it will be really good, since they are greatly reducing in-class lecture time. But uab did it a few years ago, and their board scores dropped..so, I guess we will be the guinea pigs?
 
I think the change to systems-based is definitely good, it's just a question of how well the transition goes. UAB's transition into the new curriculum was very rough, and it took them several years to figure out how to get things right (from what I've heard). That probably accounts for the drop in board scores. However, I would think South's transition will be a good bit smoother. They have the advantage of learning from UAB's mistakes, and I know they have been working on this curriculum for a while now. It is unlikely that the transition will be perfectly smooth, but I think it will be handled well and hopefully greatly reduce the "guinea pig" feeling for the 2016 class. Just my opinion.
 
chockpock said:
Yeah I have heard the same thing. Do any of you have any opinions about the change to systems-based this next year? It sounds like it will be really good, since they are greatly reducing in-class lecture time. But uab did it a few years ago, and their board scores dropped..so, I guess we will be the guinea pigs?
Click to expand...


They have been preparing for the transition for a while. UAB did not properly prepare for it, so their board scores dropped dramatically. USA has sent professors to seminars, as well as teaching some of the current classes in the new form, so that when our class gets there we will have no problems. From what I hear, it will be a very very smooth transition.
 
OrangeJuice88 said:
Has someone heard of anyone accepted off the waitlist. If not, does anyone have any info on when the waitlist will start to move (please nothing vague like "when UAB middle tier starts to blah blah blah"). Also, if anyone has spoken to admissions recently, it would be nice to hear what they're telling people.

Love,
OrangeJuice88
Click to expand...
On May 15th applicants with multiple acceptances are suppose to choose just one to hold. So i doubt it will move before then, but it may not move very much until later. I think a lot of applicants will hold onto multiple seats longer than they should.
 
i think usa over accepts too, so we gonna have to wait until these extra people decline their acceptance
 
From my understanding, they accept about 120 people to fill the class of 76, then they have a waitlist (of unknown size as far as I can tell) once the number gets below 76. So, basically, 44 people have to decline acceptance before the waitlist even starts to move.

I could, of course, be wrong. It happened once before, in the early 90s if memory serves...:laugh:
 
the way i understood it was that they will end up accepting somewhere around 120 to fill the 76 positions at south alabama. i didn't think that was how many they initially accepted
 
UAB's waitlist seems to be moving a little...I hope south follows soon.
 
waiting15 said:
UAB's waitlist seems to be moving a little...I hope south follows soon.
Click to expand...

lol a little? the entire upper tier is about to be taken, i do hope the movement continues all the way down to the lower third:xf:

and faster uab's list moves, faster usa's moves
 
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Just got the call from Mark Scott! I'm in! Good luck guys!
 
let the fun begin

Accepted
waiting15

Alternate List
AU012
drswagga
drswagga's friend
DrHKitty
gatorade848
OrangeJuice88
shock003
7nut12
A123S
jdmd2008
tigeri
futureUSACOMdr
ssmith40
DrHKitty's friend #1
DrHKitty's friend #2
shock003's friend
coop87
 
I got in today as well guys!! Good luck to the rest of you!
 
I just got the call myself!!! I'm so excited and wish the best of luck to all yall still waiting!!

Accepted
waiting15 (5/15)
jdmd2008 (5/15)
DrHKitty (5/16)

Alternate List
AU012
drswagga
drswagga's friend
gatorade848
OrangeJuice88
shock003
7nut12
A123S
tigeri
futureUSACOMdr
ssmith40
DrHKitty's friend #1
DrHKitty's friend #2
shock003's friend
coop87
 
Congrats! It's great to see the USA list moving!
 
A friend of mine was accepted this morning, another one, not the one we have listed
 
Does anyone know if all the acceptances are given out all together (like last two days), or are they slowly giving them out (like 2-3/day).
 
Am I the only one who's adrenaline starts rushing when my phone rings, then almost doesn't want to answer when its not Mark Scott calling? This waiting is brutal. Hope you guys are hanging in there!
 
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