2011-2012 Virginia Tech Carilion Application Thread

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Hey guys,

I'm not a Carver student but I grew up in Iowa City (kindergarten on up) and worked there a few years post-undergrad. I was pretty involved in the local politics, culture and music scene, and would be happy to share any insights I've had or things I've enjoyed while living and working there - although I'm sure there are quite a few other Carver students who are also local to the area.

Personally, I felt that after 17 years of Iowa it was time to move on, but to anyone worried that IC is a cultural or intellectual wasteland, that couldn't be more wrong. Iowa City easily has the amenities and entertainment offerings of a much larger city, and it's relatively easy to get out of town to parks or to Chicago for a weekend. Rent is typically cheap - I paid $420/month (all utilities included) for a 1 bedroom apartment on Burlington last year. Rent on the side of the river with the med center is typically a little bit pricier than the east (read: undergrad) side, but I didn't consider a 10-minute bike ride to work to be that huge of an inconvenience.

I could probably drone on about Iowa City forever, so I'll just try and monitor this thread for any questions. Feel free to PM me directly too.
 
is there any character/word limit on the required essay?

EDIT: never mind answered my own question lol. 7000 characters
 
Don15 said:
is there any character/word limit on the required essay?

EDIT: never mind answered my own question lol. 7000 characters
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"Approximately" 7,000 characters. I think the physical two-page limit was more important, especially because number of characters is so variable based on what type of words you like.
 
Should we assume we were rejected pre-secondary if we haven't received one by now? I submitted/verified in late June.
 
hey all... i am a member of the charter class at vtc and wanted to help answer some questions some of you have been asking... but i should also warn you, i am just speaking from experience and do not have a first hand grasp on how admissions are running the show these days... anyways....

1. within the charter class, several of us were able to complete PPI evaluations.... i recall that during our application season, being a new school, the information regarding PPIs was given to us well after we had already gone through the process of getting letters from professors, etc... as such, the PPI became optional... and i hear they are still optional today... however, in my personal opinion, when 100+ applicants are applying for 1 seat in a medical class, the word "optional" takes on a whole new meaning...

2. secondaries, interview invites, acceptances, etc are all decisions made by a committee... some schools will meet once every 2 weeks to go over applications... others may meet once a month... some schools every week... though i am not entirely sure about VTC, i am fairly confident they meet at least once a month... during that time they'll review applications that came in by a certain date... the rest get bumped to the next meeting... after the meeting, they seem to be pretty quick about sending out secondaries, invites, etc... but they dont seem to like rejecting applicants immediately... it seems like applicants that dont make the cut initially may be given another shot at later meetings... all in all, sit tight... silence does not mean rejection... at worst it means they are still considering your application...

3. for vtc, i had my primary submitted in the first week of june, received a secondary at the end of july... submitted my secondary by the first week of september(a few days before my deadline as i recall)... received an interview invite in december (a few days before christmas... ho ho ho)... interviewed in january... got my acceptance in late february... oh and when you commit to a class, you will probably spend a lot of time trying to figure out what you can do to get a head start on your studies... and all the med students will tell you to just relax and party and live life because you will have plenty of time to study when you start classes... and although i agree with the later, if you really want to dive into studies, hitting some anatomy couldn't hurt anyone...

anyways... the medical application process is just one big ball of insanity... first you will have questions regarding whether they recieved your app... then it will be questions asking if they will send you a secondary? were you rejected? when do interview invites go out? was i rejected? should i send a letter of interest? oh i got an interview invite, how should i prepare for the interview/MMI? just finished the interview, but forgot to mention ____, should i send a clarification letter? was i rejected? when will they send out acceptances? on and on and on... actually i think the worst part is the period of time after the interview and before the acceptance or rejection... mainly because it will be the only thing on your mind, the only thing you can seem to talk about, and their really isnt anything you can do about it... anyways... good luck and feel free to ask questions...
 
Words like "future physician thought leaders" and sentences like, "The curriculum maximizes self-directed learning by minimizing formal didactic sessions and emphasizing self-directed learning," indicate (can't believe I wrote "are an indicator" - it's contagious!) that these people don't think about what they write. Meaningless academic jargon is nauseating. I'm also concerned about the trendy "MMI" interview format.

I agree with everyone who thinks the essay prompt is confusing and redundant. The paragraphs of "clarification" before the actual question do not help. It's all very concerning...

Any ideas how to tackle this prompt? Reword primary app material? Answer a completely different question?
 
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MedReckoning said:
Words like "future physician thought leaders" and sentences like, "The curriculum maximizes self-directed learning by minimizing formal didactic sessions and emphasizing self-directed learning," are an indicator that these people don't think about what they write. Meaningless academic jargon is nauseating. I'm also concerned about the trendy "MMI" interview format.
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+10000

I got this same exact feeling. All this coupled with their new recommendation letter format, who do they think they are? lol
 
yay screened in! i'm not trying to start a flame war here, but quick ques for current students: is it true they regularly drug test all their students? Not sure if I want to go to a school where theyre paranoid of their own 😱

i heard they do random blood test for drug use..true? JW!

good luck all! :luck:
 
TopHemm said:
yay screened in! i'm not trying to start a flame war here, but quick ques for current students: is it true they regularly drug test all their students? Not sure if I want to go to a school where theyre paranoid of their own 😱

i heard they do random blood test for drug use..true? JW!

good luck all! :luck:
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We are also hooked up to polygraphs and intensely interrogated on our weekend activities every Monday morning. Naw, we've been drug-tested once and that was at orientation. Word is we get another one before clinical rotations. 😎
 
TopHemm said:
yay screened in! i'm not trying to start a flame war here, but quick ques for current students: is it true they regularly drug test all their students? Not sure if I want to go to a school where theyre paranoid of their own 😱

i heard they do random blood test for drug use..true? JW!

good luck all! :luck:
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wasn't a blood test... just a saliva sample... tested us once during orientation... pretty standard practice in VA medical schools from what I hear....
 
am i only supposed to write about ONE experience in the entire 2 page life experience essay (i know that's what the prompt says, but i feel like i could easily write 2 pages on a few life experiences of mine...but they seem to be asking for 1 IN DEPTH? any flexibility on this one?)
 
If anyone is wondering, they ARE still handing out secondaries.

I just got screened in and I received an application confirmation of 7/24.

That was pretty dang fast... 👍
 
edge of desire said:
am i only supposed to write about ONE experience in the entire 2 page life experience essay (i know that's what the prompt says, but i feel like i could easily write 2 pages on a few life experiences of mine...but they seem to be asking for 1 IN DEPTH? any flexibility on this one?)
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i'm kinda wondering about this too.. the only thing broad enough that i've done to cover all of their bases (instrumental in shaping me as a person, says how i'll be a great med student and a physician thought leader later, shows me to be a leader, good at teamwork, involved in my community, motivated for medicine, interested in research, etc) is like... live.. my life...🙄

we shall seeeeee what i can do with this... going to have to be a pretty broad single experience to capture most of what they're asking me to display...
 
fizzgig said:
i'm kinda wondering about this too.. the only thing broad enough that i've done to cover all of their bases (instrumental in shaping me as a person, says how i'll be a great med student and a physician thought leader later, shows me to be a leader, good at teamwork, involved in my community, motivated for medicine, interested in research, etc) is like... live.. my life...🙄

we shall seeeeee what i can do with this... going to have to be a pretty broad single experience to capture most of what they're asking me to display...
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Your experience could be college...that gives you a couple years to talk about then bring it back to the one experience of college at the end.
 
Interview invite!! They specifically said I got an invite for their first interview date!
 
anyone know the chance of acceptance post-interview? Their website says they interviewed 218 and their class size is 42, but I can't figure out how many they accepted.
 
xATB said:
anyone know the chance of acceptance post-interview? Their website says they interviewed 218 and their class size is 42, but I can't figure out how many they accepted.
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I think for most schools it is double the amount that matriculated. So maybe around 84
 
congrats to those who got invites! xATB i think you've gotten quite a few! i bet you are so happy right now. i'm still waiting on my first, although i am being kind of slow 🙁 i am really hung up on this "an experience that shaped your life" q. did you guys LITERALLY stick to ONE experience or did you make it broad like...state all the events in your life that led up to the "one" event?
 
edge of desire said:
congrats to those who got invites! xATB i think you've gotten quite a few! i bet you are so happy right now. i'm still waiting on my first, although i am being kind of slow 🙁 i am really hung up on this "an experience that shaped your life" q. did you guys LITERALLY stick to ONE experience or did you make it broad like...state all the events in your life that led up to the "one" event?
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I only wrote about one specific experience
 
Don15 said:
I only wrote about one specific experience
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Me too. I focused more on an event where I used leadership and innovation (and then talked about how it impacted my life). It definitely wasn't a life-changing experience or anything, but I talked about how I was challenged and what i learned.
 
Ugh, the cheapest flight I can get is over $400 (and over 500 for nonstop!) I'm coming from a major city and hub airport. Is anyone else running into this problem? They also didnt mention anything about student hosts...I'm not so sure I can afford this interview even though I really like the school...🙁
 
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xATB said:
Ugh, the cheapest flight I can get is over $400 (and over 500 for nonstop!) I'm coming from a major city and hub airport. Is anyone else running into this problem? They also didnt mention anything about student hosts...I'm not so sure I can afford this interview even though I really like the school...🙁
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Man, I wish I was so lucky as to have this "problem."
 
lol... ironic isn't it... though not as ironic as 10,000 spoons when all i need is a knife, or anything...

i am busy complaining in my head about writing secondaries - that i'm thankful to have... and i know i'll have a minor credit card meltdown if i manage to garner a pile of interviews - that i'll be bouncing off the WALLS to have 🙂

PS VATech's superessay - you will not best me.. i am going to WRITE you.. yeah... whaddya think of that.
PPS i do not know why this coffee shop doesn't offer a decaf option😱
 
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