2011-2012 Virginia Tech Carilion Application Thread

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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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not sure if #firstworldproblem....

congrats xatb! i wish i had as many interviews...
 
FlyingBoat said:
Man, I wish I was so lucky as to have this "problem."
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Sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that. I am really grateful for the interview, it's just that I don't get paid again for another 2 weeks and I don't think there's any way for me to afford a trip that costs over $500 (even using a credit card) right now. I think I'm going to save up some money and hope they can reschedule me for September.
 
xATB said:
Sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that. I am really grateful for the interview, it's just that I don't get paid again for another 2 weeks and I don't think there's any way for me to afford a trip that costs over $500 (even using a credit card) right now. I think I'm going to save up some money and hope they can reschedule me for September.
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Can't you drive?
 
fizzgig and I are clearly struggling. I'm seriously beating myself up over this. did you guys who got interviews (xATB, Hockey, etc.) write 1 page or 2? I mean...if i stuck strictly to ONE event, i coud probably do 1 page but then I'd feel like i didn't get to touch up on all the other things I want to say and there was a whole other page to do it 🙁 I wanted to make the "event" broader, like a journey.
 
edge of desire said:
fizzgig and I are clearly struggling. I'm seriously beating myself up over this. did you guys who got interviews (xATB, Hockey, etc.) write 1 page or 2? I mean...if i stuck strictly to ONE event, i coud probably do 1 page but then I'd feel like i didn't get to touch up on all the other things I want to say and there was a whole other page to do it 🙁 I wanted to make the "event" broader, like a journey.
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I wrote two pages about one event. The way I structured it was the first page being the actual event, then the second page what I learned from it and how it shows my leadership, innovation, etc. Do whatever you feel is best. Don't worry about quantity. Quality is more important
 
ok so i'll let you know if it = shooting myself in the foot, but i wrote about 2 pages because i used a super broad experience. le graduate school. maybe they'll think i'm a cheater but what can i say, that's the period of time during which i decided for sure that medicine was it for me, so it's certainly true that it was formative and taught me a lot... we'll see... i need to submit this puppy today.
 
Don15 said:
I wrote two pages about one event. The way I structured it was the first page being the actual event, then the second page what I learned from it and how it shows my leadership, innovation, etc. Do whatever you feel is best. Don't worry about quantity. Quality is more important
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Mine was exactly like this too. I wrote 2 pages about a very specific time when I demonstrated leadership. First page and a half was the event, the last half page was what I learned.
 
xATB said:
Mine was exactly like this too. I wrote 2 pages about a very specific time when I demonstrated leadership. First page and a half was the event, the last half page was what I learned.
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I also wrote about one event, one that inspired me to become a "physician thought leader," and of course I followed through with the products. In this beginning event I did not show leadership, leadership came afterwards. My essay totaled about 3/4 of a page.

It seems content and meaning is valued rather than length. So don't be daunted by the task of making your essay the maximum characters allowed, it is not required. Make it your own and show them who you are. 🙂
 
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fizzgig said:
ok so i'll let you know if it = shooting myself in the foot, but i wrote about 2 pages because i used a super broad experience. le graduate school. maybe they'll think i'm a cheater but what can i say, that's the period of time during which i decided for sure that medicine was it for me, so it's certainly true that it was formative and taught me a lot... we'll see... i need to submit this puppy today.
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I did exactly the same for similar reasons and am still waiting to hear back.
 
Does anyone want to share a hotel room at the Cambria Suites for the 8/27 interview? PM me.
 
edge of desire said:
fizzgig and I are clearly struggling. I'm seriously beating myself up over this. did you guys who got interviews (xATB, Hockey, etc.) write 1 page or 2? I mean...if i stuck strictly to ONE event, i coud probably do 1 page but then I'd feel like i didn't get to touch up on all the other things I want to say and there was a whole other page to do it 🙁 I wanted to make the "event" broader, like a journey.
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I only wrote a single page. Basically describe the event, showed what problem arose and how I used innovation to solve it. Also integrated how it was analogous to what physician's deal with. PM me if you want a more thorough description
 
I wrote two pages, too, about problem solving using innovation in one single instance, and how it relates to my current plight/interest/connection with communities.

It was a damn good essay - at least technically, and prose-wise. Not sure if it's what they want, obviously, but it was a damn good piece.

But, let's face it . . . the kids who have been screened in for interviews, I imagine (and, based on the MDapps profiles) have fantastic grades and MCAT scores. Most med schools seem to grab those kids first.

The ones, like me, with middling numbers, go later in the cycle (if they go at all - ha).

Just my two cents.
 
^ i thought the same thing before I got my first interview here, but I thought my secondary was pretty good so I'm guessing they place a lot of weight on that, because while my gpa is great my mcat isn't
 
rjs2131 said:
^ i thought the same thing before I got my first interview here, but I thought my secondary was pretty good so I'm guessing they place a lot of weight on that, because while my gpa is great my mcat isn't
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My MCAT is good (not exceptional) and GPA is middling. You seem to have one category that's pretty exceptional.

I imagine they'll take one strong category with a good secondary.

Allz I'm saying is that I hope that though they seem to have passed over some folks here, they'll keep looking at my app, and one day something good will happen.
 
^ haha im sure you'll be fine, its still waaay early in the process. I expected to be waiting at least another few weeks before any news but I guess I got lucky. good luck!
 
I wouldn't be opposed to hosting an interviewee.
 
Can any one find information on third/fourth year? I can't seem to find what clinical electives are offered..thanks
 
dra13 said:
Can any one find information on third/fourth year? I can't seem to find what clinical electives are offered..thanks
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I actually was wondering about this as well. From what I've been told the 3rd year rotation schedule is set since the class size is small and I believe the quality should be fine since Carilion has many well established residency programs. I did not receive information on fourth year/electives, but will hopefully hear back soon.

If anyone else knows more, please enlighten us =)
 
Still getting owned by this essay....it's my last secondary out of many and I don't know what to write about. 🙁
 
This school seems very research oriented. Does anyone know if this is true?
 
thestrokes14,

the school is quite research oriented. we students even have a class a 3 times a week in which we learn about research and designing studies. also, in order to graduate, we have to produce a paper of publishable quality about a project we work on.
 
Can anyone speak about how long it took to be complete (after submitting the secondary) and how long it took to get a response after being complete?

Thanks!
 
Did anyone actually write close to 7000 characters? I think I'm gonna settle with the 4700 I have right now...it's already over 800 words.
 
Nice, good to hear that everyone else isn't dropping near 7000 characters. Thanks!
 
I was accepted to VTC last year (am deferring for a year) and my secondary was ~4000 characters (5000 including spaces). It was between 1.5 and 2 pages long. Quality definitely matters more.
 
thestrokes14 said:
Can anyone speak about how long it took to be complete (after submitting the secondary) and how long it took to get a response after being complete?

Thanks!
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this can be extremely variable... i've seen some applicants wait 2 weeks to 12 weeks for a response... a lot of it depends on when you submit your secondary in regards to VTCs review process... now, i can only back the following statements up based on my experience at other institutions... but i am pretty sure they probably take all applications received over a 1 month period and at some hypothetical date, they will distribute those applications to their admissions committee for review... each committee member will probably have 2 weeks to review their pile of apps (hypothetically, if there are 10 committee members, maybe 3 will see your app)... they meet, discuss applicants, vote, and update reviewed applicants... get a week off... and then the process starts over again... so if you submit your app the day before distribution, you might hear back in 2-3 weeks... if you submit the day after distribution, it may be 2 months or more before you hear anything... further, the committee may decide that they may not want to invite you for an immediate interview, but may keep your name in the list for a future interview... thus it may be a further few months until you hear anything...

anyways... hypervariable... i hated the time between submitting the secondary and receiving the interview invite... its all you can think about, but there really isnt anything you can do about it except wait... unbearably unnerving! fortunately there is this handy forum that you can vent to in the interim!
 
Still waiting on a secondary... any idea if we will be notified if screened out, or just no response at all? Thanks, good luck everyone.
 
anyone else interested in splitting a hotel the night of aug 26th? I'm 21 and female if that matters...I don't care though if you're a girl or guy.

Edit: also, anyone wanna go out for drinks after that meet and greet thing? The last thing I wanna do is sit by myself in a hotel room on a Friday night...
 
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awesome! we should exchange numbers so we can meet up, and hopefully convince some others to come with us.
 
Does anyone have thoughts on why the median cGPA (3.49) is fairly low here?
 
aSagacious said:
Probably because this was their charter class, and applicants with higher stats might have hesitated to attend a brand new school... but that's just a guess.
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Good point. Not trying to rag on the school, just curious. We'll see if I get a secondary invite...
 
Can anyone speak about how long it took to get your application complete post-secondary submission? Merci.
 
any idea if VTech notifies if you've been screened out? got the email part about doing a preliminary review on 7/7 but still no word.
 
I'll probably go polo and khakis to the reception. Looks like the hurricane is trying to mess up our travel plans after the interview.
 
bouncingsolz91 said:
I'll probably go polo and khakis to the reception. Looks like the hurricane is trying to mess up our travel plans after the interview.
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Yeah...I'm really concerned about the hurricane. I absolutely have to be home by Sunday evening and I have to drive about 8hrs back. I'm not really sure what to do 🙁
 
Was glad I was able to meet some of the interviewees last night. Hope ya'll crushed the interview. 😉
 
hi folks, since vatech assigns a date vs showing all their interview dates i don't know how many there are - is the office flexible about rescheduling?
 
fizzgig said:
hi folks, since vatech assigns a date vs showing all their interview dates i don't know how many there are - is the office flexible about rescheduling?
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I am hoping so, because I got the September 24th date and that is smack dab in the middle of a trip to Ecuador for me. I am also hoping that if I can reschedule the next date is not too far in the future since there are only six interview dates total. Unfortunately, they sent the invite on a Friday night before a long weekend so the first chance I'll have to find out is Tuesday! How obnoxious... but I can't complain, an interview is an interview!! 👍

For what it's worth, my secondary essay was 6518 characters (not quite two pages) about the work I have done at a free clinic. I don't recall adding anything in the update section.
 
Received interview invite for September 24th today. Submitted secondary: 8/14, IS.
 
Interview Invite!! OOS Submitted 8/2
 
Hey guys! Congratulations to those who have received interview invites! I see that some of you have been discussing rescheduling dates. Like it was mentioned before, there are only 6 interview dates, falling on one Saturday a month. I am not sure how flexible the adcom is, but I am sure they will do their best to accomodate you.

Also, I think my roomies and I can probably host a student for this next interview cycle. PM me if you are interested.

Good luck to everyone!! :luck:
 
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