2012-2013 Mercer University Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Hopeful02 said:
Unfortunately, I don't think so. They are really particular about it.
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Not true. It really depends on where in GA you live. I am in a similar situation. I have been out of the state for several years attending school. I took the residency form to a judge and was able to get a signature as long as I could provide 3 forms of identification with my address on it. It also helps if your family lives in the state too.

I have called the admissions office several times and from what I gather, as long as you can get a judge's approval of your GA residency, that's mostly what matters regarding your connection to the state.
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nontradst said:
Not true. It really depends on where in GA you live. I am in a similar situation. I have been out of the state for several years attending school. I took the residency form to a judge and was able to get a signature as long as I could provide 3 forms of identification with my address on it. It also helps if your family lives in the state too.

I have called the admissions office several times and from what I gather, as long as you can get a judge's approval of your GA residency, that's mostly what matters regarding your connection to the state.
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Being out of the state for school and being gone for a decade are completely different things. Regardless, with what you wrote, I would still classify them as "particular".
 
Hi! Would you mind sharing some of you're undergrad info? I am a junior very interested in MUSM and would like to learn as much as I can about the process as a whole. You can PM me if you like. Thanks so much
 
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Sadsadstudent said:
That's one of the biggest fake rumors you will hear during your first year at Mercer! There's lots of rumors, but that one tops the cake. They tell you that lots of smart people failed the first test, but in reality, the first test is the easiest. The reason they do this is to give you a false sense of confidence after you do great on the first test and you ease up on studying and not study very much for the second test and flunk it.
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No, that's actually true. 31 students failed the first test last year. It is an easy test material-wise, but with the adjustment to med school, uncertainty of what tests are like, bad advice from bigs, randomization of questions, etc... it didn't work out for a lot of people unfortunately. So many failed they threw it out as counting towards your 3 fails. But there is still a high number of people who are repeating their first year. But you were right, the last two tests, Neurology and Muskuloskeletal are the hardest for first year. Personally, I thought test 2 was the easiest (and least reading).

Bottom line, don't worry about how or what others do, stats like what's above, rumors, advice...Just study hard and don't fall behind and you'll be fine on all of the tests.
 
How is everybody doing? I just finally submitted my secondary. Took me awhile but I got it where I wanted it.

Any news so far on how the Early Decision processing is going?
 
I should be hitting the submit button on the secondary tonight as well. Did get a little hung up with the residency verification because the probate judge was out of town for a week.
Good luck
 
BigBoosting said:
No, that's actually true. 31 students failed the first test last year. It is an easy test material-wise, but with the adjustment to med school, uncertainty of what tests are like, bad advice from bigs, randomization of questions, etc... it didn't work out for a lot of people unfortunately. So many failed they threw it out as counting towards your 3 fails. But there is still a high number of people who are repeating their first year. But you were right, the last two tests, Neurology and Muskuloskeletal are the hardest for first year. Personally, I thought test 2 was the easiest (and least reading).

Bottom line, don't worry about how or what others do, stats like what's above, rumors, advice...Just study hard and don't fall behind and you'll be fine on all of the tests.
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I would like to say however that that was (at least in the last four years) quite unusual. I know that in my class and the two directly after me it was more like 10-15 people failed the first exam. With that said I think the exams at Mercer are somewhat challenging. They are not difficult to pass, but it can be tough to break the 85 or higher range. However I think it lends itself to feeling challenged (in a good way) and give you the motivation to really master the material. So I think the last statement is good advice. Prepare the best you can and the rest will come to you.
 
Whatayear said:
I would like to say however that that was (at least in the last four years) quite unusual. I know that in my class and the two directly after me it was more like 10-15 people failed the first exam. With that said I think the exams at Mercer are somewhat challenging. They are not difficult to pass, but it can be tough to break the 85 or higher range. However I think it lends itself to feeling challenged (in a good way) and give you the motivation to really master the material. So I think the last statement is good advice. Prepare the best you can and the rest will come to you.
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I should have mentioned that as well, sorry. It was definitely not the norm. This was the first year that the tests were on the computer and had randomized questions instead of specific sections for Biochem, Pharm, etc., and a lot of people ran out of time (subsequent tests were allotted more time). I think that's what the blame has come down to. 2015's averages were lower than previous classes on most of the tests...but it probably could be due to a number of factors, though. But one thing about Mercer is if you can pass their tests, you're golden for Step 1, because the tailor their tests to be as close to Step 1 as possible.
 
Secondaries submitted! Wooohoooo! Anyone else checking last year's thread like a maniac to see the timetable comparison? haha, this process is going to make me loony! Good luck guys!
 
I am waitlisted at Mercer for this year and just submitted secondaries for the early decision cycle for the next class. Anyone have advice about chances of getting in off the waitlist or odds of getting in during the early decision cycle? Thanks! I hope everyone has a hobby or a job to occupy their limbo time!
 
BigBoosting said:
I should have mentioned that as well, sorry. It was definitely not the norm. This was the first year that the tests were on the computer and had randomized questions instead of specific sections for Biochem, Pharm, etc., and a lot of people ran out of time (subsequent tests were allotted more time). I think that's what the blame has come down to. 2015's averages were lower than previous classes on most of the tests...but it probably could be due to a number of factors, though. But one thing about Mercer is if you can pass their tests, you're golden for Step 1, because the tailor their tests to be as close to Step 1 as possible.
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They computerized MDEs? Wow I really lost track of all the pre-clinical stuff going on during my fourth year, lol.
 
Whatayear said:
They computerized MDEs? Wow I really lost track of all the pre-clinical stuff going on during my fourth year, lol.
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Ha yeah, computerized isn't so bad. It's the randomization of the questions that's the worst :laugh: No more going straight to Pharm for those easy short-term memory points
 
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Hey guys, for the EDP program the website says primary applications are due by Aug. 1st. What happens if you've sent your application before Aug. 1st and, due to verification, it doesn't make it to the school by then? ...too bad?
 
kevnm67 said:
Hey guys, for the EDP program the website says primary applications are due by Aug. 1st. What happens if you've sent your application before Aug. 1st and, due to verification, it doesn't make it to the school by then? ...too bad?
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u mean AMCAS? if so, they verify EDP the same day (or next day), so it shouldn't be a problem. So, I would think, if it doesn't make it, then yeah, too bad...but you would have to submit the day of to not get verified on time.
 
Yep, AMCAS...thanks for the quick response! I didn't realize how quickly they verify EDP, good to know.
 
Just got a call for an ED interview! Macon campus September 13th! Woooohooooo!! Good Luck you guys!!
 
Hey everybody, just got my invite call, so hopefully everyone who applied edp should hear something soon.
 
I got a call today too!!!! YAY! IT made my freaking day, I had been up for 26 hours by the time I got the call and it kept me up a little bit longer lol. August 28th in savannah. super pumped. Good luck guys!
 
So excited for you guys that got calls and interviews! Makes the process seem so much more real to see these updates :)

Question: did you all receive emails that your application was complete from Mercer after they received all of your secondary and supplemental materials? My residency verification was delayed and I am wondering if I should call or just be patient and wait on an email. Thanks for any help.
 
Hopeful02 said:
So excited for you guys that got calls and interviews! Makes the process seem so much more real to see these updates :)

Question: did you all receive emails that your application was complete from Mercer after they received all of your secondary and supplemental materials? My residency verification was delayed and I am wondering if I should call or just be patient and wait on an email. Thanks for any help.
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Yes, you will get an email after your secondary application has been picked up by them. Then, after Mercer receives your residency form and picture, you will get an email confirming that your application file is complete.
 
finally got my secondary submitted. Hopefully I'll hear about an interview soon. :xf:
 
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someone post the prompts to the secondary pretty please!!! :p
 
Nandrolone said:
someone post the prompts to the secondary pretty please!!! :p
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The mission of the Mercer University School of Medicine is to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Please describe how you will contribute to this mission. (250 words maximum)

Please describe an ethical dilemma in which you were involved and how you resolved it. What did you learn from this? (250 words maximum)



The recruitment of a diverse student body is a major goal of Mercer University School of Medicine's Admissions Committee. Students learn from each other as well as from faculty, and being part of a diverse student body affords additional learning opportunities for every student. Please tell us what facets of your life and education to date would contribute to the achievement of this goal. Such facets might include your early education, socioeconomic status, culture, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and life or work experiences. This question is optional.



Is there anything you would like to explain to the Admissions Committee about your application that would help them better understand your circumstances?
 
collegestud2013 said:
The mission of the Mercer University School of Medicine is to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Please describe how you will contribute to this mission. (250 words maximum)

Please describe an ethical dilemma in which you were involved and how you resolved it. What did you learn from this? (250 words maximum)



The recruitment of a diverse student body is a major goal of Mercer University School of Medicine's Admissions Committee. Students learn from each other as well as from faculty, and being part of a diverse student body affords additional learning opportunities for every student. Please tell us what facets of your life and education to date would contribute to the achievement of this goal. Such facets might include your early education, socioeconomic status, culture, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and life or work experiences. This question is optional.



Is there anything you would like to explain to the Admissions Committee about your application that would help them better understand your circumstances?
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thanks a lot!!
 
Got the call!!! Almost broke down in tears from the wave of relief. Good luck friends!
 
I also got the call this morning!!!!! Macon 9/11 :soexcited:
 
aburnet2 said:
I got a call today too!!!! YAY! IT made my freaking day, I had been up for 26 hours by the time I got the call and it kept me up a little bit longer lol. August 28th in savannah. super pumped. Good luck guys!
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I'll see you there!:highfive:
 
BigBoosting said:
So many failed they threw it out as counting towards your 3 fails.
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Haha. Quite true about the throwing a test out. Certain faculty members will sometimes secretly throw out a failed test if you secretly become their little puppet. They like to secretly use students in the class to gather information about other students. What does the faculty want to know about their students? Things like what field of medicine your planning on matching into (that way they can 'target you' if your really planning on matching into a field that's not 'mission compliant'). They also use their students to start spreading new rumors and stories. The faculty will make up a story and then get different students to each say a different part of the supposed event at different calculated times in the school year. Or sometimes they will get a student to stand in a certain pre-scripted location in the med school building or the hospital (like the parking garage, or the hallway) and wait for you to "randomly" walk by and then they will start talking real loud where you can hear what they are saying but it gives you the impression that you were not supposed to hear the conversation, but in reality it was all planned just for you.

Other insidious tactics used by the faculty to harass their students includes using their "puppets" to perform "skits" (again, in a public location like the parking garage, hallways.) which involves acting out a scripted theater like performance that just happens to involve private personal information that pertains to you.

And of course be on the lookout for the Mercers faculty favorite tactic, where they sneak into the study rooms at night and take your belongings, only to make them reappear a few days or months later but in a slightly different location. Sometimes they will later claim that a newly targeted student was the one who originally took the item, (even though it was the faculty member who actually took the item!)


Sound crazy? You bet it does! I know because I took part in some of these "scripted games" lead by certain faculty. But now my conscious bothers me daily because of it.

The bottom line you need to know after reading this thread? Dont trust anyone in your class or believe anything you see or hear at Mercer. I wish I wouldn't have been so naive when i was starting. :(
 
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Sadsadstudent said:
Haha. Quite true about the throwing a test out. Certain faculty members will sometimes secretly throw out a failed test if you secretly become their little puppet. They like to secretly use students in the class to gather information about other students. What does the faculty want to know about their students? Things like what field of medicine your planning on matching into (that way they can 'target you' if your really planning on matching into a field that's not 'mission complient'). They also use their students to start spreading new rumors and stories. The faculty will make up a story and then get different students to each say a different part of the supposed event at different calculated times in the school year. Or sometimes they will get a student to stand in a certain pre-scripted location in the med school building or the hospital (like the parking garage, or the hallway) and wait for you to "randomly" walk by and then they will start talking real loud where you can hear what they are saying but it gives you the impression that you were not supposed to hear the conversation, but in reality it was all planned just for you. Sound crazy? You bet it does! I know because I took part in some of these "scripted games" lead by certain faculty. But now my conscious bothers me daily because of it.

The bottom line you need to know after reading this thread? Dont trust anyone in your class or believe anything you see or hear at Mercer. I wish I wouldn't have been so naive when i was starting. :(
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You don't want us to trust our fellow classmates and faculty at Mercer, yet you're asking us to trust some random person on an SDN thread? Somewhere in here there is some backwards logic.
 
Yeah....something's not right there. Seems like you just joined SDN to post anti-Mercer stuff. So I'm not even going to respond to that craziness. You're giving off a vibe that you have to repeat year 1 and are bitter about it. Well, if that's true then that's your fault and no one else deserves blame for that. I will say that I don't know the atmosphere in Macon, but in Savannah, the faculty and staff are helpful, down-to-earth, *awesome* and the class is friendly, fun, and non-competitive. I don't believe I'd be happier anywhere else. This school and small class size is AWESOME! Don't listen to this guy...medical school, any medical school, is what you make of it.

Edit: if anyone's confused, they threw out test 1 for everyone. They e-mailed the entire class an entire long explanation why, etc. Test 1 was thrown out as one of your fails, but your grade on test 1 still counted towards your overall requirement of a 65 or higher average on all 6 tests in first year.
 
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I agree with BigBoosting, and I'll speak for Macon. We are an incredibly cohesive and non-competitive class. We support each other and try to build each other up. We share our resources, notes, etc. The faculty is GREAT. They are supportive, knowledgable, always available and very personable. Sure we have our ups and downs, but it's MED SCHOOL. If someone told you it was going to be easy, they were lying to you. It's not. Everyone struggles, and yes, sometimes people have to repeat, but all of those people are owning up to their OWN mistakes and making the best of a second chance.

Also, I have made no bones about the fact that I am planning on specializing in a very non-mission complaint way. Everyone in my class knows it, as do most of the faculty. I have had such amazing support from both basic science and clinical faculty in this regard. They want me to achieve my goal. You will find that while Mercer still includes primary care in their mission, their main focus is more on practicing in Georgia, no matter what you practice. Anyone who thinks that Mercer is pushing students to be mission complaint in primary care has clearly not taken a good look at the match list recently.

I don't know who this person is, but I'd take anything they say with a grain of salt. If anyone has any questions about Mercer, BigBoosting and I would be more than happy to answer them seriously.
 
should I send an email if I haven't gotten a secondary. I was verified last Wednesday. (GA resident, 34T, 3.75/3.66)
 
GeorgiaBelle said:
I agree with BigBoosting, and I'll speak for Macon. We are an incredibly cohesive and non-competitive class. We support each other and try to build each other up. We share our resources, notes, etc. The faculty is GREAT. They are supportive, knowledgable, always available and very personable. Sure we have our ups and downs, but it's MED SCHOOL. If someone told you it was going to be easy, they were lying to you. It's not. Everyone struggles, and yes, sometimes people have to repeat, but all of those people are owning up to their OWN mistakes and making the best of a second chance.

Also, I have made no bones about the fact that I am planning on specializing in a very non-mission complaint way. Everyone in my class knows it, as do most of the faculty. I have had such amazing support from both basic science and clinical faculty in this regard. They want me to achieve my goal. You will find that while Mercer still includes primary care in their mission, their main focus is more on practicing in Georgia, no matter what you practice. Anyone who thinks that Mercer is pushing students to be mission complaint in primary care has clearly not taken a good look at the match list recently.

I don't know who this person is, but I'd take anything they say with a grain of salt. If anyone has any questions about Mercer, BigBoosting and I would be more than happy to answer them seriously.
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Ditto! Whatever you want to go into when you're in, the faculty is supportive to helping you reach your goals. They all are realistic and know that you'll change your mind 10 times while going through school. Dr. Murray in Savannah said today to the new class "I'm an ex-orthopedic surgeon and if any one is interested in any kind of surgery then come see me and I'll help you out getting to where you want to go." Several students are doing research in surgical sub-specialties with surgeons at the hospital as well. Mercer wants people who want to stay in Georgia...if you can say that whole-heartedly, Mercer is the place for you and it will show in your interview.

And yep, I'm open for questions, here or in PM if there's something you don't want to ask publicly. Good luck everyone!
 
Nandrolone said:
should I send an email if I haven't gotten a secondary. I was verified last Wednesday. (GA resident, 34T, 3.75/3.66)
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Did you apply ED or RD? I applied/was verified RD before August and got my secondary August 16, but this was two years ago. You seem like a strong candidate numbers-wise, so I'd hold off on the e-mail and give it another few weeks. If ED, you might want to e-mail.
 
BigBoosting said:
Did you apply ED or RD? I applied/was verified RD before August and got my secondary August 16, but this was two years ago. You seem like a strong candidate numbers-wise, so I'd hold off on the e-mail and give it another few weeks. If ED, you might want to e-mail.
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RD...i was just wondering since most schools I've applied to have sent me their secondaries already.
 
Yeah, no worries then. You'll get your secondary at some point this month, and regular decision interviews will start in October
 
Thnx a lot man! Really appreciate the help...you know how nerve racking applications can be..specially when you're on SDN
 
I was verified for EDP on 8-2 but haven't received secondary app notification. Have they already gone out?
 
newdoc12 said:
I was verified for EDP on 8-2 but haven't received secondary app notification. Have they already gone out?
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For EDP I would think that you would have received a secondary by now. You might want to give them a call.
 
I would call or email Gail Coleman to make sure that you didn't miss the EDP deadline of August 1. Secondaries have already gone out for those of us that were verified in June or July, but they could be sending more out. Mercer waits until they have the paper copy of your app, also. So again, Ms. Coleman is probably your best bet for factual info. Hope this helps! Best of luck!
 
Thanks! I put a lot of effort into my secondary and am excited to visit Mercer. The regular pool interviews start on October 23rd.
 
I am a fourth year at Mercer and wanted to share a couple things to applicants.

You will get a great education at Mercer. Our average step 1 for the boards this last year was 227 which is well above the national average. This is spectacular especially considering that our average MCAT is lower than most schools. Mercer is a tough school and is much harder than many other schools in the first two years. Test averages are usually in the high 70s. However, at the end you will without a doubt be ready for the boards and the clerkships. PBL is great if you enjoy independent studying. Although the schools mission is geared towards primary care, Georgia needs all types of physicians so do not worry if you are thinking about doing something else (most people change their minds anyways). Good luck!
 
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GeorgiaBelle said:
Everyone struggles, and yes, sometimes people have to repeat, but all of those people are owning up to their OWN mistakes and making the best of a second chance.
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Yes let's talk more about this "Second chance" being offered to students.

(The school parades you around in front of your parents and friends as a future doctor. They tell you not to tell your parents if you fail any test early on. They start giving you test so hard that only about half the class can pass.
Eventually YOU FLUNK OUT OF MERCER with huge student loans to pay back. But before you are forced with "having to tell your friends and family that you flunked out of school" the faculty offer you a "second chance"... which is a secret offer as a way to stay in school and graduate if you secretly agree to "choose" whatever field of medicine in whatever boonie little town they need you to go work in. Basically they black-mail / extort you)
 
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Hey, for those people who have ED interviews coming up, good luck! It'd also be great to hear how they go, maybe letting us know about any unexpected questions as well.
 
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