2012-2013 Mount Sinai Application Thread

[Azurophil]

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Does anyone know if Mount Sinai couples housing is subsidized? I asked because I requested a housing questionnaire and on the page where it lists Mount Sinai properties, the prices seem very similar to market prices for the area. For example, 1k sq ft 2 bedroom is about $2700 a month. Just wondering if these are the real prices.

And maybe this is cheaper than market and I am just misinformed.

I think I know which building you're talking about, and that complex is really for residents, not student couples. Mount Sinai doesn't actually own it, but has negotiated a discount for residents. Of the other buildings closer to the hospital, rent for a 1 BD (in general they won't give you a two BD unless you have kids) will range from about $1400-2100/mo. This is a subsidized rate for the area and it will depend on which building you're offered from your preference list. Some people may have different arrangements that I'm not aware of, but the above is typical.

 

[MedicalAuthor]

I think I know which building you're talking about, and that complex is really for residents, not student couples. Mount Sinai doesn't actually own it, but has negotiated a discount for residents. Of the other buildings closer to the hospital, rent for a 1 BD (in general they won't give you a two BD unless you have kids) will range from about $1400-2100/mo. This is a subsidized rate for the area and it will depend on which building you're offered from your preference list. Some people may have different arrangements that I'm not aware of, but the above is typical.

Do you know if planning to have children counts? We just don't want to have to move when we have kids, which should be in the first two years

 

[Azurophil]

Do you know if planning to have children counts? We just don't want to have to move when we have kids, which should be in the first two years

You can give it a shot when you talk to the housing coordinator. Try and see if you can score a meeting with her at Second Look or even try talking to her before then (PM me for the contact info if you need it).

 

[MedicalAuthor]

Okay, reading fail, you were asking about 2 BD. You can give it a shot when you talk to the housing coordinator. Try and see if you can score a meeting with her at Second Look (PM me for the contact info if you need it).

Cool, thanks, but I am kind of confused about what you were confused about. Your reply seemed like you understood, haha. Just trying to clear up my own confusion.

 

[Azurophil]

Cool, thanks, but I am kind of confused about what you were confused about. Your reply seemed like you understood, haha. Just trying to clear up my own confusion.

Hah, I'd just edited previous reply to reflect that =).

 

[smallone]

Hey, does anyone know if "the second week of March" means the week beginning March 4th or the week beginning March 11th for their next round of news?

 

[PeerReviewed]

Also does anyone have any idea when their last interview date is?

I've been complete since August and I'm so confused as to why I still haven't heard anything... despite the recent rejections.

 

[smallone]

Also does anyone have any idea when their last interview date is?

I've been complete since August and I'm so confused as to why I still haven't heard anything... despite the recent rejections.

They gave me the date in the ii email... there were no options provided. On interview day, they made it seem like they were still handing out invitations.

Also be sure to check your Spam folder because that's where my ii was (wtf) and that happened to my friend and someone else on this thread, too. 😏

 

[PeerReviewed]

They gave me the date in the ii email... there were no options provided. On interview day, they made it seem like they were still handing out invitations.

Also be sure to check your Spam folder because that's where my ii was (wtf) and that happened to my friend and someone else on this thread, too. 😏

Thank you! I'm assuming your interview was relatively recently. I hope it went well! Hopefully there's some more invites for the rest of us that are awkwardly waiting here for months.

 

[alw08012]

Thank you! I'm assuming your interview was relatively recently. I hope it went well! Hopefully there's some more invites for the rest of us that are awkwardly waiting here for months.

+1 haha I've been twiddling my thumbs since then also...my friend just recently got a pre-interview rejection though so hopefully that's good news for us and we still have a shot!

 

[dreamer67]

Also does anyone have any idea when their last interview date is?

I've been complete since August and I'm so confused as to why I still haven't heard anything... despite the recent rejections.

I'm in the same situation. At this point, I'm assuming even if I get an invite the chances of an outright acceptance are very slim. Not holding my breath...

 

[e8ter]

I'm in the same situation. At this point, I'm assuming even if I get an invite the chances of an outright acceptance are very slim. Not holding my breath...

same boat as ya'll, i think next week is last week of interviews? they prob forgot to reject us lol

 

[PeerReviewed]

or they're keeping us here so they can pull one of us last minute into an interview if someone drops out. fingers crossed I guess?

 

[alw08012]

This is what I imagine goes on during admission committee meetings this time of the year...possible explanation for their silence?

View attachment 22786

 

[Irish Football]

Yeah, I'm a little annoyed, if interview season is basically over and they did send out pre-interview rejections to people, then why haven't I heard anything from them after submitting my secondary in August. You pay a lot for a secondary fee and this is how you're treated...

 

[YankeeLion16]

Yeah, I'm a little annoyed, if interview season is basically over and they did send out pre-interview rejections to people, then why haven't I heard anything from them after submitting my secondary in August. You pay a lot for a secondary fee and this is how you're treated...

Dude all you do is complain on a multitude of threads. This process sucks. You should be happy that you're still under consideration.

 

[EvelynL]

the last interview day is next Friday. I think they are doing Tue-Fri interviews. They said that they are still handing out acceptances today at my interview.

 

[Irish Football]

Dude all you do is complain on a multitude of threads. This process sucks. You should be happy that you're still under consideration.

I am actually very happy about my current situation. In regards to Mount Sinai in particular, I am a little annoyed. And if next Friday is the last interview day, I highly doubt anyone is still "under consideration." Silent rejection is more likely...

 

[alw08012]

the last interview day is next Friday. I think they are doing Tue-Fri interviews. They said that they are still handing out acceptances today at my interview.

How far in advance did you get your interview invite? Curious if those spots are already taken or if they just have a quick turnover for invites. Thanks!! 🙂

 

[bearintraining]

How far in advance did you get your interview invite? Curious if those spots are already taken or if they just have a quick turnover for invites. Thanks!! 🙂

I was offered next Tuesday (3/5) on 2/19... so I assume they're probably taken or very close to being all full.

 

[red doctober]

Sinai just announced that they will begin accepting about half of their medical school class as college sophomores, who can forego the MCAT, as part of a new program called FlexMed http://blog.mountsinai.org/blog/flexmed/. I assume they will start implementing this next cycle for the Class of 2020. This greatly expands on their Hu-Med and newly created Sci-Med programs. I think it'd be interesting to see whether or not this polarizes the class with the more "traditional" students (went through MCAT and application hell) partially resenting the fact that half their class didn't not have to go through the same ordeal. What do you guys think, will this improve, hurt, or not affect Sinai's quality of students and/or reputation?

Note: accepted students still finish college before entering med school. More info: http://icahn.mssm.edu/education/medical-education/programs/flexmed

 

[EvelynL]

How far in advance did you get your interview invite? Curious if those spots are already taken or if they just have a quick turnover for invites. Thanks!! 🙂

I got my invite about 1.5 weeks in advance.

 

[canibeadrplease]

Sinai just announced that they will begin accepting about half of their medical school class as college sophomores, who can forego the MCAT, as part of a new program called FlexMed http://blog.mountsinai.org/blog/flexmed/. I assume they will start implementing this next cycle for the Class of 2020. This greatly expands on their Hu-Med and newly created Sci-Med programs. I think it'd be interesting to see whether or not this polarizes the class with the more "traditional" students (went through MCAT and application hell) partially resenting the fact that half their class didn't not have to go through the same ordeal. What do you guys think, will this improve, hurt, or not affect Sinai's quality of students and/or reputation?

Note: accepted students still finish college before entering med school. More info: http://icahn.mssm.edu/education/medical-education/programs/flexmed

It definitely won't be polarizing. As is, a quarter of the class comes from the HumEd program. Us traditional applicants don't harbor any resentment towards HumEds.

 

[red doctober]

Was Hu-Med really that large before? I was thinking it was more like 20/140. One thing that will probably happen is that it will become harder to get into Sinai through the "traditional" pathway because the number of open spots is going to decrease to ~60 spots/year given 70 FlexMed + 10 MSTP students/year.

 

[mistoffelees]

Sinai just announced that they will begin accepting about half of their medical school class as college sophomores, who can forego the MCAT, as part of a new program called FlexMed http://blog.mountsinai.org/blog/flexmed/. I assume they will start implementing this next cycle for the Class of 2020. This greatly expands on their Hu-Med and newly created Sci-Med programs. I think it'd be interesting to see whether or not this polarizes the class with the more "traditional" students (went through MCAT and application hell) partially resenting the fact that half their class didn't not have to go through the same ordeal. What do you guys think, will this improve, hurt, or not affect Sinai's quality of students and/or reputation?

Note: accepted students still finish college before entering med school. More info: http://icahn.mssm.edu/education/medical-education/programs/flexmed

As I understand it, FlexMed is really not that different from HuMed, just opening it up to any major and I think the required college classes are a bit modified (health policy, ethics, stats, for example).

Meh, when I was applying two years ago there was all this supposed "antagonism" between the traditional admits and the HuMeds (perpetrated I think by SDNers! tsk tsk), but honestly there is no difference between the two groups here as a student. Sometimes there's a bit of a friendly jabbing from the traditional admits about the humeds who never took orgo II, for example, but there's really no difference in how we perform. Just like any medical student can tell you, a rigorous background in the sciences in college does not equate to better performance in med school. It's a whole new style of thinking and I feel like the only advantage one MAY get is simply more familiarity with things like proteins and DNA (which still isn't that big of a deal in the long run in medical education). HuMeds, or traditional applicants majoring/double majoring in non-sciences often have an advantage in that they are better at writing and critical reading, which is actually surprisingly important even in med school.

What FlexMed does is simply open this program up to more applicants, and I don't think it's going to drastically affect the quality of the medical education at Sinai. The only thing this program will do is make Sinai a really difficult school to get into via AMCAS. Our MCAT average is close to hitting 36, so you see that all the traditional admits are pretty good test takers already as the HuMeds don't contribute to the MCAT average. This may be exacerbated with even more AMCAS applicants vying for fewer seats in the class come 2016.

There's still a bit of a transition time before the FlexMeds hit Sinai, but at least from my point of view Sinai has really figured out these early admit programs (HuMed, SciMed), and it's not bad at all. I chose to come to Sinai over other "better ranked" schools because I feel like a school first and foremost should be innovative and creative. Sinai has the advantage of being the youngest school in the Top 20, and as such is more willing to change when it comes to these kind of things. I feel like many of the other schools have fallen into a rut of "if it ain't broke, why fix it" attitude, and although Harvard will always be Harvard, much remains to be said about Sinai's potential in the future.

(written from a traditional admit perspective)

 

[deleted127837]

Sinai just announced that they will begin accepting about half of their medical school class as college sophomores, who can forego the MCAT, as part of a new program called FlexMed http://blog.mountsinai.org/blog/flexmed/. I assume they will start implementing this next cycle for the Class of 2020. This greatly expands on their Hu-Med and newly created Sci-Med programs. I think it'd be interesting to see whether or not this polarizes the class with the more "traditional" students (went through MCAT and application hell) partially resenting the fact that half their class didn't not have to go through the same ordeal. What do you guys think, will this improve, hurt, or not affect Sinai's quality of students and/or reputation?

Note: accepted students still finish college before entering med school. More info: http://icahn.mssm.edu/education/medical-education/programs/flexmed

That. Is. Awesome. I wonder if they'll eventually remove the MCAT entirely, prompting an enormous revolution in premedical education such that future doctors are actually chosen for qualities that will impact patients someday. Right after the AAMC spent all that money rewriting the whole thing.

 

[red doctober]

Thanks Mistoffelees, a lot of that makes sense. I noticed Sinai's report saying that the HuMeds perform no worse than their counterparts. However, they may have had the advantage of being extremely selective in accepting only the most promising applicants to the program. Expanding to 70 probably won't change that much, but who knows. I got the idea about some traditional applicants being slightly resentful of the FlexMeds because I personally witnessed a current Sinai student bashing HuMeds (behind their backs obviously) for a reason very similar to what you mentioned, them being behind on some advanced science topics.

 

[Azurophil]

In other news, the Mount Sinai-Continuum merger is continuing to move forward. Among other benefits, it would greatly expand the number of clinical sites available for medical student training. Continuum Health Partners' affiliates include Beth Israel, St. Luke's and Roosevelt hospitals, in addition to the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary and a large network of primary care offices.

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/201...inai-continuum-health-partners-explore-merger

 

[jujudino]

In other news, the Mount Sinai-Continuum merger is continuing to move forward. Among other benefits, it would greatly expand the number of clinical sites available for medical student training. Continuum Health Partners' affiliates include Beth Israel, St. Luke's and Roosevelt hospitals, in addition to the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary and a large network of primary care offices.

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/201...inai-continuum-health-partners-explore-merger

Do you guys think that these changes will affect Sinai's position on the US News ranking?

 

[red doctober]

It adds research dollars, which is a metric in the USNWR research ranking. More important than ranking though is what Azurophil mentioned, more clinical training sites.

Quick Wikipedia search tells me that some of these hospitals already have academic affiliations with other med schools, namely Columbia and Einstein. Would this merger affect those?

 

[dwills]

Anyone know if Sinai is sending out mass decisions tomorrow like many other schools? I hope so (even though I'm probably rejected/wait listed )

 

[mistoffelees]

However, they may have had the advantage of being extremely selective in accepting only the most promising applicants to the program. Expanding to 70 probably won't change that much, but who knows. I got the idea about some traditional applicants being slightly resentful of the FlexMeds because I personally witnessed a current Sinai student bashing HuMeds (behind their backs obviously) for a reason very similar to what you mentioned, them being behind on some advanced science topics.

I'm pretty sure there are more than 70 outstanding students in the country (especially after FlexMed expands to include all majors) My sister is at one of the best liberal arts colleges in the US and she also applied to HuMed. They gave out 4 interviews and 1 admit spot for ~20 applicants. It's already just as competitive as med school as it is.

Also, being one of those people that make fun of HuMeds sometimes, it's rarely malicious and I don't think it should be taken as such. Interviewees tend to have a more skewed view of this but I honestly don't think there's anyone that's "more qualified" or "less qualified" to be here.

Re: Continuum, I think they signed a MOU with NYU too and then they broke that off when Sinai suddenly started negotiating with them last year. So everything is still liable to change. Besides, now the auditing happens and if anything goes wrong both boards can still vote to put this off. Even if they both approve, this is still subject to federal approval (I have no idea what they think about the current NYC hospital-scape).

The great thing if Continuum gets integrated with us is that Sinai will gain training sites downtown, which is something that we direly lack in the form of a hospital (we have some clinic sites in Chelsea). Cornell works with the Wang health center in Chinatown and NYU has Bellevue, which both serve a large amount of Chinese patients. I am pretty sure the other medical schools will no longer be able to keep their affiliations with those hospitals once they're in our network, although given that Sinai already has 4 robust hospitals without the inclusion of hospitals we work with in New Jersey (Bronx VA, Elmhurst, MS-Queens, Mount Sinai proper), I'm not sure whether the addition of the other hospitals will make us have to give up certain sites to other medical schools since it will likely make us the NYC med school with the most teaching hospitals. Also, I feel like if Sinai takes over Beth Israel it might hurt Einstein too much in terms of clinical sites in Manhattan, so I'm not sure whether that will be permitted.

But all of this will probably happen after I graduate - it's good news still and reinforces my earlier point that you should want to come to a school like Sinai that's so ambitious about expanding and innovating. It's a good thing.

 

[cjh630]

I'm pretty sure there are more than 70 outstanding students in the country (especially after FlexMed expands to include all majors) My sister is at one of the best liberal arts colleges in the US and she also applied to HuMed. They gave out 4 interviews and 1 admit spot for ~20 applicants. It's already just as competitive as med school as it is.

Also, being one of those people that make fun of HuMeds sometimes, it's rarely malicious and I don't think it should be taken as such. Interviewees tend to have a more skewed view of this but I honestly don't think there's anyone that's "more qualified" or "less qualified" to be here.

Re: Continuum, I think they signed a MOU with NYU too and then they broke that off when Sinai suddenly started negotiating with them last year. So everything is still liable to change. Besides, now the auditing happens and if anything goes wrong both boards can still vote to put this off. Even if they both approve, this is still subject to federal approval (I have no idea what they think about the current NYC hospital-scape).

The great thing if Continuum gets integrated with us is that Sinai will gain training sites downtown, which is something that we direly lack in the form of a hospital (we have some clinic sites in Chelsea). Cornell works with the Wang health center in Chinatown and NYU has Bellevue, which both serve a large amount of Chinese patients. I am pretty sure the other medical schools will no longer be able to keep their affiliations with those hospitals once they're in our network, although given that Sinai already has 4 robust hospitals without the inclusion of hospitals we work with in New Jersey (Bronx VA, Elmhurst, MS-Queens, Mount Sinai proper), I'm not sure whether the addition of the other hospitals will make us have to give up certain sites to other medical schools since it will likely make us the NYC med school with the most teaching hospitals. Also, I feel like if Sinai takes over Beth Israel it might hurt Einstein too much in terms of clinical sites in Manhattan, so I'm not sure whether that will be permitted.

But all of this will probably happen after I graduate - it's good news still and reinforces my earlier point that you should want to come to a school like Sinai that's so ambitious about expanding and innovating. It's a good thing.

Dude, you are only making me want Sinai even more. I got "continued," and am anxiously awaiting their end-of-the-year decisions... with limited hope. I have my fingers crossed, and I even sent them a letter of intent, but I harbor barely any optimism this late in the season! At least I got in somewhere else, but I can't say it wouldn't be nice to snag my top choice! 🙂 Please, Sinai! Please!

 

[karkatvantas]

How far in advance did you get your interview invite? Curious if those spots are already taken or if they just have a quick turnover for invites. Thanks!! 🙂

I think it depends on how close you live to the city. I'm from Florida and they sent my invite about a month before my interview, but some people in my group from NYC were invited just the week before.

 

[premedpremed1]

.

 

[lcck]

Invited on January 16th for interview on February 5th.

 

[smallone]

Anyone else waiting for a decision here? Anyone know if the "second week of March" is considered next week or the week after? I'm probably going to call on Monday.

 

[nyclove]

^ +1 im curious as to what "second week of march" means as well.

 

[bearintraining]

Interviewing next week. Would greatly appreciate if anyone is willing to share some interview advice/feedback, especially for the PORTAL interview. Thanks! PM me

 

[jujudino]

Interviewing next week. Would greatly appreciate if anyone is willing to share some interview advice/feedback, especially for the PORTAL interview. Thanks! PM me

I did not interview for the Portal so I cannot give any advice for that. For the regular interview, it is going to be 2 30 minute interviews. I had one physician and one student. Sinai really values students' feedback and they are voting members in the admissions committee. My interviews were very laid back, more like a conversation. Questions were similar to interviews anywhere else: why medicine, which specialty do you think you want, talk about your experiences, things of that nature. I think my best advice is relax and be yourself. Sinai really amazed me during their interview day, students and staff are very nice and you can truly feel a collaborative environment. Good luck! 🙂

 

[bearintraining]

I did not interview for the Portal so I cannot give any advice for that. For the regular interview, it is going to be 2 30 minute interviews. I had one physician and one student. Sinai really values students' feedback and they are voting members in the admissions committee. My interviews were very laid back, more like a conversation. Questions were similar to interviews anywhere else: why medicine, which specialty do you think you want, talk about your experiences, things of that nature. I think my best advice is relax and be yourself. Sinai really amazed me during their interview day, students and staff are very nice and you can truly feel a collaborative environment. Good luck! 🙂

Did you find questions overlapped between the two interviewers and you had to repeat yourself or were they distinctly addressing different issues?

 

[Barney Stinson]

Did you find questions overlapped between the two interviewers and you had to repeat yourself or were they distinctly addressing different issues?

In my case the interviews had a different feel - the student interviewer seemed to have a specific set of questions while the faculty interview was much more conversational. I think that speaks to the experience of the interviewer as well.

My faculty interviewer knew my application inside out, upside down and backwards; it was really impressive and made for a great conversation. I didn't get any ethical or tough questions in either one and I really got the feeling that they just want to see your personality and how you talk about your interests and accomplishments.

There was a good deal of overlap in pure content but the two itnerviews felt so different that it wasn't like repeating myself at all.

 

[jujudino]

In my case the interviews had a different feel - the student interviewer seemed to have a specific set of questions while the faculty interview was much more conversational. I think that speaks to the experience of the interviewer as well.

My faculty interviewer knew my application inside out, upside down and backwards; it was really impressive and made for a great conversation. I didn't get any ethical or tough questions in either one and I really got the feeling that they just want to see your personality and how you talk about your interests and accomplishments.

There was a good deal of overlap in pure content but the two itnerviews felt so different that it wasn't like repeating myself at all.

Yeah, I think I could say the same. There was some overlap though, but not much. My faculty knew my application so much that she mentioned parts of my personal statement during my interview.

 

[nyclove]

did anyone call about the "2nd week of march" confusion?

 

[solesurprise]

How is Mount Sinai's Pass/Fail calculated?

Is it straight numbers (e.g. everything over 70 is a Pass) or is it based on standard deviations (e.g. anything less than 2 SD from the mean is a Fail)?

 

[smallone]

did anyone call about the "2nd week of march" confusion?

I meant to call yesterday but was in a meeting during the 2-4pm time slot that we're allowed to call admissions and ask applicant questions :/ Sigh. The next time is 2-4pm on Weds, right?

 

[MedicalAuthor]

How important is it to live close to campus? Mount Sinai has subsidized housing very close to campus and obviously this is for a reason. But, two things:

1) My wife will gave to commute into Jersey for her job, so we have to decide what makes sense in terms of the best place to live.
2) We were looking at the 2 bedroom housing and, at 2300-2700/month, we were thinking that's 80k over four years. We might look into buying property instead, and the Mount Sinai area is too expensive for us.

Thoughts on how much harder it might be to live where you have to commute? Let's say 30 minutes to an hour away by public trans? Is it just a bad idea in general?

 

[red doctober]

How important is it to live close to campus? Mount Sinai has subsidized housing very close to campus and obviously this is for a reason. But, two things:

1) My wife will gave to commute into Jersey for her job, so we have to decide what makes sense in terms of the best place to live.
2) We were looking at the 2 bedroom housing and, at 2300-2700/month, we were thinking that's 80k over four years. We might look into buying property instead, and the Mount Sinai area is too expensive for us.

Thoughts on how much harder it might be to live where you have to commute? Let's say 30 minutes to an hour away by public trans? Is it just a bad idea in general?

It'd probably be fine for the first two years when you can stream the lectures from home, but I think it'd be troublesome during the 3rd/4th years when you'd potentially be working weird hours, on call, etc.

 

[jbz24]

How important is it to live close to campus? Mount Sinai has subsidized housing very close to campus and obviously this is for a reason. But, two things:

1) My wife will gave to commute into Jersey for her job, so we have to decide what makes sense in terms of the best place to live.
2) We were looking at the 2 bedroom housing and, at 2300-2700/month, we were thinking that's 80k over four years. We might look into buying property instead, and the Mount Sinai area is too expensive for us.

Thoughts on how much harder it might be to live where you have to commute? Let's say 30 minutes to an hour away by public trans? Is it just a bad idea in general?

Many people commute, it's very doable. The first two years won't be an issue at all. Third year will be harder since the hours will be longer and the day starts earlier (be prepared to wake up at 4:30 am on more intense rotations), but in the end it's just one year. I've known many people commuting from lower Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, NJ, etc. with commute times that fall within 30-60 minutes. It's definitely a perk to live by Sinai but not a necessity. You can PM me if you have more specific questions.

 

[quadomatic]

Anyone planning on registering for the revisit weekend?