2012-2013 Northwestern University Application Thread

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ceasefire said:
What kind of doctor do you want to be? In what kind of setting?

Medical school is sometimes considered undergraduate medical education. Residency is graduate medical education. Then practicing as a licensed doc is post-graduate training (I think).
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Residency is PGY, so the question is asking what kind of specialty/sub-specialty training do you want during your residency. Post-graduate education is the same as graduate education.
 
"ESSAY 3 - NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS
If you will have completed your education more than one academic year prior to matriculation in medical school, please describe your activities during that time."

So for applicants taking only one year off, they should not answer this question?
 
gree said:
Residency is PGY, so the question is asking what kind of specialty/sub-specialty training do you want during your residency. Post-graduate education is the same as graduate education.
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The question uses the term "post-training career," so I think that it is asking about where you see yourself after completing residency and fellowship.
 
Black Mamba24 said:
The question uses the term "post-training career," so I think that it is asking about where you see yourself after completing residency and fellowship.
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The question is phrased badly. I wouldn't be surprised if they tossed it.
 
justhanging said:
The question is phrased badly. I wouldn't be surprised if they tossed it.
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I think secondary responses are more often used for interview material, so they may just be pulling for things to talk about.
 
deron said:
"ESSAY 3 - NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS
If you will have completed your education more than one academic year prior to matriculation in medical school, please describe your activities during that time."

So for applicants taking only one year off, they should not answer this question?
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Yeah, that's what I assumed, I didn't answer it.
 
Submitted secondary.

I really half-assed the last question.
 
So right before I submitted my secondary I noticed that I wrote "piers" instead of "peers." Thankfully I was able to change it, but in retrospect it may not have been that bad because Northwestern is located a few blocks from Navy Pier. If brought up in an interview, I could always say that I am good at working with piers so naturally the lakefront would benefit from having me as a student at NU.
 
Fuska2012 said:
hmmm i was gonna pour out my soul and be all sappy about how much i love medical oncology....
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Nothing wrong with that. If you have a passion, flaunt it.

Irish Football said:
So right before I submitted my secondary I noticed that I wrote "piers" instead of "peers." Thankfully I was able to change it, but in retrospect it may not have been that bad because Northwestern is located a few blocks from Navy Pier. If brought up in an interview, I could always say that I am good at working with piers so naturally the lakefront would benefit from having me as a student at NU.
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"I would love to work on NU's piers."

Triple entendre.

Bonus point if you're a female applicant.
 
luckyducky87 said:
- A plug for FSM is that it's right in downtown Chicago!!! 🙂 AND by the beautiful lake/beach!!!!! Housing can be expensive (though didn't feel like it to me, coming from Boston), but there are cheaper options in surrounding neighborhoods that are easily commute-able by bus. By comparison, Pritzker is located in Hyde Park. Though it's technically "in Chicago," I think one will quickly find that it's pretty isolated from all the on-goings in downtown Chicago... for one, it's 7-9 miles south of downtown Chicago (with no good neighborhoods in between the two) so if you don't have a car, it takes about an hour to get to downtown by bus. By cab it's ~$15-20 per way to downtown. I personally felt that Hyde Park is sorta lacking in restaurants, bars, AND stores. Well, anyway, if anyone has the privilege of gaining admission to Pritzker, it's an awesome school I'm sure ;-)
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As someone who spent 4 years in Hyde Park I can tell you very much it is DEFINITELY the place where fun goes to die. No bars except Jimmy's and the university Pub. Restaurants get repetitive after a couple weeks. There's literally nothing in Hyde Park, nothing to do, nothing to eat....you get the point. FSM is in a prime location and that's easy access to lots of food, clubs, bars, yoga classes, etc. If Pritzker is still your top choice, you can get dtown for $2.50 by metra in 15 minutes. So it's not that big of a commute, it's just annoying.
 
gahjah said:
As someone who spent 4 years in Hyde Park I can tell you very much it is DEFINITELY the place where fun goes to die. No bars except Jimmy's and the university Pub. Restaurants get repetitive after a couple weeks. There's literally nothing in Hyde Park, nothing to do, nothing to eat....you get the point. FSM is in a prime location and that's easy access to lots of food, clubs, bars, yoga classes, etc. If Pritzker is still your top choice, you can get dtown for $2.50 by metra in 15 minutes. So it's not that big of a commute, it's just annoying.
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Oh you poor (former) UChi undergrad 😉
 
You guys think Northwestern could start sending out II's this week?
 
Is it bad if I'm having trouble coming up with 300 words for each question? I've been out of secondary writing mode for a while now... 😎:annoyed:
 
gahjah said:
Gahhh the torture doesn't even end after graduation. UChi gives me heart palpitations and nightmares.
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For the record, not that this is a thread to really debate the UChicago undergrad experience, but also having been an undergrad there (and still a resident of Hyde Park over a year after graduating!) I can definitely say that it depends on what you're looking for in a neighborhood. As for me, I'm not much for the crazy bar scene, but I love how I feel like part of the community in Hyde Park. I know the people at the grocery store here. I'd love to go to Feinberg (seriously, I love it), but honestly living among skyscrapers is not my ideal.

Point being, there are lots of different neighborhoods in Chicago, and it's easy enough to commute. I've known both UChicago students who live elsewhere in Chicago and students who attend other schools who live in Hyde Park. You can choose what kind of neighborhood feel you want - I think that's a plus for all of the Chicago med schools! 🙂
 
True. I've just always been a very short-winded person, so I keep wondering if not getting close to the word limit on secondaries will hurt me.
 
Black Mamba24 said:
True. I've just always been a very short-winded person, so I keep wondering if not getting close to the word limit on secondaries will hurt me.
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Finally sent in the secondary... woot woot ... one of my top choices so :xf: for an early interview!!!

Good luck everyone!
 
Fuska2012 said:
Finally sent in the secondary... woot woot ... one of my top choices so :xf: for an early interview!!!

Good luck everyone!
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Finally submitted as well, or at least I tried to. It's not letting me submit without answering Essay 3 (non-trads). How were people able to submit without answering this question?
 
Hey everybody, good luck applying! I am applying a bit late due to a late mcat, but I was wondering if you guys could give me feedback on secondary essay ideas. For the coping essay, I was going to talk about an incident that occurred in college where I was stabbed with a needle in an attempted robbery and was put on an anti-retroviral regimen to address the risk of catching HIV/AIDs for a month. Due to the effects of the meds I was nauseous the whole time and felt sick everyday and lost 16 pounds in that one month. I also went in for blood tests every other day to check for the presence of HIV (This was awful, as before this experience, I was a huge needlephobe). In order to take my mind off the possibility that I had HIV and my god-awful nausea, I decided to visit all awesome the places in DC that I had brushed aside (Air and Space Museum, Capitol building, White house tour, Arlington National Cemetery, Cherry Blossom Festival, Art Gallery, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier) whenever I got a free moment. I also increased my involvement in international health organizations around campus and joined a pick-up softball league at my school. Luckily, I was eventually cleared negative. As a result of this experience, I gained a much better appreciation of the importance of patient welfare, emotionally and physically, during the treatment process, a greater respect for the physicians and nurses like those that helped me get through and supported me during this ordeal.
 
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It sounds like a tremendous essay topic, but I think it may be more suited for one of those "tell us something else about yourself" essays.

I think for the coping and stress essay, they want to know in general how you handle situations, not necessarily a single example. I wrote about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of friends.

Bonus points if you know who I am referencing here.

Edit: Didn't read fully

DrDraco said:
Hey everybody, good luck applying! I am applying a bit late due to a late mcat, but I was wondering if you guys could give me feedback on secondary essay ideas. For the coping essay, I was going to talk about an incident that occurred in college where I was stabbed with a needle in an attempted robbery and was put on an anti-retroviral regimen to address the risk of catching HIV/AIDs for a month. Due to the effects of the meds I was nauseous the whole time and felt sick everyday and lost 16 pounds in that one month. I also went in for blood tests every other day to check for the presence of HIV (This was awful, as before this experience, I was a huge needlephobe). In order to take my mind off the possibility that I had HIV and my god-awful nausea, I decided to visit all awesome the places in DC that I had brushed aside (Air and Space Museum, Capitol building, White house tour, Arlington National Cemetery, Cherry Blossom Festival, Art Gallery, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier) whenever I got a free moment. I also increased my involvement in international health organizations around campus and joined a pick-up softball league at my school. Luckily, I was eventually cleared negative. As a result of this experience, I gained a much better appreciation of the importance of patient welfare, emotionally and physically, during the treatment process, a greater respect for the physicians and nurses like those that helped me get through and supported me during this ordeal.
Click to expand...
 
DrDraco said:
Hey everybody, good luck applying! I am applying a bit late due to a late mcat, but I was wondering if you guys could give me feedback on secondary essay ideas. For the coping essay, I was going to talk about an incident that occurred in college where I was stabbed with a needle in an attempted robbery and was put on an anti-retroviral regimen to address the risk of catching HIV/AIDs for a month. Due to the effects of the meds I was nauseous the whole time and felt sick everyday and lost 16 pounds in that one month. I also went in for blood tests every other day to check for the presence of HIV (This was awful, as before this experience, I was a huge needlephobe). In order to take my mind off the possibility that I had HIV and my god-awful nausea, I decided to visit all awesome the places in DC that I had brushed aside (Air and Space Museum, Capitol building, White house tour, Arlington National Cemetery, Cherry Blossom Festival, Art Gallery, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier) whenever I got a free moment. I also increased my involvement in international health organizations around campus and joined a pick-up softball league at my school. Luckily, I was eventually cleared negative. As a result of this experience, I gained a much better appreciation of the importance of patient welfare, emotionally and physically, during the treatment process, a greater respect for the physicians and nurses like those that helped me get through and supported me during this ordeal.
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I'm having trouble with the "stress management" essay as well. Do they want our general methods of coping with stress (like exercise, friends, etc) or do they want to know how we cope with specific situations (like getting into an argument, seeing a patient die, etc...)?

Dr. Draco, I think you have a really good topic that to some extent covers both of these possibilities.
 
pv515 said:
It sounds like a tremendous essay topic, but I think it may be more suited for one of those "tell us something else about yourself" essays.

I think for the coping and stress essay, they want to know in general how you handle situations, not necessarily a single example. I wrote about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of friends.

Bonus points if you know who I am referencing here.

Edit: Didn't read fully
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. So this would be more of an essay where you'd talk about how pottery or hang-gliding helps you relieve stress? Or do they mean like "First I try to see how I can improve the situation that is causing me stress"

And yes I do get the reference cause I'm Hip to be square
 
What do they mean exactly when they mention their distinctive educational philosophy in the first question? "Given the distinctive educational philosophy and curriculum at FSM..." Are they talking about how they integrate the science courses with patient interviews and other areas of the medical education? So is their educational philosophy to foster an interdisciplinary educational experience? I feel like I am looking too much into it. Any input?
 
By the way, does anyone else think "flying spaghetti monster" every time they see the abbreviation FSM? 🙂
 
DrDraco said:
Thanks for the feedback. So this would be more of an essay where you'd talk about how pottery or hang-gliding helps you relieve stress? Or do they mean like "First I try to see how I can improve the situation that is causing me stress"

And yes I do get the reference cause I'm Hip to be square
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ceasefire said:
DrDraco said:
more of an essay where you'd talk about how pottery or hang-gliding helps you relieve stress
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This.
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I don't know...this is a poorly worded prompt unless they are looking for a whole slew of answers ranging from very general to very specific. In support of this being a "pottery/hang gliding" essay, this prompt is in a section titled "stress management" and they specifically request the omission of problem solving skills. On the other hand, the phrase "confronted with difficult situations" implies specificity/immediacy (eg. how do you cope when you have a dying patient or a really difficult medical decision), in which case the "hang gliding/pottery" approach wouldn't really be relevant.

I think I'm going to try to do both. Bring up coping techniques in a specific situation (eg dying patient) that is representative of a stressful time in my life, then talk about general stress management during that time (eg pottery/hang gliding).
 
NCPremed said:
I don't know...this is a poorly worded prompt unless they are looking for a whole slew of answers ranging from very general to very specific. In support of this being a "pottery/hang gliding" essay, this prompt is in a section titled "stress management" and they specifically request the omission of problem solving skills. On the other hand, the phrase "confronted with difficult situations" implies specificity/immediacy (eg. how do you cope when you have a dying patient or a really difficult medical decision), in which case the "hang gliding/pottery" approach wouldn't really be relevant.

I think I'm going to try to do both. Bring up coping techniques in a specific situation (eg dying patient) that is representative of a stressful time in my life, then talk about general stress management during that time (eg pottery/hang gliding).
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all in 300 words? good luck
 
NCPremed said:
Which approach are you taking?
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Personally, I took the very general approach, but I had to do some thinking about what my coping skills actually are. If you are having trouble articulating that, then maybe go with a particular activity that helps you relieve stress, and how it helped you in X situation once upon a time.
 
Not that there's a "correct" formula, but when I applied, I also used the combo method, where I basically mentioned my hobbies and day-to-day stress-relief measures, but also added in a paragraph mentioning a bigger picture of how I deal with bigger adversities (or at least what I try to do). But really, I don't think you can go wrong either way. I got to talk about my answers to this Q in both my individual interview (open-file) and my panel interview (closed-file)
 
NCPremed said:
By the way, does anyone else think "flying spaghetti monster" every time they see the abbreviation FSM? 🙂
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YES. Actually I hadn't thought of that until just now but am so glad you pointed this out. 😛
 
luckyducky87 said:
Not that there's a "correct" formula, but when I applied, I also used the combo method, where I basically mentioned my hobbies and day-to-day stress-relief measures, but also added in a paragraph mentioning a bigger picture of how I deal with bigger adversities (or at least what I try to do). But really, I don't think you can go wrong either way. I got to talk about my answers to this Q in both my individual interview (open-file) and my panel interview (closed-file)
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I know there is not a single "correct" way to approach these essays, but it is reassuring to hear that others have taken the same approach, especially when they happen to be students that got accepted to a school I really like! 🙂 Thanks for the response luckyducky, and for all the information you've provided us so far!
 
NCPremed said:
Which approach are you taking?
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I wrote about a specific stressful situation, how i approached it, and then about how I approach stressful situations in general. I did not write about hobbies or activities I do to cope outside of work or anything like that. I really struggled with this one too, mainly because I didn't know if they wanted general/specific, and because of the word limit, I still had a lot of things to say that I couldn't add.
 
Any current NU students hear anything about when II's may start coming out this year?
 
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