2012-2013 Panic Thread

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Irish Football said:
Thanks for the optimism, and I agree with all of that, but like I mentioned earlier in this thread, I have SIGNIFICANT reasons for wanting to attend a school in cities that I still have several schools that I am waiting to hear back from. So definitely still panicking...
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Did you express your significant reasons to the schools you have remaining? I know you've been panicking for a while so I just wanted to throw in my two cents. I think the biggest problem isn't your app Irish.. it's that the schools in Chicago and New York City are pretty sought after. If they're not highly ranked and thus making them reach schools for most people (e.g. Columbia, Mt Sinai, Northwestern), they're one of the top 15 applied to med schools because everyone wants to go to schools in those cities (e.g. Albert Einstein, NYMC, RFU, UIC, Loyola). Rush seems like it would be the "most probable" school of the bunch, but they interview only 5.4% of its OOS applications--which is one of the lowest OOS interview rates for all schools (which btw, is still higher than the OOS interview rates for RFU and Loyola). I'm not saying you won't get anymore IIs, it's just kinda bad odds overall I'm afraid 🙁. But good news is that you already have an acceptance in hand.. and YOU'RE GOING TO BE A DOCTOR ! 😀 Congrats!

Irish Football said:
Hope you're right. It's so odd. Do you think it has to do with these new/3rd tier schools wanting to accept people who are either in that region (higher chance of attending there) and/or people who probably won't be getting multiple acceptances elsewhere?
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I think new/3rd tier schools are the ones that look for "fit," not for applicants that don't have other choices. If (a big IF) they do a decent job at screening people/rejecting the ones that they think don't fit their mission/culture/priorities well enough, then it's probably a good thing that you save your time and money rather than interview at a school that you likely wouldn't attend anyways.
 
ladymich said:
Did you express your significant reasons to the schools you have remaining? I know you've been panicking for a while so I just wanted to throw in my two cents. I think the biggest problem isn't your app Irish.. it's that the schools in Chicago and New York City are pretty sought after. If they're not highly ranked and thus making them reach schools for most people (e.g. Columbia, Mt Sinai, Northwestern), they're one of the top 15 applied to med schools because everyone wants to go to schools in those cities (e.g. Albert Einstein, NYMC, RFU, UIC, Loyola). Rush seems like it would be the "most probable" school of the bunch, but they interview only 5.4% of its OOS applications--which is one of the lowest OOS interview rates for all schools (which btw, is still higher than the OOS interview rates for RFU and Loyola). I'm not saying you won't get anymore IIs, it's just kinda bad odds overall I'm afraid 🙁. But good news is that you already have an acceptance in hand.. and YOU'RE GOING TO BE A DOCTOR ! 😀 Congrats!



I think new/3rd tier schools are the ones that look for "fit," not for applicants that don't have other choices. If (a big IF) they do a decent job at screening people/rejecting the ones that they think don't fit their mission/culture/priorities well enough, then it's probably a good thing that you save your time and money rather than interview at a school that you likely wouldn't attend anyways.
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Yeah, I definitely agree with this. It's such a shame that my top choice schools are so highly sought after. Man, this is going to a very stressful next couple of months...
 
Irish Football said:
Yeah, I definitely agree with this. It's such a shame that my top choice schools are so highly sought after. Man, this is going to a very stressful next couple of months...
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If it makes you feel any better, I have pretty similar stats and I haven't heard back from any of those schools either 😉. You've been accepted to a great school and there are no bad options here! If you do happen to get an II, it'll just be icing on a cake--try not to stress about what you can't control!
 
Almost January and no acceptance 👎 🙁

Im already preparing for reapplying

So annoyed.
 
The worst part is every one of my friends or relatives every time I see them, "So did you hear back from any other school besides Indiana yet?" Followed by, "why not?"
 
First II today! So I guess they are still going out this week. Earliest date is in March, but oh well, it feels exponentially better than no II!
 
congratulations on your 1st II's guys,

1 II long time ago here, and rejections just hit double digits.

hope we get another one soon.
 
Irish Football said:
The worst part is every one of my friends or relatives every time I see them, "So did you hear back from any other school besides Indiana yet?" Followed by, "why not?"
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I get this at least 5x a week at work. I haven't told anyone yet because I volunteered to work on Christmas (we all must work one holiday a year) and if they find out I won't be here after July they will make me work a summer holiday instead.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile
 
JFK90787 said:
I feel like I am going through the application version of a mid-life crisis. I decided to look through last year's school specific threads and started feeling nauseated when I saw interview invites drying up in January at basically every school I care about. In reality it felt like they started drying up back in October, but at least I could always hold out hope of 'maybe next month!'. But this is really it - the final few interview invites will be coming out in January after adcoms come back from their holiday break, and then that's it. Goddamit. **** me for applying in September, I feel so friggin' cheated from this process.
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I hear you. I honestly thought I'd get at least another II in December. Just silence. Maybe the first two weeks of January will bring something, but then again...
 
squat said:
I hear you. I honestly thought I'd get at least another II in December. Just silence. Maybe the first two weeks of January will bring something, but then again...
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Yeah, this has definitely been the transformative week from hopeful to planning for my reapp.
 
So just finished finals
Got no application stuff to do
No essays
No secondaries
No exams
No deadlines

Just waiting....
My life feels so empty
Not sure what to do with myself
 
Permavirgin said:
So just finished finals
Got no application stuff to do
No essays
No secondaries
No exams
No deadlines

Just waiting....
My life feels so empty
Not sure what to do with myself
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Binge on christmas cookies and caramels. Duh.
 
Permavirgin said:
So just finished finals
Got no application stuff to do
No essays
No secondaries
No exams
No deadlines

Just waiting....
My life feels so empty
Not sure what to do with myself
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Same here. I don't know about you, but I'm going to go on a video game binge seeing as how I haven't played in 2 months!
 
Permavirgin said:
So just finished finals
Got no application stuff to do
No essays
No secondaries
No exams
No deadlines

Just waiting....
My life feels so empty
Not sure what to do with myself
Click to expand...

Same. Happy to be done though

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile
 
TheShaker said:
Same here. I don't know about you, but I'm going to go on a video game binge seeing as how I haven't played in 2 months!
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same gonna get DELL to fix my alienware (always has problems with videocard but i have no time to play so didnt call)

last time they diagnosed it online and then sent a rpair tech to me for free :]
 
JFK90787 said:
I can't even imagine the embarrassment of having to ask my letter writers for new letters after they all lauded me for how great my application was.
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This. There is nothing that I will be more ashamed of in the reapplication process. I'm gonna have to walk into their office and see their face light up excitedly when they ask, "So, how did it go?!" My response: "Well, did you save a copy on your hard drive?" 🙁
 
Sent an update letter to some of the schools that I am still in the running for last Friday and the rest on Monday. I had to do something. I am just tired of waiting to hear back and I hope that the letter might trigger some more II. I think it was a good update letter - I had a publication, besides other research and clinical undertakings, to update them of. Ahh.
 
And as to having to ask your LoR writers again, I feel ya, JFK.
 
Last edited:
Sayonara, Panic Thread. Accepted to one of my top schools. Awaiting decisions on a Top 10 and a mid-tier, and one upcoming interview. Been nice getting to know y'alls. 😎
 
Congrats on SUNY!

Hopefully things will start working out for everyone else in the thread soon too 🙂
 
2nd II this week (and ever)! This is proving to be a good week after all, and I was thinking schools would be mostly not too active this week.

Hang in there everyone, there's hope!
 
OwlPower22 said:
Sayonara, Panic Thread. Accepted to one of my top schools. Awaiting decisions on a Top 10 and a mid-tier, and one upcoming interview. Been nice getting to know y'alls. 😎
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See you in the 2017 thread 👍

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile
 
submitted AMCAS first day. only 3 interviews thus far. not expecting anymore at this point.
 
OwlPower22 said:
Sayonara, Panic Thread. Accepted to one of my top schools. Awaiting decisions on a Top 10 and a mid-tier, and one upcoming interview. Been nice getting to know y'alls. 😎
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Congrats!!! 🙂
 
MedPR said:
I get this at least 5x a week at work. I haven't told anyone yet because I volunteered to work on Christmas (we all must work one holiday a year) and if they find out I won't be here after July they will make me work a summer holiday instead.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile
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I work at a medical school... trust me I hear it all the time !!! So any new interviews? Hear back yet? Why do you look happy today, is it because you were accepted? LOL Every day!!!!! Should have kept my mouth shut, but ehhh.
 
Man I hate that I'm posting here, but here we go. Submitted secondaries in late August and was marked complete around then at most schools. The cycle started out fantastic, got an interview invite at a Top 20 like five days after I submitted my app, and then 3 more invites trickled in during the next month and a half. I've gone on all 4 interviews (on hold for re-review at one, still waiting to hear back from the other 3) and seriously the last two months I've gotten nothing but silence. I actually got a 4.0 for the past 3 semesters and I was thinking I would hopefully continue that streak this semester and send that in as an update, but I just got a B+ in one of the 3 upper level science classes I'm taking (ugh!!!) and now I'm freaking out. I still have some new shadowing experience and I'm actually getting published soon for my research (4th author, making this my second paper) so I do have substantial things to include in an update letter but like... now even if I ace my other classes, my GPA this semester is a 3.86 which is technically a downward trend which I'm guessing I shouldn't add to an update letter. Fml... Sorry if I sound neurotic, guys. I guess I just felt like this cycle would go differently....
 
LevelOneTrauma said:
Man I hate that I'm posting here, but here we go. Submitted secondaries in late August and was marked complete around then at most schools. The cycle started out fantastic, got an interview invite at a Top 20 like five days after I submitted my app, and then 3 more invites trickled in during the next month and a half. I've gone on all 4 interviews (on hold for re-review at one, still waiting to hear back from the other 3) and seriously the last two months I've gotten nothing but silence. I actually got a 4.0 for the past 3 semesters and I was thinking I would hopefully continue that streak this semester and send that in as an update, but I just got a B+ in one of the 3 upper level science classes I'm taking (ugh!!!) and now I'm freaking out. I still have some new shadowing experience and I'm actually getting published soon for my research (4th author, making this my second paper) so I do have substantial things to include in an update letter but like... now even if I ace my other classes, my GPA this semester is a 3.86 which is technically a downward trend which I'm guessing I shouldn't add to an update letter. Fml... Sorry if I sound neurotic, guys. I guess I just felt like this cycle would go differently....
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Nobody really cares about your grades right now. Most schools I've seen don't require you to send them in for updates, and a B+ won't get an offer rescinded.
 
LevelOneTrauma said:
Man I hate that I'm posting here, but here we go. Submitted secondaries in late August and was marked complete around then at most schools. The cycle started out fantastic, got an interview invite at a Top 20 like five days after I submitted my app, and then 3 more invites trickled in during the next month and a half. I've gone on all 4 interviews (on hold for re-review at one, still waiting to hear back from the other 3) and seriously the last two months I've gotten nothing but silence. I actually got a 4.0 for the past 3 semesters and I was thinking I would hopefully continue that streak this semester and send that in as an update, but I just got a B+ in one of the 3 upper level science classes I'm taking (ugh!!!) and now I'm freaking out. I still have some new shadowing experience and I'm actually getting published soon for my research (4th author, making this my second paper) so I do have substantial things to include in an update letter but like... now even if I ace my other classes, my GPA this semester is a 3.86 which is technically a downward trend which I'm guessing I shouldn't add to an update letter. Fml... Sorry if I sound neurotic, guys. I guess I just felt like this cycle would go differently....
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3.86 as a negative downward trend? Srsly?
 
So do you think if I sent in an update in early January with shadowing/research updates, but didn't include my transcript, would that be totally suspicious/unusual? Is it customary to send in first term grades?
 
LevelOneTrauma said:
So do you think if I sent in an update in early January with shadowing/research updates, but didn't include my transcript, would that be totally suspicious/unusual? Is it customary to send in first term grades?
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They probably wouldn't notice unless you draw attention to it. Sending in earlier, ie now, before you have your grades, will increase believability. No point setting arbitrary start dates
 
Anathema said:
3.86 as a negative downward trend? Srsly?
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It's actually kind of funny, my pre-med adviser said that my science GPA won't be treated as having an upward trend by medical schools because even though my sGPA freshman-senior year was 2.7-3.3-4.0, my senior sGPA was 3.87 because I took physics and pchem and I got A-'s in P-chem! As if having an A- in P-chem is a source of "concern" for med schools! Crazy, right? 🙁
 
Irish Football said:
It's actually kind of funny, my pre-med adviser said that my science GPA won't be treated as having an upward trend by medical schools because even though my sGPA freshman-senior year was 2.7-3.3-4.0, my senior sGPA was 3.87 because I took physics and pchem and I got A-'s in P-chem! As if having an A- in P-chem is a source of "concern" for med schools! Crazy, right? 🙁
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See, that's what I'm worried about! D:
 
If a med school is that picky, they're not worth it (yeah, I said it).

3.86 for a semester on any given day is always a good thing. What do I know, I'm not an adcom.
 
On winter break and no acceptances/ no idea what my immediate future is looking like... Going to need some high level stress relief
 
Bearstronaut said:
Nobody cares about that kind of stuff, except maybe a computer algorithm. I doubt the pay that much attention to trends at the top 40 schools, either
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Thanks, Bear. Hope you all get into great schools, you all seem like good people.
 
LevelOneTrauma said:
Thanks, Bear. Hope you all get into great schools, you all seem like good people.
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Thanks 🙂

I just try to be logical about it - picture what I would do if I had 3 months and 7,000 applications to look through. I don't think most adcoms would take the time to analyze your GPA - they probably take the MCAT of something similar to LizzyM, sort people, then start going from the top down (hence high mcat'ers getting IIs days after submitting in late months while others wait months to hear anything).

People with high scores get a lot of slack in the ECs because rankings and because they don't make up as large a pool in the matriculants as one might think. At some schools, over a 40 will get you a full ride, at others it'll only guarantee you're on the waitlist, but overall it's a huge factor. The normalizer.

People with midrange scores get their ECs scrutinized, and most likely fit is a matter of whether your apparent interests match what they want, ie. a candidate with demonstrated global health interests won't be waltzing into a school with little focus in that area.

Many schools care more about their own rankings than they should, and this likely echoes throughout the process. These schools are easily identifiable as the ones who mention it in any context on the interview day.

More people are taking time off, creating a disparity of extracurricular a that will make it exceedingly hard for midrange traditional students. Increasing application numbers make it harder for everyone.

Overall, though, from my perspective it seems that the general consensus ("the MCAT doesn't matter past a score of XY!" "Trending GPAs are important!") is incorrect, and creates more neuroticism than it should.

At this point in the game, there isn't much you can do without taking many years off, so you just gotta work with what you have and try not to make yourself miserable along the way 🙂 and especially on SDN, you have to ignore the overly enthusiastic top score earners who make everyone else feel terrible in their solo celebratory dances of success. Like me 😛

In any case, be the people you want to spend med school with. That's all I try to do.

Back to movie watching 😀
 
1 more rejection from my top choice, UCSD, making it like 1 ii and 10-11 rejections
 
At this point I don't expect to hear anything from any schools until probably mid January. I have had nearly a dozen interviews with no word whether I am accepted/rejected/waitlisted. I thought I'd hear back this week, but no... nothing, and I called the schools that had adcom dates this week to see what was up and they just said that my file wasn't reviewed for admissions and a decision had not been made. They said no news is good news, so that is good news for me, but still. I am booking my trip to my other 3 interviews in January tomorrow... I'm already broke due to the holiday season of secret santas, dinner outings, presents, and office parties.... $$$$ :bullcrap:
 
HopeItWorksOut said:
At this point I don't expect to hear anything from any schools until probably mid January. I have had nearly a dozen interviews with no word whether I am accepted/rejected/waitlisted. I thought I'd hear back this week, but no... nothing, and I called the schools that had adcom dates this week to see what was up and they just said that my file wasn't reviewed for admissions and a decision had not been made. They said no news is good news, so that is good news for me, but still. I am booking my trip to my other 3 interviews in January tomorrow... I'm already broke due to the holiday season of secret santas, dinner outings, presents, and office parties.... $$$$ :bullcrap:
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Wow, 12 interviews and not a single decision huh? That sucks lol. At that point, I'd cancel my remaining interviews and wait for an acceptance to come in. If 12 interviews didn't net me at least 1 acceptance, then I don't deserve to be in medical school :laugh: Hopefully you hear good news soon :xf:
 
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