2012-2013 Stanford University Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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btw, does your status change online or any other indication when you receive a snailmail rejection??
 
minwoo123 said:
Can anyone comment on the quality of the clinical training and opportunities at Stanford? I recently was accepted to the University of Washington. UW is reputed to be strong in both clinical training and in research but Stanford has had this reputation of having very strong basic science research but lacking in clinical training compared to, for example, UW, UCSF, Harvard...It's an important factor that I'm kind of worried about. For me, it will probably be down to UW vs. Stanford but I'm in an unenviable position because my Stanford interview is next January, so I will be thinking about this decision for the next 3 months. LOL. Please help me out...confirm or allay my concerns? Thanks so much!!! =)
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This is the relatively unfounded reputation that Stanford gets because it is located in a very beautiful medium sized town with pretty much continuous perfect weather and very low crime and is basically a kind of Pleasantville. Just because the town is like that, doesn't mean that reflects your clinical exposures.

They also used to not have grades for any aspect, and now they have them for the clinical clerkships, so I think residency directors of other programs had a hard time evaluating the clinical skills of applicants, so they probably got a few paper tigers (ie lots of publications, but no clinical skills), and then a few had a bad attitude about Stanford's clinical training in general. The school has instituted grading for the clerkships, which makes people work a bit harder in their rotations, so getting more out of it.

The Stanford hospital is a big tertiary care hospital (613 beds) that gets lots of complex cases (e.g. a big center for heart transplants and kidney transplants, bone marrow transplants, the most complex neurovascular neurosurgeries like moyamoya disease, etc.), and it is undergoing a massive expansion and the whole hospital complex is under construction. It also has a large very modern children's hospital (Lucile Packard Children's Hospital). Lots of adult and pediatric trauma are directly airlifted there via Life Flight from all over Northern California. It's important to remember that emergency medicine isn't just penetrating wounds from guns or knives, but accidents from rock climbing or skiing, burns in industrial accidents, construction injuries, frostbite and hypothermia, etc, all of which you can see in abundance because of the variety environments around Stanford, where surfing is a half hour drive west, and skiing is a couple hours drive northeast. They receive trauma cases from Life Flight from all the way down in Bakersfield (right outside of LA). 11,996 annual inpatient and 13,294 outpatient surgeries.

However, med students do their clerkships split between the Stanford hospitals, the Palo Alto VA, and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC). The Palo Alto VA has ~900 beds and serves a huge chunk of Northern California veterans and is a major site for treatment and recovery of soldiers wounded in the Middle East (e.g. brain & spinal cord injuries, PTSD). SCVMC has ~575 beds and is the primary hospital for San Jose (a city even larger than San Francisco), and you can see a wide range of emergency cases in that big city environment. Santa Clara and San Jose counties are both extremely ethnically diverse, and being right in the heart of Silicon Valley, the hospital is very advanced.

Let's compare that to UW. Harborview has 413 beds (10,489 annual inpatient and 4,383 outpatient surgeries), UW Med Center with 450 beds, and Northwest with 281. Obviously size is not everything, but it does help establish sufficient things going on for your learning experiences. Lots of technology money in Seattle keeps the area current and up to date, so that part is similar. Basically all large cities have a decent amount of cultural and ethnic diversity, but be aware that Seattle is "one of America's whitest cities" (although Portland is even more racially homogenous). You're going to see lots of diversity wherever you go, but it does help to practice with people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Lots of students at Stanford (as do students at other schools) also do rotation clerkships abroad, and there are many partnerships and programs for those opportunities around the world, so if you are interested in native american medicine, dive medicine, working in Peru, etc. you can do an elective. If you are interested in models of chronic care, or touchy-feely aspects of patient care, there are tons of people around who are into that who can serve as mentors. If you want to see some of the most technical aspects of medicine, there is of course plenty of that.

One of the great things about Stanford is that the research opportunities are not just what you find going on in professors' labs, but there is tons of infrastructure, mentoring, and financial support for any projects you dream up. If you are interested in technology or tinkering, there is a whole phalanx of people around to help turn your ideas into something that gets out into the market and into clinical practice. At the same time, there is a huge amount of money and interest in all kinds of international and domestic development efforts, what they are calling "social entrepreneurship".

If you can come up with an interesting research or service project, you have to really go out of your way through apathy or laziness to avoid getting your ideas funded. You also get to interact with people outside of medicine who are transforming the world in dramatic ways, whether through technology, at the business school, or in other disciplines.

You will get excellent clinical training at any of the places you listed. Good luck.
 
alamo4 said:
This is the relatively unfounded reputation that Stanford gets because it is located in a very beautiful medium sized town with pretty much continuous perfect weather and very low crime and is basically a kind of Pleasantville. Just because the town is like that, doesn't mean that reflects your clinical exposures.

They also used to not have grades for any aspect, and now they have them for the clinical clerkships, so I think residency directors of other programs had a hard time evaluating the clinical skills of applicants, so they probably got a few paper tigers (ie lots of publications, but no clinical skills), and then a few had a bad attitude about Stanford's clinical training in general. The school has instituted grading for the clerkships, which makes people work a bit harder in their rotations, so getting more out of it.

The Stanford hospital is a big tertiary care hospital (613 beds) that gets lots of complex cases (e.g. a big center for heart transplants and kidney transplants, bone marrow transplants, the most complex neurovascular neurosurgeries like moyamoya disease, etc.), and it is undergoing a massive expansion and the whole hospital complex is under construction. It also has a large very modern children's hospital (Lucile Packard Children's Hospital). Lots of adult and pediatric trauma are directly airlifted there via Life Flight from all over Northern California. It's important to remember that emergency medicine isn't just penetrating wounds from guns or knives, but accidents from rock climbing or skiing, burns in industrial accidents, construction injuries, frostbite and hypothermia, etc, all of which you can see in abundance because of the variety environments around Stanford, where surfing is a half hour drive west, and skiing is a couple hours drive northeast. They receive trauma cases from Life Flight from all the way down in Bakersfield (right outside of LA). 11,996 annual inpatient and 13,294 outpatient surgeries.

However, med students do their clerkships split between the Stanford hospitals, the Palo Alto VA, and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC). The Palo Alto VA has ~900 beds and serves a huge chunk of Northern California veterans and is a major site for treatment and recovery of soldiers wounded in the Middle East (e.g. brain & spinal cord injuries, PTSD). SCVMC has ~575 beds and is the primary hospital for San Jose (a city even larger than San Francisco), and you can see a wide range of emergency cases in that big city environment. Santa Clara and San Jose counties are both extremely ethnically diverse, and being right in the heart of Silicon Valley, the hospital is very advanced.

Let's compare that to UW. Harborview has 413 beds (10,489 annual inpatient and 4,383 outpatient surgeries), UW Med Center with 450 beds, and Northwest with 281. Obviously size is not everything, but it does help establish sufficient things going on for your learning experiences. Lots of technology money in Seattle keeps the area current and up to date, so that part is similar. Basically all large cities have a decent amount of cultural and ethnic diversity, but be aware that Seattle is "one of America's whitest cities" (although Portland is even more racially homogenous). You're going to see lots of diversity wherever you go, but it does help to practice with people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Lots of students at Stanford (as do students at other schools) also do rotation clerkships abroad, and there are many partnerships and programs for those opportunities around the world, so if you are interested in native american medicine, dive medicine, working in Peru, etc. you can do an elective. If you are interested in models of chronic care, or touchy-feely aspects of patient care, there are tons of people around who are into that who can serve as mentors. If you want to see some of the most technical aspects of medicine, there is of course plenty of that.

One of the great things about Stanford is that the research opportunities are not just what you find going on in professors' labs, but there is tons of infrastructure, mentoring, and financial support for any projects you dream up. If you are interested in technology or tinkering, there is a whole phalanx of people around to help turn your ideas into something that gets out into the market and into clinical practice. At the same time, there is a huge amount of money and interest in all kinds of international and domestic development efforts, what they are calling "social entrepreneurship".

If you can come up with an interesting research or service project, you have to really go out of your way through apathy or laziness to avoid getting your ideas funded. You also get to interact with people outside of medicine who are transforming the world in dramatic ways, whether through technology, at the business school, or in other disciplines.

You will get excellent clinical training at any of the places you listed. Good luck.
Click to expand...

this is an amazing summary -- greatly appreciate you taking the time to give us more information about Stanford.
 
An MD Hopeful said:
Does anyone know if the welcome reception the night before the interview has any role in the admissions process? Are any students or faculty on the Adcom present that day to "observe" or evaluate us (especially since the reception is in the same building as where the interviews are held)? My flight won't be reaching the city until after the reception, but I want to make sure that I won't be at a disadvantage.
Click to expand...

No disadvantage to you. It's more so you can get a feel for the school and meet some students. Most students are in classes or busy during your visit to campus during the day, so they send emails out trying to get current students to stop by and say hi for lunch and for the evening thing. Usually they are just kids responding to an email to get some free food and see if they run into someone from undergrad.

I suppose in theory, if an interviewee said something really offensive, like something homophobic, sexist or racist or implied they used drugs or something then the current student might feel the need to report the incident, but that's the only situation where it would affect your application.

Your MMI is where you get evaluated, that's the point of the whole thing. If you get into a fistfight or get caught something during your visit, that might mess up your chances, but no one is evaluating you during the rest of the time outside of your MMI.
 
Any thoughts on when Stanford will start releasing decisions for the first interview dates??
 
DCSB6 said:
Any thoughts on when Stanford will start releasing decisions for the first interview dates??
Click to expand...

I recall hearing on my interview day that Dean Garcia usually makes calls on Thursdays and Fridays. So, excluding Thanksgiving, I'm guessing that likely dates to hear are Nov 15/16, 23, and 29/30 for the first few days of interviews
 
If Stanford is MMI, do applicants still get to talk about their research? Or am I better off reviewing things like medical ethics?
 
and sorry to double-post, but to people who interviewed here this year.. did you get to talk about your research in the interview? just not sure how to prepare for this.
 
wangers5270 said:
could be trolling, seems unlikely that they'd do something differently than they said they would at interview day
Click to expand...

Eh seems believable. From their post history it looks like they interviewed on the first day, and from what I remember Stanford was pretty ambiguous about when they were going to make acceptance calls. It sounded like they kind of call randomly whenever they have time. :shrug:

We'll see though. I interviewed on the first day so if I get the waitlist/rejection letter ill post here 😛
 
spf15 said:
and sorry to double-post, but to people who interviewed here this year.. did you get to talk about your research in the interview? just not sure how to prepare for this.
Click to expand...

my understanding is that the MMI questions are not at all about your application so you will not have any opportunity to further describe your research or motivations for medicine, the usual stuff. from what i have heard, MMI is mostly ethical scenarios, medically and non medically related. be prepared to think on your feet!
 
hurlygrly07 said:
I interviews on October 3rd. Gregory Vaughn called me on Sunday. He said they made their first decisions last Thursday and he started making calls over the weekend. So it does seem like their committee meetings are on Thursdays. good luck everyone! sorry i'm not "trolling"
Click to expand...

Congrats!!!

I wonder if they made all their decisions for the Oct. 3rd date =/
 
Got the waitlist letter. Since they had no movement last year, I don't have much hope of getting off but thats ok. Congrats to everyone who has got accepted and good luck to those still waiting for decisions. :luck::luck:
 
wangers5270 said:
oh man 😱 if the great tatertots doesn't get into stanford, the rest of us are screwed!!!! sorry about that...at least you have like 8 other acceptances now lol. still crushing it!

any other acceptance calls for 10/3? you know you're silently reading this thread and giggling to yourself from our neuroticism. mathematically, there should be at least 12 (40% of 30) that go out!
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I'm thinking. O.O If they didn't take Tots, those people who got in must be on Superman's level. O_O

I wonder if they really do make sure to accept exactly 12 people from each group or if the number of people accepted varies from group to group. Does anyone know?
 
wangers5270 said:
oh man 😱 if the great tatertots doesn't get into stanford, the rest of us are screwed!!!! sorry about that...at least you have like 8 other acceptances now lol. still crushing it!

any other acceptance calls for 10/3? you know you're silently reading this thread and giggling to yourself from our neuroticism. mathematically, there should be at least 12 (40% of 30) that go out!
Click to expand...

LOL 👍👍👍
 
I have a question about financial aid for current Stanford students. So I read that the maximum Stanford grant is 11,000 per quarter, so for the first year, you could receive a maximum of 33,000 in grants. However, the total cost of attendance is about 70,000 per year.

I come from a low-income household (I qualify for the fee assistance program). So for students from low-income households that receive 33,000 maximum in grants for the first year, do they take out 37,000 in loans? Or does Stanford provide more aid for students from low-income households?

Stanford has one of the lowest average debts (like 90,000ish) so I was wondering how this is possible? >_<
 
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The great tatertots may be a legend, but damn, wangers you are right up there with him. I wouldn't downplay your chances of getting into Stanford with your MCAT and GPA. Plus, you and tots interviewed at many of the same places and have been accepted by many of the same places too. crazyyyyyyy
 
Got a call from Dean Garcia a few hours ago. Best early Thanksgiving present ever, might not even need to go shopping anymore! 😛
 
TheKDizzle said:
Got a call from Dean Garcia a few hours ago. Best early Thanksgiving present ever, might not even need to go shopping anymore! 😛
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Congrats! now tell your dean to give me an interview invite...
 
TheKDizzle said:
Got a call from Dean Garcia a few hours ago. Best early Thanksgiving present ever, might not even need to go shopping anymore! 😛
Click to expand...
Congrats!
Do you mind sharing what interview date you had?
Edit: seems I was beat to the question
 
It looks like they really are meeting once every week and going over each group that day. Wow, so my fate will be decided in only a few weeks. Good to know. o.o
 
Interviewed 10/12... Not sure which group I was in anymore, sorry!
 
anybody have experience with rescheduling interviews here (or in general)? 🙁 I'm afraid to ask, although I have a good reason.
 
Got a snail mail indicating I am put on the waitlist... Anyone know if there was any movement on the list last year?
 
kettlecorn91 said:
Got a snail mail indicating I am put on the waitlist... Anyone know if there was any movement on the list last year?
Click to expand...

I believe they said there was no movement last year and that they actually overenrolled so they were going to be more careful with acceptances this year. So there might be movement this year? Maybe I am remembering this wrong though..
 
kettlecorn91 said:
Got a snail mail indicating I am put on the waitlist... Anyone know if there was any movement on the list last year?
Click to expand...

Congrats to those accepted to this amazing school!

Received my wait list letter today. Keeping the faith -- if it's meant to be, it'll work out!
 
I got a second waitlist letter from Stanford that is exactly the same as the first except with a more recent date. :laugh::laugh: I get it Stanford, I am waitlisted, no need to remind me.
 
Tots said:
I got a second waitlist letter from Stanford that is exactly the same as the first except with a more recent date. :laugh::laugh: I get it Stanford, I am waitlisted, no need to remind me.
Click to expand...

Dear TaterTots,

We'd like to inform you that you're waitlisted. We're just making sure you know.

PS: Don't misconstrue this letter, you're waitlisted, not accepted.
PPS: Yet, of course, hence the wait part of the word waitlist.
PPPS: FW:FW:FW:RE: Waitlist

Sincerely,

Admissions

:diebanana:

Not trying to mock you, of course, just having fun. You have plenty of other amazing choices already 🙂
 
Tots said:
I got a second waitlist letter from Stanford that is exactly the same as the first except with a more recent date. :laugh::laugh: I get it Stanford, I am waitlisted, no need to remind me.
Click to expand...

They have 4 copies of your application there due to an error, and you're in a competition for a single spot...against yourself. *cue dramatic music

😛

PS: I'll feel slightly guilty about making a joke about this if Stanford is your end-all-be-all #1.
 
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