2012-2013 Stanford University Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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obviouslyteal said:
Congrats again to those who are accepted!! Hope to be in your shoes soon 🙂

To those who have interviewed: how important did you feel going to the event the night before interviews was? I can't really afford to take many more days off from work for interviews so I was thinking of flying in the night before but now I'm wondering if I should sacrifice that extra day.

What are your thoughts? Thanks!
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I didn't go to the welcome event the night before the interview since my flight reached the city after the event. I met an MS1 student on the interview day who told me she wasn't able to go to hers before her interview either. I don't think it made a difference since I already got to meet so many students during the interview day.
 
obviouslyteal said:
Congrats again to those who are accepted!! Hope to be in your shoes soon 🙂

To those who have interviewed: how important did you feel going to the event the night before interviews was? I can't really afford to take many more days off from work for interviews so I was thinking of flying in the night before but now I'm wondering if I should sacrifice that extra day.

What are your thoughts? Thanks!
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What do you mean by "important?" For example, it's not going to give you extra credit with the AdCom by any means. However, I found the "night-before" events to be extremely important for my personal preparation. On my five interviews so far, I went to the social event 3/5 times. I found it helped me a lot. Why? Because even though I got to meet lots of people on the interview day, the high-stakes nature of the day itself doesn't let me really process what I am learning about the school.

In contrast, when I got the chance to interact with students the night before, I actually felt like I had time to strategize later that night. Like, figuring out strong points of the school that appealed to me (things that might not be obvious from the website or SDN). That way, I felt more oriented the next day and felt like I came in with my "game face" on and my confidence a lot more in place.

I feel you about missing the extra work. I am now getting my pay docked substantially, and I have 150+ young people who depend on me every day. So going a day early just to go to the "social event" is actually costing me lots of extra money and missed work, which I can't afford. But, for me, it was about priorities. How important is this interview for you? If this is your first choice school, definitely take the extra day. If you've got a few acceptances in hand and Stanford would just be icing on the cake, don't waste the money just for the slight edge on preparation/self-orientation.

my 2 cents...
 
I hope the weather in January at Stanford will be nice....but that's unlikely since it'll be the beginning of the rainy season. No school is very appealing in the rain...
 
bear09 said:
October88, can you elaborate? What did you dislike about the school?
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Sorry I can't be more helpful. It's honestly not something I can pinpoint - I just did not get a good vibe from the school and did not imagine myself being happy there - that's all. It's obviously an exceptional school and perfect for some people and I am thrilled to be attending my first top school that is perfect for me!
 
anyone have sample of notes they wrote to withdraw from a school that has accepted them?
 
Does anyone know if 11/16 is the next group to hear back? They told us that we might hear back before Christmas.
 
I'm surprised there hasn't been more news from Stanford lately.. No more rejection snailmails or something??? 🙁
 
Guys! I need help. Luck have it, I'm in the third group for my interview in January. That group is scheduled to end at 6:15 PM. Several weeks earlier from today, I bought a ticket from SF International Airport to Portland, Oregon that leaves at 7:55 PM (IDK what I was thinking....)

Should I change my departing flight? Will I not have enough time? >_< I know that Stanford to SF takes about 30 minutes by car and I'm planning on taking SuperShuttle. Did the interview session end earlier or later than scheduled?

THANK YOU!
 
Guys! I need help. Luck have it, I'm in the third group for my interview in January. That group is scheduled to end at 6:15 PM. Several weeks earlier from today, I bought a ticket from SF International Airport to Portland, Oregon that leaves at 7:55 PM (IDK what I was thinking....)

Should I change my departing flight? Will I not have enough time? >_< I know that Stanford to SF takes about 30 minutes by car and I'm planning on taking SuperShuttle. Did the interview session end earlier or later than scheduled?

THANK YOU!
 
minwoo123 said:
Guys! I need help. Luck have it, I'm in the third group for my interview in January. That group is scheduled to end at 6:15 PM. Several weeks earlier from today, I bought a ticket from SF International Airport to Portland, Oregon that leaves at 7:55 PM (IDK what I was thinking....)

Should I change my departing flight? Will I not have enough time? >_< I know that Stanford to SF takes about 30 minutes by car and I'm planning on taking SuperShuttle. Did the interview session end earlier or later than scheduled?

THANK YOU!
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I was in the third group and if I remember correctly it ended on time(maybe even a little late). Getting to SFO around that time also took me almost 2 hours(though I traveled via CalTrain and their was some problems earlier so the trains were in chaos). I would say 7:55 is cutting it pretty close. Oh SFO security also was not the speediest. :/
 
Thank you Tots for the information! I rescheduled my flight to one hour later! SF traffic must be horrible!
 
minwoo123 said:
Guys! I need help. Luck have it, I'm in the third group for my interview in January. That group is scheduled to end at 6:15 PM. Several weeks earlier from today, I bought a ticket from SF International Airport to Portland, Oregon that leaves at 7:55 PM (IDK what I was thinking....)

Should I change my departing flight? Will I not have enough time? >_< I know that Stanford to SF takes about 30 minutes by car and I'm planning on taking SuperShuttle. Did the interview session end earlier or later than scheduled?

THANK YOU!
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Minwoo, what day are you going to be there? I live in the Bay Area, and if SuperShuttle is going to take you too long, I might be able to pick you up right at 6:15 and take you to the airport.

I'm involved in the Couchsurfing world and am used to getting help from random strangers around the world so I am happy to pay the karma forward. PM me if you want.

oops... you replied while I was replying. But still, if you need help with anything, PM me! Good luck!
 
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minwoo123 said:
Thank you Tots for the information! I rescheduled my flight to one hour later! SF traffic must be horrible!
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Haha well there were special circumstances on the train. When I showed up at the train station there were like 300 people there because apparently the trains were not running because someone jumped on the tracks in San Jose. Then once there were trains again there were no express trains so that combined mess took awhile. Anyways I think pushing your flight back by an hour was probably a good idea, no need to stress yourself out trying to make the earlier flight.
 
Did anyone receive a call from Dean Garcia yesterday? If so, when did you interview?
 
Any recommendations for hotels close to Stanford? I tried calling the Stanford Guest House today to make a reservation for my interview but apparently they're closed until Jan 7th.
 
slambarscrushprs said:
Any recommendations for hotels close to Stanford? I tried calling the Stanford Guest House today to make a reservation for my interview but apparently they're closed until Jan 7th.
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You can make a reservation online! http://www.stanford.edu/dept/rde/cgi-bin/drupal/hospitality/guesthouse/reservations.htm

It also allows you to get a Stanford Medical Center (i.e. interviewee) discount if you click the right buttons on the bottom of the page I believe.

Very nice and close by! You just have to take the SLAC Marguerite shuttle to campus (runs every 20 minutes or so?), and it stops right in front of the LKSC, where you'll need to be for your interview day 🙂🙂

This is a great deal for a great room with a convenient bus to campus 🙂
 
wangers5270 said:
You can make a reservation online! http://www.stanford.edu/dept/rde/cgi-bin/drupal/hospitality/guesthouse/reservations.htm

It also allows you to get a Stanford Medical Center (i.e. interviewee) discount if you click the right buttons on the bottom of the page I believe.

Very nice and close by! You just have to take the SLAC Marguerite shuttle to campus (runs every 20 minutes or so?), and it stops right in front of the LKSC, where you'll need to be for your interview day 🙂🙂

This is a great deal for a great room with a convenient bus to campus 🙂
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Their website tells me that there aren't any more rooms left on my interview day. Time to start reading reviews on the other nearby hotels 😀

Hopefully at least a few of the nearby hotels are close to the Marguerite shuttle stops.
 
I stayed at the Coronet Motel and it was very nice. I think it was $130 per night, but I was able to walk to the medical school no problem and the Marguerite stops a block away from it. Definitely recommend. And there are a lot of good to-go restaurants nearby (shawarma, falafel, bagel shop, really good coffee at Zombie Running).
 
GreyEarl said:
I stayed at the Coronet Motel and it was very nice. I think it was $130 per night, but I was able to walk to the medical school no problem and the Marguerite stops a block away from it. Definitely recommend. And there are a lot of good to-go restaurants nearby (shawarma, falafel, bagel shop, really good coffee at Zombie Running).
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Thanks for the tip!
 
wangers5270 said:
It also allows you to get a Stanford Medical Center (i.e. interviewee) discount if you click the right buttons on the bottom of the page I believe.
Click to expand...

Is Stanford University Medical Center (Medical Center Department Guest)

the right option?

Thanks!
 
Just got an invite this morning. It's a good thing that "the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all." #uncommonwisdom
 
churrytree said:
Just got an invite this morning. It's a good thing that "the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all." #uncommonwisdom
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Congrats! Do you mind sharing when you were complete?
 
ii this morning as well! Complete 8/29 and thought my Stanford dreams were over. Dates available were March 1st and March 9th. There's still hope for those who haven't heard anything yet! 🙂
 
Anyone know what the weather at Stanford is like in January? Will it be cold? Raining? Should I bring my pea coat?
 
minwoo123 said:
Anyone know what the weather at Stanford is like in January? Will it be cold? Raining? Should I bring my pea coat?
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It's decently cold, nothing like east coast. Occasional warm days where weather is 68-73 F
Most days are 40s-50s some
Rain.
 
II this morning! Only dates available were in March... haha. :laugh:

Complete late September.
 
minwoo123 said:
Anyone know what the weather at Stanford is like in January? Will it be cold? Raining? Should I bring my pea coat?
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Decent chance of drizzly rain, but probably not that cold. Umbrella might be a good backup, and warm pajamas depending on where you are staying. A lot of places are a bit drafty and cold at night.
 
slambarscrushprs said:
Their website tells me that there aren't any more rooms left on my interview day. Time to start reading reviews on the other nearby hotels 😀

Hopefully at least a few of the nearby hotels are close to the Marguerite shuttle stops.
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Students do host a lot of applicants, you can try to inquire about this. If someone needs a place, usually emails get sent to all the students until someone volunteers a spot.

Good luck!
 
minwoo123 said:
What I do know is that the MMI will have a lot of acting involved...and I suck at impromptu acting. =(
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It doesn't really have a lot of role playing, although it ay have a small bit. It's more about making sure you can consider problems from all angles and interact reasonably with people.

There have been links to resources posted around. One good place to go look about it is the actual original academic papers on the interview where they explain their goals, how it worked and give the example scenarios. The wikipedia page gives tons of references.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_mini_interview
 
October88 said:
Sorry I can't be more helpful. It's honestly not something I can pinpoint - I just did not get a good vibe from the school and did not imagine myself being happy there - that's all. It's obviously an exceptional school and perfect for some people and I am thrilled to be attending my first top school that is perfect for me!
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Schools definitely have very different cultures and I'm glad you are going to be going to the place that seems to fit you best (Mayo?). It's also a good reminder that interview day is also about you interviewing the schools as well.
 
bearintraining said:
hahah, that's awesome.. everyone knows macs are better 😛
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Stanford students as a whole (university wide) tend to have macs, or if it is a PC it's running some version on Linux. Palo Alto is a small town with two Apple Stores. It is the town where Steve Jobs lived, and Apple has always been in and around Palo Alto. It was started in the Jobs family garage in the neighboring town of Los Altos, and is still headquartered in the nearby town of Cupertino.

The Mac Airs are getting popular too, if you have to lug it around to all your classes, lighter can be better.
 
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twentythousand said:
anyone have sample of notes they wrote to withdraw from a school that has accepted them?
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I just sent a quick email saying thank you, asking them to take me off their list and where I was going to attend. Nothing fancy at all. Just the facts. They have to read a lot of emails and a lot of essays.

The politest, most considerate thing you can do is let schools know immediately. I even emailed schools that I was waiting to hear back from after interviewing. If I know I am accepted at my top choice, then it does me no good to have their admissions committee waste time on my app.
 
Alma mater and first choice showed me some love! So excited for August!!
 
Has anyone gotten rejected pre-interview recently? I haven't heard back in a while.
 
Is anyone here interviewing next week? If so, have you gotten the confirmation email with your group number and all that stuff? I'm scheduled for Friday the 11th, and I'm just a wee bit paranoid that my email got spammed or lost, since I remember them saying we would get the email ~2 weeks before our date.
 
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