2012-2013 Yale University Application Thread

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I was just checking my status and found it said "letter of recommendation" incomplete on the application status page but all my LORs were marked received on their recommendation status page... weird...
Does anyone have the same situation?
 
annabellachang said:
I was just checking my status and found it said "letter of recommendation" incomplete on the application status page but all my LORs were marked received on their recommendation status page... weird...
Does anyone have the same situation?
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Same. They prob just gotta check some boxes first.
 
If we haven't received a secondary yet, and we were verified early, should I just assume that I've been rejected pre-secondary?
 
Everyone always says that adcom staff get sick of reading "I love science & want to help people" in peoples' personal statements. Do you think Yale gets sick of hearing "The Yale System is great! Collaboration & interdisciplinary learning FTW!"
 
rachelkj said:
Everyone always says that adcom staff get sick of reading "I love science & want to help people" in peoples' personal statements. Do you think Yale gets sick of hearing "The Yale System is great! Collaboration & interdisciplinary learning FTW!"
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I hope not...haha because thats what I said!(More or less...)
 
rachelkj said:
I'm into the 5th year option, and particularly I am looking at the advanced professional MPH degree (which is done between 3rd & 4th year). Is anyone else here looking at MD/MPH?

I am a little confused on applying, though. The MD and MPH applications are separate. One part of the site says that students are encouraged to apply simultaneously, but another part of the site says "Candidates for the MD/MPH Program must be currently enrolled in the Yale School of Medicine." Anyone know if I can at least wait around to see if I got into the MD program? I still need to clarify which MPH track I am most interested in, anyway.
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Rachel, did you figure out the MPH/MD dual degree thing? I did the MPH program at Yale (five years ago...), so if you have questions about it you can PM me. I think I saw you posting on OHSU's page too, are you an Oregon resident?
 
Hi, this is my first post in this forum (or any forum). This is my first time applying to any medical school, and I have written my Yale secondary. If I post my essay here, will anyone be able to give me some feedback? I havent seen any other posts with full essays.... I would like to submit it asap, so please let me know. Thanks 🙂
 
Medapplicant12 said:
Hi, this is my first post in this forum (or any forum). This is my first time applying to any medical school, and I have written my Yale secondary. If I post my essay here, will anyone be able to give me some feedback? I havent seen any other posts with full essays.... I would like to submit it asap, so please let me know. Thanks 🙂
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Welcome to SDN! Okay not to be rude, but I'm going to be realistic now: we are all vying for the same spots at medical schools ESPECIALLY at this specific one. I'm sure people wouldn't mind giving you minor advice, like where you forgot to place a comma or what types of controversial topics to stay away from, but I really believe that some members aren't going to post their unique insights into how to write an essay so that someone else may expressly benefit and perhaps even put that person at a disadvantage. If someone has a very unique idea expressed in their essay intended to make them stand out, why would they suggest it to you to improve your essay? Wouldn't that defeat their purpose?
 
lol okI get what you mean, but I thought thats what this forum was about? Ive been searching online and have found many forums where people are getting their essays edited by others, but I guess not on this one.
 
Medapplicant12 said:
lol okI get what you mean, but I thought thats what this forum was about? Ive been searching online and have found many forums where people are getting their essays edited by others, but I guess not on this one.
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I would definitely suggest not posting your actual secondary online since you never know whether someone will plagiarize part of what you've written or at the least still a few of the ideas that you express.
 
Yale... where those who overachieved for 23 years go to be lazy. #truth
 
skiing said:
Got my secondary today. I'm confused. They ask us to:



Are we supposed to copy and paste our AMCAS stuff and just re-list them in order??
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Anyone find an answer to this yet? Are we just supposed to re-list our AMCAS activities in order of importance?

Thanks!
 
ksl57 said:
Anyone find an answer to this yet? Are we just supposed to re-list our AMCAS activities in order of importance?

Thanks!
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Same question here.

I'm looking to submit so does anyone know for sure? The thing is I have 15 activities plus sub-activities, should I list all those as well?
 
Complete 7/3, just haven't been able to post yet.
 
PreMedOrDead said:
Same question here.

I'm looking to submit so does anyone know for sure? The thing is I have 15 activities plus sub-activities, should I list all those as well?
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Oh nevermind! I realized that the application specifies to only mention those listed on the "Experiences" section of our AMCAS. I'd just list the 15.
 
rachelkj said:
I also wanted to echo the secondary question someone else posted. In the Activities/Achievements section, can we add anything that didn't really fit into the 15 slots on AMCAS? Or recognitions at activities that didn't fit into the descriptions? Or is this section really just a place to rank the activities you didn't designate as "most meaningful?"
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ksl57 said:
Anyone find an answer to this yet? Are we just supposed to re-list our AMCAS activities in order of importance?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Strictly following the directions, you should just re-list the AMCAS activities in order of importance. Adding something new (which some people did) won't hurt what-so-ever either. This section is mainly used by your interviewers, from which they will base some questions.


theinlines said:
Hey guys- are there any people who have been accepted to Yale in previous cycles that I could PM with a specific question?

Thanks!!
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Sure thing.

rachelkj said:
Everyone always says that adcom staff get sick of reading "I love science & want to help people" in peoples' personal statements. Do you think Yale gets sick of hearing "The Yale System is great! Collaboration & interdisciplinary learning FTW!"
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I'm sure they get sick of hearing applicants championing the Yale system without really giving it much thought. The key is more to show how the Yale system will benefit you directly, rather than praising it simply for what it is.
 
Invites about 17% of OOS applicants for interviews, accepts about 10% of OOS interviewers. Pretty harsh interview cutoff! Or is that just me?
 
Does anyone have a link to the classes offered by the med school? I couldn't figure out how to navigate the course bulletin or list of academic department to get the list of classes, so any help would be appreciated!

EDIT: Found it!
 
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What's the verdict on not using all the 500 words? It seems like a pretty long essay for such a straightforward topic. Mine's around 300 and I'm trying to add more, but I don't want to make it BS.

I was wondering if past applicants can speak to whether or not it's ok to make it on the short side...?
 
member10420 said:
What's the verdict on not using all the 500 words? It seems like a pretty long essay for such a straightforward topic. Mine's around 300 and I'm trying to add more, but I don't want to make it BS.

I was wondering if past applicants can speak to whether or not it's ok to make it on the short side...?
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In my opinion, it's perfectly fine not to use all 500 words as long as you've said what you've needed to say. This question has come up in the past, and almost always the verdict is that quality > quantity. Don't fluff what you have to say, just say it elegantly and succinctly - and if that ends up being less than 500 words, no problemo.
 
In the secondary application, I'm not quite sure what the Additional Information - Document Upload section is for... here's the description:

"Use this tool to upload your CV, abstracts, application updates, letters of interest, or any other material that you wish to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. (Note: This section is optional, and is not needed to complete your application.)"

I don't think that it's common to submit letters of interest/intent together with the secondary application; they are usually sent post-interview. Are we able to re-submit this section at a later date after we submit the secondary application now?

And would it hurt my application not to upload a document, but filling out the "Additional Page (Optional)" essay within the application?
 
member10420 said:
What's the verdict on not using all the 500 words? It seems like a pretty long essay for such a straightforward topic. Mine's around 300 and I'm trying to add more, but I don't want to make it BS.

I was wondering if past applicants can speak to whether or not it's ok to make it on the short side...?
Click to expand...

I answered you in the PM, but just so everyone can see: Please don't feel like you have to write something if you feel like you've said enough in your application.

nychila said:
In the secondary application, I'm not quite sure what the Additional Information - Document Upload section is for... here's the description:

"Use this tool to upload your CV, abstracts, application updates, letters of interest, or any other material that you wish to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. (Note: This section is optional, and is not needed to complete your application.)"

I don't think that it's common to submit letters of interest/intent together with the secondary application; they are usually sent post-interview. Are we able to re-submit this section at a later date after we submit the secondary application now?

And would it hurt my application not to upload a document, but filling out the "Additional Page (Optional)" essay within the application?
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I'm pretty sure you can't access any part of the secondary once you submit. You can do LOIs later via their email.

And no, it would not hurt your application at all.
 
Finches said:
I'm pretty sure you can't access any part of the secondary once you submit. You can do LOIs later via their email.

And no, it would not hurt your application at all.
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A letter of intent or interest submitted to Yale along with the secondary application (prior to an interview) wouldn't be of much help would it...?
 
I hope there are some MD/PhD-ers out there. For the statement we're writing, the first half of it (ish) looks like it's about our "reasons for wishing to undertake the combined MD/PhD program, rather than the MD program alone" - language almost identical to our MD/PhD AMCAS essay prompt. Thoughts on reusing a fair portion of the same material? I like what I wrote on my AMCAS, and when I see stuff like this I wonder if they're going to read that AMCAS essay or if they'll just go off of this statement. In the former case I'd be more than happy to write something new... it's only a couple hundred words, but in the latter case I'd like to make sure they see the reasons I wrote up before.
 
Regarding additional information. I'm tempted to upload the following:

1. CV (containing all the abstract information that I am also co-author on but have not presented myself)
2. First page of all my publications.

Thoughts??
 
nychila said:
A letter of intent or interest submitted to Yale along with the secondary application (prior to an interview) wouldn't be of much help would it...?
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There is already a 500 word essay on the secondary that's literally "Why Yale?"

...
 
bearintraining said:
Regarding additional information. I'm tempted to upload the following:

1. CV (containing all the abstract information that I am also co-author on but have not presented myself)
2. First page of all my publications.

Thoughts??
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CV is redundant...idk about the first page of ur pubs...why not the abstract?
 
I think my secondary essay is almost done, but I might have a problem. I wrote it thinking "Well, all med schools have a medical curriculum, so I'll focus on what makes Yale unique, which is mostly outside of that." For me, that was access to an MPH program & an interdisciplinary atmosphere that allows me to further my study of bioethics while training as a physician. I barely mention the medical program at all other than touching briefly on clinical research. Is this a ginormous red flag? Can I let my primary do most of the talking for the "why medicine" question?
 
rachelkj said:
I think my secondary essay is almost done, but I might have a problem. I wrote it thinking "Well, all med schools have a medical curriculum, so I'll focus on what makes Yale unique, which is mostly outside of that." For me, that was access to an MPH program & an interdisciplinary atmosphere that allows me to further my study of bioethics while training as a physician. I barely mention the medical program at all other than touching briefly on clinical research. Is this a ginormous red flag? Can I let my primary do most of the talking for the "why medicine" question?
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I think you'll be fine.

When I wrote mine, I focused on how the Yale system was the right system for me.

If you make it the interview stage, you'll realize that they loooove their system lol.
 
Does anyone know if there is a time limit on returning the secondary? I am really busy right now with summer classes, I want to finish seconaries for schools that are already offering interviews, and I want to put my best efforts into the essay. I got my secondary at the beginning of July preverification, would it be ok if I submitted my secondary in mid-August?
 
From what I understand, It is generally advised to return secondaries as soon as possible. So take the time you need to put together solid essays, but I would think sooner rather than later would be better.

Though this is my first app cycle, so if others have better input please, feel free! 🙂
 
SBuck53 said:
From what I understand, It is generally advised to return secondaries as soon as possible. So take the time you need to put together solid essays, but I would think sooner rather than later would be better.

Though this is my first app cycle, so if others have better input please, feel free! 🙂
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+1

I took the "slow" approach last year, taking almost a month to return many secondaries. I am now a re-applicant...

Better safe than sorry; I'd stick to the "two week" rule as closely as possible.
 
Has anyone gotten interview invites? Or heard anything after the "secondary is complete" email?
 
Trying to write my "why yale" without sounding like a crazy fan-girl. I feel an almost magnetic draw to the school. Everything I read is like "Did they design this program JUST FOR ME?"

I'm sure you understand.
 
Not gonna lie. I am super excited about this school. Does anyone know when they start interviewing or at least start sending out invites?
 
gotterdammerung said:
Not gonna lie. I am super excited about this school. Does anyone know when they start interviewing or at least start sending out invites?
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Last year it was in the first week of August, so I'm hoping the first wave goes out this week
 
Is it important to write the optional essay?

Topic: This section should be used to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee any information not previously discussed throughout your Yale Secondary Application. Please limit your response to 500 words.


I think I'd have trouble writing this essay because I already kind of answered this question in the first essay and in my primaries.

Thanks
 
thehighlander said:
Is it important to write the optional essay?

Topic: This section should be used to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee any information not previously discussed throughout your Yale Secondary Application. Please limit your response to 500 words.


I think I'd have trouble writing this essay because I already kind of answered this question in the first essay and in my primaries.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Does anyone know the answer to this? I'm working full-time; I can submit my secondary today if I don't need to write the optional essay but otherwise I'm probably going to have to wait at least a week. Thanks again.
 
thehighlander said:
Is it important to write the optional essay?

Topic: This section should be used to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee any information not previously discussed throughout your Yale Secondary Application. Please limit your response to 500 words.


I think I'd have trouble writing this essay because I already kind of answered this question in the first essay and in my primaries.

Thanks
Click to expand...

thehighlander said:
Does anyone know the answer to this? I'm working full-time; I can submit my secondary today if I don't need to write the optional essay but otherwise I'm probably going to have to wait at least a week. Thanks again.
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It's important if you have something important to say. Don't write it if you don't. Think of any updates that have happened or things that you didn't have space to say in your secondary application that would be beneficial for medical school adcoms to know. If nothing comes to mind, then don't feel obligated to write it.
 
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