2013-2014 George Washington University Application Thread

BU Medical Sciences
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EZR said:
Out of curiosity, what are these "negative" things you read about?
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Oh god where to start... hehe. "GW were its outdated system of managing its curriculum, the curriculum itself, high levels of student debt, student mistreatment, and inadequate study and lounge space for its students. Significantly, in 2008 GWU was the only medical school (among 129 LCME accredited institutions) to be placed on probation and the first such in 15 years."
Read all about here : http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/22/AR2009022202031.html

Just somethings to keep in mind I guess. Kinda made me think twice about GW :eyebrow: I know that was all back in 2009, but I read that they have not addressed many of those issues.
 
PlasticsEthusE said:
Oh god where to start... hehe. "GW were its outdated system of managing its curriculum, the curriculum itself, high levels of student debt, student mistreatment, and inadequate study and lounge space for its students. Significantly, in 2008 GWU was the only medical school (among 129 LCME accredited institutions) to be placed on probation and the first such in 15 years."
Read all about here : http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/22/AR2009022202031.html

Just somethings to keep in mind I guess. Kinda made me think twice about GW :eyebrow: I know that was all back in 2009, but I read that they have not addressed many of those issues.
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I had no idea. Good to know, thanks!
 
PlasticsEthusE said:
but I read that they have not addressed many of those issues.
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I'm more interested in knowing where you read this. Not trying to be combative here, I just thought that GW had made substantial changes in the five years since that article was written.I know that GW is implementing a new curriculum in 2014, their student lounge and medical library were quite expansive, and GW's not really special in "high levels of debt" compared to other schools - especially considering that GW's MD tuition is lower than Tufts, Boston U, Tulane, Case, and 8 other private MD schools. "Student mistreatment" is the most concerning but most ambiguous item on the list - I wish they had elaborated on that, since it would be nice to know if they meant "graders are biased and students have to work illegally long hours" or "the on-campus dining sucks and some of the lockers are squeaky."

If they haven't actually made significant changes, it would be great to see those sources and be able to weigh that into my decision this spring!
 
talinnlove said:
I'm more interested in knowing where you read this. Not trying to be combative here, I just thought that GW had made substantial changes in the five years since that article was written.I know that GW is implementing a new curriculum in 2014, their student lounge and medical library were quite expansive, and GW's not really special in "high levels of debt" compared to other schools - especially considering that GW's MD tuition is lower than Tufts, Boston U, Tulane, Case, and 8 other private MD schools. "Student mistreatment" is the most concerning but most ambiguous item on the list - I wish they had elaborated on that, since it would be nice to know if they meant "graders are biased and students have to work illegally long hours" or "the on-campus dining sucks and some of the lockers are squeaky."

If they haven't actually made significant changes, it would be great to see those sources and be able to weigh that into my decision this spring!
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Actually, from what I saw on interview day, student lounges looked pretty bad... as well as the lecture rooms. Students did seem excited about the new curriculum though, since they seemed pretty displeased with the old one.
 
talinnlove said:
I'm more interested in knowing where you read this. Not trying to be combative here, I just thought that GW had made substantial changes in the five years since that article was written.I know that GW is implementing a new curriculum in 2014, their student lounge and medical library were quite expansive, and GW's not really special in "high levels of debt" compared to other schools - especially considering that GW's MD tuition is lower than Tufts, Boston U, Tulane, Case, and 8 other private MD schools. "Student mistreatment" is the most concerning but most ambiguous item on the list - I wish they had elaborated on that, since it would be nice to know if they meant "graders are biased and students have to work illegally long hours" or "the on-campus dining sucks and some of the lockers are squeaky."

If they haven't actually made significant changes, it would be great to see those sources and be able to weigh that into my decision this spring!
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I feel the same way, but I did read more into the whole "mistreatment", and it seems like they have kicked students out of medical school when they took matters further. I did not save all the websites, but its out there.
Also the whole debt situation is because although other schools are more expensive, GW offer near to NO financial help, which is a bummer.
Then there was something about the director/ dean or someone high up there was asked to resign, but somehow he came back as the residency chief or something... some crazy stuff. I was shocked as well.
Just so we are all clear, I am not trashing the school.... I was excited about it just like everyone here, but I think we all have the right to know, and we owe to ourselves to do our research and know where we going to spend 4 years of our lives, plus thousands of dollars. 😳

If someone find anything new regarding the matter, please share. :shy:
 
snowwhat said:
Actually, from what I saw on interview day, student lounges looked pretty bad... as well as the lecture rooms. Students did seem excited about the new curriculum though, since they seemed pretty displeased with the old one.
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What is meant by the "student lounges looked pretty bad as well as the lecture rooms"? What would a good or even a nice student lounge and lecture hall look like? Or was this just an observation? I am just trying to get a grasp on what to look for in this aspect of the school. It seemed that GW had more ascetically pleasing student lounges and lecture halls then Dartmouth, Indiana, and Minnesota-TC, but I am just unsure of how this would make a difference in medical education. And I believe that GW also had a 24 hr study room with what seemed to be hundreds of cubicles (may of even had a desk top computer within I don't remember). I am really not trying to be rude or anything I am just wondering if I am totally missing something. Congrats on your acceptance at Jefferson BTW
 
This is just a random question I have had but do no really know where to ask it on this website: What does it mean to have a 3.5+ GPA or a 35+ MCAT? Not specifically a 3.5 or a 35 but more so what does the '+' mean? Why do people waste the character of the '+' when they could have just put 3.51 or 36 (in this case saving a character) and have given a more accurate statistic? Or does this have some other sort of meaning (i.e balanced MCAT or sGPA=cGPA or something)? Thanks.
 
adderall20xr said:
What is meant by the "student lounges looked pretty bad as well as the lecture rooms"? What would a good or even a nice student lounge and lecture hall look like? Or was this just an observation? I am just trying to get a grasp on what to look for in this aspect of the school. It seemed that GW had more ascetically pleasing student lounges and lecture halls then Dartmouth, Indiana, and Minnesota-TC, but I am just unsure of how this would make a difference in medical education. And I believe that GW also had a 24 hr study room with what seemed to be hundreds of cubicles (may of even had a desk top computer within I don't remember). I am really not trying to be rude or anything I am just wondering if I am totally missing something. Congrats on your acceptance at Jefferson BTW
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They just looked like they hadn't been updated in the last 50 years. Didn't look comfortable to me at all. At a school as expensive as GW (and any med school for that matter, because they're all expensive!) would expect more. And how could it not matter? You spend your life in these rooms for the next 2 years and it would be nice for them to at least look taken care of! Hospitals spend a lot of time trying to make then aesthetically pleasing because it's proven to improve their health and prognosis... it's the little things that count!

Anyway, I guess I've just been lucky enough to visit schools with greatly improved common areas, lecture rooms, libraries, etc, so maybe I'm biased against GW because it paled in comparison.
 
adderall20xr said:
This is just a random question I have had but do no really know where to ask it on this website: What does it mean to have a 3.5+ GPA or a 35+ MCAT? Not specifically a 3.5 or a 35 but more so what does the '+' mean? Why do people waste the character of the '+' when they could have just put 3.51 or 36 (in this case saving a character) and have given a more accurate statistic? Or does this have some other sort of meaning (i.e balanced MCAT or sGPA=cGPA or something)? Thanks.
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Some users on SDN want to maintain some anonymity by not posting their exact statistics, essentially.
 
This question has been asked a few times on this thread, but no answer yet from what I can see... Does GW send post-interview rejections, or do they just stick everyone on the alternate list who is not accepted outright?
 
medplease said:
This question has been asked a few times on this thread, but no answer yet from what I can see... Does GW send post-interview rejections, or do they just stick everyone on the alternate list who is not accepted outright?
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i'm wondering the same thing! also, has anyone who interviewed in mid Nov heard back yet? I'm assuming the holiday season delayed the admissions decisions...
 
PlasticsEthusE said:
Oh god where to start... hehe. "GW were its outdated system of managing its curriculum, the curriculum itself, high levels of student debt, student mistreatment, and inadequate study and lounge space for its students. Significantly, in 2008 GWU was the only medical school (among 129 LCME accredited institutions) to be placed on probation and the first such in 15 years."
Read all about here : http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/22/AR2009022202031.html

Just somethings to keep in mind I guess. Kinda made me think twice about GW :eyebrow: I know that was all back in 2009, but I read that they have not addressed many of those issues.
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Hey current GW student speaking. Just wanted to comment on some of the concerns in this thread.

Just a heads up - probation happens a lot more than you think and GWU was certainly not the first school in 15 years to be placed on probation. If you look right now 3 medical schools are on probation: http://www.lcme.org/directory.htm
And in the past couple years there have been many others: SUNY, Dalhousie, one of the Texan ones etc. The LCME uses probation as a very effective tool to speed up changes.

Not to say that the probation was not a serious issue, but losing accredidation over 6 years ago should not make or break your decision to attend GW. The change of curriculum is a really positive change. There will be growing pains and that you should definitely keep that in mind when choosing which school to attend, but overall GW has a great community, location, helpful faculty, a good reputation for clinical skills, and decent match list with all competitive specialities represented (if thats what you are into SDNers). GW knows they are expensive and in the last 5 years has dropped out of the top 10 most expensive medical schools - so they are working on it.

If you have been accepted and have worries about GW, ask the admissions staff for students you can contact. As I am sure you figured out on your interview day, we are all very honest and outspoken about the good and the bad at this school.

Good luck to you all!
 
II yesterday for mid-February after a couple of months (??maybe, it had been a while before I checked again, at least 1 and a half months) on hold. Was prepared to move them to my rejection list! This came the day after I submitted an update about grades/activities, not sure if that helped...
 
On hold since December... how do we submit new grades? Do we just send them a message telling them we have new grades or send an official transcript to the school directly?
 
wannabeMD38 said:
On hold since December... how do we submit new grades? Do we just send them a message telling them we have new grades or send an official transcript to the school directly?
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I would update them about new grades via the post-submission section of the app portal. I doubt that at this time (pre-interview) they would care about official/non-official transcripts; seems like official transcripts are only necessary once accepted. GL!
 
Rejected pre-interview after being on hold since early September. Good luck to everyone still waiting!
 
Also rejected pre-interview; don't remember exactly when I was on hold but it was around August/September. Best of luck to those of you who are still in the running!
 
Seifu2011 said:
I would update them about new grades via the post-submission section of the app portal. I doubt that at this time (pre-interview) they would care about official/non-official transcripts; seems like official transcripts are only necessary once accepted. GL!
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Done! Thanks Seifu 🙂
 
So EXCITED- Just got accepted, just a minute ago, off a September hold, OOS, 31, Non-trad, to GW's Rejection List!!

HAHAHA! Let the month of rejections commence.
 
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for the alternatives and acceptance: when did you interview?

P.S. Congrats on the acceptance (@BlackBox )! And alternative list (@TennisBallAgainstDaWall )-- don't worry I know a lot are accepted off this list!!
 
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@LAMD2017

Thanks, but I was accepted to the REJECTION List. Just trying to make some people laugh in these dark times! 😉
 
No rejection letter for me yet. I really hope they don't string me along until summer like they have done in the past few cycles.
 
Does anyone know how popular the alternate third year track is or whether it will be phased out with the new curriculum?
 
JUST GOT ACCEPTED!!!!
Late November Interview--- acceptance through email and status change is:
"Correspondence concerning the status of your application has been sent to you via postal mail to your preferred mailing address on file with AMCAS."

AHHHHH - (right around the 8 week mark like they stated during interview)
 
To anyone who has interviewed, how much (if any) of the tour is outside?
 
sirenitaa said:
To anyone who has interviewed, how much (if any) of the tour is outside?
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Not much at all. Our tour guide didn't even bring her jacket. You cross the way to the hospital which is like a 30 second walk.
 
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