2013-2014 Loyola University (Stritch) Application Thread

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rfenzo said:
We'll see. I've been under review for since mid-July and have yet to hear anything. Have not gone on the supposed hold. Hoping to get an interview soon
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Same here
 
rfenzo said:
We'll see. I've been under review for since mid-July and have yet to hear anything. Have not gone on the supposed hold. Hoping to get an interview soon
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I believe these are the first two II we have seen. They were probably complete extremely early and Loyola is just getting started.
 
For those of you with II's, what status were you before the invite?
 
I don't think so. Didn't check every day though so I could have.
 
msquaredb said:
Did either of you lucky two II people go from "under review" to "has been reviewed" and back to "under review"?
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I did check every day (neurotic) and I was "under review" the entire time from 7/3 to now.
 
msquaredb said:
Did either of you lucky two II people go from "under review" to "has been reviewed" and back to "under review"?
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I checked occasionally and I went from "under review" straight to my interview invite, as far as I could tell.
 
Congrats to the first interview invitees! Everyone else, there are many, many more to come. Hang on tight and good luck!
 
II 🙂

I was one of the people who's status changed from "has been reviewed" back to "under review" so don't lose hope!!
 
dtc29 said:
II 🙂

I was one of the people who's status changed from "has been reviewed" back to "under review" so don't lose hope!!
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Congrats! Glad to hear your status changed back and forth too. When were you complete?
 
dtc29 said:
II 🙂

I was one of the people who's status changed from "has been reviewed" back to "under review" so don't lose hope!!
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Excellent news! When were you complete and what are your stats. I am very interested because this happened to me.
 
Interview invite this morning! Was "under review" the entire time
 
Hmm I'm starting to think that an interview here isn't going to happen for me... I was complete 7/18, went under review a week or so after that, then has been reviewed a week after that, I can't remember when exactly. Probably been "has reviewed" since the end of July. I have below average GPA so I wasn't expecting much
 
II today! Complete second week of July.
 
interview invite via email - very excited for this one. fast turnaround considering my committee letter was just submitted about 12 days ago.
 
Has anyone else been getting an error screen when they hit 'Submit' to confirm their prerequisites? (This is post-interview invite by the way).
 
Interview invite this afternoon! I've been traveling all day for a different interview that's tomorrow so I didn't see the email until now (and the lady in charge of scheduling also left me a voice message!).

So excited for this interview. 🙂 3.7+/30+/Catholic undergrad.

Edit: complete around 7/15 (when my letters were marked as received).
 
cyaneidae said:
Interview invite this afternoon! I've been traveling all day for a different interview that's tomorrow so I didn't see the email until now (and the lady in charge of scheduling also left me a voice message!).

So excited for this interview. 🙂 3.7+/30+/Catholic undergrad.

Edit: complete around 7/15 (when my letters were marked as received).
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Congrats!
 
Pandaeac said:
For the question about the experimental treatment... are we supposed to assume the patient is a minor? Or, should we include a discussion of the patient's age/legal status as part of our discussion?
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I was wondering about this as well... my first thought was that the patient was not a minor and that it ultimately wouldn't be the parents' decision, but I'm not sure if they want us to address multiple perspectives or just state our assumptions for one scenario and roll with it.
 
For the "Describe a valuable experience in your personal development. This might be a decision you have made, an achievement of which you are particularly proud of " question, how did you answer it? Is it asking for me to talk about my shadowing, volunteering, research position etc or getting an A grade in a course.
 
hold. anticipating a rejection in like 8 months...
 
I just realized that I do not have a non-science faculty letter
I instead added a letter from my research professor (pathology) and a doctor whom I worked closely with.

Will they automatically reject me for not having this required letter?
I also explained myself in the blurb provided (i said i graduated early and it was too late to receive one)
 
II just now via email and phone call
OOS, complete 8/8
 
ilikeponies said:
I was wondering about this as well... my first thought was that the patient was not a minor and that it ultimately wouldn't be the parents' decision, but I'm not sure if they want us to address multiple perspectives or just state our assumptions for one scenario and roll with it.
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I started my essay talking about the more general implications of the scenario, then I addressed both of the two potential situations (the patient is a minor vs. the patient is an adult). In both cases I talked about how the patient's parents come into play, what the doctor's role is in the situation, etc.

The way I went about it seems to have worked (I recently got an interview from Loyola), but I'm sure there are multiple ways to answer this ethical question.

JohnMackenzie said:
For the "Describe a valuable experience in your personal development. This might be a decision you have made, an achievement of which you are particularly proud of " question, how did you answer it? Is it asking for me to talk about my shadowing, volunteering, research position etc or getting an A grade in a course.
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I discussed being a resident assistant during my senior year of college, as I answered the second question (about working with people from diverse backgrounds) with reflection on my time volunteering in a clinical setting. (The RA experience was also very transformative and I had a lot to say about it in answer to this first question).

However, I'm sure the question is supposed to be broad on purpose--answer with whatever was an important experience for you, an experience that changed you positively.
 
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Any current students or those receiving invites want to shed some light on the letters policy? I have 2 science professor letters from a post bacc, 1 PI letter from my PI of two years with whom I have gained 2 first author publications and 1 letter from a free clinic I coordinated a section of.

I don't think these letters qualify for the letter policy? However, I'm also kind of confused about how to "explain" this?

Anyone have any experience or knowledge? Thank you!!!
 
ThunderBear said:
II just now via email and phone call
OOS, complete 8/8
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Me too! First got the vmail then saw the email! Im flabbergast!!!!!!!
IS; complete 7/18; "under review" the entire time
 
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Mmedran said:
Me too! First got the vmail then saw the email! Im flabbergast!!!!!!!
IS; complete 7/18; "under review" the entire time
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Congrats!!! Yeah I got the email 5 minutes before the phone call and was trying to figure out a date preference and call them back before getting the call. I'm so excited! I love Loyola and it's definitely a top choice and it would make my year to get an acceptance from here 🙂

Also, I was under review the entire time too for anyone who's wondering
 
lall said:
Any current students or those receiving invites want to shed some light on the letters policy? I have 2 science professor letters from a post bacc, 1 PI letter from my PI of two years with whom I have gained 2 first author publications and 1 letter from a free clinic I coordinated a section of.

I don't think these letters qualify for the letter policy? However, I'm also kind of confused about how to "explain" this?

Anyone have any experience or knowledge? Thank you!!!
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Hrm, sounds like you need a letter from a non-science faculty. I had a science professor, PI, writing professor, and doctor I worked with. I'm not sure how you go about explaining not being able to get a non-science faculty letter. Anything in particular prevent you from getting one? Been out of school for a while? Didn't take many humanities courses? Large university and no smaller non-science classes? I dunno. I'm not sure any of those are acceptable explanations but I'm not sure what's an appropriate explanation either.:shrug:
 
So truth be told, I didnt think I even had a shot with Stritch, but now that Im interviewing, can any current students shed some light on a few things?:

1. Thoughts on the grading system? Does it foster competition/cooperation?
1a. Views on gunners?
2. How are the interviews? Any words of advice?
2b. Statistics concerning percentage of interviewees who get accepted...?

Many thanks!
 
eleveneleven said:
Hrm, sounds like you need a letter from a non-science faculty. I had a science professor, PI, writing professor, and doctor I worked with. I'm not sure how you go about explaining not being able to get a non-science faculty letter. Anything in particular prevent you from getting one? Been out of school for a while? Didn't take many humanities courses? Large university and no smaller non-science classes? I dunno. I'm not sure any of those are acceptable explanations but I'm not sure what's an appropriate explanation either.:shrug:
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lol Yeah, good point. This might be a secondary I just don't complete unless I hear success stories from others.

I don't have a non-science letter because I finished my undergraduate degree three years ago, and it was completed at a large school with large classes where no one cares like that to where I could just email old profs and ask for a form letter even. (to be honest).
 
lall said:
lol Yeah, good point. This might be a secondary I just don't complete unless I hear success stories from others.

I don't have a non-science letter because I finished my undergraduate degree three years ago, and it was completed at a large school with large classes where no one cares like that to where I could just email old profs and ask for a form letter even. (to be honest).
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I'm in the same boat as you for the timeline after graduation but I got a non science letter by emailing every single teacher I had and explained my situation. Basically I had to beg for one. Only a few schools I have applied to needed a non-science letter so it's just used to appease requirements. If a school doesn't require non-science letters then I make sure to not send it since I know it isn't as good as my other letters. Good luck!
 
twinning said:
I'm in the same boat as you for the timeline after graduation but I got a non science letter by emailing every single teacher I had and explained my situation. Basically I had to beg for one. Only a few schools I have applied to needed a non-science letter so it's just used to appease requirements. If a school doesn't require non-science letters then I make sure to not send it since I know it isn't as good as my other letters. Good luck!
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Yeah i tried that with a few professors without any luck. Maybe I'll make the broad sweep. Gives me hope that someone was kind enough to help you!
 
I don't have a non-science letter. It says on their website to explain my situation but what will be valid? Can I just saw I didn't have a meaningful relation with non-science faculty because of the size of the class? And that 1 faculty I did, I have lost contact with.

So far I have 6 LORs

2 science(PI and facult professor in 3 classes + another faculty)
1 clinic coordinator (4 yrs)
1 work
1 MD I worked with
1 club advisor ( 4 yrs)

Not sure what to do...Loyola is a top choice for me!
 
Found this on SDN: "Just wanted to add in that Loyola and NYMC are 2 schools that are firm in the non-science academic LOR requirement. You can still apply, but your application will be considered significantly weaker (via the admissions office of both schools)."

So we can apply but obviously doesn't look good. I'm going to try to email them soon.
 
M1 here at Loyola. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!
 
Medicalhopeful said:
Found this on SDN: "Just wanted to add in that Loyola and NYMC are 2 schools that are firm in the non-science academic LOR requirement. You can still apply, but your application will be considered significantly weaker (via the admissions office of both schools)."

So we can apply but obviously doesn't look good. I'm going to try to email them soon.
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🙁 that kind of makes me sad. I really like Loyola.

Let me know if you hear anything!
 
lall said:
Yeah i tried that with a few professors without any luck. Maybe I'll make the broad sweep. Gives me hope that someone was kind enough to help you!
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I finished undergrad 10 years ago, so tracking down all my humanities profs seemed like a long shot. And the one faculty member I've kept strong ties with had a ton of health issues this summer, so I didn't want to ask her.

I ended up getting the advisor from my post-bacc to write one. One school I called (U of I) said that would count as a faculty. I don't know how Loyola feels about that, but it might be worth a shot if you can't get a hold of your undergrad instructors.
 
Mmedran said:
So truth be told, I didnt think I even had a shot with Stritch, but now that Im interviewing, can any current students shed some light on a few things?:

1. Thoughts on the grading system? Does it foster competition/cooperation?
1a. Views on gunners?
2. How are the interviews? Any words of advice?
2b. Statistics concerning percentage of interviewees who get accepted...?

Many thanks!
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Congrats on your invite! I'll try to take a stab at your questions.

Regarding the grading system: Loyola is H/HP/P/F, but NOT curved. This means that everyone in the class could potentially honor a test, if they really wanted to. I feel that Loyola is a great learning environment, and thus far have run into no malicious "gunners" - in fact, people actually regularly create or post helpful study guides, videos, etc. to the class Facebook page. Also, while strict P/F is nice, keep in mind that preclinical grades are one of the least important things in residency program director's minds - which means that if you want to just pass, you can just do that. On the other hand, if you do want to do well and set yourself apart (fwiw..), that option is available to you. As you guys weed through grading systems, the biggest thing to watch out for, imo, is not so much p/f vs standard grading, but rather curved vs uncurved grading systems.

You can read about my interview on my blog, which is linked below. Overall, it was pretty laid back.

I think they received almost 10k applications, about 6k of which were actually completed (off the top of my head), with just over 500 interviews and 200-300 acceptances for a class of 155ish.

Medicalhopeful said:
Found this on SDN: "Just wanted to add in that Loyola and NYMC are 2 schools that are firm in the non-science academic LOR requirement. You can still apply, but your application will be considered significantly weaker (via the admissions office of both schools)."

So we can apply but obviously doesn't look good. I'm going to try to email them soon.
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I applied without a nonscience letter. It worked out fine. Just have a real reason, and let admissions know.
 
Hjbo said:
I finished undergrad 10 years ago, so tracking down all my humanities profs seemed like a long shot. And the one faculty member I've kept strong ties with had a ton of health issues this summer, so I didn't want to ask her.

I ended up getting the advisor from my post-bacc to write one. One school I called (U of I) said that would count as a faculty. I don't know how Loyola feels about that, but it might be worth a shot if you can't get a hold of your undergrad instructors.
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Nice, thanks for the idea- I really just need a form letter even from a humanities professor for schools like Loyola. Loyola was actually the only school which required humanities that I applied to and I only did thinking I could just explain my situation- but doesn't seem like anyone's had success without one soo...🙁

EDIT: oh wait! someone mentions success! yess!
 
Just curious, in going by the "25 line" suggestion, did you look at number of lines in Word or in the text box itself? What looked like 25 in Word suddenly became 31 when I copied and pasted!
 
II 8/27! Submitted secondary 8/17 but letters were in by 8/12. What dates have you guys chosen? It seems like Loyola's very flexible with available interview dates which I definitely appreciate 😛 Was kinda intimidated by Judy though...
 
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