2014-2015 Northwestern University Application Thread

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Daitong said:
Is there chance for a II this late in the cycle? Complete early august.

Would an update letter be of use?
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Temerit said:
Was wondering the same thing about pre-interview updates at Northwestern.
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I sent one a couple of weeks ago, and received an email saying that they have added it to my application. So they definitely do take updates, though I don't know if it helps too much (no II here).
 
I cancelled my interview for early December yesterday. Best of luck to whoever gets to go up to Chicago!
 
Dr.Acula23 said:
Has anyone who interviewed on Oct 20th heard back?
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I can't say for sure, but I would assume so since people who interviewed 10/29 heard back. It probably just means that one of your interviewers couldn't make the admissions meeting, so you'll probably hear back in the next round!
 
john3298 said:
I can't say for sure, but I would assume so since people who interviewed 10/29 heard back. It probably just means that one of your interviewers couldn't make the admissions meeting, so you'll probably hear back in the next round!
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Oh okay, I didn't think about that, thanks!!
 
john3298 said:
I can't say for sure, but I would assume so since people who interviewed 10/29 heard back. It probably just means that one of your interviewers couldn't make the admissions meeting, so you'll probably hear back in the next round!
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Do you know for sure that the interviewers attend the admissions meeting? My understanding was that they are not part of the adcom (at least neither of mine was).
 
bweild said:
Do you know for sure that the interviewers attend the admissions meeting? My understanding was that they are not part of the adcom (at least neither of mine was).
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I don't know for sure. That was just my guess. I know that at other schools, the interviewers aren't part of the admissions committee, but they go into the meeting and talk about the applicants they interviewed, so it's possible that Northwestern does the same.
 
john3298 said:
I don't know for sure. That was just my guess. I know that at other schools, the interviewers aren't part of the admissions committee, but they go into the meeting and talk about the applicants they interviewed, so it's possible that Northwestern does the same.
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I see. Yeah, I have no idea if they attend either.
 
To those of you who have been accepted, did you also get something in the mail or did you just get an email?
 
oogachaka said:
To those of you who have been accepted, did you also get something in the mail or did you just get an email?
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Just an email. Which is a shame, cause I would have really liked to have that letter from northwestern :/
 
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Current M1 here! Just wanted to let you know some of the pros and cons of this school after having experienced it haha.
Pro's
  • Amazing class. Seriously. The people that go to this school are just great people. There are a few gunners, but I can count them on one hand. There are some REALLY SMART people here, but most of those really smart people are not gunners. They're just smart. And generally really nice. People are generally very collaborative, fun, supportive. I've made some of my best friends here.
  • I think that the clinical preparation is really good. It really is. We get a ton of clinical exposure in the first year and I'm starting to feel comfortable with being in a clinical setting.
  • The faculty are seriously awesome. There are SO MANY amazing and approachable doctors and teachers here. Small groups are actually one of my favorite things about our med school --- you really bond with your classmates and get to know some amazing people. Dr. Rosenkranz, for example, was one of my small group leaders. He does mind-blowing magic tricks for us at the end of every small group session.
  • Pass-Fail. I cannot stress this enough. It really is pass-fail. Really really. Don't worry about AOA and all that -- AOA at Feinberg mostly comes from 3rd year. First and Second year have minimal effect on whether you AOA or not.
  • They really appreciate you as a whole person. If you are good at communication, it gets noticed. It gets praise. It's NOT all about the grades.
  • Chicago. Yes. We live here. It's pretty amazing. And if you like getting away from the city -- there's a shuttle to Evanston on weekdays that takes 30 minutes.
  • The law library and Lake Michigan.
Cons:
  • The school kind of fails to provide us with adequate resources (practice quizzes, questions, ideas of what the tests will be like). Everyone is pretty frustrated about this. We deal with it -- the M2's are such an asset as are college mentors.
  • We do a lot stuff that feels kind of useless/extraneous. You kind of don't want to be doing some of this stuff. Some of it just feels like busy work. Sometimes it feels like you just can't have a life AND study in med school. But we're also in the hardest block of M1 year right now, so that might have something to do with it.
  • People seem to not share resources until right before the exam...I think generally a lot of people in our class procrastinate a lot?
  • We're not allowed to see the answers to our exams. Which means I actually don't learn much from taking an exam. Which sucks. Assessment should be about growth and it just isn't.
  • The cold.
  • Lack of affordable grocery stores in the area. There's Treasure Island...but that's actually pretty expensive. :\
 
Were everyone else's interviews pretty chill? Honestly I feel like I got grilled with endless semi difficult questions (during both the 1 on 1s) and didn't feel great about it afterwards at all. Was beyond disbelief when I got the acceptance email a week later...
 
Since the interviews will only be offered "extended to you at anytime during August 2014 through February 2015", I guess it is best to get in a Letter of Update/Interest by mid-early January?? T_T
 
RedPhys said:
Since the interviews will only be offered "extended to you at anytime during August 2014 through February 2015", I guess it is best to get in a Letter of Update/Interest by mid-early January?? T_T
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Yes that is my plan as well. I will have finished a class this semester and will have a grade update available that I can include in the letter.
 
jsquared91 said:
Fun tidbit gained from my interview day, might be helpful for future applicants:
"The admissions committee favorably looks upon applications from candidates who have majored in disciplines other than the traditional premedical sciences."
source: http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/admissions/pdfs/Admissions.pdf
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Wow, I've always heard most schools at least nominally 'no preference.' Given the hyper-competitve application process, that statement pretty much also amounts to saying: we will look down on you if you studied science in undergrad.
 
Temerit said:
Wow, I've always heard most schools at least nominally 'no preference.' Given the hyper-competitve application process, that statement pretty much also amounts to saying: we will look down on you if you studied science in undergrad.
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Naw. As a non-science major, I'd have to say that the hype about inclusivity of background sounds really good, but does not seem supported (at most schools!) by much evidence. Just sayin'.
 
Temerit said:
Was wondering the same thing about pre-interview updates at Northwestern.
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Is there a particular format for pre-interview updates? Would you address them to somebody in particular? I was just going to send a list of activities since I submitted the secondary application. The one piece of information that I do have is that any updates should include the AMCAS ID.
 
amber80 said:
Is there a particular format for pre-interview updates? Would you address them to somebody in particular? I was just going to send a list of activities since I submitted the secondary application. The one piece of information that I do have is that any updates should include the AMCAS ID.
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I used PDF for all my updates. I don't think they are stringent on actual structure format of the letter, I kinda just listed my activities in a short paragraph format. I addressed my letter: "Dear Admissions Committee,"

I actually didn't include AMCAS ID in my actual PDF update, but I included it in the email I sent to admissions. They said it was added to my file!
 
Temerit said:
I used PDF for all my updates. I don't think they are stringent on actual structure format of the letter, I kinda just listed my activities in a short paragraph format. I addressed my letter: "Dear Admissions Committee,"

I actually didn't include AMCAS ID in my actual PDF update, but I included it in the email I sent to admissions. They said it was added to my file!
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Thank you!
 
Temerit said:
we will look down on you if you studied science in undergrad.
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Probably biology or chemistry, yeah.

I've only met one Physics major pre-med during my interview days.
 
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