2014-2015 Stanford University Application Thread

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doctortobeee said:
So if someone was called and accepted who interviewed after me am i out of luck for sure? I haven't gotten anything in the mail yet for the WL either...
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Don't worry about that -- as long as you haven't received a decision, you're still in the running. Acceptances from my interview day spanned at least four months (Dec - Mar), so it's definitely a rolling process!
 
Hi all! Not sure if anybody's posted about it yet, but Stanford's Supplemental Application for financial aid is up on AXESS now!
 
Dinitrophenol said:
Conversely, would that mean a relatively early WL notification indicates you're not as strong, relatively, of an applicant and there's less of a chance of getting off the WL?
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Whoa, I think you've been doing med school apps for too long. Better take a step back and a deep breath before you find yourself fashioning a tinfoil hat 😛 Okay, I tease, I tease -- but only because I've been there.

As far as I know, for better or for worse, Stanford's waitlist is not ranked. This means that waitlist-turned-acceptances will likely take into consideration what each waitlisted applicant can bring to the overall class balance. Also, last year, there was at least one student who was waitlisted after an early interview and later accepted even before all the interview invitations had been sent out. It's unclear whether this approach will expand into this cycle since last year was really a transitionary year, but my point is that there's really no way to predict how the wait list will work for individual applicants.

Basically, if you're on the wait list, all it means is that you still have a chance -- it's a good thing! :luck:
 
astronaut135 said:
about the confirmation email 5 days in advance...has anyone gotten their interview rescinded because they didn't email to confirm?
i just remembered to email them today and my interview is on Monday (3 days away). reallllyy hope it's not too big a deal :bang:
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I did the same thing (4 days instead of 5) and emailed them about it. They were really understanding and I interviewed on my original date. Mistakes happen!
 
OscarWao said:
Hey current students or well informed applicants,

The reason I'm trying to figure this out is to see if it's possible to live completely off campus and in SF or something for fourth year by doing away rotations. (if you can just answer this question, I guess you can ignore the rest)

I'm trying to figure out some stuff about rotations at Stanford (aka Clinical Clerkships). The MD Handbook is my main source of information. On the page labeled 85 in the handbook it states "Stanford does not permit students to complete required core clerkships at other institutions."

Few questions:
1. Which exactly are its core clerkships?
a. I'm looking at the clerkship curriculum here and it calls General Medicine a core but not Surgery. But surgery is required. So I'm just wondering if things like surgery could be done at other institutions.​
2. What's the difference between the hospitals in which you're allowed to do these core clerkships? Does everyone completely split up during the clerkship years?
a. As far as I can tell, these are just SOME of the hospitals available:
1. SUMC 2. SMOC 3. PAVAMC 4. KPMC 5. SJMC​
3. Which clerkships exactly count as selectives (which the manual says can be done at other institutions)? The clerkship curriculum says we have selective I and II, each being 1 month long, but there's also a 1.5 month elective which I'm not sure could be done elsewhere.
b. Are those three things the only things that can be done away? Or can we also do anything that does not have the word "core" in its title on the curriculum, away from Stanford?​
I know I sound crazy, but it's important for me. I don't have anything at all against Stanford's clerkships, it's just a location/logistics thing.


M1s that might be able to help: @Narmerguy @Runican
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I lived in SF for my 4th (research) and 5th years (second clinical year) and commuted. You have a light schedule your last year (I had 5 months of rotations from July-July). For certain things (Ambulatory and Family Med for example), commuting is not really a big deal because it's a normal 8-4:30 schedule, 5 days a week and it's only about 1.5 hours of commuting roundtrip. For other rotations, it's more of a nuisance (i.e. ICU starts at 6:30 AM, means 5:00 AM wake-ups to make it to the hospital on time). But, it's worth it and you're sort of checked from rotations your 4th year anyway. I spent 2 months sub-letting in Palo Alto doing my sub-I's but the rest was in SF.

For your questions....

(1) Core-clerkships all have to be done at an affiliated Stanford hospital (the ones you list in #2). This includes Medicine (8 weeks), Surgery (8 weeks), Pediatrics (8 weeks), OB/Gyn (6 weeks), Ambulatory Medicine (4 weeks), Psychiatry (4 weeks), Intensive Care Unit (4 weeks), Neurology (4 weeks) and Family Medicine (4 weeks). Also Sub-I (many different fields, 4 weeks). You can't do away rotations to fulfill these.

(2) Stanford is the tertiary care hospital with sick patients and rare diseases (both inpatient and outpatient). VA is veterans hospital (almost everyone has PTSD, HTN, HLD, Type II diabetes, social issues, etc). Kaiser is a HMO private hospital (i.e. wealthier, insured patients). San Jose is the county hospital (uninsured). It gives you the opportunity to work in a lot of different types of practice settings.

(3) There are something like 15 months total of required core and elective clerkships at Stanford to graduate (which is way less than other schools). It means you can elect to take extra electives, just do research (and get paid $$$$$), or hang out and just deal with interviewing for residency. There should be a list online that says which are electives and which are selectives. These don't have to be done at Stanford but there's really no reason to do them outside of Stanford even if you're living in SF.
 
OscarWao said:
3. Which clerkships exactly count as selectives (which the manual says can be done at other institutions)? The clerkship curriculum says we have selective I and II, each being 1 month long, but there's also a 1.5 month elective which I'm not sure could be done elsewhere.
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Pages 9-14 seem the most relevant to what you're asking: http://med.stanford.edu/md/curriculum/clerkships.html (can you tell I've had a lot of time to explore? 😛)

The above link lists the rotations that count as selective I or selective II. Not entirely sure if electives can be done elsewhere, but if they're just "free" rotations, I'd assume you can. Someone else will have to verify though.
 
Does anyone know when that last interview date will be?
 
Does anyone know if there is a date in April we will all definitely hear by? The wait is torture
 
Last week they told us they would get decisions out "as soon as possible," but they also mentioned that might not be before second look weekend. They said we would definitely hear a yes/no/WL by April 30 though (not sure if that is mandated by the traffic rules?)
 
Regardless, it's taking so long. It's already 6 weeks for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
breakintheroof said:
Um, okay, today is the Friday. Holy mackerel...I just got an acceptance call...I interviewed 10/7!

Good thing they have wine samples here at Trader Joe's because I need a drink.
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More than four months after this call, I still need a drink sometimes to help me grasp that it really happened. But with much hesitation, I withdrew from Stanford today. I am so happy to have met the wonderful people of Stanford (and I even got to visit twice), it's just not quite the right place for me.

Here's hoping those calls roll out of Palo Alto right away. Good luck!
 
breakintheroof said:
More than four months after this call, I still need a drink sometimes to help me grasp that it really happened. But with much hesitation, I withdrew from Stanford today. I am so happy to have met the wonderful people of Stanford (and I even got to visit twice), it's just not quite the right place for me.

Here's hoping those calls roll out of Palo Alto right away. Good luck!
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serious marbles haha Congrats on all your decisions though, and here's to being one step closer to a final verdict!
 
So interviews are completely done here right? lol I love how Stanford's silent rejection continues into April.
 
Out of curiosity/managing my expectations, does Stanford courtesy waitlist or is there a decent shot come May?
 
I highly doubt that many students forsake Stanford, but am curious as well.
 
Li'ana88 said:
I highly doubt that many students forsake Stanford, but am curious as well.
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I doubt it's many as well, however we've both probably met incredible people with many offers and criteria for choosing schools.

Any thoughts @Narmerguy? An idea about how Stanford approaches their waitlist/how extensive it is would especially be helpful for several of us on here. 😀
 
It wouldn't really matter how much people want to go to Stanford. Stanford would simply adjust its # accepted and waitlisted appropriately.

Most schools under-accept intentionally so they don't have the problem of over-enrollment. Thus, if Stanford expects 50% yield (which I think is true) for its 90 spots, it might accept like 160 people. Of those 160, Stanford would expect 80 to come (an under-enrollment). Then, Stanford takes students from the waitlist.

The procedure would be similar if the yield was 10% or if it was 90%. If the yield was 90%, Stanford would simply accept less people initially and, if Stanford's yield projections are close to being correct, Stanford will be under-enrolled.
 
I know that 2 years ago, Stanford over-enrolled pretty seriously (I think they said they had over 100 kids that class, even after deferrals?). So it wouldn't surprise me if they'd adjusted to outright accepting a smaller number of people afterward in order to avoid a repeat.

Looking at last year's thread, that at least seemed to be the impression applicants received. Not sure if that was just speculation, or (if true) if it holds true for this year as well.
 
breakintheroof said:
More than four months after this call, I still need a drink sometimes to help me grasp that it really happened. But with much hesitation, I withdrew from Stanford today. I am so happy to have met the wonderful people of Stanford (and I even got to visit twice), it's just not quite the right place for me.

Here's hoping those calls roll out of Palo Alto right away. Good luck!
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I hope the other school in the Bay is still in the running. 😉
 
differentiating said:
I know that 2 years ago, Stanford over-enrolled pretty seriously (I think they said they had over 100 kids that class, even after deferrals?). So it wouldn't surprise me if they'd adjusted to outright accepting a smaller number of people afterward in order to avoid a repeat.

Looking at last year's thread, that at least seemed to be the impression applicants received. Not sure if that was just speculation, or (if true) if it holds true for this year as well.
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While not a super accurate indicator, there are 114 in the FB group including numerous current students as well.
 
gastronome said:
I doubt it's many as well, however we've both probably met incredible people with many offers and criteria for choosing schools.

Any thoughts @Narmerguy? An idea about how Stanford approaches their waitlist/how extensive it is would especially be helpful for several of us on here. 😀
Click to expand...

Hey, I can only offer my speculation based on conversations I've had with other students. However, it seems that Stanford tries to achieve a balance in the class and so targets people on the waitlist based on who has accepted/declined already. I guess that means anyone is likely in play depending on how the class is shaping up--there's someone in my class who was accepted off the WL in May, but I don't think that should be expected.
 
Narmerguy said:
Hey, I can only offer my speculation based on conversations I've had with other students. However, it seems that Stanford tries to achieve a balance in the class and so targets people on the waitlist based on who has accepted/declined already. I guess that means anyone is likely in play depending on how the class is shaping up--there's someone in my class who was accepted off the WL in May, but I don't think that should be expected.
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Thank you!
 
gastronome said:
While not a super accurate indicator, there are 114 in the FB group including numerous current students as well.
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Where are you seeing this? I only see 96. I could be totally off base though. I wonder how many ppl join the group out of the accepted students. Seems like Stanford doesn't broadcast the facebook group like some school
 
heart sinking as the number grows. Even though I know the chances are slim to none of getting off the waitlist. It's scary how much hope I have
 
Also this may be a stupid question, but if I want to send an update letter, do I send it to the admissions office email or to Dean Gibbs directly? From my interview day, they made it sound like update letters aren't welcomed though 🙁 don't know if I should bother
 
premedpurposes said:
Also this may be a stupid question, but if I want to send an update letter, do I send it to the admissions office email or to Dean Gibbs directly? From my interview day, they made it sound like update letters aren't welcomed though 🙁 don't know if I should bother
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Update letters are fine (significant ones though, whatever that entails)! Should be sent to the md applicants email. They said they don't care much for letters of interest.
 
Congrats to everyone! So I'm guessing if we interviewed in March and haven't heard back it's WL at best?
 
Ahh congrats you guys!! I can't imagine how amazing that must feel to get a call 🙂
I was wondering the same thing as tupacca. Do calls only go out on Thursdays? I also interviewed in March and was really hoping for good news, but I am now preparing myself for a WL letter.
 
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