2014-2015 Texas A&M Health Science Center Application Thread

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Penguin89 said:
Yea I thought they said the 23rd was their last day before the holidays
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I read it on the website. But maybe they are talking about their main offices and not admissions??? IDK
 
Has anyone here also interviewed at PLFSOM El Paso? I just got interviews for A&M and El Paso within 2 days of each other, only problem is the only date available for both schools is Jan 15 so I have to pick between the two... What would you guys do and why? I really just wish someone would make the decision for me 😵
 
Eeesh. I have a hard time believing that the admin at either school wouldn't understand that you have to take every chance you're given. I would call and tell them what's up and see if one of them will work with you about getting it moved. Congrats either way.
 
pontelones said:
Has anyone here also interviewed at PLFSOM El Paso? I just got interviews for A&M and El Paso within 2 days of each other, only problem is the only date available for both schools is Jan 15 so I have to pick between the two... What would you guys do and why? I really just wish someone would make the decision for me 😵
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I haven't interviewed at Foster so feel free to ignore me, and this advice may not apply if you've already pre-matched somewhere else, but going purely off of numbers, Foster only has a class size of 100. A&M's is double that, at 200. Furthermore, A&M accepts a higher percentage of interviewees than any other school in Texas, while El Paso is much more average in terms of acceptance rate.

With those factors in mind, I think it is more likely that you get into A&M from a late interview than it is that you get into El Paso. If you have to choose one (and I would definitely contact both and try to go to both interviews if possible), I'd go to A&M if your only goal is getting an acceptance.
 
typoncho said:
Eeesh. I have a hard time believing that the admin at either school wouldn't understand that you have to take every chance you're given. I would call and tell them what's up and see if one of them will work with you about getting it moved. Congrats either way.
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I know! I have only contacted El Paso so far since I had accepted A&M's invitation on Friday before receiving El Paso's invitation today. I asked if there was any way I could be rescheduled and explained the situation and they said they could only reschedule my interview if someone from the Jan 8 session cancels. So basically a waiting game. Should I contact A&M and see if they are more flexible?

Silverflash said:
I haven't interviewed at Foster so feel free to ignore me, and this advice may not apply if you've already pre-matched somewhere else, but going purely off of numbers, Foster only has a class size of 100. A&M's is double that, at 200. Furthermore, A&M accepts a higher percentage of interviewees than any other school in Texas, while El Paso is much more average in terms of acceptance rate.

With those factors in mind, I think it is more likely that you get into A&M from a late interview than it is that you get into El Paso. If you have to choose one (and I would definitely contact both and try to go to both interviews if possible), I'd go to A&M if your only goal is getting an acceptance.
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Thank you for your advice! That's exactly what I've heard about A&M, so that is why I was leaning towards keeping my A&M interview date and just waiting to see if someone drops from El Paso's other interview day. However I do wish I could just attend both so I could make a better decision!!
 
did anyone hear anything yet on the prematch list today?
 
My hopes are really high since TexasPro said they specifically said they would send out prematches before they left for break...which would mean within the next 30 minutes. Hopefully that is true! :joyful:
 
Good luck everyone! I hope they send out today but I just want to warn you guys that most of A&M is shut down for the holidays already.

I hope they have someone around to push that button though!
 
estanton said:
Good luck everyone! I hope they send out today but I just want to warn you guys that most of A&M is shut down for the holidays already.

I hope they have someone around to push that button though!
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They may have it automated! Don't give up hope yet!

.... Maybe at 1:00 we can give up hope lol
 
They did say at my interview dates all prematches would go out before they left for the holidays.

Got a Baylor interview this morning, if I get a prematch here today it would be the greatest day ever.
 
EDIT: decided not to be so dramatic lol
 
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Dr Granger said:
If they don't come out today, my money is on Dec 31 at 11:59pm lolz
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If I've learned anything about A&M so far, it is to completely disregard anything they say regarding release of prematches so I wouldn't be too surprised.
 
also interviewed the same day as DocEllen & TexasPro (12/4). they definitely promised a second round of prematches before the holidays so this is extremely disappointing. admissions staff, of all people, should know how ridiculously stressful this process is :-(.

EDIT: to all of you who have already been accepted somewhere claiming to be nervous about A&M: grrrrrrr.

EDIT 2: i have also been checking my email, TMDSAS, BAMF, and this thread every 6 seconds. y'all aren't alone out there!
 
They definitely said there would be prematches before the break when I interviewed on the 4th in Temple. Maybe they didn't like any of us.
 
Well, the odds are that someone who lurks on this page would have been invited if offers were sent out.
I got beat up pretty bad in my interview about being a non-traditional by the doctor who I was told would be most interested in hearing my story. It took me all month to start hoping again. I only applied to two schools and UTSW did not invite me for an interview. So this is it for me. No pressure.
 
Coach B said:
Well, the odds are that someone who lurks on this page would have been invited if offers were sent out.
I got beat up pretty bad in my interview about being a non-traditional by the doctor who I was told would be most interested in hearing my story. It took me all month to start hoping again. I only applied to two schools and UTSW did not invite me for an interview. So this is it for me. No pressure.
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Why did you only apply to two schools!??
 
So either:

- A&M wasn't able to get the batch of acceptances out when they said they would, and it'll be after Christmas;
- They did send the batch out and none of us got prematched;
- They'll still get the batch out tonight/tomorrow and be able to say it was "before the holidays."
 
Silverflash said:
So either:

- A&M wasn't able to get the batch of acceptances out when they said they would, and it'll be after Christmas;
- They did send the batch out and none of us got prematched;
- They'll still get the batch out tonight/tomorrow and be able to say it was "before the holidays."
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As much as I'm suspicious about believing your second point, I think that's what I'm going to go with for now just for the sake of my sanity. Maybe we should all try to take the next few days to enjoy the holidays and find ways to be grateful for what we have, prematch or not. At least, that's what I'm going to try to do! Merry Christmas, everyone!
 
For those of you who only interviewed at one Texas school, are you able to rank your schools on TMDSAS? I interviewed at A&M on December 4, and the link to rank is still not showing up on my TMDSAS.
 
DocEllen said:
For those of you who only interviewed at one Texas school, are you able to rank your schools on TMDSAS? I interviewed at A&M on December 4, and the link to rank is still not showing up on my TMDSAS.
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I would contact them after holidays, I interviewed Dec. 11 and the link is there.
 
DocEllen - I had the same issue. I called them a week after our interview day and they fixed it.
 
Coach B said:
Well, the odds are that someone who lurks on this page would have been invited if offers were sent out.
I got beat up pretty bad in my interview about being a non-traditional by the doctor who I was told would be most interested in hearing my story. It took me all month to start hoping again. I only applied to two schools and UTSW did not invite me for an interview. So this is it for me. No pressure.
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I'm a nontrad too. In what ways were you beaten up? I have my interview January 8th.
 
Coach B said:
Well, the odds are that someone who lurks on this page would have been invited if offers were sent out.
I got beat up pretty bad in my interview about being a non-traditional by the doctor who I was told would be most interested in hearing my story. It took me all month to start hoping again. I only applied to two schools and UTSW did not invite me for an interview. So this is it for me. No pressure.
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I got beat up too in my interview for being non-trad and was basically told I wouldn't be able to make it in medical school. My interview was so inappropriate I feel even I get an acceptance I'll decline it. They should really monitor who their interviewers are and the types of comments they make.
 
clairephillips said:
I'm a nontrad too. In what ways were you beaten up? I have my interview January 8th.
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I was specifically asked to answer questions without referring to experiences that I had in the work force (biotechnology). It's hard to answer a question like a 23 year old when you are 41. Ugh. Also, I had to account for my undergraduate grades from 1992 although all of my premed work during the last 3 years was 4.0 and my MCAT was good. I felt as though the interviewer had his mind made up before we met and no answer that I gave was going to move him off of his position. It was a very tough interview. I was told by the recruiter 6 months ago that A&M values nontraditional students but it was not the impression that I got from the interviewer.
 
mshopeful17 said:
I got beat up too in my interview for being non-trad and was basically told I wouldn't be able to make it in medical school. My interview was so inappropriate I feel even I get an acceptance I'll decline it. They should really monitor who their interviewers are and the types of comments they make.
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Coach B said:
I was specifically asked to answer questions without referring to experiences that I had in the work force (biotechnology). Tis hard to answer a question like a 23 year old when you are 41. Ugh. Also, I had to account for my undergraduate grades from 1992 although all of my premed work during the last 3 years was 4.0 and my MCAT was good. I felt as though the interviewer had his mind made up before we met and no answer that I gave was going to move him off of his position. Twas a very tough interview. I was told by the recruiter 6 months ago that A&M values nontraditional students but Twas not the impression that I got from the interviewer.
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Wow I'm sorry you both had to deal with that! I'm also a nontrad and my interviews were absolutely nothing like that, they were both very easy-going, relaxing conversations for the most part. I agree with you 100% that they should monitor who is interviewing you and making sure that interviews aren't inappropriate, however don't let someone you'll never see again influence your entire decision of the school (if it.was a guest MD/guest PhD or something like I had). But then again if the interview truly was inappropriate you should definitely let them know, that's not fair to you. If they offered interviews to both of you then obviously they felt you could succeed, so maybe they just wanted to see how you would handle a stressful interview? Again though, they should definitely understand that their interviewers also influence applicants to some degree as well, hope you both receive some good news soon! I also heard they were nontrad friendly, but their average age is still 24 so I guess that's not too different than any other MD school.
 
I had extremely laid-back, friendly interviews here. That said, I had an absolutely horrible stress interview at UTMB so I definitely know how that can feel.
 
vikingsking82 said:
Wow I'm sorry you both had to deal with that! I'm also a nontrad and my interviews were absolutely nothing like that, they were both very easy-going, relaxing conversations for the most part. I agree with you 100% that they should monitor who is interviewing you and making sure that interviews aren't inappropriate, however don't let someone you'll never see again influence your entire decision of the school (if it.was a guest MD/guest PhD or something like I had). But then again if the interview truly was inappropriate you should definitely let them know, that's not fair to you. If they offered interviews to both of you then obviously they felt you could succeed, so maybe they just wanted to see how you would handle a stressful interview? Again though, they should definitely understand that their interviewers also influence applicants to some degree as well, hope you both receive some good news soon! I also heard they were nontrad friendly, but their average age is still 24 so I guess that's not too different than any other MD school.
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Interesting. My first interviewer was as you described, conversational and welcoming. I don't mind a stress interview but for him to tell me that I should have applied to a DO school based on grades from 22 years ago was somewhat insulting. Nothing wrong with DO but I am interested in oncology and all of my life experience has led me in that particular direction. I think that he knew this but it did not stop the line of questioning that he went down. Eventually I was told that he had a responsibility to the tax payers of Texas to select the most academically capable students. Once again this was not my understanding. My understanding was that they were looking to select the students they feel would make the best physicians.
My hope is that when all of this behind me I will be able to share my experience with the people who invited me to the interview.
 
Coach B said:
I was specifically asked to answer questions without referring to experiences that I had in the work force (biotechnology). Tis hard to answer a question like a 23 year old when you are 41. Ugh. Also, I had to account for my undergraduate grades from 1992 although all of my premed work during the last 3 years was 4.0 and my MCAT was good. I felt as though the interviewer had his mind made up before we met and no answer that I gave was going to move him off of his position. Twas a very tough interview. I was told by the recruiter 6 months ago that A&M values nontraditional students but Twas not the impression that I got from the interviewer.
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I am non-trad also. Mine wasn't as bad as yours but very tough and slightly insulting. I left traumatized by the experience and didn't sleep well for about three days. I understand how you feel.
 
Geez, guys. This was one of my top choice schools. I'm really scared now. Thanks for the stories so I am prepared for it, I guess.
 
spark_2011 said:
I am non-trad also. Mine wasn't as bad as yours but very tough and slightly insulting. I left traumatized by the experience and didn't sleep well for about three days. I understand how you feel.
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Coach B said:
I was specifically asked to answer questions without referring to experiences that I had in the work force (biotechnology). Tis hard to answer a question like a 23 year old when you are 41. Ugh. Also, I had to account for my undergraduate grades from 1992 although all of my premed work during the last 3 years was 4.0 and my MCAT was good. I felt as though the interviewer had his mind made up before we met and no answer that I gave was going to move him off of his position. Twas a very tough interview. I was told by the recruiter 6 months ago that A&M values nontraditional students but Twas not the impression that I got from the interviewer.
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Sorry to hear that. I am also nontrad and my two interviews were about the most welcoming anywhere. At another school, I had an interview where it seemed like the interviewer was trying to dissuade me and discounting my background. I would have suggested putting something down in the survey but then again, there is no way to know that the surveys are truly anonymous.
 
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