2014-2015 University of Hawaii Application Thread

BU Medical Sciences
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midnightstrike said:
Canadian as well? I just booked my flight yesterday!
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No I am not Canadian. Hope you enjoy Hawaii! The flight is so expensive, but that's the last thing I am worried about now since my interviewers gave me separate months for their availability....Ugh.
 
ceelocat said:
No I am not Canadian. Hope you enjoy Hawaii! The flight is so expensive, but that's the last thing I am worried about now since my interviewers gave me separate months for their availability....Ugh.
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Uh oh, are you interviewing with either Dr. Caldwell or Kyla? Yeah its hard to schedule interviews relatively close together to make it lighter on the wallet in terms of time missed from school/work and hotel costs especially when the student has rotations all day and the doctor is busy with his practice. I'm sure if you explain your situation they may be able to figure something out. Good luck!
 
ceelocat said:
No I am not Canadian. Hope you enjoy Hawaii! The flight is so expensive, but that's the last thing I am worried about now since my interviewers gave me separate months for their availability....Ugh.
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That's really a bummer. I got all three of my interviews scheduled within 4 days of one another. Good luck trying to make things work out!
 
midnightstrike said:
Uh oh, are you interviewing with either Dr. Caldwell or Kyla? Yeah its hard to schedule interviews relatively close together to make it lighter on the wallet in terms of time missed from school/work and hotel costs especially when the student has rotations all day and the doctor is busy with his practice. I'm sure if you explain your situation they may be able to figure something out. Good luck!
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Yes I had Kyla. But I now have a new interviewer who can do a September interview so everything finally works out!

Mwoods18 said:
That's really a bummer. I got all three of my interviews scheduled within 4 days of one another. Good luck trying to make things work out!
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Yea I totally understand the pain of scheduling these interviews. I am lucky to have one very flexible interviewer so I eventually have them within 2 days from each other. It truly wasn't easy and involved a lot of emailing!
 
Hey to all of you who have recieved interviews, do you have strong ties to Hawaii? I am on the fence about whether to apply or not as I am international
And I dont have any ties to Hawaii
 
lalalalala123 said:
Hey to all of you who have recieved interviews, do you have strong ties to Hawaii? I am on the fence about whether to apply or not as I am international
And I dont have any ties to Hawaii
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I don't have any ties to Hawaii but I do have strong ties to the Pacific Rim
 
lalalalala123 said:
Hey to all of you who have recieved interviews, do you have strong ties to Hawaii? I am on the fence about whether to apply or not as I am international
And I dont have any ties to Hawaii
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I am international too, and have no ties or whatsoever to Hawaii. But I still got an II so that's still hope!
 
II! Hopefully I can schedule it to fly back for my family reunion that's happening around the holidays.
 
Good luck to those who got interviews!

Do you think having taken some courses at University of Hawaii helps at all with getting a secondary? My numbers aren't that great but I think I'd be a good fit for that school... I wish they were more holistic in reviewing applications
 
Hi guys, I just got the secondary application request email, wondering if it is even worth filling out at this point? I am OOS btw......:scared:
 
PizzaforAll said:
Yes!! What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of the program at JABSOM? And what area of oahu/honolulu do you recommend? are you from HI/oahu?
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Let me think about your first question for a bit and I will get back to you soon!

As for an area to recommend, do you mean living should you attend JABSOM? If this is the case, my mindset was to live as close to campus as I can (JABSOM is not on the Manoa campus for anyone who was unaware of this). This way I can save money on parking (which can be up to $5 a day near campus), save time during the commute (so more time to study and less time wasted in a car), and I don't need a car to get to campus (more money saved). While rent was a little higher near campus (your real options are Kaka 'ak0 and Downtown) I know I'm saving time and money in the long-run. While I have classmates that live all across this island, rent and cost to commute tend to average out. This is by no means a cheap medical school; expect the cost and plan accordingly. Does this adequately answer your question? If not, ask me to go into more details and I would be happy to if you could direct me as to what you are looking for.

I was OSS and my interview was the first time I had been to Hawai'i.
 
PlasticBag said:
Thanks!

What do you think helped OOS students get in?
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As an OSS applicant I think I could help you. Have you already received an II? If so, the interviews appeared to be vital in the OSS applicants admission. All three of mine went well, were very relaxed and allowed me the opportunity to represent myself in a manner I wanted to be represented. They all went long (although I have heard from others who were accepted that theirs were very short), but it was not an uncomfortably long interview. We were just enjoying our conversations (talking story). I feel the interviewers' recommendations are what ensured my acceptance when the admissions committee ranked me.
 
ChemicallyUnstable said:
As an OSS applicant I think I could help you. Have you already received an II? If so, the interviews appeared to be vital in the OSS applicants admission. All three of mine went well, were very relaxed and allowed me the opportunity to represent myself in a manner I wanted to be represented. They all went long (although I have heard from others who were accepted that theirs were very short), but it was not an uncomfortably long interview. We were just enjoying our conversations (talking story). I feel the interviewers' recommendations are what ensured my acceptance when the admissions committee ranked me.
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thank you, really nice of you to reply. No II for me yet, I guess my chances aren't great since my stats are pretty low. I was just wondering, given how few OOS people are interviewed and accepted, if there are some specific things they all share that the school is looking for. Like, say, multiculturalism, experience with health disparities, etc.? Have you noticed any patterns?
 
Completed here 09/23! I'm an underdog (LizzyM 66)...hope my lateness doesn't hurt me too much! Anyone who submitted in September receive a secondary invite yet?
 
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I believe I read that you get points for any section above an 11.
 
Hi guys, I am wondering if there is an advantage to interview early in JABSOM? The website said it is non-rolling admission, but not sure if interview in Nov will be better than in Jan?

Thanks.
 
It doesn't matter. The adcom ranks you and then once everyone has interviewed, they send out acceptances to those who have the highest ranking later on next year.
 
PizzaforAll said:
Yes!! What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of the program at JABSOM? And what area of oahu/honolulu do you recommend? are you from HI/oahu?
Click to expand...

I'm not a JABSOM student anymore, but graduated a few years ago and also did residency in Hawaii. Some things may have changed, but I think for the most part are still pretty similar.

Pros:
- PBL lends itself to lots of independence and free time ("self-directed learning time")
- Beautiful facility right next to the ocean
- Extremely nice and approachable faculty
- Diverse patient population for clinical years
- Enormous amount of time to study for Step 1 (at least when I was there) --> In addition to a strong curriculum I think this is part of why we've surpassed the national mean for several years (8 years I think?)
- 1st two years are pass/fail which makes for a non-competitive and collegial environment with your fellow MS's

Cons:
- PBL can be a double edged sword if you prefer traditional lectures --> there is about 2 didactic sessions per week for a few hours, but PBL is truly the crux of the curriculum
- Parking sucks for 3rd and 4th year --> No parking at hospital (you need to find street parking or pay)
- No "university hospital" --> Uses community hospitals such as Tripler, Queens, Kuakini for their teaching hospitals, which can be good and bad
- Not a tremendously academic institution --> Varies between specialty, but in general less research opportunities than big academic institutions (although there's an NCI designated cancer center right next door now)
- Learning issues can be time consuming --> some people get carried away with this and make super detailed LI's

Living on Oahu:
As you know many of the people who matriculate to JABSOM are from Hawaii so a lot of them live with their parents. Some of these students will drive quite far from places like Mililani or Hawaii Kai, but I probably wouldn't recommend that as traffic can be pretty bad from some of these places (particularly from the west side of the island). As ChemicallyUnstable mentioned Kakaako is probably the closest place to live, but this area has went through gentrification and now can be quite pricey with its new high rises. I personally lived in Makiki, which is relatively close 10-15 min drive from the school and convenient to the medical centers in your 3rd and 4th years. Waikiki is also not too far away if you want something with a little night life and more shops. Downtown is also close.

Where are you from?
I'm from Hawaii, but not Oahu.

Hopefully this helps.
 
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PlasticBag said:
thank you, really nice of you to reply. No II for me yet, I guess my chances aren't great since my stats are pretty low. I was just wondering, given how few OOS people are interviewed and accepted, if there are some specific things they all share that the school is looking for. Like, say, multiculturalism, experience with health disparities, etc.? Have you noticed any patterns?
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I haven't noticed any particular trends. I will say that when Dr. Izutsu was still the dean of admissions there always seemed to be a few Canadians taken every year -- my class had 2-3 Canadians (just my impression).
 
chromealt said:
It doesn't matter. The adcom ranks you and then once everyone has interviewed, they send out acceptances to those who have the highest ranking later on next year.
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Thanks! I am just concerned since lots of schools say they are non rolling, but decisions are actually made on a timely basis. People always say the earlier the better lol
 
totch said:
I'm not a JABSOM student anymore, but graduated a few years ago and also did residency in Hawaii. Some things may have changed, but I think for the most part are still pretty similar.

Pros:
- PBL lends itself to lots of independence and free time ("self-directed learning time")
- Beautiful facility right next to the ocean
- Extremely nice and approachable faculty
- Diverse patient population for clinical years
- Enormous amount of time to study for Step 1 (at least when I was there) --> In addition to a strong curriculum I think this is part of why we've surpassed the national mean for several years (8 years I think?)
- 1st two years are pass/fail which makes for a non-competitive and collegial environment with your fellow MS's

Cons:
- PBL can be a double edged sword if you prefer traditional lectures --> there is about 2 didactic sessions per week for a few hours, but PBL is truly the crux of the curriculum
- Parking sucks for 3rd and 4th year --> No parking at hospital (you need to find street parking or pay)
- No "university hospital" --> Uses community hospitals such as Tripler, Queens, Kuakini for their teaching hospitals, which can be good and bad
- Not a tremendously academic institution --> Varies between specialty, but in general less research opportunities than big academic institutions (although there's an NCI designated cancer center right next door now)

Living on Oahu:
As you know many of the people who matriculate to JABSOM are from Hawaii so a lot of them live with their parents. Some of these students will drive quite far from places like Mililani or Hawaii Kai, but I probably wouldn't recommend that as traffic can be pretty bad from some of these places (particularly from the west side of the island). As ChemicallyUnstable mentioned Kakaako is probably the closest place to live, but this area has went through gentrification and now can be quite pricey with its new high rises. I personally lived in Makiki, which is relatively close 10-15 min drive from the school and convenient to the medical centers in your 3rd and 4th years. Waikiki is also not too far away if you want something with a little night life and more shops. Downtown is also close.

Where are you from?
I'm from Hawaii, but not Oahu.

Hopefully this helps.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the info. I'm currently scheduling interviews and really excited about JABSOM. I do have a question: For the clinical rotations, do they offer an anesthesia rotation? I'm not dead-set, but am highly interested in the specialty and couldn't find any definitive answers in my searches.
 
Li'ana88 said:
Thank you for the info. I'm currently scheduling interviews and really excited about JABSOM. I do have a question: For the clinical rotations, do they offer an anesthesia rotation? I'm not dead-set, but am highly interested in the specialty and couldn't find any definitive answers in my searches.
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As with pretty much all medical schools the majority of your clinical experiences will be in your 3rd and 4th years. During your 3rd year at JABSOM you will have most of you core curriculum (Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, OB/GYN, Peds, Psych, Surgery) -- so your clinical experiences are pretty set (might be able to squeeze in a short elective for a couple weeks -- used to be only radiology and path, but they might have expanded the available rotations). During your 4th year you have much more freedom to choose your rotations -- so you definitely could take a Anesthesia elective during your 4th year. If you are really interested in anesthesia from the get-go I would recommend trying to get some clinical anesthesia experience earlier than your 4th year if possible -- since you start applying for residencies in the beginning of your 4th year. You will have lots of free time with the PBL curriculum and I think you get some time off in the summer between 1st and 2nd year so you could try to set some clinical experiences up during your 1st and 2nd year just to see if you like the field and take some additional rotations in your 4th year.
 
yusanshui said:
Thanks! I am just concerned since lots of schools say they are non rolling, but decisions are actually made on a timely basis. People always say the earlier the better lol
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I agree with chromealt that you're still fine. The vast majority of applicants get their acceptance emails in spring (I got mine in the beginning of April). A few, very exceptional applicants get their acceptance early January-February (because they scored so high on their evaluations). I am speculating since I'm not on the ADCOM here, but I suspect they don't start meeting until January-February (after Christmas break) and they need to go over everyone's application before giving out the vast majority of acceptances. So I think they are for the most part non-rolling. That's not to say you should wait until the last day of the deadline to apply, but if you've already gotten secondaries and it sounds like you've gotten an interview? I don't think you're going to be punished for scheduling your interview later in the season (November vs January). FWIW I interviewed in the middle of December for my interviews and got accepted.
 
PlasticBag said:
thank you, really nice of you to reply. No II for me yet, I guess my chances aren't great since my stats are pretty low. I was just wondering, given how few OOS people are interviewed and accepted, if there are some specific things they all share that the school is looking for. Like, say, multiculturalism, experience with health disparities, etc.? Have you noticed any patterns?
Click to expand...

After thinking about it some more there were a few things I will add for the OOS students that got into JABSOM that I thought of. Many of them were very strong candidates --> as you know they needed to meet the points threshold to get an interview (so they often had good MCAT scores/GPAs). There was also a good number of individuals who might not have had scores that were as strong, but had a connection to the pacific rim. If you look at JABSOM's mission statement it says their goal is "to train high quality physicians for Hawai`i and the Pacific." And true to their word there are many who were not from Hawaii, but connected/committed to the Pacific in one way or another --> particularly to regions that are under-served areas of the Pacific such as Samoa, Micronesia, Saipan etc (granted, a number of these individuals came in through the Imi Ho'ola post-baccalaureate program).
 
totch said:
I'm not a JABSOM student anymore, but graduated a few years ago and also did residency in Hawaii. Some things may have changed, but I think for the most part are still pretty similar.

Pros:
- PBL lends itself to lots of independence and free time ("self-directed learning time")
- Beautiful facility right next to the ocean
- Extremely nice and approachable faculty
- Diverse patient population for clinical years
- Enormous amount of time to study for Step 1 (at least when I was there) --> In addition to a strong curriculum I think this is part of why we've surpassed the national mean for several years (8 years I think?)
- 1st two years are pass/fail which makes for a non-competitive and collegial environment with your fellow MS's

Cons:
- PBL can be a double edged sword if you prefer traditional lectures --> there is about 2 didactic sessions per week for a few hours, but PBL is truly the crux of the curriculum
- Parking sucks for 3rd and 4th year --> No parking at hospital (you need to find street parking or pay)
- No "university hospital" --> Uses community hospitals such as Tripler, Queens, Kuakini for their teaching hospitals, which can be good and bad
- Not a tremendously academic institution --> Varies between specialty, but in general less research opportunities than big academic institutions (although there's an NCI designated cancer center right next door now)
- Learning issues can be time consuming --> some people get carried away with this and make super detailed LI's

Living on Oahu:
As you know many of the people who matriculate to JABSOM are from Hawaii so a lot of them live with their parents. Some of these students will drive quite far from places like Mililani or Hawaii Kai, but I probably wouldn't recommend that as traffic can be pretty bad from some of these places (particularly from the west side of the island). As ChemicallyUnstable mentioned Kakaako is probably the closest place to live, but this area has went through gentrification and now can be quite pricey with its new high rises. I personally lived in Makiki, which is relatively close 10-15 min drive from the school and convenient to the medical centers in your 3rd and 4th years. Waikiki is also not too far away if you want something with a little night life and more shops. Downtown is also close.

Where are you from?
I'm from Hawaii, but not Oahu.

Hopefully this helps.
Click to expand...

Thank you! That's really helpful.
 
ACCEPTED! OOS, LizzyM 77, last interview 9/29, acceptance email 11/14. No significant previous ties to Hawaii or other Pacific Islands, but strongly considering staying in Hawaii after medical school.
 
betabarrel said:
ACCEPTED! OOS, LizzyM 77, last interview 9/29, acceptance email 11/14. No significant previous ties to Hawaii or other Pacific Islands, but strongly considering staying in Hawaii after medical school.
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Congrats! You must be an exceptional applicant to get accepted this early!
 
@hirschman Thank you!! Haha more like exceptionally clumsy...I fell down the stairs on my way out of an interview here 😛 I wonder if it made me memorable.
 
I just received an II to Hawaii! Does anyone have any tips on which types of questions to prepare for during the interview? I heard they ask about leadership potential and teamwork... Feel free to PM if you want. Thanks!!
 
@foreverbuckeye Congrats!! 😀 The content and tone of my three interviews varied a lot from one another, but in general they just want to get to know you and understand your motivations to go into medicine at Hawaii. They also ask questions regarding whether you handle stress in a healthy way and whether you work well with others. I'm sorry if this sounds vague, but it's really the best advice I can give you!
 
Hey everyone, any thoughts about the interviews?
Like what did they ask? and etc...
 
OOS applicant. Accepted yesterday. Interviewed here at the end of December😉
 
nakittaxu said:
OOS applicant. Accepted yesterday. Interviewed here at the end of December😉
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Congrats.

This is just an observation, but two OOS applicants received early invitations so far. Considering that only applicants who have above an 8/10 rating from the adcom receive those invites, those are great achievements. I wonder though, with only a total of 9 OOS slots available this year, how many will be left to hand out in March?
Just a thought that crossed mind. Good luck everyone. "May the odds be ever in your favor"...especially this March and April.
 
FMSIIM1 said:
Congrats.

This is just an observation, but two OOS applicants received early invitations so far. Considering that only applicants who have above an 8/10 rating from the adcom receive those invites, those are great achievements. I wonder though, with only a total of 9 OOS slots available this year, how many will be left to hand out in March?
Just a thought that crossed mind. Good luck everyone. "May the odds be ever in your favor"...especially this March and April.
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Thank you! I'm thinking that they might be giving out more offers than they are available slots in case some of the OOS students might decide to matriculate at other schools..Given that I guess majority of the offers would still come out in March..
 
Well, if decision day is consistent with the past couple years, it looks like we are on a 39 day count down. March 19th, the Thursday of match week. Good luck to everyone applying this cycle.
 
IS applicant accepted today. Last interview was early January. Good luck everyone.
 
Does anyone know the 10th percentile - 90th percentile for mcat and gpa from msar?
 
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