2014-2015 University of Iowa (Carver) Application Thread

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JVav said:
I am trying to decide if I should move my interview date up from 12/1 to next Monday. How much of an effect does an earlier interview date have? Also, how much time did you guys spend preparing for the interview?
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I would definitely move it to the earlier date if it isn't too inconvenient for you. Generally as spots start getting filled it is more difficult to get an automatic acceptance (you might first have to go through the wait-list). It shouldn't take that long to prepare. The interview feedback is really useful - all of the questions I had are posted on there so I would spend some time there. If you are invited for an interview your chances of getting an acceptance are pretty good so just go there feeling confident and good luck!
 
ASD2019 said:
That's the million dollar question!
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I was procrastinating a paper I need to write for class by digging through the older Carver forums. My best bet would be that first round of decisions will come out this week. Granted this can change year to year, but I'll personally be holding my breath each time i check my email.
 
Labrine said:
I was procrastinating a paper I need to write for class by digging through the older Carver forums. My best bet would be that first round of decisions will come out this week. Granted this can change year to year, but I'll personally be holding my breath each time i check my email.
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There was someone on this forum who said they heard something about 10/20. Then there was someone else who said we wouldn't be hearing anything for another month. According to past years though, I'm putting my bet on 10/23.
 
I only interviewed 10 days ago, but they told us the very earliest we would hear is November.
 
JVav said:
I am trying to decide if I should move my interview date up from 12/1 to next Monday. How much of an effect does an earlier interview date have? Also, how much time did you guys spend preparing for the interview?
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100% I would move up your interview date. I think it will definitely improve your chances because they give more automatic acceptances early on.

Also, they told us last week at our interview on 10/15 that it would be a month, but maybe that just means like November rather than mid-November? Or maybe it was one of those things where she just said the maximum time frame just to cover their bases if it takes longer.

I really hope we hear sooner because I loved the school and would love to know ASAP if I got in or not.
 
Congratulations to everyone getting acceptances here!!

I recently received an II and I'm debating whether to go. I have an acceptance at one of my top choices but I love Iowa.

My big question is about the grading system. I might not be looking hard enough, but I can't find a straightforward answer in the forums to what the grading system actually is for the preclinical curriculum. What proportion of courses is strictly P/F for the first two years? For courses that are graded, do students think they contribute to a more competitive atmosphere?

Thanks to anyone who can help with this!
 
blueharbor said:
Congratulations to everyone getting acceptances here!!

I recently received an II and I'm debating whether to go. I have an acceptance at one of my top choices but I love Iowa.

My big question is about the grading system. I might not be looking hard enough, but I can't find a straightforward answer in the forums to what the grading system actually is for the preclinical curriculum. What proportion of courses is strictly P/F for the first two years? For courses that are graded, do students think they contribute to a more competitive atmosphere?

Thanks to anyone who can help with this!
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I'm not 100% certain this, but this is what I remember from my interview day:
Most of the grading is Honors/High pass/pass/fail. I don't remember hearing anything about any class being P/F but again.. I'm not entirely sure. One of the MS2's told us about how even though the class is competing against each other it is still collaborative and everyone works together. She told us about another MS2 who spent something like 10 hours making a great study guide for an exam and sent it to essentially the entire class.
 
I tried moving it up and the spot was already taken. Maybe one of you fine folks will get in somewhere else and free me up a spot!
 
blueharbor said:
Congratulations to everyone getting acceptances here!!

I recently received an II and I'm debating whether to go. I have an acceptance at one of my top choices but I love Iowa.

My big question is about the grading system. I might not be looking hard enough, but I can't find a straightforward answer in the forums to what the grading system actually is for the preclinical curriculum. What proportion of courses is strictly P/F for the first two years? For courses that are graded, do students think they contribute to a more competitive atmosphere?

Thanks to anyone who can help with this!
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Hi everyone!
I'm an M2 and not really sure what the grading system will be like for you guys, but our current grading works like this for our basic sciences: Honors is any score above a certain percentage (ex. 90%) which is a little different for each subject. There is no limit to how many people can get this since it is a hard cutoff. If less than 30% of the class receives Honors, an additional X% will receive Near Honors to get to the 30% (so it is somewhat variable). Anything else that is above 70% is a Pass. Anything under 70% is failing. NOTE: It likely works differently for new curriculum classes, so it would be best to just ask the school (they are usually VERY responsive to inquiries) via email or at your interview day. It is also important to remember that other than passing everything, grades during your preclinical years matter very little compared with Step score, clinical grades, letters of recommendation, etc. So in a sense, everything is P/F!

As far as the "competitive" atmosphere, I have never felt this was an issue. People certainly push themselves hard, but the atmosphere tends to be very collaborative. Our class FB page is full of helpful study guides, due date reminders, etc. Med school is so much more pleasant when people are nice and helpful - so for any of you that decide to come here, please keep this tradition going!
 
I had considered myself to be out of the running at Iowa after applying as early as possible and not hearing anything. It was such an amazing surprise to get an interview invite yesterday after the round of waitlists I was put on last week. This is just what I needed to start feeling good about this cycle again! I can't wait to visit Iowa 🙂
 
How does Carver look at reapplicants? Interviewed here last year around this time and nothing this year :-/
 
reapplicanthelpme2014 said:
OOS...do they interview OOS throughout the year?
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I'm an IS reapplicant. I wasn't too bummed because last year I was in the first year of my MPH and early acceptance would have shortened it by a year. However, I would have missed out on a lot if I had done that. I'm a bit of a policy enthusiast so more time on health policy makes me happy 🙂

On to your question. They interview OOS throughout the entire process. This I know for a fact. However, when it comes to giving interviews to re-applicants that are OOS I'm not as sure. When was your secondary finished?
 
Labrine said:
I'm an IS reapplicant. I wasn't too bummed because last year I was in the first year of my MPH and early acceptance would have shortened it by a year. However, I would have missed out on a lot if I had done that. I'm a bit of a policy enthusiast so more time on health policy makes me happy 🙂

On to your question. They interview OOS throughout the entire process. This I know for a fact. However, when it comes to giving interviews to re-applicants that are OOS I'm not as sure. When was your secondary finished?
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I submitted 8/28 after getting my new MCAT, which was one of the things they said was a weakness in my application. I'm just a little nervous because I interviewed last year on 10/25 and I haven't heard anything from them this year.
 
reapplicanthelpme2014 said:
I submitted 8/28 after getting my new MCAT, which was one of the things they said was a weakness in my application. I'm just a little nervous because I interviewed last year on 10/25 and I haven't heard anything from them this year.
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Hmm. Well given that you got an interview last year as an OOS you must be a strong candidate. They will keep handing out interviews for at least another month so you may still get an email asking for an interview. No need to jump to conclusions yet. My impression was that a lot of IS interviews for the first part with a few OOS and a higher concentration of OOS interviews during the last half.
 
Ramvball22 said:
I also interviewed on 9/26, but everyone said they were from Iowa that day so I'm confused on the OOS part.....
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It's a long story, my residency status is up in the air. I'll eventually (hopefully) get IS, but I'm considered a non-resident as of now.
 
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Okay this might be weird...but I just received a brochure in the mail from University of Iowa...the undergrad college..about attending their diversity day on 10/31. It's weird because it didn't say anything about the medical school, just the college. Anyone else receive this?
 
Advice to interviewees: eat breakfast. Also, be prepared for strictly timed and very brief interviews. I really liked Iowa, but worried that the interviewers couldn't get more than a very, very general impression of me. (Maybe that will be to my benefit!!) Good luck to you potential Hawkeyes!
 
BengaliBrat said:
Advice to interviewees: eat breakfast. Also, be prepared for strictly timed and very brief interviews. I really liked Iowa, but worried that the interviewers couldn't get more than a very, very general impression of me. (Maybe that will be to my benefit!!) Good luck to you potential Hawkeyes!
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Sound advice, my friend!
 
Hey! Does anyone have any advise on how to get from the Cedar Rapids airport to Iowa City - will be staying at the U of I Hotel. Also, do most people taxi from the hotel to Carver or take the UI bus?

I've looked at the admissions website where taxis and shuttles are listed, but I am just curious as to what other people did.

Thank you!
 
I'm also interviewing the 29th, so if anyone is flying in on the 28th/out on the 29th please let me know if you want to share a cab/shuttle fare.
 
NorwayNative said:
Hey! Does anyone have any advise on how to get from the Cedar Rapids airport to Iowa City - will be staying at the U of I Hotel. Also, do most people taxi from the hotel to Carver or take the UI bus?

I've looked at the admissions website where taxis and shuttles are listed, but I am just curious as to what other people did.

Thank you!
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I would take a cab from the airport to the Iowa City hotel-- it'll cost you a pretty penny, but there's no public transit options.
As to getting from the hotel (if you mean the one in the IMU) to MERF, I would take the Pentacrest Cambus from the stop at hubbard park (http://ebongo.org/routes/uiowa/pentacrest) or, if it's nice out, just walk. It'd really only be a few blocks.

I haven't done either, but I've lived in IC for six years and can easily answer questions about the city.
 
I'm flying into CID (Cedar Rapids) tomorrow 🙂 thank you for the reply!
 
I was going to take the airport shuttle to Iowa City then cab to the hotel. Maybe I'll just rent a car lol
 
Ahhh I'm driving from dm, I'd offer you a ride otherwise
 
NorwayNative said:
Hey! Does anyone have any advise on how to get from the Cedar Rapids airport to Iowa City - will be staying at the U of I Hotel. Also, do most people taxi from the hotel to Carver or take the UI bus?

I've looked at the admissions website where taxis and shuttles are listed, but I am just curious as to what other people did.

Thank you!
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It's about a 10 minute walk from the imu to the interview. Idk about airport to hotel, though
 
NorwayNative said:
I'm also interviewing the 29th, so if anyone is flying in on the 28th/out on the 29th please let me know if you want to share a cab/shuttle fare.
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If I was going to be in Iowa City tomorrow I'd give you a ride! Alas, I myself will be flying to NY for an interview. Won't be back until Wednesday night. If you take a taxi back to CR from Iowa City, get this one: http://www.yellowcabic.com/rates.htm

I compared a couple popular cab rates, and the best price goes to Yellow Cab in Iowa City. It costs 38 dollars to go to the CR airport, and 2$ for each additional person. So, supposing you go with 3 people as part of a shuttle service, it will cost a total of 44 dollars, which when split among you all with tip comes to ~13 dollars/person. When compared to the unsubsidized fee of 86 dollars if one goes just based on miles (guess who cluelessly paid this much... ), this is a great deal.
 
NorwayNative said:
I was going to take the airport shuttle to Iowa City then cab to the hotel. Maybe I'll just rent a car lol
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Hell, I'll give you a ride after 5 PM to save you the $50, because that would suck to spend that much. I'll even tell you my interview questions and show you how to get to Carver, hah. Although the return trip might be an issue because of work schedules.
 
NorwayNative said:
I was going to take the airport shuttle to Iowa City then cab to the hotel. Maybe I'll just rent a car lol
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You really should consider walking to MERF, especially if it is nice out. Iowa City is an amazing place and I feel like just walking through the community is a great way to take it in.
 
How often does Iowa release acceptances? The other two schools where I interviewed only release them once a month. Seriously, I'm going insane.
 
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