2014-2015 Vanderbilt University Application Thread

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Has anyone done a write up of the vanderbilt interviewing day?
 
clowiebear said:
Has anyone done a write up of the vanderbilt interviewing day?
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Si. I have one in my mdapps and here are some other ones: infinitessimal (hers is exquisitely detailed! We also interviewed on the same day 😉), pyrrion89, funniful, and nemo123. Can't recall any others off the top of my head, but I'm sure there's plenty more in mdapps.

Good luck! I loved my time here (srsly, they had the friendliest staff I have met thus far) and I really liked the long-format faculty interview. Some people wrote that they found the short "behvioural interview" somewhat daunting, but I enjoyed it. Goes to show you how variable things can be.
 
hellanutella said:
Si. I have one in my mdapps and here are some other ones: infinitessimal (hers is exquisitely detailed! We also interviewed on the same day 😉), pyrrion89, funniful, and nemo123. Can't recall any others off the top of my head, but I'm sure there's plenty more in mdapps.

Good luck! I loved my time here (srsly, they had the friendliest staff I have met thus far) and I really liked the long-format faculty interview. Some people wrote that they found the short "behvioural interview" somewhat daunting, but I enjoyed it. Goes to show you how variable things can be.
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you are THE most helpful! thanks so much nutella 🙂
 
I haven't received a secondary yet. Completed initial application mid september. Should I contact admissions? Or is there no hope? 3.5 science/30 mcat Non-traditional (older) student
 
KerriLynnDesigns said:
I haven't received a secondary yet. Completed initial application mid september. Should I contact admissions? Or is there no hope? 3.5 science/30 mcat Non-traditional (older) student
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Vanderbilt screens very heavily pre-secondary. Today is also the deadline for submitting secondaries (per MSAR) so if you haven't received an invitation to complete the secondary then it is basically a rejection. I think they are leaning more toward higher stats candidates based on the level of intensity of a one-year preclinical curriculum
 
womanofscience said:
Vanderbilt screens very heavily pre-secondary. Today is also the deadline for submitting secondaries (per MSAR) so if you haven't received an invitation to complete the secondary then it is basically a rejection. I think they are leaning more toward higher stats candidates based on the level of intensity of a one-year preclinical curriculum
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Thanks for the quick reply. I figured it was a long shot for me. Crossing fingers for the other schools!
 
When did Vandy say that their first wave of acceptances will come out this year? If i remember correctly they said in January but I could be remembering incorrectly.
 
peanutbutterdaisy said:
For whatever it's worth, at my interview day, we were told good news would come by phone and that negative/neutral news would be communicated via email/portal update
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Correct. I interviewed here in the last few weeks and was told "mid-December" for the first batch of decisions. However, I am unclear about what it means to not get the phone call. I was told that if you aren't contacted then the application portal could update to "On Hold" but I don't know if that means you are wait listed or will be reviewed again before the second round of decisions in mid-February.

peanutbutterdaisy - Did you hear that rejections would be announced on the portal?
 
XFitWraith said:
Correct. I interviewed here in the last few weeks and was told "mid-December" for the first batch of decisions. However, I am unclear about what it means to not get the phone call. I was told that if you aren't contacted then the application portal could update to "On Hold" but I don't know if that means you are wait listed or will be reviewed again before the second round of decisions in mid-February.

peanutbutterdaisy - Did you hear that rejections would be announced on the portal?
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It was my understanding that in Mid-December, there are 3 possible outcomes: Accept, Reject, or Hold; then in February those put on hold would either be Accepted, Rejected, or Waitlisted.

*Disclaimer: This info was given at the very end of the day, when I was in a state of post-interview delirium and in desperate need of a diet coke, so it is entirely possible that I misunderstood what she was saying...I guess we're down to 13 days until we know for certain!
 
samsunimomo said:
After considering my options over Thanksgiving, I'll be withdrawing from my interview invite. Good luck to all of those who are waiting!
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Maybe then they'll send more secondaries...? But idk how it would work with the deadline.

Did anyone get a secondary yesterday?
 
peanutbutterdaisy said:
It was my understanding that in Mid-December, there are 3 possible outcomes: Accept, Reject, or Hold; then in February those put on hold would either be Accepted, Rejected, or Waitlisted.

*Disclaimer: This info was given at the very end of the day, when I was in a state of post-interview delirium and in desperate need of a diet coke, so it is entirely possible that I misunderstood what she was saying...I guess we're down to 13 days until we know for certain!
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Interesting, what they told us at my day (Which was in early September, so they might have changed their policies since then) was that if you do hear back in Mid-December, you may either be Accepted or Waitlisted (They wouldn't give a straight answer as to whether or not rejections were handed out); but that it is also possible you may not hear anything until Mid-Feb (i.e no waitlist/hold in Dec, even for those of us who interviewed in Sept) if the Exec Committee hasn't come to a final decision regarding your application.
 
XFitWraith said:
Correct. I interviewed here in the last few weeks and was told "mid-December" for the first batch of decisions. However, I am unclear about what it means to not get the phone call. I was told that if you aren't contacted then the application portal could update to "On Hold" but I don't know if that means you are wait listed or will be reviewed again before the second round of decisions in mid-February.

peanutbutterdaisy - Did you hear that rejections would be announced on the portal?
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Do you or anyone else know which interview dates are included in this mid-December release?
 
Interviewed here in relatively early in the cycle and I LOVED it. Vandy still remains at the top of my list after interviewing at several other schools. Do you guys think it would be too late to send a letter of interest?
 
Person0715 said:
Interviewed here in relatively early in the cycle and I LOVED it. Vandy still remains at the top of my list after interviewing at several other schools. Do you guys think it would be too late to send a letter of interest?
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I sent one in recently and they were extremely receptive to it!
 
Earl Simmons said:
Can anyone with a more recent interview date confirm or deny this? 🙂
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I interviewed on the 24th and all we were told is that they couldn't guarantee we would be reviewed in the first batch. She didn't tell us what other interview groups this applied to but I would think interviewees from the first-half of November are fair game.
 
I interviewed back in October and the way they framed it to us made it seem more like a luck of the draw - depending on if you had been reviewed up until that point, which depended on a lot of factors NOT having to do with interview date or application quality, would determine if you were to find out in December or February. At least that was my interpretation of it.
 
ClevelandFan93 said:
I interviewed back in October and the way they framed it to us made it seem more like a luck of the draw - depending on if you had been reviewed up until that point, which depended on a lot of factors NOT having to do with interview date or application quality, would determine if you were to find out in December or February. At least that was my interpretation of it.
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I got somewhat of the same impression, although they led us to believe that the foremost factor determining whether you get reviewed is interview date. However, I do not hesitate to believe many other factors go into that and none of us will ever know for certain how they decide who is reviewed.
 
XFitWraith said:
I got somewhat of the same impression, although they led us to believe that the foremost factor determining whether you get reviewed is interview date. However, I do not hesitate to believe many other factors go into that and none of us will ever know for certain how they decide who is reviewed.
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I interviewed in September and they told us we may not hear anything until Feb and that not hearing back in December isn't necessarily a bad thing (i.e. You may get accepted with the Feb decisions).
 
I can't believe the first round of decisions are coming so soon. Good luck to everyone!!

Also, I'm in need of a bit of advice. A month ago, I sent Vandy an update letter with a paragraph briefly mentioning how much I loved the school. Do you guys think sending separate letter of interest (which would essentially answer "Why Vandy") would be overkill?
 
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Person0715 said:
I can't believe the first round of decisions are coming so soon. Good luck to everyone!!

Also, I'm in need of a bit of advice. A month ago, I sent Vandy an update letter with a paragraph briefly mentioning how much I loved the school. Do you guys think sending separate letter of interest (which would essentially answer "Why Vandy") would be overkill?
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I don't see an issue with it. They seem very receptive to letters of interest and updates.
 
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karayaa said:
Maybe then they'll send more secondaries...? But idk how it would work with the deadline.

Did anyone get a secondary yesterday?
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Hi karayaa,

I was very discouraged by this thread because like you I had not heard whether Vanderbilt would offer me a secondary. I've heard so many wonderful things about them that I opted to call today rather than give up hope (I'm an optimist). The admissions officer with whom I spoke told me that they inform EVERYONE of a yes or no in terms of offering a secondary. He looked up my AMCAS number and told me that a decision had not yet been made on my file. I'm not sure where you lie, but I suspect I'm a bit of a borderline case. While I did receive secondaries from some heavily screening, reputable schools (UCLA, UCSF and UCSD), they might place more strength on other parts of my application.

For comparison to see if you might also be a similarly complicated case:

I received 2 UC Berkeley undergraduate degrees (2 bachelor's, one molecular and cell biology). My earlier and overall GPAs were pretty weak (cGPA 3.1, sGPA 2.8 at Cal, cGPA 3.44 sGPA 3.43). I also worked 30+ hours a week and got a 4.0 the last 3 semesters and am doing full time school and 35+ hours a week this semester. I have 3 years as a pharm tech and started as a scribe this semester. I obtained research experience in the corporate world, a year of part time public health research work and a year of part time academic research work. And I have old and recent medical volunteering. MCAT 35.

Bottom line, there's still hope. The admissions officer with whom I spoke said that Vanderbilt sought to make all decisions related to (offering interviews?) by December 15, 2014. Their admissions process is semi-rolling according to the admissions officer. Apparently, it began as rolling and those in the last 2 decision groups (a month apart) will not be rolling. I recognize this is confusing because if all decisions as to whether to offer interviews is made by December 15, 2014, that means that there is nothing left to roll. I got the sense that the admission officer was growing frustrated/annoyed with my many questions, so I thanked him for his time and got out of there. I can't imagine it's an easy job.

Anyway, I just thought you and other holdouts for Vandy might appreciate an update.

There's still hope!
 
benkahuna said:
Hi karayaa,

I was very discouraged by this thread because like you I had not heard whether Vanderbilt would offer me a secondary. I've heard so many wonderful things about them that I opted to call today rather than give up hope (I'm an optimist). The admissions officer with whom I spoke told me that they inform EVERYONE of a yes or no in terms of offering a secondary. He looked up my AMCAS number and told me that a decision had not yet been made on my file. I'm not sure where you lie, but I suspect I'm a bit of a borderline case. While I did receive secondaries from some heavily screening, reputable schools (UCLA, UCSF and UCSD), they might place more strength on other parts of my application.

For comparison to see if you might also be a similarly complicated case:

I received 2 UC Berkeley undergraduate degrees (2 bachelor's, one molecular and cell biology). My earlier and overall GPAs were pretty weak (cGPA 3.1, sGPA 2.8 at Cal, cGPA 3.44 sGPA 3.43). I also worked 30+ hours a week and got a 4.0 the last 3 semesters and am doing full time school and 35+ hours a week this semester. I have 3 years as a pharm tech and started as a scribe this semester. I obtained research experience in the corporate world, a year of part time public health research work and a year of part time academic research work. And I have old and recent medical volunteering. MCAT 35.

Bottom line, there's still hope. The admissions officer with whom I spoke said that Vanderbilt sought to make all decisions related to (offering interviews?) by December 15, 2014. Their admissions process is semi-rolling according to the admissions officer. Apparently, it began as rolling and those in the last 2 decision groups (a month apart) will not be rolling. I recognize this is confusing because if all decisions as to whether to offer interviews is made by December 15, 2014, that means that there is nothing left to roll. I got the sense that the admission officer was growing frustrated/annoyed with my many questions, so I thanked him for his time and got out of there. I can't imagine it's an easy job.

Anyway, I just thought you and other holdouts for Vandy might appreciate an update.

There's still hope!
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Daaang. Thanks for sharing this!
I don't think I'm quite as complicated as you, but this is super encouraging! Good luck! 🙂
 
Do yall think that Vanderbilt will issue some scholarships with the first wave of acceptances next week or wait til the end of the cycle to give scholarships?
 
CTU Surgeon said:
Do yall think that Vanderbilt will issue some scholarships with the first wave of acceptances next week or wait til the end of the cycle to give scholarships?
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On my interview day (late Sept), they said that if accepted in the first wave you'll get a call mid-December, and if you get a scholarship they'll call you again in late December/early January.
 
tenniseagle92 said:
On my interview day (late Sept), they said that if accepted in the first wave you'll get a call mid-December, and if you get a scholarship they'll call you again in late December/early January.
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+1, they told my group in September that it'd be approximately one week after your acceptance call.
 
tenniseagle92 said:
On my interview day (late Sept), they said that if accepted in the first wave you'll get a call mid-December, and if you get a scholarship they'll call you again in late December/early January.
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Interesting, I got the impression at my November interview that scholarship decisions would be much later.
 
Additionally, in the past, it seems that the scholarships came out on the same day as the offer.
 
So I received the 2ndary and completed it early July. Still no word of II or rejection. Any others in the same boat? I called and was told my app is still under review...

Have there been any rejections yet?
 
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Abstractions said:
I find it funny (and slightly frustrating) how variable our information is >.<
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Well, my comment was just based on last year's thread, indicating that past data seems to be more consistent with at least some offers coming out in December.

Regardless, although it has crossed my mind, it shouldn't be the main concern when the scholarship offers come out! I am excited to hopefully hear good news from Vanderbilt though.
 
I was also told in my mid-Oct interview day that the 3/4 scholarships would be distributed on the day you were admitted.
 
karayaa said:
Daaang. Thanks for sharing this!
I don't think I'm quite as complicated as you, but this is super encouraging! Good luck! 🙂
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Thanks! And to you! Not many are as complicated as I am. It's not entirely by choice. 😛

I figured that the folks in the thread like us might appreciate an update and a little ray of hope. By us, I mean folks that haven't heard anything yet. Still nothing today. I almost called, but I didn't want to bother them. I will probably call when it's been a week and ask how often they are okay with me calling to check my status.
 
So on the FAQ page they gave as at the interview, it says to send a pdf of publications to the admissions office if you're published, "but, don't feel obligated to do so"...is it worth doing that at this point when they're probably going to release the first wave of decisions in a few days? Has anyone done so? And if so, do you literally just send an email saying something like "Hi, I've been published! Here's my article!" or is it customary to send an entire update letter?
 
pianosa said:
So on the FAQ page they gave as at the interview, it says to send a pdf of publications to the admissions office if you're published, "but, don't feel obligated to do so"...is it worth doing that at this point when they're probably going to release the first wave of decisions in a few days?
To me, yes. Depends on how you feel about your app
Has anyone done so?
And if so, do you literally just send an email saying something like "Hi, I've been published! Here's my article!" or is it customary to send an entire update letter?
the former, in a slightly more professional tone
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