2014-2015 Virginia Commonwealth University Application Thread

[dr.0ne]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Got the secondary today. It was quite a short one. Good Luck All! I have heard this is a fantastic school!

do they e-mail you or do you have to check the website to find out if you got one?

 

[thethreeheadeddragon]

do they e-mail you or do you have to check the website to find out if you got one?

I think he said that he was mistaken about which thread he was on and that he didn't actually receive one from VCU yet.

 

[yankees527]

Just got secondary!

 

[sundancing]

Secondary received!

 

[kjw1024]

Me too!!!! Good luck 🙂.

 

[kjw1024]

Same prompt as last year in case anyone is interested!

 

[NYerrr]

-

 

[whoadude]

Anyone else having issues logging in?

 

[IL Pre Med]

Wow are you guys really writing 8000 characters on this essay? Haven't started it yet but I doubt I can write that much

 

[daenschl]

Secondary received. Applying OOS.

 

[whoadude]

Anyone else having issues logging in?

Never mind figured it out. 😛

 

[yankees527]

From last year's thread looks like it's a rough screening. People with 3.6 and 35 not offered it

 

[investmentdoc]

From last year's thread looks like it's a rough screening. People with 3.6 and 35 not offered it

Really? Wasnt aware of that. Anyone else know about screening here

 

[death prophet]

I got the secondary. To those who also got it, did we pass a screen?

 

[sunflower18]

No secondary here. 3.96, 33. Bummer. Hopefully I'll get it later.

 

[death prophet]

No secondary here. 3.96, 33. Bummer. Hopefully I'll get it later.

Don't sweat it. My numbers are WAYYYY below yours. You'll get it eventually.

 

[ManjuEm]

Just received the secondary.

On the MSAR it's stated that only screened applicants get a secondary, but I don't know what kind of screen it is. I just assumed it was to make sure you weren't below a 3.0 or something, since I received a secondary even though my numbers weren't that great.

 

[chromealt]

.

 

[thethreeheadeddragon]

Got the secondary! I guess I can only put off this essay for so long, right? Not the easiest one to complete. And 8000 characters is pretty ambitious! It's going to be hard to muster even half of that.

 

[lovereading]

Was the essay the same as last year? About your friend having a curable cancer or something?

yes, same as last year

 

[claduva94]

Gotta get the creative juices flowing!

 

[rpc275]

I am a re-applicant here and I just received the secondary for this cycle. I was interviewed last cycle but I am still on the wait list. I am not sure how to go about answering the secondary essay since it is the same as last year. I don’t really want to submit the same essay as before, but I can’t see another way I could answer it. Any advice?

 

[ManjuEm]

I had a quick question. On the secondary they ask about your preference for the Inova hospital rotation and I was wondering if there was anything particularly special about that? Like, is there something you can only get out of that rotation? I just noticed that it says you can't change your mind later on, so I wanted to make sure that I won't regret my choice later.

 

[katniss09]

Do they still use their scoring system to decide who gets secondary/interview, etc.?

 

[dr.0ne]

For this question,
A family member or friend comes to you to discuss a curable cancer for which they are considering alternative/ complimentary medicine options. What would be your next steps?

Are we answering from the perspective of a current pre-medical student/applicant

 

[Ace Khalifa]

No secondary here. 3.96, 33. Bummer. Hopefully I'll get it later.

Don't worry, I didn't get the secondary yet either. My stats are 3.73, 36, so pretty comparable to yours. I'm hoping we both get it. We should just work on any other secondaries we already have (that's what I'll be doing lol).

 

[ShabbaRanks]

I want to apply here, but this secondary is an interesting/ time consuming one it appears.

 

[sundancing]

Wow are you guys really writing 8000 characters on this essay? Haven't started it yet but I doubt I can write that much

I know someone who wrote 3000 characters for it last year and still got an interview. It's not worth stretching it out to 8000 characters if you can make your point in less than that. You don't want to be rambling.

 

[shishy]

Submitted secondary!

EDIT: I read in the previous year threads that people used like a third of the space. I ended up using 3,500 characters but honestly, I think they just give you 8,000 characters in case you think you need that much. General wisdom I guess is use whatever space you need.

 

[JingleChips]

Anyone else notice how they spelled "complementary medicine" incorrectly as "complimentary medicine" in their secondary? lolololol


still very excited for this school. I didn't prewrite this essay because I thought it might be one that changes... so off I go writing!

 

[Member 0922]

I am a re-applicant here and I just received the secondary for this cycle. I was interviewed last cycle but I am still on the wait list. I am not sure how to go about answering the secondary essay since it is the same as last year. I don’t really want to submit the same essay as before, but I can’t see another way I could answer it. Any advice?

If it were me, I wouldn't give a different opinion than you did last time. But there's always room for improvement so I'm sure you could rewrite it and overall say generally the same thing, but present it in a new way.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Received email today saying I could submit a secondary. It looked pretty simple to me. Only one essay?

 

[Heplayer92]

There's also a "Please briefly explain any lapses in your undergraduate education"

 

[ct303]

I had a quick question. On the secondary they ask about your preference for the Inova hospital rotation and I was wondering if there was anything particularly special about that? Like, is there something you can only get out of that rotation? I just noticed that it says you can't change your mind later on, so I wanted to make sure that I won't regret my choice later.

They ask your preference but it plays no role in the admissions decision. You can change it before the final date in July but I suggest just researching the options and then deciding. It all depends on what you are looking for!

 

[rhythmisadancer]

There's also a "Please briefly explain any lapses in your undergraduate education"

Ya, lol... "lapses"... is that a nice way of saying 'please explain why you did poorly in ______'? I'd prefer not to answer that lol.

 

[rhythmisadancer]

Also, do their instructions indicate that we can't use paragraph spacing as it would be removed in plain text format? They say "formatting", and I presume that includes paragraph spacing.

 

[ct303]

There's also a "Please briefly explain any lapses in your undergraduate education"

Use that space to explain any breaks in your education. I took two years off of school so I explained that there.

 

[sundancing]

Ya, lol... "lapses"... is that a nice way of saying 'please explain why you did poorly in ______'? I'd prefer not to answer that lol.

I interpreted "lapses" to mean time taken off from school, but you could be right. Anyone know what this question means for sure?

 

[katniss09]

I interpreted "lapses" to mean time taken off from school, but you could be right. Anyone know what this question means for sure?

Agreed - some clarity would be nice. Do they also mean time off from school as in what you did after graduation if you are non-trad?

 

[ct303]

Yes, lapses=time off.

 

[Osteoth]

Don't worry, I didn't get the secondary yet either. My stats are 3.73, 36, so pretty comparable to yours. I'm hoping we both get it. We should just work on any other secondaries we already have (that's what I'll be doing lol).

When were you guys verified?

 

[sundancing]

Agreed - some clarity would be nice. Do they also mean time off from school as in what you did after graduation if you are non-trad?

Hmm now I'm wondering if I should write what I'm doing in my gap year. I just graduated from undergrad.

 

[hoihaie]

received secondary, 32 and 3.43,, so I doubt the screen is that high

 

[vcu0602]

Hey all! Good luck on your application process. If you all have any specific questions about VCU I can take a stab at answering them. I am a current 3rd year medical student here and can hopefully offer some insight. I know looking at these threads really helped me when I was applying/deciding so hopefully I can help some of you all 🙂

 

[Ace Khalifa]

When were you guys verified?

I was verified 6/5. Yeah, I was one of those who submitted AMCAS the first day.

 

[blackkrim]

Hey all! Good luck on your application process. If you all have any specific questions about VCU I can take a stab at answering them. I am a current 3rd year medical student here and can hopefully offer some insight. I know looking at these threads really helped me when I was applying/deciding so hopefully I can help some of you all 🙂

Thanks for being here! I'll start off with some generic ones: What do you like best/least about VCU? What are some of the unique opportunities available at VCU and in Richmond?

I'm OOS and have never been to Richmond, but I watched some of VCU's videos online and I was very impressed.

 

[Mananambal_G]

There's also a "Please briefly explain any lapses in your undergraduate education"

In addition to timeline lapses, do you think they want things about a lower MCAT score (28)?

 

[claduva94]

In addition to timeline lapses, do you think they want things about a lower MCAT score (28)?

No I don't think they want it.

 

[vcu0602]

Thanks for being here! I'll start off with some generic ones: What do you like best/least about VCU? What are some of the unique opportunities available at VCU and in Richmond?

I'm OOS and have never been to Richmond, but I watched some of VCU's videos online and I was very impressed.

What I like best is they are very focused on making you do well and learning as much as possible. The administration are always offering help and receptive to change. I always had all the help and support I needed to make it through the first two years and prepare and take Step 1. They have higher than national average board scores which shows how well they teach you. Also the school is non-competitive in that the classes are Pass/Fail (though they call it Competency Achieved/Not Achieved), though they still keep track of class quartiles. All of my classmates and other year students share study guides, pdfs of materials, and hints and tricks to help everyone do their best.

What I like least is that there are a lot more team based learning activities now (a recent change in curriculum) than traditional curriculum which are purely lecture based. This is purely a personal preference though, I know many people love this. To be fair you do get used to it and learn to thrive in the environment its just very different from lecture based learning/college.

Some of the unique opportunities are getting to participate in a variety of programs such as HOMBRE (summer mission trips), RAM clinic (summer rural health), International and rural health program (all 4 years of med school for people interested in urban or rural health), and the INOVA rotation program, as well as a large variety of research opportunities available.

Also the campus in actually located on the MCV campus which is not the same as the undergrad one (about 2 miles away) so you will be surrounded by other health students not undergrads which I enjoy. Richmond is great fun there is always something going on. Richmond loves it's festivals!

They are also very welcoming of out of state students, half my class is OOS.

Another big perk is we just got a new (opened last year) 11 story building which is beautiful and state of the art!

 

[pink/\floyd]

Received secondary earlier today.