2015-2016 Pennsylvania State University Application Thread

Med School Insiders
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For anyone who has received the acceptance packet, is there some sort of time frame that you must accept your acceptance or return a form to them?
 
Hold status today.... post-interview.

Is Penn State receptive to LOIs? I know they don't allow updates beyond transcripts, which is not-applicable to me.
 
Last time i applied here i was put on hold.. i havent heard back from them yet i hope its a good sign..
 
I got a II just now. OOS, LizzyM ~68. I'm probably going to withdraw, because I got into a school closer to home. Hope one of you guys gets my spot!
 

Interview dates are February 17th, 19th and 22nd. And I have no idea if I was on hold... I had kinda lost hope with this school and stopped checking the portal a few months ago.
 
Mansamusa said:
It seems like I was correct. If you're not on hold, you are still in the running for a II. I just received one

Edit: And they were scheduling for the 2nd week of Feb and had 3 interview days that week. It seems like still have a good amount of interview spots left
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Congratulations !!
Are you IS or OOs? stats if you don't mind. Thanks
 
On post-interview hold. Does anyone know when you hear back?
 
mcrtn50 said:
On post-interview hold. Does anyone know when you hear back?
Click to expand...

Also got the post-interview hold today. I interviewed less than a month ago... not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing.

I went back through the entire thread and no one that had a post-interview hold has been accepted yet. Also, no one reported being rejected post-interview.
 
To the people that have interviewed here: was your interview open-file or closed-file?
 
I interviewed Jan. 13 when should I be hearing back? (anyone else interview on that day?)

An additional tab doesn't automatically mean an acceptance?
 
I received the pre-II "Continue to Review" email last week. Not sure how to take it. Spring hold is usually a positive thing at other schools before mass rejections but it seems like many of you think it's a polite rejection with no hope? What's the general consensus on the pre-II "continue to review" status?
 
got the continue to hold pre-II email today 🙁
 
Hagrid12 said:
Yea, mine is gone too but the "additional info" tab is still there. Hmm wonder why they took it down?
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It did still have the white coat date from last year.... Maybe they never meant to put it up in the first place
 
What did y'all think of this school?

Not gonna lie it was by far my least favorite place I visited. Everything from the remote location to the fact that the med school felt like a high school.
 
NeverStressedAlwaysHappy said:
What did y'all think of this school?

Not gonna lie it was by far my least favorite place I visited. Everything from the remote location to the fact that the med school felt like a high school.
Click to expand...

Interested as to what you mean re "felt like high school".

Students did seem younger than at other schools.

My thoughts:

Positives: very well-regarded hospital, multiple research opportunities, very responsive and friendly faculty, reputation for curriculum innovation and responsiveness to students, low COL, "on campus" housing, one major hospital (no need to travel unless you want to), reputation for significant, positive community involvement and a student body that is mostly happy. The tuition is also at the low-end (relatively) for OOS students.

Cons: location. You need a car to get anywhere except the hospital. Penn State really feels rural, although it's close to Harrisburg.

So many important positives, but that location.....
 
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sunset57 said:
Interested as to what you mean re "felt like high school".

Students did seem younger than at other schools.

My thoughts:

Positives: very well-regarded hospital, multiple research opportunities, very responsive and friendly faculty, reputation for curriculum innovation and responsiveness to students, low COL, "on campus" housing, one major hospital (no need to travel unless you want to), reputation for significant, positive community involvement and a student body that is mostly happy. The tuition is also at the low-end (relatively) for OOS students.

Cons: location. You need a car to get anywhere except the hospital. Penn State really feels rural, although it's close to Harrisburg.

So many important positives, but that location.....
Click to expand...

The med school itself felt very old and underfunded. There were cork boards with construction paper displays on them and they legit had the same lockers I had at my HS.

I also didn't really mesh well with the students I don't think. That, and their match list was far from impressive. Even for the MD/PhDs (I was accepted to their MD/PhD) they didn't even report numbers for where their students matched.

Actually I felt like they purposefully tried to mislead us because they didn't give us a full match list, but just gave us something to this effect:

Places our students have placed in the past:
UCSF
Hopkins
Harvard
Etc..

With no numbers or placement for each year.

Definitely my least enjoyable interview this season. What I will give this place though, is that everyone really was incredibly nice and happy (faculty and students).
I just don't know if I'd be happy myself, especially because I'm hoping to land in a big city. (Yet to be accepted to a school in a if city, unless you count buffalo)
 
What is the best (cheapest) way to get to Hershey? Flying into Harrisburg is expensive
 
oceANN815 said:
Got my letter in the mail today!! Additional info tab 2/1. Now I can be excited for real! :soexcited:
Click to expand...
jpsturg said:
What is the best (cheapest) way to get to Hershey? Flying into Harrisburg is expensive
Click to expand...

I flew in from Nevada and chose the Philadelphia airport. For some reason, the flights there are significantly cheaper. I flew in the day before, rented a car for $27 ($15.00 gas roundtrip) and drove the 2 hour drive to Hershey. Stayed at a hotel about 5 minutes away from the medical center so on the day of the interview I wasn't stressed. The difference in price was significant. $650 roundtrip (with multiple connections) compared to $230 (no connections, which is a must imo if you are flying in the day before).

I checked on expedia and I was getting the $650 price as my best shot, but when I called them directly they mentioned this $230 flight. Albeit it was Spirit airlines, but when you are on a budget and just trying to get to the interview it doesn't matter. I would try calling expedia directly, it really helps sometimes.
 
NeverStressedAlwaysHappy said:
The med school itself felt very old and underfunded. There were cork boards with construction paper displays on them and they legit had the same lockers I had at my HS.

I also didn't really mesh well with the students I don't think. That, and their match list was far from impressive. Even for the MD/PhDs (I was accepted to their MD/PhD) they didn't even report numbers for where their students matched.

Actually I felt like they purposefully tried to mislead us because they didn't give us a full match list, but just gave us something to this effect:

Places our students have placed in the past:
UCSF
Hopkins
Harvard
Etc..

With no numbers or placement for each year.

Definitely my least enjoyable interview this season. What I will give this place though, is that everyone really was incredibly nice and happy (faculty and students).
I just don't know if I'd be happy myself, especially because I'm hoping to land in a big city. (Yet to be accepted to a school in a if city, unless you count buffalo)
Click to expand...

Like the above post shares, match lists are available online. I'd call those stats pretty impressive.... Maybe they didn't want to bore with actual numbers on interview day since they're available for your perusal online.
 
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Nick_Nov said:
Like the above post shares, March lists are available online. I'd call those stats pretty impressive.... Maybe they didn't want to bore with actual numbers on interview day since they're available for your perusal online.
Click to expand...

I really didn't see it as impressive at all... They had about 15 people place at what I'd say were competitive programs, and most of those were in like psychiatry of IM.

Also they didn't have the match info for MD/PhD
 
NeverStressedAlwaysHappy said:
I really didn't see it as impressive at all... They had about 15 people place at what I'd say were competitive programs, and most of those were in like psychiatry of IM.

Also they didn't have the match info for MD/PhD
Click to expand...

If you do not like the program, then don't go... No one is forcing your hand.
 
NeverStressedAlwaysHappy said:
I really didn't see it as impressive at all... They had about 15 people place at what I'd say were competitive programs, and most of those were in like psychiatry of IM.

Also they didn't have the match info for MD/PhD
Click to expand...

I think it's hard to tell when you don't know all of the factors that go into play. From what I've heard, when you're looking at match lists, you should consider if people are placing in specialties that are generally considered "competitive" to get into. Specialties like ophthalmology, surgery (ortho, plastics, thoracic, etc), anesthesiology, dermatology. From 2014 list, there are 25 that placed in one of those... not including an additional 11 in general surgery. Just thought I'd share just in case someone is reading this forum and is misconstrued in thinking this school isn't capable of providing the necessary tools to place well. Also, don't forget placing is largely based on your individual performance and abilities. I'm one to believe that if you're at a school you're comfortable at and that fits your desires, you have a better chance at being successful in the matching process 🙂
 
Nick_Nov said:
I think it's hard to tell when you don't know all of the factors that go into play. From what I've heard, when you're looking at match lists, you should consider if people are placing in specialties that are generally considered "competitive" to get into. Specialties like ophthalmology, surgery (ortho, plastics, thoracic, etc), anesthesiology, dermatology. From 2014 list, there are 25 that placed in one of those... not including an additional 11 in general surgery. Just thought I'd share just in case someone is reading this forum and is misconstrued in thinking this school isn't capable of providing the necessary tools to place well. Also, don't forget placing is largely based on your individual performance and abilities. I'm one to believe that if you're at a school you're comfortable at and that fits your desires, you have a better chance at being successful in the matching process 🙂
Click to expand...

Good point, thanks!
 
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