2015-2016 Rush Medical College Application Thread

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Oh_Gee said:
were those internships about helping the community? it's a long shot but you can argue research, in the long run, benefits the community
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Not really 😕 I'm wondering if I should even bother submitting the secondary as the only thing close to "community service" on my app is hospital/clinic volunteer work, but I don't think that counts.
 
Thoracic Bean said:
Not really 😕 I'm wondering if I should even bother submitting the secondary as the only thing close to "community service" on my app is hospital/clinic volunteer work, but I don't think that counts.
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Hmm... clinical volunteering doesn't count as community service? then I'm in big trouble too!
 
Just got the secondary. My passport photo makes me cringe... but what can I do.
 
does everyone's status for LoR say "not received"? i don't understand. i sent my letters to AMCAS last month and every other school had marked mine as received
 
I received a secondary. Not filling it out due to the MCAT min 🙁
 
How is everyone addressing the question about what you learned through your medical/nonmedical activities and how it would contribute to the Rush community?

I feel like it's difficult because all my experiences I listed were very different from each other and if I addressed each activity and what I learned, it would definitely go above the word limit and probably sound very choppy....
 
Can someone please clarify the way LORs are reviewed? The secondary application says "Please note we are only able to process the required recommendations, as set forth above. We are unable to process any additional/extra recommendations.".
I've got a letter packet from my university, a graduate school letter, and 4 other LOR's. Does this mean if I choose the letter packet option, only those letters will be reviewed? If I choose the "3 Individual Letters" option, can I pick 3 letters among all my letters including the ones in the letter packet? This is very confusing
 
For those of you worried about the community service/heathcare requirement:

I think that since the term "Healthcare Exposure" is used, this leads me to believe that any sort of shadowing would be covered under this category, especially since the term "Community Service" is listed separately. That's just my interpretation though.
 
omnxbeast said:
Can anyone speak (perhaps any current students) about what makes Rush great? They happen to be really great in my preferred specialty (lots of good research opportunities; place well in residency of it), so I am really interested in learning more! Thanks team.
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I'm an incoming M1 and I loved Rush (obviously haha). When I came for my interview day it was so clear to me rush did things differently - the head of admissions knew the names of students, and the culture was very "family like" which is an aspect Rush really promotes themselves on. When I went for my long interview, my interviewer seemed genuinely interested in my life, and asked me a lot of questions on my college experience, my hobbies, what I did for fun....it was much more comfortable than any of the other interviews I went on. Now as for the academics-- Rush is very focused on their students, and actually has a student advisory board that suggests changes/works with faculty. They have different electives that all sound super interesting - Sonography, medical humanities, and research elective. There is something called "the physicianship" program where over the first 2 years of med school we meet with a primary care physician a few times a month. Additionally, there are a TON of volunteer activities, and all med students are expected to find one that they will participate in, but there is really something for everyone from music ensembles that perform in the hospitals, to free clinics... Also I think one of the pro's Rush has going for them is that they have 2 clinical sites that are both walking distance from the school (one is literally right across the street, the other across a parking lot), so you don't have to run all over Chicago to do your rotations. When I came back for second look again the faculty were very into making us feel at home, we had a little gathering at the President's house where current students eased our fears and answered lots of questions, met the president and his dog 🙂

I don't have all the answers b/c I have yet to start school (we start August 5!!) but those are some of the reason's I chose to attend Rush. Good luck all!
 
Does anyone who goes here know whether the classes are lecture or small-group based?
 
The minimum MCAT is a 27 according to a previous post, but I don't know if they screen. MSAR usually has that kind of information!
 
@coldcase331 @BLACKMD They don't screen for secondaries but they say they screen for the MCAT after filling out the secondaries. This is kind of confusing. I am planning on giving them a call and asking them if they will consider <27 or I shouldn't bother applying. I will let you guys know what I am told.
 
It said right in the email that the min is 27/503. I wouldn't bother paying the fee if they will autoscreen after that.
 
Question for anyone else using RMC's email for questions: what is your experience on their turn around?

I sent something last Tuesday and am still waiting, wondering if this is normal. Thanks!
 
Applying with 2000 hrs of clinical, 1200 community service and a small research poster..hopefully this will be enough (waiting for my MCAT score!)
 
ThinkReallyFast said:
Question for anyone else using RMC's email for questions: what is your experience on their turn around?

I sent something last Tuesday and am still waiting, wondering if this is normal. Thanks!
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I would email them again...I emailed the admissions office today and received a response a few minutes later.
 
Damn, deciding if I should even submit a secondary there...Volunteer hours is the weakest part of my app
 
So they want us to submit letters to their school, and then state the names of our letter writers in the secondary?
Isn't that redundant?
 
Does anyone have any background in how they view AmeriCorps terms in conservation corps/environmental corps? I would guess favorably as community service despite being completely removed from anything very people-related, right? I worked restoring public parks. I guess it's kind of a service to the community, though most of our work was in areas visitors couldn't go.
 
Submitted and complete! Hoping for an II, but who knows. Wish interviews were on Fridays and not Wednesdays since I'd have to fly and then I could take my time getting back and not worry about missing class, but c'est la vie.
 
Do you think it'll hurt if the three most important volunteering experiences I've had are only medical? I know Rush really emphasizes the volunteering and I'm worried that not selecting both medical and non medical might hurt me?

Thoughts?
 
Is it bad to select only 1 most meaningful volunteer experience? It really stands out and I have a lot to say about it. The others were not as important to me
 
Hey! Does anyone know what the min MCAT score is for the new mcat? I saw 27 for the old but not sure what it is for the new. Thanks!
 
Submitted Secondary! Not sure where/if my application should say "Complete" but everything's in. Here's to waiting!
 
lakjks said:
Hey! Does anyone know what the min MCAT score is for the new mcat? I saw 27 for the old but not sure what it is for the new. Thanks!
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I believe it is 503 for the new MCAT
 
cactusinmyhead said:
Is it bad to select only 1 most meaningful volunteer experience? It really stands out and I have a lot to say about it. The others were not as important to me
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I'm having a similar problem in that I have two experiences that are most meaningful whereas the third one doesn't relate as much. Thoughts anyone on whether we should talk about all three or just stick to the ones that were most meaningful to us?
 
cactusinmyhead said:
Is it bad to select only 1 most meaningful volunteer experience? It really stands out and I have a lot to say about it. The others were not as important to me
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Fascie said:
I'm having a similar problem in that I have two experiences that are most meaningful whereas the third one doesn't relate as much. Thoughts anyone on whether we should talk about all three or just stick to the ones that were most meaningful to us?
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It says we can list up to 3 so I assumed that it was not absolutely necessary to list 3. I only listed 2 since both had 400+ hours (one medical, one non-medical) and all my other meaningful experiences were less than 50 hours so I didn't bother mentioning those. (I did spend 700+ hours in an acapella group but unfortunately that doesn't count as volunteer experience lol)
 
rukia013 said:
It says we can list up to 3 so I assumed that it was not absolutely necessary to list 3. I only listed 2 since both had 400+ hours (one medical, one non-medical) and all my other meaningful experiences were less than 50 hours so I didn't bother mentioning those. (I did spend 700+ hours in an acapella group but unfortunately that doesn't count as volunteer experience lol)
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Yeah I ended up just doing the one. My others were all under 50 hours so it seems insincere to list them as super meaningful.
 
i have a question:

ever since my freshman year of college, i've been heavily involved in a peer listening group that also advocates for mental health awareness at my college. the peer listening service is for students of the college, though. does this count as "community service" despite it being to my college student community only?
 
wavvvvvves123 said:
i have a question:

ever since my freshman year of college, i've been heavily involved in a peer listening group that also advocates for mental health awareness at my college. the peer listening service is for students of the college, though. does this count as "community service" despite it being to my college student community only?
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of course!
 
starlite911 said:
Is it bad I almost didn't apply because of this?
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Not at all, I think it's totally warranted. At least for me, a program's website is my first impression of the school as an applicant. If the school can't put the time and energy into creating a site that makes me interested in applying, why should I bother? Especially when they ask for my specific interest in the program and what opportunities I would take advantage of as a student. I realize it's a seller's market with regards to admissions, but a crappy site definitely gives a bad first impression to a generation of relatively web-savvy applicants.

Applying here anyways though #hypocrisy
 
.
 
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Can anyone explain the different between the first two prompts? Seems like they are asking many of the same things.
 
vanic1852 said:
Can anyone explain the different between the first two prompts? Seems like they are asking many of the same things.
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The first question asks you to specifically address experiences/attributes regarding interaction with people of a different culture. The second is more general and asks about how your community service experiences would contribute to the entering class. There can be overlap; the first question is just a bit more specific 🙂
 
I was a Peer Mentor for my school's University Honors program for two years. It was an unpaid position in which we mentored first year honors students. Can this be categorized as community service?
 
Can anyone comment on how whether there are opportunities to be involved in research as a med student/how supportive the school is? Thanks!
 
CI45454554 said:
Can anyone comment on how whether there are opportunities to be involved in research as a med student/how supportive the school is? Thanks!
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They have a research elective, as well as research fellowships for the summer between M1 and M2. There is a 4 year ongoing "capstone" project that can be research based. You can get a lot of your questions about this answered during interviews!
 
Edit: nvm false alarm 🙁
 
the passport photo copy can be black and white right?
 
Finally submitted this secondary! Was sitting on it for 3 weeks... blah
 
I'm submitting a letter packet from my undergraduate institution. My packet contains four letters. Will this cause a problem, since Rush requests a maximum of 3 individual letters? Will the fourth letter be read, since it is part of a packet?

Also, what should I enter here?: Please enter the name of the recommender the Committee on Admissions should review. Is this just the person from my undergraduate institution that prepared my letter packet?

EDIT: It seems that if I choose the Letter Packet option, it gives me three lines to fill out with the names of my recommenders. Since I have four letters, I guess I will have to choose 3. What happens if I choose three, and the fourth letter in the packet is extremely negative. Will that hurt my application? Or will they not use it since I didn't list it as one of the three?
 
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