2015-2016 University of Arizona - Phoenix Application Thread

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At the risk of increasing anxiety, I have to share this with you all.

Our committee met for round 2 decisions today (those interviewed on 9/14 and anyone retained from 8/31). I must say that today's admissions committee meeting blew me away! I am so proud of their fairness, advocacy and determination to appreciate the breadth of life and experiences that lead to the making of an amazing physician! Grades are not the end-all to your path! Resiliency, grit, communication, kindness, team work are more important than the MCAT or total BCPM.

We do make tough decisions and not everyone moves forward, but I promise you it does not happen without tremendous thought and attention to every-single-little-detail in each application.
 
UA COM Phoenix said:
At the risk of increasing anxiety, I have to share this with you all.

Our committee met for round 2 decisions today (those interviewed on 9/14 and anyone retained from 8/31). I must say that today's admissions committee meeting blew me away! I am so proud of their fairness, advocacy and determination to appreciate the breadth of life and experiences that lead to the making of an amazing physician! Grades are not the end-all to your path! Resiliency, grit, communication, kindness, team work are more important than the MCAT or total BCPM.

We do make tough decisions and not everyone moves forward, but I promise you it does not happen without tremendous thought and attention to every-single-little-detail in each application.
Click to expand...

Wait so another round of interview invites and rejections have been made? or post-interview decisions only?
 
UA COM Phoenix said:
At the risk of increasing anxiety, I have to share this with you all.

Our committee met for round 2 decisions today (those interviewed on 9/14 and anyone retained from 8/31). I must say that today's admissions committee meeting blew me away! I am so proud of their fairness, advocacy and determination to appreciate the breadth of life and experiences that lead to the making of an amazing physician! Grades are not the end-all to your path! Resiliency, grit, communication, kindness, team work are more important than the MCAT or total BCPM.

We do make tough decisions and not everyone moves forward, but I promise you it does not happen without tremendous thought and attention to every-single-little-detail in each application.
Click to expand...

This is one of the reasons I really like UACOM-Phoenix; the faculty and staff truly seem to care about the quality of the physicians made at UACOM-Phoenix, not just whether or not their physicians are intelligent. Thank you for all the work you do to try to admit people who will become caring and well-rounded physicians that will be good to their patients.
 
partlytejano said:
Wait so another round of interview invites and rejections have been made? or post-interview decisions only?
Click to expand...

Post-interview decisions and will be announced on Monday.

Interview and pre-interview decisions are bi-weekly at this point.
 
Hey Dr. Cunningham! Thanks for all your work.

I was curious if you could comment on how applicants are evaluated post-interview and what puts applicants into the admit/defer/reject category.
 
order66.exe said:
Hey Dr. Cunningham! Thanks for all your work.

I was curious if you could comment on how applicants are evaluated post-interview and what puts applicants into the admit/defer/reject category.
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This question is a tough one to answer - it takes 5 hours to orient a new committee member to this answer and weeks of practice. Here's my best attempt:

22 people assess each application in 6 domains and on a scale. Every inch of your application informs the assessment and it's safe to say that the MMI results are a decent portion of the process. Accepts receive the most general consensus, holds vary and rejections just don't make the overall cut.
 
Dr. Cunningham (@UA COM Phoenix ) -

What is the admission committee's view on applicants sending in an update? I have been involved in a new endeavor since mid-August that I feel is quite compelling. I did not include it in my AMCAS application or my secondary application to the school because I had not yet started it and did not want to talk about something I had not yet gained experience in. What is the best means of letting the committee know about this, if there is any? Thanks
 
Not sure. But the exact opposite happened to me. I interviewed on the first day of interviews for Phoenix and got accepted on the first day of acceptances for Phoenix. Tucson told me they were going to hold on to my application and possibly interview me later on in the process or something like that. I'm also an AZ resident so it seems like there might be some type of communication.
 
futuredoctor2010 said:
Not sure. But the exact opposite happened to me. I interviewed on the first day of interviews for Phoenix and got accepted on the first day of acceptances for Phoenix. Tucson told me they were going to hold on to my application and possibly interview me later on in the process or something like that. I'm also an AZ resident so it seems like there might be some type of communication.
Click to expand...

Our schools are separate and neither coordinate decisions nor discuss any applicant.
 
@UA COM Phoenix, when will the admissions tracker be updated? I'm anxious to know if there are any more out of state interviews to be given out
 
Round 2 decision have been released. This round included interviewees from 9/14, as well as anyone retained from Round 1 (interviewees from 8/31). Round 3 decisions will be released on November 16.
 
ACCEPTED!!! I think I made everyone at the gym very uncomfortable when I ran outside shaking like a leaf and crying when I got the phone call! Hahaha! SO EXCITED!!!

Congrats asquared and anyone else who heard good news today! I'm so excited to meet you all! :highfive:
 
Post interview rejection 11/2, interviewed 9/14. LizzyM ~67. Congrats to everyone who got acceptances today and good luck to those still waiting!
 
Hi, everyone 🙂
I interview in 2 weeks! Does anyone have any recommendations of hotels near the school? I am scrambling to find hotels that are close but not crazy expensive..
 
JulietteLilly1220 said:
Hi, everyone 🙂
I interview in 2 weeks! Does anyone have any recommendations of hotels near the school? I am scrambling to find hotels that are close but not crazy expensive..
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The close hotels are all crazy expensive except for Hotel San Carlos.
 
The light rail is connected to downtown so you can stay outside downs town for pretty cheap.
 
Elynn said:
ACCEPTED!!! I think I made everyone at the gym very uncomfortable when I ran outside shaking like a leaf and crying when I got the phone call! Hahaha! SO EXCITED!!!

Congrats asquared and anyone else who heard good news today! I'm so excited to meet you all! :highfive:
Click to expand...


Yeah...I did the same thing in an evening class. It's a smaller class so the teacher just asked what happened and I announced it to the whole class. Haha Seriously the best feeling in the world, this is easily one of my top choices.
 
JulietteLilly1220 said:
Hi, everyone 🙂
I interview in 2 weeks! Does anyone have any recommendations of hotels near the school? I am scrambling to find hotels that are close but not crazy expensive..
Click to expand...
Hi! I don't know if you are flying in, but I got a flight + hotel deal where my hotel was practically free when I booked them together on expedia and I stayed at the Hyatt Regency, about 2 blocks from the school. It was great- I took light rail from the airport to the hotel, walked to my interview in the morning, and light railed back to the airport after the interview. If you're not flying, I'm not sure you could get such a cheap deal. I considered staying with a current student but when I've done that at other interviews, I've really struggled getting a good night's sleep so I took advantage of the deal I found. All the current students are SO NICE and if you're not flying and can't find a good hotel deal, you should consider taking advantage of the hosting program. You're just going to love this school- I am blown away after my interview yesterday. Good luck!!
 
TheLionheart said:
We have a student hosting program that's free!
Click to expand...

Do you know how long it takes to be matched up with a student host? I submitted a request a few weeks back when I received the II but have not heard back. My interview is on the 16th of this month. Should I go ahead and just book a hotel? Thanks 🙂
 
jess07 said:
Do you know how long it takes to be matched up with a student host? I submitted a request a few weeks back when I received the II but have not heard back. My interview is on the 16th of this month. Should I go ahead and just book a hotel? Thanks 🙂
Click to expand...

Hi, contact the Office of Admissions and Recruitment and we'll see if we can get you an update from our STARs, or Student Ambassadors. You can call 602-827-2005 and ask for Katie.
 
FINALLY got my rejection from U of A Phoenix today. Can't say I wasn't expecting it, but it's nice to finally have this loose end tied up.
 
Dr.Pilot said:
FINALLY got my rejection from U of A Phoenix today. Can't say I wasn't expecting it, but it's nice to finally have this loose end tied up.
Click to expand...

at this point I wish I was you... I just want any med school to give me a response; may it be an II, hold; heck I'll be even happy if they told me they tossed it into the trash!!!

This wait this cycle is driving me bat-**** insane!!
 
Does anyone know how many people look at your application pre-interview? If no decision was made after the initial review, how often are they looked at again?
 
UA COM Phoenix said:
Hi SDNers. The formerly used SDN profile (UA Phoenix Med) is linked to a decommissioned email address (and I had forgotten my password - retrieving it failed), leaving me to create a new profile. Please let me introduce myself and why I am on SDN.

I am Dr. Tara K Cunningham, associate dean for admissions and recruitment at UA COM - Phoenix. I am also the co-chief diversity officer and an assistant professor, teaching the first block for both the MD and Pathway students, and just hit my 9-year anniversary mark with the medical school. This is my third or fourth year contributing to the Phoenix-specific thread and I do so as a way to communicate our process, policies, information and school in the space that so many of our future students rely on for accurate information. We have amazing students who also contribute and have really helped out in my electronic absence! I use to passively observe the angst and frustration of SDNers until I just couldn't stand it any more. So. My purpose in participating is to help you. I will try to check this thread and any PMs daily, but it is like a part-time job, so forgive me if I am slower some days. I will also encourage you to reach out to our amazing staff any time you have a question - we are approachable, helpful and if you ever experience something different, let me know! You can write us at [email protected] or call at 602.827.2005.

We will interview 330 students this year over 10 applicant visit days (just finished the 2nd day yesterday). We did send out the first round of final decisions today (pre-interview releases) and as I said in the email message, the news is hard to share. It is not a message that I like to send and hope that telling you today will allow you to fully focus your energy elsewhere. We will send these decisions monthly (no specific date). Interview Invitations are sent every two weeks (no specific date). I and a few other committee members are kept to a very tight schedule by my staff who works hard to ensure your file is thoroughly (THOROUGHLY) reviewed. In fact, a file is reviewed three times before an interview decision is made.

Often I am asked about prerequisite courses: which courses will work, where should you take them, etc. We are purposely broad in our coursework approach and I encourage you to review our website for those details. If we receive your application and have a question, we will reach out to you.

I do hope you continue to bring positive energy to the thread. It is sad to see some others filled with anger, rudeness or just good ole' fashion unprofessionalism. The medical education world is small and it does absolutely no good to be mean. Just doesn't. So, be brave, bold and always humble.
Click to expand...

thephoenixrises said:
Does anyone know how many people look at your application pre-interview? If no decision was made after the initial review, how often are they looked at again?
Click to expand...
 
I was wondering if anyone wanted to discuss their opinion of the distributed clinical model. I can see the advantage of moving through multiple clinical sites, but I can also see the disadvantages. I am not sure which I would prefer. Does anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons of this model of training?
 
Cawolf said:
I was wondering if anyone wanted to discuss their opinion of the distributed clinical model. I can see the advantage of moving through multiple clinical sites, but I can also see the disadvantages. I am not sure which I would prefer. Does anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons of this model of training?
Click to expand...

What are your questions regarding the cons? I can try to answer them.

I'll respond with more of my thoughts on the model later when I have a little more time for a better response.
 
TheLionheart said:
What are your questions regarding the cons? I can try to answer them.

I'll respond with more of my thoughts on the model later when I have a little more time for a better response.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I guess I am not really sure about the cons, more, are there any? I think I have a romanticized version of clinical education in my head that involves a large academic center. It is what I am familiar with, not using a variety of sites. Here are a few questions I can think of.

-How is your time split up between the sites? Is it Hospital A for IM, Hospital B for Peds, Hospital C for Surgery, etc? Or does a single rotation consist of time split between multiple sites?

-Is it not a pain to learn new EMR systems and meet new staff?

-What about the addition of driving time to your busy third year?

These of some of the questions I have about the clinical model. I would love to hear anyone's thoughts. Thank you.
 
Cawolf said:
Thanks. I guess I am not really sure about the cons, more, are there any? I think I have a romanticized version of clinical education in my head that involves a large academic center. It is what I am familiar with, not using a variety of sites. Here are a few questions I can think of.

-How is your time split up between the sites? Is it Hospital A for IM, Hospital B for Peds, Hospital C for Surgery, etc? Or does a single rotation consist of time split between multiple sites?

-Is it not a pain to learn new EMR systems and meet new staff?

-What about the addition of driving time to your busy third year?

These of some of the questions I have about the clinical model. I would love to hear anyone's thoughts. Thank you.
Click to expand...


I can answer some of these since I've done some clinical sites....I'm still a few months away from third year though. A first year may not know some of the answers yet.

1) your time split up between the sites depends on what your assignment is and track I believe as well. I think your description is accurate to a point but I'm unsure of the specifics yet. I can tell you more once the second years get their third year schedules in a couple of months. I can give you a clear example now though. For Psych, you would do your adult rotation at a site (it could be A B or C) then you would do your child at either the site you were at or site D. So you could potentially have to go to another site in the same rotation.

2) the pain depends.....I personally see that a lot of EMR are very similar to each other and can learn them quickly. I've seen EMR in job settings before school and I've worked on them in clinics and my preceptors office during first and second year. They're so similar that it wasn't an issue to learn the differences.

3) Our clinical sites aren't super far apart so driving to me is not an issue. Most of us live downtown and within a ten mile radius you have St. Joe's, Maricopa, Hospice of the Valley, the VA, PCH and Banner. Its not really as spread out as you may think. I can get from Maricopa to Banner in 10-15 minutes. I can get home from Banner in 10 minutes. You can get from any of these places to campus in under 30 with traffic.
 
Last edited:
@BamaNicole

I really appreciate your insight, thank you.

I am not accepted here, but I am considering all of my options. I really enjoyed interview day, except I felt the clinical rotations were not explained well and there was no tour of the biomedical campus.
 
I am just hoping to hear back soon but at least I know I will hear something in about month if I get an interview or not!
 
Cawolf said:
Thanks. I guess I am not really sure about the cons, more, are there any? I think I have a romanticized version of clinical education in my head that involves a large academic center. It is what I am familiar with, not using a variety of sites. Here are a few questions I can think of.

-How is your time split up between the sites? Is it Hospital A for IM, Hospital B for Peds, Hospital C for Surgery, etc? Or does a single rotation consist of time split between multiple sites?

-Is it not a pain to learn new EMR systems and meet new staff?

-What about the addition of driving time to your busy third year?

These of some of the questions I have about the clinical model. I would love to hear anyone's thoughts. Thank you.
Click to expand...

I will preface this with the fact that I'm a first year, so I cannot speak first hand to how the rotations themselves are. I can still try to answer them as best I can, along with why I think these aren't necessarily cons.

1. @BamaNicole did a good job explaining this. We have the opportunity to rotate at several great institutions. Phoenix Children's Hospital, Barrow Neurological Institute, Banner, etc.

2. I can't speak to this personally as my experience with EMRs is essentially limited to the training sessions we've had with Epic as first years so far. I will say that if you are an attending physician with privileges at multiple hospitals, it is very likely you will be having to navigate different EMRs depending on which of your hospitals you happen to be in. If you end up trying to apply to a residency where doing away rotations is more common (e.g. ortho), then you'll be at a new hospital in a new city with a potentially different EMR. Having experience with different systems could make that technological transition easier for you.

3. Driving time is entirely dependent on where you live. I live ~7 min of driving from the school, and am within ~10min of Phoenix Childrens, the VA, Banner UMC-P, County, Barrow, etc. So most of our clinical partners are very, very close to the school and downtown area.

I think what a lot of people worry about when they don't have a hospital that's physically connected to the medical school is that they worry about the availability of attendings and then research as well. As first years, we've had plenty of interest group events, lunch talks, dinners, breakfasts, etc. where we've been able to meet with physicians from across the spectrum. Many of our lecturers are also clinicians, and it's common to speak with them before and after lecture. In terms of research, myself and several other first-years are already involved in multiple research projects beyond what is required of us in the scholarly project, and we're only ~5 months in. Make no mistake, if you want to be prolific in terms of research, you can be.
 
I just wanna wave a white flag now.... just a little over the 3 month mark....

:arghh: 😢:scared:
 
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