2015-2016 University of Tennessee Health Science Center Application Thread

BU Medical Sciences
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I think the mail may be a little backed up in some places due to the post office taking Veteran's Day off.

whipstitchmd said:
No, the acceptance (possibly any decision?) comes in a large envelope. The survey is in a small standard envelope. Both were clearly labeled on the outside as to what they were (the big envelop had a "congratulations, acceptance inside" label on it so there wasn't much guess work to be done.
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From speaking with other people who have applied here, acceptances can come in small envelopes too. Do not judge the contents of the envelope by its size.
 
I've read that in the past they typically only send secondaries to those they plan on interviewing. Is that true, or just accepted hearsay?
 
Aspiro said:
I'm part of the group that they'll be discussing tomorrow - not sure if that's what you mean. I think they said they'll try to mail the letters out by Wednesday before Thanksgiving!
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yeah that's what I meant. I'm excited and good luck!
 
Interviewed last week--they said they would discuss on Friday, and mail letters this Wednesday.
 
they only let you know like a week ahead and I think they are not even half way done with interview dates!
 
AnchorDown3 said:
Any personal comments about your interview experience? How many people were in your group?
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I got the II on Saturday evening for the following Wednesday--not much time to get my schedule figured out! Fortunately, I'm in-state, so not too difficult to get there. I interviewed with 2 faculty members, got to sit in on a second year lecture, got a tour, talked to med students at the provided lunch. It was a good experience.

We had about 7 or 8 in our interview group. Mostly they had already graduated and were working or doing a masters or research. There were 2 or 3 still in school. Mostly in-state--one or two out of state. I think we had one re-applicant who only interviewed with one faculty member.
 
Does UTHSC prefer its first-years to use a certain make of computer? I was looking into deals for Black Friday...
 
mheard92 said:
Getting on the road to drive 12 hours home for thanksgiving! Come on UT! Send me an II for next week so I don't have to make the trip twice!
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You could have sent an in the area notification, worked for me!
 
Doug Underhill said:
Does UTHSC prefer its first-years to use a certain make of computer? I was looking into deals for Black Friday...
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No. However I would not recommend a Surface unless it was a Pro because it has trouble using the Bradford persistent agent that all UT schools (and many other across the nation) use to register devices on their network. Chromebooks often also have difficulty with this. As long as you keep in mind that the cheaper computers usually compensate with cheaper made hardware and/or adding a fair amount of bloat-ware to the OS (lenovo has even added bloat ware the the bios in recent history). Find one you like and take advantage of the IT Center if something goes wrong. I currently work at one of the UT IT departments and that is what I'm basing my response on.
 
Mcatastrophic said:
No. However I would not recommend a Surface unless it was a Pro because it has trouble using the Bradford persistent agent that all UT schools (and many other across the nation) use to register devices on their network. Chromebooks often also have difficulty with this. As long as you keep in mind that the cheaper computers usually compensate with cheaper made hardware and/or adding a fair amount of bloat-ware to the OS (lenovo has even added bloat ware the the bios in recent history). Find one you like and take advantage of the IT Center if something goes wrong. I currently work at one of the UT IT departments and that is what I'm basing my response on.
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This is a very helpful reply from someone "in the know"- thanks. So, the Surface Pro 4 would be OK, then? What about an iPad Pro?

If you have any suggestions, those would be appreciated. I like the Surface Pro because of the drawing capabilities, Windows 10, and the superior power to many other tablets.
 
Doug Underhill said:
This is a very helpful reply from someone "in the know"- thanks. So, the Surface Pro 4 would be OK, then? What about an iPad Pro?

If you have any suggestions, those would be appreciated. I like the Surface Pro because of the drawing capabilities, Windows 10, and the superior power to many other tablets.
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Just my 2c, but I think you don't really need a tablet for med school. By the time you buy an iPad pro with keyboard and smart pencil, you can get a comparable MacBook Pro with a retina. And in general, you will use a computer with a full OS more fully than a tablet with enhanced drawing capabilities. In my experience using an iPad throughout college, it can be done, but the scaled-down OSs on tablets and subsequent lack of support for plugins and other 3rd party software is a pretty big hindrance. A lot of companies get around this by developing apps for tablets, but that is in its infancy for academic services such as those mentioned above and is largely hit or miss. If I were buying one right now, I'd go for a MacBook Pro with retina. Most institutions that I've visited either support Mac or offer Parallels in order to run any software you need.

Edit: I also work for IT support, albeit for a college, not a med school.
 
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Doug Underhill said:
This is a very helpful reply from someone "in the know"- thanks. So, the Surface Pro 4 would be OK, then? What about an iPad Pro?

If you have any suggestions, those would be appreciated. I like the Surface Pro because of the drawing capabilities, Windows 10, and the superior power to many other tablets.
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If you are getting a device as your primary computer, then I really don't recommend a tablet. The Surface Book is closer to a tablet but its a laptop, its actually very nice. This really will come down to personal preference. It can go much deeper than that but usually that takes on a different level of research that still needs to be personalized to what you want.
I look for repair-ability in my computers since I usually fix any hardware stuff by myself, but since you probably wont be doing that, you will be looking for different things than I will- hence its hard to really recommend the perfect fit for you.
Gambino01 is right, you will want a full OS if its your only computer, its just nice to work with in the long run.
The whole Mac vs a Windows/Linux PC is basically personal preference unless you are doing graphic design stuff. I don't foresee them giving you any software that you cant run on both, unless you are doing some bioinformatics stuff and then you would be putting Linux on your machine anyway.
One thing I would recommend is to make sure to look at the ports you will have on the computer. You don't want to have only 1 USB type C port and that's only used by like, three devices right now and then have to buy an expensive converter to use other devices. Other than that, I'm sure you are already taking into consideration price differences so I would just hope you find one that is portable as well as comfortable to you. Good luck!
 
Will the mail come today? I checked last year's thread and it seems like the letter was sent out wednesday and everyone received it on Friday of last year. I checked the mail yesterday and nothing. I'm going to wait till the mailman come today too. Hopefully I don't have to wait all the way until Monday to find out!
 
Thpinky said:
Will the mail come today? I checked last year's thread and it seems like the letter was sent out wednesday and everyone received it on Friday of last year. I checked the mail yesterday and nothing. I'm going to wait till the mailman come today too. Hopefully I don't have to wait all the way until Monday to find out!
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Mail just ran. Survey letter arrived, but that's all.
 
I noticed the II stresses that a lot of walking will be required and to bring comfortable shoes. Can anyone comment on how much walking really was required? and any advice from ladies on what you did about heels/flats?
 
medhopeful82 said:
I noticed the II stresses that a lot of walking will be required and to bring comfortable shoes. Can anyone comment on how much walking really was required? and any advice from ladies on what you did about heels/flats?
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I just checked my phone and I walked 5.25 miles on interview day.

I'm a guy so I can't comment on the heels thing but I imagine you would want comfortable shoes.
 
medhopeful82 said:
I noticed the II stresses that a lot of walking will be required and to bring comfortable shoes. Can anyone comment on how much walking really was required? and any advice from ladies on what you did about heels/flats?
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Yeah they have a fairly large campus and they take you on a walking tour of it, including their hospitals. As a guy, my dress shoes were fairly comfortable, but I have seen many women on my interview journey bring a purse big enough for their heels, and they switch into flats before tours.
 
Does anyone know how it affects you if you put in an "in the area" notice for an interview? I don't want to put myself at a disadvantage by basically asking for an interview
 
aarthur3 said:
Does anyone know how it affects you if you put in an "in the area" notice for an interview? I don't want to put myself at a disadvantage by basically asking for an interview
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I did that and they were happy to work me in. I of course waited until after I submitted my secondary and then looked at the dates they had interviews and picked the one (or few if you are in town a while) that worked for me. I emailed admissions a very polite email along the lines of "I submitted my secondary... blah blah... if I'm selected to interview, it would be convenient for me to interview on these days because I will be in town."

Interview Dates: https://www.uthsc.edu/Medicine/Admissions/schedules/interview-dates.pdf
 
Got a survey letter on Saturday, but no decision... Anybody know anything from the Admissions office? Maybe they didn't make it through all the applicants in their pre-thanksgiving meeting?
 
Runner453 said:
Got a survey letter on Saturday, but no decision... Anybody know anything from the Admissions office? Maybe they didn't make it through all the applicants in their pre-thanksgiving meeting?
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Survey email means a decision was reached and that Mrs. Harris postmarked both the survey letter and decision letter. I've seen on previous years' threads that some people got their letters together, while others received their letters separately.
 
AnchorDown3 said:
Survey email means a decision was reached and that Mrs. Harris postmarked both the survey letter and decision letter. I've seen on previous years' threads that some people got their letters together, while others received their letters separately.
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Ok. I'll just have to be patient a bit longer then. 🙂
 
Gambino01 said:
Nothing here today, hoping for it tomorrow...
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Where are you located, if you don't mind me asking? I'm assuming that the discrepancy in letter arrival is due to distance the mail has to travel from Memphis.
 
I'm in Chatt.--do you happen to know if the survey letter comes from Memphis as well (I threw away the envelope--still have the survey)? I'd expect them to take the same amount of time to arrive.
 
Runner453 said:
I'm in Chatt.--do you happen to know if the survey letter comes from Memphis as well (I threw away the envelope--still have the survey)? I'd expect them to take the same amount of time to arrive.
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Both letters should have been sent from the admissions office, I'd assume. My survey letter reached Knoxville on Saturday, so I have my fingers crossed that my parents find another letter in the mail this afternoon.
 
AnchorDown3 said:
Where are you located, if you don't mind me asking? I'm assuming that the discrepancy in letter arrival is due to distance the mail has to travel from Memphis.
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OOS, But stuff from here to Memphis is usually pretty quick.
 
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AnchorDown3 said:
Both letters should have been sent from the admissions office, I'd assume. My survey letter reached Knoxville on Saturday, so I have my fingers crossed that my parents find another letter in the mail this afternoon.
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Good luck! Let us know if it comes!
 
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