2015-2016 Vanderbilt University Application Thread

[gt93]

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Perhaps people are returning to their home states

 

[Cytokine2014]

Or moving to be with family (spouses, kids etc)


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[gt93]

So US News rankings for 2017 came out. Vandy went down to 15.. which is basically no change. NYU is surprising. They went from like 22 to 11 in like 2 years. Has vandy always ranged around the 15 mark?

 

[Nymphicus]

Match list this year was heavy on surgical subspecialties, particularly neurosurgery and ENT. Also, more FM matches than in recent history (yay for new family medicine interest group!).

This year had more people going NE (Boston in particular) and West coast with less to Midwest and South than usual. Doesn't mean anything except reveal this class's geographical preference.

The lack of general surgery seems to be a trend this year.

yes

Perhaps people are returning to their home states

yes

Or moving to be with family (spouses, kids etc)

yes

 

[Cytokine2014]

Alright y'all, have any of you made your decisions yet?

They must be starting a little early because I just got the call!

I just got the call as well! Does anyone know when they talk to you about merit scholarships? If it's during the call then I guess I'm not getting any money haha.

Got the phone call from Jennifer!

Congrats, all!

At the risk of being slightly cynical, I wonder if they are waiting a day or two until they are able to see where else people are holding acceptances before they offer merit packages. Or did any of these new calls include merit offers?

(My understanding is that the Multiple Acceptance Report is updated once per business day.)

Accepted with 75% scholarship at 1pm pacific via call from David Bader. Had to bring up financial aid, not sure if he was going to mention it over the phone or was waiting until end to be dramatic.

Missed the call earlier! Called back but no answer. Anxiously waiting

Got the call Friday - accepted with a scholarship! I'm not entirely sure of what I said on the phone, but I'm confident that it in my shock and excitement it was utterly nonsensical. I still can't believe it.

Good luck to everyone! Hopefully there will be some more good news today.

Oops...apparently I missed two calls from Jenn between Friday and today, but I received an e-mail from her today with news of receiving the 75% tuition scholarship!

I interviewed mid-January.

Good luck to the rest of y'all!

Got a call last night from a current student asking if I had any questions about Vandy post-acceptance; I thought this was a nice gesture! They said that details about second look are going to be emailed out very soon.

Edit: to clarify, I was accepted in December.

I got a phone call because I had been hounding them for a while and was on a deadline to make my decision based on my research funding. Still no email but just the phone call and a portal update, finally!

I have had a couple nightmares that it wasn't for real since I have yet to see an official letter.

yeah i was wondering the same thing. I was gonna maybe browse during second look weekend but also don't know how people usually go about finding roommates.

Same, but Vandy won the coin toss 🙂

 

[gt93]

I'm still debating between Vandy and another school. Hopefully second look weekend will make my decision for me.

 

[p0gono]

Alright y'all, have any of you made your decisions yet?

I withdrew a couple weeks ago.
Really enjoyed Vandy, but I realized I had cheaper choices and those that were better fits for me (geographically and academically).

 

[zedsdead]

Alright y'all, have any of you made your decisions yet?

Pretty sure I'm coming here. Wish I could come to second look, but I'm confident this is the right fit for me.

 

[Ochemphd]

Alright y'all, have any of you made your decisions yet?

95% sure I'm coming here barring a miracle, last minute scholarship at another school. It'd be 100% if Vandy had made it to the NCAA tournament.

 

[jagster92]

95% sure I'm coming here barring a miracle, last minute scholarship at another school. It'd be 100% if Vandy had made it to the NCAA tournament.

They made it I think, just didn't get past the first four

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[panda16]

I'm still debating between Vandy and another school. Hopefully second look weekend will make my decision for me.

Same. Going to both of their second looks. I registered for the second look at Vandy but now I'm second guessing that because I actually got an incredibly accurate (and positive) picture of the school during my interview weekend.

 

[D2D]

Alright y'all, have any of you made your decisions yet?

99.99999999999999% going to Vandy... 0.00000000000001% I die on the way to there 😉

So US News rankings for 2017 came out. Vandy went down to 15.. which is basically no change. NYU is surprising. They went from like 22 to 11 in like 2 years. Has vandy always ranged around the 15 mark?

I feel You-us Snooze could probably make any school top ten by simply playing with their data and projecting it in a different way, just like how Stanford jumped into top 3 a couple of years ago, or NYU jumps 12 spots because they supposedly pulled in a lot of "research funding" which allegedly is compensation for damage from hurricane Sandy. I don't know the facts in either case, but this whole ranking thing seems to be bogus in many ways. I don't know why schools (including Vandy) trumpet it so much...possibly because premeds like us buy into the hype hook line and sinker!

 

[abyss1]

Alright y'all, have any of you made your decisions yet?

I'm definitely coming to Vandy. Top school + full scholarship. couldn't be more thankful.

 

[172714]

I'm definitely coming to Vandy. Top school + full scholarship. couldn't be more thankful.

Same here! Have you started looking for apartments yet?

 

[Annaleise]

Alright y'all, have any of you made your decisions yet?

I'm waiting to hear from UT since my husband got transferred to Memphis...even though in my mind it's Vanderbilt >>> UT (but I've been working in a lab here for three years and am comfortable and in love with Nashville, in general).
However, if I can cut tuition in half and be with my husband it'll be tempting.

 

[Nymphicus]

Medical students’ residency locations revealed at Match Day
http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2016/03/medical-students-residency-locations-revealed-at-match-day/

 

[Nymphicus]

I have some downtime for a few days. Feel free to post or PM questions about Vanderbilt, Nashville, rotations, applying for residency, or anything at all really.

 

[canttellmenothin]

I have some downtime for a few days. Feel free to post or PM questions about Vanderbilt, Nashville, rotations, applying for residency, or anything at all really.

Which curriculum did you go through? Even if you weren't part of 2.0 was there any difference in step 1 scores for the first class to go through it? And how do students seem to like taking step 1 after all their clerkships?

Is the CBL in the curriculum basically what is called PBL at some other schools or is somehow different? Has it been a been a good complement to lecture material?

How do you like the relatively small class size? Does it ever feel small to you or no?

 

[Nymphicus]

Which curriculum did you go through? Even if you weren't part of 2.0 was there any difference in step 1 scores for the first class to go through it? And how do students seem to like taking step 1 after all their clerkships?

Is the CBL in the curriculum basically what is called PBL at some other schools or is somehow different? Has it been a been a good complement to lecture material?

How do you like the relatively small class size? Does it ever feel small to you or no?

- I was part of curriculum 1.5 (hybrid). I am not sure what the differences in step scores were. The administration did send out pleased-sounding emails saying how well both 1.5 and 2.0 did on the USMLE's.

- I would figure that PBL/CBL/TBL are all pretty much the same thing. Personally I like studying with a core group of friends rather than in a structured setting, but I think it's at least better than all day lectures.

- The small class feels like high school all over again. But I think medical school will feel like this in general. It's going to be a relatively small group of people (as compared to college) who all take the same classes together for four years...sound familiar? But the upside of a small class is you really get to know faculty and the faculty get to know you by name. Makes for a more supportive environment where it's harder to just "blend in."

 

[olive24]

to those of you who have been accepted, about how long after the phone call did it take for snail mail to arrive? also, was there anything besides a "welcome to Vanderbilt" letter included (i.e. brochures, financial aid info, an outline of next steps to take, etc.)? I was accepted off the WL last week and haven't gotten anything yet, and the portal is not super helpful, haha

 

[D2D]

to those of you who have been accepted, about how long after the phone call did it take for snail mail to arrive? also, was there anything besides a "welcome to Vanderbilt" letter included (i.e. brochures, financial aid info, an outline of next steps to take, etc.)? I was accepted off the WL last week and haven't gotten anything yet, and the portal is not super helpful, haha

it is all posted on the website: https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/md-admissions/welcome-class-2020

look at the helpful resources tab on the right that also has financial aid application process.

 

[panda16]

to those of you who have been accepted, about how long after the phone call did it take for snail mail to arrive? also, was there anything besides a "welcome to Vanderbilt" letter included (i.e. brochures, financial aid info, an outline of next steps to take, etc.)? I was accepted off the WL last week and haven't gotten anything yet, and the portal is not super helpful, haha

Waitlist movement already!!! That's pretty good

 

[olive24]

it is all posted on the website: https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/md-admissions/welcome-class-2020

look at the helpful resources tab on the right that also has financial aid application process.

Thank you!!

Waitlist movement already!!! That's pretty good

I know, right? I was shocked to say the least

 

[hp8]

I was accepted off the WL this past week, also shocked!!

 

[Lisha]

Does Vanderbilt give out full-tuition merit scholarships, or only 50-75%?

 

[dontcellout42]

I was accepted off the WL this past week, also shocked!!

For those who got accepted off WL, congrats! Did you send letters of intent to the adcom?

 

[olive24]

For those who got accepted off WL, congrats! Did you send letters of intent to the adcom?

I had sent an update letter between my interview and the February acceptance calls, but not a real letter of intent.

 

[D2D]

Does Vanderbilt give out full-tuition merit scholarships, or only 50-75%?

Word on the street is that there are 6 full tuition scholarships this cycle.

 

[hp8]

For those who got accepted off WL, congrats! Did you send letters of intent to the adcom?

I had sent an update letter in January (just grades/activities--I didn't indicate any sort of intent). I didn't send adcom anything in between getting wait listed and getting accepted.

 

[D816V]

For those who have received merit scholarships from Vandy, did you ever receive a letter/email confirming this or was this only by phone at the time of acceptance?

 

[mrowmrow]

Has anyone gotten their financial aid award information yet?

 

[zedsdead]

how was second look?

 

[panda16]

Has anyone gotten their financial aid award information yet?

Yep! Came in a week and a half ago.

how was second look?

Utterly awesome. Nashville rocks and Vandy seems like a great place to get a medical education.

 

[Cytokine2014]

Anyone heard about WL movement?

 

[canttellmenothin]

Anyone heard about WL movement?

I was accepted off the waitlist a couple of weeks ago and was able to make it to second look (which was amazing btw ). I think a couple other people were too if you look back a few posts. Don't know when/if there will be more.

 

[zedsdead]

Utterly awesome. Nashville rocks and Vandy seems like a great place to get a medical education.

Anything you learned that you didn't realize on interview day?

 

[panda16]

Anything you learned that you didn't realize on interview day?

I had a really good impression and idea of the school from my interview, and all of those things were reinforced. An increased emphasis on Wellness was evident though, it was communicated very clearly by med students and lived out to the fullest. It was also good to go through the CBL, it seems like a constructive use of students' time.

 

[Cytokine2014]

I was accepted off the waitlist a couple of weeks ago and was able to make it to second look (which was amazing btw ). I think a couple other people were too if you look back a few posts. Don't know when/if there will be more.

definitely saw that! was just curious about since then. it's a waiting game!

 

[ResidencyHopeful123]

Can anyone speak to Vanderbilt's willingness to match financial aid (i.e. merit-scholarships) from other institutions?

 

[zedsdead]

Can anyone speak to Vanderbilt's willingness to match financial aid (i.e. merit-scholarships) from other institutions?

Sadly, they don't match merit scholarships under any circumstances.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Any advice for the next round of applicants? Sinai and Vanderbilt are pretty much tied for my #1 total dream school choice.

 

[Cytokine2014]

So do we think that everyone who wasn't accepted outright is sitting on the waitlist?

 

[wanderyonder]

Just withdrew, best of luck to all on the waitlist!!!! You all deserve a shot

 

[mrowmrow]

Any advice for the next round of applicants? Sinai and Vanderbilt are pretty much tied for my #1 total dream school choice.

Have a high MCAT score and in the secondary essay, make sure that the values that you write about are in line with the ones at the school (they are big on student wellness/work-life balance...)

 

[iyin0991]

Housing starting in June. Approximately 10 mins from Vanderbilt:

http://nashville.craigslist.org/apa/5559927365.html

 

[panda16]

Going to withdraw here monday after a really long deliberation. Tough decision. Hope that one of you gets my spot off the WL!

 

[rusticcitrus]

Has anyone heard anything?

 

[piii]

Has anyone received an email asking them to remove themselves from other schools waitlists? Can they even tell whether accepted students have are on the waitlist at other schools? I'm asking for friend Who is accepted at Vanderbilt but on the waitlist at some other school they're interested in

 

[zedsdead]

Has anyone received an email asking them to remove themselves from other schools waitlists? Can they even tell whether excepted students have are on the waitlist at other schools? I'm asking for friend Who is accepted at Vanderbilt but on the waitlist at some other school they're interested in

Yeah I got that email. It didn't say so explicitly, but I think they meant it as a reminder to remove yourself from waitlists at schools that you don't plan to attend, not necessarily from all waitlists. So schools can have an accurate picture of who is still up in the air.

 

[cxz7893]

Yeah I got that email. It didn't say so explicitly, but I think they meant it as a reminder to remove yourself from waitlists at schools that you don't plan to attend, not necessarily from all waitlists. So schools can have an accurate picture of who is still up in the air.

.