2015-2016 Virginia Commonwealth University Application Thread

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Anomandaris said:
Just called VCU and spoke with someone really nice who definitively explained the process to me. Hope this clears up some stuff for some of you who keep throwing around your wild theories.

Primary --> Screen --> Secondary --> Screen by sub-committee --> Assigned to Committee member (some are more busy than others which will explain review date discrepancies) --> II/Rejection.

At no point will you be moved on to the next stage without an update unless it's a glitch. The previous review --> review --> under review status update that a lot of people got was due to the movement from sub-committee to a Committee member.

She also mentioned those who submitted in July (OOS) should hopefully hear back within a month at this point.
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Great, thanks for sharing!
 
Anomandaris said:
Thank for your patronizing comment that literally adds nothing to this discussion.
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I guess the second part adds nothing, but the extreme sense of entitlement seems alarming, especially as I hope to call you all colleagues one day. I think that a lot (not all) of people commenting about this need to take a step back and realize how absurd they sound in the grand scheme of things. Nothing about this process is easy or even entirely fair, but this is life and we are all going to have to work within a bureaucracy/administrative environment if we go into medicine. I still hold that there is a lot of entitlement in these posts recently.
 
New_Slang said:
I guess the second part adds nothing, but the extreme sense of entitlement seems alarming, especially as I hope to call you all colleagues one day. I think that a lot (not all) of people commenting about this need to take a step back and realize how absurd they sound in the grand scheme of things. Nothing about this process is easy or even entirely fair, but this is life and we are all going to have to work within a bureaucracy/administrative environment if we go into medicine. I still hold that there is a lot of entitlement in these posts recently.
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I don't know what makes you think you have the right to patronize others you have never met before. I would be far more uncomfortable working with someone who is comfortable making ad hominem attacks based off of a few posts on a forum dedicated to helping people who have worked most of their lives to achieving their dream. Will you be making snap judgments about your patients in the same way?
 
Chasing Never Land said:
The admissions office might be, but from what I hear the school itself is very functional
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thats what i meant. sorry for not being clear. Thing is I had a similar issue with another medical school last year. I submitted in late august and had to literally contact them to remind them to mark me complete three weeks after they got everything. I dont think they even bothered reviewing my app last year because of being so dysfunctional.
 
khrisskhoras said:
been a month since verification and still no secondary or rejection. Thinking I should withdraw but is anyone else in my position? Im OOS

Didnt read the whole thread but i get the idea vcu is dysfunctional.
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Humour me for a second, but what exactly is withdrawing going to accomplish?

This is a question for you and anyone else who is thinking of withdrawing...

Without withdrawing, you wait and hope to get something

With withdrawing, you just get nothing.

Unless I misunderstand the whole withdrawing thing, it hardly seems to offer any advantage to an applicant, especially in a school where secondaries are screened (ie getting a secondary means they have some real interest in you)
 
withdrawing will save me money in the event i get a secondary. i dont think ill get one and if i do i probably wont get reviewed till Obama leaves office if ever. So i essentially save 80 bucks and time on the essay and not having to worry if they will even bother to touch my applivation.
 
khrisskhoras said:
withdrawing from a school which, by the looks of it, wont give me an update until next year and a secondary invite by the time my grandkids go to college.
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Absolutely, the wait times I'm hearing about here seem longer than normal (I've only been waiting for a month so I can't even complain)

By all means, it's probably a good idea to mentally withdraw and kind of forget about VCU until they decide to give you some sort of decision.

But a formal withdrawal doesn't really seem to offer you (or anyone else considering this) any tangible benefit other than wasting the money you spent tagging VCU in your primary.

If you've decided "screw VCU", at least give yourself the satisfaction of wasting their time reviewing your app and then turning down their II 😛
 
khrisskhoras said:
withdrawing will save me money in the event i get a secondary. i dont think ill get one and if i do i probably wont get reviewed till Obama leaves office if ever. So i essentially save 80 bucks and time on the essay and not having to worry if they will even bother to touch my applivation.
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Honestly, I'd just wait it out unless you already have an acceptance somewhere else. Yes, your odds at VCU are diminishing with every passing day, but you never know if it might end up being that one acceptance you get. You've already paid for the primary so you might as well wait and see if you get a secondary. If you get a secondary, then you can decide whether or not to fill it out depending on how you're doing with other schools.
 
Legitimate gripes on this thread: cost of primary and secondary applications (both with and without FAP), not getting a secondary by now.
Not-as-legitimate gripe: not being notified by now of a decision to interview

I'd bet that everyone has at least one school where they haven't heard back regarding an II or rejection. Withdrawing at this stage may seem like a moral-victory, but what if you would've been offered an interview the next day and fell in love with that program during the interview? Is that a risk you're willing to take, just because an office with mainly volunteer application screeners and maybe 6 permanent staff that fields phone calls from 9000+ stressed applicants each year hasn't completed its review of your file? It's only September. VCU really does take a holistic approach for each applicant, and that process is inherently much more time-intensive than a hard-cutoff that other schools with similar application numbers utilize. I cannot stress patience enough during the application cycle.

VCU also utilizes an interview-feedback questionnaire where you can voice your concerns about the application process. I strongly encourage everyone who interviews to provide thorough and candid feedback so that the office can convince the administration for funding to hire more full-time staff.
 
ffxfreak13 said:
Legitimate gripes on this thread: cost of primary and secondary applications (both with and without FAP), not getting a secondary by now.
Not-as-legitimate gripe: not being notified by now of a decision to interview

I'd bet that everyone has at least one school where they haven't heard back regarding an II or rejection. Withdrawing at this stage may seem like a moral-victory, but what if you would've been offered an interview the next day and fell in love with that program during the interview? Is that a risk you're willing to take, just because an office with mainly volunteer application screeners and maybe 6 permanent staff that fields phone calls from 9000+ stressed applicants each year hasn't completed its review of your file? It's only September. VCU really does take a holistic approach for each applicant, and that process is inherently much more time-intensive than a hard-cutoff that other schools with similar application numbers utilize. I cannot stress patience enough during the application cycle.

VCU also utilizes an interview-feedback questionnaire where you can voice your concerns about the application process. I strongly encourage everyone who interviews to provide thorough and candid feedback so that the office can convince the administration for funding to hire more full-time staff.
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I'm not sure anyone is griping about not receiving an interview. A few of us have a gripe about being among the first wave of OOS students to turn in their applications and not having even been reviewed yet when there's time to review nearly every IS student regardless of when they have turned in their application. My gripe, at least, is more about the lack of review activity. I specifically turned in this app early because I know VCU gets an insane volume, but apparently turning it in early has little (not none) bearing on when you'll be reviewed. That's the frustrating part.

Mind you, the lady I spoke with today told me it takes about an hour to screen each application and considering each one goes through both a sub+full committee, that's 18000+ hours needed. I get it, it takes time, and we understand they're doing everything they can. But that doesn't make our gripe any less "legitimate" when we've made every effort to avoid the giant rush of applications. We are understanding of their situation, but a few people in here (not saying you specifically) just cannot seem to comprehend why we (the applicant) might be frustrated as well.

I still really like VCU as a school, and I've had nothing but good experiences when contacting the office, but this situation is frustrating nonetheless.
 
Anomandaris said:
I'm not sure anyone is griping about not receiving an interview. A few of us have a gripe about being among the first wave of OOS students to turn in their applications and not having even been reviewed yet when there's time to review nearly every IS student regardless of when they have turned in their application. My gripe, at least, is more about the lack of review activity. I specifically turned in this app early because I know VCU gets an insane volume, but apparently turning it in early has little (not none) bearing on when you'll be reviewed. That's the frustrating part.

Mind you, the lady I spoke with today told me it takes about an hour to screen each application and considering each one goes through both a sub+full committee, that's 18000+ hours needed. I get it, it takes time, and we understand they're doing everything they can. But that doesn't make our gripe any less "legitimate" when we've made every effort to avoid the giant rush of applications. We are understanding of their situation, but a few people in here (not saying you specifically) just cannot seem to comprehend why we (the applicant) might be frustrated as well.

I still really like VCU as a school, and I've had nothing but good experiences when contacting the office, but this situation is frustrating nonetheless.
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It's understandable to be frustrated that as an OOS who submitted early that you haven't been reviewed in the "first-come, first-serve" process that's logically assumed to take place. I believe there's something in the VCU/MCV charter where they are obligated to review Virginians before OOS residents, but I can't confirm this information. In any case, it doesn't matter when you interview as long as you put your best foot forward. If you look back through the thread to my previous posts, you'll see why this is the case.
 
ffxfreak13 said:
It's understandable to be frustrated that as an OOS who submitted early that you haven't been reviewed in the "first-come, first-serve" process that's logically assumed to take place. I believe there's something in the VCU/MCV charter where they are obligated to review Virginians before OOS residents, but I can't confirm this information. In any case, it doesn't matter when you interview as long as you put your best foot forward. If you look back through the thread to my previous posts, you'll see why this is the case.
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Yes, I know; we had this conversation just a day or two ago. It's annoying to be frequently called "entitled" by random people on their high horses and soapboxes. None of our gripes are illegitimate IMO. But we are understanding of the situation VCU's office is in, especially of the IS situation, as I've mentioned many times. Understanding, but frustrated nonetheless. What I'm not understanding of is people coming in here making uncalled for ad hominem attacks (again, not you. You have been very helpful I might add). Either way, my attempts to ignore this thread have been obviously unsuccessful. I still really hope to go to VCU as I know many people here/who went here and they all loved their experience.
 
khrisskhoras said:
been a month since verification and still no secondary or rejection. Thinking I should withdraw but is anyone else in my position? Im OOS

Didnt read the whole thread but i get the idea vcu is dysfunctional.
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At this rate you probably won't hear back till December if this is your top choice then go for it
 
I will preface this by stating that I'm way less serious about my frustration than I probably come off in my posts. I am indeed frustrated, disappointed, and irritated, but I'm also a really sarcastic person IRL and I realize that doesn't translate well on the internet.

@ffxfreak13 thank you for posting. It is definitely comforting to be reminded by current students that it isn't a race to interview first. My sense of urgency with this school specifically comes from the fact that I live more than 10 hours away from VCU and will be in the area in a little over a month. I submitted my secondary within a day of figuring out that I had received it so that if I'm fortunate enough to receive an II, I will have enough notice to schedule it while I'm in the area. I'm on the very low end of the SES (of the US population, not just the pool of med applicants), and since I've been fortunate enough to receive a few other II's this cycle, I can't afford a second trip to the Richmond area. If I had known that I would not be able to afford to interview here because the school wouldn't review my app in time and isn't receptive to ITA requests, I honestly would have applied to a different school. I'm just disappointed and even frustrated because I feel like I threw away one of my applications. (PS there are other OOS students who have received IIs already who submitted after me, went to lower ranked schools, have similar or lower numbers, etc. so I'm not sure that it's an IS vs OOS issues as much as some reviewers are way more behind than others).
 
@Anomandaris I suppose if someone is so quick to call other applicants entitled and insinuate that they would make poor classmates, then I'm not too excited to call that person my future classmate, either. I've been pretty open on this forum about my background and it's pretty difficult to be entitled to anything coming from that. I've never been called entitled before but alas, there's a first time for everything.

I will say that I adore the majority of people in this thread (and I've even met a few of you IRL!). We've been riding the VCU roller coaster together for a few months now and I appreciate having people to commiserate with and laugh with about the ridiculousness of the general application process (what other grad school goes through such a process?!). Since I can't seem to stay away from this thread either, I would like to get it back on track to a more positive atmosphere. Although I'm frustrated with the application process at VCU, I still highly respect the institution. I would love to interview here. And, as applicants,
wereallinthistogether_zpsfe029b7a.gif
 
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Checked my portal today and my status is

"The committee's file review indicates that they would like to consider your file further. We are now in the process of scheduling interviews and will continue to do so through February. Unfortunately, the committee indicates interest in far more candidates than we are able to interview. Since we are dependent on the Committee member's schedules for interview spaces, we are unable to predict when or if we will be able to schedule you this year. If your status changes, you will receive an email regarding your recent status update."

I couldn't really follow the different priorities from this thread... could someone let me know what priority this status is?
 
mazarine said:
Checked my portal today and my status is

"The committee's file review indicates that they would like to consider your file further. We are now in the process of scheduling interviews and will continue to do so through February. Unfortunately, the committee indicates interest in far more candidates than we are able to interview. Since we are dependent on the Committee member's schedules for interview spaces, we are unable to predict when or if we will be able to schedule you this year. If your status changes, you will receive an email regarding your recent status update."

I couldn't really follow the different priorities from this thread... could someone let me know what priority this status is?
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3rd in priority I believe. Are you IS/OOS?
 
Primary --> Screen --> Secondary --> Screen by sub-committee --> Assigned to Committee member (some are more busy than others which will explain review date discrepancies) --> II/Rejection.

If @Anomandaris is correct you have just been assigned to a committee member. You're almost there!
 
sandyman237 said:
Primary --> Screen --> Secondary --> Screen by sub-committee --> Assigned to Committee member (some are more busy than others which will explain review date discrepancies) --> II/Rejection.

If @Anomandaris is correct you have just been assigned to a committee member. You're almost there!
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I believe @mazarine has already been reviewed by a committee member. Only those who were reviewed by a full committee member receives one of the 4 statuses. Basically the committee member has deemed mazarine's application worthy of interest, but only at the 3rd priority level. Whether or not there's merit to putting stock into these priorities is another matter entirely. Subsets of people from all of the statuses have received II's so it's not a disguised rejection, as it were, but neither is it a particularly high priority.

This is just my own interpretation of how things have panned out so far this cycle. Might receive an II on Monday, maybe they won't have a spot, but at least mazarine's review is complete. I believe the "consider your file further" refers to the fact that the file is still active and will be continuously compared to other files as they fill up interview spots as the cycle goes on. I don't think it means there will be further review, per se, but further comparison (vis a vis priority score) to other files for an interview spot will happen.
 
Interviewing here on Monday and was wondering if those who have already visited would mind telling us about their experience. @AvrgPreMedKid @SweetFast (sorry to call you out, I'd just noticed from earlier posts that you'd interviewed!!) 🙂
 
I just checked my portal and I received an II!!!!!

What is scary is that I did not receive an email about the II and you have 7 days to schedule an interview otherwise your application will be withdrawn. SO CHECK YOUR PORTAL DAILY!

I couldn't schedule my interview until late October due to other interviews. Do you think this makes a big difference?
 
vantheman said:
I just checked my portal and I received an II!!!!!

What is scary is that I did not receive an email about the II and you have 7 days to schedule an interview otherwise your application will be withdrawn. SO CHECK YOUR PORTAL DAILY!

I couldn't schedule my interview until late October due to other interviews. Do you think this makes a big difference?
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are you is or oos?
 
vantheman said:
I just checked my portal and I received an II!!!!!

What is scary is that I did not receive an email about the II and you have 7 days to schedule an interview otherwise your application will be withdrawn. SO CHECK YOUR PORTAL DAILY!

I couldn't schedule my interview until late October due to other interviews. Do you think this makes a big difference?
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Congrats! Giving hope to us OOSer's! Some serious dedication on VCU's part though, working through the weekends.

But wish you the best of luck, and let us know how it goes once it happens!
 
I got the further status today as well...no email. Complete sometime late July. Edit OOS
 
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mazarine said:
OOS. Been under some form of review since 7/21, so I'm glad my app's at least moved forward.
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Jealous!
I'm still waiting since the 6th. Now I no longer have OOS status to blame 🙁

Looks as if the odds of me getting a chance to interview before leaving the country grow smaller everyday.
 
I checked my portal, and apparently I've been rejected from here for a while. I was sent no email or anything. Man MD competition shows no mercy. 4 Rejections and 1 Hold. lol
 
Finally marked complete. Definitely suggest to check the portal periodically, the Adcoms don't send emails often for sure.
 
purplecricket said:
Yeah, I'm interviewing soon, I have the same question! This is my first one so I'm pretty nervous :S
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SweetFast said:
I'm only 2 hours away so I drove in the morning of my interview and parked in a local lot ($7 for the day if you get there by 9 am) My interview was from 10-11am. They have big signs in the lobby of the building that lead you to the waiting room. When you come in they give you a name tape and tell you who will interview you. It's either a faculty member or a 4th year student, it seamed like my 8 person interview day was split 50/50 between the two. They also give you a folder with info about the curriculum and about Richmond. The interviewer will come pick you up in the waiting room and then take you someplace for your interview, which was really nice to make small talk and break the ice in a less formal manner before we sat down with a desk/table between us. The interview was open file and my interviewer (a MS-4) had definitely gone through everything. She asked the basic interview questions (tell me about yourself, why medicine, biggest obstacle, time I had to apologize, time I was chosen to be a leader, biggest influence, questions about my specific activities, why VCU) then asked me if I had any questions which eventually turned into chatting about life in Richmond. She then escorted me back to the waiting room. Then she and Dr. Whitehurst-Cook went over the curriculum, told us about the admissions process, and fielded questions. We then had lunch (chicken wraps and tortilla chips from a local food cart) with two MS-2s who answered questions in a more informal way. This was followed by a brief financial aid presentation. Then we had a tour of the campus and I was done (those that had afternoon interviews stayed).

I was extremely impressed by the facilities, the open and frank attitude of everyone who spoke to us, and the I2CRP program. This school is definitely at the top of my list. Let me know if you have any specific questions.
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To add to SweetFast's post, I would highly recommend arranging to stay with a student host, particularly in helping deal with the nerves. Not only does it give you a perfect opportunity to learn about the program from the perspective of a current student, but my host walked with me to the admission's department on the morning of my interview. It was nice to be able to informally chat with someone on the way to the interview (as opposed to being left to your own thoughts). SweetFast did a good job summarizing the day, but if you have any other questions I'd be more than happy to answer. All the best!
 
SweetFast said:
LOL I literally wrote up my impressions 5 posts higher in the thread.....
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Oh gosh, I need to be more thorough with my thread-skimming :smack: haha, thanks for quoting your post for me anyway! I'm staying a couple blocks down so now my neurotic brain is trying to figure out what is good-early and what is too early, lol.
 
welp they rejected me, oos been done since mid july. My stats were pretty well above their averages but whatever on to the next I guess
 
awetmop said:
Luck to you man, I will be praying that you make it elsewhere
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thanks man, I appreciate it. I liked them too but guess they didnt like me back

its like homecoming freshman year of high school all over again sheeeeesh lol
 
heywhatsuphello said:
thanks man, I appreciate it. I liked them too but guess they didnt like me back

its like homecoming freshman year of high school all over again sheeeeesh lol
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LOL I get that feel... I have been ready for review since August 9, at this pace I won't hear back till late October - early November
 
Have any "may" status people gotten an II recently? I'm at 4 weeks still waiting for II 🙁
 
For those of you who have already interviewed at VCU: I interviewed the first week of September and shortly after my interview date, my status changed to the one with the post-interview survey they'd like us to take. I completely the survey and logged out, but just realized I haven't had a status change since then. When I log back in, I still see the same post-interview survey status.......for some reason, I was expecting our status to change to "under review" or something like that once after our interviewer presents our case to the committee? It's been a few weeks since my interview so I thought my interviewer would have done that already..... Are people still on the post-interview survey status or do you guys have a "under review"-type status now (if so, how long after your interview did you get this "under review status"?

Thanks 🙂
 
Also, anyone know how VCU looks at their reapplicants....especially those who interviewed in the past cycle as well?
 
heywhatsuphello said:
welp they rejected me, oos been done since mid july. My stats were pretty well above their averages but whatever on to the next I guess
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I remember @Goro saying VCU is one of those schools that practices yield protection, so your high stats might actually explain WHY you got rejected; they figure even if they offer you a seat, based on your stats, you'll probably receive and accept a better offer.

Either way, bummer!
 
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