2015-2016 Virginia Commonwealth University Application Thread

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Does anyone else here not remember their SAT breakdown? I remember my total SAT score, but not my separate verbal and math score. Would it be a problem if I supplied my total but not my breakdown? I took the SAT when it was out of 2400, so my score is in the 2000s. Would that cause confusion for the admissions committee, since most scores will be out of 1600?

EDIT: Out of 1600, not 1400!
 
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winterwind_23 said:
Does anyone else here not remember their SAT breakdown? I remember my total SAT score, but not my separate verbal and math score. Would it be a problem if I supplied my total but not my breakdown? I took the SAT when it was out of 2400, so my score is in the 2000s. Would that cause confusion for the admissions committee, since most scores will be out of 1400?
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My scores were from the even-older 1600 scale. I called last week to ask and was told that providing the total was fine. I asked if there was a way to explain that my score was an older scale and she said not to worry about it, as they don't even really look at them.
 
Eccesignum said:
My scores were from the even-older 1600 scale. I called last week to ask and was told that providing the total was fine. I asked if there was a way to explain that my score was an older scale and she said not to worry about it, as they don't even really look at them.
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I think they are just used for statistical purposes. Some schools with BS/MD programs may use them to help with their admissions to those programs!
I only did the total, as I remembered that, but not the details. Who really cares what we did when we were 16!!
 
I am literally going to strangle someone. Why wouldn't they make sure the prompt had been changed before sending out secondaries? I spent all of yesterday writing the essay based on yesterday's prompt, which was last years. And now, when I log on to work on the rest of the supplemental, it's been changed.
 
le_bartender said:
I am literally going to strangle someone. Why wouldn't they make sure the prompt had been changed before sending out secondaries? I spent all of yesterday writing the essay based on yesterday's prompt, which was last years. And now, when I log on to work on the rest of the supplemental, it's been changed.
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We all feel your pain, and even more annoying, the same happened last year. I submitted my secondary yesterday on the old question, as I had it done, spent a whole afternoon on it. Alea iacta est (the die is cast)
 
le_bartender said:
I am literally going to strangle someone. Why wouldn't they make sure the prompt had been changed before sending out secondaries? I spent all of yesterday writing the essay based on yesterday's prompt, which was last years. And now, when I log on to work on the rest of the supplemental, it's been changed.
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I wrote my secondary all day Sunday and planned on submitting my secondary Monday after I got off from work but when I went to log in I noticed the message about the secondary essay changing. I feel your pain. I was proud of the way that I had answered my original essay and I'm worried that I won't be able to write as strong of a response to the new prompt. I was also eager to get this secondary done because more and more secondaries are starting to come out and I'm eager to get them all done. I'm kicking myself for not submitting on Sunday... I just had to wait....
 
My biggest issue currently with these essays is that it ends up being a lot of "I would"'s and what not since it asks you how you would handle the situation. I feel like it doesn't end up sounding very fluid. Anybody else having that problem?
 
le_bartender said:
My biggest issue currently with these essays is that it ends up being a lot of "I would"'s and what not since it asks you how you would handle the situation. I feel like it doesn't end up sounding very fluid. Anybody else having that problem?
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That was the hardest part, not the topic, but writing it so that it was coherent, and not just list of would do A, B, C, etc. It wasn't hard, just time consuming.
 
Imagine that you are a medical student taking an admission history of a woman for a minor surgical procedure. She is accompanied by her husband who is very friendly and overly eager in answering your questions. The husband leaves to pay the parking meter and you proceed with your physical examination of the wife. You notice some bruises on her upper arm. When you ask about the bruises, she states that she recently fell in the kitchen and asks you not to bring it up when her husband returns. You suspect domestic violence. How would you handle this situation? (You may use any resources for your answer)

I would tell the woman about non-slip kitchen rugs. Works wonders.
 
winterwind_23 said:
Imagine that you are a medical student taking an admission history of a woman for a minor surgical procedure. She is accompanied by her husband who is very friendly and overly eager in answering your questions. The husband leaves to pay the parking meter and you proceed with your physical examination of the wife. You notice some bruises on her upper arm. When you ask about the bruises, she states that she recently fell in the kitchen and asks you not to bring it up when her husband returns. You suspect domestic violence. How would you handle this situation? (You may use any resources for your answer)

I would tell the woman about non-slip kitchen rugs. Works wonders.
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The first thing that made me smile about this!! Thanks for the levity, I needed it.
 
I know this was discussed earlier in the thread, but i just want to make sure, people are interpreting lapses in undergraduate education as time off from school right? So like, I don't need to use that space to explain my C's in organic chemistry?
 
Whats the word/character limit on explaining lapses in your education? I have gap years and some bad academic performance to explain.
 
Gandy741 said:
Whats the word/character limit on explaining lapses in your education? I have gap years and some bad academic performance to explain.
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It does cut you off eventually. I wrote a thing in notepad, pasted it in, and facepalmed as it was too long for the box. Had to cut, ended up with 1205 characters which was very near what seemed to be the limit.
 
Is there any reason they change the question? Seems like there has to be now that it's happened two years in a row...
 
This secondary question is killing me. I cant give any variable explanations because there is sooooooo little space to type out a response.

There are so many variables.... how long is the husband out in the parking lot? Where does the patient live? When is their next appointment? Is it a regular patient that comes back periodically? Are you giving a differential diagnosis to a new patient?

sighhhhhhhhhhhhhh
 
Gandy741 said:
This secondary question is killing me. I cant give any variable explanations because there is sooooooo little space to type out a response.

There are so many variables.... how long is the husband out in the parking lot? Where does the patient live? When is their next appointment? Is it a regular patient that comes back periodically? Are you giving a differential diagnosis to a new patient?

sighhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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For 2000 characters, you might be overthinking it a little bit.
 
I think the fact that they explicitly state that you are a medical student makes it 100 times harder. Regardless of what you do, you have to refer to your attending. I hate this question. I want the old one back.
 
mdhopefulstx said:
Now I'm confused. I submitted with the old prompt, so does this mean that I don't have to write the new prompt?
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You can't, once you submit, you can't access the secondary to change. I'm just waiting to see what they did with my prior submission. Per last year, they accepted the earlier question. We'll see if they make us do the second one too.
 
This is unbelievable. Time is so precious to me right now and I wasted many hours on this. Truly unprofessional and unacceptable.

Edit: I am pissed.
 
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anyone receive any secondaries recently? I guess i was screened out haha
 
Gandy741 said:
This secondary question is killing me. I cant give any variable explanations because there is sooooooo little space to type out a response.

There are so many variables.... how long is the husband out in the parking lot? Where does the patient live? When is their next appointment? Is it a regular patient that comes back periodically? Are you giving a differential diagnosis to a new patient?

sighhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Click to expand...

I don't know how in-depth we are supposed to go on this, but I just let patient safety, confidentiality, education/advocacy, and autonomy guide my answer. I wrote it as if I was the attending, and then at the very end, I just said I would defer to the judgement of the the resident or attending with whom I'm working, as they may have more experience working with patient of domestic violence. I didn't go into all the scenarios, but just made sure I was sensitive and reasonable in my answer.

Anyone else care to explain how they approached this essay?
 
Has anyone else not received a secondary to this place yet, but had decent stats? I have 5 secondaries from schools that screen, but for some reason haven't gotten this one yet.
 
winterwind_23 said:
I don't know how in-depth we are supposed to go on this, but I just let patient safety, confidentiality, education/advocacy, and autonomy guide my answer. I wrote it as if I was the attending, and then at the very end, I just said I would defer to the judgement of the the resident or attending with whom I'm working, as they may have more experience working with patient of domestic violence. I didn't go into all the scenarios, but just made sure I was sensitive and reasonable in my answer.

Anyone else care to explain how they approached this essay?
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I addressed the bolded 3. I did not address autonomy in mine because you dont have much as a medical student. Just my approach.
 
Gandy741 said:
I addressed the bolded 3. I did not address autonomy in mine because you dont have much as a medical student. Just my approach.
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I meant patient autonomy, not medical student autonomy. 🙂
 
Oh yea, I just submitted not too long ago, but I didnt get a receipt in my email for the 80 dollar payment?

Anyone else have this happen to them?
 
Wow I submitted the secondary on 6/5. I guess I should call just to see if I need to do the new one...breathing a sigh of relief though...that new essay is much harder to answer. :shy:
 
Just submitted! LORs are still marked as incomplete, though they are received in AMCAS. Does anyone have their LORs marked as complete in the portal?
 
Chlorini said:
Wow I submitted the secondary on 6/5. I guess I should call just to see if I need to do the new one...breathing a sigh of relief though...that new essay is much harder to answer. :shy:
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Report back. I submitted yesterday....The old essay was indeed easier and I'd prefer to not have to redo it.
 
Gandy741 said:
Oh yea, I just submitted not too long ago, but I didnt get a receipt in my email for the 80 dollar payment?

Anyone else have this happen to them?
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Yes, no email confirmation on the submission or the $$ paid. But my letters aren't in yet (missing 1 out of 5). Maybe waiting for totally complete??
 
Anyone's file get marked complete yet? I submitted 7/3 and still nothing.
 
My file is complete, submitted last night (apparently RIGHT before the prompt changed).... on my "print my application" thing, it still lists the old prompt too.
 
Does anyone know if the admissions office will accept the old essay till a certain date, as they did last year? Has anyone called them and asked? I finished my previous essay and was pasting it in when I noticed that the prompt changed.
 
^I'm still incomplete, though I've submitted my secondary and my LORs are received by AMCAS.
 
I called and left a message regarding the essay (I submitted it on Sunday the 5th). Got a voicemail (left a message) and I haven't received an e-mail response :/
 
Is the new prompt a 2000 character limit? Maybe I'm oversimplifying but I feel like I can answer it in significantly less.
 
They changed the prompt 😵 :arghh::bang: Why did I notice this when I went to paste in my essay question answer? Why oh whyyyy?
 
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