2015 Nontrad Applicants' Progress Thread

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ConsultantMD said:
I wouldn't go so far as to say that I don't care, rather that many of them are on the same level. And yeah, it just takes one to tango at this party!
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Yeah I realized as soon as I typed that it wasn't true. I more of meant that going to the dance at all would be "ok" or make us "happy"
 
Leslie_Knope said:
I feel like Mayo is the hot football player on campus and I am the dowdy late-bloomer. I never had a hope of a chance until they asked for my LORs. Now I'm all "maybe he'll take me to prom!" /sigh/
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wholeheartedly said:
Nah, Mayo is NOT the hot football player.

Mayo is like the slightly geeky guy with glasses who looks totally hot when you get the glasses off and becomes a millionaire at 25.
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Stop it, people! Mayo is not a guy! She is wonderful and she would not even read my LORs! 😀
 
That's right...she was too busy reading mine!
Kidding of course, but it was too good to resist.
 
Submitted my first secondary finally! Woo hoo! I didn't realize that starting with loma Linda would take so long! Happy to be rolling now. Next doing the Arizona schools and then working my way down from there!
 
Uh...I thought I was having a hard time when I was waiting for verification of my AMCAS/AACOMAS.

Now I realize it's way harder waiting AFTER I've been complete at schools and knowing they will be looking at my application and deciding between interview...or rejection. Yikes.
 
Bbroush said:
Submitted my first secondary finally! Woo hoo! I didn't realize that starting with loma Linda would take so long! Happy to be rolling now. Next doing the Arizona schools and then working my way down from there!
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Congrats on your first secondary! Good luck with the rest 🙂
 
20 secondaries done.....waiting on 5 more. I'm glad this part of the process is almost over. By the time my summer physics class is finally over, I won't even know what to do with myself!

By the way @NettleHead, I have a very similar MCAT (8PS,11VR,10BS) and here are some schools I applied to with a reasonably low 10th percentile: Quinnipiac, MCW, Rosalind Franklin, Rush, Drexel, Tufts, Commonwealth.
 
20 done, finally caught up. Just got Colorado today and will finish it tomorrow. Still no word from UCSF, UCSD, UW, Nevada, Drexel, Minnesota, or Temple.

Feels really good to not have a bunch of them hanging over my head.
 
Guess I have two to work on tomorrow, Colorado, and UCSF!

really expected a pre-secondary rejection from UCSF, I know 5 people who applied there last cycle and none got secondaries.
 
I just added Columbia. I feel like I need to add some "lower-tier" schools to balance this out. I am running out room on my credit card. I have no idea how we are going to afford interviews.
 
Leslie_Knope said:
Thanks! I have applied to Quinnipiac. Cooper seems to have an IS bias. It is on my list though. And for some reason I think I decided not to apply to Drexel. I will look into it again.
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Cooper is a state school, though they say only 70% of matriculants are IS which is good for a state school, and last year it was even more OOS. Hofstra is an option as well, and Tulane.
 
Leslie_Knope said:
I just added Columbia. I feel like I need to add some "lower-tier" schools to balance this out. I am running out room on my credit card. I have no idea how we are going to afford interviews.
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Depending on your credit limit, I'm pretty sure your credit card has lotsss of room. Just a matter of how much of a gambler you are. It's fun to reach!
 
Leslie_Knope said:
I just added Columbia. I feel like I need to add some "lower-tier" schools to balance this out. I am running out room on my credit card. I have no idea how we are going to afford interviews.
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ANOTHER CREDIT CARD!!! 🙂
 
Leslie_Knope said:
Thanks! I have applied to Quinnipiac. Cooper seems to have an IS bias. It is on my list though. And for some reason I think I decided not to apply to Drexel. I will look into it again.
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U Miami and U Cinnci both seem to be open to OOS and non-trads and a little lower on the numbers list. Secondaries are cheaper than most, too.
 
Bbroush said:
ANOTHER CREDIT CARD!!! 🙂
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Ugh. We did just get another credit card. This just sucks. We were completely debt free except for our house. Then we decided to use a credit card for fertility treatments last year and now this. I know both are totally worth it. The fertility treatments were a gamble that worked! And I don't regret the debt we're in for that for one second. If this works and I get into medical school, I know I won't regret it either. But if I have to reapply, looking at those bills for a year is going to hurt.

For my USC secondary I'm strongly considering citing finances as the hardest part of preparing to apply to medical school. I'm just not sure if it's an appropriate answer.
 
$$$ - I just enrolled in a clinical trial to fund these applications.
It will pay ~$1450 over the next three months.

I've done more than a few clinical trials and haven't grown a tail or lost bodily function yet.
Getting Norovirus on purpose was definitely the worst, but it was FOR SCIENCE!!
This one is a vaccine challenge study. So far, not so bad, but I think I'm in for some crappy symptoms at the injection site.
Yay.

Check out www.clinicaltrials.gov to look for something in your area.
 
GameOfBones said:
$$$ - I just enrolled in a clinical trial to fund these applications.
It will pay ~$1450 over the next three months.

I've done more than a few clinical trials and haven't grown a tail or lost bodily function yet.
Getting Norovirus on purpose was definitely the worst, but it was FOR SCIENCE!!
This one is a vaccine challenge study. So far, not so bad, but I think I'm in for some crappy symptoms at the injection site.
Yay.

Check out www.clinicaltrials.gov to look for something in your area.
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That's pretty cool! I actually did a clinical trial for fertility treatments. So what would have been around $15,000 in treatments ended up being only about $5,000.

I would consider enrolling in another one, but I am still breastfeeding.

Edit to add: I meant another clinical trial in general. Not another one for fertility treatments! It's way too soon for that.
 
Leslie_Knope said:
For my USC secondary I'm strongly considering citing finances as the hardest part of preparing to apply to medical school. I'm just not sure if it's an appropriate answer.
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I think it's an absolutely appropriate answer, especially as a non-trad. Most traditional students are in for an awakening when they finally emerge from their studies, much as we (likely) have already experienced. I've been paying undergrad loans for 10 years and it hurts. Doesn't matter that I have a good job. Looking ahead at more loans, higher income notwithstanding, is scary, and you (likely) have a more realistic understanding of that. Home finances, infertility treatments, all of your financial responsibilities are an education that non-trads totally understand while few traditional applicants do. Rock this non-traditional knowledge and understanding to your benefit.

I know this is wrought with assumption and that many traditional students deal with bills. I do not mean this to be judgmental at all.
 
Leslie_Knope said:
USC's nickname question has me stumped.

In other news I think I have food poisoning. I feel like I was hit by a truck and I have no appetite.

Also can I please haz interview?
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Gatorade and crackers till you get it over with.

Glycereine said:
ah, long story short I'm already an active duty officer and most of the programs in the military are aimed at civilians or enlisted personnel, trying to get them in. Well the military has me already and they sort of know it... I have to get permission from my current community even to apply to USUHS and it's harder to get the approval to go to a civilian school. It's not completely non-doable but a completely different process. On top of that, if I go that route (kinda like ROTC for med school) my pay gets roughly quartered from what it is now, while if I go to USUHS I still get paid my current salary while a student there. Since I have a family it's kind of a decision that made itself.
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Armed forces school right? I have a friend there that went to the Air Force Academy and did research on hanscom AFB for a while after. He loves it.
 
Leslie_Knope said:
Ugh. We did just get another credit card. This just sucks. We were completely debt free except for our house. Then we decided to use a credit card for fertility treatments last year and now this. I know both are totally worth it. The fertility treatments were a gamble that worked! And I don't regret the debt we're in for that for one second. If this works and I get into medical school, I know I won't regret it either. But if I have to reapply, looking at those bills for a year is going to hurt.

For my USC secondary I'm strongly considering citing finances as the hardest part of preparing to apply to medical school. I'm just not sure if it's an appropriate answer.
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We just got another credit card as well.
Hoping as well that it is worth it this cycle!

Congrats on having the treatments work! Babies are priceless.

Also I think that would be the most sincere essay from a non trad they'd receive for that prompt.
 
Bbroush said:
We just got another credit card as well.
Hoping as well that it is worth it this cycle!

Congrats on having the treatments work! Babies are priceless.

Also I think that would be the most sincere essay from a non trad they'd receive for that prompt.
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Thank you! Priceless indeed. 🙂

I really want to meet you all on the interview trail.
 
Hypothetical, if one random school said they would accept you right now if you didn't go to any other interviews, would you take it? Or would you want to see what happens and (hopefully) get other interviews and other offers?

My wife Has been asking me this a lot recently
 
Bbroush said:
Hypothetical, if one random school said they would accept you right now if you didn't go to any other interviews, would you take it? Or would you want to see what happens and (hopefully) get other interviews and other offers?

My wife Has been asking me this a lot recently
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Do I know the name of the school before I accept? Honestly, Mayo would have to reject me first.
 
Bbroush said:
Hypothetical, if one random school said they would accept you right now if you didn't go to any other interviews, would you take it? Or would you want to see what happens and (hopefully) get other interviews and other offers?

My wife Has been asking me this a lot recently
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So this is an all or nothing scenario? I only applied to schools I wanted to go to, so I would be stoked! That said, I feel like there should be a match system for med school just like residency. Would make things easier I think.
 
ConsultantMD said:
So this is an all or nothing scenario? I only applied to schools I wanted to go to, so I would be stoked! That said, I feel like there should be a match system for med school just like residency. Would make things easier I think.
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Oh a match would suck though. 🙁

I have mine tiered out and if two schools on the same tier accepted me I'd want to compare aid packages before deciding.
 
ConsultantMD said:
Let's try to get in first. Right?
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That should happen, eventually. One can dream, in the meantime...
Bbroush said:
Hypothetical, if one random school said they would accept you right now if you didn't go to any other interviews, would you take it? Or would you want to see what happens and (hopefully) get other interviews and other offers?

My wife Has been asking me this a lot recently
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Yes, I'll take the offer without a second though. I don't stress easily but getting through a year of rejections was a huge downer, I'd do a lot to avoid it again.
 
Bbroush said:
Hypothetical, if one random school said they would accept you right now if you didn't go to any other interviews, would you take it? Or would you want to see what happens and (hopefully) get other interviews and other offers?

My wife Has been asking me this a lot recently
Click to expand...

Can't say i'd accept a random from my list. I definitely applied to a couple schools I do not want to attend because I felt i had a reasonable chance of getting in (i'd still go though if they were my only option). But i'd much rather take the gamble to see if I could do better. I applied to a few outrageous schools because they were my dream schools. I'd rather shoot for the stars and be turned down than not try at all.
 
I'm prewriting secondaries now. I finished BU and Tufts. I'm going to write them up till I get verified, then go back re-edit and submit.

I talked about continuing to do clinical research for my tufts one, so hopefully they like that. I think it's not much of a gamble since they like it. If I get into a Boston school, I would weigh that super highly given that my current institution is there and I'll be able to keep working on projects with the PI's here. I'll have a bunch of projects with loose ends when I leave here next summer, so that would be amazing.
 
This thread is like my safety zone/reality check. I'm starting to recognize and root for a few of you (@Leslie_Knope and @juliuspepperwood, especially). I've completed 15 secondaries so far (ok, I'm counting Mayo, so its really 14) and have 4 more to do as of right now. My last letters just came in this week, so I'm not complete everywhere yet. We can do this, y'all! Just keep swimming!
 
asyouwish said:
This thread is like my safety zone/reality check. I'm starting to recognize and root for a few of you (@Leslie_Knope and @juliuspepperwood, especially). I've completed 15 secondaries so far (ok, I'm counting Mayo, so its really 14) and have 4 more to do as of right now. My last letters just came in this week, so I'm not complete everywhere yet. We can do this, y'all! Just keep swimming!
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Oh that is so kind of you! I root for many of you as well. I appreciate this group we have here. I hope we all earn at least an acceptance each!
 
asyouwish said:
This thread is like my safety zone/reality check. I'm starting to recognize and root for a few of you (@Leslie_Knope and @juliuspepperwood, especially). I've completed 15 secondaries so far (ok, I'm counting Mayo, so its really 14) and have 4 more to do as of right now. My last letters just came in this week, so I'm not complete everywhere yet. We can do this, y'all! Just keep swimming!
Click to expand...

Oh seriously, this is one of my favorite threads. I've turned in ~20 secondaries at this point, and sometimes after looking at other threads on sdn I get all antsy stressing about future interviews (or more like lack thereof). Lately I've started running to blow off some steam, so at least I'll be super fit if I don't get in.
 
Man, you guys are rock stars! I'm still working on my second secondary application to UACOMP. I wrote up bullet points for almost every single secondary essay I have other than the giant autobiographical ones (UCF) and one scenario ones (VCU). I think that will help me progress quicker and work through these more quickly between work and being a new dad.

Leslie_Knope said:
Do I know the name of the school before I accept? Honestly, Mayo would have to reject me first.
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Mayo, huh? And in my wife and I's hypothetical scenario, yes, you would know. Not knowing adds a whole new layer of mystery though... haha.

ConsultantMD said:
So this is an all or nothing scenario? I only applied to schools I wanted to go to, so I would be stoked! That said, I feel like there should be a match system for med school just like residency. Would make things easier I think.
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I feel the same way. Other than Iowa, my wife is COMPLETELY fine with any where I applied. (She has said that if I get in to Iowa and we decide it's the right place to go, she'd be fine. She just would prefer better weather)
 
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