2016-2017 Eastern Virginia Medical School Application Thread

[SirCardiac]

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Received a secondary but have a MCAT of 506.. should i be submitting?

I have the same MCAT, but from what I know, they expect much higher scores if you are OOS. The secondary invite specifically indicated that I retake the MCAT to stay competitive and if I didn't plan to, I have to email them about it before submitting the secondary. Since you already paid for the primary, I would submit it and hope for the best. However, you should prioritize all your other secondaries before this one.

 

[littledreamer]

I have the same MCAT, but from what I know, they expect much higher scores if you are OOS. The secondary invite specifically indicated that I retake the MCAT to stay competitive and if I didn't plan to, I have to email them about it before submitting the secondary. Since you already paid for the primary, I would submit it and hope for the best. However, you should prioritize all your other secondaries before this one.

If you don't mind me asking, did your email specifically say this, or was it in the portal? My MCAT is higher, but I just want to be sure I didn't miss this relevant info.

 

[Dr. Jan Itor]

I pre-designated LORs on AMCAS, and I didn't think I needed to re-send them right?
And I'm OOS.

Hmmm... Should be good then. Maybe give it a couple days and then shot them an email?


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[SirCardiac]

If you don't mind me asking, did your email specifically say this, or was it in the portal? My MCAT is higher, but I just want to be sure I didn't miss this relevant info.

It was part of the secondary invite email. I'll paste the first part of it below.

Dear Applicant:

Thank you for your interest in the Eastern Virginia Medical School.

You are hereby invited to complete a Supplementary Application, which is available at https://secure.visualzen.com/VZSuppApp/EVMSMD. However, please be advised that it is strongly recommended that you retake the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) in order for your application to remain competitive.

If you are NOT planning to retake the MCAT, please notify our office before sending in the supplemental application by email.

 

[littledreamer]

It was part of the secondary invite email. I'll paste the first part of it below.

Dear Applicant:

Thank you for your interest in the Eastern Virginia Medical School.

You are hereby invited to complete a Supplementary Application, which is available at https://secure.visualzen.com/VZSuppApp/EVMSMD. However, please be advised that it is strongly recommended that you retake the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) in order for your application to remain competitive.

If you are NOT planning to retake the MCAT, please notify our office before sending in the supplemental application by email.

Ah, okay! Thank you so much!

 

[Veggie_Girl]

Does anyone know how strict they are about the full year of Organic Chem lab? I have half a year. I took a 6 credit Biochemistry class for my Masters but that didn't have a lab component. I hadn't even heard about a school requiring a full year of this lab until now! Seeing how strict they are with this screening makes me unsure about completing the secondary without that lab course.

 

[littledreamer]

Does anyone know how strict they are about the full year of Organic Chem lab? I have half a year. I took a 6 credit Biochemistry class for my Masters but that didn't have a lab component. I hadn't even heard about a school requiring a full year of this lab until now! Seeing how strict they are with this screening makes me unsure about completing the secondary without that lab course.

Was it a one credit or a two credit course? My orgo lab was one semester, but it was two credits to make it the same value as "a full year" of lab.

 

[Veggie_Girl]

Was it a one credit or a two credit course? My orgo lab was one semester, but it was two credits to make it the same value as "a full year" of lab.

It was a 2 credit! That is awesome news, I didn't see anything about credits so I wasn't sure what they were looking for. Thank you!

 

[nyc.pre.med]

It was a 2 credit! That is awesome news, I didn't see anything about credits so I wasn't sure what they were looking for. Thank you!

I'm in a similar situation- I had a 2.5 credit organic lab that fulfills my school's pre-health requirement, the next level lab was a 5 credit quantitative techniques which nobody took. A lot of schools ask for 2 semesters though. If it says 8 credits then it's fine but I contacted a couple of my schools to see. Several of them said I would have to complete another lab, which I am planning on doing this fall, though I graduated in 2014. If you can, I would check with the schools just in case. EVMS isn't one of the schools I asked specifically though, so I can't comment on their specifics.

 

[Veggie_Girl]

I'm in a similar situation- I had a 2.5 credit organic lab that fulfills my school's pre-health requirement, the next level lab was a 5 credit quantitative techniques which nobody took. A lot of schools ask for 2 semesters though. If it says 8 credits then it's fine but I contacted a couple of my schools to see. Several of them said I would have to complete another lab, which I am planning on doing this fall, though I graduated in 2014. If you can, I would check with the schools just in case. EVMS isn't one of the schools I asked specifically though, so I can't comment on their specifics.

So I just called them to double check, and the woman on the phone told me to put down my organic chem lab course twice. She double checked my course numbers and asked about the undergrad school I took the courses at, at my school you can only take the 2 semesters of orgo lab if you are a chemistry major, which I was not. Luckily it doesn't appear I need to take another lab course.

 

[alpha-GTP]

My first communication was the supplemental invite!

Same for me. I submitted the secondary on 6/30, but I haven't received anything yet about being complete.

 

[softballNRG]

I received a complete email today!

 

[littledreamer]

So I just called them to double check, and the woman on the phone told me to put down my organic chem lab course twice. She double checked my course numbers and asked about the undergrad school I took the courses at, at my school you can only take the 2 semesters of orgo lab if you are a chemistry major, which I was not. Luckily it doesn't appear I need to take another lab course.

Huh, I wasn't told to put it down twice.......hope that isn't an issue for me! The second orgo lab at my school was a 400 level, 3 credit course and you needed concurrent enrollment in a 400 level orgo lecture soooooooo.....that was a no for me.

 

[Veggie_Girl]

Huh, I wasn't told to put it down twice.......hope that isn't an issue for me! The second orgo lab at my school was a 400 level, 3 credit course and you needed concurrent enrollment in a 400 level orgo lecture soooooooo.....that was a no for me.

That' s weird they told us different things! I would never take 400 level orgo course either, ugh the 260 levels I took were bad enough

 

[Inept]

That' s weird they told us different things! I would never take 400 level orgo course either, ugh the 260 levels I took were bad enough

I'm signed up for a 400 level orgo class next year, not because I need to, but because I am one of those sick freaks who actually enjoys it.

 

[littledreamer]

That' s weird they told us different things! I would never take 400 level orgo course either, ugh the 260 levels I took were bad enough

I feel like it still shouldn't be a huge issue on my application, since it's easy to clarify.....not enough to make or break me for an interview anyways ☺️ I may have to call anyways about still not being complete despite all my letters being in, app submitted and paid etc for over a week, so I'll correct it at that point if I need to.

 

[Veggie_Girl]

I feel like it still shouldn't be a huge issue on my application, since it's easy to clarify.....not enough to make or break me for an interview anyways ☺️ I may have to call anyways about still not being complete despite all my letters being in, app submitted and paid etc for over a week, so I'll correct it at that point if I need to.

Ya it is a very small part of the application and as long as they said you were good I can't imagine that would ever cost you an interview!

 

[Veggie_Girl]

I'm signed up for a 400 level orgo class next year, not because I need to, but because I am one of those sick freaks who actually enjoys it.

Yup you're just plain weird! Haha but really good for you friend, I could never get into the subject, but I had a few friends like it so much they went on to take inorganic *shudder*

 

[Medschooldreamer88]

anyone have an idea what the IS screen is?

 

[To be MD]

I don't understand this though. EVMS has an AVERAGE of 30 MCAT. How are they going to start screening anything below that? They couldn't create an average of 30 doing that..

Both IS students (a majority of their matriculants) and OOS students make up the student body.

They could have a OOS screen of 30 and maintain an average matriculant MCAT score of 30 by accepting, as they must do, applicants from VA with MCAT scores below 30.

 

[Medgeek24]

Both IS students (a majority of their matriculants) and OOS students make up the student body.

They could have a OOS screen of 30 and maintain an average matriculant MCAT score of 30 by accepting, as they must do, applicants from VA with MCAT scores below 30.

actually their matriculants IS vs OOS are about equal according to MSAR

 

[tt09029]

I am IS and have a 3.66 cGPA, 3.36 sGPA, and 512 MCAT and received a pre-secondary rejection today. Hoping to connect with someone at EVMS to understand how I was screened out.

 

[Dr. Jan Itor]

Other people in the thread have gotten secondaries with lower sGPAs. I'd just call the office. They're really helpful.


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[Summerlax2016]

Just so everyone knows in their secondary email it does say they review the secondaries for II in the order they are returned

 

[littledreamer]

Does anyone have any sort of contact info for the admissions office? I just would like to contact them and ask them about why I'm not complete yet since on my end, everything has been in for over a week.

 

[mcatjelly]

Does anyone have any sort of contact info for the admissions office? I just would like to contact them and ask them about why I'm not complete yet since on my end, everything has been in for over a week.

https://www.evms.edu/education/medical_programs/doctor_of_medicine/contact_us/

You can send an email to Kerry Jones.

 

[To be MD]

actually their matriculants IS vs OOS are about equal according to MSAR

That doesn't mean their scores are equal...

 

[docsmall]

This is an odd problem...but the app won't accept my photo. Anyone know how to make it a 2x2? I used a website that supposedly converts photos to passport size but still not working!! Any help would be great! I really just want to submit this haha

EDIT: Wow!! The nicest admissions person I have talked to!! Problem solved!

 

[PatchA]

I got an email this weekend about sending in paperwork to confirm residency. has anyone else received/ replied to this? No confirmation of receipt yet.

 

[Dr. Jan Itor]

I got an email this weekend about sending in paperwork to confirm residency. has anyone else received/ replied to this? No confirmation of receipt yet.

Yep. Had to send a pic of my DL, car registration, voter ID and last year's state taxes. Got an email a few hours later saying I was complete.


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[xish]

sGPA < 3.4. Submitted the secondary. Hope it wasn't a complete waste of money...

 

[tictac3]

does evms not have a max number of letters we can submit? I know the min is 3 but on the website it says you can submit letters in addition to those required...does that mean up to 10?

 

[mcatjelly]

does evms not have a max number of letters we can submit? I know the min is 3 but on the website it says you can submit letters in addition to those required...does that mean up to 10?

I suppose it technically does, but I really wouldn't send that many. Just stick with 2-3 additional.

 

[synapticterminal]

Can someone explain how we enter our coursework for combined lecture and lab courses?

For a 5 unit Biology Lab+Lecture for instance, would I enter the course twice? Once for lab and then again for lecture? If anyone knows, let me know thanks!

 

[Dr. Jan Itor]

Can someone explain how we enter our coursework for combined lecture and lab courses?

For a 5 unit Biology Lab+Lecture for instance, would I enter the course twice? Once for lab and then again for lecture? If anyone knows, let me know thanks!

Yep.

That's how I did it, anyways. They accepted it.


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[mcatjelly]

Should we repeat information in the secondary? For the question asking me to describe my clinical experience, should I list out what I did and say to please refer to primary application for more details?

Secondary questions should generally stand on their own. Just give a timeline of your exposures to medicine (in paragraph form, not list!) with a brief summary of what you did and how it impacted your perspective of medicine/career choice.

 

[rukia013]

Should we repeat information in the secondary? For the question asking me to describe my clinical experience, should I list out what I did and say to please refer to primary application for more details?

+1 to @mcatjelly (darn she beat me to the question LOL)--basically since I had mentioned all shadowing as one activity in the primary app, I just gave 2-3 sentences briefly reiterating the shadowing experience and what I observed/learned. Since the question asks about exposure to medicine, you can also bring up any volunteering or even courses that covered topics in medicine. I remember on my app I discussed taking a course on thalassemia and how hearing from a doctors/patients panel impacted my decision to pursue medicine.

 

[PHgeek123]

Should we repeat information in the secondary? For the question asking me to describe my clinical experience, should I list out what I did and say to please refer to primary application for more details?

I think the general rule is do not ever say "refer to primary application." They don't got time fo that.

 

[Medschooldreamer88]

Finally got my secondary today! Wasn't screened out..phew! AMCAS processed and transmitted 7/19.

 

[inthemaking1]

Finally got my secondary today! Wasn't screened out..phew! AMCAS processed and transmitted 7/19.

Same here! Lol I just hope they didn't invite me so they can get the secondary fee and then auto reject me post-secondary.

 

[MedArtist]

Pre-interview rejection.

 

[jazian]

Sorry to hear that. When were you complete?

 

[Mariolee]

How open is this school to West Coast or Cali residents? I've already been burned by two schools because of my Cali residence status.

 

[To be MD]

How open is this school to West Coast or Cali residents? I've already been burned by two schools because of my Cali residence status.

Odds are, you won't get burned by schools because you're a Californian... you won't be granted an interview, more likely, for:

(1) not being a good match for the school (think ECs, personal statement, and secondary responses... for EVMS, they're all about community service--really, really)
(2) being an OOS student in general and/or having 0 ties to the state (in this case, VA)
(3) not having the right stats

 

[Wolfpack93]

God entering my courses was terrible. I'll never understand why schools need us to put them in when they're on our AMCAS haha. Oh well submitted here, good luck everyone else!

 

[dental15triodino]

Pre-interview rejection.

Sorry to hear that 🙁
Do you mind sharing how long after receiving your secondary you submitted it? Good luck on the rest of your apps!

 

[Inspector JacquesClouseau]

How open is this school to West Coast or Cali residents? I've already been burned by two schools because of my Cali residence status.

Actually, it seems like Cali residents have an easier time getting into OOS schools since they know it's less likely that you will attend an Cali school due to the competition. I'm not an adcom or anything though, just my 0.02


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[rapbang]

just submitted my secondary today. Hoping to hear back soon

 

[cneal15]

Submitted June 30th got updated that my application was complete July 5th, anyone know a schedule for when the committee starts to review applications and starts to extend interview invitations?

 

[alpha-GTP]

Submitted June 30th got updated that my application was complete July 5th, anyone know a schedule for when the committee starts to review applications and starts to extend interview invitations?

Based on the last 2 cycles, it looks like mid to late August, so probably in another 2 weeks or so.