2016-2017 Harvard Medical School Application Thread

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Are they done giving out IIs? Seems like last year they stopped around this time
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For what it's worth, there were 5 dates available at the mid/end of January when I received my II today.

Now, three hours later, when actually scheduling my interview (and figuring out these damn flights), there are only two dates available at the end of Jan. However, their portal/scheduling says that they only release a few dates at a time, so I have no idea how far into Feb. they're interviewing.

TickTock324 said:
Bump


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Afaik, they just do rejections at the end of the cycle.
 
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MC_Infarction said:
For what it's worth, there were 5 dates available at the mid/end of January when I received my II today.

Now, three hours later, when actually scheduling my interview (and figuring out these damn flights), there are only two dates available at the end of Jan. However, their portal/scheduling says that they only release a few dates at a time, so I have no idea how far into Feb. they're interviewing.

Afaik, they just do rejections at the end of the cycle.
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I think they are only interviewing until the end of january
 
MC_Infarction said:
For what it's worth, there were 5 dates available at the mid/end of January when I received my II today.

Now, three hours later, when actually scheduling my interview (and figuring out these damn flights), there are only two dates available at the end of Jan. However, their portal/scheduling says that they only release a few dates at a time, so I have no idea how far into Feb. they're interviewing.

Afaik, they just do rejections at the end of the cycle.
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Does that mean it's essentially over?
 
MC_Infarction said:
Yeah, I submitted an update about two weeks ago. It was generic and just contained information about new activities, copy and pasted to a bunch of schools that accept updates. No idea if this made a difference.

Also, for what it's worth, clinical/bench research is definitely the weakest part of my application. So I'm pretty shocked to get an interview here.
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Hey, did you just upload your update onto the portal?
 
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For those who can access the portal, how many more interview days are left?
 
silent since end of july:(
 
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Does Harvard have a policy on post-interview thank you notes? If they're appropriate, should we send them to the admissions office for forwarding or directly to our interviewers?
 
UncertainUgrad said:
Does Harvard have a policy on post-interview thank you notes? If they're appropriate, should we send them to the admissions office for forwarding or directly to our interviewers?
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I sent mine to the admissions office with a request for them to be forwarded to my interviewers. I got a confirmation that they were forwarded the next day!
 
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UncertainUgrad said:
Does Harvard have a policy on post-interview thank you notes? If they're appropriate, should we send them to the admissions office for forwarding or directly to our interviewers?
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I sent mine directly to my interviewers. But they provided their emails at the end of the interview, I didn't look for them.


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distantlands said:
Is the campus tour during Interview Day optional?
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Yes. There is one in the morning and one in the afternoon so depending on when your interview is you can choose. It was just me and one other person for the afternoon tour. Everyone else did the morning, and some people couldn't make either time work with their schedule.


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Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone. Sending out some good vibes in what is potentially the tensest of places right now. Wishing you all good luck and a happy new year, as well as the willpower to stay off of here and enjoy time with family this season, haha
 
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UncertainUgrad said:
Does Harvard have a policy on post-interview thank you notes? If they're appropriate, should we send them to the admissions office for forwarding or directly to our interviewers?
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I sent mine to Admissions, asking them to be forwarded to the interviewers. Good luck!
 
Hey guys, does anyone know what the meet and greet before interviews is like and what most people wear?
 
Studentd said:
Hey guys, does anyone know what the meet and greet before interviews is like and what most people wear?
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It's very casual -- there's pizza on the first floor of the dorm you will stay in if you have a student host. I just wore jeans and a sweatshirt and blended in fine with the other applicants and current students. Ours ended up getting combined with the first year class's end-of-semester ugly sweater party so I got to meet a TON of students there!
 
JeffSwag said:
It's very casual -- there's pizza on the first floor of the dorm you will stay in if you have a student host. I just wore jeans and a sweatshirt and blended in fine with the other applicants and current students. Ours ended up getting combined with the first year class's end-of-semester ugly sweater party so I got to meet a TON of students there!
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Thanks!
 
When do the admissions committees meet? I was told that if I had sent an update in last month it would be reviewed but I realize that most school's admissions committees that are non-rolling still review applications on a rolling basis?
 
DogDays123 said:
When do the admissions committees meet? I was told that if I had sent an update in last month it would be reviewed but I realize that most school's admissions committees that are non-rolling still review applications on a rolling basis?
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For Pathways, after your interview your application is either forwarded on to the final committee or you are placed in the rejected pile. In February, the large committee meets to discuss all the applications that made it to the final committee selection. If you submit an update prior to February 1, your update should be included in your committee discussion (assuming your application was passed on post-interview).
 
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anonymoose1640 said:
For Pathways, after your interview your application is either forwarded on to the final committee or you are placed in the rejected pile. In February, the large committee meets to discuss all the applications that made it to the final committee selection. If you submit an update prior to February 1, your update should be included in your committee discussion (assuming your application was passed on post-interview).
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Ha doesn't it seem like rather than leaving the people placed in the rejected pile hanging until March with everyone else, they could let those people know sooner? Just seems a bit silly that they only have decision release date haha. Nothing about this process makes sense though, so I guess that would be too logical.
 
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anonymoose1640 said:
For Pathways, after your interview your application is either forwarded on to the final committee or you are placed in the rejected pile. In February, the large committee meets to discuss all the applications that made it to the final committee selection. If you submit an update prior to February 1, your update should be included in your committee discussion (assuming your application was passed on post-interview).
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What goes into them deciding who makes it to the final committee? Is it strict?
 
DogDays123 said:
What goes into them deciding who makes it to the final committee? Is it strict?
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I'm going off of what my interviewer discussed with me at my interview last cycle, he was candid with me but I'm not on the committee so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

They told me that in order to make it to final committee review, both of your interviewers need to agree to pass you along. However, I know people who feel like they absolutely bombed one interview and were still accepted so I don't think their decision to forward your application is made solely on your interview impression.

The final committee meets in February. It consists of 100+ people (all of the interviewers). Your application will be presented and then the committee will vote and decide which pile to place you in: accept, waitlist, or reject. Everyone finds out in early March via email (last year I think it was March 2).

This only applies to Pathways admissions, I am not familiar with the HST admissions process, sorry!
 
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does anyone know if there are any IIs left? :(
 
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I'm still waiting too :( I read on their website that they will send IIs out until mid-January... so not sure if we've passed that already or if there's still hope!
 
According to a staff member, interviews are still being offered!
 
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Fortyfive said:
According to a staff member, interviews are still being offered!
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this is brutal... i kind of want them to stop sending them out so i can stop thinking about it. also, nobody's posted on here about getting an interview in weeks, so I get the feeling that they're only giving out a few interviews sporadically, as opposed to the rounds of interviews they gave out earlier in the cycle. of course, this site isn't representative of all applicants, but still
 
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here2learn1 said:
this is brutal... i kind of want them to stop sending them out so i can stop thinking about it. also, nobody's posted on here about getting an interview in weeks, so I get the feeling that they're only giving out a few interviews sporadically, as opposed to the rounds of interviews they gave out earlier in the cycle. of course, this site isn't representative of all applicants, but still
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But there is still a glimmer of hope :)
 
Tomorrow (1/19) and Friday (1/20) are the last days for Pathways interviews

EDIT:
1/19, 1/20, 1/21, 1/23 are the last interview days for Pathways. my bad!
 
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Fortyfive said:
Like the last day to receive an interview? Or the last interview date?
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Sorry I was slight wrong. The last interviews of the season for Pathways are this Thursday, Friday, Saturday and next Monday (1/23).
Those are the last days HMS will have interviewees on campus, I am assuming the invitations to attend those interviews have already been extended to applicants so unless there is a last minute cancellation, it's unlikely there will be any more IIs extended.
Note: this is not applicable to HST.
 
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anonymoose1640 said:
Sorry I was slight wrong. The last interviews of the season for Pathways are this Thursday, Friday, Saturday and next Monday (1/23).
Those are the last days HMS will have interviewees on campus, I am assuming the invitations to attend those interviews have already been extended to applicants so unless there is a last minute cancellation, it's unlikely there will be any more IIs extended.
Note: this is not applicable to HST.
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Oh Okay, thanks for the info! :D
 
anonymoose1640 said:
Tomorrow (1/19) and Friday (1/20) are the last days for Pathways interviews

EDIT:
1/19, 1/20, 1/21, 1/23 are the last interview days for Pathways. my bad!
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As someone who is interviewing on the 23rd, you scared me for a minute. :D
 
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So it seems that Harvard does silent rejections... From the previous comments, is it safe to assume that anyone who hasn't gotten an II is "rejected" and will hear that in March?
 
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If you interviewed today and did a morning tour, I think I passed your group on my way in to work :) Hope it went awesome!!
 
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Anyone know the deadline for submitting update letters??
 
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