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2016-2017 Jefferson Medical College Application Thread
Started by WedgeDawg
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MSAR says that secondaries can be submitted on June 1, 2016 and that interviews begin in late June.
Has anyone verified received anything?
Has anyone verified received anything?
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How strict are they with their LoR requirements?
It states: If individual letters are sent, we prefer one biology, one chemistry, one physics and one humanities.
I have 2 from bio professors, 1 from a comp sci prof, 1 from instructor I TA'd for and 1 from volunteer coordinator
It states: If individual letters are sent, we prefer one biology, one chemistry, one physics and one humanities.
I have 2 from bio professors, 1 from a comp sci prof, 1 from instructor I TA'd for and 1 from volunteer coordinator
My understanding is they are OK if you explain why in the secondary. It seems that letter "requirements" are fairly flexible at most schools.
^ugh, being non-trad that is gonna be a tough LOR requirement
I'm also a nontrad and don't meet the LOR requirements outlined on their site, I emailed them and explained the letters that I planned on submitting and they told me that I would be fine.
yeah the admissions at jeff are really helpful and afaik rather flexible too.
Alt-J <3
was that a nerdy ∆ joke? If so it was awesome. If not, I'm going to pretend it was
Hi, I haven't gotten any secondaries yet, but I thought I'd share the past essay prompts I found on prospectivedoctor.com. There may be other prompts besides these ones though on this year's app.
If there is any additional information you would like to provide please include it in the box below. (4000 char)
[This one wasn't listed on the 2015/16 cycle, but including it just in case]
Have you ever been convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic or parking violation? If you answer yes, please provide an explanation in the space provided. (4000 char)
If there is any additional information you would like to provide please include it in the box below. (4000 char)
[This one wasn't listed on the 2015/16 cycle, but including it just in case]
Have you ever been convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic or parking violation? If you answer yes, please provide an explanation in the space provided. (4000 char)
The "is there any additional information you would like to provide please include it in the box below" question was the only essay block on the 2015-2016 application. Highly doubtful any other questions will be added.
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Curious as to what an applicant should write about for the optional essay? Current work activities not listed on AMCAS?
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Anything else you would like the admissions people to know. A lot of people use it as a "diversity" essay. If you have any red flags that you need to address, you could also do that. If you really don't have anything to add and think your application speaks for itself, it's totally okay to leave it blank.
Hint-if it's the only essay on a secondary and it's "optional", it's not optional. Put in why SKMC, diversity, what your plans are if you are taking a gap year, explain away something negative about your app (bad grade, w, legal trouble) etc. I would disagree with @Doctor Strange in that you need to put something in that space, at the very least the answer to "why Jefferson?".
@DoctorStrange What differentiates Jefferson from other local MD schools like Temple, Commonwealth, Drexel, Penn State?
Location. Center City Philadelphia pretty much beats all other locations that you mentioned. We also just gained that Sidney Kimmel money, which is going towards improving the medical school even further. There's also a variety of clinical affiliates which allow you to do clerkships anywhere from the big city to more rural community hospitals. Not doing every rotation at Jefferson is a huge benefit and isn't something you should be worried about.
Prompts Please!
There are no prompts. Just a section to put "additional information."
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Jefferson, where is my secondary!? I love you!
Oh great news!! Finally a secondary with no prompts!!
Got the secondary as well just now.
D
deleted781806
No secondary yet on my end, but I agree with Eagles, unless a school goes out of their way to tell you that it is really and truly optional (e.g. Boston University), you should probably put something down. As long as it's not parroting another portion of the application additional reasons as to why you are a good choice/fit for the school couldn't hurt.
Can anyone else not submit? It just keeps giving me this weird error when I try and submit...
Submitted but definitely feeling a little dumb about not including anything for the optional essay. Guess I didn't want to annoy them with extra info, but I hope they don't think I don't care about them 🙁
PSA: Do not copy and paste. I tried to from textedit and it would not let me submit. I had to re-type all 4,000 characters of my **** into the application 
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What's everyone using the "not a prompt" prompt for? I am thinking of squeezing in a bit about why I love this school, my standard paragraph acknowledging my ****ty grades early in college, and a bit about why I didn't get BCP letters of rec or a committee letter.
I'm glad they are generous with the character limit lol
I'm glad they are generous with the character limit lol
I talked about why I fit in with the school, my letters, and any grade concerns
D
deleted781806
I did a standard "Why Jefferson?" essay for my additional information.
I have the same problem. Hopefully it just takes a day or two to update.
Mine updated 🙂
Same problem here! Did you notice a change in yours after a day or so?
Mine has since changed to all "Yes".
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To piggyback on this, do you think they prefer letters from faculty exclusively? I have a PI letter and a volunteer service letter but they only specify the faculty letters in their guidelines.
D
deleted781806
Is there anyone else who has still not received a secondary? I was verified 6/17 and haven't heard anything from Jefferson yet.
I hated this secondary user interface and overall look. Simply terrible. And you cannot copy and paste your essay either.
Still have not received a secondary. Verified 6/26
No big deal! I have plenty of others to work on! lol
I think you should be fine. Maybe it will come later.
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BU doesn't screen, right?
Hi! Thanks for being willing to give advice and answer Q's.
I wanted to know what the atmosphere is like as a med student. Is it competitive, chill, somewhere in the middle? Are students extremely stressed, or have the amount of stress expected as a med student?
How's the diversity? I ask because a majority of the students are White/Non-hispanic. Any racial issues or is your class generally friendly and collaborative with everyone?
Also, what's a typical week look like? Is it 8a-12p spent in the classroom and the rest for you to figure out?
Hi! I wanted to ask you this as well 🙂
I wanted to know what the atmosphere is like as a med student. Is it competitive, chill, somewhere in the middle? Are students extremely stressed, or have the amount of stress expected as a med student?
How's the diversity? I ask because a majority of the students are White/Non-hispanic. Any racial issues or is your class generally friendly and collaborative with everyone?
Also, what's a typical week look like? Is it 8a-12p spent in the classroom and the rest for you to figure out?
Thank you in advance!
Hey guys, I found this while going through last year's thread, it's for the Physician Shortage Area Program application, in case anyone is interested. 🙂
http://www.jefferson.edu/content/dam/university/skmc/admissions/PSAPApplicationForm.pdf
http://www.jefferson.edu/content/dam/university/skmc/admissions/PSAPApplicationForm.pdf
Ugh, July 1 , no secondary , should I be concerned.?
