2016-2017 Northwestern University (Feinberg) Application Thread

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For others accepted: All we had to do was submit that short form online right? I got the confirmation email that I did that, but when I log into my portal now the generic post-interview message is there again.
 
For others accepted: All we had to do was submit that short form online right? I got the confirmation email that I did that, but when I log into my portal now the generic post-interview message is there again.
Yeah I believe so.
 
are they receptive to in-the-area updates or should i not bother?
 
are they receptive to in-the-area updates or should i not bother?

Wouldn't bother, they just responded to mine with "no decision has yet been made on your application" and blahblah about how they can't coordinate interview visits until decision to interview is made and that they'll give you a choice of 3-4 dates when they do


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Wouldn't bother, they just responded to mine with "no decision has yet been made on your application" and blahblah about how they can't coordinate interview visits until decision to interview is made and that they'll give you a choice of 3-4 dates when they do


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thank you so much for this answer! that's really unhelpful of their adcom though...i understand why they would do that, but it's really hard on applicants who have to shell out $$$ if they need to fly to the chicago-area more than once. sigh.
 
For others accepted: All we had to do was submit that short form online right? I got the confirmation email that I did that, but when I log into my portal now the generic post-interview message is there again.
The one that says "In 4-6 weeks you will be notified whether you have been accepted or whether the decision will be deferred until completion of our interviews in March"?
 
The one that says "In 4-6 weeks you will be notified whether you have been accepted or whether the decision will be deferred until completion of our interviews in March"?

Yes haha that one, even though the other day it said I was accepted and I submitted my form. Does yours say that too?
 
I think 75% includes some program that they have for auto acceptance. I think the actual number for people like us is closer to 60-65%. Can someone confirm?


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I think 75% includes some program that they have for auto acceptance. I think the actual number for people like us is closer to 60-65%. Can someone confirm?


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Last question, this is my top choice, so I was just wondering, after post-interview how is the evaluation conducted? is everyone on equal footing after the interview or do they still look at grades, mcat, etc. the reason I ask is that i do have strong ECs, but my MCAT is on the lower end, thank you everyone!
 
They've got to stop with these newsletters.......

I did appreciate this little piece:

Roshni Bhatnagar, a third-year medical student, shared her perspective on wellness during her OB-GYN rotation. After treating a patient with her attending, she reflected on sharing bad news to the patient's family, realizing that the most valuable thing she could do was show compassion for another person's grief. She wrote:

"Though this family's loss was too great for me to leave the hospital feeling happy at the end of the shift, I found that bringing something positive to their experience still kept me well. After a few years in medical school, I learned that wellness does not always equate to happiness. Rather, wellness is achieving alignment between your actions and your values. In that way, I am lucky to be in a profession in which our actions often demonstrate our values. It may be unrealistic to think that I'll always be happy as a medical student -- there are too many stressful exams, under-slept nights and moments of confusion for me to be happy all the time. But this is a profession that allows me to share a genuine smile or a hand in solidarity so many times a day and those are little actions that can help me be well. Amid lives saved and lives lost, perhaps being well is more rewarding than being happy."


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Last question, this is my top choice, so I was just wondering, after post-interview how is the evaluation conducted? is everyone on equal footing after the interview or do they still look at grades, mcat, etc. the reason I ask is that i do have strong ECs, but my MCAT is on the lower end, thank you everyone!

I think if you get an interview here, the admissions committee strongly believes that you will be able to succeed academically. None of my academic credentials or potential deficiencies were discussed in my interviews. They genuinely wanted to get to know me as a person. From what I gathered from interview day, the interview is used to assess personal characteristics and fit with their school and curriculum (a lot of team-based-learning). However, I don't think anyone knows what is actually discussed in the admissions committee meetings other than the students and faculty who are part of the admissions committee. I hope this helps.
 
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Yeah, I'm getting a bit nervous about my app as well. I got the newsletter "Feinberg 411", but my status changed from the "under review" to "We have received your supplemental application and letters of recommendation."... Has anybody NOT seen a status change?
 
Yeah, I'm getting a bit nervous about my app as well. I got the newsletter "Feinberg 411", but my status changed from the "under review" to "We have received your supplemental application and letters of recommendation."... Has anybody NOT seen a status change?
Just noticed the status change :bag: and also got that heart attack inducing newsletter
 
Yeah, I'm getting a bit nervous about my app as well. I got the newsletter "Feinberg 411", but my status changed from the "under review" to "We have received your supplemental application and letters of recommendation."... Has anybody NOT seen a status change?

Did you get the newsletter after receiving an II? I haven't gotten any until today which was after the II. Just curious!
 
II at like midnight 🙂 For what it's worth, I received the 411 newsletter back in early October and noticed my portal message had changed when I checked a day or two ago (but I hadn't looked at the Northwestern portal for a few weeks beforehand so I'm not sure when it changed). I was complete in late August.
 
II at like midnight 🙂 For what it's worth, I received the 411 newsletter back in early October and noticed my portal message had changed when I checked a day or two ago (but I hadn't looked at the Northwestern portal for a few weeks beforehand so I'm not sure when it changed). I was complete in late August.

Congrats!
What had your portal changed to?


Edit: JK I just caught up on the earlier posts! I've got that status change too
 
I believe the portals update to tell you your decision has been deferred/continued until Spring if you aren't early admit, rather than saying waitlist.
 
I believe the portals update to tell you your decision has been deferred/continued until Spring if you aren't early admit, rather than saying waitlist.

You are applying this cycle? For some reason I always thought you were a medical student.


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I'm flattered! Yep, currently in the cycle. I'm a gap year/nontrad student though, maybe that's part of it.

It could also be all the contributions you've made to SDN. I've probably referenced your MCAT conversion table 50 times.
 
It could also be all the contributions you've made to SDN. I've probably referenced your MCAT conversion table 50 times.
Glad to hear it! I still have to check it any time I browse WAMC forums. I actually had an interviewer comment to me "oh thank god you have an old MCAT score, I actually understand what this means" lol
 
I'm flattered! Yep, currently in the cycle. I'm a gap year/nontrad student though, maybe that's part of it.

Wow, I was under the impression that most of the individuals who made certain contributions to SDN (e.g. MCAT conversation tables, Wedge Dawg's applicant rating system, etc.) were medical students, residents or admissions officers.

Congratulations on your acceptance!


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uhh what? 10 people matched ortho last year, that alone is more than 5% of the class

Oh you're right. What I originally meant was just surgery specialties marked on their match list: neurosurgery, plastic surgery, surgery, vascular surgery, thoracic surgery. They didn't mark it as orthopedic surgery. But including ortho it's still 19 students/161=12%
 
Same!!


Also I heard this is a panel interview??

Congratulations on the II! I had three separate interviews: two traditional style one-on-ones with faculty, and then the third was with one M4 and two applicants that may be the "panel" you heard about. It was mostly just focusing on seeing how you interacted with peers and was very casual!
 
^ Same, to elaborate a little: two traditional open-file faculty interviews about 45 mins. Then one slightly oddball interview with two applicants and one M4 where they ask things like "work together to make a list of the five most important people of the last century" where they're obviously more interested in how you discuss/interact than how you answer
 
My panel interview was just the two of us individually answering pretty standard interview questions, so the level of interaction may depend on the interviewer. We were never really prompted to interact but we'd build off of one another's answers if it felt right.

^ Same, to elaborate a little: two traditional open-file faculty interviews about 45 mins. Then one slightly oddball interview with two applicants and one M4 where they ask things like "work together to make a list of the five most important people of the last century" where they're obviously more interested in how you discuss/interact than how you answer
 
My panel interview was just the two of us individually answering pretty standard interview questions, so the level of interaction may depend on the interviewer. We were never really prompted to interact but we'd build off of one another's answers if it felt right.
No kidding. I think you're in the minority, I talked with like half a dozen other students waiting around after and we'd all had various weird questions in the vein of the one above. Some were pretty funny actually, like "spend a few minutes learning about each other, then take turns pitching/selling the other to me as someone we must accept"

I'm sure it depends on the student doing the interviewing though !
 
No kidding. I think you're in the minority, I talked with like half a dozen other students waiting around after and we'd all had various weird questions in the vein of the one above. Some were pretty funny actually, like "spend a few minutes learning about each other, then take turns pitching/selling the other to me as someone we must accept"

I'm sure it depends on the student doing the interviewing though !

My panel was bizarre. We had to play a game where me and the other applicant worked together towards a common goal (while one of us was blind-folded). I thought I did mediocre during the panel interview but I guess it ended up better than expected.


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