2016-2017 Rush Medical College Application Thread

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KaBoom'd said:
I emailed admissions yesterday and they replied that the hour requirement is a hard rule.
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Where did you find the information that you need 150 hours of each? I can't seem to find it on their site.
 
I absolutely love Rush Medical College. I went to visit and fell in love! But I am having a hard time deciding if I should apply because of the 150 hours requirements. Does anyone know if they look through our application to count the hours or if they just go by the titles. I have one of my community service experiences listed under tutoring/teaching because I volunteered as a tutor to teach math and sciences to disadvantaged high school students. Would they not count that because it's listed under tutoring instead of community service?

Any input would help. Thanks.
 
AshSLAY said:
I absolutely love Rush Medical College. I went to visit and fell in love! But I am having a hard time deciding if I should apply because of the 150 hours requirements. Does anyone know if they look through our application to count the hours or if they just go by the titles. I have one of my community service experiences listed under tutoring/teaching because I volunteered as a tutor to teach math and sciences to disadvantaged high school students. Would they not count that because it's listed under tutoring instead of community service?

Any input would help. Thanks.
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That may be a question better suited for their admissions office.
 
Do you guys think that a letter from a community service activity is essential since the school is large on community service? I've had significant experiences with my community service but I've only dedicated about 150 hours to each activity and I have no letter from any of them because most of my work was with my peers and with no physician/adviser. Would appreciate any feedback!
 
AshSLAY said:
I absolutely love Rush Medical College. I went to visit and fell in love! But I am having a hard time deciding if I should apply because of the 150 hours requirements. Does anyone know if they look through our application to count the hours or if they just go by the titles. I have one of my community service experiences listed under tutoring/teaching because I volunteered as a tutor to teach math and sciences to disadvantaged high school students. Would they not count that because it's listed under tutoring instead of community service?

Any input would help. Thanks.
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I also volunteered as a tutor for a high school student and was wondering the same thing. Were you able to receive any clarification from their admissions office?
 
LordH said:
Do you guys think that a letter from a community service activity is essential since the school is large on community service? I've had significant experiences with my community service but I've only dedicated about 150 hours to each activity and I have no letter from any of them because most of my work was with my peers and with no physician/adviser. Would appreciate any feedback!
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Hi, I am going to be an M1 at Rush next year, more like in 2 weeks, and I used these forums to help me get through the process. I got accepted into Rush without a letter from a community service representative. I only had letters from faculty and research directors. I would not worry about it.
 
Rush - why must you ask such hard questions but with such tiny character limits?! I pretty much have essays written on most of these topics but they are like triple the length...
 
BreakfastLover said:
I also volunteered as a tutor for a high school student and was wondering the same thing. Were you able to receive any clarification from their admissions office?
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I emailed them about this same issue today. Still waiting for a response.
 
These questions are tougher than most other secondaries. I also think it's the first time I have been asked to verify citizenship via a copy of a birth certificate/passport!
Edit: Glad I didn't pre-write these :joyful:
 
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yellowbottlesippin said:
What are you guys writing for:
Describe a challenging situation in which you did not agree with a directive/rule and how you handled this. (1000 characters)

Having a difficult time with this.
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I took a broad view and wrote about the summer the dickhead boss at my summer job (note, I did not call him a dickhead in-app 🙂 ) kept changing the schedule on such short notice to the point where no-one reliable knew their schedule more than a couple days in advance.
 
for the 150 service and 150 clinical hours requirements, do they count this based on our amcas list of activities?
 
AshSLAY said:
I absolutely love Rush Medical College. I went to visit and fell in love! But I am having a hard time deciding if I should apply because of the 150 hours requirements. Does anyone know if they look through our application to count the hours or if they just go by the titles. I have one of my community service experiences listed under tutoring/teaching because I volunteered as a tutor to teach math and sciences to disadvantaged high school students. Would they not count that because it's listed under tutoring instead of community service?

Any input would help. Thanks.
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happily123 said:
for the 150 service and 150 clinical hours requirements, do they count this based on our amcas list of activities?
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According to admissions, they'll be using the AMCAS activities for the community service screen. If you did not label the activity with a community service "Experience Type," they will check to see if you indicate that you volunteered/weren't paid in the activity description. I'm sure they'll do a similar thing for clinical hours.
 
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Did anyone use 2 professors for their letters of rec? I'm confused about a personal vs. non-academic letter. I have 5 letters from professors (some who know me better than others) and one employer of the past two years.
 
I would think that as long as the recommendation shows that they know you personally or academically that it should suffice. Then again... I wouldn't assume anything. Oye.
 
Only have 100 hours of healthcare exposure. Have 200+ hours community though. Should I even bother with a secondary?
 
optimisticallypassingorgo said:
Only have 100 hours of healthcare exposure. Have 200+ hours community though. Should I even bother with a secondary?
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Last cycle they sent out rejection notices at the end of the cycle citing the requirement. And their average matriculant has far more hours than the minimum requirement. In my opinion, it is probably not worth it... however, your mileage may vary.
 
optimisticallypassingorgo said:
Only have 100 hours of healthcare exposure. Have 200+ hours community though. Should I even bother with a secondary?
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No, it sounds like you don't meet the minimums. You could start a volunteer position and dedicate a few nights per week in the hospital. >10 hours per week would put you in contention with that 100 hour mark by late September, reasonable timeframe. How badly do you want to attend?
 
Has anyone gotten an interview invite yet?
 
Re: the 150 hours limits (sry I'm late to this discussion...)

One of the admissions staff did a presentation for my graduate program about applying to Rush. She said the volunteer/clinical hours were to screen applicants who may have had some clinical exposure/volunteer work early, then/or waited until a year-ish before application time to cram in a bunch of hours (she specifically said they don't want to see a gap in the middle). They're looking for applicants that have shown a consistent 1. dedication to serving others and 2. interest in the medical field.

Reading between the lines I took this to mean they are looking for the super-dedicated-right-out-of-undergrad pre-meds who had their s*** together from the start, and the career changers -- EMTs or NCTs/nurses who can report thousands of hours for 'clinical exposure' and also volunteer.

Take this how you will, as it was my own experience during an admissions presentation, but like a previous poster said, applying with barely above 150 hours when the average is so high could be like applying with a GPA barely above a 3.0 screen...just looking out for your wallets!
 
Any II for Rush yet? I'm on the low end of acceptable applicants for GPA/Scores but higher end for EC's. Wondering if they are being slow to say no as it has been a month since I was complete.
 
Thanks for the details! It sounds like I may not get an II, but it's better to know than to not. We were complete the same day, and your stats are awesome! Congratulations! Rush is an incredible school if you haven't been on campus yet, and Chicago is amazing (in my humble opinion).
 
NUresearcher said:
Thanks for the details! It sounds like I may not get an II, but it's better to know than to not. We were complete the same day, and your stats are awesome! Congratulations! Rush is an incredible school if you haven't been on campus yet, and Chicago is amazing (in my humble opinion).
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It's still super early! I was complete slightly before, and I am not losing hope yet! You still may get a II!
 
yellowbottlesippin said:
It's still super early! I was complete slightly before, and I am not losing hope yet! You still may get a II!
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I've known people to be complete in July and get interviews in January at various schools. It can happen. It's just the nature of the process.
 
That's true! I think I keep getting a little easily discouraged. I am hoping to stay in Chicago for my husband's sake since he loves his job downtown. There is plenty of time, and hopefully shadowing a physician at Rush since 2013 will actually help! Thanks for the encouragement!
 
Just received an II! Complete 7/20, cGPA 3.64, sGPA 3.56, MCAT 513
 
lu17 said:
Just received an II! Complete 7/20, cGPA 3.64, sGPA 3.56, MCAT 513
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Congrats!! Do you mind sharing if you have at least 1000 hours of clinical and non-clinical work/volunteering?
 
As an M1 right now at Rush, just to be clear, the school looks for you to have 150 hours of volunteering in non-clinical and 150 hours in clinical. I only had about 350 hours total. I don't know where this 1000 hours number came, but 960 is plenty enough.
 
Boilermaker11 said:
As an M1 right now at Rush, just to be clear, the school looks for you to have 150 hours of volunteering in non-clinical and 150 hours in clinical. I only had about 350 hours total. I don't know where this 1000 hours number came, but 960 is plenty enough.
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Thanks! I only asked because the averages on Rush's website was something like 1600 hours so I was just curious 🙂 But good to know and congrats!
 
PHgeek123 said:
Congrats!! Do you mind sharing if you have at least 1000 hours of clinical and non-clinical work/volunteering?
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I have around 300 hours of clinically-related volunteering as well as 75 hours of shadowing experience. I also have been working full-time as a Clinical Research Assistant for the past year.
 
lu17 said:
I have around 300 hours of clinically-related volunteering as well as 75 hours of shadowing experience. I also have been working full-time as a Clinical Research Assistant for the past year.
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Awesome. Thanks much and good luck with your interview!!
 
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