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2017-2018 Harvard Medical School
Started by Lucca
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How the interview goes is a morning introduction/orientation that lasts about 45 minutes. Afterwards, the only two mandatory things for the day are your two interviews. On my interview day there were three optional tour times throughout the day, as well as one optional lunch with current students. My day got done around 3:00pm, but some of the other interviewees had interviews as late as 4:30pm I believe.
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PurpleCow2016
Great, thanks for the insight!
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885100
Does Harvard give out interviews to anyone without a Nobel prize, 6 publications, 4 degrees, 4.3 GPA, and less than a 510?
I don't get how the 510 fits with all those other overqualifications, but I get your anxiety..... I know it's a joke, don't worry.
Chill! They interview through January, there's still plenty of time! There's this attitude here that whoever doesn't hear back in August or so will never get in, and my understanding is that's simply not true. It just takes time to sort through thousands of apps. Good luck!
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Meant to say 520 and true I should probably stop reading all of these threads lol. Good luck!
Just to put it in context, I have not heard a peep from them either, so I totally get you! Was just trying to say we should all chill a bit for our own good. Cheers! Good luck to us all!
To give some hope, I interviewed here with a LizzyM of 71/72ish. So you definitely don't have to be one of those intensely numbers perfect humans. I am also not a nobel prize winner, holder of multiple degrees, or published author.
Genuinely curious and not being a butt, are you URM?
Nope!
Thanks dope, congrats!!
I never know how to take questions like this. Tbh, I know you probably don't mean it that way but the fact that you asked says that there is still a subconscious bias to attempt to explain low stats as URM.
Trust me, I’m the last person that would mean it in an offensive way and I apologize if it came off that way but solely based off AAMC reported data URM matriculants have lower average statistics and it would be naive just to entirely ignore that. Again, I’m sorry if it seemed that I meant that offensively, was just curious and didn’t think asking was all that absurd
This. Questions like this just need to not be asked imo. Regardless of intention, it feeds into toxic presumption that an URM must have inferior stats and effectively into the belief that he/she is an inferior applicant + student.
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Ya you both are right, I’m sorry and hope you know that this was not my intention in any way! Good luck to you both!
No problem bro/babe lol. We all just trying to get through this application cycle
stupid harvard medical school health tips making my heart leap any morning when i wake up to see this in my inbox
i should unsubscribe until i hear back from hms hahaha
i should unsubscribe until i hear back from hms hahaha
i can confirm my interview was later in the day around 4 and i still ended up at the airport by 6:30 but i wouldn't schedule any flights until around 7-7:30 just in case traffic becomes an issue.
Thats why I just open the email emotionless until I can read the contents of it lol.
@DowntownFunk not sure when they give pre-II rejections. Acceptances and Waitlists go out in March
Mine went until 6 pm because I decided to attend a lecture from a faculty member!
You're fine. The question is fine. If being URM is a serious factor taken into consideration (it absolutely is), then being URM could absolutely explain, at least in part, an invitation to interview/acceptance. There's nothing hateful about this, it's just a fact of the process. Other people here may not like you for pointing this out, but it is a truth that they need to live with.
The problem is the assumption that being a URM would explain the II as if there weren't any other relevant factors. But let's not turn this into yet another URM debate
Too early for another debate on URM. No one is hiding from the truth or disliking anyone or acting like it does not matter. Just pointing out the assumption that every low stat is auto associated with URM.
The problem is the assumption that being a URM would explain the II as if there weren't any other relevant factors. But let's not turn this into yet another URM debate
I just realized I somehow glossed over your reply and typed the exact same thing lol
Ahh, yes. The arbiter of what's fine and what's not fine has arrived. Being URM doesn't preclude a student from having high stats. Applicants are accepted with a wide range of stats; if your first reaction to someone receiving a II with stats slightly below average is to question whether or not they're URM, then you're problematically presenting the distribution of stats as a dichotomy between high stats and low stats based on URM status.
Many factors contribute to an applicant receiving an II. Making the assumption that an applicant with lower stats must be URM feeds into the belief that URM students must have lower stats. What lead us here was an applicant with a 70+ LizzyM score being immediately prodded for their URM status as the sole decisive factor explaining their invitation as opposed to all of their other qualities that were holistically considered. You obviously just saw how that way of thinking created this awkward situation for both parties involved, as well as offended spectators.
Sooo to hopefully be constructive about this thang, perhaps we should've instead asked: "in spite of having stats on the lower end, what do you think made you stand out as an applicant?"
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URM status is something that is taken into consideration in admissions, just like MCAT scores, GPA, ECs, etc. It is relevant information for many people and pussyfooting around the question is more patronizing than just asking it. OP wasn't being malicious in asking and attempting to reprimand them, even after they prefaced their post with their acknowledgment of the sensitivity of the question, is just downright pointless.
“I changed my mind on the topic after an argument with a stranger online”
-no one ever
-no one ever
Wow, you're absolutely right, I've changed my ways
If this forum is a representation of what Harvard is going to be like, I'm scared 😛
Let's get along everyone. We're in this together and we're all on the same team!
Let's get along everyone. We're in this together and we're all on the same team!
You're scared of some mild discourse? Progress comes from the free exchange of ideas. You can be on the same team but hold different ideas.
I don't think anyone is scared, but the URM argument is one that has been brought up time and time again and I think we're all sick and tired of it. Let's just chill, there's no need to have this URM argument again, especially on this thread.
I think we should just get back on topic and drop the issue. A school specific thread is not the place to have this discussion.
I think you're missing the point. First, the person I replied to said "...I'm scared." Second, this isn't an argument about the ethics surrounding URM status in medical admissions. People are literally arguing whether or not it is offensive to ask someone if they are URM. I think it is perfectly fine if someone asks whether or not an individual is considered a URM applicant when they give their experience with a school. I also think that person can choose not to respond.
OP chose not to "pussyfoot around the question" and is no better off for it, so let's try this again. @Rosioooooooooo what do you think made you stand out as an applicant?
URM status, as you mentioned, should only matter to the institutions that are legally allowed to consider it in their admissions process (only the privates) and honestly not to Pre-Meds on a forum attempting to soothe their egos and neuroticism as to why a school has not chosen them, despite myriad other selection criteria.
We can't really police what people say or ask,nor can anyone infer OPs actual intent (he could have in fact been deviously malicious or innocently unassuming...although I guess we are to take his apologies as an indication of the latter ) but as we beat this dead horse, my conscience abhors the assumption that my 73 LM in addition to a top 10 invite is only indicative of my skin color and not the fact that I (or anyone else) went to a very difficult school, balanced the most difficult major with plenty of research and extracurricular leadership, lost 200 lbs while I was at it, and performed in the top 5% in the country on the MCAT...everyone has a story, don't call people sensitive because they'd rather you not silo them -- and as for why people are so quick to defend this line of questioning...
Best of luck to us all.
Did you really lose 200 pounds? That’s amazing (even if it was a typo, congrats anyways)URM status, as you mentioned, should only matter to the institutions that are legally allowed to consider it in their admissions process (only the privates) and honestly not to Pre-Meds on a forum attempting to soothe their egos and neuroticism as to why a school has not chosen them, despite myriad other selection criteria.
We can't really police what people say or ask,nor can anyone infer OPs actual intent (he could have in fact been deviously malicious or innocently unassuming...although I guess we are to take his apologies as an indication of the latter ) but as we beat this dead horse, my conscience abhors the assumption that my 73 LM in addition to a top 10 invite is only indicative of my skin color and not the fact that I (or anyone else) went to a very difficult school, balanced the most difficult major with plenty of research and extracurricular leadership, lost 200 lbs while I was at it, and performed in the top 5% in the country on the MCAT...everyone has a story, don't call people sensitive because they'd rather you not silo them -- and as for why people are so quick to defend this line of questioning...
Best of luck to us all.
So you can't infer their intent, but you assume that they were attributing their success to their skin color?
You tried...
But yes, I believe this is a general assumption made by people who inquire about URM status only when a person's LM is not above a schools median range, and yet they are extended an II or acceptance.
I did not say OP definitelymade the aforementioned assumption, or that the assumption (if made)was attendant to some malicious or implicitly biased feeling on his part (as most of you seem deeply concerned at having such bias attributed to yo ), but simply explained what I am made to feel when asked a similar question under similar circumstances.
Also, yes Jefe, it was 200!
As the original transgressor, I'm sorry for stirring this all up!
I most certainly meant nothing malicious in my questioning and understand that things can easily be misinterpreted online so I'm sorry. While URM is certainly a factor that admissions committees look for, it is by no means a defining factor and so questions like my original one should be rephrased to account for this, and I apologize for that.
The fact that we're all on this page means we have the common goal of being great physicians and I think its good that we're willing to openly discuss topics like this! That being said, lets get this forum back on the right track and get into some medical schools. Good luck friends!
I most certainly meant nothing malicious in my questioning and understand that things can easily be misinterpreted online so I'm sorry. While URM is certainly a factor that admissions committees look for, it is by no means a defining factor and so questions like my original one should be rephrased to account for this, and I apologize for that.
The fact that we're all on this page means we have the common goal of being great physicians and I think its good that we're willing to openly discuss topics like this! That being said, lets get this forum back on the right track and get into some medical schools. Good luck friends!
amen. let's instead talk about how baller you are. Rooting for you to get that 20th invite, and/or acceptances!
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For what it's worth, in case this is useful to anyone. I have 2500+ hours of clinical experience that was really meaningful and rewarding plus at least 1000 of general volunteering. I'm a nontrad and have spent a lot of time really exploring and thinking about medicine, and other fields to make sure that this is what I want and that I know why. I think this probably shows through my essays, recs, etc. But to be completely honest, the whole process is a crapshoot after a certain point. I was shocked when I got this interview. Everyone on SDN is really qualified for the most part and is just trying to navigate an insane system. I wish the best of luck to you all!
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Thanks! Hopefully I get some in November. And well if Hahhvahd or Penn stop playing hard to get then you might see that 20th. And I'd say you're more baller man. I see you with the 2 acceptances and Hahhvahd II. Congrats!
Sorry to be so prosaic, but Any new IIs? Complete Dates. ( indulge me one mo time)
Does anyone know Harvard's policy on online classes? One of the pre-reqs that I lack is Harvard-specific. I would hate to have to sign up for the class when the odds of anyone getting into Harvard are so low. Could I take the class online after I got in if I theoretically got in?
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