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Gonzo1996 said:
3.62 GPA. 515 MCAT. URM. 1st Generation College Student. Economic Adversity. OOS. Not doing dual degree.

I know my GPA is just shy of the mission based 3.7 but since I also fit the diversity portion of the mission statement should I still have a shot? This is my number one choice school and I already submitted the secondary 7/15. I am a FAP recipient so did not need to pay the fee.
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I would apply. I saw a few URMs who didn't have any ties to the state on my interview day.
 
missmartian85 said:
Yes, unless you are a diversity applicant, or a dual degree applicant you will not be considered and should not waste your dollar bills on the secondary. As the Dean says, they have not admitted a non-mission group person in I think over 4 years, at least since the new curriculum.
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I sent you a PM. I don't know if it went through or not!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Does anyone know if those in the "Oregon heritage" group are given the same preference as Oregon residents?
 
Just wondering about this question: What will be your greatest challenge in becoming a physician? Are they looking for broader, more substantial issues like dealing with death or is it equally acceptable to talk about financing medical school?
 
Gonzo1996 said:
3.62 GPA. 515 MCAT. URM. 1st Generation College Student. Economic Adversity. OOS. Not doing dual degree.

I know my GPA is just shy of the mission based 3.7 but since I also fit the diversity portion of the mission statement should I still have a shot? This is my number one choice school and I already submitted the secondary 7/15. I am a FAP recipient so did not need to pay the fee.
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Exact same cGPA and MCAT here. Also first gen. OOS (CA resident) I got a secondary today 🙂
Good luck!
 
saffe94 said:
Got mine. Boy is this a doozie. Anybody have any idea how it looks to not use the full 1500 characters? I've done two of them so far and both are ~900 characters 🙁
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From what I've heard, it's a huge misconception to believe that if you don't use the entire max character count it's somehow inadequate. If you can express your ideas in fewer characters, do so. Content is more important than fluffy language 🙂 Admissions reviewers can see right through fluff.
 
I'm struggling with this question:

Give an example of personal feedback in the last few years that was difficult to receive. How did you respond?

I was thinking about writing about how I asked for an LOE from my lab PI, and he turned me down because he was disappointed in the thesis I wrote. I wrote that thesis over three years ago. Since then, I graduated and have been working. I've grown and changed a lot since then.

I thought that I could write about the the difficult feedback that he gave me but that I was determined to find a way to get the letters I needed. I guess I worry that it could hurt me sharing that kind of information, especially since it's related to my app. Any ideas?
 
dewey2302 said:
I'm struggling with this question:

Give an example of personal feedback in the last few years that was difficult to receive. How did you respond?

I was thinking about writing about how I asked for an LOE from my lab PI, and he turned me down because he was disappointed in the thesis I wrote. I wrote that thesis over three years ago. Since then, I graduated and have been working. I've grown and changed a lot since then.

I thought that I could write about the the difficult feedback that he gave me but that I was determined to find a way to get the letters I needed. I guess I worry that it could hurt me sharing that kind of information, especially since it's related to my app. Any ideas?
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The OHSU secondary can feel like you're setting yourself up, but try to look past that. There is nothing wrong with doing a little introspection and admitting your faults/weak points/defeats. I think this prompt is less about the actual event and more about what you learned from it. If you think this situation represents personal growth and handling adversity, then go for it.
 
Sorry for the dumb question but when adding LoR info, it says "Primary Author/Contact" and "Institution/Department." Does the slash indicate you add contact info along with the author's name. Same with the second one. Do you add the institution as well as the department?
 
Babbitt4MVP said:
Sorry for the dumb question but when adding LoR info, it says "Primary Author/Contact" and "Institution/Department." Does the slash indicate you add contact info along with the author's name. Same with the second one. Do you add the institution as well as the department?
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Yes put both if you have that information
 
drmantistobbogan said:
The OHSU secondary can feel like you're setting yourself up, but try to look past that. There is nothing wrong with doing a little introspection and admitting your faults/weak points/defeats. I think this prompt is less about the actual event and more about what you learned from it. If you think this situation represents personal growth and handling adversity, then go for it.
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dewey2302 said:
I'm struggling with this question:

Give an example of personal feedback in the last few years that was difficult to receive. How did you respond?

I was thinking about writing about how I asked for an LOE from my lab PI, and he turned me down because he was disappointed in the thesis I wrote. I wrote that thesis over three years ago. Since then, I graduated and have been working. I've grown and changed a lot since then.

I thought that I could write about the the difficult feedback that he gave me but that I was determined to find a way to get the letters I needed. I guess I worry that it could hurt me sharing that kind of information, especially since it's related to my app. Any ideas?
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I would agree with what was said prior and add onto it. One of the most important things you can do is admit you have faults and failures. There will be thousands of pre-meds who turn in applications, and they cannot admit they have faults. OHSU is not looking for people like that, there are gunners - of course there are everywhere, but the average age of matriculation is one of the highest here for a reason. They are looking for maturity, and using this story is a great example of you maturity.
 
dewey2302 said:
I'm struggling with this question:

Give an example of personal feedback in the last few years that was difficult to receive. How did you respond?

I was thinking about writing about how I asked for an LOE from my lab PI, and he turned me down because he was disappointed in the thesis I wrote. I wrote that thesis over three years ago. Since then, I graduated and have been working. I've grown and changed a lot since then.

I thought that I could write about the the difficult feedback that he gave me but that I was determined to find a way to get the letters I needed. I guess I worry that it could hurt me sharing that kind of information, especially since it's related to my app. Any ideas?
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I'm just going to third the advice previously given. OHSU cares a lot about making sure its acceptees are mature with real-world experience. As a med student, resident, etc., you are going to encounter a lot of feedback that's tough to take. You're going to fall short sometimes. They want to see you can handle it, and that you can pick yourself up and improve when you are called upon to.

One of the best pieces of advice I got (for a job interview, but very applicable here) is whenever you have to say something about a failure or weakness, put a "but" on it. With the way the human brain works, if you put "but" in the middle of a sentence, it basically subconsciously tells the listener/reader's everything before the "but" doesn't matter. It doesn't need to be a literal "but", of course. Just focus on growth and how you have changed, and it will erase anything negative.

As a side note and corollary, make sure you never put a "but" after something positive. It will have the same erasing effect.
 
Did anyone else think that this schools secondary, particularly the essays, was way more difficult than others? I feel like all of the questions were very introspective. I would have preferred that these questions be asked in an interview setting. It feels weird to be this introspective in an essay.
 
i thought the same. but now that they have asked the questions, we have the answer ready for when other schools ask the same in an interview setting i guess?
does anyone know what the OHSU interviews are like?
 
shadow522 said:
i thought the same. but now that they have asked the questions, we have the answer ready for when other schools ask the same in an interview setting i guess?
does anyone know what the OHSU interviews are like?
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It is a MMI format, 5-8 separate interviews.
We legally cannot say anything more about the MMI's, as we signed privacy contracts.
 
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VoxPopuli93 said:
Did anyone else think that this schools secondary, particularly the essays, was way more difficult than others? I feel like all of the questions were very introspective. I would have preferred that these questions be asked in an interview setting. It feels weird to be this introspective in an essay.
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I actually almost DIDN'T do this secondary because it was so long and I was working full time and had so many other secondaries to do... Sure glad I did it! It was definitely the hardest secondary I had to do.
 
I was thinking of applying MD/PhD here. I know they give strong preference to in-state applicants for the MD program. Does anyone know if this is true for the MD/PhD program as well? Most MSTP programs do not have this in-state preference; however, on OHSU's MSTP website it states that they abide by the same admission criteria as the MD program and one of the criteria is a preference given to in-state applicants.
 
mrbadgradesbut said:
I was thinking of applying MD/PhD here. I know they give strong preference to in-state applicants for the MD program. Does anyone know if this is true for the MD/PhD program as well? Most MSTP programs do not have this in-state preference; however, on OHSU's MSTP website it states that they abide by the same admission criteria as the MD program and one of the criteria is a preference given to in-state applicants.
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No IS preference for MD/PhD. They are viewed entirely as their own mission group. Same goes for MD/MPH. The part about same criteria just refers to the fact that acceptance is still contingent on getting into the MD program.

It doesn't change much but OHSU doesn't have an MSTP program. Their MD/PhD program is self funded. It's still the same stipend, but they have less seats as a result. I think it's typically 4 or 5 spots.
 
drmantistobbogan said:
No IS preference for MD/PhD. They are viewed entirely as their own mission group. Same goes for MD/MPH. The part about same criteria just refers to the fact that acceptance is still contingent on getting into the MD program.

It doesn't change much but OHSU doesn't have an MSTP program. Their MD/PhD program is self funded. It's still the same stipend, but they have less seats as a result. I think it's typically 4 or 5 spots.
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Ohsu seems to have fewer spots but this is on their website so I contend your point on their program's funding source. They don't refer to it as an mstp program, but I think that it /is/ in fact an mstp.
 

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shadow522 said:
Ohsu seems to have fewer spots but this is on their website so I contend your point on their program's funding source. They don't refer to it as an mstp program, but I think that it /is/ in fact an mstp.
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Must be a recent change
 
The portal just updated me. It states that my secondary is processed. But under it my LOR's are all posted and marked received, but one says not received and is a red "X". All my LOR's were into my primary before I submitted and all came from Portfolio. This is the only school showing one missing. Anyone else had an issue? Thanks
 
I'm an in-state applicant, Portland native, with a 3.26 cGPA, very strong trend of improvement, a 4.0 senior GPA stretching over ~2.5 years worth of time and credits, highly diverse life experiences, exceptional interpersonal, communication, and cultural competencies, and a 519 MCAT (97th percentile). My AMCAS was verified by August 4th, but I haven't received a secondary from OHSU yet. Whereas, a premed friend of mine who's an Oregon native with an average MCAT score and a much higher cGPA than mine received his secondary from OHSU the day after his AMCAS was verified mid-July. Should I worry? Did I fall below the de facto cGPA cutoff limit for initial screening?


EDIT: OHSU just published a notice ~20 minutes ago stating: "It takes approximately 4-6 weeks from the time you certify and submit your completed application to AMCAS until we receive it" (source).

I just tried to login to their secondary portal, and not only did I get access, the portal says they emailed me a secondary on the 4th! I swear I searched my email multiple times, including in the Spam folder, for a secondary invite from OHSU. I didn't see it. I still can't find the email. Are they going to think that I'm not that interested now because it's taken me so long to submit my secondaries? I have them all pre-written with the current year's prompts.
 
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gonnif said:
You should CTFO. There is no way as to know why you havent received a secondary but since you werent verified until August 4th, got transmitted August 5th, and may not even been even initially processed yet. Or you could have been screened out. Or you could have 5,000 applications ahead of you. in any case as you need to let at least 2 weeks pass if not 4 weeks. and why with such a low GPA did you not have have your application Day 1 and been verified on June 4th. your great GPA trend shows that your first year and half was so low that, even the improvement and MCAT may not overcome the incredible competition that Oregon has even for IS.
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Thank you for your insight. You're right, I should have submitted sooner. I think the polishing I did on my personal statement and activities was important, but timing is essential. I'm hoping that the story I have to tell about how I made that trend of improvement and MCAT score happen will demonstrate my grit enough to tip the scales in my favor. I've written that story in my pre-written secondaries for OHSU.

Reading past year's threads about OHSU, I see we Oregonian premeds really are exceptionally screwed, aren't we?

Spoiler alert: I tried to login to OHSU's portal and got in. It says they emailed me a secondary on the 4th. I checked my email and Spam folder repeatedly for it but never found it. Just tried to find it again and still can't.

I've read that schools judge your interest based on how quickly you write your secondaries. Is that true? Did I just screw myself but not figuring this out sooner and submitting my secondaries ASAP? I have them written and ready to go, but no one's proofread them for crazy-talk yet. I'll get on that now.
 
Prometheus123 said:
Thank you for your insight. You're right, I should have submitted sooner. I think the polishing I did on my personal statement and activities was important, but timing is essential. I'm hoping that the story I have to tell about how I made that trend of improvement and MCAT score happen will demonstrate my grit enough to tip the scales in my favor. I've written that story in my pre-written secondaries for OHSU.

Reading past year's threads about OHSU, I see we Oregonian premeds really are exceptionally screwed, aren't we?

Spoiler alert: I tried to login to OHSU's portal and got in. It says they emailed me a secondary on the 4th. I checked my email and Spam folder repeatedly for it but never found it. Just tried to find it again and still can't.

I've read that schools judge your interest based on how quickly you write your secondaries. Is that true? Did I just screw myself but not figuring this out sooner and submitting my secondaries ASAP? I have them written and ready to go, but no one's proofread them for crazy-talk yet. I'll get on that now.
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Don't get scared off about your application timing with OHSU. Generally speaking, gonnif is correct. However OHSU doesn't operate on true rolling admissions; the hold the majority of their acceptances until March.
 
drmantistobbogan said:
Don't get scared off about your application timing with OHSU. Generally speaking, gonnif is correct. However OHSU doesn't operate on true rolling admissions; the hold the majority of their acceptances until March.
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That's a relief to hear!
 
drmantistobbogan said:
No IS preference for MD/PhD. They are viewed entirely as their own mission group. Same goes for MD/MPH. The part about same criteria just refers to the fact that acceptance is still contingent on getting into the MD program.

It doesn't change much but OHSU doesn't have an MSTP program. Their MD/PhD program is self funded. It's still the same stipend, but they have less seats as a result. I think it's typically 4 or 5 spots.
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MD/PhD student in my last year here at OHSU. I was in state and I'm guessing it helped me get in the MD portion (had a 30 MCAT and at the time out of state needed at least a 32). I was initially accepted MD and on hold for a PhD, then later got accepted PhD.

Also we recently got MSTP funding but honestly for the student, it doesn't really matter where the money comes from with respect to funding your stipend/tuition etc.
 
Prometheus123 said:
Thank you for your insight. You're right, I should have submitted sooner. I think the polishing I did on my personal statement and activities was important, but timing is essential. I'm hoping that the story I have to tell about how I made that trend of improvement and MCAT score happen will demonstrate my grit enough to tip the scales in my favor. I've written that story in my pre-written secondaries for OHSU.

Reading past year's threads about OHSU, I see we Oregonian premeds really are exceptionally screwed, aren't we?

Spoiler alert: I tried to login to OHSU's portal and got in. It says they emailed me a secondary on the 4th. I checked my email and Spam folder repeatedly for it but never found it. Just tried to find it again and still can't.

I've read that schools judge your interest based on how quickly you write your secondaries. Is that true? Did I just screw myself but not figuring this out sooner and submitting my secondaries ASAP? I have them written and ready to go, but no one's proofread them for crazy-talk yet. I'll get on that now.
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Please check to make sure that they have your correct email on file, call the admissions team on Monday and they should be able to help you with that. Secondly, don't worry about finishing your secondary a little later for OHSU (and honestly a lot of schools, idk why such a big deal is made out of it) I was not complete until Aug 13 last year, and received 8 interview invites (current dual degree student at OHSU). It's fine. As long as the other pieces of your application are well-rounded and you aren't just one of those people who got up and decided to apply to medical school this year, you are fine. This application season is going to make you feel like you are at your wits end, and SDN will not help this factor. Let me know if you have any questions!
 
missmartian85 said:
Please check to make sure that they have your correct email on file, call the admissions team on Monday and they should be able to help you with that. Secondly, don't worry about finishing your secondary a little later for OHSU (and honestly a lot of schools, idk why such a big deal is made out of it) I was not complete until Aug 13 last year, and received 8 interview invites (current dual degree student at OHSU). It's fine. As long as the other pieces of your application are well-rounded and you aren't just one of those people who got up and decided to apply to medical school this year, you are fine. This application season is going to make you feel like you are at your wits end, and SDN will not help this factor. Let me know if you have any questions!
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I'm happy to hear that, thank you! Are you doing MD/PhD? Did you transfer in from regular MD?

If so, how many years is the PhD adding to your time? When I went to their info session, the impression I got was 4-6 years depending on how fast you finish your thesis.
 
Prometheus123 said:
I'm happy to hear that, thank you! Are you doing MD/PhD? Did you transfer in from regular MD?

If so, how many years is the PhD adding to your time? When I went to their info session, the impression I got was 4-6 years depending on how fast you finish your thesis.
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MD/MPH, we are admitted into the program at the same time as MD
 
Prometheus123 said:
I'm happy to hear that, thank you! Are you doing MD/PhD? Did you transfer in from regular MD?

If so, how many years is the PhD adding to your time? When I went to their info session, the impression I got was 4-6 years depending on how fast you finish your thesis.
Click to expand...

Grad school typically ranges 3-5 years here for MD/PhD
 
For the personal feedback question, I was thinking about writing about a time when one of my close friends told me that I don't step outside of my social comfort zone enough, which hurt because I had worked really hard in high school and in college to overcome my shyness. I learned that I still had further to go, so I pushed myself to speak in class more and got more involved in campus activities.
Is that too personal of an answer? Are they looking for something more professionally focused? I'm not really sure if I can relate this back to medicine enough...
 
ilovenutella said:
For the personal feedback question, I was thinking about writing about a time when one of my close friends told me that I don't step outside of my social comfort zone enough, which hurt because I had worked really hard in high school and in college to overcome my shyness. I learned that I still had further to go, so I pushed myself to speak in class more and got more involved in campus activities.
Is that too personal of an answer? Are they looking for something more professionally focused? I'm not really sure if I can relate this back to medicine enough...
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Is there an anecdote you can share about how doing those things resulted in personal growth for you? E.g. you had this great interaction with these people and it just made you feel really good and you were so glad that you took that difficult feedback and ran with it. I could see that working maybe, in my limited non-cat perspective.

What I think you need to guard against is the whole thing just sounding in net like you're not a people person. Flip that impression on its head with some true life experience, and it could turn out in your favor.
 
ilovenutella said:
For the personal feedback question, I was thinking about writing about a time when one of my close friends told me that I don't step outside of my social comfort zone enough, which hurt because I had worked really hard in high school and in college to overcome my shyness. I learned that I still had further to go, so I pushed myself to speak in class more and got more involved in campus activities.
Is that too personal of an answer? Are they looking for something more professionally focused? I'm not really sure if I can relate this back to medicine enough...
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Not every essay needs to be related to medicine
 
Thinking about adding OHSU on as a late addition as OOS. Would this be advisable? 514 MCAT and 3.81 s/cGPA. My application clearly conveys my interest in academic medicine (3000+ research hours, etc) and working with underserved populations (500+ hours at after-school program). My clinical hours/volunteering are lacking so I'm unsure if this will hurt me if OSHU is more rural and primary care focused. Anyone have any insight on if this is worth a shot?
 
liquidcrawler said:
Thinking about adding OHSU on as a late addition as OOS. Would this be advisable? 514 MCAT and 3.81 s/cGPA. My application clearly conveys my interest in academic medicine (3000+ research hours, etc) and working with underserved populations (500+ hours at after-school program). My clinical hours/volunteering are lacking so I'm unsure if this will hurt me if OSHU is more rural and primary care focused. Anyone have any insight on if this is worth a shot?
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TBH, if I was out-of-state, even if I qualified for the high-stats mission group, I wouldn't bother. Statistically, I think they take very few students from the high-stats mission group and the secondary is a beast. Likewise, they don't make most of their acceptances until March-April, so by then you would probably have luck elsewhere. But if you have the time and the money, it wouldn't hurt.
 
liquidcrawler said:
Thinking about adding OHSU on as a late addition as OOS. Would this be advisable? 514 MCAT and 3.81 s/cGPA. My application clearly conveys my interest in academic medicine (3000+ research hours, etc) and working with underserved populations (500+ hours at after-school program). My clinical hours/volunteering are lacking so I'm unsure if this will hurt me if OSHU is more rural and primary care focused. Anyone have any insight on if this is worth a shot?
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If you have the means, why not! I was personally told not to apply as an OOS student, and I am so glad I did. I love it here. It was the best place I interviewed in terms of having a support team for students.

Edited for better clarity: OHSU has a really really big focus on clinical hours. Most everyone in my class has experience as at least a scribe, while many others worked as clinical researchers, EMTs, CNAs, MAs, etc.. (you get the point). This is going to be a tough school for you as they do have a big emphasis on putting yourself out there in the healthcare world for an extended period of time already. For reference, I had 5 years clinical experience in various capacities, and I am specifically interested in rural health. (seriously just check out all of Oregon's loan forgiveness programs its hard not to be interested.)
 
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For the question on the secondary about types of adversity, how personal should I get? On most apps I would avoid talking in detail about stuff like that, and I didn't bring it up at all on any other essays including PS, but here it specifically asks us to describe family/economic adversity, both of which I experienced pretty severely while growing up. It's not something I would feel uncomfortable talking about during interviews, bc I'm older and way past that stuff, but I am curious to know how others who had those kinds of experiences approached this.
 
biancadoc said:
For the question on the secondary about types of adversity, how personal should I get? On most apps I would avoid talking in detail about stuff like that, and I didn't bring it up at all on any other essays including PS, but here it specifically asks us to describe family/economic adversity, both of which I experienced pretty severely while growing up. It's not something I would feel uncomfortable talking about during interviews, bc I'm older and way past that stuff, but I am curious to know how others who had those kinds of experiences approached this.
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I straight up talked about my experience with assault in mine, and overcoming PTSD. I was asked about it in my one on one, and was told that was one of the most diverse answers they had received. So if you can talk about it without getting antsy/angry/upset do it! It has made you who you are today 🙂
 
I'm having a hard time differentiating my responses to the adversity question and the resilience questions...my answers are practically the same for both, in that they discuss the burden of having to take care of my family but i push through balancing two jobs with applying to medical school and bettering my application and then hoping to succeed with admission. thoughts?
 
atrofine said:
I'm having a hard time differentiating my responses to the adversity question and the resilience questions...my answers are practically the same for both, in that they discuss the burden of having to take care of my family but i push through balancing two jobs with applying to medical school and bettering my application and then hoping to succeed with admission. thoughts?
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My only thought about this is that the adversity question specifically asks about when you were growing up. It sounds like what you wrote about in the resilience question is more about college/after. I might be misinterpreting, not sure. If the circumstances were when you were growing up, you may want to choose something else for the resilience question since the adversity one gives you so much more room to explore and showcase your growth. Just my two cents!
 
biancadoc said:
My only thought about this is that the adversity question specifically asks about when you were growing up. It sounds like what you wrote about in the resilience question is more about college/after. I might be misinterpreting, not sure. If the circumstances were when you were growing up, you may want to choose something else for the resilience question since the adversity one gives you so much more room to explore and showcase your growth. Just my two cents!
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Thanks! This helps a lot. Writing all these secondaries has all the prompts meshed into one in my brain! LOL
 
biancadoc said:
For the question on the secondary about types of adversity, how personal should I get? On most apps I would avoid talking in detail about stuff like that, and I didn't bring it up at all on any other essays including PS, but here it specifically asks us to describe family/economic adversity, both of which I experienced pretty severely while growing up. It's not something I would feel uncomfortable talking about during interviews, bc I'm older and way past that stuff, but I am curious to know how others who had those kinds of experiences approached this.
Click to expand...
I had problems with this too because I really just didn't want to come off like I was just complaining or whining about it. Instead I tried to focus on what I learned and the skills I developed from growing up in an economically disadvantaged household.
 
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