2017-2018 Pennsylvania State University

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kitkat13 said:
For interviews, are they at the Hershey campus?
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Yes, even if you're interested in the University Park program you'll interview initially in Hershey.
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twentyeightmiles said:
Yes, even if you're interested in the University Park program you'll interview initially in Hershey.
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This is correct. Everyone will first interview for a spot at PSCOM via a Hershey interview. Getting accepted following that interview means you have a spot in the Hershey program at PSCOM. Upon being accepted to PSCOM, if you showed interest in the UP Program we will contact you and there is a second round of interview-like activities in UP to determine who will be accepted to the UP Program. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
 
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II yesterday! So excited! I absolutely love this school :love: LizzyM ~71, OOS
 
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Does anyone know if there is a facebook group with accepted students?
 
Penn State UPRC MSDP said:
This is correct. Everyone will first interview for a spot at PSCOM via a Hershey interview. Getting accepted following that interview means you have a spot in the Hershey program at PSCOM. Upon being accepted to PSCOM, if you showed interest in the UP Program we will contact you and there is a second round of interview-like activities in UP to determine who will be accepted to the UP Program. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
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Do you mind telling us how you like the school? :) And is there anything you wish you could change? Are in the UP or Hershey program? I think its hard to tell the differences between the programs based on the website :(
 
kitkat13 said:
Do you mind telling us how you like the school? :) And is there anything you wish you could change? Are in the UP or Hershey program? I think its hard to tell the differences between the programs based on the website :(
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I'm at the UP Program and honestly I love it. Much like how most real medical settings run, the program is extremely team-based. I spend about a third of my time in clinic, a third of my time in IQ (our six-person-plus-one-or-two-physician seminar groups somewhat like PBL), and a third of my time studying (lots of group study which is great). In IQ (our only real "class") we bring cases from patients we see in clinic and base our sessions around them, which allows us to study what we think is interesting and impactful. For example, last week we studied ear infections and preeclampsia, and this week we are focusing on adrenal insufficiency and Parksinson's, all based on real patient cases from the group. In clinic, I feel like I am actually able to use and develop my skills. Yesterday, for example, I got a history on a patient with RUQ pain and then conducted an abdominal exam and was able to recommend that he needed to get a HIDA scan and likely have his gallbladder removed. Being able to learn medicine by actually applying medicine in real asynchronous situations, even though I'm only in my first semester of medical school, is pretty phenomenal. You have to love self-directed learning, experiential learning, and teamwork to fit here, but I think the opportunities to learn in this program are unparalleled.

Unfortunately the UP Program website is terrible in my opinion, lacking information and being overly vague. That's a big part of why I'm happy to answer questions on SDN.
 
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Penn State UPRC MSDP said:
I'm at the UP Program and honestly I love it. Much like how most real medical settings run, the program is extremely team-based. I spend about a third of my time in clinic, a third of my time in IQ (our six-person-plus-one-or-two-physician seminar groups somewhat like PBL), and a third of my time studying (lots of group study which is great). In IQ (our only real "class") we bring cases from patients we see in clinic and base our sessions around them, which allows us to study what we think is interesting and impactful. For example, last week we studied ear infections and preeclampsia, and this week we are focusing on adrenal insufficiency and Parksinson's, all based on real patient cases from the group. In clinic, I feel like I am actually able to use and develop my skills. Yesterday, for example, I got a history on a patient with RUQ pain and then conducted an abdominal exam and was able to recommend that he needed to get a HIDA scan and likely have his gallbladder removed. Being able to learn medicine by actually applying medicine in real asynchronous situations, even though I'm only in my first semester of medical school, is pretty phenomenal. You have to love self-directed learning, experiential learning, and teamwork to fit here, but I think the opportunities to learn in this program are unparalleled.

Unfortunately the UP Program website is terrible in my opinion, lacking information and being overly vague. That's a big part of why I'm happy to answer questions on SDN.
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Wow, I'm 100% sold... I hope I hear from PSU soon!
 
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Penn State UPRC MSDP said:
I'm at the UP Program and honestly I love it. Much like how most real medical settings run, the program is extremely team-based. I spend about a third of my time in clinic, a third of my time in IQ (our six-person-plus-one-or-two-physician seminar groups somewhat like PBL), and a third of my time studying (lots of group study which is great). In IQ (our only real "class") we bring cases from patients we see in clinic and base our sessions around them, which allows us to study what we think is interesting and impactful. For example, last week we studied ear infections and preeclampsia, and this week we are focusing on adrenal insufficiency and Parksinson's, all based on real patient cases from the group. In clinic, I feel like I am actually able to use and develop my skills. Yesterday, for example, I got a history on a patient with RUQ pain and then conducted an abdominal exam and was able to recommend that he needed to get a HIDA scan and likely have his gallbladder removed. Being able to learn medicine by actually applying medicine in real asynchronous situations, even though I'm only in my first semester of medical school, is pretty phenomenal. You have to love self-directed learning, experiential learning, and teamwork to fit here, but I think the opportunities to learn in this program are unparalleled.

Unfortunately the UP Program website is terrible in my opinion, lacking information and being overly vague. That's a big part of why I'm happy to answer questions on SDN.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this. Are you also integrated with year 2, 3, 4 medical students in each of your team based segments (clinic, IQ)? Just wondering- its a vastly different experience when you work with people of different levels of competencies. Is what you outlined going to be more or less the rhythm/formula for learning for subsequent semesters at PennState?

Can you tell us about faculty-student culture?
 
CheusChrist said:
Thank you for this. Are you also integrated with year 2, 3, 4 medical students in each of your team based segments (clinic, IQ)? Just wondering- its a vastly different experience when you work with people of different levels of competencies. Is what you outlined going to be more or less the rhythm/formula for learning for subsequent semesters at PennState?

Can you tell us about faculty-student culture?
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For better or worse, we are not very integrated with MS2-4 students. This is the first year of the UP Program, so there are only the 12 MS1s. There are also 12 MS3s and 18 MS4s at University Park (students who did their first two years at Hershey and then came up to UP for clerkships/electives/AIs), but they did not participate in our curriculum and we have limited interaction with them (although we do pretty much all live in the same apartment building which provides community outside of school). Hopefully in future years we can better integrate classes (at least outside of school and potentially inside as well) as there are more classes in the UP Program (part of why we are excited for the incoming students next year!). In clinic we primarily work directly with attendings and patients, but also have some collaboration with MS3s, MS4s, interns, residents, PAs, NPs, nurses, care coordinators, etc.

The whole first year is roughly as I described, with clinic responsibilities gradually and organically ramping up from patient navigation to clerkship-level roles as the year goes on. Second year is our clerkship year, where we will spend time each week in different clinics (IM, peds, OB/GYN, psych, neuro, surgery, underserved) in a longitudinal integrated clerkship model, and we will also have one IQ group each week. Third year is still a little in flux, but will consist of some integrated science seminar time to round out our basic science knowledge prior to boards, board prep, taking step 1/2, and then hitting electives/AIs. Fourth year is quite similar to most other schools, where we will focus on electives, AIs, and residency prep.
 
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Penn State UPRC MSDP said:
For better or worse, we are not very integrated with MS2-4 students. This is the first year of the UP Program, so there are only the 12 MS1s. There are also 12 MS3s and 18 MS4s at University Park (students who did their first two years at Hershey and then came up to UP for clerkships/electives/AIs), but they did not participate in our curriculum and we have limited interaction with them (although we do pretty much all live in the same apartment building which provides community outside of school). Hopefully in future years we can better integrate classes (at least outside of school and potentially inside as well) as there are more classes in the UP Program (part of why we are excited for the incoming students next year!). In clinic we primarily work directly with attendings and patients, but also have some collaboration with MS3s, MS4s, interns, residents, PAs, NPs, nurses, care coordinators, etc.

The whole first year is roughly as I described, with clinic responsibilities gradually and organically ramping up from patient navigation to clerkship-level roles as the year goes on. Second year is our clerkship year, where we will spend time each week in different clinics (IM, peds, OB/GYN, psych, neuro, surgery, underserved) in a longitudinal integrated clerkship model, and we will also have one IQ group each week. Third year is still a little in flux, but will consist of some integrated science seminar time to round out our basic science knowledge prior to boards, board prep, taking step 1/2, and then hitting electives/AIs. Fourth year is quite similar to most other schools, where we will focus on electives, AIs, and residency prep.
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Thanks so much for this explanation! I understand that you guys have one IQ tbl-esque group once a
week, but do you know how much of the curriculum for the Hershey program is TBL vs lecture? And I am assuming that the UP program is harder to get into right since it is smaller? If you get chosen for the UP program, can you still do some of the 3+3/3+5 tracks the school offers?
 
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kitkat13 said:
Thanks so much for this explanation! I understand that you guys have one IQ tbl-esque group once a
week, but do you know how much of the curriculum for the Hershey program is TBL vs lecture? And I am assuming that the UP program is harder to get into right since it is smaller? If you get chosen for the UP program, can you still do some of the 3+3/3+5 tracks the school offers?
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At UP we have three IQ groups (4 hours each) per week in MS1 and one per week in MS2. In Hershey they don't do any TBLs but they do have PBLs. I believe in MS1 and MS2 they usually do lectures five days each week (two hours each) and PBLs three times each week (two hours each).

I guess it's true that UP is "harder to get into" in the sense that we are only selecting a subset of interested students who were already accepted to Hershey, but I don't think that is the point. Hershey's admissions team is determining which students are of a caliber that they will be successful medical students at PSCOM, and we are looking at those students to see who mutually fits best with our curriculum and program. The 3+3/3+5 programs are unfortunately mutually exclusive with the UP Program. You can only pick one track to ultimately pursue and the curricula are quite different. You are free to show interest in multiple programs (I believe) and then once accepted pick which one is the right one for you. There are definitely pros and cons to each.
 
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Penn State UPRC MSDP said:
At UP we have three IQ groups (4 hours each) per week in MS1 and one per week in MS2. In Hershey they don't do any TBLs but they do have PBLs. I believe in MS1 and MS2 they usually do lectures five days each week (two hours each) and PBLs three times each week (two hours each).

I guess it's true that UP is "harder to get into" in the sense that we are only selecting a subset of interested students who were already accepted to Hershey, but I don't think that is the point. Hershey's admissions team is determining which students are of a caliber that they will be successful medical students at PSCOM, and we are looking at those students to see who mutually fits best with our curriculum and program. The 3+3/3+5 programs are unfortunately mutually exclusive with the UP Program. You can only pick one track to ultimately pursue and the curricula are quite different. You are free to show interest in multiple programs (I believe) and then once accepted pick which one is the right one for you. There are definitely pros and cons to each.
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You are AMAZING! Thank you for taking the time to answer! :)
 
Do they send out more II's in January?? Been on hold for a while now and really hoping to get an II soon
 
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For those of you who were accepted, how long did it take for you to hear back?
 
meddm said:
For those of you who were accepted, how long did it take for you to hear back?
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It seems like roughly 6 weeks for people this year so far, but last year's post shows 6-12 (this was the answer given to me above).
 
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Does anyone have any good advice on traveling to the Hershey campus from nearby airports?? I am OOS and have an interview in January, but am having trouble deciding the best/cheapest route to campus :/
 
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Ape_Seascape11 said:
Does anyone have any good advice on traveling to the Hershey campus from nearby airports?? I am OOS and have an interview in January, but am having trouble deciding the best/cheapest route to campus :/
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I flew into the Philadelphia airport+rented a car because the local/regional/private airports were waaaaaaayyyyyyy overpriced
Marriott near the campus gives discounts for interviewees
 
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Ape_Seascape11 said:
Does anyone have any good advice on traveling to the Hershey campus from nearby airports?? I am OOS and have an interview in January, but am having trouble deciding the best/cheapest route to campus :/
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I have seen people say they use Harrisburg's airport but that could be expensive. For my interview I flew into Baltimore. Many more options and cheaper flights but the travel to Hershey is probably a little longer compared to Phili (but Phili traffic is known to be pretty horrible at times). I had a family member get me from the airport but getting a rental would be pretty easy at Baltimore.
 
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Ape_Seascape11 said:
Does anyone have any good advice on traveling to the Hershey campus from nearby airports?? I am OOS and have an interview in January, but am having trouble deciding the best/cheapest route to campus :/
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Definitely look at Harrisburg's airport (MDT) because it would be the most convenient. You could easily get an Uber or something to campus or a nearby hotel from there. (15-20 minute drive) It is actually sometimes cheaper than flying to Philly, so it's worth a try. Philly's Airport (PHL) is decent, but it's a pain to get anywhere from there unless you rent a car (you can connect with Amtrak, greyhound, etc, but you would have to take the SEPTA airport line to center city). If you fly to BWI or Newark (EWR), you could also get an Amtrak to Harrisburg (There are Amtrak stations at both of these airports, but you would have to change trains at Philadelphia, 30th Street Station). This might end up being more expensive than renting a car or flying straight to Harrisburg, though, honestly.

If you end up finding that flying somewhere other than Harrisburg and renting a car is cheaper, also look at Allentown (ABE). It's a small regional airport, but occasionally you can find flights through there that are cheaper than flying into Philly (Although most of them have a layover in Philly anyway...I don't understand airlines sometimes). Hope this helps, and best of luck in your interview!
 
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Just placed on pre-interview hold
 
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Deleted because I don’t want to confuse anyone further!
 
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Also got a pre-interview hold notification today. 520 MCAT, 3.91 sGPA, Nontrad.
 
Quarterhorse said:
@Ape_Seascape11

University Park airport (UNV) is super close (<10 min from campus) but flights in and out of there tend to be expensive.

Harrisburg (MDT) is fairly close and may have a better selection of flights.

Latrobe (LBE) is about 2 hours away so you’d probably need to rent a car unless you know someone in the area that can pick you up. However, they have cheap flights in and out of certain areas.
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University Park airport will actually get you into the University Park campus, which is about 2 hours from the interview site at Penn State Hershey. For anyone who might interview later for the UP program (not sure how that additional process works), it'd be a great bet though.
 
I know this was probably asked somewhere above, but scrolling through all the pages seems harder than just re-asking:
Do they accept updates? If so, where do we submit them?
 
fldoctorgirl said:
I know this was probably asked somewhere above, but scrolling through all the pages seems harder than just re-asking:
Do they accept updates? If so, where do we submit them?
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They do not. In the hold email I received they explicitly say no updates will be accepted.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
I know this was probably asked somewhere above, but scrolling through all the pages seems harder than just re-asking:
Do they accept updates? If so, where do we submit them?
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Called earlier this year about this. No updates except transcripts.
 
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Complete 8/7 and still have not heard anything :( good or bad sign?
 
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Quarterhorse said:
@Ape_Seascape11

University Park airport (UNV) is super close (<10 min from campus) but flights in and out of there tend to be expensive.

Harrisburg (MDT) is fairly close and may have a better selection of flights.

Latrobe (LBE) is about 2 hours away so you’d probably need to rent a car unless you know someone in the area that can pick you up. However, they have cheap flights in and out of certain areas.
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All of these are in relation to University Park, PA. You should already know this if you actually did any research on the school, but THE MAIN CAMPUS OF THE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE IS 100 MILES AWAY FROM THE MAIN CAMPUS OF PENN STATE UNIVERSITY. Penn State's main campus is University Park, PA (16802). The College of Medicine is housed in Hershey, PA (17033). If you are thinking about the University Park regional campus program, this is fine, but is has been said on here before, everyone interviews in Hershey first.

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but this is a very important distinction that it seems many people still have not realized. Again, best of luck to everyone!
 
MAB5851 said:
All of these are in relation to University Park, PA. You should already know this if you actually did any research on the school, but THE MAIN CAMPUS OF THE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE IS 100 MILES AWAY FROM THE MAIN CAMPUS OF PENN STATE UNIVERSITY. Penn State's main campus is University Park, PA (16802). The College of Medicine is housed in Hershey, PA (17033). If you are thinking about the University Park regional campus program, this is fine, but is has been said on here before, everyone interviews in Hershey first.

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but this is a very important distinction that it seems many people still have not realized. Again, best of luck to everyone!
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Sorry ... I actually did know this already but had a brain fart because I was hoping to attend at the University park campus if accepted. I apologize for any confusion it caused!
 
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anyone know if the hold email is typically a good sign or a bad sign?
 
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lalaMD2020 said:
Interviewed here in November. Has anyone heard back post-II?
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I interviewed near the end of November and they told us 10-12 weeks. Not sure if thats what they have been telling everyone interviewing in November but if it is I'd buckle up for a couple of more weeks.
Also, if you scroll back a page or so, there have been discussions on how the timing of the decision process works out with the different committees and such.
 
HockeyGuy2772 said:
I interviewed near the end of November and they told us 10-12 weeks. Not sure if thats what they have been telling everyone interviewing in November but if it is I'd buckle up for a couple of more weeks.
Also, if you scroll back a page or so, there have been discussions on how the timing of the decision process works out with the different committees and such.
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I interviewed here early November and I'm hoping I hear back by next Friday!
 
cb8 said:
Based on this thread, it looks like decisions were sent on Thursday November 2nd, and Friday December 1st. I've decided not to draw conclusions about when to expect a decision, but feel free to use that information however you like.
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It was just me hoping haha but I do think they meet at the end of each month and decisions come out on Fridays
 
holy cow was anyone else very impressed by this school on interview day? Their facilities were very nice and the true P/F was very cool! The students seemed close + very happy!
 
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the faculty is very dedicated to teaching
 
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