2017 Nontrad Applicants' Progress Thread

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QofQuimica said:
Maybe you should. Seriously, email her and offer to draft the LOR for her to tweak and submit.
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sunshinefl said:
I did this for one of my letter writers. He agreed in the beginning of May, with a deadline of June 30th. When it wasn't in on 7/12, I emailed and offered a draft. He said that was a great idea and so I sent him one. Now the letter is in!
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Yeah, if I still hear absolutely nothing by Monday, I'm going to email this offer. Thing is, she seems apparently to ignore her email, so I feel like it would be just another email that goes ignored. I left the note on her door last Friday, and she probably didn't see it until Monday. My reasoning is I'll give her a full week in case she wants to pretend she was working on the letter all along and just submit it rather than emailing me all, "I'm so sorry! I forgot!" I had another professor do this haha. But come Monday, I'm heading to her office bright and early. She has a class that begins at 10:20 or something (have to doublecheck), so she has to show up at some point.

In other news, woke up to two secondaries. Kinda cool even though they're obviously automated.
 
I was really hoping to get AMCAS verified in July. It's still possible it could slip in on the 31st but it will probably be the first week of August. I know a few days is an arbitrary difference lol. I guess I wanted to get secondaries during the break between summer and fall classes so I could get them done.
 
All letters finally in to AMCAS, 18/39 secondaries completed so far. "Complete and ready for review" emails are rolling in now... Bring on the II's and rejections!
 
I have already written and submitted the 3 I received. Additionally I have pre-written for 5 other schools. The thing is right now writing them is competing with my classes for time. I have a full load of summer courses. They starting winding down on July 31st and then finals go through August 5th. Then fall starts August 22nd. So I was really hoping to get the secondaries done during that period.
sleepyhead22 said:
Are you prewriting them? I really wish I had done that. I still haven't submitted to all of my schools because I'm dreading being on the clock for secondaries.
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Looks like I'll get verified sometime next week. I'll have secondaries, summer finals, moving cross country, finding a place to live, and starting my SMP in the span of like 2 weeks. I obviously didn't plan this out very well.
 
All of these promotional "Apply to our school you'll never get into! We believe you offer great diversity, and we're just overwhelmingly impressed with your 509 MCAT!" emails make me feel like someone's intentionally playing with my emotions.
 
beebreezy said:
All of these promotional "Apply to our school you'll never get into! We believe you offer great diversity, and we're just overwhelmingly impressed with your 509 MCAT!" emails make me feel like someone's intentionally playing with my emotions.
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Man I tell me about it. I've gotten so many of these since my MCAT this past April. Only two of the schools I've actually submitted an application to because I planned on applying previously.


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beebreezy said:
All of these promotional "Apply to our school you'll never get into! We believe you offer great diversity, and we're just overwhelmingly impressed with your 509 MCAT!" emails make me feel like someone's intentionally playing with my emotions.
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Are you trying to suggest I'm not going to get into HMS?
57590161.jpg
 
HMS sent me a "apply to our school! You're an underrepresented minority!" letter in the mail and my parents were like "you're gonna get in!!". And I was like, umm we're Asian... They saw my last name and assumed I'm Mexican or something...
 
I never get any e-mail advertisements from my MCAT score. I feel left out (that said, the non-trad aspect is about the only thing about me that is in any way diverse for a med school population).

I'm just happy because I got my final secondaries wrapped up tonight. 26 schools applied to, 22 secondaries done (four with none or fee-only secondary), and so much more time to be anxious about everything.
 
Just finished all of the secondaries I've received so far! Still haven't received anything from Vandy and UCLA, but at this point, I don't think I want to get them anyway... That UCLA secondary in particular looks like such a killer.
 
Gibbward said:
Just finished all of the secondaries I've received so far! Still haven't received anything from Vandy and UCLA, but at this point, I don't think I want to get them anyway... That UCLA secondary in particular looks like such a killer.
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Hahah, I feel the same way. I love UCLA in theory, but I'm pretty burnt out on writing. I've submitted 23, have 2 that I'm dragging my feet on, and 3 that I am debating if I am going to write at all.

I think I'm a huge huge long shot for Northwestern, and their secondary sucks. Same with UCSD, and I am feeling broke and tired of writing. Might just end up leaving it at 27 - since I have the Columbia, Mt. Sinai, and Cincinatti ones all close to done.
 
gribear said:
Hahah, I feel the same way. I love UCLA in theory, but I'm pretty burnt out on writing. I've submitted 23, have 2 that I'm dragging my feet on, and 3 that I am debating if I am going to write at all.

I think I'm a huge huge long shot for Northwestern, and their secondary sucks. Same with UCSD, and I am feeling broke and tired of writing. Might just end up leaving it at 27 - since I have the Columbia, Mt. Sinai, and Cincinatti ones all close to done.
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I had Tulane on my list but decided not to submit a secondary there so you're not the only one!

For me, it was a function of being burned out, an expensive secondary fee, and the fact that I realized I didn't even want to go there. Not a fan of the location and they are extremely expensive with what appears to be very limited financial aid. So, better to cut my losses now than wasting $125.

However, I may or may not have given in to my neuroticism/fear of not getting in and added another few schools tonight :-0
 
2017 hopeful here. These secondaries are killing my bank account. How does anyone afford these? I can't imagine being a traditional student at 21/22 years old working at dominoes and making it work... I've spent like 2 months income on applications alone and I still work full-time.


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Doctor_Beez said:
2017 hopeful here. These secondaries are killing my bank account. How does anyone afford these? I can't imagine being a traditional student at 21/22 years old working at dominoes and making it work... I've spent like 2 months income on applications alone and I still work full-time.
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Ahhh, preach. I think there is a solid chunk of traditional students that get help from their parents. Some who get FAP. And some who..well, I have no idea. My partner is literally supporting us both right now, as my entire paychecks are going to secondaries. I think I am dropping two schools (after already dropping one earlier in the cycle) because $$$$$$$$$$. Can't bring myself to donate $100 each to two UC schools who probably don't want me anyways.
 
chrisjh said:
Got a rejection today. Panicking.
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Where? I'm so sorry to hear that 🙁 But don't panic. Much too early for that - at least that's what I keep telling myself, because it's true, but easier said than done.
 
gribear said:
Where? I'm so sorry to hear that 🙁 But don't panic. Much too early for that - at least that's what I keep telling myself, because it's true, but easier said than done.
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Oakland.
I have high stats, but I'm panicking because it's one of only 4 schools that I applied to. 25% of my application pool down, and I haven't got the faintest clue why they rejected me.
 
chrisjh said:
Oakland.
I have high stats, but I'm panicking because it's one of only 4 schools that I applied to. 25% of my application pool down, and I haven't got the faintest clue why they rejected me.
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Some schools are amenable to being asked for application feedback post rejection. It couldn't hurt to ask.
 
bunchesonothing said:
Some schools are amenable to being asked for application feedback post rejection. It couldn't hurt to ask.
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Yeah, I looked it up and Oakland is supposedly pretty good about that. I'm gonna go in and ask about it tomorrow between classes (Oakland is my undergrad).
 
The letter of recommendation saga continues. *sigh*

I showed up at the writing center, in which my professor's office is located, yesterday early in the morning when the center opened. Felt like a stalker, but after months of emailing her and leaving notes on her office door, I wasn't sure what else to do. Right when I walked into her office, she went, "I got your note! I'm going to write your letter right now! I want to be a part of your process! It's so exciting that you're going to be a doctor!" So she got the note I had left a week ago, just didn't think it was necessary to email me to let me know she got it like I requested in the note. So anyway, she then submitted the letter about 20 minutes after I left her office. lol.

But here's the new thing.
While I was at her office, I explained the letter had to be on official letterhead and hand-signed. She argued back and forth with me that they wouldn't accept .pdf and .doc files if they needed a hand signature because, "There's no way to hand sign a digital document." I tried explaining that my other letter writers scanned their signed letters, but she just kept insisting they didn't need a hand signature. She said she'd be happy to fax a hand-signed copy if I have a fax number to give her, but of course don't (If anyone knows of a hidden Interfolio fax number, please let me know lol). So I finally just said, "Alright, I'll check with the schools on the signature requirement," and left. I was hoping maybe by digital signature, she meant she used the feature that allows you to stamp your hand signature digitally on a pdf or something. Checked with Interfolio, and she literally just typed her name on the document. Interfolio emailed me a link with instructions on how to use their digital signing tool thing, which I emailed her. The problem is, she apparently doesn't check her email, as evidenced by all of my emails that went ignored. So now I have to hustle to track her down once again for a signature, and I have to do it within the next I think 2 days before the summer semester ends. Even if I manage to find her, I'm not sure how I'm going to convince her she really can submit a hand-signed document since she was so insistent it was impossible. Did I mention I took business communications with this professor?

Why must this be so complicated?
 
So I'm finally starting to write secondaries and I feel so conflicted about every single question. I'm realizing that despite being an okay writer, I'm not good at verbalizing things about myself.

Also, looking for some advice....my GPA isn't great due to grades from 7+ years ago but I've done a ton to repair my GPA in the last few years. I discussed it in my institutional action description for academic probation, and while I didn't address grades specifically in my PS, I did talk about how that period of my life was tumultuous and how I grew up and became disciplined and driven toward medicine. I still feel the need to justify myself at every question on secondaries that are like "any concerning elements of your application" but I also don't want to draw excessive attention to it. Should I be discussing this at every chance I get or am I actually drawing too much attention to it?
 
beebreezy said:
The letter of recommendation saga continues. *sigh*

I showed up at the writing center, in which my professor's office is located, yesterday early in the morning when the center opened. Felt like a stalker, but after months of emailing her and leaving notes on her office door, I wasn't sure what else to do. Right when I walked into her office, she went, "I got your note! I'm going to write your letter right now! I want to be a part of your process! It's so exciting that you're going to be a doctor!" So she got the note I had left a week ago, just didn't think it was necessary to email me to let me know she got it like I requested in the note. So anyway, she then submitted the letter about 20 minutes after I left her office. lol.

But here's the new thing.
While I was at her office, I explained the letter had to be on official letterhead and hand-signed. She argued back and forth with me that they wouldn't accept .pdf and .doc files if they needed a hand signature because, "There's no way to hand sign a digital document." I tried explaining that my other letter writers scanned their signed letters, but she just kept insisting they didn't need a hand signature. She said she'd be happy to fax a hand-signed copy if I have a fax number to give her, but of course don't (If anyone knows of a hidden Interfolio fax number, please let me know lol). So I finally just said, "Alright, I'll check with the schools on the signature requirement," and left. I was hoping maybe by digital signature, she meant she used the feature that allows you to stamp your hand signature digitally on a pdf or something. Checked with Interfolio, and she literally just typed her name on the document. Interfolio emailed me a link with instructions on how to use their digital signing tool thing, which I emailed her. The problem is, she apparently doesn't check her email, as evidenced by all of my emails that went ignored. So now I have to hustle to track her down once again for a signature, and I have to do it within the next I think 2 days before the summer semester ends. Even if I manage to find her, I'm not sure how I'm going to convince her she really can submit a hand-signed document since she was so insistent it was impossible. Did I mention I took business communications with this professor?

Why must this be so complicated?
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Cheese and rice, is she purposefully making this difficult?

Have you considered snail mail submission? I had to do it for one of my physicians since he was so busy. Get an envelope, address it to Interfolio, put a stamp on it, and stick the Interfolio letter request in there. That way, all she has to do is print the letter, sign it, seal it in with the letter request and drop it in mailbox. OR she can let you mail it.
 
brainnurse said:
Cheese and rice, is she purposefully making this difficult?

Have you considered snail mail submission? I had to do it for one of my physicians since he was so busy. Get an envelope, address it to Interfolio, put a stamp on it, and stick the Interfolio letter request in there. That way, all she has to do is print the letter, sign it, seal it in with the letter request and drop it in mailbox. OR she can let you mail it.
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Yep, I was considering that! The issue is, I already got my secondary from the school I'm most likely to get into a few days ago, and it has a 2-week deadline. I'm not sure if it would get to interfolio and be processed in time. :/

I also don't think she made an account with Interfolio (letter writers aren't required to make an account anymore), so I don't know if she's able to submit updated letters. Not sure if I should just email her a whole new request or if that will confuse her further. Sigh! I'm gonna go to her office tomorrow morning, I guess, and try to sort it all out. Going to bring a stamped envelope ready to go in case I fail once again at explaining technology. Hopefully interfolio can help me sort things out even if she doesn't follow the proper steps for updating a letter.
 
I'm really regretting this summer biochem decision (biochem 2, 451 which is grad students/biochem majors, online) class started Monday, our first exam is tomorrow, and it cover 10 lectures. I just got back from a cousins weddings, and am trying to get my last couple secondaries out. The stress is real - not to mention a bunch of app issues (LOR not being received, residency questions, etc etc etc)

Just need to make it to this weekend, then everything will be a little better, but not much since the next exam is next thurs, then a final a week later.
 
beebreezy said:
Yep, I was considering that! The issue is, I already got my secondary from the school I'm most likely to get into a few days ago, and it has a 2-week deadline. I'm not sure if it would get to interfolio and be processed in time. :/

I also don't think she made an account with Interfolio (letter writers aren't required to make an account anymore), so I don't know if she's able to submit updated letters. Not sure if I should just email her a whole new request or if that will confuse her further. Sigh! I'm gonna go to her office tomorrow morning, I guess, and try to sort it all out. Going to bring a stamped envelope ready to go in case I fail once again at explaining technology. Hopefully interfolio can help me sort things out even if she doesn't follow the proper steps for updating a letter.
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You'll need to print the request to send with the LOR. Not sure if you have to make a new request, but if you do, it won't send her an email at all since it will be by snail mail. You can just delete her old letter from your Dossier.

Not sure what the Interfolio turnaround looks like now but mine took three days to update three weeks ago.

I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with one person. I've pretty much given up on my nonscience writer too. =/
 
If it makes you feel better, one of my letter writers that was supposed to do an update (we had planned in like Feb to get together) literally just emailed me saying am I free next week to get together. I was like, ugh, too late.
 
BlastedHeath said:
So I'm finally starting to write secondaries and I feel so conflicted about every single question. I'm realizing that despite being an okay writer, I'm not good at verbalizing things about myself.
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I feel like every time I open my mouth, I make my application weaker :nailbiting:

sunshinefl said:
Yay! I just got my 2 year member badge! Sorry, you guys probably don't care but I was excited about my SDN anniversary 😀
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Twins!
 
Going back and reading some of the secondaries I've already submitted is like..ouch. Some of these essays feel so clunky!

Definitely going to stop doing that. What's done is done.

On another note, I managed to lock myself out of my Columbia portal last night when I was trying to submit my secondary. Now I can't get ahold of anyone there, and I really want to submit! Oy .
 
Gurby said:
I feel like every time I open my mouth, I make my application weaker :nailbiting:



Twins!
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OMG we are! Love it!

gribear said:
Going back and reading some of the secondaries I've already submitted is like..ouch. Some of these essays feel so clunky!

Definitely going to stop doing that. What's done is done.

On another note, I managed to lock myself out of my Columbia portal last night when I was trying to submit my secondary. Now I can't get ahold of anyone there, and I really want to submit! Oy .
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Sometimes there just aren't enough characters to write a smooth piece. They have to be used to not getting a lot of transitions, development, etc.
 
The best advice I've been given re: re-reading secondaries is don't do it until immediately before any potential interview with that school, and then just to refresh on how you presented yourself on paper. What's done is done, and you can't change it now.

On a more personal level, as someone who has been a professional writer for more than a decade, I hated every single piece I ever wrote for at least six months after it was published. Only then did I decide that some of it didn't suck (and a chunk of those won awards). So give yourself a break when evaluating your own writing. Everyone I came across who did it on a full-time basis couldn't stand their own stuff even when I thought it was brilliant.
 
FINALLY got my last LOR submitted with that dang signature. My poor technologically challenged professor had no idea how to scan the letter, couldn't get her printer hooked up, and then was panicking thinking Interfolio was going to charge her to set up a writer account...after she finally believed me that clicking the "Sign Up" button didn't mean she was going to be prompted to apply to a school herself. After much time spent practicing my patience face, I finally got her successfully to use the digital signature pad on Interfolio. Interfolio could really stand to make the website a bit more intuitive lol.

I hate LORs so much.
 
Hey all! Long time listener, first time caller...
Submitted for verification on Monday (7/25) now I am just waiting for my MCAT score to be released on 8/9. Needless to say, I AM FREAKING OUT as I pre-write my secondaries!
I have had a really hard time finding a mentor and getting solid advice since I am a non-traditional applicant.

Where have you all found mentors?
The pre med advisor at my post bacc is horribly negative towards my chances and the one at my undergrad is way too positive. Just looking for some real life advice.
 
HopefulPilot said:
Welcome! If you're willing to read and take certain comments with a grain of salt, this site has all the advice you need. Will it replace having a parent or family friend physician? No, but there are a lot of people on here willing to take time out of their lives to answer questions.
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Yep, here and the premed subreddit have been my best sources of information. Most people are very helpful, and pay no mind to the few who jump down your throat for asking questions. They're not responsible for your application; you are. Otherwise, I found that the professor who advises the premed association at my school was helpful in some aspects. Pretty much everyone else I came across gave bad advice haha. Even my post-bacc advisor, who co-advises the premed association often gave me advice I knew was bad. One of the doctors I shadowed told me I didn't need shadowing hours haha. Mentors are definitely difficult to find.
 
beebreezy said:
Yep, here and the premed subreddit have been my best sources of information. Most people are very helpful, and pay no mind to the few who jump down your throat for asking questions. They're not responsible for your application; you are. Otherwise, I found that the professor who advises the premed association at my school was helpful in some aspects. Pretty much everyone else I came across gave bad advice haha. Even my post-bacc advisor, who co-advises the premed association often gave me advice I knew was bad. One of the doctors I shadowed told me I didn't need shadowing hours haha. Mentors are definitely difficult to find.
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Agreed, I kind of took a risk by taking the MCAT before taking Biochem so I know my score isn't going to be as good as it could be if I put things off a year. I was the only adult student in my OChem class last year, which was really hard but I still got an A. Plus I am working full time so I don't lose my health benefits while applying. While some schools seem to take things like that into consideration, I am hesitant to waste essay space explaining why my MCAT score isn't as good as it could be.

One thing I noticed with post bacc is I don't trust everything a professor tells me, especially when they are focused on undergrad students with little to no real life experience. When I asked reddit about applying with a low MCAT (est. 500) I was basically shamed into not applying at all but I know the rest of my application is extremely strong. LizzyM says I fall in the 60th percentile of applicants based on my GPA (3.9) and MCAT. Picking through SDN is definitely helpful but some of the comments are so narrow minded, it gets frustrating.
 
sunshinefl said:
Well, they only got to July 1st today on AMCAS. So my hopes of a July verification are out. Should be next week though!
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I swear they slowed down their verification this week. I submitted late on July 3rd and I'm really hoping I squeak in tomorrow.
 
BlastedHeath said:
I swear they slowed down their verification this week. I submitted late on July 3rd and I'm really hoping I squeak in tomorrow.
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Yeah there were some days last week they were getting through 3 submission dates. Before this week started I had hope I might slip in but it didn't pan out. I think maybe that a lot of people submitted the end of June due to self imposed deadlines and that's why it's slower this week. I was 7/6 around 9:10-9:15am.
 
sunshinefl said:
Yeah there were some days last week they were getting through 3 submission dates. Before this week started I had hope I might slip in but it didn't pan out. I think maybe that a lot of people submitted the end of June due to self imposed deadlines and that's why it's slower this week. I was 7/6 around 9:10-9:15am.
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Mine was just done! Really relieved to see my GPA is exactly how I calculated it.

Eww, looking at it now, I REALLY don't like the corrections they made. They changed my fresh/soph/jr/senior level for 80% of my classes, now I only have 12 units in my sophomore year?!
 
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I am in the camp that hates the 'hold' status late into the cycle when you have been complete 'early' and especially when the school knows you are highly likely not to be selected. Last time I applied I was not given a decision by many schools till after months and months of waiting when other applicants to the same schools had received rejections. It makes planning your life a lot more difficult. I suppose it was a sign that I was competitive, but does it really take that long to decide that you are not competitive enough for their school? I know that since I have never been on an admissions committee I am not able to appreciate their perspective. But I needed to get this off my chest.
My other concern is when current students review applications, especially a traditional student reviewing a non traditional students application. What if that student can not relate to you or your experiences at all??? Especially when one could almost be old enough to be their momma.


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