2018-2019 Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

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Did anybody get information about Second Look after being accepted? Thank you!
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Are schools required to provide all post interview decisions by april 30? I interviewed mid march and am wondering if I should expect to hear back by 4/30
 
Hey I just pulled my acceptance. Hoping it goes to one of you still waiting! Best of luck!
 
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withdrew my acceptance and some scholarship money today, hoping it goes to one of you all!
 
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I've been accepted at Penn State and I'm deciding between Penn State and another school and I'm having a hard time choosing. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it out to Second Look day, so I can only go off my feeling from my interview day.

One of the reasons I'm nervous about Penn State is I got the impression that there isn't a lot of non-traditional students. I'm 3 years out from undergrad and I'm worried that I may not fit in as well as the traditional students. When I stayed with a student for my interview, everyone I was introduced to was 21-22yro and I felt a little out of place. Does anyone know what percentage of students are non-traditional? Maybe I just had an inaccurate impression from this one visit.

Does anyone know the average Step 1 score?

It seems like there isn't a lot to do in Hershey. I know I won't have a lot of free-time but I do want to balance my school and social life as best as possible! Do any current students feel limited due to the area? Do you feel bored at times or do you find there's enough to do?

The Children's Hospital sounds like it is the stronger of the two main hospitals we will be at (in terms of nationally ranked specialties). However, I think I'm more interested in pursuing adult medicine. Should I be worried that Hershey Medical Center only has 2 nationally ranked adult specialties?

How do students feel about Step 1 being after your 3rd year?

How do students feel about 18 months of didactic work as opposed to a full 2 years?

Overall, I was really impressed with Penn State when I visited for interview day and second look. It feels like a great community and it seems like the students are very happy! I'm hoping maybe someone can comment on some of my questions to help me feel better about this decision. Thanks!
 
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dancingdoc5 said:
I've been accepted at Penn State and I'm deciding between Penn State and another school and I'm having a hard time choosing. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it out to Second Look day, so I can only go off my feeling from my interview day.

One of the reasons I'm nervous about Penn State is I got the impression that there isn't a lot of non-traditional students. I'm 3 years out from undergrad and I'm worried that I may not fit in as well as the traditional students. When I stayed with a student for my interview, everyone I was introduced to was 21-22yro and I felt a little out of place. Does anyone know what percentage of students are non-traditional? Maybe I just had an inaccurate impression from this one visit.

Does anyone know the average Step 1 score?

It seems like there isn't a lot to do in Hershey. I know I won't have a lot of free-time but I do want to balance my school and social life as best as possible! Do any current students feel limited due to the area? Do you feel bored at times or do you find there's enough to do?

The Children's Hospital sounds like it is the stronger of the two main hospitals we will be at (in terms of nationally ranked specialties). However, I think I'm more interested in pursuing adult medicine. Should I be worried that Hershey Medical Center only has 2 nationally ranked adult specialties?

How do students feel about Step 1 being after your 3rd year?

How do students feel about 18 months of didactic work as opposed to a full 2 years?

Overall, I was really impressed with Penn State when I visited for interview day and second look. It feels like a great community and it seems like the students are very happy! I'm hoping maybe someone can comment on some of my questions to help me feel better about this decision. Thanks!
Click to expand...


When I applied last cycle, I was also accepted to Penn State and a few other schools. I decided against going to Penn State, primarily due to the location, hospital size and class composition. I have a friend who goes to Penn State, and based on their input, I think I made the right decision.

As to class distribution, the overwhelming majority are traditional students age 22-24. Only a handful are nontraditional, maybe 3-4 per year. The class diversity is also very low, I think last year they had ~7% underrepresented minority students. They promote diversity and inclusion, but my friend said its actually kind of cliquey.

There is definitely less to do in Hershey compared to most other schools in cities. My friend said they have go uber to Harrisburg if they want a variety. Its definitely something to consider as you need to commit more time to go the extra distance. Time is very limited and an extra 30 minute drive to find activities can get old.

The hospital is small compared to other medical school linked hospitals. Its a good hospital for the area, but you may get more recognition training at a larger / more nationally known health system.

I remember the step 1 scores when I interviewed being almost exactly the national average, maybe 1 point above or below. I don't know how I feel about Step 1 being in the 3rd year, It gives you some actual experience, but it also means you need to stay up to date on the material for an extra half a year. That's a lot of material to keep in your mind all that time. Not having that gap means the material would be fresher. Its a bit of give and take.

I can't really comment on the didactic time, both systems can work. A longer period of didactic work does spread out the material, making it more manageable. Its still a lot regardless.

In short, nothing is really bad about Penn State, but some things could definitely be better. The curriculum aspects are basically matter of preference, but the location, size and class diversity were my main reasons for not attending there. I don't know what other school/s your deciding between, but I'd definitely give it some thought. 4 years plus a possible residency is a long time to go to a place if you find out you don't like it. I hope this helps. You've worked hard to get here, you deserve to be happy with your choice.
 
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Best advice I've heard all this cycle: "You've worked hard to get here, you deserve to be happy with your choice."
 
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Thank you, this was really helpful. I appreciate how candid you were! And yes, great advice! We do deserve to be happy with our choice :)
 
I too have been accepted here and I am having difficulties choosing between this and another school. @ dancing doc. Have you made your decision ? You can pm if you want to talk more.
 
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dancingdoc5 said:
I've been accepted at Penn State and I'm deciding between Penn State and another school and I'm having a hard time choosing. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it out to Second Look day, so I can only go off my feeling from my interview day.

One of the reasons I'm nervous about Penn State is I got the impression that there isn't a lot of non-traditional students. I'm 3 years out from undergrad and I'm worried that I may not fit in as well as the traditional students. When I stayed with a student for my interview, everyone I was introduced to was 21-22yro and I felt a little out of place. Does anyone know what percentage of students are non-traditional? Maybe I just had an inaccurate impression from this one visit.

Does anyone know the average Step 1 score?

It seems like there isn't a lot to do in Hershey. I know I won't have a lot of free-time but I do want to balance my school and social life as best as possible! Do any current students feel limited due to the area? Do you feel bored at times or do you find there's enough to do?

The Children's Hospital sounds like it is the stronger of the two main hospitals we will be at (in terms of nationally ranked specialties). However, I think I'm more interested in pursuing adult medicine. Should I be worried that Hershey Medical Center only has 2 nationally ranked adult specialties?

How do students feel about Step 1 being after your 3rd year?

How do students feel about 18 months of didactic work as opposed to a full 2 years?

Overall, I was really impressed with Penn State when I visited for interview day and second look. It feels like a great community and it seems like the students are very happy! I'm hoping maybe someone can comment on some of my questions to help me feel better about this decision. Thanks!
Click to expand...


Hey so I'm also a non-trad student and although I agree that there seems to be a younger demographic, I didn't at all feel uncomfortable or out of place. I think anywhere you go, you're always gonna find people on a spectrum of maturity regardless of age group but I think the most important thing is finding "your" people and I think you can find that anywhere. When I interviewed and visited, I specifically asked about this and I got some genuine answers from everyone which made me feel comfortable. I interacted with some awesome people both at the interview and second look, people I could see myself spending hours studying with or even just kicking it with and they were mostly younger than me. PM me if you want to talk more about this.
 
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Who else is banking on decisions being released on Friday?!
 
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Dr.Ján.ītor_MD said:
My guess is honestly next Tuesday at 4:00pm tbh. Spoke to someone in admissions and they said it’ll most likely be the 30th
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As long as it's before May 1st to potentially have the opportunity to get a refund from a big DO deposit, I'm happy!
 
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For those who have questions for a current student, please send me a private message (I’m a first year). I would be happy to share my experiences so you don’t have to rely on speculation. I will post a longer answer for all to see in the next day or so but if you need an answer immediately, just send me a message.

For those that have been accepted and could not make it to second look day, if you private message me I can send you the powerpoints and all of the information from the day.
 
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interviewed mid February and haven't heard anything back yet. Anyone else in the same boat?
 
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Accepted this morning! This is my top choice so it feels absolutely surreal!!

OOS, interviewed March 1st — good luck to all still waiting
 
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Hi Everyone! I interviewed March 8th and just got accepted this morning!!! I'm so excited!

I'm also new to SDN and just created an account to be a part of this thread. Good luck to everyone waiting to hear back!
 
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I think I remember seeing something that mentioned committees meeting to review different applicants at different times? So I’m guessing the rest of us will hear in the coming days
 
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