2018-2019 Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson

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lalalaaaaaa said:
Hi everyone! I'm a 4th year at Jeff who just matched into gen surg. Happy to answer any questions, especially if you are on the fence about Jeff. There are definitely a lot of pros:
- very social and active student body
- tons of awesome student groups to work in (shout out to Refugee Health Partners!)
- good match results usually
- well respected school
- philly is an awesome city and jeff is right in the middle of it
- strong in matching into competitive specialties (ortho and optho)
- strong across all specialties
- new curriculum seems way better than what I had (lecture based)

and cons:
-HUGE class. Will likely be >300 in the coming years. The biggest negative IMO. Literally met someone for the first time yesterday who has been in my class for 4 years. Jeff adds international students in the clinical years which makes the class even bigger.
-Also consider that we have more than double the student body but NOT double the faculty, double the research opportunities, etc. This makes getting in on projects hard because attendings are overwhelmed by students.
- 3rd and 4th year rotations are packed with too many students on some services.
- you don't do all 3rd year rotations at Jefferson (Not necessarily a con because most schools do rotations outside of their home institution. Programs don't tend to talk about it during interviews, but this is almost universal and was annoying to me because I didn't expect it when I came to med school.)
- lack of diversity was a big problem my year but they are improving it

Happy to answer specific questions!
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Congratulations on the match from a fellow Jeff student!
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lalalaaaaaa said:
Honestly not sure about what grading is for the new curriculum. For me it was H/P/F and internal ranking. Clinical years grades are weighted more heavily for determining class rank (a good thing). For residency programs, in the dean's letter it says if you are top 10%, top 1/3, middle 1/3, bottom 1/3. TBH grades don't matter for pre-clinical years at all, they matter a lot more for clinical years (you want honors in as many things as possible and especially in specialties you are going into). But grades are almost meaningless compared to Step1. Jeff's Step1 is usually a little higher than the national average and they give a good amount of study time.

The best part of the new curriculum is starting clinical rotations at the end of 2nd year. There is no need for 2 years pre-clinical and now you will have more time to explore specialties.
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I heard it is P/F in pre-clinical years.

Thanks for your input on this thread!
 
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ClamShell said:
Does Dr. Callahan acknowledge updates when you send them to her directly? I sent her one on Monday but she hasn’t acknowledged it.
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Dr. Callahan acknowledged my thank you letter after my interview but not my update back in December. I assume it is because she receives numerous emails per day.
 
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underqualified_applicant said:
Got a II yesterday, so damn happy. 2 interview days left in late march and early april. sorry if that's bad news, just wanna help inform anyone holding out for here
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so 4 dates left in total? 2 in march and 2 in april? or just 2 in total

also if you dont mind sharing your stats?
 
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Do the people who interview in late March/early April have the same odds of being admitted as people who interviewed earlier in the cycle?

Would it make a difference if the late invite was due to a late submission instead of being passed over on the first review?
 
NotGeneric said:
Do the people who interview in late March/early April have the same odds of being admitted as people who interviewed earlier in the cycle?

Would it make a difference if the late invite was due to a late submission instead of being passed over on the first review?
Click to expand...

I think this has been answered by others folks but they really stress during the interview that no one is interviewing for the waitlist. They hold slots open for each interview day.
 
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II last week as well. Incredibly stoked as it's my top choice! The dates I saw were in the last week of March and first week of April as well. Hope this is helpful for you all.
 
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cptsam said:
so 4 dates left in total? 2 in march and 2 in april? or just 2 in total

also if you dont mind sharing your stats?
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no sorry, 2 dates total 1 in each month.

67 LM, 2nd year applicant with lots of different experiences (it's certainly not my grades that got me in;))
 
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mrl17mvp said:
What is the process to apply for merit scholarships? For some reason I thought all financial aid was need based.
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You can get scholarships for various reasons. For example, a lot of my classmates have a scholarship because they want to go into primary care or want to work in a rural/ low income area. I believe that are forms to fill out on the banner website but I can't remember if it's all on the same form or different ones.
 
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have there been any recent pre-II Rs?
 
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Are there any current Jeff students here, if so, how does the extensive class size (~270) negatively affect developing close relationships with attendings during rotations? Is it hard to overcome?
 
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Does anyone know if we can submit updates while on the waitlist/high priority waitlist? If so, how?
 
Interviewed late February and I’m hoping today is the day I hear back. I’m praying for an acceptance as SKMC has established itself as my top choice
 
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tigertiger17 said:
Does anyone know if we can submit updates while on the waitlist/high priority waitlist? If so, how?
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I sent one when I was on high priority last year. I sent it to admissions and cc’d the dean. Best of luck!
 
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Is anyone else having a nightmare of a time trying to get their health clearance done?
 
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mysonadoctor said:
Where do you go for all the vaccinations?
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I had all of mine together from my job so I just submitted those. But Jeff rejected two of them and I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out how to remedy because Complio is confusing
 
phillykat96 said:
Are there any current Jeff students here, if so, how does the extensive class size (~270) negatively affect developing close relationships with attendings during rotations? Is it hard to overcome?
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If you had told me that there were 270 people in my class I would be pretty surprised, because I feel like you do get a chance to meet a majority of the people in your class. You have small groups, big groups, anatomy labs, etc. where you meet a bunch of people in your class, so it never feels like there are a lot of people. In terms of attendings, the big class size does not really play much of a role. You get a chance to spend time with many different physicians and you can develop relationships pretty easily with anyone as everyone at Jefferson is really trying to help you.
 
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Got a HPWL a little bit ago. Hopefully there is a lot of movement this year! Does anyone know how many people are on the HPWL annually because I know earlier it was mentioned that about 60-80 get in off that list traditionally. I plan on sending continued letters of interest quite frequently. Is there anything else I can do that would help my chances at this point?
 
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dmerutuf69 said:
Got a HPWL a little bit ago. Hopefully there is a lot of movement this year! Does anyone know how many people are on the HPWL annually because I know earlier it was mentioned that about 60-80 get in off that list traditionally. I plan on sending continued letters of interest quite frequently. Is there anything else I can do that would help my chances at this point?
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What day did you interview? Has anyone who interviewed on March 6th heard back yet?
 
I got accepted, interviewed mid February
 
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dmerutuf69 said:
Got a HPWL a little bit ago. Hopefully there is a lot of movement this year! Does anyone know how many people are on the HPWL annually because I know earlier it was mentioned that about 60-80 get in off that list traditionally. I plan on sending continued letters of interest quite frequently. Is there anything else I can do that would help my chances at this point?
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Congrats on the HPWL! I know it isn't an acceptance but I've heard there's a ton of movement off that list. Did they email you their decision?
 
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Any advice for someone just placed on the HPWL? I know it’s not the worst case but I must admit I’m a little bummed. It’s definitely my first choice school and I want to go here more than anything
 
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Doesn't SKMC have a reputation for accepting a large proportion of interviewees?

I'm seeing a lot of HPWLs on here but not a lot of acceptances...
 
Does anyone know how the reimbursement process works for second look? Trying to figure out travel plans
 
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Does anyone have any info on Second Look for accepted students? I can't find anything online about it
 
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For those who are on the HPWL, please do not give up hope or feel disparaged. Many, many, current students are put on the HPWL and do in fact get in. Many students are accepted off the HPWL and it is just vital at this point to show interest in the school through updates, letters of intent, etc. You will be alright, just believe in yourselves!
 
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Chip1 said:
For those who are on the HPWL, please do not give up hope or feel disparaged. Many, many, current students are put on the HPWL and do in fact get in. Many students are accepted off the HPWL and it is just vital at this point to show interest in the school through updates, letters of intent, etc. You will be alright, just believe in yourselves!
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Thanks for the encouragement :), I actually really appreciate that and definitely been feeling a bit nervous because it's my top choice. I already sent my letter of intent so fingers crossed!!!
 
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Does anyone know how to receive a campus key? Do we receive it when we confirm our enrollment or will instructions be sent in a different email?
 
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