2018-2019 Stanford University School of Medicine

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Hawkenthesky said:
AHHHH LITERALLY PASSING AWAY I JUST GOT AN II! My first one ah I’m screaming

Edit: complete 8/17, OOS, idk what else ppl want to know
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AHHH Congrats!!! This is an AMAZING one to have as your first!
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This is new this year apparently:

$2.5 million award to support physician-scientist training

6 year MD (funded partially years 2 and 3, and fully years 4-6) for people with an interest in laboratory / data science research who dont want to pursue the full MD/PhD. Any current students (sorry for the batsignal @skk_) know anything more about this?
 
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II Received yesterday evening! LM> 80, lots of research
 
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Woke up to an II here! Complete 8/5. Absolutely gobsmacked and thrilled; I'm so out of their score range. Some hope for all of you in the same boat :)
 
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Congrats to everyone who got IIs! I look forward to meeting some of you on interview day, and stealing your food. Feel free to post here or DM me if you have any questions, and i'll try my best to answer.

Lucca said:
This is new this year apparently:
$2.5 million award to support physician-scientist training

6 year MD (funded partially years 2 and 3, and fully years 4-6) for people with an interest in laboratory / data science research who dont want to pursue the full MD/PhD. Any current students (sorry for the batsignal @skk_) know anything more about this?
Click to expand...

So, I actually do know quite a lot about this program and while I can't speak for what other schools are going to do, I can give you some info about what Stanford is doing.

Basically, the pre-clinical curriculum outside of the first 3-4 months of MS1 (which is a little different) is currently structured as 2 full days + 2 half days a week (although a lot of it is optional attendance and everything is recorded so your actual class-time will likely be lower). As an alternative to a research year, the option to do MS2 as a split-year was recently introduced to better support longitudinal research. For this, you do MS1 like normal, then do MS2 as 1 full day + 1 half day a week for two years, spending your remaining time on research. BWF adds a dedicated research year on top of this + more funding, extending the degree to 6 years.

Right now you apply at the end of MS1, then do MS2 as a split-year that will be funded by medscholars. I'm not sure of the actual numbers but it should be over 50% tuition from this, and financial aid or TAing (the #1 way to reduce debt here) could probably bring the real number close to 100%. The remainder of the degree will then be fully funded by a combination of BWF + the school themselves.

The program has been in the works for a while now and has been extremely well vetted - when it was in development, the school directly talked to a huge number of residency programs including basically all top tier programs to find out what their opinion would be of students opting to do this, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The current plan is that you'll also earn a MS on top of your MD if you do it (not finalized yet so may change), and I believe they're also working on doing something to link the program to short-track residency pathways as well.

The last thing worth mentioning is that while not a sure thing, the impression i've gotten is that there shouldn't be a huge amount of issues getting into the program if it turns out its what you want to do and you apply at the end of MS1. Due to the size of the class being small (typically fixed at 90~ MD + MSTP students of which 75-80 are MD-only - the data on MSAR right now actually represents a complete outlier year), if i'm remembering correctly the plan is to have enough spots for about 10%~ of each class, and expand it based on interest. This honestly probably matches pretty well with the number of people that actually want to do something like this, especially since there's other options available if you want to focus more strongly on research too, like internally transferring to MSTP (which a ridiculously high number of people here do).
 
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skk_ said:
Congrats to everyone who got IIs! I look forward to meeting some of you on interview day, and stealing your food. Feel free to post here or DM me if you have any questions, and i'll try my best to answer.



So, I actually do know quite a lot about this program and while I can't speak for what other schools are going to do, I can give you some info about what Stanford is doing.

Basically, the pre-clinical curriculum outside of the first 3-4 months of MS1 (which is a little different) is currently structured as 2 full days + 2 half days a week (although a lot of it is optional attendance and everything is recorded so your actual class-time will likely be lower). As an alternative to a research year, the option to do MS2 as a split-year was recently introduced to better support longitudinal research. For this, you do MS1 like normal, then do MS2 as 1 full day + 1 half day a week for two years, spending your remaining time on research. BWF adds a dedicated research year on top of this + more funding, extending the degree to 6 years.

Right now you apply at the end of MS1, then do MS2 as a split-year that will be funded by medscholars. I'm not sure of the actual numbers but it should be over 50% tuition from this, and financial aid or TAing (the #1 way to reduce debt here) could probably bring the real number close to 100%. The remainder of the degree will then be fully funded by a combination of BWF + the school themselves.

The program has been in the works for a while now and has been extremely well vetted - when it was in development, the school directly talked to a huge number of residency programs including basically all top tier programs to find out what their opinion would be of students opting to do this, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The current plan is that you'll also earn a MS on top of your MD if you do it (not finalized yet so may change), and I believe they're also working on doing something to link the program to short-track residency pathways as well.

The last thing worth mentioning is that while not a sure thing, the impression i've gotten is that there shouldn't be a huge amount of issues getting into the program if it turns out its what you want to do and you apply at the end of MS1. Due to the size of the class being small (typically fixed at 90~ MD + MSTP students of which 75-80 are MD-only - the data on MSAR right now actually represents a complete outlier year), if i'm remembering correctly the plan is to have enough spots for about 10%~ of each class, and expand it based on interest. This honestly probably matches pretty well with the number of people that actually want to do something like this, especially since there's other options available if you want to focus more strongly on research too, like internally transferring to MSTP (which a ridiculously high number of people here do).
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Thanks a lot for the info. Also interesting that you can TA as a med student
 
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Lucca said:
Thanks a lot for the info. Also interesting that you can TA as a med student
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TAing is likely slightly more common here than at other schools, mostly because there's a structured process to obtain TAships for MS1/MS2 courses (basically a mini match) and pay is very generous. + as you would expect, its great for professional development / getting to know faculty better / having on your CV etc.

Most TAships pay 12k per quarter, with some like anatomy paying 24k/quarter (which is more than what you have to pay for one quarter's tuition lol) but as a result are also more competitive to get. Finding the time to TA actually isn't bad - Stanford's curriculum is remarkably chill (things like unranked p/f, no AOA, and a lot of flexibility in how you can schedule your rotations/even when you take Step 1 definitely contribute to this), so it usually becomes more about choosing between TAing and doing other ECs/research you want to do rather than sacrificing QoL or impacting your studies. I have no idea what the actual % of people that end up TAing in some capacity is, but its definitely very high.
 
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II! (At 1am...) Canadian applicant. Complete 7/16.
 
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Does stanford accept updates and if so do we just send it to their admissions email? I couldn't find an update spot on the portal.
 
freedoctor17 said:
Does stanford accept updates and if so do we just send it to their admissions email? I couldn't find an update spot on the portal.
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Unfortunately, I remember seeing on their secondary page that they only accept updates after they offer you an interview.
 
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Any CAN/internationals waiting to hear back still? Completed early Aug
 
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Hi all, my application randomly has an option to "withdraw" now, while it hasnt been there since 8/1 (completion date). Anyone know why?
 
who wants to take one for the team and call and see if it means anything
 
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Anyone here apply to Knight Hennessy?
 
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skk_ said:
Congrats to everyone who got IIs! I look forward to meeting some of you on interview day, and stealing your food. Feel free to post here or DM me if you have any questions, and i'll try my best to answer.



So, I actually do know quite a lot about this program and while I can't speak for what other schools are going to do, I can give you some info about what Stanford is doing.

Basically, the pre-clinical curriculum outside of the first 3-4 months of MS1 (which is a little different) is currently structured as 2 full days + 2 half days a week (although a lot of it is optional attendance and everything is recorded so your actual class-time will likely be lower). As an alternative to a research year, the option to do MS2 as a split-year was recently introduced to better support longitudinal research. For this, you do MS1 like normal, then do MS2 as 1 full day + 1 half day a week for two years, spending your remaining time on research. BWF adds a dedicated research year on top of this + more funding, extending the degree to 6 years.

Right now you apply at the end of MS1, then do MS2 as a split-year that will be funded by medscholars. I'm not sure of the actual numbers but it should be over 50% tuition from this, and financial aid or TAing (the #1 way to reduce debt here) could probably bring the real number close to 100%. The remainder of the degree will then be fully funded by a combination of BWF + the school themselves.

The program has been in the works for a while now and has been extremely well vetted - when it was in development, the school directly talked to a huge number of residency programs including basically all top tier programs to find out what their opinion would be of students opting to do this, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The current plan is that you'll also earn a MS on top of your MD if you do it (not finalized yet so may change), and I believe they're also working on doing something to link the program to short-track residency pathways as well.

The last thing worth mentioning is that while not a sure thing, the impression i've gotten is that there shouldn't be a huge amount of issues getting into the program if it turns out its what you want to do and you apply at the end of MS1. Due to the size of the class being small (typically fixed at 90~ MD + MSTP students of which 75-80 are MD-only - the data on MSAR right now actually represents a complete outlier year), if i'm remembering correctly the plan is to have enough spots for about 10%~ of each class, and expand it based on interest. This honestly probably matches pretty well with the number of people that actually want to do something like this, especially since there's other options available if you want to focus more strongly on research too, like internally transferring to MSTP (which a ridiculously high number of people here do).
Click to expand...

Can you give more info about MD students transferring to MSTP? Do these students get funded for the full 7-8 years? Is this an option only if an MSTP student drops out or is there enough funding at Stanford to create new MSTP spots? Thanks!
 
teriyakibeef said:
Can you give more info about MD students transferring to MSTP? Do these students get funded for the full 7-8 years? Is this an option only if an MSTP student drops out or is there enough funding at Stanford to create new MSTP spots? Thanks!
Click to expand...

The MSTP student body here is very large, and roughly 1 in 5 MSTP students come directly from MD to MSTP internal transfer. You apply through a formal internal application process (typically early in MS2), and on approval do receive full MSTP funding for the remainder of however long it takes you to finish. I don't know much about how spots are allocated for internal transfers but its definitely not contingent on people dropping out of the program (which as far as I know, basically never happens) and there does not seem to be a fixed cap - the number of people who internally transfer fluctuates year-to-year, and there have been years where over 10% of the MD class have opted to transfer to MSTP.

This given, I would caution against making any real decisions based on this information outside of just knowing that the possibility exists.
 
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For people who got the interview reminder email, did you guys reply in the portal through Status -> Communication Status -> Communications, then reply directly to the reminder message? This strict requirement to reply to the reminder within 5 days is making me paranoid. Lol.
 
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Greetings :) Who here is interviewing October 5th? just curious.
 
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Thinking about adding this school to my list. Do you guys think it's too late to apply here?
 
MJToThePreMed said:
Thinking about adding this school to my list. Do you guys think it's too late to apply here?
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Personally don't think its too late. Anecdotal based on my own experiences, but I applied around this time last year (a little bit later even) and was fine.
 
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Does Stanford do rejections early on? Or do they wait until the end of the cycle.
 
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Does anyone know if Stanford is receptive to "in the area" requests?
 
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Rag1Rag2 said:
Does anyone know if Stanford is receptive to "in the area" requests?
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I sent an ITA and they said "you will be notified by email if you are selected for an interview" and that some days aren't available to interview on due to their rolling process
 
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Does anyone know why Stanford has the lowest debt for students upon graduating? Do they give super good aid or is it just because most of the people that go there are rich and pay for everything out of pocket?
 
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freedoctor17 said:
Does anyone know why Stanford has the lowest debt for students upon graduating? Do they give super good aid or is it just because most of the people that go there are rich and pay for everything out of pocket?
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Very few people here have the kind of money to pay everything out of pocket (no one I know personally, although I don't doubt they exist). In general, a combination of the following tends to keep tuition manageable:
  • Stanford has maybe the best need-based aid in the country. If you qualify for $1 in aid (most everyone), the school will match parental contributions up to $6,750 a quarter ($20,250 - $27,000 in free money a year). If you're worse off, need-based full tuition scholarships are given to a sizable chunk (15-20%) of each class. Many people with a financial situation between the two also get the max grant, which is around 75% tuition.
  • A huge percentage of the class TAs, as the ratio of time commitment to money/professional development is extremely good. Doing this sporadically over the degree is able to knock off another $50,000+ for many people.
  • Everyone does research in some capacity, and everyone gets at least 5 quarters of funding for it ($62,500). If for example, you decide to use this to fund a research year + summer research, this will pay for everything and leave you with quite a lot of money left over to pay of loans, as summer research / research year tuition is reduced to 20% the normal tuition rate.
The tuition structure also tends to artificially inflate the tuition costs listed online as you're only assessed at full tuition for 12 quarters, after which tuition drops to 20% of normal tuition. In reality, this works out to only having to pay 1 quarter full-tuition during MS4. Almost every dual degree you do will also get assessed at the 20% tuition rate too - the only exception I can think of is MD/MBA, and that program has a system in place that arguably reduces debt even more.
 
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