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Also, in the video LESS THAN 50% (3459/7128) of applicants filled out a secondary!
rip 36$Also, in the video LESS THAN 50% (3459/7128) of applicants filled out a secondary!
l still can’t beleive this is a thing. On the bright side adcoms there must be happyAlso, in the video LESS THAN 50% (3459/7128) of applicants filled out a secondary!
No kidding. That's over $100,000. I'm bout to start my own admissions office. Not a med school. Just the admissions office. Some suckers are going to see it on AMCAS and submit apps anywayl still can’t beleive this is a thing. On the bright side adcoms there must be happy
How affected was the school during the hurricane, if at all? I'm applying here but dealing with hurricanes sounds like a pain.
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I was looking at the secondary questions from last year... the optional ones asked about fine arts, sports, student organization involvement, travel, and hobbies. I already mentioned these things in my primary, so should I talk about them again (I'd change my wording)?
So basically they interview about 15% of people who fill out the secondary. Not bad chances at all!Also, in the video LESS THAN 50% (3459/7128) of applicants filled out a secondary!
So basically they interview about 15% of people who fill out the secondary. Not bad chances at all!
I know right? I interviewed at Drexel last cycle and they interview like 6% of people who apply (based on primary apps on MSAR). Its such a crap shoot. Also didnt get an II from an in state school that interviews 33% of applicants FWIWCompared to the single digits that I was calculating from MSAR data, that looks like a godsend.
I know right? I interviewed at Drexel last cycle and they interview like 6% of people who apply (based on primary apps on MSAR). Its such a crap shoot. Also didnt get an II from an in state school that interviews 33% of applicants FWIW
No. AMCAS doesn't even distribute applications out to schools until next FridayHas anyone gotten any secondaries yet?
Oh man. I can't believe it's next Friday. Enjoy this week everyone. The secondaries will start pouring in soonNo. AMCAS doesn't even distribute applications out to schools until next Friday
Im contemplating adding UM to my list. I had it but gave it the axe cuz I am not too fond of warm weather (I love the snow....). How much of a beast is the secondary? I have approx 1/2 of my secondaries done (need to look over still) and dont know if its worth adding them if its going to take up all of my time. I know the limits are 500 words but I dont think I will end up hitting the limits for most (probably aim for 250-300 each).
I may still consider them. Im super pale and the heat kills me but dont think Miami would be a bad place to live. Do you know how accepting they are of LGBTQ+ applicants? Are there groups or ECs? I know Miami has a large LGBTQ+ population and didnt know if thats the case at Miller.You sound like you're better off spending your time with other apps that would still make a healthy school list but in places that you'd rather be
I may still consider them. Im super pale and the heat kills me but dont think Miami would be a bad place to live. Do you know how accepting they are of LGBTQ+ applicants? Are there groups or ECs? I know Miami has a large LGBTQ+ population and didnt know if thats the case at Miller.
I've been pre-writing secondaries and recently finished Miami's secondary. Do any current students know what Miami is looking for with this secondary question:
Please provide a chronological list with dates of your clinical experiences/shadowing. (sentence-long descriptions).
I included a MD, PA, MD, and DO in my primary so these will absolutely be on my secondary. Since I acquired my shadowing experiences over a long time, I also shadowed a RN and Pharm.D. I did not seek out these experiences but they were offered to me by the professionals that I shadowed. They knew I wanted to be a doctor and wanted me to have an understanding of everyone's roles in the hospital. I thought "why not" and went through with it. Should I include the RN and Pharm.D on the secondary? I kept the descriptions short and omitted the above sentences for why I shadowed them when I answered this question.
Not sure if this has been asked, but is it really necessary to go to 500 words for all the questions? I feel like I can answer most of them concisely and compellingly in less than <300 words.
No. Never is it necessary to max out an essay word count. Make as solid an argument for yourself as possible and only worry about the word count if you go over.
For my own personal experience, my secondary essays for Miller ranged from ~180 to ~450 with 300 being the middle and I’ll be an MS1 at Miller in 5 weeks.
Speaking of which, anyone can feel free to ask me questions through here or PM. I’d be more than willing to share my experiences (albeit somewhat limited) with Miller.
Good luck!
Did your optional essays fall into that range as well? I ask because my word count for the optional essays (fine arts, sports, student orgs, travel, and hobbies) does not exceed 200 haha
For one essay, I put "NA." For the others, I had one at ~150, two at ~250 and one at ~350.
Most importantly, make a good argument about why you're interesting/fun/intellectually curious. The word count should only be used to pick the breadth of your response when you start and to check that you're within the limits when you're finished.
How important do you think the optional essays are? A lot of them apply to me as Im basically an art school kid and I have a bunch of hobbies outside of school.For one essay, I put "NA." For the others, I had one at ~150, two at ~250 and one at ~350.
Most importantly, make a good argument about why you're interesting/fun/intellectually curious. The word count should only be used to pick the breadth of your response when you start and to check that you're within the limits when you're finished.
I think the way they give your app points for your essays and experiences make them pretty meaningful. They wouldn't ask the questions if they didn't care, and I would certainly write about all of your hobbies and experiences. The grading rubric posted above indicates that experiences and ECs make up a large portion of the total score which gets you an invite and/or acceptance. So I would def do it!! (My app was EC heavy and it worked out for me)How important do you think the optional essays are? A lot of them apply to me as Im basically an art school kid and I have a bunch of hobbies outside of school.
There's definitely tons of research opportunities at UM, and even a research with distinction track (Along with several other scholarly pathways with built in research and project requirements). I think UM is pretty hands off about research, meaning you can opt to do no research, or you can spend your entire day doing research and watch lectures in down-time or at night (Literally met a student when I was there who does this and works full-time in a lab). From following some of the UM pages, there really is a large amount of research being done there, especially in optho, cardiology, stem cells, genetics, infectious diseases, spine/neurosurg/ortho etc. (This isn't comprehensive, just some things I've recently noticed).Are there research opportunities or other programs for students to be involved with? I'm interested in continuing research in medical school if possible.
For mine, if I had extra room after I listed everything I added a brief description. I don't think it will hurt you to add more context if you have room. Regarding the sports and fine arts stuff, I say go as in depth as you want. I mentioned things I was involved in and then talked a bit deeper about how that relates to my experiences and desire to go to med school. I say if you have the space, go for it.Also, for the secondary, when answering the listing questions, is any description required, or just make a list? And should I give specific experiencs for the fine arts and sports questions? Like I like sports because of strategy or just briefly discuss my involvement? or i like watching x sport for y reason, and here is z experience to show that. Like is "show don't tell" as important for those optional questions? I don't want to provide unnecessary information if its bad.
There's definitely tons of research opportunities at UM, and even a research with distinction track (Along with several other scholarly pathways with built in research and project requirements). I think UM is pretty hands off about research, meaning you can opt to do no research, or you can spend your entire day doing research and watch lectures in down-time or at night (Literally met a student when I was there who does this and works full-time in a lab). From following some of the UM pages, there really is a large amount of research being done there, especially in optho, cardiology, stem cells, genetics, infectious diseases, spine/neurosurg/ortho etc. (This isn't comprehensive, just some things I've recently noticed).
I think that's a very good point to write about. There is a ton of diversity in patients and clinics, from UMH, JMH, to smaller clinics and DOCS clinics, and satellite campuses. The health system is huge, and JMH in particular is a huge reason why I wanted to go to UM. I think the DOCS program is pretty unique as well, and like you said, Miami presents a whole wealth of opportunities to get involved in any number of clinical, volunteer, or extracurricular experiences.I kind of like the hands off approach. Could be better to seek out your own opportunities rather than being forced to participate. For other "why this school" essays I looked into a lot of research specific programs as well as other programs that might interest me. I didn't see too much on Miami's website, but other things appeal to me about the medical school...the large city and they emphasize all the opportunities (over 90 healthcare facilities to do clinicals, etc.). In your experience, is it actually practical to think you get experience at all different kinds of clinics, outpatient facilities and the different hospitals?
Where is the grading rubric? I keep seeing 120/300 for GPA and MCAT and 180/300 for everything else, but I'm not sure if there's more to it.
Yup. Just saw their email notifying us to check out the changes to the program. I'm really glad I already took it for other schools now.Heads up, Miami is now requiring CASPer. Lovely that they decided on this AFTER taking our primary money.
It's not too late to add the others to your primary list. But I agree it's a pain in the a**. I would be upset if it wasn't for other schools on my list adding it this year as well. Makes it seem like the test is going to be somewhat of a requirement from now on for anyone with a fairly broad school listYeah, not cool. Was not planning to take CASPer this cycle but they already took my money. If I am going to take it, I might as well have sent primaries to the other few schools I was interested in that require it.
It's not too late to add the others to your primary list. But I agree it's a pain in the a**. I would be upset if it wasn't for other schools on my list adding it this year as well. Makes it seem like the test is going to be somewhat of a requirement from now on for anyone with a fairly broad school list
Question is how are they gonna use it? Results are sent to schools on a percentile rank, so it’s more likely that they’ll eventually adopt a system where anyone below x percentile are screened outNot to mention, even some top schools like UMich are creeping into CASPer territory. CASPer requirement definitely feels like the move for medical schools with rising # of applicants and the need for another way to "weed" out or "screen" out a significant chunk.
Question is how are they gonna use it? Results are sent to schools on a percentile rank, so it’s more likely that they’ll eventually adopt a system where anyone below x percentile are screened out
Yea I would imagine that any kind of screening would involve usage of the percentile scores and a "cut-off" (whether its hard or soft might depend on the school). But I find it hard to believe that CASPer results (if even used for the first few cycles of a particular school that newly adopts it) will be used significantly to choose interview invites (apart from the screening).
On a side note, I think that most people shouldn't be too worried by CASPer. In fact, it might help screen out the high stat applicants that have no business interviewing at schools due to lack of maturity and lack of real world experience (that CASPer tests pretty well with its ethical and "real-world" scenarios).
I think they are using it right now to see what the avg is for the students that happen to get accepted. So in the future they may be like "oh hey this person has the same as our avg. It is likely that they will be kinda what we are looking for" or whatever. I dont think many school use it as an explicit screening tool tho I know some do (I believe UVM and RFU do)It really depends on the school. Most schools who've recently adopted it seem to be using it mostly for their accepted applicants, to see what metrics/percentiles they get. I'm imagining this school will do the same for a couple of years. After that, it's likely it may be used to screen out applicants for II. That's basically what it's designed for
I don't know how well that would work out.
I think they are using it right now to see what the avg is for the students that happen to get accepted. So in the future they may be like "oh hey this person has the same as our avg. It is likely that they will be kinda what we are looking for" or whatever. I dont think many school use it as an explicit screening tool tho I know some do (I believe UVM and RFU do)
I think they are using it right now to see what the avg is for the students that happen to get accepted. So in the future they may be like "oh hey this person has the same as our avg. It is likely that they will be kinda what we are looking for" or whatever. I dont think many school use it as an explicit screening tool tho I know some do (I believe UVM and RFU do)
Yea I am pretty sure that schools that newly adopt it probably don't use it for admissions for ATLEAST the first year and probably not for the first few cycles.
In other words, we shouldn't stress too much about the CASPer being a new requirement for certain schools but in all likelihood it literally will not make a difference (other than it being an annoying thing we have to do).
I know only about 1/2 of people fill out the secondary. And with CASPer now, even less will because I know people who have actively avoided schools who use it. I already took it but I think that will give a better chance to those of us who still plan on applying with the new requirement
How do you about 1/2 filling out the secondary? Did you get that from conversation earlier in this thread?
Either way, I am not complaining about this. I was already scheduled to take it in a week for a few schools that require it. If it means less applicants that we are competing with, lol better for us. Though I still need to start that crazy secondary!
Also, in the video LESS THAN 50% (3459/7128) of applicants filled out a secondary!
This was earlier. I wasnt thinking about applying to UM because I honestly melt in the heat but with CASPer and this info, it may be a good shot!
Do they have a video that explains it like UM does?Lol, I hope Duke's breakdown from primary applications to secondary applications completes is as favorable as UM.
Do they have a video that explains it like UM does?