2019-2020 Mt. Sinai (Icahn)

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Secondary prompts:
f you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words)
Were there any circumstances which you feel might have adversely affected your academic performance during college? (if yes, 100 words)
If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circumstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. (100 words)

What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words)
Describe a situation in your life that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (200 words)
Click to expand...

Good luck to everyone applying!

Interview Feedback: Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai
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Last edited:
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Could anyone post the prompts?
 
Essay 1:
What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it?

Essay 2:
Describe a situation in your life that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all?


Optional:
Were there any circumstances which you feel might have adversely affected your academic performance during college? If so, please explain:
 
+1 but have to run to a meeting, will post prompts afterward if no one else has by then.
 
haws said:
Could anyone post the prompts?
Click to expand...

Some of this might be MSTP-specific:

If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. 100 words


Were there any circumstances which you feel might have adversely affected your academic performance during college? 100 words


If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circumstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. 100 words


Provide a one sentence summary of your current research interest.


Please indicate the number of hours of previous full-time research experience you have completed.


Please describe an influential experience that motivated your decision to become a physician-scientist. 200 words


What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? 200 words


Please tell us about a time when an experiment didn't go as planned or yielded an unexpected result. How did you approach this challenge and what did you learn? 200 words

What are your career goals? Which characteristics of the MD/PhD Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai do you believe will help you to achieve them? 200 words
 
krish2012 said:
Essay 1:
What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it?

Essay 2:
Describe a situation in your life that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all?


Optional:
Were there any circumstances which you feel might have adversely affected your academic performance during college? If so, please explain:
Click to expand...

Thank you! What's the word/character limit for each essay? Also, do you happen to know if they have a re-applicant prompt as well?
 
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wmswang said:
Thank you! What's the word/character limit for each essay? Also, do you happen to know if they have a re-applicant prompt as well?
Click to expand...

There is a reapplicant prompt, for whether you applied to Icahn previously and/or applied to any other med school previously.
 
MrsDrDr said:
There is a reapplicant prompt, for whether you applied to Icahn previously and/or applied to any other med school previously.
Click to expand...
Would you happen to know if that prompt applies to FlexMed applicants who are now applying to ISMMS?
 
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For this question:
If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year.

^^^ Do you think this refers to the upcoming 2019-2020 academic year, or the past 2018-2019 academic year?
 
All prompts:

If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words)
Were there any circumstances which you feel might have adversely affected your academic performance during college? (if yes, 100 words)
If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circumstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. (100 words)

What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words)
Describe a situation in your life that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (200 words)

@PapaGuava
 
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aek46 said:
All prompts:

If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words)
Were there any circumstances which you feel might have adversely affected your academic performance during college? (if yes, 100 words)
If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circumstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. (100 words)

What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words)
Describe a situation in your life that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (250 words)

@PapaGuava
Click to expand...

Is the limit for the second prompt 250 or 200 words?
 
Anyone getting a "Could not find a part of the path 'G: 'insert file name.pdf'" error when uploading a document to the portal?
 
Describe a situation in your life that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all?

For this prompt, are they phrasing it where you could talk about a time where you, yourself, were unfair to someone else or do they mean you witnessed a situation where others were getting unfair/unjust treatment but you weren't actively involved?
 
travs95 said:
Describe a situation in your life that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all?

For this prompt, are they phrasing it where you could talk about a time where you, yourself, were unfair to someone else or do they mean you witnessed a situation where others were getting unfair/unjust treatment but you weren't actively involved?
Click to expand...
I took it as a scenario in which someone was unfair to me, or I witnessed it happening to someone else.
 
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u_raptor said:
I took it as a scenario in which someone was unfair to me, or I witnessed it happening to someone else.
Click to expand...
EmbryonalCarcinoma said:
+1
Click to expand...

Do you guys think it'd be appropriate to talk about a situation where somebody was bad-mouthing another culture in conversation even though people of that culture weren't there. I essentially shut it down quickly and I think the person realized that they were in the wrong.
 
For the unfair/unjust one, does it seem to cover similar situations as "describe a time when you didn't get something you felt you deserved" or is it more about true injustice? Am I trying to pass off my Keck essay here?...it's possible
 
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rollingstoneshill said:
For the unfair/unjust one, does it seem to cover similar situations as "describe a time when you didn't get something you felt you deserved" or is it more about true injustice? Am I trying to pass off my Keck essay here?...it's possible
Click to expand...

I think it depends. I decided not to use my keck one because it would be a stretch to say that situation was unjust.
 
EmbryonalCarcinoma said:
I think it depends. I decided not to use my keck one because it would be a stretch to say that situation was unjust.
Click to expand...

Yeah...I think I'm coming to that realization as well. Guess I'll have to use my brain for this one. Thanks!
 
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Are there significant gaps in time, greater than one year, that are unaccounted for in your application?

What does "unaccounted for in your application" mean? As a non-trad, I have indicated in my primary that I took post-bacc classes, as well as doing clinical hours and performing research. Do I have to reiterate that in this section? Just confused by the term "unaccounted".
 
Secondary received. OOS, verified 7/11
 
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lakers4sho said:
Are there significant gaps in time, greater than one year, that are unaccounted for in your application?

What does "unaccounted for in your application" mean? As a non-trad, I have indicated in my primary that I took post-bacc classes, as well as doing clinical hours and performing research. Do I have to reiterate that in this section? Just confused by the term "unaccounted".
Click to expand...

I thought that was weird wording. I just decided to answer it like the other "gap" questions, so I have done X, Y, and Z since I graduated from undergrad. Most of those things are mentioned in one way or another in my primary app, but I figured this is only 100 words so its easy to cover the bases in terms of whatever "accounted for" means. (Slash SUPER HARD to get all that into 100 words!)
 
aek46 said:
All prompts:

If you are currently not a full time student, please briefly describe the activities you are participating in this academic year. (100 words)
Were there any circumstances which you feel might have adversely affected your academic performance during college? (if yes, 100 words)
If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity or a commitment to a particular community, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Aspects might include, but are not limited to significant challenges in or circumstances associated with access to education, living with a disability, socioeconomic factors, immigration status, or identification with a culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine. Completing this section is optional. (100 words)

What is the toughest feedback you ever received? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it? (250 words)
Describe a situation in your life that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all? (200 words)

@PapaGuava
Click to expand...

This is probably a stupid question buuuuut....I am leaning towards not filling in anything for the optional question, do y'all think that's a bad idea?
 
tedocean said:
This is probably a stupid question buuuuut....I am leaning towards not filling in anything for the optional question, do y'all think that's a bad idea?
Click to expand...
I watched a video by a former admissions officer from Icahn. She said optional questions really are optional. She said don't fill them out just because you feel like you have to have something there; only answer it if your answer if genuinely important to you.
 
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Does anyone have any thoughts on how to start the secondary question about the unfair/unjust situation? I am having a lot of trouble brainstorming.
 
If I want to talk about my financial hardships for the optional question but it didnt really motivate my decision to be a physician... is it better to leave it blank or just not connect it with a physician career?
 
little_giant said:
If I want to talk about my financial hardships for the optional question but it didnt really motivate my decision to be a physician... is it better to leave it blank or just not connect it with a physician career?
Click to expand...

I had a similar dilemma and ultimately decided not to write about it because if I don't have a strong reason to answer their true question about how it motivated me to become a physician, then I didn't want to write random filler
 
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What are people doing for letters of rec? The website makes me think just submit my committee letter (not a packet) but MSAR says additional letters are welcome. I'd like to add a personal letter if its acceptable in addition to the committee.
 
vivalavida97 said:
What are people doing for letters of rec? The website makes me think just submit my committee letter (not a packet) but MSAR says additional letters are welcome. I'd like to add a personal letter if its acceptable in addition to the committee.
Click to expand...
I saw nothing on their website that recommended against additional letters (as opposed to some others schools that say strictly no more than 2 (or 1 or 0) additional letters if you submit a committee letter). Your app will probably be considered complete with just the committee letter and they are not obligated to look at any others, but I personally feel like my individual letters are far stronger and more representative of me, so I included them as well.
 
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krish2012 said:
Essay 2:
Describe a situation in your life that you have thought to be unfair or unjust, whether towards yourself or towards others. How did you address the situation, if at all?
Click to expand...

Did everyone take this to mean it has to be specifically one event? Or does anyone think this could be interpreted as something broader, like having access to something in life that someone else did not, which speaks to broader inequities that exist?
 
29bkdoc said:
Did everyone take this to mean it has to be specifically one event? Or does anyone think this could be interpreted as something broader, like having access to something in life that someone else did not, which speaks to broader inequities that exist?
Click to expand...
I think either interpretation is fine.
 
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what are people doing for toughest feedback prompt? i'm thinking of writing about feedback I got from reviewers when trying to get a paper published. Is this too trivial?
 
  • Haha
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helpmeout441 said:
what are people doing for toughest feedback prompt? i'm thinking of writing about feedback I got from reviewers when trying to get a paper published. Is this too trivial?
Click to expand...
Do not use this.
 
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helpmeout441 said:
what are people doing for toughest feedback prompt? i'm thinking of writing about feedback I got from reviewers when trying to get a paper published. Is this too trivial?
Click to expand...

Lmao use something more personal, like when someone gave you feedback on a character trait or bad habit you have, etc
 
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lizbrown1 said:
for the unfair/unjust prompt, I have two situations: one is overhearing some friends talking about another girls ED and shutting them up about it (they were HELLA RUDE but this is more the emotional understanding of unfair) and the other is dealing with roommates fighting because of unfair dishwashing expectations (more trivial, but closer to unfair/unjust)...Thoughts?
Click to expand...

not sure about either. but definitely don't use the dishwashing one.
 
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For toughest feedback prompt, is it alright to talk about how we struggled at first with our current job and received feedback from our supervisor on what we needed to improve on? I’ll be sure to talk about how I used the feedback to improve my flaws and learn from my mistakes. Eventually I adjusted and have been working there for a while and got an amazing LOR from my supervisor
 
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sounds like a good topic
 
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