2019-2020 Kaiser (Tyson)

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ElloMellowYellow said:
Always keep in mind that people will phrase things to make themselves look better. Not a lie, but not the whole truth either.
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lol yeah im sure it was no bill & melinda gates foundation, but i'd still classify it as an "out of the water EC".
 
What about volunteering at hospice would you guys consider that an out of the water EC?
 
AquaticSunrise13 said:
What about volunteering at hospice would you guys consider that an out of the water EC?
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The only ECs I would consider "out-of-the-water" are stuff like founding a philanthropy/non-profit, owning a business, military service, Nature pub, Peace Corps, patents, etc.

Generally stuff that 99.9% of undergraduates would not be able to attain. But that's n=1.
 
at my undergrad's med school Q&A (t-20 med), the assistant dean of admissions talked about extracurricular activities for a bit.

the number one thing they said they were looking for is initiative. lots of people volunteer at a regional hospital, but how many fewer volunteer at homeless shelters or HIV/AIDS clinic or clinics in low SES communities? and then how many fewer make their own program to help these underserved communities? the deeper you go down the "rabbit hole", the more it sets you apart from thousands (literally).

a complete application with ECs like these, a competitive GPA/MCAT, and good essays bring you miles ahead of applicants with "cookie cutter ECs" and high GPA/MCAT. it is true that after a certain MCAT/GPA, your intellectual vitality is considered to be enough for success in med school... its your character and involvement with medicine that really drives the answer to the fundamental question adcoms ask when they look at med school apps: "will this person make it?"

hope this gave some insight. ofcourse this is just one med school's admin saying this, but it definitely left an impact on me and really influenced the ECs I was involved in as an undergrad.
 
SeaHusky said:
The only ECs I would consider "out-of-the-water" are stuff like founding a philanthropy/non-profit, owning a business, military service, Nature pub, Peace Corps, patents, etc.

Generally stuff that 99.9% of undergraduates would not be able to attain. But that's n=1.
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Every high school kid is founding non-profits or starting a business (both are B.S. for medical applcants). Military service is hard. Nature pub for a college student - out of question unless someone put their name on it. Peace Corps needs serious time commitment, patents are not easy either. both real publications or patents means one is into serious research (PhD). So we are looking for older/mature people applying for medicine with PhDs, military service or Peace Corps?
 
texasvandy said:
Every high school kid is founding non-profits or starting a business (both are B.S. for medical applcants). Military service is hard. Nature pub for a college student - out of question unless someone put their name on it. Peace Corps needs serious time commitment, patents are not easy either. both real publications or patents means one is into serious research (PhD). So we are looking for older/mature people applying for medicine with PhDs, military service or Peace Corps?
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OP was just asking what we consider "out-of-the-water ECs" to be. Those are just examples of my interpretation, and they're rare for a reason. You can still have unique ECs as an undergrad that don't fall into those categories that set you apart from others.
 
texasvandy said:
Every high school kid is founding non-profits or starting a business (both are B.S. for medical applcants). Military service is hard. Nature pub for a college student - out of question unless someone put their name on it. Peace Corps needs serious time commitment, patents are not easy either. both real publications or patents means one is into serious research (PhD). So we are looking for older/mature people applying for medicine with PhDs, military service or Peace Corps?
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as Walt would put it, you just need to be a a straight up SAVAGE.
Good scores only open doors imo, the rest of your app helps you walk through them. If you can check the box of "good enough to review", that is all you really need in terms of a score.
 
Just wanna add that this was my absolute top choice at the beginning of the cycle, for all reasons mentioned above. HOWEVER, after attending multiple other interviews, I am starting to get a little bit of cold feet (if I am to get accepted). There are a lot of things that have stood out to me at other interviews that we just will have absolutely no way of gauging with it being a new school, not to mention STEP and match.

What are the students like? collaborative? Shared materials? Does the school breed a culture of having a school-life balance? What about student interest groups and orgs? These are things that have made me fall in love at other schools---I attended an interview last week at a school that I was not expecting a whole lot from and LOVED IT because of the culture that the students had created there. I interview at KPSOM later this week and I hope I love it as much as I thought I would, and of course, that an acceptance comes down the road.

Also, for those of you thinking about applying (next cycle, I would presume?), I can assure you that I do not have some amazing life story nor absolutely amazing stats. You will have a much easier time assessing after this first year---although remember that with an n=48, those stats might be highly variable year to year if someone unexpected catches their eye 😉
 
emf96 said:
Just wanna add that this was my absolute top choice at the beginning of the cycle, for all reasons mentioned above. HOWEVER, after attending multiple other interviews, I am starting to get a little bit of cold feet (if I am to get accepted). There are a lot of things that have stood out to me at other interviews that we just will have absolutely no way of gauging with it being a new school, not to mention STEP and match.

What are the students like? collaborative? Shared materials? Does the school breed a culture of having a school-life balance? What about student interest groups and orgs? These are things that have made me fall in love at other schools---I attended an interview last week at a school that I was not expecting a whole lot from and LOVED IT because of the culture that the students had created there. I interview at KPSOM later this week and I hope I love it as much as I thought I would, and of course, that an acceptance comes down the road.

Also, for those of you thinking about applying (next cycle, I would presume?), I can assure you that I do not have some amazing life story nor absolutely amazing stats. You will have a much easier time assessing after this first year---although remember that with an n=48, those stats might be highly variable year to year if someone unexpected catches their eye 😉
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I think one of the opportunities (and challenges) here is that the first class(es) will be creating that student culture you talk about. From that standpoint, almost any positive effort you make at this school will essentially be a leadership activity you can talk about in residency apps. You'll have to do a lot of the legwork but you can totally make it whatever you want.
 
MrsDrDr said:
I think one of the opportunities (and challenges) here is that the first class(es) will be creating that student culture you talk about. From that standpoint, almost any positive effort you make at this school will essentially be a leadership activity you can talk about in residency apps. You'll have to do a lot of the legwork but you can totally make it whatever you want.
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Absolutely! That’s one of the reasons I like the idea of it too—especially being involved with creating that culture and potentially framing classes/coursework etc. I guess my point is just that at my interviews so far, it’s been the students that have really made the biggest impression on me and it’ll be impossible for that to be a comparative factor for KP
 
emf96 said:
Absolutely! That’s one of the reasons I like the idea of it too—especially being involved with creating that culture and potentially framing classes/coursework etc. I guess my point is just that at my interviews so far, it’s been the students that have really made the biggest impression on me and it’ll be impossible for that to be a comparative factor for KP
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it might be helpful to take a step back and see the bigger picture. the environment(s) those medical students preached about is actually a testament to the work of the administration and faculty at said school. i have no doubt you'll fall in love with the people at KP.
 
What’s the lowest MCAT any of you guys would apply to Kaiser with? Just curious.
 
AquaticSunrise13 said:
What’s the lowest MCAT any of you guys would apply to Kaiser with? Just curious.
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Dude honestly you should just apply here. I get the sense that you’re not the most stellar applicant in terms of stats and maybe EC’s but it seems like you really really wanna come here based on your repeated posts with comments like this. None of us are in the admissions committee and none of us have any clue what the average accepted applicant will look like at this school. Even if you were to not get in, I think the $50 is worth the reassurance and not having to look back and think “what if?” I interviewed there and met a guy who had a 99th percentile mcat and another dude who told me he mostly applied DO because of his relatively low stats. Just shoot your shot and get that app in ASAP instead of twiddling your thumbs and seeking validation from internet strangers. Sorry if this is harsh, but try to interpret it in a tough love kind of way.
 
doa718 said:
Dude honestly you should just apply here. I get the sense that you’re not the most stellar applicant in terms of stats and maybe EC’s but it seems like you really really wanna come here based on your repeated posts with comments like this. None of us are in the admissions committee and none of us have any clue what the average accepted applicant will look like at this school. Even if you were to not get in, I think the $50 is worth the reassurance and not having to look back and think “what if?” I interviewed there and met a guy who had a 99th percentile mcat and another dude who told me he mostly applied DO because of his relatively low stats. Just shoot your shot and get that app in ASAP instead of twiddling your thumbs and seeking validation from internet strangers. Sorry if this is harsh, but try to interpret it in a tough love kind of way.
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I agree. My stats puts me in the low to middle tier range, however I've gotten multiple interviews from DO and an MD interview so far with an avg mcat score of 510 and i'm way below that. However, i believe that my ECs, mission trips abroad, service in the US, shadowing abroad, etc. set me apart from the rest of the student body. MCAT only tells a portion of the story. My GPA is decent, i'm a URM, and I have a significant amount of service experience.
 
AquaticSunrise13 said:
What’s the lowest MCAT any of you guys would apply to Kaiser with? Just curious.
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I agree with what others have said above. You have already asked this before and you are getting the same answer. No one truly knows since it's the first year. If your MCAT score is above 500 I'd say shoot your shot. You could wait until next year though since its later and that might also increase your shot. But just kill the secondary and try your best, thats the only thing you can guarantee from your end.
 
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Edit: just realized the site is called survey monkey. Lol.
 
SeaHusky said:
The only ECs I would consider "out-of-the-water" are stuff like founding a philanthropy/non-profit, owning a business, military service, Nature pub, Peace Corps, patents, etc.
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I think the process is absolutely wild lol. I have founded and owned a business serving low SES children and families, done AmeriCorps as a teacher, speak multiple languages, am first gen/family of immigrants (URM) and have a unique separate story of why medicine. and I still haven't received an II from any MD's yet. Gotta love the process
 
Black Feet said:
I think the process is absolutely wild lol. I have founded and owned a business serving low SES children and families, done AmeriCorps as a teacher, speak multiple languages, am first gen/family of immigrants (URM) and have a unique separate story of why medicine. and I still haven't received an II from any MD's yet. Gotta love the process
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a lot of behind the scene randomness we do not even know about. Lol now I understand why this process is a crapshoot
 
zan_wid_daplan said:
a lot of behind the scene randomness we do not even know about. Lol now I understand why this process is a crapshoot
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My guess is the admission committees are pretty logical or consistent for the most part. The wildly unpredictable randomness stems from the applicants. You can hear about a LM 75 who has 1K research and volunteering hours being rejected and say" oh god its so random" but if you read their application it is so littered with red flags it makes sense.

For example, I helped read/edit about 8 personal statements of people with incredibly high stats. Half of them didn't even say why medicine, 1 of them referred to his research as groundbreaking for the field (he washed dishes), another said that she felt that her 1 week volunteering trip to Costa Rica "made the country a better place and I'm excited to take my talents to medicine." and 2 of them actually answered the question and sold themselves well. It was really common amongst all of the ones I read to finish and just say "why not go into charity?" because medicine was just associated with helping people but the actual profession was never addressed in their ramble about underserved populations.
 
FISTMCLARGEHUGE said:
My guess is the admission committees are pretty logical or consistent for the most part. The wildly unpredictable randomness stems from the applicants. You can hear about a LM 75 who has 1K research and volunteering hours being rejected and say" oh god its so random" but if you read their application it is so littered with red flags it makes sense.

For example, I helped read/edit about 8 personal statements of people with incredibly high stats. Half of them didn't even say why medicine, 1 of them referred to his research as groundbreaking for the field (he washed dishes), another said that she felt that her 1 week volunteering trip to Costa Rica "made the country a better place and I'm excited to take my talents to medicine." and 2 of them actually answered the question and sold themselves well. It was really common amongst all of the ones I read to finish and just say "why not go into charity?" because medicine was just associated with helping people but the actual profession was never addressed in their ramble about underserved populations.
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haha, I feel like I accidentally offended an Adcom in my app somewhere. For reference though, I have LM of 65 and I've had many people read over my PS and tell me its fine.
 
FISTMCLARGEHUGE said:
My guess is the admission committees are pretty logical or consistent for the most part. The wildly unpredictable randomness stems from the applicants. You can hear about a LM 75 who has 1K research and volunteering hours being rejected and say" oh god its so random" but if you read their application it is so littered with red flags it makes sense.

For example, I helped read/edit about 8 personal statements of people with incredibly high stats. Half of them didn't even say why medicine, 1 of them referred to his research as groundbreaking for the field (he washed dishes), another said that she felt that her 1 week volunteering trip to Costa Rica "made the country a better place and I'm excited to take my talents to medicine." and 2 of them actually answered the question and sold themselves well. It was really common amongst all of the ones I read to finish and just say "why not go into charity?" because medicine was just associated with helping people but the actual profession was never addressed in their ramble about underserved populations.
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Well quality of applications is an obvious factor that impacts admissions lol. My point was that at the end of the day, all schools give one line on their websites and admission offices. The process if HOLISTIC. You can be the most qualified applicant in the world but you may not fit a school's missions, or maybe they are looking for some other dimension in someone's application process. The human bias in application selection is very real because at the end of the day adcoms are people who may or may not resonate with your particular qualifications and story. The process is not as objective as it's made out to be. Ultimately, shoot your shot at places where you have a chance and just hope for the best.
 
Where can I find the questions for the secondary application for Kaiser? I still haven't received mine since I'm still waiting on my MCAT score. I appreciate it. Thanks
 
imbesrs said:
forums.studentdoctor.net

2019-2020 Kaiser (Tyson)

Please tag a pre-allo moderator when the secondary prompt is posted. Good luck to everyone applying!
forums.studentdoctor.net forums.studentdoctor.net
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Got it, thank you very much. In retrospect I should've started working on this months ago, I didn't think of doing that since I didn't have my MCAT score yet. Dumb mistake! For those of you who have submitted your secondaries already, did you hear back from them? If so, what's the turn around time If I plan on submitting this by let's say October 26th-27th?
 
AquaticSunrise13 said:
Got it, thank you very much. In retrospect I should've started working on this months ago, I didn't think of doing that since I didn't have my MCAT score yet. Dumb mistake! For those of you who have submitted your secondaries already, did you hear back from them? If so, what's the turn around time If I plan on submitting this by let's say October 26th-27th?
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Not many have heard back... theres no rhyme or reason from the applicant perspective. Write well, submit, and just have patience
 
Does anyone have any advice on getting to Pasadena from LAX? I was going to do Flyaway to Metro, but someone suggested just taking an Uber. My flight gets in at like 8:30pm so I guess Uber May not be crazy expensive and it would be nice to have a shorter transit time but that still sounds crazy...
 
emf96 said:
Does anyone have any advice on getting to Pasadena from LAX? I was going to do Flyaway to Metro, but someone suggested just taking an Uber. My flight gets in at like 8:30pm so I guess Uber May not be crazy expensive and it would be nice to have a shorter transit time but that still sounds crazy...
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If you book the Uber fast (before surge hits) it’s about $50

I checked the math of doing flyaway ($12) then Uber and it’d be About $30-$40 total? So I just opted for the Uber straight there

The metro isn’t really too bad in LA into Pasadena, but the stop you’d get off at in Pasadena is about a couple blocks from the hotel.
 
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emf96 said:
Does anyone have any advice on getting to Pasadena from LAX? I was going to do Flyaway to Metro, but someone suggested just taking an Uber. My flight gets in at like 8:30pm so I guess Uber May not be crazy expensive and it would be nice to have a shorter transit time but that still sounds crazy...
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Just a tip, try and get out of the terminals of the airport and you'll save a lot on Uber. There are a bunch of free shuttles that go to the airport hotels. Typically an Uber from there is much cheaper than being picked up outside the terminal.
 
umbrellatree said:
The metro isn’t really too bad in LA into Pasadena, but the stop you’d get off at in Pasadena is about a couple blocks from the hotel.
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SR71BLK said:
Just a tip, try and get out of the terminals of the airport and you'll save a lot on Uber. There are a bunch of free shuttles that go to the airport hotels. Typically an Uber from there is much cheaper than being picked up outside the terminal.
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pro tips. Y'all are life savers!
 
My MCAT score was just released today and I applied to Kaiser over a month ago. How long will it take for them to send me a secondary application so I can start working on it? Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks
 
AquaticSunrise13 said:
My MCAT score was just released today and I applied to Kaiser over a month ago. How long will it take for them to send me a secondary application so I can start working on it? Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks
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you can email them letting know you received your score and were hoping to submit a secondary.
 
AquaticSunrise13 said:
My MCAT score was just released today and I applied to Kaiser over a month ago. How long will it take for them to send me a secondary application so I can start working on it? Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks
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Mine was released on Oct 1st and I got a secondary invite the same day.
 
BA17 said:
Mine was released on Oct 1st and I got a secondary invite the same day.
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Yeah I sent them an email and I just spoke with someone in admissions and she told me the way their system works is that they'll send me one "within the week". I thought I'd get one right away so I'm curious as to how to even check my status on their website to see what's going on.
 
AquaticSunrise13 said:
Yeah I sent them an email and I just spoke with someone in admissions and she told me the way their system works is that they'll send me one "within the week". I thought I'd get one right away so I'm curious as to how to even check my status on their website to see what's going on.
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The prompts should be on this forum, so just pre-write them and submit when you get the email.
 
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