*** 2019-2020 MD/PhD cycle - Questions, Comments, and other things ***

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feather125 said:
At the OSU interview, the directors mentioned that it was possible to be accepted earlier than most applicants do (they officially make decisions in February). I really loved the program and I am anxious to find out if I got in. Does anyone know how long OSU has been waiting to offer early acceptance?
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Lol I was about to post this earlier today...I would also love to know!! But they said it would only be 1-3 people so I know it’s a long shot haha
 
NatGeoLover said:
Lol I was about to post this earlier today...I would also love to know!! But they said it would only be 1-3 people so I know it’s a long shot haha
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Yeah but February is soooooo far away!! I would really love to know now
 
I called an MSTP after I was rejected to ask if they could give me some advice to be more competitive if I needed to reapply. They said sure, shoot them an email.
First response: We cannot tell you why you were rejected.
My reply: That's okay, I wasn't hoping to know why I was rejected. I just wanted to know what I could do to have a better chance at your program next year.
Second response (different person): Literal copy + paste first response. We cannot tell you why you were rejected.
Me: ???
 
CaliforniaAsian said:
I called an MSTP after I was rejected to ask if they could give me some advice to be more competitive if I needed to reapply. They said sure, shoot them an email.
First response: We cannot tell you why you were rejected.
My reply: That's okay, I wasn't hoping to know why I was rejected. I just wanted to know what I could do to have a better chance at your program next year.
Second response (different person): Literal copy + paste first response. We cannot tell you why you were rejected.
Me: ???
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I'm not sure what your confusion is? It seems pretty clear that they won't tell you why you were rejected, which by definition would translate to the things you could do to be more competitive. If you ask what specifically you could do to be more competitive at their program, you are essentially asking them why they rejected you, no?
 
Not quite MSTP-specific, but recently one of my AMCAS activity contacts (I'm a tutor, so the contact was the hiring manager) quit and will no longer be reachable through the information I provided on my primary. Is there any point in finding a new contact within the company and informing schools of their contact info? It seems so inconsequential, particularly because it's not a research-related activity, that I don't feel like it's worth doing, but idk.
 
Seihai said:
I'm not sure what your confusion is? It seems pretty clear that they won't tell you why you were rejected, which by definition would translate to the things you could do to be more competitive. If you ask what specifically you could do to be more competitive at their program, you are essentially asking them why they rejected you, no?
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1. I called and asked the office first. It's not like I sent an email expecting something out of nowhere.
2. I'm not confused, just disappointed that it seems like they didn't even read my email. The first "We can't tell you why you're rejected" was a generic multi-paragraph long email. I said as much as you pointed out in my response, and I said if that were the case, I would appreciate at least knowing if I am competitive enough to warrant a reapplication in the next cycle. I trusted they'd be honest with me and not pull the wool over my eyes and say "yes" just for my secondary money. But the copy+paste response isn't even relevant as a follow-up... I would've been content if they said they can't give me advice because that would reveal why I got rejected, or if they answered my "yes or no" reapplication question.
 
CaliforniaAsian said:
1. I called and asked the office first. It's not like I sent an email expecting something out of nowhere.
2. I'm not confused, just disappointed that it seems like they didn't even read my email. The first "We can't tell you why you're rejected" was a generic multi-paragraph long email. I said as much as you pointed out in my response, and I said if that were the case, I would appreciate at least knowing if I am competitive enough to warrant a reapplication in the next cycle. I trusted they'd be honest with me and not pull the wool over my eyes and say "yes" just for my secondary money. But the copy+paste response isn't even relevant as a follow-up... I would've been content if they said they can't give me advice because that would reveal why I got rejected, or if they answered my "yes or no" reapplication question.
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That's fair, actually. I didn't think enough about the other factors at play that might make you disappointed in their response. Perhaps try calling them again? I've noticed that some places have a different person responding to emails than to calls.
 
Is the multiple acceptances / national acceptance still a thing? As in, can adcoms see if you are holding an acceptance (or multiple) at any point in the cycle? Similarly can they see what degree your acceptance is for? Curious because I heard it changed recently and haven’t hear any updates.
 
Seihai said:
That's fair, actually. I didn't think enough about the other factors at play that might make you disappointed in their response. Perhaps try calling them again? I've noticed that some places have a different person responding to emails than to calls.
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Thanks, but I don’t want to annoy them as the responders were very high level on the committee. Definitely not the person I called in the office.

I think it’s ironic that for a profession filled with humanity, the process of entering it often leaves me feeling dehumanized, but it’ll take a lot more than this minor incident to disillusion me!
 
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eccequambonum said:
Is the multiple acceptances / national acceptance still a thing? As in, can adcoms see if you are holding an acceptance (or multiple) at any point in the cycle? Similarly can they see what degree your acceptance is for? Curious because I heard it changed recently and haven’t hear any updates.
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I am not sure if it changed, but this is from the FAQ posted at the top of this forum: FAQ #5: What do adcoms know about where else we applied?
 
eccequambonum said:
thanks! That is very helpful. Still curious about the changes though
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Last admissions cycle was the first one in which there was no Multiple Acceptance Report. So a school could not see that you specifically had other acceptances, even if they planned to offer you one.
Later in the year (maybe after April?) a school could see, for example, that 3 members of their prospective class also held other offers, but could not see which 3 people those were!
 
wysdoc said:
Last admissions cycle was the first one in which there was no Multiple Acceptance Report. So a school could not see that you specifically had other acceptances, even if they planned to offer you one.
Later in the year (maybe after April?) a school could see, for example, that 3 members of their prospective class also held other offers, but could not see which 3 people those were!
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Wow! Thanks! So a school can’t see where you have acceptances / what degrees whether or not they have or haven’t accepted you? Sorry this change just has me confused since all information I’ve gotten now is different!
 
this link may be helpful for people with similar questions as myself:

Every Question You Have About the New 2019 Medical School Traffic Rules

Imagine a private gathering of medical school admissions officers, perhaps in an ivory tower somewhere. This conclave of academic gatekeepers, mostly from prestigious schools, is meeting behind-the-scenes to discuss candidates and divvy them up amongst their programs.
www.savvypremed.com www.savvypremed.com
 
I had 2 hours of quality sleep due to anxiety before an interview day and I yawned every 30 minutes throughout. I don't think anyone cared because I was still obviously sitting upright, alert, and attentive, just can't help that physiological response!
 
How long should letters of interest be? I have one that's 3/4 of a page from "Dear Dr. X" to "Sincerely, blah blah" and I'm hoping that's ok
 
I have a question about sorting through interviews. I have been very lucky to get 7 interviews to this point and have attended 3. I got an interview today from a school that I would love to go to, but I would need to rearrange my travel plans to attend it (which costs $$$). Alternatively, I could withdraw my interview at one of the "lower-tier" MD/PhD schools and attend this one instead. Should I try to go to every interview at this point especially when I don't have an acceptance yet?
 
EMShhhh said:
I have a question about sorting through interviews. I have been very lucky to get 7 interviews to this point and have attended 3. I got an interview today from a school that I would love to go to, but I would need to rearrange my travel plans to attend it (which costs $$$). Alternatively, I could withdraw my interview at one of the "lower-tier" MD/PhD schools and attend this one instead. Should I try to go to every interview at this point especially when I don't have an acceptance yet?
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I would try to go to all of the interviews you can! Especially if you don't have an acceptance anywhere yet. I would say that the money you will spend on travel to that interview is definitely worth it in the long run if it leads to an acceptance. (And even if you choose to go elsewhere, attending that interview will give you more practice and make you a better interviewer!)

I can see where people may disagree with me because with 7 or 8 interviews, the chances of you getting into a single program are pretty high. That said, I think it is still best to attend all of them so that you have more options! 7 or 8 is also different than 17 or 18, which is certainly excessive.
 
I know that I am thinking way far ahead and negatively, but heres a question:

I know that it is taboo to decline an offer of acceptance and then re-apply the next year. Say I get waitlisted at the end of the cycle, and then I have to make a decision to stay at my current place of employment for the following year (i.e. a second gap year). Say, very late in the summer, I get off that waitlist while preparing a reapplication and having agreed to stay at my current place of employment for another year. Is it still taboo to turn down that acceptance? Will that result in the "black listing" I've heard of? How to handle that situation? Not really sure how my future is looking right now, so I'm preparing for the worst. My current place of employment also requires us to let them know if we are staying another year sooner than later.
 
Just a question about sending letter of interest/intent to schools I have interviewed at but haven't received a decision from yet...my understanding and feeling has been that they are fairly unnecessary (especially letters of interest), have little impact on admissions committees, and come across as desperate. But a MSTP I recently interviewed with seems to strongly encourage sending letters of intent and I was wondering if letters of interest (or intent if I settle on a specific program) are something that actually should be sent to admissions offices? I send "Thank You" notes to all interviewers, including a more extensive and detailed one to the admissions office/director immediately following my interview, but have decided to avoid any further contact until maybe after a decision has been made and communicated.
 
SevenofSonless said:
Just a question about sending letter of interest/intent to schools I have interviewed at but haven't received a decision from yet...my understanding and feeling has been that they are fairly unnecessary (especially letters of interest), have little impact on admissions committees, and come across as desperate. But a MSTP I recently interviewed with seems to strongly encourage sending letters of intent and I was wondering if letters of interest (or intent if I settle on a specific program) are something that actually should be sent to admissions offices? I send "Thank You" notes to all interviewers, including a more extensive and detailed one to the admissions office/director immediately following my interview, but have decided to avoid any further contact until maybe after a decision has been made and communicated.
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I am also curious about this. My premedical office told me to send one to my number one since I've already interviewed with them - and they gave me a decision window that was fairly short so a Spring update/LOI would be moot.
 
Hi everyone, I hope everyone is surviving this process! I am freaking out a little about only having three interview invites so far. I got University of Michigan in mid August, so I was expecting to also get some higher ranking schools. However, all of my additional invites have been from lower tier schools and nothing from anyone else. I got an acceptance from University of Michigan (yay!) but I am nervous about not having other options through this process for schools that I would be really excited to go to. Does anyone know if I should lose hope about future interview offers? I am still waiting to hear back from 7 schools. thank you!
 
imaginespock said:
Hi everyone, I hope everyone is surviving this process! I am freaking out a little about only having three interview invites so far. I got University of Michigan in mid August, so I was expecting to also get some higher ranking schools. However, all of my additional invites have been from lower tier schools and nothing from anyone else. I got an acceptance from University of Michigan (yay!) but I am nervous about not having other options through this process for schools that I would be really excited to go to. Does anyone know if I should lose hope about future interview offers? I am still waiting to hear back from 7 schools. thank you!
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I'm not sure if my experience will generalize to others whatsoever, but I had been waiting to hear back from a place that I really wanted to attend through mid-october after having submitted in mid July. I called the number listed online for the school and spoke to the administrative person, who told me to send an email to an address they gave me. I sent an email there and heard nothing, so I sent another a week later and then followed up again a few days after that to see if they had received it. The administrative person assured me it had been received and that I should sit tight. A week later, I got an interview invite.

TL;DR perhaps I was too pushy but it ended up working out okay?
 
tardigrade88 said:
I'm not sure if my experience will generalize to others whatsoever, but I had been waiting to hear back from a place that I really wanted to attend through mid-october after having submitted in mid July. I called the number listed online for the school and spoke to the administrative person, who told me to send an email to an address they gave me. I sent an email there and heard nothing, so I sent another a week later and then followed up again a few days after that to see if they had received it. The administrative person assured me it had been received and that I should sit tight. A week later, I got an interview invite.

TL;DR perhaps I was too pushy but it ended up working out okay?
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I think in your case you have a cool story that stands out and works with your stats and experiences. I'm a competitive but relatively boring applicant (about the same stats-wise and research as you), and I tried the same with UCLA and got no dice lol.
 
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tardigrade88 said:
I'm not sure if my experience will generalize to others whatsoever, but I had been waiting to hear back from a place that I really wanted to attend through mid-october after having submitted in mid July. I called the number listed online for the school and spoke to the administrative person, who told me to send an email to an address they gave me. I sent an email there and heard nothing, so I sent another a week later and then followed up again a few days after that to see if they had received it. The administrative person assured me it had been received and that I should sit tight. A week later, I got an interview invite.

TL;DR perhaps I was too pushy but it ended up working out okay?
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Hm, I am a bit nervous to do this, but maybe its worth a shot. I have seen that you have gotten quite a number of interview invites, do you mind me asking your stats/research experience/undergrad school? I felt like I am a pretty competitive candidate (I am an Amgen scholar, have done research in three countries, good stats and was born in France) but I feel like I am losing self esteem through this process...
 
imaginespock said:
Hi everyone, I hope everyone is surviving this process! I am freaking out a little about only having three interview invites so far. I got University of Michigan in mid August, so I was expecting to also get some higher ranking schools. However, all of my additional invites have been from lower tier schools and nothing from anyone else. I got an acceptance from University of Michigan (yay!) but I am nervous about not having other options through this process for schools that I would be really excited to go to. Does anyone know if I should lose hope about future interview offers? I am still waiting to hear back from 7 schools. thank you!
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I'm in a similar'ish situation, received an II to a top tier program (U Mich as well), but all my other II's have been to mid-tier programs. At the end of the day, just remember that you've been accepted, that should be a relief to start. Best just wait and see what happens, the schools that have offered you II's and A's thus far must have seen something, perhaps other schools will too. None the less, congrats future physician scientist!
 
imaginespock said:
Hm, I am a bit nervous to do this, but maybe its worth a shot. I have seen that you have gotten quite a number of interview invites, do you mind me asking your stats/research experience/undergrad school? I felt like I am a pretty competitive candidate (I am an Amgen scholar, have done research in three countries, good stats and was born in France) but I feel like I am losing self esteem through this process ...
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I just wanna say that you are going to be an excellent physician scientist because you’re already accepted to a great program. Don’t let the cycle dictate your self-worth. There are people who have no IIs at this point in the cycle, much less an acceptance, so keep your chin up!

I know it’s easier said than done; even though I got an II from my top choice, when I go over my application I can’t help feeling like they made a mistake and that I won’t get accepted after the interview. Which is why I refresh my email many times every day hoping for more interviews to stave off the despair... at least until I have an acceptance in my hands.
 
tardigrade88 said:
I'm not sure if my experience will generalize to others whatsoever, but I had been waiting to hear back from a place that I really wanted to attend through mid-october after having submitted in mid July. I called the number listed online for the school and spoke to the administrative person, who told me to send an email to an address they gave me. I sent an email there and heard nothing, so I sent another a week later and then followed up again a few days after that to see if they had received it. The administrative person assured me it had been received and that I should sit tight. A week later, I got an interview invite.

TL;DR perhaps I was too pushy but it ended up working out okay?
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FWIW, I also received a few interview invites very soon after I sent updates to the schools. It's hard to say whether it was a coincidence, but showing interest surely can't hurt.
 
CaliforniaAsian said:
I just wanna say that you are going to be an excellent physician scientist because you’re already accepted to a great program. Don’t let the cycle dictate your self-worth. There are people who have no IIs at this point in the cycle, much less an acceptance, so keep your chin up!

I know it’s easier said than done; even though I got an II from my top choice, when I go over my application I can’t help feeling like they made a mistake and that I won’t get accepted after the interview. Which is why I refresh my email many times every day hoping for more interviews to stave off the despair... at least until I have an acceptance in my hands.
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I can tell you that I felt the same way until I received my first acceptance. Take it with a grain of salt, since this is all retrospective on my part, but most of my fears and nitpicking were unfounded. All of the small things I saw as wrong with my application were essentially never mentioned in interviews, and I arguably had a great time at all of my interviews.

I also got to the point where, before I received an acceptance, I was desperately looking for more interviews because I was perpetually worried that I had done poorly at my interviews. FWIW, some of the interviews I thought my performance was the worst at led to my first acceptances.
 
If you're really interested let us know. We have 8 slots to fill and 74 excellent candidates. We are about to throw the applications out of the window and pick the first 8 that land face up and have the stapled corner pointing towards the North Pole.
 
Maebea said:
If you're really interested let us know. We have 8 slots to fill and 74 excellent candidates. We are about to throw the applications out of the window and pick the first 8 that land face up and have the stapled corner pointing towards the North Pole.
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I legitimately can’t tell if this is meant to be “we have a lot of people to choose from, your interest will not matter” or “it’s so hard to choose, your interest will make you stand out”...
 
CaliforniaAsian said:
I legitimately can’t tell if this is meant to be “we have a lot of people to choose from, your interest will not matter” or “it’s so hard to choose, your interest will make you stand out”...
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@Maebea is honest and direct, so write a letter to your faves.
 
CaliforniaAsian said:
I legitimately can’t tell if this is meant to be “we have a lot of people to choose from, your interest will not matter” or “it’s so hard to choose, your interest will make you stand out”...
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Sorry for the lack of clarity. An expression of interest at this point in time will be helpful. All else being equal, we would much prefer to offer an interview to someone who has expressed continued interest in the program over someone who has not. To a large degree, candidates for admission are fungible (as are MD-PhD programs); there may be some that fit better than others, but, given a basic level of ability on the part of the student, a program should be able to successfully train a physician-scientist from a significant portion of their applicant pool.
 
Maebea said:
Sorry for the lack of clarity. An expression of interest at this point in time will be helpful. All else being equal, we would much prefer to offer an interview to someone who has expressed continued interest in the program over someone who has not. To a large degree, candidates for admission are fungible (as are MD-PhD programs); there may be some that fit better than others, but, given a basic level of ability on the part of the student, a program should be able to successfully train a physician-scientist from a significant portion of their applicant pool.
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Thank you for the clarification. Would expressing interest without any update be acceptable? For example, I'm afraid that sending something without the guise of an update to Stanford would cause the reader to eye roll and think, "Well, duh, of course you want to come here." The last sentiment is something I've seen repeated by the other adcoms in the MD-only forum.
 
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Maebea said:
Sorry for the lack of clarity. An expression of interest at this point in time will be helpful. All else being equal, we would much prefer to offer an interview to someone who has expressed continued interest in the program over someone who has not. To a large degree, candidates for admission are fungible (as are MD-PhD programs); there may be some that fit better than others, but, given a basic level of ability on the part of the student, a program should be able to successfully train a physician-scientist from a significant portion of their applicant pool.
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I strongly agree with Maebea. We are a large program and will send out interview invites to 100 or so applicants. Applicant 101 is just as qualified as applicant 70, and in fact many, if not most, of the applicants are all qualified for our program. This makes the cutoff for an interview very difficult and it can be disheartening to interview a student who really isn't interested and lets it show. This is an interview we could have given to someone else. Letters of interest are good but need to be real.
 
CaliforniaAsian said:
Thank you for the clarification. Would expressing interest without any update be acceptable? For example, I'm afraid that sending something without the guise of an update to Stanford would cause the reader to eye roll and think, "Well, duh, of course you want to come here." The last sentiment is something I've seen repeated by the other adcoms in the MD-only forum.
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+1
 
CaliforniaAsian said:
Thank you for the clarification. Would expressing interest without any update be acceptable? For example, I'm afraid that sending something without the guise of an update to Stanford would cause the reader to eye roll and think, "Well, duh, of course you want to come here." The last sentiment is something I've seen repeated by the other adcoms in the MD-only forum.
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I think Stanford may be a special case though because they specifically ask twice on their website not to send updates. I don't know if you should go around that.
 
CaliforniaAsian said:
Thank you for the clarification. Would expressing interest without any update be acceptable? For example, I'm afraid that sending something without the guise of an update to Stanford would cause the reader to eye roll and think, "Well, duh, of course you want to come here." The last sentiment is something I've seen repeated by the other adcoms in the MD-only forum.
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I think this is fine. I would definitely articulate a cogent reason why Stanford is of great interest to you. You should list specific labs that interest you, and you need to make it real. I once received a letter of interest which listed a melange of faculty who had nothing in common scientifically. A colleague reviewed the list and pointed out that everyone was either HHMI or a department chair. Needless to say, we did not offer them an interview.
 
Has anyone gotten the R from Johns Hopkins or UCSF yet? Or are they waiting to hand them out after interviewing is over?
 
Need some advice: I recently received an interview invite from my alma mater and started working on my list of faculty interviewers to request. However, as I spent 4+ years doing research there, there are several faculty that I have interacted with in the past (taken classes, collaborated on projects, casually met, etc.). For example, there is a professor who I've taken one class with that I would love to have as my future advisor. Would it be unethical for me to request these faculty members as my interviewers?
 
Silence_Water_Hope said:
Need some advice: I recently received an interview invite from my alma mater and started working on my list of faculty interviewers to request. However, as I spent 4+ years doing research there, there are several faculty that I have interacted with in the past (taken classes, collaborated on projects, casually met, etc.). For example, there is a professor who I've taken one class with that I would love to have as my future advisor. Would it be unethical for me to request these faculty members as my interviewers?
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Congrats on the interview! I wouldn't worry about it. I would guess the interviews will be informal and not counted towards your evaluation for consideration. Usually, the interviews with faculty that you choose to meet with are for you to find out if you would want to work with those people. I would just list them.

Good luck on the interview.
 
shacoleblanconly said:
Same boat for Hopkins. Being complete mid-July, I don't have too much hope left but you never know 😉
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I would look back at the past years interview invite threads and also on the google calendar to see when their interviews are. I got interviews in January for some schools. For others, they sent their last interview invites in October. While most programs will not tell you this information, you can generally figure it out.

Also hopkins only cares about stats. I think the historic lowest GPAs and MCATs they took were like 3.6 and 515 and to be competitive you probably need even higher. I didn't even bother applying there because they seemed to only care about numbers.
 
Silence_Water_Hope said:
Need some advice: I recently received an interview invite from my alma mater and started working on my list of faculty interviewers to request. However, as I spent 4+ years doing research there, there are several faculty that I have interacted with in the past (taken classes, collaborated on projects, casually met, etc.). For example, there is a professor who I've taken one class with that I would love to have as my future advisor. Would it be unethical for me to request these faculty members as my interviewers?
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All is fair in love and war
 
Thoughts on calling mstp admissions offices to see if they received my app update/pre-II interest letter? Was complete at 2 t10 places in july but have not heard back, and they have ~1 month before their last listed interview online. Never received confirmation they saw it. Another t10 did extend an II shortly after my interest letter, which they also confirmed reception of by email. I figure worst case they already decided not to interview me, so why not call? Yay or nay?
 
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