2019-2020 Michigan

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PapaGuava

PapaGuava

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Secondary Prompt:

1.Comment on how you hope to impact medicine in the future. If examples are needed, feel free to refer to our eight Paths of Excellence. Do not exceed 1500 characters (about 250 words).

2.At the University of Michigan Medical School, we are committed to building a superb educational community with students of diverse talents, experiences, opinions, and backgrounds. What would you as an individual bring to our medical school community? Do not exceed 1500 characters (about 250 words).
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Good luck to everyone applying!

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Incoming M1, don't know how much help I can be at this point (posting it so it is easy to find and @ me later in the year), but happy to answer any questions.
 
@Gilakend I don't suppose you know whether the secondary prompts will change this year. It looks like they changed between the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 cycles.
 
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EmbryonalCarcinoma said:
@Gilakend I don't suppose you know whether the secondary prompts will change this year. It looks like they changed between the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 cycles.
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They changed, but slightly. One of the questions they removed became an essay to write in a pre-interview survey. So since I pre-wrote it with the secondary app, I didn't have to write it at all after I got the interview.

However, I'm not sure if they changed this year unfortunately.
 
peanuttbuttah said:
@Gilakend what made you choose Michigan?
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Disclaimer: everything ahead is my opinion, it is simply why I chose Michigan and what I've learned from being around UMMS/UMich.

I could probably write a book on this, Michigan has been my dream school forever and was my top choice. I could talk about this for hours.

The boring, but still important stuff (that should heavily weigh in any decision):
1 year pre-clinical, money, true pass/fail, lots of time to explore multiple fields of medicine, location, curriculum as a whole, great reputation. Obviously most people could write a lot on these, but this is going to be the same things that weighed into everyone's decision and is honestly just kind of boring and gets repetitive. On every single school specific thread you'll see someone say "Wow! loved the curriculum, great location, xyz!!! 😀". So while that definitely weighed heavily on my decision, you can find all of that out from a google search (but you are free to ask me anything you want about this stuff as well, don't hesitate).

This is why I chose Michigan.

My main reason:
It's unlike anywhere else in the country. The biggest reason for me as a school is culture and attitude. The attitude of the school is incredible. They truly believe (and do) they'll change the world and the face of medicine. Everything they do they strive to be the best, nothing is half-hearted. You can't visit Michigan and not leave absolutely hyped for the future, the faculty, the staff, the students, everyone is so united and motivated. I've heard from a ton of people who interview at Michigan say it has a "cool" factor and I felt the same way. People are just chill there, everyone is just working hard and having a good time. No one is trying to put anyone else down to build themselves up. Everyone is just confident and content with what they're doing, because Michigan only accepts people that will succeed there. There isn't any competition or pettiness. It's just a bunch of fun people loving what they do and working hard at it.

My personal reasons:
I love Michigan sports, I'm getting season tickets to pretty much every sport. The students are super chill and unstressed (for the most part, M2 is hard). You actually have time to explore things outside of medicine (which every school says, but isn't always true). You have world renowned researchers and institutions and they're SO ACCESSIBLE, students raved about how helpful and open faculty and staff are to help you reach your goals. As an M0 I've had physicians reach out to ME. That's extremely uncommon.

In conclusion:
Pretty much Michigan for most people is about fit. You can tell from the beginning of the interview day if this is where you're going to fit in. For me it just felt right. I loved the culture, chill atmosphere, the hardworking people, and I loved that people actually let loose, had fun, and were normal people at the end of the day. If you're a person who likes to work hard, have fun, relax, and (again) work hard, while attending and training at one of the best institutions in the world, then Michigan sounds like it's good for you.

Obviously I just made Michigan sound like the best school in the world, because for me it is. And I think for the majority of students at Michigan it is as well. For some people it isn't and that's great. At the end of the day you should go wherever you feel like you fit in and where you can thrive. No one (at least at UMich) would be offended because you fit in better at another school, because if you do then that's where you belong. Everyone is super open and honest.

Okay I'll end my rant now, I just really love Michigan. Go Blue.
 
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Gilakend said:
because for me it is
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Obviously no idea where I'll be a year from now, but the ability to say this is all I can hope for. Congrats my dude.

I'm a huge college football fan who went to a school with a terrible team, so I've always had this weird fantasy about going to a FBS powerhouse for med school haha
 
gemcattini said:
hi! The fact UoM asks about biomedical lab research in its secondary makes me wonder if I should not apply (worried about costs). All my work is epidemiology/social determinants of health research. 0 wet lab experience and was a non-science major (non trad post bac). Are they big with biomedical research?
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I was wondering the same thing... My work as all been in health-communications/health-policy/public-health, I was considering using this space to elaborate more on that research because I'm applying to their MD/PhD program in Health Infrastructure and Learning Systems (HILS).
 
pBar said:
I was wondering the same thing... My work as all been in health-communications/health-policy/public-health, I was considering using this space to elaborate more on that research because I'm applying to their MD/PhD program in Health Infrastructure and Learning Systems (HILS).
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I can't speak for the thought process of the admissions office, but many of my classmates seem to be heavy on the public health/social science research side. Most of my research experience is in that realm, though I did have a bit of basic science experience. If you're competitive in general, I wouldn't let that dissuade you.
 
Principia said:
I can't speak for the thought process of the admissions office, but many of my classmates seem to be heavy on the public health/social science research side. Most of my research experience is in that realm, though I did have a bit of basic science experience. If you're competitive in general, I wouldn't let that dissuade you.
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Thank you for the input! I'm definitely still putting forward my application, keeping my fingers crossed that the adcoms here give me a little love.
 
Just got their secondary. Questions are:

1.Comment on how you hope to impact medicine in the future. If examples are needed, feel free to refer to our eight Paths of Excellence. Do not exceed 1500 characters (about 250 words).

2.At the University of Michigan Medical School, we are committed to building a superb educational community with students of diverse talents, experiences, opinions, and backgrounds. What would you as an individual bring to our medical school community? Do not exceed 1500 characters (about 250 words).

@PapaGuava
 
dhs1998 said:
Just got their secondary. Questions are:

1.Comment on how you hope to impact medicine in the future. If examples are needed, feel free to refer to our eight Paths of Excellence. Do not exceed 1500 characters (about 250 words).

2.At the University of Michigan Medical School, we are committed to building a superb educational community with students of diverse talents, experiences, opinions, and backgrounds. What would you as an individual bring to our medical school community? Do not exceed 1500 characters (about 250 words).
Click to expand...

@PapaGuava
 
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athlete1188 said:
Do you guys know what their minimum screens were?
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From their website: "Once we receive a verified AMCAS application, applicants who have an MCAT score in the 25th percentile or above will automatically be sent our Secondary Application. Those applicants who have a score lower than the 25th percentile may receive a Secondary Application after an initial review."

They, just like most schools, are probably sending out the secondaries in batches.
 
pBar said:
I have not received a secondary yet either (verified June 1st). I was wondering if it was because I'm applying MD/PhD.
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I'm applying MD-PhD and received my secondary.
 
Secondary received, verified 6/17.

Also -- Does anyone know how we can tell if they get our CA$PER scores or Rec Letters?

Also -- their secondary didn't really ask for updates on what we're doing for a gap year (if taking one)... does anyone know if we should already provide an update for that with their document upload page or hold off until later one as like a "secret weapon" lol.
 
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MSTP secondary prompts are the same as last year:

Briefly describe why you decided to apply to the University of Michigan MSTP. If you are interested in a specific department, program, or area of research for your Ph.D., please provide a brief explanation (we recognize that your interests may change). Do not exceed 1500 characters (about 250 words).

At the University of Michigan Medical School, we are committed to building a superb educational community with students of diverse talents, experiences, opinions, and backgrounds. What would you as an individual bring to our medical school community? Do not exceed 1500 characters (about 250 words).


No clue what the MD prompts are (can't see them). The third, optional prompt seems to have been omitted this cycle.
 
athlete1188 said:
Do you guys know how many acceptance offers they give out?
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372 out of 508 interviews last year. ~73% post-II acceptance rates. One of the highest at a T20.

I was told at my interview day the hardest part of getting in is getting an interview. They don’t interview you unless they think they’d accept you.
 
For: If you worked to finance your undergraduate education, on average, how many hours per week did you work? Please average your hours, considering the academic year and summer work, over the course of your undergraduate career.

Would it count if I worked part-time only during my senior year? It wasn't necessarily "financing" my education, more like getting extra money so can take fewer loans. If so, would I enter the average of senior year only? Or average that out of all 4 years? I worked about 8 hours a week in senior year, so would I put 8 hours, or 8/4 years = 2 hours? Probably over thiking this lol...
 
Fruitjuice said:
For: If you worked to finance your undergraduate education, on average, how many hours per week did you work? Please average your hours, considering the academic year and summer work, over the course of your undergraduate career.

Would it count if I worked part-time only during my senior year? It wasn't necessarily "financing" my education, more like getting extra money so can take fewer loans. If so, would I enter the average of senior year only? Or average that out of all 4 years? I worked about 8 hours a week in senior year, so would I put 8 hours, or 8/4 years = 2 hours? Probably over thiking this lol...
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I was literally about to ask the same thing. I worked as a teaching assistant and as a research assistant in a lab, both of which were payed. Does this count as financing my undergrad education?
 
helpmeout441 said:
I was literally about to ask the same thing. I worked as a teaching assistant and as a research assistant in a lab, both of which were payed. Does this count as financing my undergrad education?
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Does anyone know if I need to fill out the parent contact information? My parents could care less about what school I attend. Do other people's parents actually care enough to want a brochure? lol
 
For people without FAP- are you usually required to pay before your app is complete? I’m FAP but am not sure if I was auto-cleared.. though I was able to submit successfully
 
helpmeout441 said:
I was literally about to ask the same thing. I worked as a teaching assistant and as a research assistant in a lab, both of which were payed. Does this count as financing my undergrad education?
Click to expand...
I honestly just put some random number down. My work hours was so variable ... some weeks I had 40 and some weeks I had 1
 
MemeLord said:
Does anyone know if I need to fill out the parent contact information? My parents could care less about what school I attend. Do other people's parents actually care enough to want a brochure? lol
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kt6769 said:
@MemeLord I just left that whole section blank and it let me submit it just fine.
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Wondering this too. The portal lets you leave the parent section blank (and it doesn't let you leave the essays blank), but will they care if I leave it blank? I don't want my parents to get spam.
 
Doctors' Docta said:
I honestly just put some random number down. My work hours was so variable ... some weeks I had 40 and some weeks I had 1
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I think it is best to underestimate, I put 20, but I am the same. Some weeks I was in another state working 13 hours a day, others I literally went to the lab once because of a holiday...
 
MemeLord said:
I think it is best to underestimate, I put 20, but I am the same. Some weeks I was in another state working 13 hours a day, others I literally went to the lab once because of a holiday...
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Yeah, I just ended up putting a very low number lol. I doubt it will play a big factor — they can just see my total hours on my W/A section
 
Does the character count include spaces? 1500 characters with spaces is like 200 words... I realize this might be a moot point for some people, but would require some serious gutting for me...
 
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Anyone else still not receive a secondary?
 
av135 said:
Does the character count include spaces? 1500 characters with spaces is like 200 words... I realize this might be a moot point for some people, serious gutting for me...
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Yes it does I think.
 
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