2019-2020 South Dakota (Sanford)

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Please tag a pre-allo moderator when the second prompt is posted.

Good luck to everyone applying!

Interview Feedback: University of South Dakota (Sanford)
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I am matriculating here this July so if anyone has any questions, feel free to tag me and ask! Good luck.
 
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hello! i am not applying this year but have kind of fallen in love with this school, good luck to the applicants this cycle, i believe in you all !

(edited to leave out personal info)
 
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jt6234 said:
hello! i am not applying this year but have kind of fallen in love with this school.

p.s. good luck to the applicants this cycle, i believe in you all !
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I think you’d be fine, but you can always call and ask if you check the “strong ties” box.

Edited to remove @jt6234's personal information.
 
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fadelgadMD said:
Has anyone received the Secondary Application? My strong ties to the state are my father who has lived there over ten years working with veterans and Native Americans as a physician. I am worried that it may not be strong enough of a tie.
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No 2º here for me. USD sent out their secondary on July 30th last year, so it may just be a waiting game.

P.S. - Seems like a strong tie to me.
 
fadelgadMD said:
Has anyone received the Secondary Application? My strong ties to the state are my father who has lived there over ten years working with veterans and Native Americans as a physician. I am worried that it may not be strong enough of a tie.
Click to expand...
To pursue an M.D. degree at the USD Sanford School of Medicine, you must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. You also must be a South Dakota resident or non-resident with strong ties to the state such as:
  • Graduation from a high school in South Dakota
  • A parent living in South Dakota
  • A child of a Sanford School of Medicine alumni
  • A member of a U.S. federally recognized tribe from a bordering state
  • Completing at least 90 credits at a college or university in South Dakota
This is taken from the ssom website, you're good
 
IS, secondary received on 7/22. These are the questions:

[1500 chars each]


Given the mission statement of the school, please explain how your experiences and long term goals would help meet the mission.


Given the diversity statement of the school, explain how your background and experiences with diversity will bring value to the school.


Describe how your experiences in health care or social care activities will help you become a good physician.


Briefly describe a crisis or significant challenge in your life, how you have worked through the crisis or challenge, and what you have learned from this experience.


What are your career plans in the event that you are not admitted to a medical school this year or after several applications?


Please use this space to update the information contained on your AMCAS application (i.e. grades in recent courses; alterations in your proposed coursework or graduation; additions to your extracurricular activities) or anything else you want the committee to know. Optional


For repeat applicants only. Since your last application, what steps have you taken to strengthen your candidacy? Please note any relevant academic, employment, clinical and personal experience. Optional


For non-South Dakota residents applying to the regular MD program - please describe your ties to South Dakota. Optional
 
GPA 3,75, MCAT 509, Do I have a chance at USDSOM? Anyone hear of any others with similar or lower MCAT scores?
 
The Hay is in the Barn said:
GPA 3,75, MCAT 509, Do I have a chance at USDSOM? Anyone hear of any others with similar or lower MCAT scores?
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Their median MCAT is 510, so definitely! You’re almost guaranteed an interview if you’re in-state (which it seems like you are from the DSU pic) with those stats as they interviewed 88% of in-staters according to MSAR.
 
Yes, SD native. Thanks, that helps. And I found the AAMC data that shows the matriculation average is 509. Maybe there's a chance for me.
 
The Hay is in the Barn said:
Yes, SD native. Thanks, that helps. And I found the AAMC data that shows the matriculation average is 509. Maybe there's a chance for me.
Click to expand...

Our dean said our M1 class had the highest average MCAT in school history so it has to be at least 510 since the M2's had it. Good luck! Hope to see many of you on interview days.
 
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DoctorSnow said:
Our dean said our M1 class had the highest average MCAT in school history so it has to be at least 510 since the M2's had it. Good luck! Hope to see many of you on interview days.
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Thanks for all the help on this thread. I was wondering, are the lectures here mandatory attendance? Also are they recorded?
 
Any insights on questions that USDSOM faculty are likely to ask at an interview?
 
HighYieldOnly said:
Thanks for all the help on this thread. I was wondering, are the lectures here mandatory attendance? Also are they recorded?
Click to expand...

Lectures are NOT mandatory. They are recorded and put online after a 24 hour delay. The students have been pushing back on the 24 hour delay topic for the past 3 years. Our class (M1) will hopefully be making this change before the end of the year. Many of our class board members are willing to be pushing the committee to make some amazing changes to the curriculum to better the lives of us students (pass/fail curriculum, less travel, subsidized study material, and online lectures streamed with no delay)

Dean Manzerra is definitely focused on making our lives easier and understands why many students choose to not go to class. Some of the professors are such great lecturers that many people that (usually) don't go to class will choose to come to lecture those days. Just depends on everyone's learning style.
 
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I interviewed last week. Does anyone know the earliest I can expect to hear from USD?
 
kirsty519 said:
I interviewed last week. Does anyone know the earliest I can expect to hear from USD?
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They stated the first round of decisions will go out around November 16, and one of my interviewers said quite a few people get waitlisted, but not to be discouraged because they pull a lot from their waitlist.
 
-Why USD?
-What does primary care mean to you?
-Why (undergrad)?
-Tell me about your research
-What are your hobbies?
-What was your favorite class?
-What was your least favorite class?
-What is one thing you would take back about your path to medicine?
-What kind of doctor do you want to be?
-What do you do when stressed?

Here are some of the "normal" questions that most interviewers should be asking. Fair warning, every interviewer is different. They ask questions that make you actually think on your feet vs. regurgitating multiple rehearsed answers.

Also, I apologize for not being on available on SDN as much as I'd like. MF1 exams have been taking a lot of work! Make sure to tag me in the comments if you have questions so it gives me a notification and I'll try to respond. I get this time is super stressful for everyone.
 
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kirsty519 said:
I interviewed last week. Does anyone know the earliest I can expect to hear from USD?
Click to expand...

I interviewed one of the first weeks available in early September of last cycle and didn't find out until my birthday in February. Most of my classmates were pended pool until March. I think only a handful were accepted by New Years (15-20 out of the 70 seats). You're in the endgame now! Good luck!
 
DoctorSnow said:
Also, I apologize for not being on available on SDN as much as I'd like. MF1 exams have been taking a lot of work! Make sure to tag me in the comments if you have questions so it gives me a notification and I'll try to respond. I get this time is super stressful for everyone.
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You're good my dude! There's more important things in life than SDN 😆. I'm sure we all appreciate all that you've helped us with so far! 🙂
 
HighYieldOnly said:
Just found out they don't accept update letters or letters of intent, which is unfortunate bc I had a love letter drafted up to send 😆
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This is new... Last cycle, I sent a LOI after I interviewed at the other schools. Nikki said she would place them in your student file for when the committees meet.
 
In previous years it looks like the first acceptances were out about mid-December. But did others also hear that some candidates may hear about acceptance as early as Nov. 16? A change in the SSOM MO?
 
The Hay is in the Barn said:
In previous years it looks like the first acceptances were out about mid-December. But did others also hear that some candidates may hear about acceptance as early as Nov. 16? A change in the SSOM MO?
Click to expand...
They told me they were meeting November 16 and would send out decisions after that. Nikki told me that they were trying to operate on an earlier schedule this year.
 
Pended pool. Will hear back Jan 25th. Anybody know the odds of getting an A off pended pool?
 
Got the A as well. Congrats, guys! This is my first choice, so hopefully I'll see you guys in school next year.

For pended, don't lose hope. One of my interviewers told me how it works, since they don't do rolling admissions. To get accepted before the final meeting, a large majority has to vote for you. The threshold goes down with each meeting.
 
Littlegator said:
Got the A as well. Congrats, guys! This is my first choice, so hopefully I'll see you guys in school next year.

For pended, don't lose hope. One of my interviewers told me how it works, since they don't do rolling admissions. To get accepted before the final meeting, a large majority has to vote for you. The threshold goes down with each meeting.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the insight. Congrats on the acceptance! Hope to be classmates with you next year 🙂
 
If you accepted peeps don't mind sharing, what are your LMs, ECs, and narratives (e.g. strong rural background?) like?
 
HighYieldOnly said:
If you accepted peeps don't mind sharing, what are your LMs, ECs, and narratives (e.g. strong rural background?) like?
Click to expand...

LM 70, cGPA 3.84, sGPA 4.0, MCAT 513
ECs include student senate (+finance chair), chair in an honor society, and founded a fraternity chapter.
Non-trad engineer, 9th generation South Dakotan but not rural at all. I do genuinely want to do rural med in South Dakota.
 
Got the A Saturday, it was in my promotions folder so didn't see it untill yesterday! I am OOS ORM with strong ties to the state and LM ~75. This is my first A and I am so relieved.
 
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