2019-2020 SUNY - Downstate

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EnterCreativeName said:
Anyone know anything about getting into the BRIDGES program.
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all I know is last year I had a friend who got into it sometime in July, like a few weeks before class started. and he didn't apply for it. they just emailed him, offering him a spot. I think they offer it to 9 or 10 people?
 
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catladybutnormal said:
all I know is last year I had a friend who got into it sometime in July, like a few weeks before class started. and he didn't apply for it. they just emailed him, offering him a spot. I think they offer it to 9 or 10 people?
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Did he attend an interview?
 
catladybutnormal said:
all I know is last year I had a friend who got into it sometime in July, like a few weeks before class started. and he didn't apply for it. they just emailed him, offering him a spot. I think they offer it to 9 or 10 people?
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What is that program
 
Withdrawing my II! Was trolling through last year's thread and apparently they don't match packages. Also came across this gem, so just food for thought if you have multiple acceptances:

1583004340232.png
 
pink101 said:
Withdrawing my II! Was trolling through last year's thread and apparently they don't match packages. Also came across this gem, so just food for thought if you have multiple acceptances:

View attachment 297123
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They do not match packages because it is a state funded school, unfortunately. For the most part, it is private schools with large endowments that can provide more aid. The vast majority of US MD students do not get need based aid. It is definitely something to consider if you do get aid elsewhere (minimizing debt is huge)

As for the screenshot, I have over 20 research items on my CV. You need a lot of funding to do large scale RCT studies, but most med student research can be done as long as you are willing to put in work. You don’t need major funding. 90% of med student research is chart review or uses data from national databases. The class is on the larger side, though there are many similar size programs. All med schools that use PBL and small group based stuff divide the class into smaller groups and everyone still goes to the same lectures. Downstate is not unique at all in that respect.

Would I choose Downstate over NYU? No. But compared to similar programs like Stony Brook, Rutgers, or Hofstra, I’m very happy with my decision.
 
I’ve been waiting since October, y’all. I’m honestly really annoyed with them. This is kind of unprofessional. You shouldn’t tell us decisions come out mid February if it isn’t going to happen. We are expected to have things completed by a certain date and they should be held to the same standards.
 
I emailed admission to get info about how admission would be getting rolled out and then basically told me nothing. Anyone else have any better luck?
 
pmd567 said:
At this point im just waiting till march 15 because they have to let us know by then... right?
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Do they?! That would be nice. I thought they only had to give out enough acceptances to match the # of students in the class
 
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CRISPR_Queen said:
Do they?! That would be nice. I thought they only had to give out enough acceptances to match the # of students in the class


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Why would they have to notify us by March 15th? I think he/she meant April 15th, when you have narrow your school choices to 3
 
CRISPR_Queen said:
Do they?! That would be nice. I thought they only had to give out enough acceptances to match the # of students in the class


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My guess is they matched the # of their incoming class, and are waiting to see how many people decline/withdraw acceptances before offering more. Lots of other schools are beginning to accept in Feb/ early March so there should be some movement

EDIT: Assuming people who choose to go elsewhere respectfully withdraw early, of course.
 
71650 said:
My guess is they matched the # of their incoming class, and are waiting to see how many people decline/withdraw acceptances before offering more. Lots of other schools are beginning to accept in Feb/ early March so there should be some movement

EDIT: Assuming people who choose to go elsewhere respectfully withdraw early, of course.
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what happened to weekly acceptances :/
 
71650 said:
Did they say they would do that?
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Future phys123 said:
I called and asked about how decisions are rolling out last week. They said decisions are coming out weekly. So I'm assuming that more decisions will come out in the coming Wednesdays/Thursdays like they came out last week.
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Idk dude, I just want to believe... I have no idea what their plans actually are.
 
animalfungi123 said:
Idk dude, I just want to believe... I have no idea what their plans actually are.
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I called again this Monday, and they said the same thing. Decisions are coming out weekly, which has been true since the first week of decisions. Last week a bunch of pre-II rejections came out, which are still decisions. Also, they have not accepted their entire class yet. They have also not yet established a waitlist. They will let candidates know if they are put on a waitlist as soon as that decision is made.

How come when I call they very nicely give me all of this information, and when others ask they are left blank? If you all have questions about the decision process, it is better to call the admissions office up and ask your questions yourself. Conjecturing here will not help, but will rather stress out other people.
 
just found this on the AAMC Traffic Rules website:
"By March 15 of the matriculation year, issue a number of acceptance offers at least equal to the expected number of students in its first-year entering class and report those acceptance actions to AMCAS."

These are listed as "recommendations" so I'm not sure how closely schools follow this one, but it is interesting to note!
 
pmd567 said:
I didnt think they would match their incoming class from early fall interviews only but i dont know

Not everyone has to get an answer but i would think at least a few more A gotta go out??
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It is an AAMC rule that they have to match their incoming class by that date
 
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71650 said:
My guess is they matched the # of their incoming class, and are waiting to see how many people decline/withdraw acceptances before offering more. Lots of other schools are beginning to accept in Feb/ early March so there should be some movement

EDIT: Assuming people who choose to go elsewhere respectfully withdraw early, of course.
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Since they were still giving out interviews even last week, I doubt they accepted that many people by this point.

I'd bet they won't hit a number of acceptances = # of their incoming class until after the interviews are over (~March 15th). Those people aren't interviewing for a waitlist.
 
Anyone know if there’s a FB group for accepted students yet?
 
Future phys123 said:
I called again this Monday, and they said the same thing. Decisions are coming out weekly, which has been true since the first week of decisions. Last week a bunch of pre-II rejections came out, which are still decisions. Also, they have not accepted their entire class yet. They have also not yet established a waitlist. They will let candidates know if they are put on a waitlist as soon as that decision is made.
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Thank you for sharing! Very helpful
 
mad957 said:
just found this on the AAMC Traffic Rules website:
"By March 15 of the matriculation year, issue a number of acceptance offers at least equal to the expected number of students in its first-year entering class and report those acceptance actions to AMCAS."

These are listed as "recommendations" so I'm not sure how closely schools follow this one, but it is interesting to note!
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Yeah I'm not sure most people will hear back by March 15?? Last year's thread shows people hearing back March 29-April 3. Plus they are still interviewing till mid april anyways. Long season. :/

forums.studentdoctor.net

2018-2019 SUNY - Downstate

Just placed on alternate list. I interviewed mid-January. So happy it’s not a rejection for now..
forums.studentdoctor.net forums.studentdoctor.net
 
Looking back at last year's thread, all the straight up acceptances were handed out in one wave (Feb 19th this year). People interviewing late are interviewing for waitlists, and those who haven't heard back yet are likely alternates or rejected. Downstate is not being transparent at all with this process. We are all getting our hopes up, but we're destined for the waitlist, which they will notify us of late this month and pick out of on May 1st at the earliest.
 
Gastrula44 said:
Looking back at last year's thread, all the straight up acceptances were handed out in one wave (Feb 19th this year). People interviewing late are interviewing for waitlists, and those who haven't heard back yet are likely alternates or rejected. Downstate is not being transparent at all with this process. We are all getting our hopes up, but we're destined for the waitlist, which they will notify us of late this month and pick out of on May 1st at the earliest.
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I got my acceptance a few days ago, not the February 19th wave.
 
Gastrula44 said:
Looking back at last year's thread, all the straight up acceptances were handed out in one wave (Feb 19th this year). People interviewing late are interviewing for waitlists, and those who haven't heard back yet are likely alternates or rejected. Downstate is not being transparent at all with this process. We are all getting our hopes up, but we're destined for the waitlist, which they will notify us of late this month and pick out of on May 1st at the earliest.
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How can you be so sure of that, and what reason do you have to believe that the admissions counselors so many of us have been getting information about the admissions process from are lying? Yeah, the the admissions process seems really different than it was for last year, but last year was also very different than it was for the previous year. In fact, to my knowledge, the year before last year operated on a rolling admissions process. All we know is that there have been recent changes to their admissions policies, which kind of means nothing for those who have not heard anything back yet.
 
Future phys123 said:
How can you be so sure of that, and what reason do you have to believe that the admissions counselors so many of us have been getting information about the admissions process from are lying? Yeah, the the admissions process seems really different than it was for last year, but last year was also very different than it was for the previous year. In fact, to my knowledge, the year before last year operated on a rolling admissions process. All we know is that there have been recent changes to their admissions policies, which kind of means nothing for those who have not heard anything back yet.
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It's just a hunch, but downstate has also been misleading in the past based on previous threads. It's not that they're lying, just not giving us the whole truth. For example, they told many of us we would recieve a decision by February and here we are in the middle of March with nada, they haven't even sent an update on what's going on. The process was different last year due to the new rules, it's less likely they've changed it drastically again. Also based on the number of people here who reported acceptances on here (~20), and the estimate I've seen used elsewhere that 10% of premeds post on SDN, looks like they've given out enough to fill the class. Again, I'm not sure about anything but it's an educated guess. We'll see what happens, but it's not looking good. I hope I'm wrong.
 
Gastrula44 said:
It's just a hunch, but downstate has also been misleading in the past based on previous threads. It's not that they're lying, just not giving us the whole truth. For example, they told many of us we would recieve a decision by February and here we are in the middle of March with nada, they haven't even sent an update on what's going on. The process was different last year due to the new rules, it's less likely they've changed it drastically again. Also based on the number of people here who reported acceptances on here (~20), and the estimate I've seen used elsewhere that 10% of premeds post on SDN, looks like they've given out enough to fill the class. Again, I'm not sure about anything but it's an educated guess. We'll see what happens, but it's not looking good. I hope I'm wrong.
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bro get that negativity outta hereeee
 
AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson said:
Wooo the day is upon me, interviewing Wednesday 😀

It's about a 75minute commute from my apartment so help me if there are significant delays on any of my lines.
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Wooow they're gonna love that 522 MCAT. But be prepared to defend your low undergrad GPA in a non-aggressive way. I can see that you redeemed yourself with the SMP and MCAT but I bet they're still gonna be annoying. Just wanted to warn you, since this was a very common theme during most peoples' interviews, and I had a friend who got snippy with their interviewer last year while defending a low grade and they were rejected for it. Good luck!!! I enjoyed the interview day
 
catladybutnormal said:
Wooow they're gonna love that 522 MCAT. But be prepared to defend your low undergrad GPA in a non-aggressive way. I can see that you redeemed yourself with the SMP and MCAT but I bet they're still gonna be annoying. Just wanted to warn you, since this was a very common theme during most peoples' interviews, and I had a friend who got snippy with their interviewer last year while defending a low grade and they were rejected for it. Good luck!!! I enjoyed the interview day
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Funny story about this actually, since I just remembered that they do this:
My interviewer asked me about my “low MCAT score.” But I have a 514 so I think I temporarily forgot to control my face and looked really puzzled when I replied that I’m actually very proud of it? The man laughed and was like “I actually took the old MCAT and have no idea what the new scores mean!”

They really are taught to harp on some low grades, apparently even if you don’t really have any, just to see how you respond.
 
tinfoilforests said:
Funny story about this actually, since I just remembered that they do this:
My interviewer asked me about my “low MCAT score.” But I have a 514 so I think I temporarily forgot to control my face and looked really puzzled when I replied that I’m actually very proud of it? The man laughed and was like “I actually took the old MCAT and have no idea what the new scores mean!”

They really are taught to harp on some low grades, apparently even if you don’t really have any, just to see how you respond.
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LMAO there ya go. I feel like their interview day was very old school/no frills. they were like GRAAAAAADES. mine are mediocre but I talked about how I learned from past mistakes and blah blah
 
catladybutnormal said:
Wooow they're gonna love that 522 MCAT. But be prepared to defend your low undergrad GPA in a non-aggressive way. I can see that you redeemed yourself with the SMP and MCAT but I bet they're still gonna be annoying. Just wanted to warn you, since this was a very common theme during most peoples' interviews, and I had a friend who got snippy with their interviewer last year while defending a low grade and they were rejected for it. Good luck!!! I enjoyed the interview day
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Haha well that works out for me, I'm not an aggressive or defensive person, especially about my undergrad grades. I'm excited and happy to talk about them. Hope it all goes well, Downstate is my top choice 😀 Hopefully I find out my fate before my current lease is up hahaha

Thanks for the advice <3
 
The sample interview agenda has check-in & interview for 9am to 11am, I just received an email confirming my interview will be at 10am. Is there anything before the interview or could I arrive around, say, 930am?

Thanks! <3
 
AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson said:
The sample interview agenda has check-in & interview for 9am to 11am, I just received an email confirming my interview will be at 10am. Is there anything before the interview or could I arrive around, say, 930am?

Thanks! <3
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My interview was at 10am. I arrived around 9am, 5 minutes after my interviewer called me in (didn’t even get to read the packet they gave us- which is basically nothing anyway! There is a writing assignment you need to complete before you leave.). I guess if you arrive early and your interviewer also arrives early, they will just take u in. But if you want to get there by 9:30am, I am sure it’ll be fine/considered on time!
 
AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson said:
The sample interview agenda has check-in & interview for 9am to 11am, I just received an email confirming my interview will be at 10am. Is there anything before the interview or could I arrive around, say, 930am?

Thanks! QUOTE]

There is nothing before the interview. You can show up shortly before your scheduled time and be just fine.

Best of luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Can someone help me with the question why downstate? I have searched far and wide on their website for special aspects of their program that stand out but they really don't have a very informative website. I have my personal convenient reasons to attend downstate but I was looking for something special about their program that I can speak of in my interview. Any ideas?
 
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