2019-2020 Virginia Commonwealth

[PapaGuava]

Secondary prompt:

"Imagine that you are volunteering as a medical assistant in a pediatric clinic. Due to several walk-in urgent cases the clinic has fallen behind schedule about an hour. You are getting the intake information and vitals on a child when the parent becomes visibly angry and starts cursing about the amount of time they have waited to be seen. The parent demands that you get the pediatrician immediately but you know that she is currently doing a medical procedure in the next room. How would you handle this situation? (2000 characters)"

Good luck to everyone applying!

Interview Feedback: Virginia Commonwealth University

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[KaioKaizen]

Anyone get a secondary from here yet? They probably changed the prompt again.

 

[perfect weather]

Anyone get a secondary from here yet? They probably changed the prompt again.

not me

 

[deleted971841]

@PapaGuava
"Imagine that you are volunteering as a medical assistant in a pediatric clinic. Due to several walk-in urgent cases the clinic has fallen behind schedule about an hour. You are getting the intake information and vitals on a child when the parent becomes visibly angry and starts cursing about the amount of time they have waited to be seen. The parent demands that you get the pediatrician immediately but you know that she is currently doing a medical procedure in the next room. How would you handle this situation? (2000 characters)"

 

[pBar]

@PapaGuava
"Imagine that you are volunteering as a medical assistant in a pediatric clinic. Due to several walk-in urgent cases the clinic has fallen behind schedule about an hour. You are getting the intake information and vitals on a child when the parent becomes visibly angry and starts cursing about the amount of time they have waited to be seen. The parent demands that you get the pediatrician immediately but you know that she is currently doing a medical procedure in the next room. How would you handle this situation? (2000 characters)"

Did you receive the secondary?

 

[captainbulgogi]

@PapaGuava
"Imagine that you are volunteering as a medical assistant in a pediatric clinic. Due to several walk-in urgent cases the clinic has fallen behind schedule about an hour. You are getting the intake information and vitals on a child when the parent becomes visibly angry and starts cursing about the amount of time they have waited to be seen. The parent demands that you get the pediatrician immediately but you know that she is currently doing a medical procedure in the next room. How would you handle this situation? (2000 characters)"

+1 Secondary Received 11 mins ago

 

[keelhaul]

@ everyone who received it already, does this secondary recommend pulling from outside sources? I know theirs last year did

 

[eniealici]

Did everyone get an "application received" email? Forget secondary, I don't even have a portal account

 

[captainbulgogi]

Did everyone get an "application received" email? Forget secondary, I don't even have a portal account

For me, I only got the "application received" email with a link to the portal to check my application status. The secondary is on the portal website, the email doesn't mention it. The portal username is your AAMCID and pin is your birthday in MMDDYYYY format.

 

[pBar]

For me, I only got the "application received" email with a link to the portal to check my application status. The secondary is on the portal website, the email doesn't mention it. The portal username is your AAMCID and pin is your birthday in MMDDYYYY format.

I haven't received any emails yet :/

 

[deleted971841]

@ everyone who received it already, does this secondary recommend pulling from outside sources? I know theirs last year did

I don't see where it explicitly says to use outside sources, no.

 

[captainbulgogi]

I haven't received any emails yet :/

Seems like they just started rolling out, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[eniealici]

For me, I only got the "application received" email with a link to the portal to check my application status. The secondary is on the portal website, the email doesn't mention it. The portal username is your AAMCID and pin is your birthday in MMDDYYYY format.

Hahaha my neurotic ass tried and there's no account but good luck to the rest of you guys!

 

[Bonne Nuit]

****ATTENTION ***** THE DEADLINE FOR VCU'S SECONDARY IS 60 DAYS FROM DATE OF EMAIL **** ATTENTION ****

ETA: I love the CASPer-style essay prompt

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Hahaha my neurotic ass tried and there's no account but good luck to the rest of you guys!

Did you get a weird error message? I got that too, had to restart my browser. I use Chrome.

 

[Tayk33]

I answered the prompt in around 800 characters. Is anyone else getting closer to the 2000 mark?

 

[keelhaul]

I answered the prompt in around 800 characters. Is anyone else getting closer to the 2000 mark?

No I was also struggling to get close to 2000. I just feel like it's a prompt that can be answered pretty succinctly

 

[mob18]

Are you guys treating it like an MMI/CASPer or going more in depth?

Normal me wants to just succinctly answer it and say I would do 1, 2, 3...but premed me is worried they're looking for a more in depth response.
I don't want answer deeply when they're just looking to see your thought process. Maybe it'll come off weird.

 

[PapaGuava]

Thank you @tinfoilforests !

 

[Jappa]

I assume that second question about gaps in undergrad and such is optional, right?

 

[Zen Arcade]

Received Secondary

 

[swagstaff]

Anybody know how strict they are on the 6 math credits? Only have 3 of statistics

 

[sundayko]

Secondary received, OOS

 

[THFStorm]

Is anyone else having trouble when they try to submit the secondary? When I do, it just reloads the "home" page and still lets me edit the secondary.

 

[tbf85]

Is anyone else having trouble when they try to submit the secondary? When I do, it just reloads the "home" page and still lets me edit the secondary.

I had the same issue, but then I tried clicking "print application" and it wouldn't let me view it...hopefully that meant it submitted.

 

[Cornfed101]

Anybody know how strict they are on the 6 math credits? Only have 3 of statistics

Call the admissions office, but my question is: how did you graduate with no math classes except statistics?

 

[bigM6029]

Is anyone else having trouble when they try to submit the secondary? When I do, it just reloads the "home" page and still lets me edit the secondary.

Same issue. I think they will send an email in a few days saying that your app is submitted

 

[swagstaff]

I think it's either because I took precalc/calc in high school (not dual credit, didn't take ap test) or my act score let me skip the regular college math class I was supposed to take

Call the admissions office, but my question is: how did you graduate with no math classes except statistics?

 

[mmchick]

Anybody know how strict they are on the 6 math credits? Only have 3 of statistics

I’ve never met a school that made exceptions for their pre-reqs.. they don’t have to.. hundreds of other applicants that have met the requirements. Send them an email if you want to be sure.

 

[97premed97]

Anybody know how strict they are on the 6 math credits? Only have 3 of statistics

You might need to take a math course at a community college or something before Fall 2020 to satisfy the req

 

[mmchick]

Anyone else having a hard time submitting the application? I've clicked "submit app" like 5 separate times (yes, have paid the fee too) and it just refreshes the page back to the home starting screen and still allows me to edit my app.. It also keeps adding extra apostrophes to my supplemental essay which is extremely nerve-wracking.

 

[pBar]

Anyone else having a hard time submitting the application? I've clicked "submit app" like 5 separate times (yes, have paid the fee too) and it just refreshes the page back to the home starting screen and still allows me to edit my app.. It also keeps adding extra apostrophes to my supplemental essay which is extremely nerve-wracking.

Yeah, I believe everyone is having the same problem. Just let it be, if you hit submit it should go through. On the homepage of the VCU portal it says "it may take up to 48 hours to receive confirmation of your submitted supplemental application".

 

[Talldoctor96]

How many people have not received a secondary from them yet?

 

[keelhaul]

Kind of weirded out that I can still access/edit my secondary after clicking submit, and there's nothing anywhere saying that it was submitted. I applied here last year and that didn't happen. Guess we should just wait the 48 hours and then email them if there's still no indication that it submitted successfully?

 

[eniealici]

Please briefly explain any lapses in your undergraduate education; include any in enrollment during your undergraduate education and/or any gaps between undergraduate education and applying to medical school. (example: poor grades, multiple withdraws, health reasons, etc.)

I have gap years between my undergraduate education and applying to medical school, but I've been working the entire time. Am I supposed to elaborate WHY I took gap years? Or do I leave the section blank?

I know the instructions tell us not to write anything that's already on the AAMC essay, so I'm confused

 

[keelhaul]

Please briefly explain any lapses in your undergraduate education; include any in enrollment during your undergraduate education and/or any gaps between undergraduate education and applying to medical school. (example: poor grades, multiple withdraws, health reasons, etc.)

I have gap years between my undergraduate education and applying to medical school, but I've been working the entire time. Am I supposed to elaborate WHY I took gap years? Or do I leave the section blank?

I know the instructions tell us not to write anything that's already on the AAMC essay, so I'm confused

Oh, huh. I just said what I've been doing during my gap years. I didn't even think to say WHY I took gap years... I mean, so many people do haha

 

[eniealici]

Oh, huh. I just said what I've been doing during my gap years. I didn't even think to say WHY I took gap years... I mean, so many people do haha

Ok in addition to working, I've traveled some, so I'm just going to follow your lead and not overthink things LOL

 

[keelhaul]

Ok in addition to working, I've traveled some, so I'm just going to follow your lead and not overthink things LOL

Yeah and I was told by a VCU adcom last year that they value people taking time before going to med school sooo I felt like what I did was more important haha since “why” feels kinda obvious

 

[mmchick]

Kind of weirded out that I can still access/edit my secondary after clicking submit, and there's nothing anywhere saying that it was submitted. I applied here last year and that didn't happen. Guess we should just wait the 48 hours and then email them if there's still no indication that it submitted successfully?

Yea same.. usually I mark off schools in my records as having completed.. I'm leaving it open just in case it never went through. If I don't receive any inclination that it went through in 2 days I'll also be emailing them.

 

[Mjp20142018]

Please briefly explain any lapses in your undergraduate education; include any in enrollment during your undergraduate education and/or any gaps between undergraduate education and applying to medical school. (example: poor grades, multiple withdraws, health reasons, etc.)

I have gap years between my undergraduate education and applying to medical school, but I've been working the entire time. Am I supposed to elaborate WHY I took gap years? Or do I leave the section blank?

I know the instructions tell us not to write anything that's already on the AAMC essay, so I'm confused

I think this is referring to step 4 of the supplement, which is a scenario question.

 

[eniealici]

To those of you who attempted submitting VCU secondaries, check your inboxes for an update!

 

[tbf85]

To those of you who attempted submitting VCU secondaries, check your inboxes for an update!

woot woot, complete!!

 

[mmchick]

Gosh you can't even see what your completed app is now.. I have seriously no idea if any of the edits I made after clicking submit went through oh well. Complete too!

 

[notthrowingawaymyshot]

Secondary received just now!

 

[Talldoctor96]

Folks moving forward it is good to know that the portal updates at 6:05 pm. You will receive all communication at that time.

 

[ThetisAntithesis]

Silly question but is the application year 2019 or 2020?
I know I'm entering class of 2020 so I assume that's the application year as well

EDIT: I think I picked the wrong year because I log into the portal and its saying
"
APPLICATION STATUS
Your application has been received by the VCU School of Medicine and now will begin the process of evaluation. There will be a preliminary review of your application prior to receipt of a supplemental application. Please be aware that all applicants are not invited to complete a supplemental application. You may check the status of your application at any point during this process using the applicant website. Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing of your application.

 

[keelhaul]

Silly question but is the application year 2019 or 2020?
I know I'm entering class of 2020 so I assume that's the application year as well

EDIT: I think I picked the wrong year because I log into the portal and its saying
"
APPLICATION STATUS
Your application has been received by the VCU School of Medicine and now will begin the process of evaluation. There will be a preliminary review of your application prior to receipt of a supplemental application. Please be aware that all applicants are not invited to complete a supplemental application. You may check the status of your application at any point during this process using the applicant website. Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing of your application.

Hmm. I picked 2020 (because I’m a reapplicant and I assumed 2019 was a vestige of my last app) and it seemed to work fine and I submitted my secondary successfully

 

[ThetisAntithesis]

Hmm. I picked 2020 (because I’m a reapplicant and I assumed 2019 was a vestige of my last app) and it seemed to work fine and I submitted my secondary successfully

Okay thanks. Maybe my link is just broken.
Will check back tomorrow.

 

[Talldoctor96]

Okay thanks. Maybe my link is just broken.
Will check back tomorrow.

It's not broken, you just haven't received the secondary yet. That email everyone is receiving is allowing you to access the portal and confirming that they have received the primary. VCU does a holistic screen before they sound out secondaries. Receiving the portal email and receiving a secondary are two separate things. You have to wait for them to screen you first. Does that make sense?

 

[shadow12345]

did you guys make your response pretty generic or try to use experience if you have it?