2020-2021 Drexel

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
ciestar said:
Maybe it was 60 originally and they changed it? Idk, i was told this a while ago
Click to expand...
I don’t understand the business logic or the social need aspect of this. They should be increasing the class size more and lobby for more residencies too. Drexel has a large number. I am talking about the rest of the schools too. Some take pathetic numbers. It’s not like they are teaching us for free. Business sense tells me they should increase the size as the need is for more doctors in our society. Instead they bring doctors from other countries. Another 3000 spread over the many schools. We see there are lot of people who are wasting their prime years skipping the chance and going to try the next year. And politicians talking about how students are not into STEM. They should come up with a better system instead of the time wasting essays and secondaries. We are trying to become doctors not story writers. We wrote our essays already after SAT/ACT. If you are ORM and MCAT score of 505 you are eligible. If you are URM and 500 same. Then sort the 2 queues. AMCAS will be the gatekeeper and the student get to choose the school choice in each ORM or URM. fill the schools based on the highest MCAT order. They do this in India and it turns out to be equitable. Just some thought for the day. We have a system where many people are wasting their time every year on writing useless essays, money for secondary, money on travel for interviews, time for interviews, unnecessary wastage of time on “updates”, “thank you” notes, SDN, countless days of stress on expectations of interviews. If this is not enough for the applicants, their families also are involved. So for the sake of all let someone bring the change. You can start in MD admission because the schools anyways don’t pay any financial assistance.
 
Iamanewdr said:
I don’t understand the business logic or the social need aspect of this. They should be increasing the class size more and lobby for more residencies too. Drexel has a large number. I am talking about the rest of the schools too. Some take pathetic numbers. It’s not like they are teaching us for free. Business sense tells me they should increase the size as the need is for more doctors in our society. Instead they bring doctors from other countries. Another 3000 spread over the many schools. We see there are lot of people who are wasting their prime years skipping the chance and going to try the next year. And politicians talking about how students are not into STEM. They should come up with a better system instead of the time wasting essays and secondaries. We are trying to become doctors not story writers. We wrote our essays already after SAT/ACT. If you are ORM and MCAT score of 505 you are eligible. If you are URM and 500 same. Then sort the 2 queues. AMCAS will be the gatekeeper and the student get to choose the school choice in each ORM or URM. fill the schools based on the highest MCAT order. They do this in India and it turns out to be equitable. Just some thought for the day. We have a system where many people are wasting their time every year on writing useless essays, money for secondary, money on travel for interviews, time for interviews, unnecessary wastage of time on “updates”, “thank you” notes, SDN, countless days of stress on expectations of interviews. If this is not enough for the applicants, their families also are involved. So for the sake of all let someone bring the change. You can start in MD admission because the schools anyways don’t pay any financial assistance.
Click to expand...
Problem being... there are plenty of residency slots that go unfilled every year. They tend to be either known malignant programs (which is a whole other thing that needs to be addressed... i know a program that the residents are told to lie about duty hours), undesirable locations, or primary care. Some programs can absolutely be expanded and take more residents. The ACGME also have a patient encounter requirement. IM interns are generally expected to carry 10 patients yet the program I rotated with they carry like 5. Hahnemann closing is another example of potentially issues. Hospitals unfortunately close all the time and many more are in danger of closure. However, when HUH did close, every single resident out of the ~500 displaced did find a place to finish out their residency. So, clearly many programs can expand a slot or two and seem to be okay. Of course...money is always at place here and programs cannot do anything without the funds to pay residents, which the government controls.
 
Iamanewdr said:
I don’t understand the business logic or the social need aspect of this. They should be increasing the class size more and lobby for more residencies too. Drexel has a large number. I am talking about the rest of the schools too. Some take pathetic numbers. It’s not like they are teaching us for free. Business sense tells me they should increase the size as the need is for more doctors in our society. Instead they bring doctors from other countries. Another 3000 spread over the many schools. We see there are lot of people who are wasting their prime years skipping the chance and going to try the next year. And politicians talking about how students are not into STEM. They should come up with a better system instead of the time wasting essays and secondaries. We are trying to become doctors not story writers. We wrote our essays already after SAT/ACT. If you are ORM and MCAT score of 505 you are eligible. If you are URM and 500 same. Then sort the 2 queues. AMCAS will be the gatekeeper and the student get to choose the school choice in each ORM or URM. fill the schools based on the highest MCAT order. They do this in India and it turns out to be equitable. Just some thought for the day. We have a system where many people are wasting their time every year on writing useless essays, money for secondary, money on travel for interviews, time for interviews, unnecessary wastage of time on “updates”, “thank you” notes, SDN, countless days of stress on expectations of interviews. If this is not enough for the applicants, their families also are involved. So for the sake of all let someone bring the change. You can start in MD admission because the schools anyways don’t pay any financial assistance.
Click to expand...
I agree with your comments on "the game" that is admissions with the updates and thank you notes and the undue stress on applicants. I didn't know about the game until I came on SDN.

Your other points are very....limited. Pure numbers don't tell the story of who you are and while medicine is rooted in science, being a physician isn't just that. It takes interpersonal skills, communication, and other qualities that the MCAT and standardized exams don't measure. You hear many stories of people who score well on the MCAT and then get rejected because they don't have these skills. When you have to take years of science study and translate that to a patient with diabetes and explain why they need to take their insulin, you're a story writer.

Also don't cross post. If you want a specific discussion you should make a thread, I'm sure lots of current physicians on this site would have more insight on this topic.
 
Last edited:
Melchizedek said:
I agree with your comments on "the game" that is admissions with the updates and thank you notes and the undue stress on applicants. I didn't know about the game until I came on SDN.

Your other points are very....limited. Pure numbers don't tell the story of who you are and while medicine is rooted in science, being a physician isn't just that. It takes interpersonal skills, communication, and other qualities that the MCAT and standardized exams don't measure. You hear many stories of people who score well on the MCAT and then get rejected because they don't have these skills. When you have to take years of science study and translate that to a patient with diabetes and explain why they need to take their insulin, you're a story writer.

Also don't cross post. If you want a specific discussion you should make a thread, I'm sure lots of current physicians on this site would have more insight on this topic.
Click to expand...
TBH, I see a lot of this, all over the internet, especially from ORM parents who leave whatever country they grew up in for the better opportunities available in the US, and then bemoan anything that doesn't inherently put them at an advantage (like using any metric other than grades and test scores) in determining admission to institutions of higher education. They don't see the irony in longing for a system like that in their home countries, when it's the very lack of opportunities available under those systems that drive them here in the first place!

JMHO, but I encounter this all the time, and there is absolutely no convincing them that they are missing anything. They just didn't grow up in a system in which there was a perceived value in being well rounded. As a result, they don't raise their kids to be well rounded, and are then bitter and pissed when confronted with the disadvantage they put their kids at in this process.
 
KnightDoc said:
TBH, I see a lot of this, all over the internet, especially from ORM parents who leave whatever country they grew up in for the better opportunities available in the US, and then bemoan anything that doesn't inherently put them at an advantage (like using any metric other than grades and test scores) in determining admission to institutions of higher education. They don't see the irony in longing for a system like that in their home countries, when it's the very lack of opportunities available under those systems that drive them here in the first place!

JMHO, but I encounter this all the time, and there is absolutely no convincing them that they are missing anything. They just didn't grow up in a system in which there was a perceived value in being well rounded. As a result, they don't raise their kids to be well rounded, and are then bitter and pissed when confronted with the disadvantage they put their kids at in this process.
Click to expand...
I don’t know Iamanewdr and don’t feel comfortable generalizing those comments to ORM’s/URM’s but I think it’s innate bias on both sides.

on the one hand you have people that see established measures of success like test scores, money, etc etc. They see the established systems and dedicate themselves to doing well within those constraints, and they score well, because the system is in place because it does work to a degree (making sure students know the material is important for sure. You can be personable and communicative but it won’t get you anywhere if you prescribe dangerous things because you don’t know the science). They over-value the numbers, and unfortunately. don’t stop to think “Maybe the established system is broken?”

then you have people who are driven to pursue a goal, but are disenfranchised by the system and process to get there and seek to change it. But then they undercut the significance of testing and test scores and make step 1 pass/fail when students need to be able to distinguish themselves in SOME form etc etc


On topic: I only have been witness to Drexel adcom sessions so I can only speak to their process. It’s pretty faithful to the idea of a holistic review; the committee literally pours over every detail. It’s so weird to see professors’ personalities change. Some of the ones that critique students the hardest in class/lab are also the ones that fight tooth and nail for students who have red flags but other parts of their application indicate they’ll be great physicians.
 
Last edited:
CAWAMA said:
Pre II hold this morning, complete on 7/29 and sent an update letter 11/27. Anyone have any luck with calling their office, sending additional info.. anything to get off hold? or know how many people they interview after being placed on hold?
Click to expand...
Is it true that they only take 1 update?
 
Interviewed here mid November and awaiting a response on the next decision release date (January 22). Do you guys think they'll actually let us know on that day or are they going to delay it for whatever reason?
 
CheesyMacaroni said:
Interviewed here mid November and awaiting a response on the next decision release date (January 22). Do you guys think they'll actually let us know on that day or are they going to delay it for whatever reason?
Click to expand...
I hope so but a lot of late October interviewers didn't hear back yet either
 
asdfghjklmed said:
Is it true that they only take 1 update?
Click to expand...
I had already submitted an update letter when placed on hold and asked about the limit. They responded:
"If you have additional experiences you would like to share, you may submit a new update letter to this email address and we will be happy to upload it for consideration when we re-review your application."
 
CAWAMA said:
I had already submitted an update letter when placed on hold and asked about the limit. They responded:
"If you have additional experiences you would like to share, you may submit a new update letter to this email address and we will be happy to upload it for consideration when we re-review your application."
Click to expand...
Do you know whether additional update is only applicable for applicants who are on hold?
 
unc1234 said:
has anyone on hold gotten an II recently? or is a hold basically a rejection here?
Click to expand...
I believe Drexel’s hold is well known as soft R, according to SDN and premeddit. Someone correct me if I am wrong though
 
I have seen a decent amount of OOS pre-II Rs and holds. Would you all agree that there has been less movement for IS students, or am I assuming too much?
 
Does anyone know how long it takes to hear back post-interview? Interviews 11/24, haven't heard back yet
 
Zeyno99 said:
Does anyone know how long it takes to hear back post-interview? Interviews 11/24, haven't heard back yet
Click to expand...
They said during the info part of interview portion for us 6-8+ weeks with it usually trending towards 8+ weeks. Last decision date (12/18), they got to around mid/late October so they seem to be a bit behind but chugging along.
 
harrypotter711 said:
can any current students on here speak on their experience at DUCOM or possibly PM me? I feel like majority of the opinions on here have been fairly negative regarding the Hahnemann closure but I feel like their match list was still strong and personally loved my interview day
Click to expand...

Game Machine Joe said:
^ Yes, I'd really be interested in hearing about this as well!
Click to expand...

@Melchizedek Is a current student i believe and I appear on that match list you speak of lol
 
goldenfloofers said:
Anyone who interviewed in September still waiting to hear back after a deferment or is a deferment a soft-R?

I interviewed in late September and was deferred in October and I still have not heard anything. Anyone else in the same boat as I am?:shrug:
Click to expand...
Yeah I’m also in the same boat, and I think they might be saving deferments for later decision dates. That’s just my hypothesis since I don’t think anyone that’s gotten a deferment has received an A or rejection the past few decision dates.
 
galaxycatz said:
Yeah I’m also in the same boat, and I think they might be saving deferments for later decision dates. That’s just my hypothesis since I don’t think anyone that’s gotten a deferment has received an A or rejection the past few decision dates.
Click to expand...
I also got a deferment, but I was told (by a DUCOM faculty member) that that was actually a somewhat positive thing. They could've waitlisted us which would mean they wouldn't look at our applications until April or May, but instead deferred us. They will look at our application at potentially every decision date.

Unfortunately, they could also waitlist us after deferring us, but let's think positive here lol 🙂
 
MooDoc said:
I also got a deferment, but I was told (by a DUCOM faculty member) that that was actually a somewhat positive thing. They could've waitlisted us which would mean they wouldn't look at our applications until April or May, but instead deferred us. They will look at our application at potentially every decision date.

Unfortunately, they could also waitlist us after deferring us, but let's think positive here lol 🙂
Click to expand...
this is helpful -- thank you!

do you (or anyone else on this thread) know if people have been waitlisted post-II? it seems like only A, deferral, or R?

please correct me if i'm wrong!
 
Commander_94 said:
this is helpful -- thank you!

do you (or anyone else on this thread) know if people have been waitlisted post-II? it seems like only A, deferral, or R?

please correct me if i'm wrong!
Click to expand...
Over the past few years I dont think they’ve ever started a WL this early on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wysdoc
2024-2025 Drexel
25 26 27 28 29
Replies
1K
Views
414K
mrmc313
M
chilly_md
2023-2024 Drexel
34 35 36 37 38
Replies
2K
Views
464K
skydweller
S
wysdoc
2021-2022 Drexel
51 52 53 54 55
Replies
3K
Views
644K
Muad_Dib
Muad_Dib
chilly_md
2022-2023 Drexel
47 48 49 50 51
Replies
3K
Views
598K
amazingotter23
A
koffeekween
2021-2022 Ponce-STL
2 3 4
Replies
184
Views
29K
amazinmedicine
A
Top