2020-2021 Northwestern (Feinberg)

BU Medical Sciences
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apples185 said:
yep, I’ve checked both. portal still says “interviewed, final decision pending” :/ guess we’ve just got to keep waiting!
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Mine says the same, can anyone comment on what your status reads if your waitlisted?
 
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BullBearMan said:
Mine says the same, can anyone comment on what your status reads if your waitlisted?
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No status, just the waitlist letter where the deferral letter used to be. I remember that my status had updated to "waitlisted" the weekend after the Friday of the decision
 
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@apples185 I just tried logging into the portal, and got an error: "*Sorry you are not approved to enter this site."

Hold me, I'm scared.
 
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Got waitlisted :/ - just wanted to inform on here that some decisions seem to have gone out today haha
 
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Any accepted students have questions about Feinberg? Current MS4 who has matched and nothing to lose, so hit me with the preguntas.
 
Master_of_Savage said:
Any accepted students have questions about Feinberg? Current MS4 who has matched and nothing to lose, so hit me with the preguntas.
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Thank you so much for doing this! How have you found the curriculum at Feinberg? Did you think it prepared you well for Board exams and assisted with residency match (AOSC requirement in your favor, even non STEM based research)? Also, how many people can you estimate failed to match or fell down heavily in their choices? Have you found living in Chicago reasonably priced (due to roommates or distance from school)?

Sorry for the obscure questions, they may not be well-guided but they sure are the ones pressing in my mind right now
 
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Master_of_Savage said:
Any accepted students have questions about Feinberg? Current MS4 who has matched and nothing to lose, so hit me with the preguntas.
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How do you think school spirit is on average? Is everyone fired up to be at Feinberg? Do most of your classmates love it at FSM? School pride from current students and faculty is a big litmus test for me.
 
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Master_of_Savage said:
Any accepted students have questions about Feinberg? Current MS4 who has matched and nothing to lose, so hit me with the preguntas.
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Really appreciate you doing this for us! Do most students live with roommates? How are students chosen for AOA and does that breed competition? Is there any other internal grading/ranking system? Really prefer a collaborative atmosphere that isn’t too competitive. Also, what kind of winter gear and other supplies (like iPads, etc) do you recommend purchasing?
 
eelsauce said:
Thank you so much for doing this! How have you found the curriculum at Feinberg? Did you think it prepared you well for Board exams and assisted with residency match (AOSC requirement in your favor, even non STEM based research)? Also, how many people can you estimate failed to match or fell down heavily in their choices? Have you found living in Chicago reasonably priced (due to roommates or distance from school)?

Sorry for the obscure questions, they may not be well-guided but they sure are the ones pressing in my mind right now
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I am not sure if there is anything magical about any curriculum to prepare students for board exams. No matter what you are going to do a lot of self-guided studying for them. Generally Feinberg has a really high Step 1 average (I think 245, national avg is 230) but it is hard to know if that is because of Feinberg's curriculum or if it is because the avg MCAT is the 99th percentile and everyone would do well on it no matter where they went. For Step 2 CK, I am not sure what the average is for Feinberg, but its a similar story - a lot of self-studying no matter where you attend.

We are a pretty research heavy school and everyone is involved in something either through AOSC, the MPH program, or the Masters in Bioethics program. If you do a dual degree track, you do not need to do an AOSC project since they have their own thesis requirements. I did some public health, epidemiology research which was well received by residency programs.

Fell down heavily on their list - I have no idea. Anecdotally, I know most people who matched got their top 1-3 but I haven't been told the overall breakdown yet. As for those who did not match, this year was crazy and I believe it is around 10-15 in a class of 160 which is A LOT. A lot of these were applicants into very competitive specialties (ortho, ENT, urology) as we had more of those applicants this year than normal. It is very unclear what happened - if it was an advising issue, individual applicant issue, if the lack of away rotations really hurt some students, or if interview hoarding was a major contributor, or if it was a combination of things. Once the dust settles and schools talk to other schools to get more data, we may have a better sense of what happened as I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of schools experienced what NW saw this year.

Chicago is reasonably priced and very affordable.

balancedapp said:
How do you think school spirit is on average? Is everyone fired up to be at Feinberg? Do most of your classmates love it at FSM? School pride from current students and faculty is a big litmus test for me.
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Go 'cats! Overall, I think people have liked the education and experience they received at Feinberg, myself included. There are certainly things I did not like, but at the end of the day I actually think we got a good undergraduate medical education. Purple Pride at the Purple Palace is a real thing and even among residents/attendings I never got the sense that they didn't like working at Northwestern. Granted, some are just unhappy in general but that has nothing to do with Northwestern lol


apples185 said:
Really appreciate you doing this for us! Do most students live with roommates? How are students chosen for AOA and does that breed competition? Is there any other internal grading/ranking system? Really prefer a collaborative atmosphere that isn’t too competitive. Also, what kind of winter gear and other supplies (like iPads, etc) do you recommend purchasing?
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Roommates - yes most do.

AOA - HOT TOPIC this year. So this was a movement to get rid of AOA led by the students. It was shot down by the admin despite a large percentage of Top 20 med schools getting rid of it. Topic for another day. To answer your question though, students are not told exactly how AOA selection is done. We do not have any ranking system whatsoever for M1-M2 year but we do for M3 clerkships which they are very open about. Despite this, some of the people who got AOA this year are the most collaborative people in our class and overall our class is wildly collaborative. We are always sharing google docs, Anki decks (flashcards), and other study strategies without each other even during M3 clerkships. In my eyes it is a huge strength at NW.

Layers are the name of the game! Get a warm jacket, but no need to go all Canada Goose and spend hundreds of dollars. Go to Marshalls, get a jacket and boots, then wear a neck warmer/scarf with a nice sweatshirt, ear warmers/hat, and gloves. No need to spend a **** ton of money on it all, <$200 for everything should be fine (boots and jacket will be bulk of this). Marshalls will show you the way.

Edit: iPads are not necessary. Just get a good laptop if you do not have one and maybe noise cancelling headphones. I would wait until you are here and have figured out your own learning style before spending more money on things like iPads.
 
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Master_of_Savage said:
Go 'cats! Overall, I think people have liked the education and experience they received at Feinberg, myself included. There are certainly things I did not like, but at the end of the day I actually think we got a good undergraduate medical education. Purple Pride at the Purple Palace is a real thing and even among residents/attendings I never got the sense that they didn't like working at Northwestern. Granted, some are just unhappy in general but that has nothing to do with Northwestern lol
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Thanks, as someone from Chicago there is definitely a ton of Northwestern pride mixed with prestige around town. Of your dislikes, anything you want to call out that we should look out for?
 
@Master_of_Savage would you recommend the MD/MPH program? I like public health but am unsure about what specialty I want to go into, and I'm afraid that doing the MPH thesis instead of the AOSC would restrict my research topic.
 
BullBearMan said:
Thanks, as someone from Chicago there is definitely a ton of Northwestern pride mixed with prestige around town. Of your dislikes, anything you want to call out that we should look out for?
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Without giving too much info to ID myself, I think the social justice mission of the hospital system could improve greatly. The medical school is improving and is certainly better now than it was 4 years ago when I started. However, the hospital system itself is a little more conservative. For example, NMH did not participate in the VOT-ER movement which solely aimed to register people to vote as they chilled in the ED waiting room or were stabilized in their hospital bed.

NW also likes to throw around a stat that they spend the second most on charity care in all of Chicago. This is impressive until you realize that NW is second to Cook County hospital which is poor as **** and NW is one of the wealthiest hospital systems in the country. So the percentage of money spent on charity care is paltry (3.8% in 2018). This is just an example of how NW will pat itself on the back for a straw-man statistic.

www.npr.org

Treating Uninsured Patients Is Wreaking Havoc On Cook County Finances

It's a double-whammy for taxpayers: The county's public health system suffers, while other hospitals enjoy big property tax breaks.
www.npr.org www.npr.org



Lifeblood_20 said:
@Master_of_Savage would you recommend the MD/MPH program? I like public health but am unsure about what specialty I want to go into, and I'm afraid that doing the MPH thesis instead of the AOSC would restrict my research topic.
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The only way an MPH would restrict your research topic is by taking up time. The 4 year program takes a lot of extra time than just the MD program, so research the first two years can be more difficult to do because you have less time. However, people in the MPH program have done research in pediatrics, emergency medicine, urology, dermatology, anesthesia, ob/gyn, neurosurgery surgery, pathology, and I am sure many others. I know for a fact that people have gotten publications outside of their MPH thesis project while still in the MPH program. These projects have ranged from epidemiology based projects (2nd and 3rd author: Risk factors for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in pregnant women - PubMed) to national policy analyses (first author: Child Access Prevention Firearm Laws and Firearm Fatalities Among Children Aged 0 to 14 Years, 1991-2016 - PubMed) to more clinical projects (3rd author: Efficacy of clobazam as add-on therapy in brain tumor-related epilepsy - PubMed). So it is doable, but probably takes more time management.

The one caveat is I do not know anyone who has done bench research in the MPH program, likely because of a lack of interest.

Edit: There are many other pubs by MPH students, I just quickly PubMed searched a couple names and took the first example I found. They range from first authorship to very low on the list. Also there are other markers of research besides publications for residency apps, but for the purpose of your question I kept it to publications.
 
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parametz said:
How does one get off the WL here?
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MSAR says WL spots go to ppl who keep showing continued interest, so I guess send a letter of continued interest or intent if you really mean it and don’t send it anywhere else
 
Strategos said:
Does this number include those who matched through SOAP?
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10 - 15 didn't match pre soap. I think a lot of people decided not to SOAP, do a research year, then reapply. Post-SOAP I want to say it's around 5 (give or take a couple) who did not match.
 
Received my financial aid. Does anyone know if merit aid would have been included with the need based aid? As in, is it safe to assume I did receive any Ha
 
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MediocreClimber said:
Received my financial aid. Does anyone know if merit aid would have been included with the need based aid? As in, is it safe to assume I did receive any Ha
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I just got my aid as well. It included merit based aid and then i got a separate email about the merit scholarship.
 
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pinkpeaches1 said:
Is there a difference between grants and merit scholarships?
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The grants are need based and merit scholarships are just as they sound. You’ll get another email explaining the merit scholarship and details around it/how to accept
 
depaysement said:
The grants are need based and merit scholarships are just as they sound. You’ll get another email explaining the merit scholarship and details around it/how to accept
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Oh okay thanks! So if I got my FA package and there’s no scholarship, then it means I didn’t receive one
 
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mufafsa said:
where do you see that? I want a shirt :-(
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uh oh, that's not a good sign....


lol jk, they sent an email yesterday to fill out a form that asked for our shirt sizes. If you were accepted early on, maybe you got this a while ago?
 
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