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PSUCOM- University Park said:
In regards to "missing out" on Hershey- not really! A lot of us still do a lot of research with Hershey professors and with a huge movement towards zoom events, it's been super easy to stay involved with Hershey clubs and such. We also have a TON of clubs here at University Park and it is so easy to make your own club. Lots of opportunities for club leadership here at UP.

A pro of the UP curriculum is that it just is a smaller community so you get a lot more direct guidance and work one-on-one with our attendings here. It is based at a community hospital which has pros and cons as well. With it being a community hospital, you aren't competing with a ton of other medical students/residents/fellows for experiences. You can have some more autonomy over your schedule/patients. It has been a great place to learn bread and butter medicine because most patients receive care at community hospitals. Being based in State College also has some pros in that we have access to all the research/facilities of Penn State main campus.

That said, we have many opportunities to go to Hershey to get that feel for big academic medicine as well. During your second year (which is rotations), you spend time in Hershey getting more exposure to peds and psych. MS4 year here is also almost identical to Hershey students. You can do any elective/rotation at UP or Hershey. All of us will be spending time doing some rotations in Hershey.

You are not restricted to what specialties you can do at either campus since you will have plenty of exposure in State College as well as during your rotations at Hershey 2nd-4th year. You also graduate with the same diploma as part of the same class with Hershey since we are one campus just a different track.

Also, the way admissions works for UP, you need to be accepted to the Hershey campus to even qualify for an interview for UP. Then, if you get accepted to UP as well, you have full choice about which program you want to attend. You are not locked into one or the other simply by interviewing. If you are interested in getting to know more about the program you can email Kristen Horn our student services manager ([email protected]) or RSVP to our zoom info sessions thorugh this spring here: University Park Preview Day - Take A Closer Look - Penn State College of Medicine


Are there specific questions that you have about the Hershey program?
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Thank you so much for this thoughtful response! I appreciate this
I will definitely be reaching out if I get accepted (interviewed 1/22, hopefully I hear back soon)

Let’s say I’m in the UP track—If i have rotations in Hershey, then do i have to find housing? google maps says it takes 1hr 45 min

I have a wife and kids and it seems difficult to travel or potentially relocate to Hershey for some rotations

What do you suggest for me here?


No specific questions about Hershey curriculum besides a comment about how step exams are clumped together makes me nervous haha but step 1 p/f which is nice


Thank you!
 
For those who have been accepted, can anyone confirm that the deposit is not binding?
 
Have any mid/late December interviewees heard back yet? I'm coming up on 8 weeks post-interview.
 
anexhaustedpremed said:
Is the deposit required before April 30th? I accepted my offer but didn't pay yet.
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If I understand correctly. It is due by April 30th to ~fully~ accept the offer. ("At this time, we would like to remind you that in order to reserve your place in the Entering Class, we would need to receive a deposit of $100 by April 30, 2021.")
 
For those accepted: on the portal under the pre-matriculation checklist, does it say "this page is not complete" for some of the items? It's been like that for a while for me so just wanna make sure it's not something on my end
 
medschoolisthegoal said:
I interviewed just before christmas and still haven't heard back
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They seem to be very behind. I waited 17 weeks for the A post II so don't feel like they've forgotten you bc I definitely thought that to be a serious possibility more than once lol
 
For anyone wondering when the post-II decisions come out, I interviewed here last week and during the student meet and greet, students said around 10-12 weeks :/
 
saraps200 said:
For those accepted: on the portal under the pre-matriculation checklist, does it say "this page is not complete" for some of the items? It's been like that for a while for me so just wanna make sure it's not something on my end
Click to expand...
The bottom four items on the list surely do. I'm guessing they just haven't unlocked them yet (?)
 
Does anyone know what date second look will be on?
 
So i got an interview last thursday and im assuming when i schedule mine (after i take VITA) it'll be late February to early March. There's no way it'll take 10-12 weeks from then bc a lot of med school deposits are due April and that's less then 10-12 weeks. Feel like they'll be quick with the late interviews
 
Thebruv said:
So i got an interview last thursday and im assuming when i schedule mine (after i take VITA) it'll be late February to early March. There's no way it'll take 10-12 weeks from then bc a lot of med school deposits are due April and that's less then 10-12 weeks. Feel like they'll be quick with the late interviews
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When I was scanning threads from past years, it did seem like they got faster.
 
if we're not supposed to send updates, does that mean letters of interest too? for those who have been WL post-interview
 
zen-yatta5 said:
Thank you so much for this thoughtful response! I appreciate this
I will definitely be reaching out if I get accepted (interviewed 1/22, hopefully I hear back soon)

Let’s say I’m in the UP track—If i have rotations in Hershey, then do i have to find housing? google maps says it takes 1hr 45 min

I have a wife and kids and it seems difficult to travel or potentially relocate to Hershey for some rotations

What do you suggest for me here?


No specific questions about Hershey curriculum besides a comment about how step exams are clumped together makes me nervous haha but step 1 p/f which is nice


Thank you!
Click to expand...
No problem! For required Hershey rotations during MS2 year (2-4 weeks depending on which one you do), the school will provide housing. The rest of your rotations M2 year are done in State College. M3 year, if you do electives or whatever there is 1 apartment reserved for UP students to stay at but it's first come first serve so you have to book it with admin ahead of time. Still plenty of electives for M3-4 years that you can do locally in State College though too so you won't have to travel depending on your elective choices. We have a good mix of single younger students as well as married students, one student married with kids so it's pretty non-trad friendly while also having groups that like to go bar hopping downtown (pre-covid). Renting a townhouse or a house is actually pretty cheap in State College ($400-600/room avg) vs apartments ($500-1200/room) so would recommend going that route if moving with a family.

For both Hershey and the UP campus, Step 1 and Step 2CK are taken spring/summer of M3 year but it seems like students do well with this because you have enough clinical background from your core rotations at that point that you're prepared for both. Plus you have already taken all your shelf exams by then which is basically the Step 2CK material split up. Schools with Step 1 delayed until after clinical rotations have seen students score better than when taking it before clinical exposure but I guess that's a moot point now with step 1 going pass/fail.
 
ThatsAmore said:
Excited to have received my first acceptance here a few weeks ago! Is there a facebook page or groupme set up yet for accepted applicants to chat about roommate things, etc.?
Click to expand...
Congratulations! There is a roommate spreadsheet you can fill out.

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