2021-2022 Albany

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Hi everyone!

I am a current first year here at Albany Med. Feel free to message me/reply to this post with any questions you might have about the school

Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear back :happy:
Thanks for your AMA and help in this thread!

I understand I might be out of place asking about research since you just started MS1 recently, but do you feel as if there are plenty of opportunities to seek out research in an area you might be interested in? Or is research not as heavily emphasized/more of a figure it out on your own type of deal?
 
Thanks for your AMA and help in this thread!

I understand I might be out of place asking about research since you just started MS1 recently, but do you feel as if there are plenty of opportunities to seek out research in an area you might be interested in? Or is research not as heavily emphasized/more of a figure it out on your own type of deal?
Excellent question!

From my experience there are plenty of research opportunities here and quite a few physiancs that are research productive aka get stuff published.
There is a designated person Dr. Sidhu who is your go to. You meet with him, tell him what area of research you are interested in and he will connect you with people who are working on that topic and have an ongoing project.

We just started our second semester of first year and I already have a completed project awaiting publication. (looking back would i recommend doing research first semester of med school? probably not)

Also there is a 6 week summer research program that bunch of MS1 sign up for where you pretty much do research full time between year 1 and 2 with an attending mentoring you and the goal is to get that project completed and published.

The point im trying to make is if you want to do research you absolutely will be able to do research and there are people who are there to help you on that journey!
 
Excellent question!

From my experience there are plenty of research opportunities here and quite a few physiancs that are research productive aka get stuff published.
There is a designated person Dr. Sidhu who is your go to. You meet with him, tell him what area of research you are interested in and he will connect you with people who are working on that topic and have an ongoing project.

We just started our second semester of first year and I already have a completed project awaiting publication. (looking back would i recommend doing research first semester of med school? probably not)

Also there is a 6 week summer research program that bunch of MS1 sign up for where you pretty much do research full time between year 1 and 2 with an attending mentoring you and the goal is to get that project completed and published.

The point im trying to make is if you want to do research you absolutely will be able to do research and there are people who are there to help you on that journey!
How did you find a roommate? And what did you do after you got in Feb until August? I'm not sure what to do with myself now. Lastly, is there any preparation you would recommend I start doing now academically?
 
How did you find a roommate? And what did you do after you got in Feb until August? I'm not sure what to do with myself now. Lastly, is there any preparation you would recommend I start doing now academically?
my roommate is my Bf who moved here with me lol but closer to the starting date there will be posts on the Facebook page and also in the GroupMe chat of other MS1s or even MS2-3 looking for roommates.

I kept working till mid June to save up some money to help me get settled before loan money came in and I took a month off just traveling and relaxing and hanging out with my friends as much as possible. I made sure to move to Albany 2-3 weeks before classes started so I wouldn't have to worry about furnishing, finding a local grocery store, getting oriented to the new city while in school.

Don't do any prep academically. I felt bad that I wasn't actively studying during my summer before med school and when I got here I quickly realized that it would have been pointless anyway. I would however recommend that you work on incorporating healthy habits into your everyday life like working out, cooking meals at home, yoga/mindfulness just things that can help you cope with stress. It will be much easier to keep doing these once school starts than start them for the first time in medical school. focus on preparing for medical school mentally rather than academically.
 
my roommate is my Bf who moved here with me lol but closer to the starting date there will be posts on the Facebook page and also in the GroupMe chat of other MS1s or even MS2-3 looking for roommates.

I kept working till mid June to save up some money to help me get settled before loan money came in and I took a month off just traveling and relaxing and hanging out with my friends as much as possible. I made sure to move to Albany 2-3 weeks before classes started so I wouldn't have to worry about furnishing, finding a local grocery store, getting oriented to the new city while in school.

Don't do any prep academically. I felt bad that I wasn't actively studying during my summer before med school and when I got here I quickly realized that it would have been pointless anyway. I would however recommend that you work on incorporating healthy habits into your everyday life like working out, cooking meals at home, yoga/mindfulness just things that can help you cope with stress. It will be much easier to keep doing these once school starts than start them for the first time in medical school. focus on preparing for medical school mentally rather than academically.
Thanks for the help! and sorry to keep badgering you - Last question: how stressful is the grading in the first 2 years? And how important are the grades? Thanks again!
 
Thanks for the help! and sorry to keep badgering you - Last question: how stressful is the grading in the first 2 years? And how important are the grades? Thanks again!
First two years are P/F
I can only speak about year 1 during which exams are based on the lectures. (Year 2 they switch to NBME questions)

they use z-scores for grading so its the mean on the test +/- 1.5 SD = Pass. This is where 90% of the class falls. Handful of people will get a high pass who score lets say +2 SD above the mean. In my opinion what matters is that you do your best and pass every theme. I wouldn't stress myself out with trying to get a high pass since only couple of people get that out of the class of 145 and its already huge amount of work to study all the material and Pass anyway.

What will matter more and how they will rank you is during 3rd year clinicals based on what kind of evaluations you get. Until then class is pretty much unranked and they just expect you to pass.

Hope this makes sense!
 
Are post-II rejections common? I remember that one of the faculty stated they accepted very few students outright following the interview.
 
Hello,
I was waitlisted from AMC last year in November. I just got an email from the financial aid office requesting for more information to determine my eligibility for financial aid. As far as I know, I am still on the waitlist. Did anyone else get this email/does it mean anything?
 
Hello,
I was waitlisted from AMC last year in November. I just got an email from the financial aid office requesting for more information to determine my eligibility for financial aid. As far as I know, I am still on the waitlist. Did anyone else get this email/does it mean anything?
I haven’t been given a decision from my December interview yet but I got the email as well! If you scroll down you can see that you’re not supposed to complete financial aid application form included in the email until you’re accepted. Good luck!!
 
Screen Shot 2022-01-24 at 2.21.46 PM.png


Some stats for you guys. I haven't found any stats on the accepts or interviews, only matriculants, that's easily available online. I found this on an AMC bulletin from this past winter. Here's the link:


Looks like about 40-50% of those interviewed get accepted, which is much higher than what I've seen people posting on SDN and elsewhere. So, if you interviewed, you've got a 50-50 shot to get in, which is higher than a lot of other schools! Good luck guys.

Edit: the table is on the bottom of page 11.
 
For accepted students, I just wanted to put this in here in case you were wondering too! I emailed admissions to ask if there have been any social media groups for the new class started yet and I was told that we should stay on the lookout in the next coming weeks for invites to social media groups 🙂
 
I was lucky enough to get invited to interview yesterday. I've been accepted to my state school. Being close to family, returning home after being away for college + gap year, paying in state tuition are all factors that make the thought of attending any other school a tough sell...I want to do my due diligence before making the decision to interview vs. not interview. Can anyone shed some light on AMC? Admittedly I don't know much about this school.

Thank you!
 
I'm curious what portion of the accepted numbers are people who were alternates/waitlisted and later accepted, versus people who were accepted right after the interview. If I recall correctly, Albany mentioned that a lot of their class comes from the alternate list and they apparently don't accept a lot of applicants outright, although I don't think the number/percent was mentioned anywhere.
This is the 2022 waitlist procedure list for AAMC; it says Albany accepts 35 people outright and around 200 are offered a position on the waitlist. Considering the hundreds they interview, it would make sense that there are few accepted outright if this holds true. I wonder if this means those of us on the alternate list will have to wait until traffic deadlines to see significant movement.... which is stressful! We've seen some people get accepted off the alternate list already so far this cycle, so I'm not sure but perhaps that is not part of the 35.

https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/7056/download
 
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I'm curious what portion of the accepted numbers are people who were alternates/waitlisted and later accepted, versus people who were accepted right after the interview. If I recall correctly, Albany mentioned that a lot of their class comes from the alternate list and they apparently don't accept a lot of applicants outright, although I don't think the number/percent was mentioned anywhere.
When I interviewed I distinctly remember them saying that 90% of admits were on the alternate list. They didn't give info on how many alternate lists are admitted though. I'm guessing that's about 40-50%
 
This is the 2022 waitlist procedure list for AAMC; it says Albany accepts 35 people outright and around 200 are offered a position on the waitlist. Considering the hundreds they interview, it would make sense that there are few accepted outright if this holds true. I wonder if this means those of us on the alternate list will have to wait until traffic deadlines to see significant movement.... which is stressful! We've seen some people get accepted off the alternate list already so far this cycle, so I'm not sure but perhaps that is not part of the 35.

https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/7056/download
Ya on my interview day they said most people on alt list would probably hear back about a final decision around April ish sometime but still no set deadline because it kinda depends on what those who have gotten accepted do. They just want to finish interviews first she said then see.
 
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