2021-2022 Geisinger Commonwealth

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got an II like a month ago, info is in sig
 
Do you find out at the time of your acceptance about the Abigail Geisinger program too ?
 
Has anyone that interviewed on or before sept. 15th not received a decisions yet?

Also were there any rejections or did they only send out As and deferrals?
 
Just found out my app was deferred to the next committee meeting. Really bummed but trying to hold out hope.
 
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Is Geisinger a true P/F in the preclinical years or is there an internal ranking?
 
Did anyone happen to apply also for the Abigail Geisinger Scholar's program and if so, have any idea when you hear back? I'm interviewing in December and this was a pretty big draw of the school.
 
My friend currently attends Geisinger and he was told there is no internal rank, which was a major reason he chose it. Is there only internal rank in the clinical years, and no internal rank in pre-clinical? Perhaps that's where the confusion is.

Edit: So I talked to my friend at Geisinger, and it seems M1/M2 are definitely pass/fail with no internal rank. However, M3/M4 have grades, so perhaps Geisinger does internal rank from M3 and M4 grades, which is conveyed through MSPE letter wording.
 
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msummer said:
My friend currently attends Geisinger and he was told there is no internal rank, which was a major reason he chose it. Is there only internal rank in the clinical years, and no internal rank in pre-clinical? Perhaps that's where the confusion is.

Edit: So I talked to my friend at Geisinger, and it seems M1/M2 are definitely pass/fail with no internal rank. However, M3/M4 have grades, so perhaps Geisinger does internal rank from M3 and M4 grades, which is conveyed through MSPE letter wording.
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Michelle Schmude, the Associate Dean for Admissions, specifically said today that both preclinical and clerkship grades will be used to determine internal rank and be reflected in your MSPE letter. She used the example that one student may have a 79% average and another a 92% and the MSPE letter should distinguish between the two.
 
Dobermann said:
Michelle Schmude, the Associate Dean for Admissions, specifically said today that both preclinical and clerkship grades will be used to determine internal rank and be reflected in your MSPE letter. She used the example that one student may have a 79% average and another a 92% and the MSPE letter should distinguish between the two.
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Well... that's definitely a problem for me.
Thanks for the info.
 
petomed said:
Virtual visitation? That was the most interview-like four hour experience I've had yet.
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my friend was wondering if they use events like this to subtly gauge who to take off the waitlist
 
Dobermann said:
I thought it was relaxed and informative.
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I would agree, with the exception of the two active learning group sessions. Scrambling around like rabbits over two community-based case studies for tenish minutes at a time with your assigned small group, then feeling compelled to present our findings to 140-ppl as a means to impress admissions--was not 'relaxed and informative'. I enjoyed it and it rung home quite well their active-learning curriculum. But like I said, it felt more like an interview than anything else.
 
petomed said:
I would agree, with the exception of the two active learning group sessions. Scrambling around like rabbits over two community-based case studies for tenish minutes at a time with your assigned small group, then feeling compelled to present our findings to 140-ppl as a means to impress admissions--was not 'relaxed and informative'. I enjoyed it and it rung home quite well their active-learning curriculum. But like I said, it felt more like an interview than anything else.
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I genuinely think it was just an exercise to demonstrate how classes are structured within their curriculum, so people can see whether they like that style. No one was evaluating us.
 
Dobermann said:
I genuinely think it was just an exercise to demonstrate how classes are structured within their curriculum, so people can see whether they like that style. No one was evaluating us.
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Yeah, I can verify this as I got my A without having attended one (stating this so that anyone else deciding to attend the virtual event can take a breather and relax). But sheesh that sounded stressful.

Edited to say: Well I guess the stress level depended on how one perceived the event as it was put in the email that it was optional. So if one really internalized that I could see how it would lead to being more informative rather than stressful. Oh and congrats on your A too!!!
 
Dobermann said:
Michelle Schmude, the Associate Dean for Admissions, specifically said today that both preclinical and clerkship grades will be used to determine internal rank and be reflected in your MSPE letter. She used the example that one student may have a 79% average and another a 92% and the MSPE letter should distinguish between the two.
Click to expand...
Just wanted to say there must have been some confusion in wording as the Phase 1 curriculum (first 18 months of preclinical work) is 100% True P/F and not reflected in MSPE, only in Phase 2 and 3 is there a ranking system Honors/High pass etc that counts for MSPE, honors societies etc. There is no overall class rank. I've confirmed this with multiple faculty here and I am a student here.
 
Luciferin said:
Just wanted to say there must have been some confusion in wording as the Phase 1 curriculum (first 18 months of preclinical work) is 100% True P/F and not reflected in MSPE, only in Phase 2 and 3 is there a ranking system Honors/High pass etc that counts for MSPE, honors societies etc. There is no overall class rank. I've confirmed this with multiple faculty here and I am a student here.
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I was at the infosession today as well and there wasn’t any ambiguity in her response. P/F on the surface, but always an untold grade on the backend, during all phases. I’m leaning toward her response. Also, how is a person ever targeted for tutoring during Phase 1 if it’s true P/F? The person needs to fail an exam first? Ouch if that’s true.
 
Luciferin said:
Just wanted to say there must have been some confusion in wording as the Phase 1 curriculum (first 18 months of preclinical work) is 100% True P/F and not reflected in MSPE, only in Phase 2 and 3 is there a ranking system Honors/High pass etc that counts for MSPE, honors societies etc. There is no overall class rank. I've confirmed this with multiple faculty here and I am a student here.
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Meanwhile my friend who is also a med student at Geisinger, believes that the entire curriculum, including Phase 1, 2, and 3 has no internal rank. Many of his peers share his belief.

What is going on here lol. Clearly Geisinger has had a major miscommunication.
 
I will put the disclaimer that I can confirm true P/F for the current first year class, and I'm not 100% it isn't being changed for the incoming class. It does seem like there is miscommunication here then, but I have it in writing for the 1st year class very explicitly that there is no internal class ranking and preclinical years are true P/F. The exams need to average out to 70 for passing, and 75 for a warning, so disciplinary action can still occur if you do not reach those benchmarks, but if you improve you could potentially still get your overall exam average above a 70 or have to remediate over the summer. Very few students are even in consideration for this.
 
Another disclaimer - policies on grading have changed within the past year, including for how things like AOA are given out. The curriculum has also changed considerably in the past year, so it's not unreasonable different people may not have up to date information.
 
Luciferin said:
Another disclaimer - policies on grading have changed within the past year, including for how things like AOA are given out. The curriculum has also changed considerably in the past year, so it's not unreasonable different people may not have up to date information.
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Do you mind sharing how AOA is determined for your class?
 
I can't quite remember the specific wording from when it was talked about in person other than it won't be strictly off top percentage of scores. In terms of writing, we're told you need at least one Honors on an M3 clerkship and to otherwise exhibit certain traits (preclinical faculty are polled too for nominations). Should be more inclusive.
 
My application was complete on 6/28 and I have not heard anything from them. OOS, ORM, 3.70, 512, very strong ECs
 
petomed said:
I was at the infosession today as well and there wasn’t any ambiguity in her response. P/F on the surface, but always an untold grade on the backend, during all phases. I’m leaning toward her response. Also, how is a person ever targeted for tutoring during Phase 1 if it’s true P/F? The person needs to fail an exam first? Ouch if that’s true.
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I am suppose to attend the visitation day on Monday 10/25 but I haven't received any link, How did you sign on and did they send you an email ahead of time?
 
Bob Ross 1 said:
I am suppose to attend the visitation day on Monday 10/25 but I haven't received any link, How did you sign on and did they send you an email ahead of time?
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They should email you a zoom link a few days before
 
My interview is in January, does interviewing so late put me at a disadvantage?
 
stan1218 said:
My interview is in January, does interviewing so late put me at a disadvantage?
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Generally yes, as the more seats are filled, the less spaces there are to accept less people. The adcoms here generally phrase it as "the more time goes on, the more standards increase".

If you're a solid candidate it won't affect you much, my guess is it mostly hurts those on the borderline, and even then I wouldn't say its a major factor- your interview performance and ECs and stats matter much more.
 
Attending the virtual recruitment day this coming Monday (the 25th). For those that completed one already, what was the dress code? Not sure if interview day attire would be overdoing it but definitely don't want to be under-dressed either .

Also, what was the general feel of the whole day? I figured it was supposed to be casual and informative, but I've seen a few people in this thread saying it seemed like another evaluation process. Thanks in advance!
 
palmatree137 said:
Attending the virtual recruitment day this coming Monday (the 25th). For those that completed one already, what was the dress code? Not sure if interview day attire would be overdoing it but definitely don't want to be under-dressed either .

Also, what was the general feel of the whole day? I figured it was supposed to be casual and informative, but I've seen a few people in this thread saying it seemed like another evaluation process. Thanks in advance!
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I attended the recruitment day on 10/18. The majority of people were wearing blazers/interview attire but were definitely others that were more casual. The day felt pretty casual with the exception of one presentation/group activity that people were referencing. However, I don't think the goal of the presentation/activity was to be an evaluation. It was more of a demonstration of small group/collaborative teaching that Geisinger uses.
 
Definitely not an evaluation. There were about 150 of us, so I don't think it means that much considering like ~50 students also kept their cameras off during it
 
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