2021-2022 Iowa (Carver)

BU Medical Sciences
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Thank you to @Condensed_milk for sharing this year's questions!

2021-2022 Iowa (Carver) Secondary Essay Prompts: (read carefully, some changes from last year's questions)
(1500 characters each)

1: We understand you may be applying to multiple medical schools. Please explain your reasons for applying to the Carver College of Medicine.

2: Describe any unique personal characteristics or obstacles you may have overcome that will influence your contribution to a diverse healthcare system.

3: Please list and briefly describe all medically related experiences (paid/volunteer) you have completed during the past 5 years. Do NOT forecast future hours. Please include experiences listed on your AMCAS and also provide any additional experiences NOT listed on your AMCAS.

4: If you are a reapplicant to the Carver College of Medicine, how have you strengthened your application?

5: If you are not currently in a degree-seeking program, please indicate what you will be doing from the time you complete this secondary application to the start of medical school.

Good luck to everyone applying!

Interview feedback:

University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Interview Feedback

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Rising M2 at Carver. For anyone going through the application process, feel free to contact me with any questions you have. Goodluck!
 
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kme243 said:
Rising M2 at Carver. For anyone going through the application process, feel free to contact me with any questions you have. Goodluck!
Click to expand...
1) What is the feel in Iowa City? Nice area/much to do?

2) Anything specific you think they look for or made you stand out?

Thanks!
 
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serotonin1 said:
1) What is the feel in Iowa City? Nice area/much to do?

2) Anything specific you think they look for or made you stand out?

Thanks!
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1) Iowa city feels like any other college town. Lots of bars, good food, football games are fun, places nearby to go camping, rock climbing, biking etc which is what I usually do. Only thing I don't like is winter. I don't like the cold but I got used to it. The nice thing is every single building that is part of the hospital and med school is connected by tunnels / covered bridges so the snow isn't too much of an issue. If you havent driven in snow it might take a bit to get used to.
2) I was in-state so I had that going for me. Things that made me stand out: I grew up in a different country, I was a reapplicant and worked on the issues they told me to fix in my application (I had a low freshman year GPA so improved my GPA by adding senior year grades + masters).
 
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kme243 said:
Rising M2 at Carver. For anyone going through the application process, feel free to contact me with any questions you have. Goodluck!
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How does Iowa structure its classes/days? I thought I heard somewhere that they utilized flipped classroom arrangements. I was wondering if you could provide insight into how they structure their classes and your opinions.
 
Habber22 said:
How does Iowa structure its classes/days? I thought I heard somewhere that they utilized flipped classroom arrangements. I was wondering if you could provide insight into how they structure their classes and your opinions.
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There are no flipped classroom arrangements besides one lecturer who you have 3-5 times per semester (ethics lectures that are actually pretty interesting/engaging). You may be referring to the Case Based Learning (CBL) groups, which is a weekly group meeting where you go through patient cases and choose a learning issue that you have to write up and present at the next meeting. You'll get mixed opinions on this group from students, but my opinion is that its really helpful for learning and collaborating in person, but the learning issue writeups can be a slog- especially if your facilitator has high expectations (which can vary widely from person to person) - and don't contribute to learning as much as discussing and working through the cases. That said, most of the classes and days are your traditional lecture based learning with other small discussion groups sprinkled in. It's a good mix of collaborative and individual learning. My biggest criticism is the amount of busy work you have to do. CBL plays into this, but on top of the learning issues there are quite a few reflections, writeups, etc. and it just takes away from exam studying without contributing significantly to learning a lot of the time. Overall the education you get here is excellent and taught well, just with some hurdles that occasionally feel unnecessary and can contribute to unneeded stress.
 
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Does the Iowa secondary offer space to list family ties/school ties? I have connections, but not sure if there was a dedicated section for that or I should just interlace them in my "Why Iowa".
 
IS applying with a 510 and 3.76. I know I'm just at/below average but I need all of the good vibes here. My dad went here for med school so it would be an honor to attend here as well. I am a bit pessimistic but I am going with the flow! Good luck to everyone. I live and have lived in Iowa City my whole life so if you have any questions about the city or University itself in general, feel free to ask!
 
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If anyone else applying MSTP was confused about the letter requirements and maximum number I sent them an email and for MSTP only they will take more than the college of medicines 4 max letter if your additional are from research mentors. Hopefully, this saves someone the email or confusion!
 
serotonin1 said:
1) What is the feel in Iowa City? Nice area/much to do?

2) Anything specific you think they look for or made you stand out?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Not a med student there but did my undergrad at Iowa. Iowa City is consistently one of the top ranked college towns for good reason!
 
The secondary questions are listed below. If I remember correctly there is no separate section to list family ties so just sprinkle in your ties while you explain why Iowa. The first 3 questions are required and the last 2 only if it applies to you.
serotonin1 said:
Does the Iowa secondary offer space to list family ties/school ties? I have connections, but not sure if there was a dedicated section for that or I should just interlace them in my "Why Iowa".
Click to expand...
We understand you may be applying to multiple medical schools. Please explain your reasons for applying to the Carver College of Medicine. (1500 characters)

Describe any unique personal characteristics and obstacles you may have overcome that will contribute to the diversity of, and bring educational benefits to, the entering class. (1500 characters)

Please list and briefly describe all medically related experiences (paid/volunteer) you have completed during the past 5 years. Do NOT forecast future hours. Please include experiences listed on your AMCAS and also provide any additional experiences NOT listed on your AMCAS. (1500 characters)

If you are a reapplicant to the Carver College of Medicine, how have you strengthened your application? (1500 characters)

If you are not currently in a degree-seeking program, please indicate what you will be doing from the time you complete this secondary application to the start of medical school. (1500 characters)
 
kme243 said:
The secondary questions are listed below. If I remember correctly there is no separate section to list family ties so just sprinkle in your ties while you explain why Iowa. The first 3 questions are required and the last 2 only if it applies to you.

We understand you may be applying to multiple medical schools. Please explain your reasons for applying to the Carver College of Medicine. (1500 characters)

Describe any unique personal characteristics and obstacles you may have overcome that will contribute to the diversity of, and bring educational benefits to, the entering class. (1500 characters)

Please list and briefly describe all medically related experiences (paid/volunteer) you have completed during the past 5 years. Do NOT forecast future hours. Please include experiences listed on your AMCAS and also provide any additional experiences NOT listed on your AMCAS. (1500 characters)

If you are a reapplicant to the Carver College of Medicine, how have you strengthened your application? (1500 characters)

If you are not currently in a degree-seeking program, please indicate what you will be doing from the time you complete this secondary application to the start of medical school. (1500 characters)
Click to expand...
Did they just send these out or are these saved from last year?
 
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Are the prompts the same as last year?
 
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serotonin1 said:
Are

Are the prompts the same as last year?
Click to expand...
Question 1: We understand you may be applying to multiple medical schools. Please explain your reasons for applying to the Carver College of Medicine.


Question 2: Describe any unique personal characteristics or obstacles you may have overcome that will influence your contribution to a diverse healthcare system.

Question 3: Please list and briefly describe all medically related experiences (paid/volunteer) you have completed during the past 5 years. Do NOT forecast future hours. Please include experiences listed on your AMCAS and also provide any additional experiences NOT listed on your AMCAS.

Question 4: If you are a reapplicant to the Carver College of Medicine, how have you strengthened your application?

Question 5: If you are not currently in a degree-seeking program, please indicate what you will be doing from the time you complete this secondary application to the start of medical school.


Same Q's, but it looks like they've twisted the wording of the 2nd question a bit so be careful. Best of luck.
 
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Condensed_milk said:
Question 1: We understand you may be applying to multiple medical schools. Please explain your reasons for applying to the Carver College of Medicine.


Question 2: Describe any unique personal characteristics or obstacles you may have overcome that will influence your contribution to a diverse healthcare system.

Question 3: Please list and briefly describe all medically related experiences (paid/volunteer) you have completed during the past 5 years. Do NOT forecast future hours. Please include experiences listed on your AMCAS and also provide any additional experiences NOT listed on your AMCAS.

Question 4: If you are a reapplicant to the Carver College of Medicine, how have you strengthened your application?

Question 5: If you are not currently in a degree-seeking program, please indicate what you will be doing from the time you complete this secondary application to the start of medical school.


Same Q's, but it looks like they've twisted the wording of the 2nd question a bit so be careful. Best of luck.
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What's the character limit?
 
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Has anyone else not received a secondary application? I'm OOS so I don't know if that matters or not either.
 
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baz2020 said:
Hmm does Iowa screen MSTP secondaries? Haven’t got one yet. Are there any MSTP specific prompts?
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They ask for your CV and the name of your primary research mentor.
 
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wannabeanMD1999 said:
I'm IS and I haven't yet! Supposedly everyone w a 500+ gets a 2º but I have a friend who was IS w/ a 504 that didn't get a 2º....
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MSAR still says that everyone above 500 will get one. Like most schools I’m betting Iowa’s sending them out in batches. I wouldn’t panic if you haven’t gotten one yet - I was verified by the date that primaries got sent out so I’m probably earlier in the queue.
 
Condensed_milk said:
MSAR still says that everyone above 500 will get one. Like most schools I’m betting Iowa’s sending them out in batches. I wouldn’t panic if you haven’t gotten one yet - I was verified by the date that primaries got sent out so I’m probably earlier in the queue.
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Received my 2 today!! Woo!
 
Where it says to list "medically related experiences" does this only include clinical experiences or do they also want to see shadowing listed here?
 
OGedge said:
Where it says to list "medically related experiences" does this only include clinical experiences or do they also want to see shadowing listed here?
Click to expand...
I would personally classify shadowing as medically related.
 
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Received OOS Secondary today at 10:30am CST!
 
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thoughts in including research in the medical related activities? its at an academic hospital but unsure if they're looking for patient interaction only
 
mickmars51 said:
thoughts in including research in the medical related activities? its at an academic hospital but unsure if they're looking for patient interaction only
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I added my clinical research and personal training because I primarily worked in geriatrics. medically-related doesn't mean clinical hours, imo it just has to do with health/wellness/medicine etc. they wont penalize you for putting something on there that isn't perfectly medically related
 
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MSTP OOS secondary just now, I was verified on 6/28
 
For those who paid, how long did it take to show up in the portal and receive an email?
 
serotonin1 said:
For those who paid, how long did it take to show up in the portal and receive an email?
Click to expand...
Just me, but it's been 1 day and no email/portal updates yet. They say it takes 1-2 days to manually verify and 5 days to process the fee, so I'm not worried yet!
 
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larynxlady said:
Just me, but it's been 1 day and no email/portal updates yet. They say it takes 1-2 days to manually verify and 5 days to process the fee, so I'm not worried yet!
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Great, just wanted to check! Thank you!
 
Just a timeline for those who submit payment. I submitted Monday, fee marked as received Tuesday. Also no letters confirmed yet @serotonin1
 
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Has anyone not received a secondary yet?
 
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Condensed_milk said:
MSAR still says that everyone above 500 will get one. Like most schools I’m betting Iowa’s sending them out in batches. I wouldn’t panic if you haven’t gotten one yet - I was verified by the date that primaries got sent out so I’m probably earlier in the queue.
Click to expand...
Based on trends from the past 2-3 years it is 505. I know people that did not get an interview with a 504 IS, but everyone above 505 got one.
 
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