Just had an application review session with the admissions office. Got some interesting insight for those that are curious about both this cycle and next cycle.
-Applying this cycle [2020-2021] was significantly more competitive than other cycles. Waiving the MCAT made it much more competitive due to considering a significantly higher number of students (they didn't look at the MCAT at all when sending out II's). This also meant that they interviewed significantly more people overall. They will be going back to requiring the MCAT next cycle [2021-2022], and I was told that this immediately improves the chances of anyone who has a strong MCAT score.
-76% of the entering class is classified as "non-traditional".
-Interviews next year [2021-2022] will still be virtual and still use the same format.
-The timeline for processing applications and sending out invites [in 2021-2022] will revert back to the timeline prior to COVID-19 - secondaries at the end of July, II's at the end of August, interviews start at the beginning of September, first round of A's sent out Oct 15th.
-The actual process for looking at and grading applications/interviews may change and is up in the air. Apparently there is a lot of vague, high-level talk between the deans of the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses about their processes.
-Having research experience looks nice for them but it's a minor benefit. They don't care too much if you don't have research experience. Implied that this is similar at other schools that are not heavily research-focused.
-The one thing that makes or breaks a Duluth application is having experiences on your application that specifically reference primary care (and especially family medicine) experience. I was explicitly told that my application was "great" but that the only thing holding me back (and probably the only thing that stopped me from getting an A) was the lack of family medicine experience (I have copious amounts of medical experience but most of it is related to emergency medicine). This was, for me, literally the only point of criticism on my entire application (she brushed over my academics, numbers, volunteering, medical experience in maybe two minutes, basically saying it was all fine). Even just shadowing a family physician with no other primary care experience significantly boosts your application. They really want to see some family medicine/primary care experience. She suggested that I use all 15 of the "experience" entries on the application to extrapolate specific experiences from my work/military experience that are related to medical care, particularly primary care.
-Duluth (and it was hinted that the Twin Cities is like this as well) isn't a "check-the-box" style admissions office. If you don't have any shadowing experience but describe meaningfully similar experiences in paid positions or something else, then they are fine with that. If you don't have a recent letter of recommendation from a science professor but have recent academic experiences that show that you can succeed, they're fine with that. They're also fine with letters from non-medical personnel, midlevel providers, etc. that still speak to your experience and ability from a supervisory or leadership standpoint.
-Confirmed that 1) applying early is better (when they start reviewing applications in the summer, they start with the first applications submitted) and 2) they don't start looking at anything at all until the end of July. Implied that this is similar at most schools in the region.
