2021-2022 Oregon Health and Sciences University

[wysdoc]

Thank you to @BigPremedGuy for sharing this year's questions.

2021-2022 Oregon Health and Sciences University Secondary Essay Prompts:

1. What experience have you had that has given you insight into the patients you hope to eventually serve? 1550 characters

2. Other than work-life balance, what will be your greatest challenge in becoming a physician? 1550 characters

3. Discuss a time in your life that demonstrated your resilience. 1550 characters

4. Please describe your path through the OHSU UME Admissions Recommended Premedical Competencies, with special attention to experiences that are not reflected in your transcript. Do not include specific grades or test scores in your response. AAMC's Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students & OHSU Recommended Prerequisites. 2050 characters

5. Give an example of personal feedback in the last few years that was difficult to receive. How did you respond? 1550 characters

6. Please discuss how your personal experience demonstrates the ability to overcome adversity and contributes to diversity in the provision of healthcare. Please include any insight into the diversity that you would bring to OHSU School of Medicine and the profession of medicine in the context of OHSU's definition of diversity: Diversity at OHSU requires creating and sustaining a community of inclusion. We honor, respect, embrace and value the unique contributions and perspectives of all employees, patients, students, volunteers and our local and global communities. Diversity may include age, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. We respect diversity of thought, ideas and more. Diversity maximizes our true potential for creativity, innovation, quality patient care, educational excellence and outstanding service. 1550 characters

7. (optional) Adversity essay when you select degrees of adversity you've faced. Just says "please describe the nature of the adversity" 4000 character limit.

Good luck to everyone applying!

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[BigPremedGuy]

Lets get this bread this year team. Application Number 2 engage

 

[theepremed]

How OOS friendly is Oregon?

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

How OOS friendly is Oregon?

It is not. You either need to be affiliated with Oregon, applying to their MPH or MD/PhD, or be a “superstar” applicant with both high stats and stellar ECs demonstrating a commitment to both service and science.

most matriculants have 2 or 3 of those factors.

 

[seanm028]

WICHE counts as an affiliation!

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

Anyone know how much attention OHSU gives to these two groups for non-residents:

• Resident and non-resident applicants with superior achievements in academics, health care experience, and other related experiences such as leadership, shadowing, community service, etc.
• Resident and non-resident candidates with an interest and/or experience in rural health, underserved populations, and/or primary care.

 

[BigPremedGuy]

Anyone know how much attention OHSU gives to these two groups for non-residents:

• Resident and non-resident applicants with superior achievements in academics, health care experience, and other related experiences such as leadership, shadowing, community service, etc.
• Resident and non-resident candidates with an interest and/or experience in rural health, underserved populations, and/or primary care.

OHSU definitely will be interested in applicants that have interest in rural/ primary care, but ya gotta show it through your experiences and reflective writing.

As to the superior achievements, usually 2/3rds of the class is Oregonians, the rest is OOS but those matriculants usually had really good MCAT/GPA, outstanding ECs, or some of both. From my interview last year I can tell they still like having research centered students in tandem with primary care interests, which probably of these fall in that OOS superior achievement group.

 

[PNWMedStudent]

Feel free to DM/tag me w/ questions. I will try and be as active in this thread as I was in 20-21. Best of luck everyone.

 

[LittlePuppy]

Is taking the MCAT on 7/30 too late for OHSU?

 

[BigPremedGuy]

IS secondary received today

 

[andersen.k]

IS secondary received today

Can you post the questions please?

 

[BigPremedGuy]

Can you post the questions please?

Same as last year

Question 1 - What experience have you had that has given you insight into the patients you hope to eventually serve? 1550 characters

Question 2 - Other than work-life balance, what will be your greatest challenge in becoming a physician? 1550 characters

Question 3 - Discuss a time in your life that demonstrated your resilience. 1550 characters

Question 4 - Please describe your path through the OHSU UME Admissions Recommended Premedical Competencies, with special attention to experiences that are not reflected in your transcript. Do not include specific grades or test scores in your response. AAMC's Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students & OHSU Recommended Prerequisites. 2050 characters

Question 5 - Give an example of personal feedback in the last few years that was difficult to receive. How did you respond? 1550 haracters

Question 6 - Please discuss how your personal experience demonstrates the ability to overcome adversity and contributes to diversity in the provision of healthcare. Please include any insight into the diversity that you would bring to OHSU School of Medicine and the profession of medicine in the context of OHSU's definition of diversity: Diversity at OHSU requires creating and sustaining a community of inclusion. We honor, respect, embrace and value the unique contributions and perspectives of all employees, patients, students, volunteers and our local and global communities. Diversity may include age, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. We respect diversity of thought, ideas and more. Diversity maximizes our true potential for creativity, innovation, quality patient care, educational excellence and outstanding service. 1550 characters


There's also an adversity essay when you select degrees of adversity you've faced. Just says "please describe the nature of the adversity" 4000 character limit.

 

[Sapphia]

OOS (WA) secondary received today.

 

[Macro_Corneaphage]

OOS (WA) secondary received today.

+1 OOS recieved

 

[jimothyy]

IS received today. Prompts are the exact same as last year.

Any advice on rewriting secondaries or not? All of my responses from last year were pretty specific life experiences. Not much has changed in that regard within the last year.

 

[ekendall88]

IS received today!

 

[responsiblecelery22]

OOS received today

 

[frogdogdizzly]

OOS applicant shooting my shot. Any current OHSU OOS students willing to shed some light on what may have given them the edge? My understanding is chances are pretty low for non-Oregonians

 

[4339133]

Is it worth to apply to OHSU MD/MPH if im OOS/Trad/Non-URM with average stats and good/interesting ECs that tie in well with primary care and public health/preventative medicine(imo)

 

[PNWMedStudent]

Is it worth to apply to OHSU MD/MPH if im OOS/Trad/Non-URM with average stats and good/interesting ECs that tie in well with primary care and public health/preventative medicine(imo)

probably not but there's a zero percent chance if you don't apply so... 0.000001 > 0

 

[futuretrashwoman]

"Discuss a time in your life that demonstrated your resilience. (1550 characters)"

Is this a version of an adversity essay? Overcoming a fear?

 

[deysleep]

I’ve read through some of the older threads about secondary question #4 but I’m still having trouble with it.

If I answer it in narrative format, I’m having trouble coming up with new stories after covering a lot of ground in my primary and the other 5 secondary questions. If I just list off activities that correlate with the core competencies, it seems really bland.

Also, I’m not sure how to demonstrate the science competencies without strong research experience. Would I talk about my experience in science classes? with the MCAT?



Question #4: Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine. Question 4 - Please describe your path through the OHSU UME Admissions Recommended Premedical Competencies, with special attention to experiences that are not reflected in your transcript. Do not include specific grades or test scores in your response. AAMC's Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students & OHSU Recommended Prerequisites (2050 characters).

 

[PNWMedStudent]

I'm going to go ahead and make my annual plea right now - #1) your personal statement is not a regurgitation of your CV - please please please use it as a chance to talk about something genuinely you, that makes you different. Tell a story, explain who you are and what makes you tick. Focus on a single plot line and make the reader feel like they know even just a sliver of who you are. They already have your grades, activities, etc. #2) Resilience/adversity can be as simple as having tripped in public. It's about the way you tell it. No one cares that you got a B in orgo, but if you threw up during the final all over the scantron and had to get a new one that's a way more interesting story that you can get into who you are as a human and make them see you as such instead of just a number on a file. #3) Don't try to stand out, but also don't just be a face in the crowd. For the large part you all have very similar experiences/courses taken/etc. Did you foster a llama growing up? Did your family have a weird quirky thing they did? These are the fun things that build your character and make you memorable, and maybe have given you insight and an ability to connect with a wide array of humanity that you will treat as a physician.

 

[futuretrashwoman]

For the activities history can we just use the ones on our AMCAS?

 

[tandapp]

Does anyone know about the credit evaluation required if you "attended a foreign college"? I studied abroad at a foreign university with a US-based program for a semester. The credit is listed on my home university's transcript. Would I need a foreign evaluation?

 

[braddahmac]

do you guys know how to receive WICHE certification? I'm super confused right now.

 

[dgdog]

Same as last year

Question 1 - What experience have you had that has given you insight into the patients you hope to eventually serve? 1550 characters

Question 2 - Other than work-life balance, what will be your greatest challenge in becoming a physician? 1550 characters

Question 3 - Discuss a time in your life that demonstrated your resilience. 1550 characters

Question 4 - Please describe your path through the OHSU UME Admissions Recommended Premedical Competencies, with special attention to experiences that are not reflected in your transcript. Do not include specific grades or test scores in your response. AAMC's Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students & OHSU Recommended Prerequisites. 2050 characters

Question 5 - Give an example of personal feedback in the last few years that was difficult to receive. How did you respond? 1550 haracters

Question 6 - Please discuss how your personal experience demonstrates the ability to overcome adversity and contributes to diversity in the provision of healthcare. Please include any insight into the diversity that you would bring to OHSU School of Medicine and the profession of medicine in the context of OHSU's definition of diversity: Diversity at OHSU requires creating and sustaining a community of inclusion. We honor, respect, embrace and value the unique contributions and perspectives of all employees, patients, students, volunteers and our local and global communities. Diversity may include age, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. We respect diversity of thought, ideas and more. Diversity maximizes our true potential for creativity, innovation, quality patient care, educational excellence and outstanding service. 1550 characters


There's also an adversity essay when you select degrees of adversity you've faced. Just says "please describe the nature of the adversity" 4000 character limit.

This might sound dumb but for question 4, how would we answer it? is it asking about our path to wanting to be a doctor?

 

[deysleep]

I’ve been hearing OHSU has a strong emphasis on underserved, rural, and primary care. Does that mean that an interest in surgery for underserved populations would be looked down upon?

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

I’ve been hearing OHSU has a strong emphasis on underserved, rural, and primary care. Does that mean that an interest in surgery for underserved populations would be looked down upon?

Not necessarily. General surgery is also considered primary care

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

do you guys know how to receive WICHE certification? I'm super confused right now.

WICHE certification is state dependent and you needed to get it before you applied

 

[Sapphia]

Hey fam! If you haven’t listened to the OHSU episode of the “All Access: Med School Admissions” podcast - it’s a must listen!!! Apple Podcast Link

 

[SuperHomingBerry!]

Hey folks, I'm taking the MCAT on 9/11 this year. The score is supposed to be sent to schools and myself on 10/14. OHSU says that their application deadline is the next day, 10/15. I am playing it a bit close this year but I had scheduled my MCAT before I decided to apply this year, which is why it is set up that way. My original plan was to apply for 2023 cycle but I figured I might as well shoot my shot for 2022.

Do you guys think I'm screwed since its so late? I've already submitted my primary application and I am prewriting secondaries at the moment.

 

[Cephalgia]

This might sound dumb but for question 4, how would we answer it? is it asking about our path to wanting to be a doctor?

There are specified competencies for the AAMC and OHSU specifically, the link is near the essay prompt on the secondary page but I will list them here as well: Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students
Admissions | OHSU (Under "Requirements for Admission" dropdown). So the question is asking about your pathway in fulfilling these competencies.

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

There are specified competencies for the AAMC and OHSU specifically, the link is near the essay prompt on the secondary page but I will list them here as well: Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students
Admissions | OHSU (Under "Requirements for Admission" dropdown). So the question is asking about your pathway in fulfilling these competencies.

I listed out the competencies and said how I met them, with a particular emphasis on providing narratives for the non-academic ways I have met them.

 

[LittlePuppy]

How does OHSU weigh the casper test?

 

[tandapp]

How does OHSU weigh the casper test?

Wondering this too!

 

[HopefulPremed.]

What is WICHE? I'm in Cali and I feel like I strongly fit their mission. Should I apply?

 

[BigPremedGuy]

What is WICHE? I'm in Cali and I feel like I strongly fit their mission. Should I apply?

https://www.wiche.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/OR.pdf

It's a program for students who live in a state that doesn't have, for example, a medical school, gives them advantages to be "in-state" for certain residency qualifications.

OHSU's site says "To receive WICHE-certified status, residents must submit a copy of their WICHE certification letter to OHSU. " You'll have to check their program to see if your eligible. I know California is a part of the program, but I kind of don't think you can use it to be mission-based for OHSU, but I could be wrong.

 

[PNWMedStudent]

How does OHSU weigh the casper test?

I don't think they do, unless this has changed from when I applied.

 

[PNWMedStudent]

I don't think they do, unless this has changed from when I applied.

Update - this appears to be a new feature of this admissions cycle

 

[BigPremedGuy]

I was marked complete on 7/26 on portal, no email. Submitted 2 like July 5th

 

[SuperHomingBerry!]

This is probably a dumb question, but I can't find this info elsewhere -- is OHSU's 2022 class going to be virtual or in-person? Does anybody know?

 

[PeteytheFish]

This is probably a dumb question, but I can't find this info elsewhere -- is OHSU's 2022 class going to be virtual or in-person? Does anybody know?

The class starting next week (entering class of 21) is starting in person and will remain that way for as long as Covid allows.

The aim for the entering class of 22 is definitely going to be for 100% in person but you must know that this decision will be entirely dependent on Covid and therefore no call on that will be made until well into next summer.

 

[4339133]

Do they have a cap for the number of md mph students they take? and is there a set applicant data for md mph applicants?

 

[drrojas14]

This is probably a dumb question, but I can't find this info elsewhere -- is OHSU's 2022 class going to be virtual or in-person? Does anybody know?

It's evolving as we speak . I'm an MS1 and we just converted to fully online for the next 5 weeks and we are basically taking one month at a time! The class above us had very little in person instruction.

 

[tandapp]

How long is it taking people to get off the "Application processing it may take several weeks" status?

 

[SuperHomingBerry!]

How long did it take y'all after your app was verified by AMCAS to receive your secondary from OHSU? My app was just verified last night. I'm still working on prewriting secondary questions as I wait.

 

[Ezryk]

How long is it taking people to get off the "Application processing it may take several weeks" status?

Same question here. My app just says "secondary submitted 7/XX/2021" - no confirmation emails received. Anyone else in the same boat?

 

[Cephalgia]

Same question here. My app just says "secondary submitted 7/XX/2021" - no confirmation emails received. Anyone else in the same boat?

I am also on this screen - submitted 7/25.

 

[BigPremedGuy]

I applied 19-20, and it took me a good month from submitting my 2 to being complete.

OHSU is going to be slower than a lot of other MD schools.

I submitted my 2 on the July 5 and was complete July 25. I assume that turnaround is only going to get longer the later you submitted