2021-2022 Rochester

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Does anyone know if Rochester is requiring CASPer this year? I can't find anything on their website and they don't show up as an option to send scores to on the CASPer website. I think they required it in the past, so wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything.
 
creativeusername2191 said:
Does anyone know if Rochester is requiring CASPer this year? I can't find anything on their website and they don't show up as an option to send scores to on the CASPer website. I think they required it in the past, so wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything.
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There is no option to send your CASPER score to Rochester that I can see on the Altus website
 
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creativeusername2191 said:
Does anyone know if Rochester is requiring CASPer this year? I can't find anything on their website and they don't show up as an option to send scores to on the CASPer website. I think they required it in the past, so wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything.
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I had the same question, so I reached out to admissions and they said they are no longer requiring the CASPer for the 2021-22 cycle.
 
Anyone else seeing that in the status tab, they have a section for Casper, but Altus doesn't have the option to deliver your Casper results to Rochester?
 
do applicants only receive secondaries here if they are going to be offered an interview invite?
 
Billie Rubin said:
Anyone else seeing that in the status tab, they have a section for Casper, but Altus doesn't have the option to deliver your Casper results to Rochester?
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Yeah, I was wondering that too. It's definitely not listed as an option on CASPer's website either. Hopefully, they just forget to take it off the applicant portal.
 
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this COVID prompt is one that is okay to leave blank, correct? nothing out of the ordinary happened to me during covid (research was cut short, classes online, that's it) so there's no need to fill it out?
 
scaryskier said:
this COVID prompt is one that is okay to leave blank, correct? nothing out of the ordinary happened to me during covid (research was cut short, classes online, that's it) so there's no need to fill it out?
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my research was cut short as well, and I think it's worth mentioning! it helps when they know why there are gaps in your activities just make sure you don't sound too negative when writing about it!
 
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writingsucks101 said:
my research was cut short as well, and I think it's worth mentioning! it helps when they know why there are gaps in your activities just make sure you don't sound too negative when writing about it!
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would this be considered a "commonly experienced disruption?" i can't imagine how many people were continuing research during the height of the pandemic. i could be wrong though
 
scaryskier said:
would this be considered a "commonly experienced disruption?" i can't imagine how many people were continuing research during the height of the pandemic. i could be wrong though
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I decided to mention it because some of my friends were able to continue research during last year when COVID-19 was at its peak. I also mentioned other extracurriculars that got disrupted just to clarify with them - idk I don't think it hurts to explain but I could be wrong here
 
I'm assuming it's inappropriate to talk about how you adapted some of your ECs to being remote, or talking about any effects COVID had on you/your family, too, if you didn't have any gaps? I'm trying to even imagine how not to leave this space blank...
 
Do yall think it is appropriate to talk about financial and hosing insecurities during covid? it technically affects my application due to having to move and stressors of no income/applying for unemployment insurance? but ultimately it also provided me opportunities to volunteer in place I otherwise may not have done if it wasnt for covid
 
Can I talk about positive experiences in the optional Covid essay? It seems to point towards experiences that negatively affected you but maybe also leaves the prompt a bit vague where positive experiences could work. I ran a vaccine clinic for underserved communities and learned a lot from the experience.
 
deysleep said:
Can I talk about positive experiences in the optional Covid essay? It seems to point towards experiences that negatively affected you but maybe also leaves the prompt a bit vague where positive experiences could work. I ran a vaccine clinic for underserved communities and learned a lot from the experience.
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I have a "positive covid impact" type essay that I'm using for some secondary prompts. Personally, I didn't use it for Rochester because of the same reason you mention. I got the vibe that it's only asking for negative impact so I left it blank.
 
writingsucks101 said:
I decided to mention it because some of my friends were able to continue research during last year when COVID-19 was at its peak. I also mentioned other extracurriculars that got disrupted just to clarify with them - idk I don't think it hurts to explain but I could be wrong here
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I chose to mention my research that was canceled due to COVID with the exact reasoning you had. I kept it incredibly short at two sentences. I didn't mention any other ECs that were affected as they were more common and specifically mentioned in their examples. FWIW.
 
kenzkit said:
There's a spot on the secondary to upload a document. Do they want us to upload a CV/resume or is it optional?
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Wanted to make sure, but you're able to upload it after you submit, right? And if you had to edit it afterward, are you allowed to delete it and reupload it or no?
 
star-lily said:
Wanted to make sure, but you're able to upload it after you submit, right? And if you had to edit it afterward, are you allowed to delete it and reupload it or no?
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You can upload after you submit, it is in a different tab of the application separate from the secondary submission. I am not sure if you can delete/reupload.
 
TravelingMedicine said:
Do yall think it is appropriate to talk about financial and hosing insecurities during covid? it technically affects my application due to having to move and stressors of no income/applying for unemployment insurance? but ultimately it also provided me opportunities to volunteer in place I otherwise may not have done if it wasnt for covid
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I think that is the single most appropriate way to use Covid essays. Who cares about cutting your ECs short - did Covid *actually* affect you?
 
star-lily said:
Wanted to make sure, but you're able to upload it after you submit, right? And if you had to edit it afterward, are you allowed to delete it and reupload it or no?
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Why would we need to upload a CV? I think a large fraction of schools have an area to upload documents, don’t think it matters much save for updates
 
TravelingMedicine said:
Do yall think it is appropriate to talk about financial and hosing insecurities during covid? it technically affects my application due to having to move and stressors of no income/applying for unemployment insurance? but ultimately it also provided me opportunities to volunteer in place I otherwise may not have done if it wasnt for covid
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Yes, it is appropriate. Here are all the yucky things that happened due to COVID, but this is how I overcame those challenges. Furthermore, this is what I learned about myself, the inequities of PPE distribution and lesser availability of vaccine to rural communities and/or disadvantaged/underresourced groups. It's less about how different your experience might be from others, but more about how you managed it, muscled through it, and made a difference.
 
EducatedGuesser said:
Yes, it is appropriate. Here are all the yucky things that happened due to COVID, but this is how I overcame those challenges. Furthermore, this is what I learned about myself, the inequities of PPE distribution and lesser availability of vaccine to rural communities and/or disadvantaged/underresourced groups. It's less about how different your experience might be from others, but more about how you managed it, muscled through it, and made a difference.
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Thank you. a lot went on during this period of my life. unemployment insurance having to move houses due to my apartment going bankrupt, anti-asian hate in my community and also that I went on to volunteer at an Indian medical center to serve the indigenous community overwhelmed with COVID. Should I try to lay it all out there or just focus on one aspect since 200 words is not alot of room.
 
TravelingMedicine said:
Thank you. a lot went on during this period of my life. unemployment insurance having to move houses due to my apartment going bankrupt, anti-asian hate in my community and also that I went on to volunteer at an Indian medical center to serve the indigenous community overwhelmed with COVID. Should I try to lay it all out there or just focus on one aspect since 200 words is not alot of room.
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I would try to just fit it all in there honestly. I have viewed the Covid essays as more of how are you affected, not really lessons learned type of essays
 
TravelingMedicine said:
Thank you. a lot went on during this period of my life. unemployment insurance having to move houses due to my apartment going bankrupt, anti-asian hate in my community and also that I went on to volunteer at an Indian medical center to serve the indigenous community overwhelmed with COVID. Should I try to lay it all out there or just focus on one aspect since 200 words is not alot of room.
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Your paragraph in this post is 73 words. You can do a lot with 200 words. Write tight, don't use the pity card, skip the insurance issue, include the Asian-hate issue if you are Asian, especially conclude with the Indian Medical Center. Just tell your story.
 
I have an Uncle who graduated with an MD from the University of Rochester. Do you guys think that's a stretch when listing relationships with the school? He was formative in my decision to apply here, but not sure how it will look if they are asking for immediate family members.
 
TuckGamePerfect said:
I have an Uncle who graduated with an MD from the University of Rochester. Do you guys think that's a stretch when listing relationships with the school? He was formative in my decision to apply here, but not sure how it will look if they are asking for immediate family members.
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They ask for anyone in your family so I think it is appropriate.
 
Anyone else randomly get marked complete yesterday after not being complete for a few weeks? Maybe they're starting to review apps now? Or maybe I was just being held not-complete because I still have an LOR outstanding but they got tired of waiting.
 
Screamapillar said:
Anyone else randomly get marked complete yesterday after not being complete for a few weeks? Maybe they're starting to review apps now? Or maybe I was just being held not-complete because I still have an LOR outstanding but they got tired of waiting.
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On MSAR, it claims that they start reviewing apps on 8/2/21, but I have no idea how accurate that is.
 
Can someone please share the MD/PhD secondary prompts? Thanks!
 
larynxlady said:
Can someone please share the MD/PhD secondary prompts? Thanks!
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Please briefly describe your research interests, and describe how the opportunities at the University of Rochester fit with your goals for graduate training. Please include names of up to five investigators whose research programs interest you.

I dont think there was a character limit
 
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