2021-2022 Wisconsin

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Sooo does anyone know what the dating scene is like in Madison? Especially for POC?
 
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MDPhDHopeful3985 said:
Sooo does anyone know what the dating scene is like in Madison? Especially for POC?
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Madison is a fairly diverse and very progressive place, but I can't speak on behalf of POC's experience. There are a lot of grad students in Madison and plenty of others in their 20s/early 30s. Madison really revolves around UW and it's a big school. I don't know if that helps, but I can also answer specific questions.
 
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Any current students able to talk about the sense of camaraderie between classmates, competition and the social aspect at UW-Madison?
 
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jojofu said:
Madison is a fairly diverse and very progressive place, but I can't speak on behalf of POC's experience. There are a lot of grad students in Madison and plenty of others in their 20s/early 30s. Madison really revolves around UW and it's a big school. I don't know if that helps, but I can also answer specific questions.
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Ahhh that's reassuring. Thank you!
 
readeatsleep said:
Any current students able to talk about the sense of camaraderie between classmates, competition and the social aspect at UW-Madison?
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Current student here. What specifically would you like to know?
 
Doc331 said:
Current student here. What specifically would you like to know?
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If I could piggy-back on this one, I think most of us would love to know more about the school/curriculum/city in ways we haven't/won't through interviews and second-look days. I'd personally like to hear a current students unfiltered opinions, even if they aren't emblematic of everyone's experiences. The topic of comradery comes up often, as getting to know what it's like for someone actually going through it means a lot. I'm sure the person you messaged will expand on what they mean, but here are the more specific questions I have, if you have the time to answer them:

  1. I was told by faculty from various schools that COVID caused some med students to not get the "gold standard" experience faculty hopes for in their schools. Do you feel that happened to you? In what ways did your time at SMPH change because of it, and in what ways might that effect us?
  2. How do you like the Pace cases, and other group-oriented activities? Is your time spent with your class a good time for the majority of students? How many curriculum activities have mandatory attendance and are recorded? How much wiggle room does all this afford you to get a quality study system down that works for you? I've heard some students say they do not like the group activities, some say you get out of them what you put in, what do you think? And how is the Forward curriculum being adjusted based on the feedback folks like you are providing?
  3. The average matched US MD student has over 4 research experiences, 9 research items, 4 volunteer experiences, etc. 4 years may seem like a long ways off for some folks, but as a non-trad 4 years go by pretty quickly for me, especially if everything is running smoothly. So you'll have to forgive me for being forward looking, but at this point in your time at SMPH do you feel the school has made your path to hitting milestones like these attainable?

What I'm personally looking for aren't facts and figures per say, but your experiences, how you feel about them, and how all that relates to the average person there from your perspective. What major pit-falls have you or your classmates had that could have been avoided if you asked someone who had been through the process before what those pitfalls might be? It's these sort of questions that I'd love to have answers to so that I could avoid those pitfalls, and help my classmates do the same.
 
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Doc331 said:
Current student here. What specifically would you like to know?
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I think @Brocc did an excellent job at explaining what they and I are looking for!

I would really appreciate an unfiltered and honest look at how you feel you get along with your classmates, if you feel a majority/minority of them are "gunners" and may appear not friendly/cooperative, how you enjoy the small/medium group activities and if you feel they take up valuable study time. Do you feel that UW-Madison has a collaborative atmosphere and encourages students to help one another?

I personally am looking for an environment that encourages students to be collaborative rather than competitive, and sociable inside and outside of classes/studying.
 
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I interviewed this past week and was unable to attend the optional Ad Com Q&A due to my work schedule. Does anyone know what decision turn-around times are like at this point in the cycle? TIA!
 
cafemocha said:
I interviewed this past week and was unable to attend the optional Ad Com Q&A due to my work schedule. Does anyone know what decision turn-around times are like at this point in the cycle? TIA!
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Mine was just over 4 weeks but it they will say 4-8 bc it varies throughout the cycle! Best of luck!
 
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SpaceDogMushka said:
Mine was just over 4 weeks but it they will say 4-8 bc it varies throughout the cycle! Best of luck!
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Yeah, I was thinking late March-early April might be a safe bet. Thank you and congrats on your acceptance!
 
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cafemocha said:
I interviewed this past week and was unable to attend the optional Ad Com Q&A due to my work schedule. Does anyone know what decision turn-around times are like at this point in the cycle? TIA!
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They said they’ll have all decisions done by end of March! They said there’s one more interview group so we should hear back a little before them.
 
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wink904 said:
They said they’ll have all decisions done by end of March! They said there’s one more interview group so we should hear back a little before them.
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thank you so much for the info!
 
cafemocha said:
I interviewed this past week and was unable to attend the optional Ad Com Q&A due to my work schedule. Does anyone know what decision turn-around times are like at this point in the cycle? TIA!
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Haven't heard back yet at just over the 5 week mark (this week is week 6 ig), I'd say don't count the days but then I'd be a total hypocrite lol
 
cafemocha said:
I interviewed this past week and was unable to attend the optional Ad Com Q&A due to my work schedule. Does anyone know what decision turn-around times are like at this point in the cycle? TIA!
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Interviewed two weeks ago. One of the staff members did some “math” and said we would hear back in 5 weeks. She said some individuals from our interview group could hear back week 5, and some others at week 6 and not to worry about that.
 
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For those who have interviewed here, how long is the faculty interview?
 
CAFFEINE! said:
For those who have interviewed here, how long is the faculty interview?
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Typically 30 minutes to an hour is what I have heard! Mine was very short… closer to 20 mins but don’t judge how well or not well it went based on timing… I thought mine was too short for my liking but I got in!!!! Good luck!
 
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CAFFEINE! said:
For those who have interviewed here, how long is the faculty interview?
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Mine ran closer to 60 minutes! It's very conversational, I think we finished the list of questions around 20-30 mins but went on to talk about some other things
 
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Brocc said:
If I could piggy-back on this one, I think most of us would love to know more about the school/curriculum/city in ways we haven't/won't through interviews and second-look days. I'd personally like to hear a current students unfiltered opinions, even if they aren't emblematic of everyone's experiences. The topic of comradery comes up often, as getting to know what it's like for someone actually going through it means a lot. I'm sure the person you messaged will expand on what they mean, but here are the more specific questions I have, if you have the time to answer them:

  1. I was told by faculty from various schools that COVID caused some med students to not get the "gold standard" experience faculty hopes for in their schools. Do you feel that happened to you? In what ways did your time at SMPH change because of it, and in what ways might that effect us?
  2. How do you like the Pace cases, and other group-oriented activities? Is your time spent with your class a good time for the majority of students? How many curriculum activities have mandatory attendance and are recorded? How much wiggle room does all this afford you to get a quality study system down that works for you? I've heard some students say they do not like the group activities, some say you get out of them what you put in, what do you think? And how is the Forward curriculum being adjusted based on the feedback folks like you are providing?
  3. The average matched US MD student has over 4 research experiences, 9 research items, 4 volunteer experiences, etc. 4 years may seem like a long ways off for some folks, but as a non-trad 4 years go by pretty quickly for me, especially if everything is running smoothly. So you'll have to forgive me for being forward looking, but at this point in your time at SMPH do you feel the school has made your path to hitting milestones like these attainable?

What I'm personally looking for aren't facts and figures per say, but your experiences, how you feel about them, and how all that relates to the average person there from your perspective. What major pit-falls have you or your classmates had that could have been avoided if you asked someone who had been through the process before what those pitfalls might be? It's these sort of questions that I'd love to have answers to so that I could avoid those pitfalls, and help my classmates do the same.
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In regards to #3, I personally wouldn't approach med school by these milestones. These stats aren't an effective way of assessing chances for residency. 9 research items with low involvement/ no authorship can not compare to 1 or 2 first author papers. Running the free clinic cannot compare to volunteering there once or twice. At UWSMPH there are plenty of opportunities to do research, get authorship and volunteer. Volunteer experiences also include things like being the leader of an interest group.

This school will prepare you for STEP and Match. The past 2 years 100% of our class passed STEP 1 first try with a mean score above the national average. Similarly with Step 2 (99%). Students here have historically matched into "elite programs" and local programs depending on their goals so I was never worried about being limited in my options for the future.

Overall I have had a good experience. The pass/fail unranked preclinical has been good for my wellbeing and allows me space to pursue more extra curricular things. I enjoy PACE and CBL in general, although mandatory in person activities can be annoying when you need to travel for a weekend. CBL is especially helpful for reinforcing concepts and to connect with your classmates- I admit I would be faster going through the exercise alone but its also important to socialize. My classmates are supportive and happy to share their knowledge/study resources. The administration is slow to make changes but sometimes eventually does (for example phase 1 is unranked now). Admin isn't perfect but seems better than other schools I've heard of. I've heard of admin being super supportive in some situations and also less flexible in others which has caused frustration, but that's every med school.

I think I made a good choice in medical school, but if you are having trouble deciding, I always recommend the cheapest option unless it is harmful to your wellbeing or your parents are paying your tuition.
 
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Hey y'all, can anyone confirm that pre-clinical years are P/F and there is no longer any internal ranking? I was told this on my interview day so just wanna be sure. Also anyone know how clinical years are graded?
 
namtohoemalf said:
Hey y'all, can anyone confirm that pre-clinical years are P/F and there is no longer any internal ranking? I was told this on my interview day so just wanna be sure. Also anyone know how clinical years are graded?
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Doc331 said:
Close! Current med student here. The pre-clinical phase (phase 1 - years 0-1.5) is true P/F (at least, if admin holds internal rankings, they have done a fantastic job of keeping this secret).

Phase two (required rotations, years 1.5-2.5) are graded with students put into a percentile ranking, typically with a 20% distribution width. That is, a student could be ranked as being in the 60-80 percentile of the class. This is the only comparative numerical grade from the school itself that gets reported on your residency application, and is based upon attending reviews of your performance, SHELF exams, and OSCE exams.

My understanding is that phase three (elective rotations, years 2.5-4) is not graded in a way that these grades appear on your residency application.
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Based on an earlier post from Doc331, I would say confirmed.
 
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Its been over 6 weeks since my interview cmon U dub!!! Anyone in the same boat?
 
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Just accepted via phone call!!! OOS and interviewed Feb 2
 
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Accepted via phone call today!!! OOS and interviewed Jan 27 :giggle:
 
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Would anyone with OOS acceptances be willing to share stats? 🤗 I’m OOS with ties and just playing the waiting game right now lol
 
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BaDing said:
Would anyone with OOS acceptances be willing to share stats? 🤗 I’m OOS with ties and just playing the waiting game right now lol
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So at my interview week the director said our stats are no longer part of the admissions process after we interview, they only consider the interview and the rest of our app!
 
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Lol anyone from Feb 3rd interview (02-04) heard back except for the one above w/ the A (congrats!!)
 
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wink904 said:
So at my interview week the director said our stats are no longer part of the admissions process after we interview, they only consider the interview and the rest of our app!
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Interesting - thanks!
 
BaDing said:
Interesting - thanks!
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I am not sure if this is correct. I recall that they look at our entire application and they give us a score. Based on this score, they call the ones who have the highest score. May or may not use the MCAT, but they made it seem like they review your entire application, including academics. I have been told at other interviews that academics do not matter after being selected for an interview, so this might be correct.
 
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CrxRust said:
I am not sure if this is correct. I recall that they look at our entire application and they give us a score. Based on this score, they call the ones who have the highest score. May or may not use the MCAT, but they made it seem like they review your entire application, including academics. I have been told at other interviews that academics do not matter after being selected for an interview, so this might be correct.
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You're right, during the admissions office hours they walked us through the process and they emphasized that they'll be reviewing our entire application. However, afterwards the director said something like "this may be good news for some and bad news for others but your GPA/MCAT won't be used in the final decision." He mentioned that stats are somewhat predictive of a student's success prior to interviewing, however for interviewees there hasn't been any correlation based on the data they've collected so it gets dropped from the process.

IIRC three random adcoms score us then the highest scorer will present our app in front of the entire adcom. Everyone scores you, they drop the highest and lowest scores, average the rest together, then compose a list of scores (separate for IS and OOS), accept ~40-50%, reject some and WL some.
 
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wink904 said:
You're right, during the admissions office hours they walked us through the process and they emphasized that they'll be reviewing our entire application. However, afterwards the director said something like "this may be good news for some and bad news for others but your GPA/MCAT won't be used in the final decision." He mentioned that stats are somewhat predictive of a student's success prior to interviewing, however for interviewees there hasn't been any correlation based on the data they've collected so it gets dropped from the process.

IIRC three random adcoms score us then the highest scorer will present our app in front of the entire adcom. Everyone scores you, they drop the highest and lowest scores, average the rest together, then compose a list of scores (separate for IS and OOS), accept ~40-50%, reject some and WL some.
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Thank you guys I missed those last office hours so that’s super information. Don’t know if that good or bad news for me but just gotta keep playing the waiting game and see how it goes! Good luck to all of us in the waiting pool! 🙏🏼✨
 
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WL today, OOS interviewed late January. Does anyone know what WL movement looks like for people OOS?
 
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Confusedpremed1111 said:
WL today, OOS interviewed late January. Does anyone know what WL movement looks like for people OOS?
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WL today too, OOS interviewed 1/27. I'd love to know this info too. Just keep extending the waiting game...
 
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if someone got their aid package as an OOSer could you PM me? thank you!! :)
 
assetg11 said:
if someone got their aid package as an OOSer could you PM me? thank you!! :)
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They said fin aid won't be sent out until April, so I think only full scholarships have theirs (given during the A call)
 
Got the R today, interviewed late January. Best of luck to everyone still waiting!
 
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Got an A and scholarship offer last Friday and interviewed in late January. I am considered IS. Is anyone thinking of negotiating scholarship money or does anyone know how to do that?
 
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