2024-2025 Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine (Provo, UT) Noorda-COM

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OOS II, but have gone to school in Orem for 4 years. I didn’t get an email, but happened to check my portal
 
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in state Interview invite received today (8/3/24) secondary submitted 2 weeks ago (7/17/24).
 
Just received an II and am looking for all the advice!! Anyone who has been accepted there, can you please let me know how the II is? What was the most difficult part of the II? How did you prepare for the II? Thank you šŸ™‚
 
Just received an II and am looking for all the advice!! Anyone who has been accepted there, can you please let me know how the II is? What was the most difficult part of the II? How did you prepare for the II? Thank you šŸ™‚
Look in last years thread! This is first round of II for this school this year
 
What are your fav things about the program? How are classes are they mandatory, do you feel well prepared? What is grading? Any fun things research, extra-curricular, etc vibes that you can join/are apart of?

Current 1st year that began about three weeks ago. I canā€˜t answer all of these as Iā€˜m not experienced enough, but Iā€˜m taking a break from Anki and noticed some questions that I can answer so here goes my info dump for everyone whose shoes I was in when I was curious about Noorda-COM this time last year: Favorite things about the program -

1) I very much enjoy how much the curriculum is in my own hands. I spend my time almost entirely how I see fit, and Iā€˜ve developed a strict schedule that gives me free time each evening and even sundays entirely off, with the exception of that dayā€˜s anki cards.

2) I love how theyā€˜ve divided us up in my class. We each took a couple personality tests prior to matriculating, and they used those to place us into our learning PODs and learning communities. For POD, some people have really hit it off already and are becoming fast friends. In my POD, I don’t think Iā€˜ll get to the point where Iā€˜m hanging out with my pod mates outside of campus, but Noorda did a good job with placing us together because we show up, work well with one another, and get along great. Now, the learning communities model is where I really really really think they hit the hammer on the head when they placed us in our respective communities. The friends Iā€˜ve made in my community already are fantastic. When Iā€˜m finished meeting with my POD, my learning community friends are who Iā€˜ve been spending all my time with. To expand on the learning communities, this year they developed the learning communities, and how they work is that based on those personality tests, we were placed into our respective community. Each community is named after a local ski resort: Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, and Sundance. Having them place us in a community has been so much fun for the social aspect. Our class is around 170 people I believe, and getting to know everyone in the class, or even a minority, seemed daunting, but being placed in my community, it made it easy to focus on who to socialize with and Iā€˜ve made a ton of friends already because of it. Of course, Iā€˜ve still made friends outside of my community, but the community system has just been something that was a very pleasant surprise we got in orientation. Your pod mates are people from your community, and your learning community is also who youā€˜ll have labs with, so it just makes socializing while in medical school very easy and fun.

Are classes mandatory?

Firstly, there are no in person lectures that you are required to attend. Material is generally delivered each day in video format at noon in place of lectures. For example: Videos are released at noon on a given Friday that cover/teach Mondayā€˜s content. The following Monday, we meet with our PODs to discuss those videos that were released on Friday. At noon on Monday, videos release for Tuesdayā€˜s content. So, typically, after meeting with my POD on that Monday and discussing the videos released Friday, Iā€˜d watch the videos that released at noon on Monday that cover Tuesdayā€˜s content. Then, Tuesday Iā€˜d meet with my POD to discuss and work through the content that was released for viewing on Monday. And so on and so on. That begs the question though, are POD meetings mandatory? In the past, no, but with my class theyā€˜ve changed this. This is a newer school with a very fresh and unique way of delivering content (that I love so far), but with that comes the idea that they need to tweak things here and there until it’s just right, which for my class, means POD meetings are something they absolutely want happening on a set schedule. So, in the past, POD was not required, but for my class theyā€˜ve stated that POD meetings are required and they are keeping a loose eye on attendance. Itā€˜s not super strict, the vibes here are awesome, faculty here are very very awesome in my experience so far, but if youā€˜re missing POD all the time, it could be a problem.

So, since POD meetings are pretty much required as far as I know, what does the POD schedule look like?

Noorda operates on two week cycles. For week 1 of a cycle, we meet with POD on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. For week 2, we meet Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Then the next cycle restarts. Each POD meeting lasts a minimum of two hours.

So, no, ā€žclassesā€œ are not required, but you will have to come to campus at least 8-9 days of a 14 day period to meet with your POD on certain days. Honestly though, Iā€˜m loving it so much here both because of the atmosphere and the friends Iā€˜ve made that Iā€˜ve been coming to campus 5-6 days a week to complete all of my daily work.

Do you feel well prepared?
Iā€˜m too new, canā€˜t answer this

What is grading?
I may be wrong, so take this with a grain of salt, but Iā€˜m pretty sure clinical years are graded A-F with 93% being an A, and 70% being the minimum passing score. I know a lot of medical students like the idea of pass/fail pre-clinical years, but I like the idea of being able to earn an A on my transcript. To each their own. Class ranks though are hidden I believe, unless youā€˜re in the top quartile, in which case the school reports your class rank. For clinical years, again grain of salt, Iā€˜m pretty sure it’s the whole fail/pass/high pass/honors thing that most every medical school does for clinical years. I could be wrong though.

Any fun research?

Noorda is a bit unique among DO schools when it comes to research I believe in that research is the default track you are placed on as a student here. There is a very robust focus on research from what I can tell. After 1st semester, weā€˜ll be allowed/required to join a research team under a faculty member to participate in research. There is a lot of research going on here, and the associate dean of research is an awesome, energetic, and passionate guy. Heā€˜s all about getting students in research.


Any fun extra-curriculars?

There are many interest groups/clubs you can join after 1st semester. Lots of things each of the clubs do. One thing Iā€˜ve noticed, it being Utah, many of the clubs/interest groups have been doing all kinds of hikes together. So there is definitely ways to get involved that aren’t just school work.

Vibes?

The vibes at Noorda have been immaculate for my first three weeks, and I will leave you with that.
 
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What distances have you had to travel for rotations?

Just because this hasn’t been answered yet, I believe the VAST amount of rotation sites are within 35 minutes of campus. There’s a few that are between 35-45 minutes away, and I think barely any, if at all, that are longer than that.
 
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Just received an II and am looking for all the advice!! Anyone who has been accepted there, can you please let me know how the II is? What was the most difficult part of the II? How did you prepare for the II? Thank you šŸ™‚

The culture at this school is very cooperative, kind, and genuine (in my experience), so my best advice to you is for you to be kind and to be genuine to who you are during your interview. If you got the II, especially this early, they probably really liked something about you and saw what theyā€˜ve already fostered here in you. I wonā€˜t go and spoil the interview process because I want it to be a fair process, but I will say that my interview at Noorda was very pleasant. The most difficult part of the interview was that it was a medical school interview. The stakes involved are nerve wracking. So, when the day comes, be yourself, and just try to relax. To prepare, I tried to learn as much as I could about the school A) to show my interest, but B) because I was genuinely interested in the program. This allowed me to develop questions for my interviewer that I came prepared with to the interview. Hope this helps! Good luck!
 
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Current 1st year that began about three weeks ago. I canā€˜t answer all of these as Iā€˜m not experienced enough, but Iā€˜m taking a break from Anki and noticed some questions that I can answer so here goes my info dump for everyone whose shoes I was in when I was curious about Noorda-COM this time last year: Favorite things about the program -

1) I very much enjoy how much the curriculum is in my own hands. I spend my time almost entirely how I see fit, and Iā€˜ve developed a strict schedule that gives me free time each evening and even sundays entirely off, with the exception of that dayā€˜s anki cards.

2) I love how theyā€˜ve divided us up in my class. We each took a couple personality tests prior to matriculating, and they used those to place us into our learning PODs and learning communities. For POD, some people have really hit it off already and are becoming fast friends. In my POD, I don’t think Iā€˜ll get to the point where Iā€˜m hanging out with my pod mates outside of campus, but Noorda did a good job with placing us together because we show up, work well with one another, and get along great. Now, the learning communities model is where I really really really think they hit the hammer on the head when they placed us in our respective communities. The friends Iā€˜ve made in my community already are fantastic. When Iā€˜m finished meeting with my POD, my learning community friends are who Iā€˜ve been spending all my time with. To expand on the learning communities, this year they developed the learning communities, and how they work is that based on those personality tests, we were placed into our respective community. Each community is named after a local ski resort: Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, and Sundance. Having them place us in a community has been so much fun for the social aspect. Our class is around 170 people I believe, and getting to know everyone in the class, or even a minority, seemed daunting, but being placed in my community, it made it easy to focus on who to socialize with and Iā€˜ve made a ton of friends already because of it. Of course, Iā€˜ve still made friends outside of my community, but the community system has just been something that was a very pleasant surprise we got in orientation. Your pod mates are people from your community, and your learning community is also who youā€˜ll have labs with, so it just makes socializing while in medical school very easy and fun.

Are classes mandatory?

Firstly, there are no in person lectures that you are required to attend. Material is generally delivered each day in video format at noon in place of lectures. For example: Videos are released at noon on a given Friday that cover/teach Mondayā€˜s content. The following Monday, we meet with our PODs to discuss those videos that were released on Friday. At noon on Monday, videos release for Tuesdayā€˜s content. So, typically, after meeting with my POD on that Monday and discussing the videos released Friday, Iā€˜d watch the videos that released at noon on Monday that cover Tuesdayā€˜s content. Then, Tuesday Iā€˜d meet with my POD to discuss and work through the content that was released for viewing on Monday. And so on and so on. That begs the question though, are POD meetings mandatory? In the past, no, but with my class theyā€˜ve changed this. This is a newer school with a very fresh and unique way of delivering content (that I love so far), but with that comes the idea that they need to tweak things here and there until it’s just right, which for my class, means POD meetings are something they absolutely want happening on a set schedule. So, in the past, POD was not required, but for my class theyā€˜ve stated that POD meetings are required and they are keeping a loose eye on attendance. Itā€˜s not super strict, the vibes here are awesome, faculty here are very very awesome in my experience so far, but if youā€˜re missing POD all the time, it could be a problem.

So, since POD meetings are pretty much required as far as I know, what does the POD schedule look like?

Noorda operates on two week cycles. For week 1 of a cycle, we meet with POD on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. For week 2, we meet Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Then the next cycle restarts. Each POD meeting lasts a minimum of two hours.

So, no, ā€žclassesā€œ are not required, but you will have to come to campus at least 8-9 days of a 14 day period to meet with your POD on certain days. Honestly though, Iā€˜m loving it so much here both because of the atmosphere and the friends Iā€˜ve made that Iā€˜ve been coming to campus 5-6 days a week to complete all of my daily work.

Do you feel well prepared?
Iā€˜m too new, canā€˜t answer this

What is grading?
I may be wrong, so take this with a grain of salt, but Iā€˜m pretty sure clinical years are graded A-F with 93% being an A, and 70% being the minimum passing score. I know a lot of medical students like the idea of pass/fail pre-clinical years, but I like the idea of being able to earn an A on my transcript. To each their own. Class ranks though are hidden I believe, unless youā€˜re in the top quartile, in which case the school reports your class rank. For clinical years, again grain of salt, Iā€˜m pretty sure it’s the whole fail/pass/high pass/honors thing that most every medical school does for clinical years. I could be wrong though.

Any fun research?

Noorda is a bit unique among DO schools when it comes to research I believe in that research is the default track you are placed on as a student here. There is a very robust focus on research from what I can tell. After 1st semester, weā€˜ll be allowed/required to join a research team under a faculty member to participate in research. There is a lot of research going on here, and the associate dean of research is an awesome, energetic, and passionate guy. Heā€˜s all about getting students in research.


Any fun extra-curriculars?

There are many interest groups/clubs you can join after 1st semester. Lots of things each of the clubs do. One thing Iā€˜ve noticed, it being Utah, many of the clubs/interest groups have been doing all kinds of hikes together. So there is definitely ways to get involved that aren’t just school work.

Vibes?

The vibes at Noorda have been immaculate for my first three weeks, and I will leave you with that.
Wow this and you are WONDERFUL. Thank you for being so detailed and taking the time out of studying to tell us all about your experience thus far. I REALLY REALLY APPRECIATE ITšŸ™‚ This all has made me even more beyond excited for my interview. I was drawn to the school bc of location, research, and curriculum and you made it seem so nice. I enjoy that it is self/ group situated curriculum and there is still so much room for freedom. There curriculum is so innovative and it sounds like they do really care about the students mental health, enjoyment, and success. Again thank you so much! Please keep us posted throughout the year. Best of luck to you.
 
Wow this and you are WONDERFUL. Thank you for being so detailed and taking the time out of studying to tell us all about your experience thus far. I REALLY REALLY APPRECIATE ITšŸ™‚ This all has made me even more beyond excited for my interview. I was drawn to the school bc of location, research, and curriculum and you made it seem so nice. I enjoy that it is self/ group situated curriculum and there is still so much room for freedom. There curriculum is so innovative and it sounds like they do really care about the students mental health, enjoyment, and success. Again thank you so much! Please keep us posted throughout the year. Best of luck to you.

You are very welcome! Students at Noorda were helpful when I was the applicant on SDN, so now it’s my turn. One small detail I left out about how the curriculum functions: during POD time, professors and tutors float around the community hallways so that you can grab them for questions or explanations at any time in your POD. So, even though curriculum is delivered through videos you consume on your own time, there is still plenty of faculty interaction, which is a detail I failed to mention when listing things I liked about Noorda.
 
What are your fav things about the program? How are classes are they mandatory, do you feel well prepared? What is grading? Any fun things research, extra-curricular, etc vibes that you can join/are apart of?
Just wanted to answer a couple more questions that the other student didn't go into great detail. I'm a 4th year currently on audition rotations.

Do you feel prepared?
Yes, the first two years of content gives you everything you need to prepare for step/level 1. Rarely did I come across completely new content during my dedicated study period. Of course this is all user dependent. Noorda will give you the resources and the material, but it is up to you to work hard and study hard to get that material down. If you struggle being a self starter, the Noorda curiculum might not be the best fit for you. That being said, we have a wonderful learning services team that can help you develop good study habits and study plans. Clinical rotation preparedness, was good. Could it been a little better? maybe, but the transition from "textbook" to "clinical" will be a learning curve for anyone. We get some early exposure to clinical medicine during the first two years. But during your first or second 3rd year rotation, you will get that transition down and thrive on the rest of the rotations. Every preceptor is different and has their own quirks, so if you are someone who can easily adapt to different scenarios and be a chamleon in the clinical setting, you will do great.

Research
The other student touched on this but I'll add my two cents. I firmly believe that Noorda has one of, if not the most vigorous research curriculum out of any other DO program. I will easily hit 10+ research experiences by the time graduation comes along. These were not handed to me by noorda, but they made it really easy to join projects and get experience. You can be as involved as you want.

Out of the classroom, I have a very active social life with my classmates. During 3rd and 4th year, you dont see your classmates as much (or at all) but keeping up those friendships and relationships outside of the school functions has been vital for my mental health. My cohort did a really good job of creating a collaborative environment on campus. There is no hiding resources, there is no toxic competition, there were no real gunners. Each cohort has their own vibes and own quirks, but overall there is a really positive and collaborative culture on campus.

We have a ton of academic and non-academic clubs on campus. There are foodtrucks that come during the weeks. There are "wellness" acitivites that happen throughout the year. Our class had an unoffical soccer team that played at an indoor rec league in provo. I participated in that and it was super fun.
 
Just wanted to answer a couple more questions that the other student didn't go into great detail. I'm a 4th year currently on audition rotations.

Do you feel prepared?
Yes, the first two years of content gives you everything you need to prepare for step/level 1. Rarely did I come across completely new content during my dedicated study period. Of course this is all user dependent. Noorda will give you the resources and the material, but it is up to you to work hard and study hard to get that material down. If you struggle being a self starter, the Noorda curiculum might not be the best fit for you. That being said, we have a wonderful learning services team that can help you develop good study habits and study plans. Clinical rotation preparedness, was good. Could it been a little better? maybe, but the transition from "textbook" to "clinical" will be a learning curve for anyone. We get some early exposure to clinical medicine during the first two years. But during your first or second 3rd year rotation, you will get that transition down and thrive on the rest of the rotations. Every preceptor is different and has their own quirks, so if you are someone who can easily adapt to different scenarios and be a chamleon in the clinical setting, you will do great.

Research
The other student touched on this but I'll add my two cents. I firmly believe that Noorda has one of, if not the most vigorous research curriculum out of any other DO program. I will easily hit 10+ research experiences by the time graduation comes along. These were not handed to me by noorda, but they made it really easy to join projects and get experience. You can be as involved as you want.

Out of the classroom, I have a very active social life with my classmates. During 3rd and 4th year, you dont see your classmates as much (or at all) but keeping up those friendships and relationships outside of the school functions has been vital for my mental health. My cohort did a really good job of creating a collaborative environment on campus. There is no hiding resources, there is no toxic competition, there were no real gunners. Each cohort has their own vibes and own quirks, but overall there is a really positive and collaborative culture on campus.

We have a ton of academic and non-academic clubs on campus. There are foodtrucks that come during the weeks. There are "wellness" acitivites that happen throughout the year. Our class had an unoffical soccer team that played at an indoor rec league in provo. I participated in that and it was super fun.
That is really wonderful to hear. I am incredibly interested in research and continuing projects, so it is great to hear it is easy to be apart of and continue. It sounds like you have had a wonderful experience. As for specialities, do you feel there are opportunities to pursue more than primary care? How are rotations?
 
I know this school only has private loans(for the time being), could any current students address how they plan to pay on these large loans without government assistance during residency? Wouldn't the payments be too large for a residents salary? Any info be so helpful, thank you!!
 
Does this school still have private loans? And if so when is the timetable for it being federal?
 
Does this school still have private loans? And if so when is the timetable for it being federal?
Yes, Noorda still has private loans. Federal loans will be available once full accreditation happens. From what we’ve been told, this hopefully should happen starting with the next school year assuming all goes to plan
 
for the video secondary, can I just record it on my phone? I don't have any other camera recording software šŸ™
 
for the video secondary, can I just record it on my phone? I don't have any other camera recording software šŸ™
I don’t believe it matters. As long as you can be seen and heard properly. I did it on my laptop and didn’t do any editing afterwards
 
That is really wonderful to hear. I am incredibly interested in research and continuing projects, so it is great to hear it is easy to be apart of and continue. It sounds like you have had a wonderful experience. As for specialities, do you feel there are opportunities to pursue more than primary care? How are rotations?
Yes, absolutely. One of the things that drew me to Noorda was zero mention of primary care in their mission statement. I have felt very encouraged to persue whatever specialty I wanted. Of course keep in mind being a DO student alone makes some career paths more challenging (integrated plastics, CT surgery, Vascular surgery, Neurosurgey, etc). Doesn't mean impossible, but if you know you want to pursue those residency programs I would start now planning phds/networking/all the stuff. Lol but if you wanna do gen surg with maybe a fellowship later? yeah thats totally doable and you will have the support. I think we have a club for pretty much every residency path available. Personally, I am applying a non-primary care specialty and have gotten a lot of support from school. One of the greatest helps you can get is an upper classman or alumni class, one thing my class has had to navigate without haha.

Rotations were great for me. I was given a lot of independenc and opportunity to start developing my own clinical management thought process. I know some students weren't able to get as much hands on independence but that can happen at any program. It was nice not needing to pick up and move for 3rd year. All the rotations were within an hour of campus. All my preceptors were super welcoming and great teachers.
 
Yes, absolutely. One of the things that drew me to Noorda was zero mention of primary care in their mission statement. I have felt very encouraged to persue whatever specialty I wanted. Of course keep in mind being a DO student alone makes some career paths more challenging (integrated plastics, CT surgery, Vascular surgery, Neurosurgey, etc). Doesn't mean impossible, but if you know you want to pursue those residency programs I would start now planning phds/networking/all the stuff. Lol but if you wanna do gen surg with maybe a fellowship later? yeah thats totally doable and you will have the support. I think we have a club for pretty much every residency path available. Personally, I am applying a non-primary care specialty and have gotten a lot of support from school. One of the greatest helps you can get is an upper classman or alumni class, one thing my class has had to navigate without haha.

Rotations were great for me. I was given a lot of independenc and opportunity to start developing my own clinical management thought process. I know some students weren't able to get as much hands on independence but that can happen at any program. It was nice not needing to pick up and move for 3rd year. All the rotations were within an hour of campus. All my preceptors were super welcoming and great teachers.
That is great to hear! Thank you so much.
 
What are your fav things about the program? How are classes are they mandatory, do you feel well prepared? What is grading? Any fun things research, extra-curricular, etc vibes that you can join/are apart of?
HI! Current first year here so I can't answer all of your questions, but I'll do my best - I'm not sure I've been here long enough to really have a favorite thing about the school, but I can tell you that the vibe they'll give during your interview about caring for their students as more than just a number is SO true! Faculty and upperclassmen are constantly checking in with us and sharing resources. As far as classes go, all of our lectures are delivered via pre-recorded videos and are released at noon the day prior to when we're supposed to discuss the content with our pods. Pods are a group of 4-6 students that meet together almost every day as a supplement to the lecture content. During our pod times we have peer tutors in addition to our professors that will stop into every pod to clarify content. Grading for your first two years is a typical letter grade score like you probably experienced in undergrad. You do have a couple of pass/fail courses, but they're not biomedical science based so they should be an automatic pass if you complete all the assignments (wellness surveys, research introductions, etc.). As first years, we don't get involved in anything until after our first class or semester (depending on our grades) so that we can establish good study habits, but I've heard upperclassmen who are insanely passionate about the research and activities they're involved in so I can only imagine they enjoy their experiences!
 
Just received an II and am looking for all the advice!! Anyone who has been accepted there, can you please let me know how the II is? What was the most difficult part of the II? How did you prepare for the II? Thank you šŸ™‚
I'm a current first year and can confidently say this was my favorite interview I did last year. The process should be super stress free so don't worry too much! My interview was more or less just a conversation between me and one of our deans aside from the two ethics questions that she asked me (which were also very low stress). To prepare all I did was read the website (pretty much the whole thing) and also made sure to understand the unique class format and pod-style learning opportunities.
 
What are your fav things about the program? How are classes are they mandatory, do you feel well prepared? What is grading? Any fun things research, extra-curricular, etc vibes that you can join/are apart of?
Just I’d chime in as a first year. As others have mentioned, I love how the upperclassmen are always asking us how we’re doing. They know what what we’re going through and always giving advice and tips. Our class has bonded quite well over the last few weeks. We are currently the largest class size so far (and I don’t know everyone yet) but we were divided into communities (think like the different houses of Harry Potter). I know pretty much everyone in my own community but have lots of friends in other communities too.

Our lectures are pre-recorded videos that we have to watch and then the following day we meet in pods/groups to go over the material and discuss it. Our professor also comes to each pod every day to answer questions. Faculty and staff are very helpful and always looking out for us. They’re very open to suggestions and improving things based on feedback they get.

Noorda really emphasizes research from the beginning. We’ll be able to start next semester.

There are plenty of groups, clubs, activities going on. For clubs, we’ll be able to start joining them soon. But for activities, there have been hikes set up by first and second years.
 
In case anyone was worried about the first class’s COMLEX Level 1 pass rate of 78%, we just received an email that after receiving a large majority of the second classes level 1 results, they have a 94.7% pass rate. So much improved šŸ™‚ May ease some stresses for some people
 
OOS II Received 8/15 - im flying in for it from the east coast. Hopefully interview to A % is good!
 
for everyone who is interviewing this cycle (and for current students!!), how are you all prepping for the interview?
 
for everyone who is interviewing this cycle (and for current students!!), how are you all prepping for the interview?
Current 1st year. I used the previous cycle’s SDN page to look up questions that were asked and also found a YT vid with some questions. Other than that, I practiced standard/common interview questions
 
Any acceptances or any news for those at interviewed?
I interviewed 8/26, I believe this was their first in person interview. no news, I'd be shocked to hear this soon. from what the student ambassadors said, we could start hearing back around a week after interviews, but who knows honestly.
 
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Just a trend I noticed from last cycle, I believe they release decisions on a two week cycle. Meaning if you interviewed monday, that being the first interview day, you probably won’t hear back until two weeks from then. If you interviewed yesterday, youā€˜ll probably have a week and a half before you hear your decisions. I could be wrong, but that was how it felt things worked last cycle.
 
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