2025-2026 Virginia Commonwealth (VCU)

Started by wysdoc
Showcase Professionalism with the PREview® Exam
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
For the work/volunteerism part, I do have some volunteering in a clinical setting (pretty much clerical work) but I don't have any experience where I had direct contact with patients without physician supervision. Should I leave it blank?
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I got a C+ in Organic Chemistry II my sophomore year. My overall GPA that semester was a 3.66 and I graduated with a 3.81. I didn't get any other grades below B+. Should I write about this in the poor grades question? I don't feel the need to but don't want them to see it as a red flag if I don't address it.
 
futuredoctor242222 said:
I got a C+ in Organic Chemistry II my sophomore year. My overall GPA that semester was a 3.66 and I graduated with a 3.81. I didn't get any other grades below B+. Should I write about this in the poor grades question? I don't feel the need to but don't want them to see it as a red flag if I don't address it.
Click to expand...
I didn't write about my single C+.
 
This is an open ended question, but does anyone know why VCU is asking people to distinguish physician observation and clinical work? Do they have a preference for one or the other? It doesn't really change my answers, but I was curious if anyone had any insight because I've never seen any other school do it.
 
Aloo said:
This is an open ended question, but does anyone know why VCU is asking people to distinguish physician observation and clinical work? Do they have a preference for one or the other? It doesn't really change my answers, but I was curious if anyone had any insight because I've never seen any other school do it.
Click to expand...
as a reapplicant, I think its new for this year like I don't remember it from last cycle
 
Aloo said:
This is an open ended question, but does anyone know why VCU is asking people to distinguish physician observation and clinical work? Do they have a preference for one or the other? It doesn't really change my answers, but I was curious if anyone had any insight because I've never seen any other school do it.
Click to expand...
Physician observation you really aren’t doing anything clinical with very little patient interaction. Almost all interactions are with the physician. Clinical work is the opposite which is why they want applicants to distinguish between the two.
 
Someone asked this before but I'm still confused -- are we listing or kinda elaborating on the clinical/shadow experiences? 250 ch doesn't really give room to elaborate but it feels so bland without it
 
icouldntthinkofanything said:
Someone asked this before but I'm still confused -- are we listing or kinda elaborating on the clinical/shadow experiences? 250 ch doesn't really give room to elaborate but it feels so bland without it
Click to expand...
I just wrote sentences. "I shadowed XYZ doctor in XYZ specialty for 100 hours and saw XYZ. I assisted physicians with XYZ things during visits for 200 hours at XYZ clinic"
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
sardinetoast said:
I just wrote sentences. "I shadowed XYZ doctor in XYZ specialty for 100 hours and saw XYZ. I assisted physicians with XYZ things during visits for 200 hours at XYZ clinic"
Click to expand...
thanks for getting back so quick, I have follow up question. If I was predental for my first two years of college and spent the summers shadowing and doing dental stuff should I address that in the lapses in medical journey or leave it blank? it sounds like a "time off" prompt like other schools use, so it wasn't time off or a lapse exactly, I was just doing other non-medical stuff.
 
sardinetoast said:
I just wrote sentences. "I shadowed XYZ doctor in XYZ specialty for 100 hours and saw XYZ. I assisted physicians with XYZ things during visits for 200 hours at XYZ clinic"
Click to expand...
In my opinion they gave the format they wanted: hours; description

So, for example, I wrote:
20; Internal Medicine (hospital setting)

I came very close to the character limit with both boxes so it is unclear to me how I could have elaborated.
 
moltmannfanboi said:
In my opinion they gave the format they wanted: hours; description

So, for example, I wrote:
20; Internal Medicine (hospital setting)

I came very close to the character limit with both boxes so it is unclear to me how I could have elaborated.
Click to expand...
I think that's fine, too! I really doubt they will be scrutinizing how people decide to use the space as long as everything is included.
 
icouldntthinkofanything said:
thanks for getting back so quick, I have follow up question. If I was predental for my first two years of college and spent the summers shadowing and doing dental stuff should I address that in the lapses in medical journey or leave it blank? it sounds like a "time off" prompt like other schools use, so it wasn't time off or a lapse exactly, I was just doing other non-medical stuff.
Click to expand...
I am not an expert or adcom, but I wouldn't call this a lapse in your journey to medicine. Your journey to medicine started when you switched from pre-dental to pre-med, right? Have you taken years off between deciding to go to medical school and actually applying? I think that's what they are referencing.
 
Does anyone know how to contact the VCU admissions office? I accidentally sent too many LORs through AMCAS and wanted to provide them with my preferred letters to review
 
boomer2024 said:
Does anyone know how to contact the VCU admissions office? I accidentally sent too many LORs through AMCAS and wanted to provide them with my preferred letters to review
Click to expand...
I would just e-mail them! I e-mailed them a question and they were very nice and responded quickly
 
sardinetoast said:
I would just e-mail them! I e-mailed them a question and they were very nice and responded quickly
Click to expand...
Could you please provide me with their email? I couldn't find it on their website. I would really appreciate it.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
kidgamer101 said:
Were people able to fix the classes populating problem. I have none in my box and have logged out refreshed multiple times, but nothing is working.
Click to expand...
So mine weren't populating either, and then one day I got really frustrated and walked away for about 5 min and they were there. I think they just take a really long time to load. So if you are clicking into the coursework section and quickly clicking out after 10-15 sec when you see they aren't there, it could just be that they need time to load.
 
Finding it a bit hard to fit clinical and volunteering experiences in 250 characters, anyone else? How are people formatting it, because I don't have enough space to describe any of my activities.
 
Saturnalia_1 said:
Finding it a bit hard to fit clinical and volunteering experiences in 250 characters, anyone else? How are people formatting it, because I don't have enough space to describe any of my activities.
Click to expand...
being so real, i don't think they're looking for descriptions. i think they're just looking to see if you have done a decent amount of hours in both categories. i formatted it as total number of hours and then a simple breakdown of those hours.
500 total hours
250 hours: cna
250 hours: scribe at so and so facility
 
anyone have any thoughts on the likelihood of some IIs being sent out tomorrow? looks like last year they did that on the second Friday of the month.
 
Hi everyone can I address MCAT retakes in the GPA or low grades section? Or should I not mention it because there is not a specific category for them?
 
iamcherryyy said:
Hi everyone can I address MCAT retakes in the GPA or low grades section? Or should I not mention it because there is not a specific category for them?
Click to expand...
Hi! I think that would be reasonable to address in this section, and in particular discussing an upward trend in your scores and what you learned in the process.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

chilly_md
2025-2026 Commonwealth (Geisinger)
2 3 4 5 6
Replies
255
Views
81K
mangosintahiti
M
wysdoc
2025-2026 West Virginia
2 3 4 5
Replies
243
Views
65K
anonymous2096
A
chilly_md
2025-2026 East Virginia (EVMS)
10 11 12 13 14
Replies
660
Views
182K
Jan012
J
wysdoc
2025-2026 University of Virginia
2 3 4
Replies
169
Views
71K
Mistyforest1
M
wysdoc
2025-2026 Virginia Tech (Carilion)
2 3 4 5
Replies
210
Views
65K
TheMemeologist
T