Absolute Crapshoot

[bokermmk]

After reading these boards and taking into account my own experience I am convinced a substantial portion of the application process is a complete crapshoot. Take for instance the people on hold for SECONDARIES, yes secondaries, at MSU. Or others, including myself with a 35 and 3.9 being rejected pre-secondary at schools with less than impressive numbers. It doesnt quite add up but I guess that is what makes the process exciting.

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[Street Philosopher]

maybe your essays or LOR sucks.

 

[exmike]

Way to lay it on him gently

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
maybe your essays or LOR sucks.

 

[ZekeMD]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
maybe your essays or LOR sucks.

I don't think that's the case. My advisor told me she wrote me that my letters were awesome and she wrote a very good one, but I still received a "hold for secondary" from MSU. I assume it's because I'm out of state. Oh well, their loss.

 

[indo]

absolute crap****-

maybe your personal essay doesn't do for the adcoms what it did for you. i dunno. There must be a reason though. You'll get in if you have put in the work.

 

[jlee9531]

its fairly difficult to get into MSU as an out of state. they are required to take at least 80% of their students in state.

i think there were only 10 out of staters last year for them.

and they really emphasize fit...doesnt matter about your numbers but if they feel you dont fit with their mission then they will not take you.

 

[ErraticLotus]

Originally posted by jlee9531
and they really emphasize fit...doesnt matter about your numbers but if they feel you dont fit with their mission then they will not take you.

It might be that the committee thought that you wouldn't fit well in their school based on LOR or your personal statement. This didn't even occur to me until I talked to a humanities prof about a LOR from her. She asked me what type of school/learning structure I was looking for and I said that I focused more on schools that stressed collaboration and support amongst students rather than competition. Then she explained that she asked because she planned on writing about the extensive group work in our class, and it woudln't look good to an admissions committee for a school that stressed individual work or used grades vs pass/fail, etc.

 

[Street Philosopher]

Originally posted by exmike
Way to lay it on him gently

yeah that's what i'm here for.

 

[turkdlit]

Philosopha, you so crazay! You're just like, "yeah, dat's how it is sucka"...so crazay...

 

[h2cooper]

Maybe they realized that since you have higher numbers than their average and you're an out-of-state, you would probably not go there anyway....even if you were accepted.

Or maybe they just suck!!!

 

[Shinken]

It's all because of Affirmative Action!!! GRRRR...

 

[skypilot]

Yeah, the biggest affirmative action in med school admissions is the one that gives preference to in state residents at state sponsored med schools. So lets not go down that road again.

 

[link26]

yeah. totally las vegas odds. house always wins.

just be happy if you get into one school.
Not all 3.9's are created equal.