Advise Needed!

[ClarinetGeek]

Ok, I need some help and I am not sure where to turn. All of you have been so helpful over the past 2 years, I figured I would ask for your input on my situation.

I have been quite lucky over the past few months and have received more interviews than I anticipated; however, things have not been so clean cut in regards to receiving offers.

So I am just going to lay everything out on the table:

UTMB (accepted, but withdrew)
University of Wisconsin (waitlisted (not in the top ten))
Mayo (hold list (good no. above me))
MCW (?)
University of Iowa (accepted!)
University of Minnesota (?)
Case (?)

I have pretty much given up on UW. I figured there is just no chance of me of getting an offer if they didn't bother to put me in the ranked list.

After receiving the initial hold list letter, which stated I had a very good chance of getting an offer, I spoke with Lori Alder, who stated that I was not at the top of the list and there were a good number above me. I LOVE Mayo. It is my dream school.

Medical College of Wisconsin has yet to inform of their decision. I like MCW; however, I think UIowa is a much better opportunity.

Like I said, the University of Iowa accepted me, which I am very excited about. I believe I could be very happy there and will likely be a good match.

U of MN has yet to get back to me; however, I did not have a good experience visiting there. My gut is definately telling me NO, so I am not sure if it worth waiting for their decision.

CWRU was amazing. I loved most things about their program. However, according to the recuriting manager, the committee is not set to meet until the 2nd Wednesday of April!, and will likely not make any decisions on my interview cohort until after their accepted candidates reply with yay or nay on April 15.

So now on to my questions...

Do I take UIowa and run? or is it worth the stress and anxiety of waiting for CWRU's decision and the unlikely possibility receiving an offer from Mayo?
First off, I am not sure if I would go to CWRU over UIowa; it would take some deliberation before I could make a decision. In regards to Mayo, I would not need to think about it. I understand that I can stay on the waitlist with Mayo for as long as I would like right? Does anyone have an idea if the Mayo waitlist moves at all? I have heard of cases of last minute shuffling right before orientation with MDs, does that happen with MD/PhD? How does this work with CWRU when they haven't even made a decision? How do I handle things with UIowa? Maybe I am just jumping the gun too soon. When should I be making these decisions?

Should I attempt to have a ranking of 1, 2, 3 with these schools? Any input on Mayo, Iowa, and CWRU would be appreciated. What do think of these schools? How would rank these schools? What their reputations? I am interested in cancer bio, neuro, and ID.

I apologize for these being a rather long and unorganized post. It is more of stream-of-conscious than anything else. Like I said, I would appreciate ANY and ALL input. Sorry for seeming so needy. I am just at a loss for what to do next.

Feel free to PM me as well.

Thanks so much!

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[MrMunkily]

Are you saying that Case won't even make a decision on your pool until the offer's they've already made are resolved? Are you on a waitlist there? If not, why are they waiting until after their 2nd look to decide?

 

[shortyganoush]

Hold on to Case and Mayo because you can hold on to waitlists until after April 15th (please correct me if I'm wrong).

I'd let go of MCW to remove some of the complication unless you have other personal reasons for going there.

In the meantime try to figure out your stand between Case and Iowa. If you want to you can list some of your feelings about these schools.

I have the feeling I'm going to have to post a similar thread, so it's interesting for me to see how other people go about this decision making process

 

[ClarinetGeek]

Are you saying that Case won't even make a decision on your pool until the offer's they've already made are resolved? Are you on a waitlist there? If not, why are they waiting until after their 2nd look to decide?

I just interviewed at Case on March 10. I was told the committee won't be meeting until the 2nd Wednesday of April. So yes they aren't going to make a decision until the other offers are resolved. No I am not on a waitlist, as I just interviewed. I have no idea why they are waiting until after their 2nd look weekend. I just don't understand. I don't think I have a very good chance there based on these circumstances. They interviewed 96 students for only 15 spots...so yeah...

 

[ClarinetGeek]

In the meantime try to figure out your stand between Case and Iowa. If you want to you can list some of your feelings about these schools.

Iowa: The program seems very organized and well run. The facilities seemed to be in good condition. Several new building, especially the MERF. If I remember correctly, you cannot take grad school courses in med school. I guess there are pros and cons with that. They seem to have clinical opportunities during grad school, which I like. The med and grad school aspects of the program seem well integrated. The length of the program is 8 years, which seems typical. In regards to research, they claim their strengths are in neuro, cancer, and ID. I like that they have a cohort working in gene and viral vector therapy. Iowa City is a nice typical Midwestern college town. I liked the Big Ten atmosphere. I liked the current students. I really liked all of the professors I meet with. They were all down to earth and friendly. No terribly akward interviews. It is only 4 hour drive from home. I come from a small midwestern town, so I am comfortable with that dynamic. Also, the cost of living is pretty low, so I hope to be able to buy a condo at some point.

Case: Again, the program seems fairly organized and well run. In regards to reputation and prestitige, I get the impression that it being a private school is seems to trump Iowa in these respect. TONS of very nice new buildings and lab space. I am not sure how I feel about the new curriculum starting next year. Finishing M1-M2 in Feb. 2007 seems to have some benefits. Currently allows me to start my research sooner. Although it seems like a lot to cram into 20 months or so. However, they seem to have taken out a lot of the fluff. Don't know how I feel about the anatomy labs being reduced to profs just demonstrating instead of hands-on lab time. I know they require their MSTP students to take on rotations and grad classes while taking MD coursework, which I think I like, as long as it is too much to take on at one time. Again, I was told that ID, neuro and cancer are their strong points, esp neuro. Its great that they have a whole ID division that is almost the size of a department. The students were great and I could see my self fitting in there well. The area around the university inlcuding Cleveland Height appears to be a good place to live with possible places to buy condos as some point. With the Cleveland Orchestra and Art Museums near by, I would have tons of things do in whatever free time I may have. The rest of Cleveland proper was quite industrial, and urban, which doesn't sit well with me. But again, I would not be spending much time there anyways since the University is removed from that. The drawback is that it is 7-8 hour drive back home. My parents don't fly, so they would likely not visit. They would be dependent on me to either drive or fly home, so I would be fairly removed from my family.

So in the end, I am torn between the two. They have a lot things going for both of them. I certainly can't go wrong. Well I guess its good to get some my thoughts written out. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks for reading my rant.

 

[Thundrstorm]

For what it's worth... as an objective bystander, you sound more enthusiastic about Iowa based on that last post.

 

[snobored18]

Ok, I need some help and I am not sure where to turn. All of you have been so helpful over the past 2 years, I figured I would ask for your input on my situation.

I have been quite lucky over the past few months and have received more interviews than I anticipated; however, things have not been so clean cut in regards to receiving offers.

So I am just going to lay everything out on the table:

UTMB (accepted, but withdrew)
University of Wisconsin (waitlisted (not in the top ten))
Mayo (hold list (good no. above me))
MCW (?)
University of Iowa (accepted!)
University of Minnesota (?)
Case (?)

I have pretty much given up on UW. I figured there is just no chance of me of getting an offer if they didn't bother to put me in the ranked list.

After receiving the initial hold list letter, which stated I had a very good chance of getting an offer, I spoke with Lori Alder, who stated that I was not at the top of the list and there were a good number above me. I LOVE Mayo. It is my dream school.

Medical College of Wisconsin has yet to inform of their decision. I like MCW; however, I think UIowa is a much better opportunity.

Like I said, the University of Iowa accepted me, which I am very excited about. I believe I could be very happy there and will likely be a good match.

U of MN has yet to get back to me; however, I did not have a good experience visiting there. My gut is definately telling me NO, so I am not sure if it worth waiting for their decision.

CWRU was amazing. I loved most things about their program. However, according to the recuriting manager, the committee is not set to meet until the 2nd Wednesday of April!, and will likely not make any decisions on my interview cohort until after their accepted candidates reply with yay or nay on April 15.

So now on to my questions...

Do I take UIowa and run? or is it worth the stress and anxiety of waiting for CWRU's decision and the unlikely possibility receiving an offer from Mayo?
First off, I am not sure if I would go to CWRU over UIowa; it would take some deliberation before I could make a decision. In regards to Mayo, I would not need to think about it. I understand that I can stay on the waitlist with Mayo for as long as I would like right? Does anyone have an idea if the Mayo waitlist moves at all? I have heard of cases of last minute shuffling right before orientation with MDs, does that happen with MD/PhD? How does this work with CWRU when they haven't even made a decision? How do I handle things with UIowa? Maybe I am just jumping the gun too soon. When should I be making these decisions?

Should I attempt to have a ranking of 1, 2, 3 with these schools? Any input on Mayo, Iowa, and CWRU would be appreciated. What do think of these schools? How would rank these schools? What their reputations? I am interested in cancer bio, neuro, and ID.

I apologize for these being a rather long and unorganized post. It is more of stream-of-conscious than anything else. Like I said, I would appreciate ANY and ALL input. Sorry for seeming so needy. I am just at a loss for what to do next.

Feel free to PM me as well.

Thanks so much!

Clarinetgeek we interviewed at Minnesota together I'm pretty damn sure...its pretty funny we interviewed at almost the exact same schools only I added some non-MSTP programs that I easily got into...im holding out for mayo...we will have to see...but you should come to Iowa, it will be good times...FYI my research mentor as a SURF at Mayo is on the MSTP adcom so I get some info (although I don't really ask for it...) the waitlist moves and some years its gone far bc they tend to overlap with the big guns in the MSTP world...so don't loose hope just cross your fingers and hope they took a bunch of kids from the coast ahead of us who are headed to the Harvards and UCSF's of the world...interesting either way we may end up as classmates...not bad for two kids from wisconsin

 

[mdphd2b]

For what it's worth... as an objective bystander, you sound more enthusiastic about Iowa based on that last post.

I agree. Drop MCW to narrow things down. At Iowa you won't have to sacrifice your social network and it's still a great program. Sounds like you'll fit in there too. After all, 8 years is a long haul, and there will be times when you'll be glad to have friends and family nearby to support you through it.

Good luck dude

 

[fantasty]

Time for a totally biased view

I'm not going to bad mouth Case because I honestly do not know a thing about their MSTP, and they have a good med school. And, I know several people who love Cleveland.

But, I'd be wary of programs that cut too much out of their medical curriculum. As much as med school is a PITA, it's still a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn. Gross anatomy was stressful for me and there was a lot of wasted time cutting through fat and facsia, but it's the only time you can actually dissect and I never really was great at visualizing things that were already "done up" for me by my anatomy lab partners. At Iowa, we do eliminate some of the fluff, but that's mostly in the form of clinical rotations (and only in areas that it was thought MSTP students would like some customization). Our M1/M2 is essentially the same as the med school (although we have a required weekly research talk over lunch, and some of our small groups are exclusive).

I'm also not sure how I feel about required grad classes and rotations during med school. I guess if they are taking some of the stress of you (through the prosections, etc), it might not be bad. Certainly, some of our students voluntarily opted to do this, but I personally wouldn't want to be required to...

I'd also like to mention that I think our average time is getting closer to 7 yrs rather than 8. Obviously it fluctuates a bit, but my class (those who started in 2000) is about 60% on track for 7 years, 30% for 8 years, and 10% at 6 yrs (maybe an outlier). And all of the 8 yr folks were really close to finishing in 7 anyhow.

Lastly, for both Case & Iowa, please do not hestitate in getting more information if you think it would help. I know we set up secondary phone calls if you want to talk to specific students or faculty. If you want any suggestions, please feel free to PM me.

 

[mdphd2b]

Time for a totally biased view

I'd also like to mention that I think our average time is getting closer to 7 yrs rather than 8. Obviously it fluctuates a bit, but my class (those who started in 2000) is about 60% on track for 7 years, 30% for 8 years, and 10% at 6 yrs (maybe an outlier). And all of the 8 yr folks were really close to finishing in 7 anyhow.

Wow, you guys are lucky! My class at Pitt entered in 2000, and we're all looking at 8-9 years. One did 7.5 yr, but that's because her advisor left.

 

[fantasty]

Wow, you guys are lucky! My class at Pitt entered in 2000, and we're all looking at 8-9 years. One did 7.5 yr, but that's because her advisor left.

Well, I'm one of the 8 yr folks. Maybe if I didn't spend so much time on SDN

But, really, very few do 6 yrs or 9+. We do some clinical rotations prior to grad school, and have an "abbreviated" 4th year (48 weeks to finish the remaining requirements from M3/M4 curriculum).