Any one applying to VCU post-bac for FALL 2007

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Dalki2007 said:
I'm also *enjoying* this wonderful waiting experience...
When did you send your application packet? I've sent mine like 2 weeks ago..and now I'm getting the feeling I should call too :( since they took my money and all ...
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I sent mine two weeks ago too. LORs were sent three weeks ago. They took a very short time to take my money out. But the application is taking a long time to get a confirmation of completion. Good luck w/ your application.
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Instatewaiter said:
Are you talking about psot-bac or basic health science certificate program (graduate)? I did the Certificate program last year if you have questions. I am now at MCV (aka VCU) med school.
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Did you find that the graduate certificate prorgam helped enhance your med application?
 
I would not have gotten into medical school without it. I applied in 2005 to VCU/MCV medical school and was flat out rejected, not even waitlisted. So to figure out how to get into med school, I met with the old dean of the med school. She recommended that I do the grad Certificate program. So pretty much blindly, I applied and committed to the Cert. program for that fall.

I had about a 2.8 overall and BCMP GPA. So without the Cert program I would not even have been considered as a viable applicant to med school. Understand that the program is very hard and very stressful. It is a do or die situation and a lot of people do poorly. However for someone in a similar situation as I was in, the Cert program is your only chance of getting in.

The Cert program is as hard if not harder than the first year of med school. You take many of the same classes as in first year med school. So, first year is much easier after doing the cert program.
 
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When you say "hard" .. how would you compared the work against UVA premed courses? Is it hard because of the work load? or hard in the sense that it's difficult to get an A amongst your fellow classmates (like UVA)? :D
Thanks!
 
I would say the classes are generally harder in the Cert program. Many of the pre-med courses at UVA were conceptually more difficult (like orgo) but the volume of info in the Cert is enormous compared to Ugrad. Because of this there is a lot of work you have to do.

Classes like biochem are easy to get an A in compared to Physiology which is very hard to get an A.

Most people who were able to do well in the Cert program went to excellent schools for Ugrad. So they were used to the rigors of the program. My year there were about 11 that got in: 6 From UVA, 1 from Duke, 1 from Wash U in St Louis and 3 I don't know where they went to school.
 
I mailed in my application w/PS statement to the program about 2.5 weeks ago, but by some bizarre way, it has gotten lost in the land of the post office(sent it certified mail) :eek: I'm going to resubmit online-for those of you who already applied, how did you indicate more than one program per online application? ie. Anatomy and Physiology...i'm applying to all 6 and was told that you can apply for two programs/application and pay one fee. also, i've to send the PS statement separately, no way to submit it online?
thanks! i really want to finish this up quick tonight...
and i hope you all get confirmations on your apps quickly!
 
Instatewaiter said:
A 3.0 will gaurantee you won't get in. To be in good shape you need at least a 3.7. Shoot for a 4.0.
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I finished the program last year. Ive seen instances where ~3.0 does not preclude you from an interview (although I know of no one getting in with around 3.0) , and Ie seen instances where students with 4.0s both semesters hae not gotten in
 
Well, I was told over the phone that I was accepted into the Post-Baccalaureate Health Sciences Certificate Program. Obviously this one isn't as difficult to get into as the SMP program, but I'm happy about the fact that I finally have somewhere that wants me!! :love:
 
By the way, you can actually apply to all the programs for the same cost. I forget what they charge, maybe $50 or so for an app, but if you apply for one , you may as well apply to one or two more (or all of them if you really dont know) . Ive heard of people switching programs once accepted as well.
 
mprover said:
I finished the program last year. Ive seen instances where ~3.0 does not preclude you from an interview (although I know of no one getting in with around 3.0) , and Ie seen instances where students with 4.0s both semesters hae not gotten in
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Yeah I know of someone who did not get in the 1st year after getting a 4.0 in both semesters too. However, he did get in the next year (and I heard he botched the interview the first time). So a 4.0 almost guarantees an acceptance but don't act like it during the interview.


mprover said:
Ive heard of people switching programs once accepted as well.
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As mprover knows, the programs are pretty interchangeable. You can even switch mid-year. I started out in the one program and was planning to switch to another program to do my masters if I did not get in last year.

Because of overlapping classes between programs, any of the programs can get you in. Biochem and mammalian phys are really the 2 big classes. The old dean of med admissions specifically told me that these are the 2 classes they look for you to do well in

Good luck, hope you guys hear soon.
 
Instatewaiter is the man for this thread. He answers to every questions I have about VCU program. Thanks, Instatewaiter.

Is it just me or VCU admission office is not good at putting things together? One day the told me that they forwarded my application to the department. Today, the department director told me that he never got my application. He also told me that he called admission office but could not find find me in the system. It gets me so frustrated.
 
With one application fee, you can apply up to two programs (not all six programs).
 
Yeah unfortunately the admissions process to get into both the graduate level and the Ugrad level post-bac programs goes through VCU and not MCV. So MCV and VCU, while technically part of the same school, are run very differently. This is one of the reasons why there has always been a push to keep MCV autonomous from VCU. VCU is notorious for being really disorganized and terrible at paper work. MCV generally is on top of their ****.

Story:
When I was in high school I took one class at VCU and used it for college credit. When I did my AAMC application for medical school AAMC asked for the VCU transcript since I had used it for credit. So I went to the VCU registrar, IN PERSON, and filled out the forms for them to send my transcript to AAMC. They told me it would take 3-5 days for them to send out my transcript . I may be spoiled but at my Ugrad school since they would send out your transcript the same day but I was there in person. It involves them printing out my transcript sticking in an envelope and putting it in their outgoing mail. What takes almost a business week to finish?

Well I had 3 weeks until my deadline so I was still fine. Well the 3 weeks passed VCU never sent the damn transcript. In 3 weeks!!! I missed the deadline. I understand that folding a piece of paper into thirds and sticking it in an evnvelope is tricky but it shouldnt take 3 weeks. Luckily it was for early decision at MCV so they were sympathetic to my situation but i mean damn.

Moral of the story: make sure to call VCU and check to see if they have all of your stuff cause they like to lose things. Luckily most of you will be taking classes through MCV.
 
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Back when I applied you only needed 1 application for all 6 programs. Guess they are trying to gouge more money out of you guys, sucks but if money is an issue I would only apply to biochem, phys and anatomy and i guess 1 other since you'll get that one free.
 
Yeah, VCU is pretty terrible with paperwork. I had trouble with my application. They misplaced it , and asked me to send it again. Its probably best to check up on your apps just to make sure they dont drop the ball.
 
I did the MCV Certificate program in Physiology back in 2001-2002. (Back when Dr.Poland used to run the Physio program and teach the Respiratory block. Great guy). I am now a 3rd year at PCOM.

Just to echo Instatewaiter's words, the program is INTENSE. I would actually recommend (and I've said this before on SDN) that you take the easiest courseload possible 1st semester. Do NOT try to be an all-star student and take Histology (unless you're in the Anatomy program. Then you have no choice) as your third class during the 1st semester. I did (against Dr.Polands recommendations) and I ended up losing lots of sleep (and hair) to try to nail an "A" in Physio and Biochem while keeping up with Histo lecture and lab. There are some hyper-intelligent people who can bust out all A's with such a schedule(one of my friends did) but in the end, it's not worth the added stress.

Moral of the story: take an easy elective (Drug Dependance served this role back in those days) and take every exam very seriously, especially 1st trimester.

Congrats to those of you who've gotten in. You'll work hard but you will be SO prepared for 1st year of med school. G'luck!
 
From my friends who took it, drug dependence is relatively easy as courses in the Cert program go. Other good options are biostatistics or even just a journal club if your program will let you.

The biochem program does not make you take a full extra class so I only took the journal club and thus had 12 credits the first semester. Phys (5), Biochem (5), Journal Club (1 and really easy A) and seminar (1, which other programs did not get a grade for but we did.) Dr H the old dean of med school admissions told me that the Adcom does not look down on only 12 credits.

So seriously take DrSaib's advice and stay away from Histo. It is prolly the hardest course offered in the Cert program. Histo at most med schools is pretty easy. At MCV it is a complete joke. Not worth your time to take it in the Cert program. It will bring down all your other grades.
 
Hi everyone, I'm kind of new to sdn but I have a question about the personal statement portion of the app. Do you think they want more of a med school personal statement or it should be one that describes how we would benefit from the program? I couldn't find anywhere that specified about it. Thanks!
 
I'm applying to the program too. ^^
My boyfriend is in the program right now, and he said it's really good, sooooooo we'll see how this goes. :D
I'm not going to apply until around May though for technical reasons. :p
 
inthemix said:
Do you think they want more of a med school personal statement or it should be one that describes how we would benefit from the program?
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The personal statement for the Cert program is a little of both. They understand that you will be applying to medical or dental school; that is the whole idea of the program. I included a good part of my personal statement but talked about how my end goal was medicine and how the cert program would help me achieve that goal. I then tailored each PS to the specific program. For example in my biochem PS I also talked about my interest in biochemistry, biochem classes that I had taken and my research experience in Biochem.

For some of the programs I applied to, the 'tailored' part was very general since I had limited exposure to that field but that apparently didnt matter since I got into all of them. I think as long as you express your desire to be a doctor, why you chose the cert program, and how you think it will help your application you should be fine.
 
Waiting game over..
I'm in Physiology for Fall 2007 :D
Hope to see u all there :love:
 
why does VCU take so long to process the application. they keep losing my stuff. AHH! i applied late jan!
 
Hi everyone, I'm new to SDN and just finished reading posts in this forum. I have to commend Instatewaiter for sharing such informative experiences from the Post-bac Premed Certificate Program at VCU. Your comments are truly appreciated and provide us newcomers with a very clear dea of what to expect. I have just recently been accepted to the certificate program offered through the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology and look forward to making the move to Richmond. However, now that I have heard about the rigor of taking histology with phyisology and biochemistry, I am somewhat worried about the outcome of my success in the program. I just hope that at the least, it will be manageable. Anyways, these forums are great. Congratulations to everyone who has been accepted so far!
 
I will be joining the BIOCHEM DEPT in the fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay on the grad office about the applications. They "LOSE" your stuff very easily. Good luck to those applying and accepted. Does anyone familiar with the school and area have any suggestions for areas to live in?
 
Id probably live in either the fan , shockhoe bottom, or out in the west end.

General richmond outlay via asci map


[------------------northside-----------------------]
[west end--------------------fan--vcu----mcv-----]
[-----------------------------------------shockhoe]
[---------------------RIVER-----------------------]
[-----------------SOUTHSIDE----------------------]




West End: The West End of town is pretty much suburbia. Youll be able to find good, reasonably priced housing. The neighborhoods are safe. There will be shopping, food, etc. The downfalls are that your west of school, and youll have to commute. AM/PM commutes are probably around 20-40 minutes, depending on how stupid people are that day, and how much the city decides to dig up any given road.

Shockhoe Bottom: Shockhoe bottom is very close to school. It is located south, and southeast of the school. The past decade has seen this area revitalized. What used to be alot of old buildings and storage facilities have been turned into decent to upscale apartments. Youll be close to good restaurants, nightlife, and most importantly the school. On the downside, some apartments are expensive, and the area really isnt the best after dark. Although Richmond is slowly improving, crime is still certainly an issue. Some people have not had problems , but I can count off multiple people I know who have.

Fan: Last, but certainly not least. The fan is an older neighborhood starting at the west edge of VCU. Most houses in the fan are rowhouses and duplexes. The fan has many bars and great restaurants. The campus connector, a free shuttle , will pick you up at VCU and take you to MCV. It runs about every 15 minutes. If you live further out in the fan , you can hop on a bus and take that into school. The second line in the ascii drawing I made above pretty much parallels broad st. You can catch any number of busses and make it to MCV. There is some $50 or something/semester bus pass you can get. I personally love the fan. You can get a great apartment for cheap. If you willing to live with other people, you can find a 2br from $800 (more crappy) to $1200 (nice). Safety in the fan can sometimes be an issue. Although it is a very nice area (monument st has some VERY nice homes) , crime from surrounding richmond often percolates in. I have seen a resurgence of cops on dirt bikes (reminds me of Mad Max) in the last few months, so maybe they are cracking down. Some areas of the fan closer to vcu are obviously inhabited by vcu students. These tend to get noisy/dirty on the weekends. After living here for a year, and living downtown for a year, I have to say that I could never go back to living downtown. I certainly cannot get to class in 5 minutes like I used to be able to , but the area is simply too cool for me to care.


other places that I cannot really comment on

church hill ( south of mcv/vcu/fan , north of river) : cheaper places to rent , cannot comment outside of that

southside : far from school

northside : ghetto?


in general , Id hop on craigslist and get a good idea of prices and locals.

hope this helps
 
Yes!! The admission office lost my LORs. It was sent two months ago. They told me to resend it. Everyone, don't forget to check w/ admission office on your applicatoin.
 
I sent my materials express mail to make sure that they received them. If you do that, they can't dispute receiving your stuff. Someone will have to sign for it and you can always use that when you inquire about your status. That helped me. When I contacted the office in January (I originally wanted to start then) they said they couldn't find my packet. I knew they received it (I sent it in Nov. or Dec.) because I had the signature and confirmation of delivery. Usually, your materials will be "missing" somewhere in the office in a pile of other mail that is 'less important' at the time. Also, keep calling to check because you can't get accepted until the department(s) you apply to has/have your completed packet.
 
Thanks for the info about areas to live in. That should help a bit in finding a decent place to stay.
 
Also I think it helps to have all your required documents sent in one envelope as they suggest... instead of sending one thing earlier than the other..
And yes.. call them to check!
Good Luck:)
 
hey everyone, i have a quick question. i can't find anywhere on the vcu app or website where we have to include a resume or a summary of volunteer/work experience. have i just missed it or is it not required for the application? it just seems weird cause all of the other applications i sent in required them. thanks!
 
inthemix said:
hey everyone, i have a quick question. i can't find anywhere on the vcu app or website where we have to include a resume or a summary of volunteer/work experience. have i just missed it or is it not required for the application? it just seems weird cause all of the other applications i sent in required them. thanks!
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I applied to the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology and did not submit a resume. As far as I know, it is not required, but you could probably incorporate some segments of this into your personal statement.


I would like to address a few questions to those who have already completed the program and can provide some insight into optimal study habits for us newcomers taking histology with biochem and physiology:
What type of study habits worked best for you? Approximately how much time daily did you devote to studying for each subject? What was your class and study schedule like? Did you have to work on your secondaries as well during the program? I appreciate your suggestions and look forward to your responses.
 
inthemix said:
hey everyone, i have a quick question. i can't find anywhere on the vcu app or website where we have to include a resume or a summary of volunteer/work experience. have i just missed it or is it not required for the application? it just seems weird cause all of the other applications i sent in required them. thanks!
Click to expand...

I included my resume (that listed my volunteering experience, work, intership, etc) - one sheet - in my envelope along with my PS, 3 LORs, Transcript and the Application page just for a little extra :)

:laugh: Good luck!
 
does anyone know anybody that has gone through the physio certificate program to get into vcu dental?

have 3.0 overall at my school. my best score on the DAT was 18,20,17 (AA, TS, PAT). will i get accepted to the physio program?

anyone from Northern VA going down there?
 
Honestly i have no idea what those DAT numbers mean so I cant comment on whether you will get in or not.

i know someone my year (last year) who got into dental school this year from the physio cert program. I am not sure if he applied last year or not.
 
I got my acceptance letter today for biochem certificate program. I dunno yet if I will attend though. There is one school that I'm anxiously waiting to hear back from. But I'm glad that there is a place I can be at in this fall. VCU became more attractive since they beat Duke in NCAA first round.
 
how long after having your application complete with the physiology departement, did you receive your acceptance?

also, those moving down there....have you all started looking for apartments? is it too early? someone told me that they fill up real quick near the main vcu campus....
 
i'm also in the physiology certificate program right now, so PM me if you guys have any questions because i'm not on this thread often.
when i was going through the application process last year, i can assure you that instatewaiter was the best person to get advice from. i found most if not everything he said to be true once i got here.

good luck everyone!
 
lala83 said:
i'm also in the physiology certificate program right now, so PM me if you guys have any questions because i'm not on this thread often.
when i was going through the application process last year, i can assure you that instatewaiter was the best person to get advice from. i found most if not everything he said to be true once i got here.

good luck everyone!
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I totally agree w/ lala83. Instatewaiter is the one you should ask questions regarding of VCU certificate program/med school. I got a good advice from him personally.
 
nraouf said:
how long after having your application complete with the physiology departement, did you receive your acceptance?

also, those moving down there....have you all started looking for apartments? is it too early? someone told me that they fill up real quick near the main vcu campus....
Click to expand...

I actually e-mailed Dr. Ford and he can tell u an "informal" yay or nay by e-mail..which was about 2 weeks after the department received my application packet... and after his e-mail, about a week later I got an official mail. So total of about 3 weeks for me. But I think I was a fortunate case since the grad office manage to actually hand in my application to the physiology dept in whole! with out losing any of the documents! :)
So email Dr. Ford : [email protected] Good luck!
 
lala83 said:
when i was going through the application process last year, i can assure you that instatewaiter was the best person to get advice from. i found most if not everything he said to be true once i got here.
good luck everyone!
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Oh you flatter me...

For more info here is a bunch of posts on the program. This is especially good for people who are entering next fall. ayznshorti, mprover and me are all pretty good resources on this thread.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=302160&highlight=VCU

Good luck and as always feel free to PM me with questions... its a nice distraction from work
 
ok, Im going to warn you all now. If you stick around and end up doing research





Make sure you get in all the paperwork


sorry bout the bold , but its necessary. Make sure you get ALL of it done. Its a major pain, but they wont let you graduate without it.
 
Hello everyone,

I just got accept to the Biochem department. :love: :love: :love: I hope to see you all in the fall and i plan to live the dorm the entire year. I don't know is that a good choose or not, because i come from California, so i must pay out of state tuition. But other than that, i am very happy, b/c i finally got in. This is the only post-bac program that i applied and thank God i got in. I am looking forward to meet you all in the fall. Cheers!!!!!!:love: :love: :D :D :hardy: :hardy: :thumbup:
 
got my acceptance to the physio program. where is everyone living? on or off campus? are there any jobs at the school, like working part-time in labs?
 
nraouf said:
got my acceptance to the physio program. where is everyone living? on or off campus? are there any jobs at the school, like working part-time in labs?
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You can be my physio buddy!! :laugh:
I'm actually planning to live off campus since it isn't the most ideal or safe around VCU :)
See u in August!
 
i just got into the biochem program!!
 
I just got into the biochem one too. Has the physiology department just taken a longer time to send out their notifications?

If so, have many of you decided to go for physio or biochem? What made you choose one or the other, since their requirements are so similiar.
 
Hi - I'm a post-bac student starting VCU in June. If anyone needs a room for rent, I found a great place this weekend. It's 1.5 miles from VCU, right around the corner from the Fan and, frankly, it's a sweet apartment (10 S. Boulevard). The area has lots of students and feels safe. The apartment is a 2-bedroom with a sunroom and has access to a refinished balcony. I'm thinking of making the sunroom into shared study space - there's plenty of room for two desks. There are three floors in the building and this place is on the top floor. Wood floors, dishwasher, w/d in basement, very sunny. It just feels good. The room for rent is $400 (the entire rent is $995). The room is not huge, but it's nice, and the rest of the apartment is large.

I am a 34-year-old woman who's friendly, considerate, sociable, liberal (c'mon, I grew up in the SF Bay Area); and I am very independent, but love making new friends. I'm also a good cook and like to share my creations.

I do not need a roommate, per se, but I think it's a good idea to live with someone. I could show the place on May 26th, if anyone is interested. If you want to talk, just PM me with information about yourself. Otherwise, see you in class! I'll be the annoying post-bac asking all the annoying questions. :oops:
 
Did you guys use professors as references or other people? My school had a pre-medical committee and won't release my letters of rec since its not specifically for the MD program.
 
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