Baylor mstp review process??

[premedatheart]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Can anyone explain to me the admissions process for Baylor MSTP? I have tried calling them and emailing them, and I am still confused. Are the applications reviewed by MSTP committee first and then MD committee or the other way around? If an applicant is invited for MSTP interview but is rejected, would you have to go back for an MD only interview? After reading some of the threads on SDN, it seems like after the MSTP interview, an applicant could receive an MD acceptance and then if the MSTP likes the applicant, they are invited for candidate review. Does that mean you have to get an MD acceptance before being invited for candidate review? Could an applicant receive an MD acceptance even if the MSTP committee doesn't want to invite the applicant for candidate review? I'm just thoroughly confused about the whole process. If anyone can clarify things for me or elaborate a bit on the review process, that would be great. Thanks!

 

[Ariodant]

I believe MSTP takes priority over MD at Baylor. I don't know about MD referral and admissions after MSTP rejection at various points of the process, but you do need a MD acceptance to attend second visit. Usually, the MSTP committee will send its MD counterpart a list of applicants they intend to invite back, and unless the MD committee really holds a grunge against you, they will accept you once you make it to that list. This MD acceptance will be independant from the MSTP one, meaning it's still valid should you be eliminated after second visit. Conversely, you need to decline it seperately should you decide not to take their MSTP offer. You should bug gbwillner for more details.

 

[misha680]

Can anyone explain to me the admissions process for Baylor MSTP? I have tried calling them and emailing them, and I am still confused. Are the applications reviewed by MSTP committee first and then MD committee or the other way around? If an applicant is invited for MSTP interview but is rejected, would you have to go back for an MD only interview? After reading some of the threads on SDN, it seems like after the MSTP interview, an applicant could receive an MD acceptance and then if the MSTP likes the applicant, they are invited for candidate review. Does that mean you have to get an MD acceptance before being invited for candidate review? Could an applicant receive an MD acceptance even if the MSTP committee doesn't want to invite the applicant for candidate review? I'm just thoroughly confused about the whole process. If anyone can clarify things for me or elaborate a bit on the review process, that would be great. Thanks!

So I've been on the Baylor MSTP Student Operating Committee (SOC, we interview people among other things) for 3 years now and hope to continue for another 3 so hopefully I have something to contribute. You should email Vanessa Hatfield btw at [email protected] if you have questions she is very helpful. Now I only deal with applicants after they're coming for interviews, so what I say may not be 100% correct, but I believe it is pretty close.

My understanding is that both MSTP and the MD program get your application initially, but in order for us to invite you to interview the MD program has to approve you getting interviewed. Now, since we have some representatives on the MD-only admissions side of things, we have some advocates there for MD/PhD applicants who the med school might not want so much for MD-only, but basically my understanding is that the MD admissions committee has the final say.

If you come to interview, you do both interviews - MSTP in the morning and MD in the afternoon. You _don't_ have to come back to do an MD interview. Now unless we are changing things I believe the MD acceptance comes before being invited back for candidate review. Now you can get an MD acceptance and _not_ be invited for candidate review, but I don't believe you can get invited for candidate review without being accepted by the MD program.

Anyhow, I think I've answered all the questions. If you hvae any more feel free to follow up this topic. Btw just wanted to mention I'm starting my 6th year in the program here and I really like our MD/PhD program. However, I definitely advise people I interview to find the place they like, as not every program is for everyone, and you'll only be happy in an MSTP program if you go to the right place for _you_.

Misha

 

[Neuronix]

Can you still be accepted to the MSTP before candidate review, but told to come to review and pretend you haven't been accepted yet to the other candidates? That was pretty lame.

 

[misha680]

Can you still be accepted to the MSTP before candidate review, but told to come to review and pretend you haven't been accepted yet to the other candidates? That was pretty lame.

No. Unless something has changed (email [email protected] our admin if you want to ascertain 100%) you _cannot_ be accepted to the MSTP program until after candidate review.

Misha

 

[Neuronix]

I seriously doubt they're going to admit that it happens if you e-mail them considering they told me to hide it all those years ago. The official line was then as I'm sure it is now that this doesn't happen. Is that official position false, as it was then, is the question I'm asking since you have the inside knowledge (perhaps?).

BTW, I'm a sixth year too. We were probably at candidate review together back then!

I'm just curious if they've stopped doing it given the topic of this thread is specifically Baylor admissions. I think first off candidate review is a shady practice (just my opinion). You couldn't make a decision on the applicants the first time like 95% of programs? But, that's besides the point. I wanted to point out that accepting me while asking me not to tell anyone probably had the reverse of the desired effect. I did not feel "honored" as my candidate review interviewer suggested I should be to be one of the few accepted before candidate review. Instead, I left feeling creeped out by that odd admissions process. As a student on the operating committee, hopefully you can get to the bottom of this.

Eric

 

[Ariodant]

My problem with the candidate review is that it doesn't provide adquent opportunities for bonding. So many candidates are invited, many of them won't get in, and many more won't come, you don't have any idea what the final class will look like when you return in August. And not knowing if you are accepted or not puts people in a weird position. They are still anxious and jittery as if this were an interview, when it's supposed to be their chance to evaluate the school. Besides, Cathy and Vanessa are totally exhausted by the end.

 

[gbwillner]

My problem with the candidate review is that it doesn't provide adquent opportunities for bonding. So many candidates are invited, many of them won't get in, and many more won't come, you don't have any idea what the final class will look like when you return in August. And not knowing if you are accepted or not puts people in a weird position. They are still anxious and jittery as if this were an interview, when it's supposed to be their chance to evaluate the school. Besides, Cathy and Vanessa are totally exhausted by the end.

I remember bonding with at least a few applicants during candidate review... except when I ditched a dinner to go out on a date with a girl I met during the first interview.... but that's another story.

As far as the process... I think it has its advantages and disadvantages. First, I agree it can be confusing. But let me tell you that everyone who goes to candidate review gets in. Maybe officially there is a chance that you will be accepted but not given funding (that's really what candidate review IS, everyone is accepted but the funding issue has to be sorted out), but really everyone invited eventually gets funding. That's because BCM can afford to have 12-14 new students/year and we invite like 24-30 to CA. Of those, eventually, only 8-14 will both accept and matriculate, so every one of them gets the funding (eventually). You may just have to wait for a while before you know for sure. Perhaps Misha can correct me if I'm wrong.

I agree that it can be annoying to wait for the funding call. As far as Neuronix's comment... I never really heard that before and I was in the program for 8 years, so I'll chalk it up to a unique situation.

I do like that we get to go back and speak with potential PIs and get a better feel for Houston and the program. Wait until residency comes around... I visited a few programs 3 (!!) times.... It's true you don;t really know what your class will look like ENTIRELY, but that was true everywhere. I visited another top programs' "accepted applicants" weekend... similar type of bonding... and only about 1/2 of those people matriculated there too.

 

[Ariodant]

Maybe my current school is different, but we don't invite that many to second visit. And you can get an idea who's definitely coming and who's still wobbling. Although I agree that most at candidate review will eventually receive acceptance at some point, but at least half of them will have to go through the waiting game,of which we are all very tired of at that point of the process. The timing of CR is also awkward. Many candidates come simply because they haven't heard back from schools higher on their list.

 

[gbwillner]

Many candidates come simply because they haven't heard back from schools higher on their list.

Hell, if the program is paying for you to go visit them, of course you should go. When I went to CR I wasn't sold on Baylor... but afterwards I knew it was the place for me.

 

[Ariodant]

Some of my friends didn't😀

Baylor is a nice place. I like the Texan hospitality and the ridiculously large-than-downtown institute.😉

 

[gbwillner]

Some of my friends didn't😀

Baylor is a nice place. I like the Texan hospitality and the ridiculously large-than-downtown institute.😉

I remember way back when I was applying.... I applied mainly to top 10 schools only, some top 20s... and I only applied to one school in the South.... Baylor (although really Houston is not the South since Texas is it's own country...). I thought I'd stay in the NE, since I really liked it. I also really liked Chicago. I never really gave Baylor a chance, until I saw it for myself. Overall I found it to be the most impressive place. No other place (at the time) gave you rotations at 3-5 different hospitals (even for cores) and let you try as broad a range of clinical practice. Not to mention the top-notch genetics department.

 

[misha680]

I seriously doubt they're going to admit that it happens if you e-mail them considering they told me to hide it all those years ago. The official line was then as I'm sure it is now that this doesn't happen. Is that official position false, as it was then, is the question I'm asking since you have the inside knowledge (perhaps?).

BTW, I'm a sixth year too. We were probably at candidate review together back then!

I'm just curious if they've stopped doing it given the topic of this thread is specifically Baylor admissions. I think first off candidate review is a shady practice (just my opinion). You couldn't make a decision on the applicants the first time like 95% of programs? But, that's besides the point. I wanted to point out that accepting me while asking me not to tell anyone probably had the reverse of the desired effect. I did not feel "honored" as my candidate review interviewer suggested I should be to be one of the few accepted before candidate review. Instead, I left feeling creeped out by that odd admissions process. As a student on the operating committee, hopefully you can get to the bottom of this.

Eric

Well I'm not sure, I talked to Vanessa and she said she's never heard of that. Then again we have new recruiting people every few years. You know, from reading what you wrote carefully I think your interviewer was a little confused. Some people get invited to candidate review earlier than others, and in fact there are candidates whose profiles and interviewer evaluations are so great that we don't discuss them as an entire operating committee. Perhaps you were in that group. However, certainly none of them have been officially accepted to MSTP, at least that I am aware of.

Of course, when you interview someone, you can usually tell how good a chance they have of getting in (I mean after the interview in any case). Certainly if you are one of the very top applicants and you basically don't do anything really really bad at candidate review and express interest in Baylor I bet you'll be admitted. But an interviewer telling you that you're already admitted is pretty unethical, and plus a lie because unless it was a program director (was it?) they can't really guarantee that anyway. Actually I'm not really sure a program director by themselves could guarantee it either, but that'd be a pretty strong case.

Anyhow, I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Hope you're happy where you ended up.

Misha

 

[Neuronix]

You know, from reading what you wrote carefully I think your interviewer was a little confused.

I wish I had kept the letter and e-mail. I got a letter saying I was fully accepted with funding. Then to add to it, someone from the office wrote me separately briefly before review to tell me to keep my acceptance to myself!

It was very clear to me at the time. This was a coordinated effort and not just one confused faculty member.

 

[misha680]

I wish I had kept the letter and e-mail. I got a letter saying I was fully accepted with funding. Then to add to it, someone from the office wrote me separately briefly before review to tell me to keep my acceptance to myself!

It was very clear to me at the time. This was a coordinated effort and not just one confused faculty member.

Wow. Well I don't know it certainly sounds like we don't do this currently but I'll make sure to ask some of the directors when I get a chance or bring up your story at one of our SOC meetings... Thanks for letting me know.

Misha

 

[Neuronix]

Thanks for taking my true story seriously 🙂 Please don't send a hit man I hope you'll stay on the forum and contribute more!

 

[misha680]

Thanks for taking my true story seriously 🙂 Please don't send a hit man I hope you'll stay on the forum and contribute more!

You know those BCM hit men... I saw them at Ben Taub when I was on the ER rotation holding down a very very intoxicated patient who needed treatment big buff guys 🙂 I'll try to contribute more, certainly these forums have been keeping me busier than I expected already (not just your posts) 😉

Misha

 

[premedatheart]

Thank you all for your help! 🙂