BU - June Waitlist movement

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well, orientation starts on aug 13th, so class probably starts the week after. why?
 
Just curious to see how much more time there is for the waitlist to move. 😕
 
sorry for the semi-false info.

dah, you guys posting up info for c/o 2011 stuff in here.....feels like such a tease!!😳
 
sorry for the semi-false info.

dah, you guys posting up info for c/o 2011 stuff in here.....feels like such a tease!!😳

Oh. Sorry dude.

Here's a puppy in a flower pot
Puppy.JPG


Better?
 
Sorry Sendwich....just wanted to be helpful. Hopefully there will be some more people coming off the list. :luck::luck::luck:

By the way, super cute puppy pic!!!
 
I agree with Thayer and Lance, it's definately not the profs, as it's difficult to get *SCALED* grades that low. Unlike Thayer, my own bias/experience leads me to blame the administration on this one. Think of it this way: It was once a system where amazing profs could focus solely on med students. Then they introduced GMS, which took some of their focus off the med students for the grad students. AHA! GMS is paydirt! So they continually increase the size, and now the profs are spread a little thin. They once served ~100 students, now it's closer to ~250.

Either way, something smells like bad Boston chowder, and it's not the sweaty biker her, or the frenchy physiologist...

I have to go ahead and disagree with this...Most of the GMS classes are held on alternate semesters for the GMS and Med students which means that when professors are teaching Histo for med students in the fall, GMS got the mirror course but in the spring. Only a small % of the actual med class is given to the GMS kids (except for Immuno and Endo). Also, you cannot blame a professor for a students failure, if med students wanted to make an appt to ask questions they would not be denied that request. Its pretty easy to blame the administration but I know that the professors at BU are exceptional at keeping students top priority.
 
I have to go ahead and disagree with this...Most of the GMS classes are held on alternate semesters for the GMS and Med students which means that when professors are teaching Histo for med students in the fall, GMS got the mirror course but in the spring. Only a small % of the actual med class is given to the GMS kids (except for Immuno and Endo). Also, you cannot blame a professor for a students failure, if med students wanted to make an appt to ask questions they would not be denied that request. Its pretty easy to blame the administration but I know that the professors at BU are exceptional at keeping students top priority.

Yeah I agree, if students failed it was their own fault.

Too bad this process of admissions is so long and arduous, and then they still end up admitting students who fail! Sucks for the rest of us.
 
Well, I can confirm that what Thayer said is true. heard it directly from my advisor who is on the adcom. and yes, it is totally unfair. my advisor told me Witzburg is not happy about this at all, but he can be as unhappy as he wants...that doesn't do anything for us. we're the ones getting screwed.

As far as who to blame, definitely the administration for not picking motivated, qualified students. But let's blame the people that actually failed their classes. It's not that the profs are spread thin. It's that some of these med students just didn't care enough to do the work. I vividly remember after the immuno final last year hearing so many of the first-years talk about how they didn't study at all b/c they just needed to pass, and how it must have sucked for the GMS kids who actually had to study. That attitude is the reason these students are repeating and taking up spots for people that actually want to work hard.
yeah i remember hearing that too after imuno. I rocked that thing so hard, and others just gave it no effort at all. I'm all for non-competitive education *IF* the environment can support it, but BU can't, and they are stabbing themselves in the foot by producing doctors who just scrape by. Clearly they won't be HORRIBLE doctors, but if they don't know 1/3 of immunology (and it's a pretty important building block of medical knowledge) then what the crap are they doing?!

someone else said:
I have to go ahead and disagree with this...Most of the GMS classes are held on alternate semesters for the GMS and Med students which means that when professors are teaching Histo for med students in the fall, GMS got the mirror course but in the spring. Only a small % of the actual med class is given to the GMS kids (except for Immuno and Endo). Also, you cannot blame a professor for a students failure, if med students wanted to make an appt to ask questions they would not be denied that request. Its pretty easy to blame the administration but I know that the professors at BU are exceptional at keeping students top priority.
Most GMS classes? Let's see... Histo is taught year round for GMS. Physio is taught year round, and then 6-credit physio the meds take in the spring also gets crammed with the grads as well. Immuno and Endo are both overpacked with med and grad students. Aside from the one elective GMSers usually take at some point, which GMS class doesn't interfere with the med equivalent?

No one blamed the professors for doing a poor job - they are all wonderful. But they *are* spread out with over twice the number of students they previously had. No prof would deny a meeting, but they *do* get busy, things get rushed, and office hours get scarce at certain times. There's a significant difference between not denying a meeting, and openly inviting students to visit. I'm sure all of them would love to have the latter, but only have time for the former. The school needs to start dealing with students and not profits; they need to start letting in dedicated hard-working people, instead of someone who has a 4.0 GPA in basket-weaving and thus boost the rank of the school.


As for the puppy:
trash.jpg
 
The orientation schedule is up @ the c/o 2011 page

Classes pretty much start day 1... brutal.


Wow, that is brutal. The med school that I will be attending has an entire week of fun and games and class bonding before classes start. You really hit the ground running at BU! Better have your game face on when you arrive in Boston.
 
Question for you guys, I am on vacation out of the country and a family friend has been checking my mail. He told my father that I have received a letter from BU asking for immunization records. I am not sure what that means, especially since if I got a phone call for acceptance I wouldnt know. I have to double check with him to find out what the letter actually said, but has anyone received something similar, or know what it means?
 
Question for you guys, I am on vacation out of the country and a family friend has been checking my mail. He told my father that I have received a letter from BU asking for immunization records. I am not sure what that means, especially since if I got a phone call for acceptance I wouldnt know. I have to double check with him to find out what the letter actually said, but has anyone received something similar, or know what it means?

that might be good news. why don't you email witzburg at [email protected]

if i were you, i'd want to know. let us know!!! :luck:
 
hey Dr. Curious, if BU is really your top choice then good luck, I hope it's good news.

I don't know what your other options are, but if you have a nice, cheap state school to go to...that would be what I'd recommend. BU is not worth the $50,000- $60,000 tuition.
 
Just for reference anybody know if the lack of movement at schools like BU typical every year or is this year just tougher?
 
Just for reference anybody know if the lack of movement at schools like BU typical every year or is this year just tougher?

There wasn't much movment last year either. The freak accident then was b/c rankings jumped up, apparently. But in years before that, a lot of WL movement was normal.
 
my plea to Witzburg for you guys.... (if you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, read from the BOTTOM up)...


Dr. Witzburg

Thanks for your note sir. I understand a "half-seat" this year doesn't help that much for the 2007-2008 year, but actually with some foresight, one realizes that this will effectively open up a full seat for each of the latter 3 years of the class cohort, since the '11 class will be down a full person in those years (and thus freeing 3.5 years of person-time out of 4 years of medical school).

Plus, this -1 person (-3 person-years of an open seat) extra seat in later years cannot be made up by admitting more people next cycle, since the extra seat's 3 years of person-time exists only in the 2011 cohort.

Thanks again and have a great day.

XXXX



>>> On 7/9/2007 at 9:56 AM, "Witzburg, Robert A" <[email protected]> wrote:

XXXXX,
I believe we received your notification last week and passed it along to the Office of Student Affairs, just to make sure everyone is working with the same expectations. The "half seat" doesn't really help us very much with regard to admissions, but we appreciate the information. Thanks and take care.
Bob Witzburg


-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
To: Witzburg, Robert A
Sent: Mon Jul 09 09:35:54 2007
Subject: helping with admissions WL decision from an admitted student

Dear BUSM Admissions and Dr. Witzburg,

Hi, I'm XXXXXXXXXX, an entering medical student at BUSM this fall.... [irrelevant sentence deleted]

However, I will be pursuing the special "Alternative Curriculum" (that decompresses the first year into two years). As result, this would effectively open up "half-a-seat" in upcoming year (and actually open up a full seat for each of the MS2, MS3, and MS4 years of the class of 2011 cohort).

I know there are actually many students eagerly hoping to be admitted off the Wait-list. Thus, I hope this information helps you make a better informed decision to admit another student from the WL.

[irrelevant sentence deleted]

XXXX
 
Thanks Epi for your attempt to help us WL'ed out!

Just off the phone with admissions and they said that they dont expect any movement from here on out! She did mention that this could change in the future. Can anyone confirm?

Until I receive a letter telling me otherwise, I will continue to keep the faith!!!
 
Thanks Epi for your attempt to help us WL'ed out!

Just off the phone with admissions and they said that they dont expect any movement from here on out! She did mention that this could change in the future. Can anyone confirm?

Until I receive a letter telling me otherwise, I will continue to keep the faith!!!


I've been hearing the same (friend heard from adcomm that there will be no WL movement).👎
 
how's everyone doing?
 
how's everyone doing?

All things considered, I'm doing pretty well. I'm guessing most of the frequent posters to this thread are now preparing for alternate med schools 😀😀😀😎
or reapplication 🙁.

Even though I've committed to attending another med school, I do check this thread pretty regularly. I'm still curious about what went down at BU admissions this cycle.
Given Dean Witzburg's early confidence in high waitlist movement, I was initially pretty happy to be on the wait list. However, as the cycle wore on I soured on BU and decided not to wait for a final decision. The low waitlist movement, combined with the adcom's policy of secrecy and the alleged loss of 12 to 15 spots to failing first year students, was disconcerting on several levels.
Were I considering a future application to BU, all of this would give me some pause.
 
alleged loss of 12 to 15 spots to failing first year students, was disconcerting on several levels.

😱 R U SERIOUS?!!! That's a lot of spots.
 
Does anybody know how many people are still on the waitlist at BU? I heard the number was less than 20.
 
If it is 20.. i am quite disappointed about the 12-15 students allowed to start 1st year again. I sit here without any acceptances and 2 waitlist.. and studying for the MCAT again while my application is already verified.

This is definitely not fair to us. If they over enrolled last year, those 12-15 should have been dropped from the program, it for sure would have helped with the class size 😛 . Well I hope all of you have somewhere to go to next year. I, for one, won't mind spending another year in LA, however, theres no guarantee i'll be accepted this coming year 🙁
 
So, basically, the waitlist is done for 2007... yes? I just don´t wanna play in this waiting game anymore and want to make other plans....
 
If it is 20.. i am quite disappointed about the 12-15 students allowed to start 1st year again. I sit here without any acceptances and 2 waitlist.. and studying for the MCAT again while my application is already verified.


Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I will be reapppling and retaking the MCATs with little assurance that I will get in next cycle either. Really not happy about this but at this point can't get do much about it. Props to you for having your application verified already though. I guess I was a little too hopeful about getting off a WL that I haven't even begun. g/l
 
I guess there sending the last bit of rejections out.

I got one of those generic ones today. =/ Mcat next monday haha. We'll see how that goes.. Good luck everyone.
 
Did any of you actually go through the GMS program?

I am a GMS student myself applying for the 2008 entering class, but I wonder what my chances are of getting in. 😕 It's demoralizing to see so many of you still waiting to get off the WL....
 
Did any of you actually go through the GMS program?

I am a GMS student myself applying for the 2008 entering class, but I wonder what my chances are of getting in. 😕 It's demoralizing to see so many of you still waiting to get off the WL....

I was a former GMSer. was interviewed, told I had a great chance but was waitlisted. I've been informed that I was in the top waitlist (supposed to get in) but by some freak accident this year, did not get in. By "freak accident", I'm referring to what happened to last year's M1's. Read prior posts to find out what happened.

Just some pointers, if you want a decent shot at BUSM next fall, you MUST get at least 3.7-8 in your GMS coursework to be taken seriously. Getting your face known (especially to those sitting on the admissions committee) wouldn't hurt either. Brown nosing aside, you want them to love you. If you are a minority (latin/african american), you may have a slight upperhand. I'm not trying to push any buttons here, but this seems to be the case from what I've seen so far. 🙄

pm me if you want more info. Gluck!:luck:
 
From what I've heard from an accepted GMSer, there were about 15 GMS students accepted into this year's class. This is less than half the number the GMS program aims to have enrolled at BUSM each year (~35). 🙁

It seems the last couple years have not been kind to GMS students (with non-moving waitlists, failing MS1's and all...) Hopefully, this is not the start of a trend.

Still, with a 3.7+ grad GPA and close contact with the right professors, acceptance is attainable.
 
From what I've heard from an accepted GMSer, there were about 15 GMS students accepted into this year's class. This is less than half the number the GMS program aims to have enrolled at BUSM each year (~35). 🙁

It seems the last couple years have not been kind to GMS students (with non-moving waitlists, failing MS1's and all...) Hopefully, this is not the start of a trend.

Still, with a 3.7+ grad GPA and close contact with the right professors, acceptance is attainable.


🙁 I had a 3.8 in the program, knew some profs on a face basis (not super chummy) and had some write letters for me and still 👎.
 
FYI: one of the MS1 students who just started at BUSM withdrew and took an offer at UF. Not sure what admissions will do, but an eager beaver could call Witzburg and inquire about still pulling someone from waitlist. gluck.
 
That actually happened two weeks ago and the spot was filled later that day.


FYI: one of the MS1 students who just started at BUSM withdrew and took an offer at UF. Not sure what admissions will do, but an eager beaver could call Witzburg and inquire about still pulling someone from waitlist. gluck.
 
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