Changing the System - Transparency in Admissons

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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texasm said:
I have heard others speak of LizzyM. Who is LizzyM by the way? Is she an adcom only because she and the others say she is or does she also have an institutional affiliation that can be shared? And I ask this question respectfully but curiously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you're_a_dog
Click to expand...

My institutional affiliation is private although someone at SDN confirmed my identity before giving me the badges to see displayed below my avatar.

I came across this forum years ago through the interview feedback page (looking for ideas as I was a new interviewer but long time adcom member), took pity on the folks here in the dark (most of whom are residients now) and stayed because it helps me understand the process from a different POV and gives me an opportunity to help others and it serves as an outlet for my quirky sense of humor. And I just like hanging out with (almost) everyone here.
 
aSagacious said:
It is against the rules of the forum to inquire as to where they work, though (for the sake of anonymity).
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She has her picture displayed, so she is not anonymous. Unless she is representing someone else's picture as her own.
 
texasm said:
I have heard others speak of LizzyM. Who is LizzyM by the way? Is she an adcom only because she and the others say she is or does she also have an institutional affiliation that can be shared? And I ask this question respectfully but curiously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you're_a_dog
Click to expand...

LizzyM is a secret spy for the adcoms.:scared:

aSagacious said:
SDN members who claim to be attending physicians or faculty members are screened by moderators. It is against the rules of the forum to inquire as to where they work, though (for the sake of anonymity).
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But then who screens the moderators?😱

Conspiracy!!!
 
RogueUnicorn said:
shut up
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Oh come on, even if I met George Bush or Obama, I am likely to tell him to his face that he is an assh*le. If I won't say that, it's only because I am being polite to someone older than me.
 
LizzyM is the Queen of all things admission related. She is awesome. Let's not forget that she DOESN'T HAVE TO BE HERE. Yet she is here talking to us runts.

So, let's be thankful.
 
texasm said:
Oh come on, even if I met George Bush or Obama, I am likely to tell him to his face that he is an assh*le. If I won't say that, it's only because I am being polite to someone older than me.
Click to expand...

...
 
Yes, it is me, Jane Lynch in the costume and make-up of the character Sue Sylvester from the FOX comedy Glee, using the handle LizzyM to give advice to pre-meds. Not.

If you click on my profile page you will see a picture of me in my bat mask.

:laugh:
 
LizzyM said:
Yes, it is me, Jane Lynch in the costume and make-up of the character Sue Sylvester from the FOX comedy Glee, using the handle LizzyM to give advise to pre-meds. Not.

If you click on my profile page you will see a picture of me in my bat mask.

:laugh:
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FotoFlexer_Photo-1.jpg
 
I know one adcom who lurks here but she is my aunt. And not someone I particularly care for. The feeling is mutual, so I have one med school less in my state that will accept me. And now she knows who Texasm is!
 
texasm said:
I know one adcom who lurks here but she is my aunt. And not someone I particularly care for. The feeling is mutual, so I have one med school less in my state that will accept me.
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Adcoms lurk? Oh wait... I knew that already.

Hahaha they told me that at an info session.

U of M certainly likes to read SDN.
 
LizzyM would be way cooler if she just gave us free admission passes to a medical school of our choice...:idea:
 
texasm said:
That is good to know! Can you share if you are also a physician?
Click to expand...

I am not although I've worked closely with many physicians over the years and have published in a number of medical journals. I am a faculty member in a basic science department ... I won't say anything more specific than that.
 
LizzyM said:
I am not although I've worked closely with many physicians over the years and have published in a number of medical journals. I am a faculty member in a basic science department ... I won't say anything more specific than that.
Click to expand...

Well, at least now I know you're not my aunt, who is also an adcom! She's only interested in getting her two sons into medical school.
 
LizzyM said:
Well, now I know you are not my nephew.
Click to expand...

I can let you adopt me as a nephew though, if you would give me a free admit pass to a medical school 🙂
 
CodeBlu said:
Imagine you did find a relative on here... it'd be so awkward at the next family gathering.

"So how about that SDN...?"
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Except that if we know she's going to be at a family gathering, my sisters and I stay away!
 
Thanks to whoever posted that Western Ontario decision making info.
 
Students who have been accepted into medical schools need to write to schools that treated them unfairly or badly. Schools that have a black box approach to admissions need to be told that such a non-transparent approach is unfair to students. Unless we tell them we're p*ssed off, they won't change anything.
 
texasm said:
Students who have been accepted into medical schools need to write to schools that treated them unfairly or badly. Schools that have a black box approach to admissions need to be told that such a non-transparent approach is unfair to students. Unless we tell them we're p*ssed off, they won't change anything.
Click to expand...


Some schools interview <20% of those who apply and accept far fewer than that. Why should they care if someone deemed not worthy of admission is "pissed off". Life is not fair. My husband says that "fair" is a four letter "F" word and he doesn't want to hear it in our house!

It is a buyers market and if you have the right stuff, you'll suffer through the indignities and come out with an offer. Don't expect admissions to be "fair". Likewise, don't expect the job market to be fair either. Do you think hiring at a Fortune 400 firm is "transparent"? :laugh:
 
Gonna take this thread off track yet again, but I wanna recognize the mods for their extremely effective use of the banhammer lately. Andersen and demh both in the same week. amirite?

banhammer.jpg


Thanks, mods.
 
From http://uwmedicine.washington.edu/Education/MD-Program/Admissions/Pages/FrequentlyAskedQuestions.aspx

"If you are taking a post-baccalaureate program and working full time, is it important to take a full course load or okay to take one at a time?

It depends on your previous record. If your previous record was reasonably strong but you were an English major and that's why you are in a post-baccalaureate program it's not as critical to take three courses at a time. The committee would be interested in seeing how you do in an upper-level science course. However, if you are trying to recover from a 2.3 grade point average (GPA) and we look at your transcript and the year in which you did badly was when you took four science courses at a time, then we will want to see a few together later."

That is such b*ll ****. Adcoms don't go into such detail. They don't have the time for all such stuff. They resent service duties and want to get back to their research. Or teaching. Or clinical duties. Or get back to their families. Or their wife. Or the pretty blonde who wants to be scr*wed by a doctor. Then again there might be some power-hungry losers who suck at research and get their jollies from such decisions.
 
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LizzyM said:
Some schools interview <20% of those who apply and accept far fewer than that. Why should they care if someone deemed not worthy of admission is "pissed off". Life is not fair. My husband says that "fair" is a four letter "F" word and he doesn't want to hear it in our house!

It is a buyers market and if you have the right stuff, you'll suffer through the indignities and come out with an offer. Don't expect admissions to be "fair". Likewise, don't expect the job market to be fair either. Do you think hiring at a Fortune 400 firm is "transparent"? :laugh:
Click to expand...

Yeah, you do have a point there!
 
texasm said:
From http://uwmedicine.washington.edu/Education/MD-Program/Admissions/Pages/FrequentlyAskedQuestions.aspx

"If you are taking a post-baccalaureate program and working full time, is it important to take a full course load or okay to take one at a time?

It depends on your previous record. If your previous record was reasonably strong but you were an English major and that's why you are in a post-baccalaureate program it's not as critical to take three courses at a time. The committee would be interested in seeing how you do in an upper-level science course. However, if you are trying to recover from a 2.3 grade point average (GPA) and we look at your transcript and the year in which you did badly was when you took four science courses at a time, then we will want to see a few together later."

That is such b*ll ****. Adcoms don't go into such detail. They don't have the time for all such stuff. They resent service duties and want to get back to their research. Or teaching. Or clinical duties. Or get back to their families. Or their wife. Or the pretty blonde who wants to be scr*wed by a doctor. Then again there might be some power-hungry losers who suck at research and get their jollies from such decisions.
Click to expand...


:whoa:
 
CodeBlu said:
No problem.

An 11 cut off in verbal is insane for a lot of applicants though.
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I just wanted to mention though, that Western only publishes this information after the fact. They do say that they have strict cutoffs but reserve the right to change them every year. Although they do tend to stay in the same range. 11 in verbal is high, and I think intentionally so, as it really cuts down the applicant pool. I think that western has an idea of how many students they want to interview, and then adjust the cutoffs to get close to that number.
 
texasm said:
From http://uwmedicine.washington.edu/Education/MD-Program/Admissions/Pages/FrequentlyAskedQuestions.aspx

"If you are taking a post-baccalaureate program and working full time, is it important to take a full course load or okay to take one at a time?

It depends on your previous record. If your previous record was reasonably strong but you were an English major and that's why you are in a post-baccalaureate program it's not as critical to take three courses at a time. The committee would be interested in seeing how you do in an upper-level science course. However, if you are trying to recover from a 2.3 grade point average (GPA) and we look at your transcript and the year in which you did badly was when you took four science courses at a time, then we will want to see a few together later."



That is such b*ll ****. Adcoms don't go into such detail. They don't have the time for all such stuff. They resent service duties and want to get back to their research. Or teaching. Or clinical duties. Or get back to their families. Or their wife. Or the pretty blonde who wants to be scr*wed by a doctor. Then again there might be some power-hungry losers who suck at research and get their jollies from such decisions.
Click to expand...


Some of our most thorough adcom members have been semi-retired physicians who have all the time in the world. Also M3 & M4 students who do an hour per day of application review as a "study break". And those of us who do it at home while our kids are at the dining room table doing homework.
 
LizzyM said:
Some of our most thorough adcom members have been semi-retired physicians who have all the time in the world. Also M3 & M4 students who do an hour per day of application review as a "study break". And those of us who do it at home while our kids are at the dining room table doing homework.
Click to expand...

Do you ever ask your kids their opinion on file related matters?

"Hey Billy! Do you think we should interview the guy with a 3.8/29 that saved a small country or the guy with a 3.6/34?"
 
I wonder if she has successfuly scared her kids away from going to medical school.
 
How often do I crush dreams or how often do my kids ask if that's what I"m doing? Almost every day during the application season. (August through Feb or March)



MeowMeowCAT said:
I wonder if she has successfuly scared her kids away from going to medical school.
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One wrote in a school essay that a career goals was to be a fashion designer and design new school uniforms The other wants to be train pigs to be like dogs (as pets). 😕 Where did I go wrong. :laugh:
 
CodeBlu said:
No problem.

An 11 cut off in verbal is insane for a lot of applicants though.
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Ontarians are smart. That might be a definite strategy to discourage those formerly-internationals who have now become Canadian permanent residents. Or it might be a way to discourage those - cough cough cough Quebec Frenchies. Because 11 is quite high. That might be Canadian institutional discrimination against les francais.
 
texasm said:
Ontarians are smart. That might be a definite strategy to discourage those formerly-internationals who have now become Canadian permanent residents. Or it might be a way to discourage those - cough cough cough Quebec Frenchies. Because 11 is quite high.
Click to expand...

Hey hey now. Don't knock the Quebec frenchies. I was/am one. :meanie:

Nothing like poutine and Montreal smoked meat. I am fortunate enough to have both Canadian and American citizenship.

McGill is my dream. But my GPA isn't helping me. Oh well.
 
LizzyM said:
It is a buyers market and if you have the right stuff, you'll suffer through the indignities and come out with an offer. Don't expect admissions to be "fair". Likewise, don't expect the job market to be fair either. Do you think hiring at a Fortune 400 firm is "transparent"? :laugh:
Click to expand...

Hiring isn't even transparent to its employees. :laugh:
 
texasm said:
Ontarians are smart. That might be a definite strategy to discourage those formerly-internationals who have now become Canadian permanent residents. Or it might be a way to discourage those - cough cough cough Quebec Frenchies. Because 11 is quite high. That might be Canadian institutional discrimination against les francais.
Click to expand...

Also, one can't feel too bad for Quebecers. They have 3 french language instruction medical schools in addition to McGill, and the French speaking stream at U of Ottawa.

CodeBlu said:
Hey hey now. Don't knock the Quebec frenchies. I was/am one. :meanie:

Nothing like poutine and Montreal smoked meat. I am fortunate enough to have both Canadian and American citizenship.

McGill is my dream. But my GPA isn't helping me. Oh well.
Click to expand...

McGill is ridiculous, basically need a 4.0 as an OOP.
 
CodeBlu said:
I know of a certain school in Canada. The University of Western Ontario... they receive 2000 applications every year.

They have MCAT and GPA cut offs and they make them no secret. They have preference for people from the region that their school is in, to promote health care delivery in that area.

The MCAT and GPA cut offs are 8-8-8-O for someone from the region... but they must have a total score of 30.

For applicants that are not from the region the cut offs are
PS- 9
VR- 11
BS - 10
Total - 30

The GPA criteria is strict for both applicant pools at a 3.75.

Meet the criteria, you get an interview offer. Don't meet the criteria... rejected outright.

Post interview their admissions formula is 25% MCAT (only VR and WS) + 25% your GPA + 50% your interview score.


I know this because my cousin attends this school currently. It seems to be working well for them.

Now you ask... what about people who have crappy GPAs... good thing you asked... they will look at your BEST two years GPA only. So if your GPA looked like this...

Freshman - 2.60
Sophomore - 2.25
Junior - 3.89
Senior - 3.98

Your junior and senior years would be used. Essentially it's a post-bacc if you already have a degree. Get two good years of school and apply.

Oh and there are no pre-reqs at this school either. My cousin did NOT take organic chemistry. (I'm a lot jelly)
Click to expand...

Then how would they make 40k from application fee's?
 
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