Class of 2019!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Tman90 said:
But do you love cats.... or Taylor Swift? 😉
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All of the above. I think Taylor and I would get along pretty well IRL 😉
 
I love that my memories of this application year will always be cheerfully full of penguins and Tswift and everyone from this thread! This is the Year of the Penguin and we shall forever be known as the First Penguins (with our Mighty and Gracious Leader @ProbablyAPenguin at the helm of the benevolent revolution, naturally).

I've been researching everything I can find on MMIs (including some of the things posted on this thread, so thank you for that!) as my first one is coming up this week. If you guys have any advice for me I greatly appreciate it!
 
spockprime said:
I love that my memories of this application year will always be cheerfully full of penguins and Tswift and everyone from this thread! This is the Year of the Penguin and we shall forever be known as the First Penguins (with our Mighty and Gracious Leader @ProbablyAPenguin at the helm of the benevolent revolution, naturally).

I've been researching everything I can find on MMIs (including some of the things posted on this thread, so thank you for that!) as my first one is coming up this week. If you guys have any advice for me I greatly appreciate it!
Click to expand...

Re: MMI's.

I loved the experience. I honestly don't think you can prepare for one, but you can prepare for the format.

This is how I answer MMI Questions:

1) Restate question to interviewer to ensure you understand it correctly. "blah blah blah, did I interpret the prompt correctly?"
2) Answer to both sides of the coin. Say why you agree/disagree etc.
3) Pick a stance and justify it based on what you think.
4) Finish all of this with atleast 2-3 mins left on the clock so your interviewer can ask follow up questions.
5) Thank them for their time and move on.

For MMI scenarios or acting sessions, you write the script. You can take it anywhere you want if it helps you. I suggest you do that.

I also spent a good chunk of one MMI saying things along the line of "Ugh, I don't know I don't know. I don't judge this thing and I support their right to do it and I think it looks cool, but I can see the flip side and how it would affect xyz. If forced to pick I would go with this, because of XYZ, but I'd still be conflicted. This is so hard."

It's better to admit gaps in knowledge than to pull crap out of your ass and look like an idiot.

For my first scenario I talked the ENTIRE time. When the buzzer went, I looked at my interviewer and said, "Oh gosh. I just talked for 7 mins straight. I'm so sorry!" She just started laughing.

Also, if someone asks you about something that is important to you, you can give an answer unrelated to medicine if you can tie it into how it has helped you become who you are or how it helps you understand others. Select something that shows growth and humility so you don't come off as self centered. Talking yourself up can backfire since this isn't a job interview. It's also easier to speak about experiences and concrete examples than lofty ideas you're forming as you go along.

Form questions might be asked during an MMI as well.
 
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spockprime said:
I've been researching everything I can find on MMIs (including some of the things posted on this thread, so thank you for that!) as my first one is coming up this week. If you guys have any advice for me I greatly appreciate it!
Click to expand...
A theme I see in what @ridethecliche wrote above is to be yourself. This seems like obvious advice, but it is easy to forget in the artificial environment of the MMI!

I am only a veteran of two MMIs (and one was so brief as to be more like a "several mini interview") but here's what I recommend: Always start with your natural reaction to the scenario. Structure your answers to the extent that you feel most comfortable. And above all, be ready for anything. A few examples of things that the MMI could throw at you are in a useful post I saw earlier today.
 
ridethecliche said:
Re: MMI's.

I loved the experience. I honestly don't think you can prepare for one, but you can prepare for the format.

This is how I answer MMI Questions:

1) Restate question to interviewer to ensure you understand it correctly. "blah blah blah, did I interpret the prompt correctly?"
2) Answer to both sides of the coin. Say why you agree/disagree etc.
3) Pick a stance and justify it based on what you think.
4) Finish all of this with atleast 2-3 mins left on the clock so your interviewer can ask follow up questions.
5) Thank them for their time and move on.

For MMI scenarios or acting sessions, you write the script. You can take it anywhere you want if it helps you. I suggest you do that.

I also spent a good chunk of one MMI saying things along the line of "Ugh, I don't know I don't know. I don't judge this thing and I support their right to do it and I think it looks cool, but I can see the flip side and how it would affect xyz. If forced to pick I would go with this, because of XYZ, but I'd still be conflicted. This is so hard."

It's better to admit gaps in knowledge than to pull crap out of your ass and look like an idiot.

For my first scenario I talked the ENTIRE time. When the buzzer went, I looked at my interviewer and said, "Oh gosh. I just talked for 7 mins straight. I'm so sorry!" She just started laughing.

Also, if someone asks you about something that is important to you, you can give an answer unrelated to medicine if you can tie it into how it has helped you become who you are or how it helps you understand others. Select something that shows growth and humility so you don't come off as self centered. Talking yourself up can backfire since this isn't a job interview. It's also easier to speak about experiences and concrete examples than lofty ideas you're forming as you go along.

Form questions might be asked during an MMI as well.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much @ridethecliche, this is fantastic advice and very thorough! I didn't even think about restating the question for clarification, but it seems like a great way to make sure I'm addressing the right problem before gradually transitioning into discussing the two viewpoints at hand and providing my opinion. Is there really a timer in place for you to watch, or does your interviewer sometimes just stop you? Hopefully I won't choke on a scenario, but I'll definitely keep in mind that I can discuss the issue and state that I'm not sure how to proceed but would research the issue further/consult someone.

For the question that you mentioned about something that's important to me, would picking something artistic that I do be alright? That's usually what I choose for that question, and just flesh out how it's made me an X person, which relates to medicine in Y way. Wasn't sure if that's elf-centered... it's definitely not me speaking about winning an award or something like that. Thank you again for the great advice!

breakintheroof said:
A theme I see in what @ridethecliche wrote above is to be yourself. This seems like obvious advice, but it is easy to forget in the artificial environment of the MMI!

I am only a veteran of two MMIs (and one was so brief as to be more like a "several mini interview") but here's what I recommend: Always start with your natural reaction to the scenario. Structure your answers to the extent that you feel most comfortable. And above all, be ready for anything. A few examples of things that the MMI could throw at you are in a useful post I saw earlier today.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the great link and the advice! That is definitely something I need to remind myself before I go in this week -- I need to stay sincere, considerate, honest, open-minded, and tactful, and hopefully I will do alright!
 
spockprime said:
Thank you so much @ridethecliche, this is fantastic advice and very thorough! I didn't even think about restating the question for clarification, but it seems like a great way to make sure I'm addressing the right problem before gradually transitioning into discussing the two viewpoints at hand and providing my opinion. Is there really a timer in place for you to watch, or does your interviewer sometimes just stop you? Hopefully I won't choke on a scenario, but I'll definitely keep in mind that I can discuss the issue and state that I'm not sure how to proceed but would research the issue further/consult someone.

For the question that you mentioned about something that's important to me, would picking something artistic that I do be alright? That's usually what I choose for that question, and just flesh out how it's made me an X person, which relates to medicine in Y way. Wasn't sure if that's elf-centered... it's definitely not me speaking about winning an award or something like that. Thank you again for the great advice!
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No problemo.

There was a clock in my session that one could see. I think there needs to be a balance in content. Your interview is the sum of all the 'vignettes' so if you talk about yourself at all the places, then it's not bad, but if there's something on your application that's very important to you like art, then I would definitely show passion for that activity and how you've learned from it. Artists often deal with frustration and learn patience with themselves and others through the process. Things like that are helpful no matter what you do for work so myriad connections can be made. So just try to make those connections and show what you've learned.

I talked about police brutality and inequality in one of my prompts. The guy was like, you don't want to talk about anything health related? I was like, well sure I could do that, but this has been on my mind lately and I wonder what good it is to have great healthcare if you get shot for looking the wrong way on your way home. I was being hyperbolic, but he got it. It was a good conversation.

I also told another interviewer that I thought the concept of empathy in medicine was overblown and still got into that school...

breakintheroof said:
A theme I see in what @ridethecliche wrote above is to be yourself. This seems like obvious advice, but it is easy to forget in the artificial environment of the MMI!

I am only a veteran of two MMIs (and one was so brief as to be more like a "several mini interview") but here's what I recommend: Always start with your natural reaction to the scenario. Structure your answers to the extent that you feel most comfortable. And above all, be ready for anything. A few examples of things that the MMI could throw at you are in a useful post I saw earlier today.
Click to expand...

Being asked to discuss a scenario involving two people, often ethical.
Being given a scenario in which you have to interact with an actor playing a role.
Being asked about a policy question, which may or may not be medically related.
Being asked a standard interview question ( eg why do you want to be a doctor or tell me about a failure you experienced.)
Being asked to give or receive instructions on how to perform a task, such as draw a picture, while sitting back to back.

The above information from the other thread is golden. And I also second being yourself because you can't make up a fake character and stay in it consistently for all of these. Many MMI centers record the interviews or have people watching what you're saying at all of them. They'll know when you're bs'ing.

If something doesn't go well. Brush yourself off and move onto the next one. It's like passages on the MCAT. If you get caught up thinking about one you think you didn't do well on, you're just going down the rabbit hole of self doubt.

Be confident, not cocky. I have one next week. I'm looking forward to it.
 
I got my Fasfa back and it said the school will let me know about the aid I am going to receive.
 
ProbablyAPenguin said:
You got your fafsa back already?? how?

*Edit* You SUBMITTED your fafsa already??
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I was gonna submit ASAP and just use my parents' estimated info from last year. But dang, some peeps are fast lol.
 
ProbablyAPenguin said:
A lot of my schools have specifically said to NOT use your parents information from last year, because filing a correction will just slow them down.
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+1, I can't submit my FAFSA until late Feb/early March at the earliest because of this (Parents won't be getting back some important tax forms until then).
 
Just got a finaid reminder from USC; they said to use estimates but had a deadline of April 10th. Guess this process is radically different from school to school. Most of my other schools, like Penguin's, said not to plug in estimates.

Hopefully getting my W-2 this week... I think this has been the only time I've actually looked forward to doing taxes. x___x
 
I didn't use my parent information. I filled with an estimate and as single. I will submit a correction straight from the IRS later on. You can either wait until you fill or do it selecting the option will fill.
 
En route to Miami!

Yes vacation!

Note to self: try not getting sunburn before your interview. Also next time try getting to the airport a but before your place starts boarding. You know security and all. Also, the tsa peeps don't like it when you tell then your pockets are empty and you have a pocket square in there....
 
ridethecliche said:
Note to self: try not getting sunburn before your interview. Also next time try getting to the airport a but before your place starts boarding. You know security and all. Also, the tsa peeps don't like it when you tell then your pockets are empty and you have a pocket square in there....
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onceawolverine said:
Ah yes, this is the price one pays for high fashion, I suppose.
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#fwp
 
Guys have you ever wondered about the fact that we are spending at least 1/100th of our entire lives in the phase called med school application? And at least 1/35th of it preparing for it? (Assuming most people started to plan for it more than a couple years ago) Just to get in!
 
ridethecliche said:
No problemo.

There was a clock in my session that one could see. I think there needs to be a balance in content. Your interview is the sum of all the 'vignettes' so if you talk about yourself at all the places, then it's not bad, but if there's something on your application that's very important to you like art, then I would definitely show passion for that activity and how you've learned from it. Artists often deal with frustration and learn patience with themselves and others through the process. Things like that are helpful no matter what you do for work so myriad connections can be made. So just try to make those connections and show what you've learned.

I talked about police brutality and inequality in one of my prompts. The guy was like, you don't want to talk about anything health related? I was like, well sure I could do that, but this has been on my mind lately and I wonder what good it is to have great healthcare if you get shot for looking the wrong way on your way home. I was being hyperbolic, but he got it. It was a good conversation.

I also told another interviewer that I thought the concept of empathy in medicine was overblown and still got into that school...

Being asked to discuss a scenario involving two people, often ethical.
Being given a scenario in which you have to interact with an actor playing a role.
Being asked about a policy question, which may or may not be medically related.
Being asked a standard interview question ( eg why do you want to be a doctor or tell me about a failure you experienced.)
Being asked to give or receive instructions on how to perform a task, such as draw a picture, while sitting back to back.

The above information from the other thread is golden. And I also second being yourself because you can't make up a fake character and stay in it consistently for all of these. Many MMI centers record the interviews or have people watching what you're saying at all of them. They'll know when you're bs'ing.

If something doesn't go well. Brush yourself off and move onto the next one. It's like passages on the MCAT. If you get caught up thinking about one you think you didn't do well on, you're just going down the rabbit hole of self doubt.

Be confident, not cocky. I have one next week. I'm looking forward to it.
Click to expand...

Once again, excellent advice, thank you so much! Best of luck with your MMI next week! Hope you're having agreat time in Miami, as well!
 
sunflower18 said:
I am 🙁 not good.
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🙁 I'm so sorry to hear that sunflower, I am sending you my best wishes for the speediest and most pain-free recovery as possible. Let us know if we can help in any way!

Taking a leaf from @Cyberdyne 101's book, I'm including a picture of a lovely sunflower field to keep your spirits up.

nature.jpg
 
sunflower18 said:
Kidney stones are horrible. 🙁
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I'm sure we've all seen the microscopical photo of kidney stones, which are basically torture device made by gluing together gazillions of micro blades, so I won't be attaching the disgusting picture here. Hope you get ride of the problem soon.
 
Sorry to detract from the current conversation, but for those of you who applied to these schools (WUSM, Baylor, Emory, UVA), do you know if they accept updates? They are my reaches, so probably nothing will happen but I'd like to know if it's worth my time crafting more update/interest letters.
 
Ace Khalifa said:
Sorry to detract from the current conversation, but for those of you who applied to these schools (WUSM, Baylor, Emory, UVA), do you know if they accept updates? They are my reaches, so probably nothing will happen but I'd like to know if it's worth my time crafting more update/interest letters.
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UVA does, but not sure about the others! Just make sure to mention how much you love Thomas Jefferson 😛
 
Ace Khalifa said:
Sorry to detract from the current conversation, but for those of you who applied to these schools (WUSM, Baylor, Emory, UVA), do you know if they accept updates? They are my reaches, so probably nothing will happen but I'd like to know if it's worth my time crafting more update/interest letters.
Click to expand...
I know that Emory does since they have that option on their app. Couldn't hurt to mention Grady, since they definitely place a huge emphasis on it during interview day.
 
sunflower18 said:
Kidney stones are horrible. 🙁
Click to expand...

Oh dears, Sunflower! Sending you tons of good vibes. Those little buggers truly are the devil.

I remember when I had kidney stones everyone kept joking "this too, shall pass" and I was like "if it hurts this much now imagine what the passing will be like!" But, alas, the stones passed and life returned to normal. Ever since then I made a conscious effort to increase my water intake and I've been golden, though I know this hasn't always worked for some people. 🙁

@Ace Khalifa be sure to check out our trusty app info sheet. My workload has been insane as of late, so I haven't been able to add on much, but some of the schools you listed are covered there. Good luck!
 
Alright, WUSM update/LOI finished and submitted. Skipping Baylor because of low OOS chances. UVA and Emory to be done next.
 
Updates done! Long shots for sure, but oh well.
 
Is it bad that I never hopped onto either side of the neverending Duke vs. UNC rivalry?
 
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