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It's all need-based aid, and if there was under-the-table money then they have a big table cloth because I've never heard of it!
1) The transcript grade is P/F but you receive written summative evaluations of your performance. There is no code word in the summatives, so the indication of your "grade" is really whether it sounds great or not. Having read tons of my classmates evals (lot of us share out of curiosity), its essentially impossible to distinguish because every summative is written with so much superlative. One clerkship director put it as basically "It's unfortunate because it doesn't always represent how you do, but if we don't do that then all the other schools do and you'd be at a disadvantage." So rest assured, they have your back - it is in the interest of the school to have you match as well as possible. The only exception to this is if you're among the best your attending has worked with - they will note that then it stands out a bit. It feels P/F depending on who your rotation partner is - if they're chill then yes, if they're not then it feels less so but at the end of the day, it has no real impact.
I do feel that they do somewhat just because a lot of the events and hanging out occur there, and it can be a hassle to commute there. However, I think this applies less to the people you become really good friends with, more to just getting to know all 135 people (since also during class you're somewhat isolated to your society of 40ish people).
The only ones that mattered were national sports champion, winner of one of the big international scholarships, and a first author basic science pub. It seems like a lot but basically everything that you do extremely well paves the road (snowballs) for future things, the scholarship was a result of the other two things, not de novo.
A good number of people are, and most have SOME research, but I wouldn't say that everyone has tons of research. From before med school, in my class, perhaps <5 with first author clinical papers, 2 with a first author basic, 1/3 with some low-authorship pub? Having a first author definitely would make you stand out.
Unfortunately, I get the sense that for most its more of a requirement. It does trigger me when classmates say they're doing it only to match etc because then in front of residency interviewers etc they essentially lie and sing about how much they love it. There are definitely a number who are incredibly passionate about it - and these are usually the ones with the first author pubs and power research profiles since a lot of it is a function of time/effort.
How does Harvard or other MD schools view taking Harvard or UC extension courses to pull up sGPA from 3.5 to 3.75. I have 519 MCAT. Worried about how it is viewed.
Do you know how many of your classmates have a spouse/children and how life is in general for HMS students with families?
A few do but not very familiar with how they manage it except they are usually not at class party events, and probably not spending as much time on ECs.
Gotcha, thank you for helping anyway! It is difficult finding info because the pool of Non-trads who do well enough to consider top schools is so low.
Not OP, but I’ll be starting in August. I personally took 2 years, and gap years are VERY common. Over 100 students (~2/3) in the incoming class are over the age of 23 – we also have 2 33 year old students beginning. Most of the people that I met at Revisit took 1-2 gaps years and worked in some sort of community service (Peace Corps, AmeriCorps), academics (Rhodes, Fulbright, etc), or in research (clinical/basic science).
^
what about a 2-time New Yorker caption contest winner with a broad jaw and average stats (I mean gym stats my GPA is trash)?
Not important at all - it's hard to really know even if you've shadowed and worked a lot in X field as a scribe etc, until you really dive into rotations. Most students change their minds multiple times during medical school about their specialties. Schools know this.
I've been a tutor for several years now so I have some insight into this. There are no direct recs to the adcom and the composite letter written by your individual premed tutor is vetted, edited, and proofed by the resident tutor and at least 2 faculty before it is signed off and uploaded - so I wouldn't worry about any bias carrying over.
Related but opposite question: is first generation Army reserves lab tech from podunk U enough of a wow factor? Lol (3.66/3.97/521)
Being first generation is a wow factor? How are you going about explaining that? Wondering cuz I’m first generation too. And I think I speak for everyone when I say that the usurper of Asgard needs to come back
Nah, first generation is not a wow factor in and of itself. My application just kinda throws all the buzzwords out there to see what sticks lol
The past few years, there have been about 70 different institutions represented so there's definitely a good ~1/3 or so coming from schools outside the top 10. Not everyone needs to have a "wow" factor in the strict sense of having won an Olympic medal, there are many ways, including the story and hurdles you've overcome in life.
Could be interesting if there's a neat story/theme to your application. Not sure how much standalone value, but there is a recent push to enroll more veterans.
520 is 99%, 80,000 test takers a year means 800 >520. First gen only makes up 14% of applicants, meaning 112 first gen >520. It isn’t a wow factor of sorts, but it is rare.
