Heard NOTHING from Stanford???

[SamDC]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Starfruit & Sportschick,

I'm starting to think that they are doing it by region. I'm in DC and still have yet to hear from Stanford. I was complete on 11/15.

 

[Supernova]

I am from California. I was completed in 11/26 and received interview invitation a week ago

 

[Wiggy73]

i was browsing the stanford site for something and ran across this: http://med.stanford.edu/senate/00-01/00-01_12-13_minutes.pdf

granted it was from 2000 but look at some of the stats:

# Students stating academic medicine as goal: 44/86 (seems to support what i said earlier that there may be a 'right' answer to this question on the secondary)

# Students w/ two summers or one year part-time research: 74/86

Both of those fit me and I got the boot.

 

[SamDC]

Hey Wiggy,

Just out of curiosity, where in Arkansas are you from? My parents live in Russellville.

Sorry about Stanford. I'm sure you'll get in somewhere.

Good luck!

Sam

 

[GuyLaroche]

Wiggy! I am surprised about the Stanford boot. You have killer stats, and your writing score means you must be a phenomenal writer. You know, if you really want something, you might have to push a bit for it. How about a strong letter to the dean asking him to reconsider your apps. In the letter, you should state very strongly your wish to attend Stanford and your very well-formed reasons. With your scores, he's not going to throw aside the e-mail. You should consider doing this. On a side note: the world has certainly gone mad!

I'm sure WashU is just itching to send you an acceptance.

 

[Wiggy73]

Guy, you're too sweet! Hmm, a letter's not a bad idea. It won't be hard to articulate my Stanford love. I just may do that - what have I got to lose? As they say, it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

Sam, I'm from Fort Smith. I played sports in Russellville all the time. You know what sounds good right now? A What-a-Burger milkshake. Mmmmmmmm!

 

[DrDarwin]

I wonder about this speculation that Stanford is reviewing apps by region... Has anyone from the Midwest heard anything?

 

[constructor]

I wonder about this speculation that Stanford is reviewing apps by region... Has anyone from the Midwest heard anything?

it's not true and it's just another baseless rumor SDN'ers start to make themselves feel better - pretty much goes along with the classic "oh, i guess my numbers were too good for them and so they must've figured i wasn't going to go there anyway" post-rejection hypothesis.

 

[DrDarwin]

it's not true and it's just another baseless rumor SDN'ers start to make themselves feel better - pretty much goes along with the classic "oh, i guess my numbers were too good for them and so they must've figured i wasn't going to go there anyway" post-rejection hypothesis.

Thanks for clearing the Stanford air 😉.

Also, while lots of SDNers are obviously self-inflated, you don't think people are ever rejected for specifically the reason you cited? Top ten schools are probably not too concerned with matriculation rates, but I bet many other schools are, considering that they only have a limited number of interview spots.

 

[constructor]

Thanks for clearing the Stanford air 😉.

Also, while lots of SDNers are obviously self-inflated, you don't think people are ever rejected for specifically the reason you cited? Top ten schools are probably not too concerned with matriculation rates, but I bet many other schools are, considering that they only have a limited number of interview spots.

well, they might be... who really knows? but i just see that being cited so extensively here as the probable reason for the rejection. i don't think schools like stanford or harvard would discriminate based on where you're from, but a little earlier someone specifically mentioned that maybe stanford wouldn't be as enthusiastic about interviewing or accepting too many from the east coast, which sounded pretty silly to me.

 

[kikkoman]

well, they might be... who really knows? but i just see that being cited so extensively here as the probable reason for the rejection. i don't think schools like stanford or harvard would discriminate based on where you're from, but a little earlier someone specifically mentioned that maybe stanford wouldn't be as enthusiastic about interviewing or accepting too many from the east coast, which sounded pretty silly to me.

I gotta back constructor up on this one.

That being said, I think they might be doing interview batches by region where you went to school. All the people from my interview group went to undergrad in the same part of the country.

 

[Haybrant]

yes, you guys might be surprised to hear, but a big thing at stanford apparently is geographic diversity. A friend in law school there said the same thing. Something like that is so much more b.s and arbitrary than race/ethnicity/economics, yet they still do it at Stanford for sure. Interesting post above where someone said the interviewes in her pool were from the same geographic region. To a certain extent, it makes sense for a school to want to do this too. They figure the person has a vested interest to go back to where they came from, and thus will be spreading the name of the school, and the schools interests to diff. parts of the country where diff. forces compell you to do diff things.

 

[GuyLaroche]

yes, you guys might be surprised to hear, but a big thing at stanford apparently is geographic diversity. A friend in law school there said the same thing. Something like that is so much more b.s and arbitrary than race/ethnicity/economics, yet they still do it at Stanford for sure. Interesting post above where someone said the interviewes in her pool were from the same geographic region. To a certain extent, it makes sense for a school to want to do this too. They figure the person has a vested interest to go back to where they came from, and thus will be spreading the name of the school, and the schools interests to diff. parts of the country where diff. forces compell you to do diff things.

Perhaps with slightly different phrasiology, I'd confess to being drawn entirely to this argument.

 

[Haybrant]

Perhaps with slightly different phrasiology, I'd confess to being drawn entirely to this argument.

haha! Yah, i dont quite buy it the way i phrased it either, but i know what im getting at; didnt feel like going too into depth with it anyway; ive been doing that alot these days which kinda sucks. I would always take the time in the past to explain myself, but now days I just use the seinfeld, yada yada yada, without actually saying it. Its like that when you work a busy ass job i guess. Ill have to clean up my act for interviews " So haybrant, tell us, what would you do if a 13 yo girl came to you and told you she is pregnant?" "Id ask her if it's a boy or a girl. next question please.."

 

[GuyLaroche]

haha! Yah, i dont quite buy it the way i phrased it either, but i know what im getting at; didnt feel like going too into depth with it anyway; ive been doing that alot these days which kinda sucks. I would always take the time in the past to explain myself, but now days I just use the seinfeld, yada yada yada, without actually saying it. Its like that when you work a busy ass job i guess. Ill have to clean up my act for interviews " So haybrant, tell us, what would you do if a 13 yo girl came to you and told you she is pregnant?" "Id ask her if it's a boy or a girl. next question please.."

LOL. Just giving you a hard time. I know what you meant and it sounds like you might be on to something.

 

[starfruit]

it's not true and it's just another baseless rumor SDN'ers start to make themselves feel better - pretty much goes along with the classic "oh, i guess my numbers were too good for them and so they must've figured i wasn't going to go there anyway" post-rejection hypothesis.

This argument makes no sense. How is speculation that you haven't been rejected b/c you haven't been reviewed yet (i.e., b/c your region hasn't been reviewed yet) similar to rationalization of a rejection b/c your stats are too good? Not trying to start an an argument, but really . . .

 

[VeggieGal]

i think we should all give ourselves a break and stop trying to interpret what stanford is doing. i know plenty of people in tx (my home state) that have been reviewed and either gotten an interview or been rejected. i, myself, have not heard but that's probably b/c i turned in my supplement on 11/28, and they just haven't gotten to my file yet. no one is getting put on hold, so i am sure that once they make a decision on your file, you will hear in the next couple of days about their response. if you haven't heard, then they probably haven't gotten to your file, even if you submitted in way in september.

 

[DrDarwin]

[

well, they might be... who really knows? but i just see that being cited so extensively here as the probable reason for the rejection. i don't think schools like stanford or harvard would discriminate based on where you're from, but a little earlier someone specifically mentioned that maybe stanford wouldn't be as enthusiastic about interviewing or accepting too many from the east coast, which sounded pretty silly to me.

I agree with you guys about the region thing. I was just wondering if the review order is perhaps determined by region, which could explain why seemingly no one from the Midwest has heard anything. Like I said previously, I highly doubt top ten schools are too concerned with matriculation rates, so I would be surprised if Stanford is culling a disproportionate number of applicants from any region, including the NE.

 

[starfruit]

there are two distinct geographical arguments being made here, it seems

 

[constructor]

This argument makes no sense. How is speculation that you haven't been rejected b/c you haven't been reviewed yet (i.e., b/c your region hasn't been reviewed yet) similar to rationalization of a rejection b/c your stats are too good? Not trying to start an an argument, but really . . .

what argument are you talking about? i'm not trying to make any. just saying that people start rumors here to explain off every little thing that happens to them even if it sounds totally ridiculous.

 

[SamDC]

At first I thought, like a few others, that Stanford was reviewing applications on a regional basis. However, given what Constructor has stated, I thought I'd go back and look at what others have posted, and, to my surprise, they're not going on a strictly regional basis.

I tried to discern where people were from based on either their SDN or MDApplicant profile, but there's a chance I still got it wrong. And lastly, yeah, work has been really slow, so I thought I'd do something to entertain myself (and hopefully others as well).

Rejections
AR : CanuckRazorback, Wiggy73
CA : Norcalgirl, Tic112, Orchids&Organs
DC : Salfrankador
NY : Kazema
MA : CarleneM
NC : CanIMakeIt
TX : Texasaggie2005, IndyZX
Germany : Eralza

Interviews
CA : Supernova

I'm guessing that Stanford is reviewing applications irrespective to location and sending out rejections as such. However, for interviews, I'm guessing that they MIGHT be doing it on a regional basis, based on this tiny sample.

 

[starfruit]

what argument are you talking about? i'm not trying to make any. just saying that people start rumors here to explain off every little thing that happens to them even if it sounds totally ridiculous.

Point taken.

 

[CreativeWriter]

.....

I was just wondering if the review order is perhaps determined by region, which could explain why seemingly no one from the Midwest has heard anything.

Like I said previously, I highly doubt top ten schools are too concerned with matriculation rates, so I would be surprised if Stanford is culling a disproportionate number of applicants from any region, including the NE.[/QUOTE]

 

[striped sweater]

what argument are you talking about? i'm not trying to make any. just saying that people start rumors here to explain off every little thing that happens to them even if it sounds totally ridiculous.

what do you mean ridiculous? i am pretty sure that the stanford selections are made based on shoe size. i don't know ANYONE with size 19 feet who has gotten an interview thus far. i can almost bet that all who have gotten interviews wear size 18 or less. there. that settles it. if you fall into that range, you still have a shot. either that or it is based on a disproportionate amount of nose hair. anyone care to compare?

 

[Long_John]

to all of you neurotic pre-meds, here's the real reason why applicants completed at the same time as you or later than you have, or from the same region/diff region, etc... have heard while you havent: Stanford has completed an initial review of applications and has given the truly outstanding applicants interview invites while those that dont measure to their bar rejections (at least a few thousand of those were sent). Anyone who didn't fit into those two categories was sent for further review. In many cases, your application has already been reviewed by one member of the adcom and now will be reviewed by at least one more and many cases by Dean Garcia before a final decision is made on whether to give you an interview or not. But dont worry you will be hearing very soon.

 

[faradayampere]

to all of you neurotic pre-meds, here's the real reason why applicants completed at the same time as you or later than you have, or from the same region/diff region, etc... have heard while you havent: Stanford has completed an initial review of applications and has given the truly outstanding applicants interview invites while those that dont measure to their bar rejections (at least a few thousand of those were sent). Anyone who didn't fit into those two categories was sent for further review. In many cases, your application has already been reviewed by one member of the adcom and now will be reviewed by at least one more and many cases by Dean Garcia before a final decision is made on whether to give you an interview or not. But dont worry you will be hearing very soon.

is this what you was told when you called Stanford office of admissions? or is this just another guessing/speculation??

 

[starfruit]

what do you mean ridiculous? i am pretty sure that the stanford selections are made based on shoe size. i don't know ANYONE with size 19 feet who has gotten an interview thus far. i can almost bet that all who have gotten interviews wear size 18 or less. there. that settles it. if you fall into that range, you still have a shot. either that or it is based on a disproportionate amount of nose hair. anyone care to compare?

Now you see, that makes perfect sense!

 

[Long_John]

is this what you was told when you called Stanford office of admissions? or is this just another guessing/speculation??

i pm'ed this to someone so i thought i might also post it.
its not something I got from actually calling the admissions office but a source close to the adcom revealed it to me. It's the same source which revealed that Stanford would be sending out a bunch of notices to applicants before they go on winter break and they did end up sending out a ton of rejection letters right before X-mas and a few interviews so he is pretty reliable.
even if you're not in the 'truly outstanding' category, be happy that you haven't been rejected yet. my source revealed that their are less than a 1200 'live' applicants at Stanford now and considering that they give out 400 interviews, your chances of getting one are now about a 1/3. pretty decent
good luck

 

[Ol'DocToxic]

either that or it is based on a disproportionate amount of nose hair. anyone care to compare?

That just figures. Well, there's 4 years of diligent back-hair growing down the tubes.

 

[wxl31]

Called Stanford this morning. Asked them up until when would they be inviting ppl. They said end of February.

 

[sockandmittens]

got an interview sunday at 10 EST- so if you don't get it in the 9-5 day don't give up.

 

[Acherona]

I nominate stanford for the RUDEST admissions office. I asked them if they could check if a decision had been made on my app and they said no they don't do that and hung up on me WHILE I WAS talking. cali bastards. I don't know how you ppl got any info out of them.

 

[DrWorkNeverDone]

yes, you guys might be surprised to hear, but a big thing at stanford apparently is geographic diversity. A friend in law school there said the same thing. Something like that is so much more b.s and arbitrary than race/ethnicity/economics, yet they still do it at Stanford for sure. Interesting post above where someone said the interviewes in her pool were from the same geographic region. To a certain extent, it makes sense for a school to want to do this too. They figure the person has a vested interest to go back to where they came from, and thus will be spreading the name of the school, and the schools interests to diff. parts of the country where diff. forces compell you to do diff things.

Okay, just from my view, Stanford is really big on diversity, it is in their talks it is in their mission, its in everything. When they come to visit your school the first thing they put on the screen is how many minorities are in the medical school classes....Personally I think it is great....but just a heads up to some of you average white joes. They are really looking for people to change their communities and have a special board to read over minority applications. Also, one of the admission people are the oversee ers to future minorities in medicine and the epidemic that CA is facing with more and more Latinos/ Latinas/ Mexican Americans but not enough docs from this area to serve them....hope this helps

 

[CanuckRazorback]

I nominate stanford for the RUDEST admissions office. I asked them if they could check if a decision had been made on my app and they said no they don't do that and hung up on me WHILE I WAS talking. cali bastards. I don't know how you ppl got any info out of them.

Whoa 😱 I hate when people do that.

 

[constructor]

I nominate stanford for the RUDEST admissions office. I asked them if they could check if a decision had been made on my app and they said no they don't do that and hung up on me WHILE I WAS talking. cali bastards. I don't know how you ppl got any info out of them.

they hate obsessive little harvard pre-meds who can't bear a little suspense and wait like the rest of us do. you enquired if a decision had been made and they said no. did you expect them to have a conversation?

 

[SamDC]

I nominate stanford for the RUDEST admissions office. I asked them if they could check if a decision had been made on my app and they said no they don't do that and hung up on me WHILE I WAS talking. cali bastards. I don't know how you ppl got any info out of them.

Hey Acherona,

I know how you feel but I'm going to play devil's advocate for a moment. Unlike most schools, Stanford's setup (where you can check your status on-line) is the exception rather than the rule. I get the feeling that they set it up that way so as to minimize phone calls.

I admit that it is EXTREMELY rude to hang-up on someone mid-sentence but I'll give them some leeway since they're reviewing everyone's secondary this year rather than screening them and, thus, dragging out the process a bit more. Maybe in a future version (anyone at Stanford reading this?), they can post some sort of status--for example "Under Review" or "Rejected"--so as to give applications some psychological well-being.

And remember, if you've made it so far, it might be a good sign.

Best of luck,

Sam

 

[GuyLaroche]

And remember, if you've made it so far, it might be a good sign.

Best of luck,

Sam

"Might" being the operative word.

 

[Treg]

First of all, I think that it is unnecessary for them to hang up on anyone. We did pay them around $100 (AMCAS + secondary) to review our apps, and I think that justifies 2 minutes of a phone conversation. Also, I don't like their status page. It should say if you are rejected, since they only do that by snail mail and they won't tell you status over the phone. So for someone like me who lives in Canada, where mail from the US often falls into a black hole, they won't tell me even if my application is still active. I would be happy to scratch them off of my list of things to follow up on, if I knew that they had dumped my application.

It would be nice if they would send out an email or something that says, "we have changed things a lot this year, and as such things are going much slower than usual. We anticipate that all decisions will be made by XX day." Wouldn't that be nice?

Treg

 

[wxl31]

i thought you can't log in anymore if you're rejected. true? not true?

 

[Acherona]

they hate obsessive little harvard pre-meds who can't bear a little suspense and wait like the rest of us do. you enquired if a decision had been made and they said no. did you expect them to have a conversation?

um, cambridge is a big place, lots of people live here who do not go to harvard.

they did not say no a decision had not been made, they said no we will not check your application status. First of all, if you think about it for 2 seconds I'm sure you can come up with some reasons why someone might need their status checked over the phone. Second, I have every right to call the admissions office simply to make sure they are reviewing my application given that I paid them a sizeable fee particularly for that purpose. If you prefer to wait until April to figure out that the secretaries ran out of toilet paper and started using your app as an asswipe then that's your problem.

 

[UCLAstudent]

Still haven't heard anything from Stanford. I can just picture my application in their "maybe" pile. "Should we really risk interviewing this kid?" 😀 😉

 

[davidus]

they hate obsessive little harvard pre-meds who can't bear a little suspense and wait like the rest of us do. you enquired if a decision had been made and they said no. did you expect them to have a conversation?

I think Acherona is from Wellesley. And definitely not as obsessive as some. =P

 

[faradayampere]

Still haven't heard anything from Stanford. I can just picture my application in their "maybe" pile. "Should we really risk interviewing this kid?" 😀 😉

haha ... same here ... but at least you have some acceptances .... I haven't got one yet... I'm so afraid

 

[constructor]

um, cambridge is a big place, lots of people live here who do not go to harvard.

they did not say no a decision had not been made, they said no we will not check your application status. First of all, if you think about it for 2 seconds I'm sure you can come up with some reasons why someone might need their status checked over the phone. Second, I have every right to call the admissions office simply to make sure they are reviewing my application given that I paid them a sizeable fee particularly for that purpose. If you prefer to wait until April to figure out that the secretaries ran out of toilet paper and started using your app as an asswipe then that's your problem.

haha, alright. you win.

 

[twicetenturns]

Okay, just from my view, Stanford is really big on diversity, it is in their talks it is in their mission, its in everything. When they come to visit your school the first thing they put on the screen is how many minorities are in the medical school classes....Personally I think it is great....but just a heads up to some of you average white joes. They are really looking for people to change their communities and have a special board to read over minority applications. Also, one of the admission people are the oversee ers to future minorities in medicine and the epidemic that CA is facing with more and more Latinos/ Latinas/ Mexican Americans but not enough docs from this area to serve them....hope this helps

Um.. I am white... and male... they let me in. Stanford's commitment to diversity is clearly not based only on race. I feel like I can bring something different to the table despite my heritage, and extremely fortunate to be selected. Keep the faith all, they started the interview process much later than everyone else.

 

[UCLAstudent]

haha ... same here ... but at least you have some acceptances .... I haven't got one yet... I'm so afraid

Don't worry, faradayampere, I think that you will get in this cycle!!! I'm rooting for you! 👍

 

[Haybrant]

Hey guys; for people that got invites, did you get a letter from the COE which talks about their goal to increase minorities in academic and clinical medicine along with the invite? Seems like the type of letter they send to select minority candidates, but Im not a minority. Just wanted to see if others got this and that they didnt mess up and think Im someone I am not.

 

[DrET]

For those with an interview, did you receive it via mail or email? Also, did your status change on their website?

 

[DrWorkNeverDone]

Um.. I am white... and male... they let me in. Stanford's commitment to diversity is clearly not based only on race. I feel like I can bring something different to the table despite my heritage, and extremely fortunate to be selected. Keep the faith all, they started the interview process much later than everyone else.

Yes, OF COURSE, they want everyone from everywhere, but there was a bit earlier on this post about geographically who they were reviewing, thats what I was responding to..good luck you guys

 

[VeggieGal]

i am not hispanic, but am committed to working with the hispanic population in my future practice (as evidenced by my academics/volunteering/study abroad.) i hope that this counts for something with stanford. not all minorities will go back and work with the communities that they are from. i think schools should be looking for people who are committed to working with underserved populations regardless of their race.