Hidden Admissions Requirements

[VoiceofReason]

As I heard from the dean of a school to which I am applying, through someone else of course, my application is fine except for one thing: I am not currently employed anywhere. Now, I assume this means I dont have a job making 40k in a lab with health benefits and all that, because I actually am technically a paid employee at my university, working on an NIH grant. This one thing is important enough though that the school "could give me an interview, but they wouldn't accept me." Forgetting for a second how oddly time-wasting and pointless that scenario would be, does anyone else have any experience with anything like this? Know of any other hidden requirements? Is this news to anyone else?

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[Law2Doc]

As I heard from the dean of a school to which I am applying, through someone else of course, my application is fine except for one thing: I am not currently employed anywhere. Now, I assume this means I dont have a job making 40k in a lab with health benefits and all that, because I actually am technically a paid employee at my university, working on an NIH grant. This one thing is important enough though that the school "could give me an interview, but they wouldn't accept me." Forgetting for a second how oddly time-wasting and pointless that scenario would be, does anyone else have any experience with anything like this? Know of any other hidden requirements? Is this news to anyone else?

I would say that 95% of my med school class never had a full time job before med school, so this isn't a requirement for any med school I have never heard of. The only "hidden requirements" I have heard of is that pretty much every med school expects applicants to have had some clinical experience, and a few places also want folks to have done non-health-related charitable or civic volunteering as well.

 

[directdoc]

Maybe I read this wrong, if you're a payed employee of your school...doesn't that make you employed?

Like Law2Doc said, most med students were never employed...I don't know why employment would make such a big difference to the med school.

 

[mongrel]

Maybe I read this wrong, if you're a payed employee of your school...doesn't that make you employed?

Like Law2Doc said, most med students were never employed...I don't know why employment would make such a big difference to the med school.

Agreed.

And wow! 95 percent?! I guess I thought I was a "normal pre-med" but I've held at least 3 different full-time jobs throughout college. What did they do for money / do instead of working during breaks?

 

[Jew Alcindor]

Agreed.

And wow! 95 percent?! I guess I thought I was a "normal pre-med" but I've held at least 3 different full-time jobs throughout college. What did they do for money / do instead of working during breaks?

Yeah, I don't think he meant seasonal employment. I figure most of them would've at least been lifeguards or something.

 

[TheRealMD]

As I heard from the dean of a school to which I am applying, through someone else of course, my application is fine except for one thing: I am not currently employed anywhere. Now, I assume this means I dont have a job making 40k in a lab with health benefits and all that, because I actually am technically a paid employee at my university, working on an NIH grant. This one thing is important enough though that the school "could give me an interview, but they wouldn't accept me." Forgetting for a second how oddly time-wasting and pointless that scenario would be, does anyone else have any experience with anything like this? Know of any other hidden requirements? Is this news to anyone else?

It would be really nice if you named the school cause there's a difference if a school is ultra-competitive to get into and having a job during your college career is one of their checkmarks.

Though, I really do doubt that for most schools, that's not even a hidden requirement, but just something that makes you different than a typical pre-med.

Anyway, here are your typical "hidden" requirements (in order of importance):
1) Clinical exposure - volunteering at a hospital. (Note: Being an EMT does not really fit here because as much as you might be dealing with medicine, most of your time is NOT spent in a hospital where you are going to spend 4 years of your life).

2) Volunteering - typical volunteer stuff (helping homeless, volunteer shelter, most ECs, volunteering at a hospital).

3) Shadowing - following around a doctor and learning to understand what they do. Note: your shadowing experience should not count double as clinical exposure! As great as it may be to follow around a doctor all day, some stuff is only learned by roughing it out on your own!

4) Research - whatever you research experience may be. Always good to have, but won't sink your app if you don't have it at most schools.

Sometimes research is at #2 or #3, but for the most part, I'd say most people will agree that this is list.

 

[chickenlittle84]

I think hospital volunteering in general is pretty overrated. There may be some schools that require it, but I think many schools recognize the work you do as a hospital volunteer is rarely valuable (though the insights you gain about the work environment may be valuable). I heard a talk from an admissions dean of a top 20 school who specifically indicated he doesn't really value hospital volunteering...it's fine if you want to do it, but it is by no means required, and it's not something that is going to earn you any points in their applicant pool..

 

[etf]

It would be really nice if you named the school cause there's a difference if a school is ultra-competitive to get into and having a job during your college career is one of their checkmarks.

Though, I really do doubt that for most schools, that's not even a hidden requirement, but just something that makes you different than a typical pre-med.

Anyway, here are your typical "hidden" requirements (in order of importance):
1) Clinical exposure - volunteering at a hospital. (Note: Being an EMT does not really fit here because as much as you might be dealing with medicine, most of your time is NOT spent in a hospital where you are going to spend 4 years of your life).

2) Volunteering - typical volunteer stuff (helping homeless, volunteer shelter, most ECs, volunteering at a hospital).

3) Shadowing - following around a doctor and learning to understand what they do. Note: your shadowing experience should not count double as clinical exposure! As great as it may be to follow around a doctor all day, some stuff is only learned by roughing it out on your own!

4) Research - whatever you research experience may be. Always good to have, but won't sink your app if you don't have it at most schools.

Sometimes research is at #2 or #3, but for the most part, I'd say most people will agree that this is list.

i don't think #1 is a "hidden" requirement - i think it's all but explicitly stated by every med school i've had interactions with.

 

[TheRealMD]

i don't think #1 is a "hidden" requirement - i think it's all but explicitly stated by every med school i've had interactions with.

Hidden is in quotes for good reason.

 

[MassTransport]

As I heard from the dean of a school to which I am applying, through someone else of course, my application is fine except for one thing: I am not currently employed anywhere. Now, I assume this means I dont have a job making 40k in a lab with health benefits and all that, because I actually am technically a paid employee at my university, working on an NIH grant. This one thing is important enough though that the school "could give me an interview, but they wouldn't accept me." Forgetting for a second how oddly time-wasting and pointless that scenario would be, does anyone else have any experience with anything like this? Know of any other hidden requirements? Is this news to anyone else?

I think the telephone game broke down here.

 

[VoiceofReason]

No I definitely heard correctly. It's not an ultracompetitive school at all, either, not even close. The dean thinks I'm fine except for this one thing. The weakness in my application as the dean sees it, briefly, is that I "don't have a job."

My app. in short:

I have volunteered for hundreds of hours at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, I have a distinguished award that is only given to one student in each department per graduating class (GPA, demonstrated leadership in the american chemical society, and graduate school potential), I have two years NIH biochemistry research experience and we're preparing to publish (I've also presented it at our school annual student research symposium), I've done work on a mayoral campaign in my hometown, I have philosophy research which I'm publishing in the Yale undergraduate journal of philosophy, and I tutor for the university. [11 VR 10 PS 10 BS] [BCPM 3.66 OA 3.55]

 

[TheRealMD]

No I definitely heard correctly. It's not an ultracompetitive school at all, either, not even close. The dean thinks I'm fine except for this one thing. The weakness in my application as the dean sees it, briefly, is that I "don't have a job."

My app. in short:

I have volunteered for hundreds of hours at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, I have a distinguished award that is only given to one student in each department per graduating class (GPA, demonstrated leadership in the american chemical society, and graduate school potential), I have two years NIH biochemistry research experience and we're preparing to publish, I've done work on a mayoral campaign in my hometown, I have philosophy research which I'm publishing in the Yale undergraduate journal of philosophy, and I tutor for the university. [11 VR 10 PS 10 BS] [BCPM 3.66 OA 3.55]

I don't know if he's telling you what would make a perfect applicant or not... but there's little need to strive for perfection! I think that if not having a job was your only problem, there's not that much to worry about besides your actual interview.

 

[VoiceofReason]

I wish I was only trolling, but this is what seems to be going on.

I have to say I'm really at my wit's end with this stuff, I was feeling really good about this cycle because I'm early/on-time with my app as opposed to last minute extremely late like last time. Then I get hit with this garbage.

 

[VoiceofReason]

Maybe I read this wrong, if you're a payed employee of your school...doesn't that make you employed?

Like Law2Doc said, most med students were never employed...I don't know why employment would make such a big difference to the med school.

No you didn't read it wrong, this is what seems to be going on, but I'm not in direct contact with the dean at the school. It's through someone else, and at the moment I'm waiting to talk to my "in between person" so to speak to ask if I could possibly just talk to the dean myself about this. She either doesn't know I'm getting paid for my research work at the moment, or she thinks that doesn't constitute a "real job."

 

[MattD]

Are you currently enrolled as an undergraduate, or have you already graduated? If the latter, the question may be why you aren't doing anything, ie. have a 'job-job' or attending grad school. If you were just bumming around after graduation working on some grant but not enrolled in a masters program (is that even possible?), it might look odd to them. Assuming there's nothing strange about your application though, your numbers and ECs look fine, I would expect you to be able to gain admission somewhere...

 

[VoiceofReason]

I will graduate this month, actually. So at the moment I'm not exactly bumming, I haven't even wrapped up my graduation.

 

[MattD]

Sounds like a very strange situation then, sorry you're stressed, I hope you've applied to more than just this one school

Good luck!

 

[musashi]

It would be really nice if you named the school cause there's a difference if a school is ultra-competitive to get into and having a job during your college career is one of their checkmarks.

Though, I really do doubt that for most schools, that's not even a hidden requirement, but just something that makes you different than a typical pre-med.

Anyway, here are your typical "hidden" requirements (in order of importance):
1) Clinical exposure - volunteering at a hospital. (Note: Being an EMT does not really fit here because as much as you might be dealing with medicine, most of your time is NOT spent in a hospital where you are going to spend 4 years of your life).

2) Volunteering - typical volunteer stuff (helping homeless, volunteer shelter, most ECs, volunteering at a hospital).

3) Shadowing - following around a doctor and learning to understand what they do. Note: your shadowing experience should not count double as clinical exposure! As great as it may be to follow around a doctor all day, some stuff is only learned by roughing it out on your own!

4) Research - whatever you research experience may be. Always good to have, but won't sink your app if you don't have it at most schools.

Sometimes research is at #2 or #3, but for the most part, I'd say most people will agree that this is list.

TheRealMD, in regards to point 1) what if attained your EMT license to work as an ER Tech for 1-2 years before you apply? That has been my plan from the start as I am taking my NREMT next week and will start a week or so after at as an ER tech at the only community level 1 hospital here is San Antonio. Does your comment stil stand?

 

[MassTransport]

TheRealMD, in regards to point 1) what if attained your EMT license to work as an ER Tech for 1-2 years before you apply? That has been my plan from the start as I am taking my NREMT next week and will start a week or so after at as an ER tech at the only community level 1 hospital here is San Antonio. Does your comment stil stand?

I think that absolutely works as clinical exposure.

 

[shotdiscus]

I will graduate this month, actually. So at the moment I'm not exactly bumming, I haven't even wrapped up my graduation.

So to recap, 1) your app is in and you don't have a time machine, no sense worrying about the quality of your job pregraduation. 2) you're graduating this month at which time I would assume you'd get a full time job if you're not going to take more class.

Whats the issue? If in the unlikely event that your lack of a full time job throughout your UG career disqualifies you form this school, theres nothing you can do about it now but have a few beers and hope for the best somewhere else.

 

[Despina]

(Note: Being an EMT does not really fit here because as much as you might be dealing with medicine, most of your time is NOT spent in a hospital where you are going to spend 4 years of your life).

Dude, seriously sometimes I wonder where people get these ideas from. Being an EMT counts just as much as volunteering in a hospital. EMTs spend a ton of time pulling patients into the ER. I am not an EMT, I am a phlebotomist, but I constantly see EMTs/paramedics dealing with the docs and nurses in the ER...in fact I would say that being an EMT gives you a lot more insight into being a doctor, then standing around in the ER as the volunteer who changes the sheets in the ER or filing paperwork.

 

[riceman04]

No I definitely heard correctly. It's not an ultracompetitive school at all, either, not even close. The dean thinks I'm fine except for this one thing. The weakness in my application as the dean sees it, briefly, is that I "don't have a job."

My app. in short:

I have volunteered for hundreds of hours at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, I have a distinguished award that is only given to one student in each department per graduating class (GPA, demonstrated leadership in the american chemical society, and graduate school potential), I have two years NIH biochemistry research experience and we're preparing to publish (I've also presented it at our school annual student research symposium), I've done work on a mayoral campaign in my hometown, I have philosophy research which I'm publishing in the Yale undergraduate journal of philosophy, and I tutor for the university. [11 VR 10 PS 10 BS] [BCPM 3.66 OA 3.55]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh....you in the ER stocking the fridge with orange juice, cranberry juice, and apple juice?

Hey did you ever take 490?