Hey all,
I am attempting a linkage to Jefferson from the Penn Pre-health Program. Are there any Jefferson or Penn Pre-health students out there who know details about this process. What are recent statistics of students getting interviews or gaining provisional acceptances? Lastly, is Jefferson looking for certain characteristics in the successful applicants to the linkage program? Any information is appreciated.
schaumbb
I didn't do the link but I had many friends who did (successfully or not).
As part of the provisional acceptance, you have to have at least a 3.5 post-bac GPA (I think) and have to agree to get at least 9s in every section. This is the kicker - 2 years ago, we had 6 kids with provisional acceptances and only 1 ended up getting in and going for good because the others took the MCAT earlier than they should have and weren't able to meet this criteria. If you lose your provisional acceptance, you can take the MCAT again and you will be automatically pooled into the bigger pool with other candidates for general admission for the following year.
As for what they are looking for is a bit up in the air, as it is for every school but Jeff seems to have some things that stand out. They seem to be interested in producing clinicians more so than academic researchers. They certainly pride themselves on their research, esp with Wills Eye Hospital, but they like to see students that have done a good mix of clinical and research but truly explored medicine rather than just focusing on one of the two as part of their ECs.
Also, they like students that have done more than just study and those that bring some sort of life or work experience to the table. Finally, they tend to put some weight on the verbal section - and this is directly from the old post bac director of admissions and from Dr. Brooks herself - the current director of admissions at Jeff. They really like to see that their students are capable of being strong communicators in both the verbal and written context. It's just one of those quirks that is very important to them.
Other than that, I am not so sure what else they look for. Dr. Brooks has a very open door policy - she takes appts all the time from prospective students and gives them very realistic opinions on their application. She would be happy to meet with you and talk to you about your application and whether you're a good candidate for the school. I would take her up on it and go ahead. You will get a good sense of what they are looking for and get a realistic idea of whether you have a shot.
I hope that helps!!! Good luck!
