MSTP Boulevard part 01

Online Graduate Programs in Medical Human Anatomy
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rondo,
yeah, i know! they should be talking about how hot their fellow applicants were. oh well. i guess they're just too polite.

rekka WAS pretty hot though. 🙂

-sarah
 
Originally posted by sar520:
•rondo,
yeah, i know! they should be talking about how hot their fellow applicants were. oh well. i guess they're just too polite.

rekka WAS pretty hot though. 🙂

-sarah•••


You guys and (gal) are pretty bad. Should I tell Rekha? 🙂

PS In case you don't know, I brought you to dinner at the firehouse.
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Hey Rondo and Sar520:
You gals are actually much hotter than Rekha but like you rightly observed, we were just being polite 😉 You know what would really kick-ass though? would be if we could all schedule 2nd look weekend together at Duke. Durham is too freaking quiet 🙁 Bright side though is that it's 10 min from Chapelhill and 20 min from Raleigh.

axlf1997:
Did I meet you when I interviewed at U of C? My name is Stephen and I was there with the first set of interviewees on Nov16. Anyhow you guys are awesome hosts! I had a really good time in Chicago; even better than I did at WashU despite all the money they spent 🙂
 
stephen that would just be lovely if i get INVITED to 2nd look 🙂 remember you are a step ahead of me . .

axlf1997 - which one are you?? you guys were all really cool though! i loved u chicago for many reasons but partly b/c of THE STUDENTS being the nicest friendliest people i met anywhere!

-s
 
Sarah don't worry. Another 10 weeks and you'll get the good letter 🙂 .
 
Originally posted by SonicHedgehog:
•

MAPK, are you going to be at Hopkins on 13-14 Dec, interview dates? I'm gonna be there at that time. Maybe we can meet?

Also, Bernadine managed to hook me up with a former Stanford student at Hopkins, so I'm staying with him. I'm curious, what do you think about Cornell? I really liked their research, and I think in our field (signal-transduction), nobody can beat the quality of research between rockefeller and SKI... even my prof's tell me that it should be a sure choice. But I also really liked Wash.U and Yale.. It's getting really tough now.

•••

SONIC: I'm going to be at Hopkins on the 8th & 9th...I'm scheduled for a Tue/Wed b/c I wanted to visit UPenn (10th/11th) and Hopkins together. However, I'm going to cancel my UPenn interview, too.

The Cornell/Rock/Ski program is one of my top choices b/c I'm interested in taking a biochem/biophysical approach to studying signaling. Are you more of a developmental signaling guy (I'm guessing from your name...)? So the signaling research at SKI is great! and Rockefeller's biochemistry program is one of the best in the country. Cornell's grad program in biochem/structural biology also just got lots of $$$. On top of those reasons, I liked NYC. The surround environment seems safe and there's a lot to do there.

I haven't interviewed at WashU (got an offer from the MD but put "on hold" by MSTP) but I can tell that they have a large and well funded program. They also seem to treat their students very well. However, their biochemistry/biophysics isn't as attractive as UCSF, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Harvard, Rockefeller, Hopkins, or Scripps.

MaPKiNKSTeR

P.S. BAYLOR: J/K about the "He/She" thing. And thanks for the email =)
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Axlf -- knock it off!

Sarah, in case you couldn't guess Axlf is the guy who I was hanging out with. He's the guy I told you that I met through SDN!! Now do you remember?

We should have a happy-2nd look reunion at either WashU, or Chicago. I liked all of our applicant pool at Chicago. They were fun people.

MAP - I totally agree with you. I'll try to meet up with you during Cornell's 2nd look... I noticed you're from Cal. he he ... Give 'em the AXE. the AXE.. the AXE. In case you haven't guessed I'm from your rival school.
 
Originally posted by sar520:
•

axlf1997 - which one are you?? you guys were all really cool though! i loved u chicago for many reasons but partly b/c of THE STUDENTS being the nicest friendliest people i met anywhere!

-s•••

Sat next to you at dinner. Sonic's friend and knew Dan and Katie. Glad you had a good time.
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Originally posted by Original:
•
axlf1997:
Did I meet you when I interviewed at U of C? My name is Stephen and I was there with the first set of interviewees on Nov16. Anyhow you guys are awesome hosts! I had a really good time in Chicago; even better than I did at WashU despite all the money they spent 🙂 •••

Yeah, I was one of the first years that met with you in the morning from Stanford and went to eat lunch with you later in the DCAM.
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DCAM as in "Dessllouissiose" Center for Advanced Medicine. Yep! I'm in the game baby! I have all the acronyms on lock-down baby!!!
 
Originally posted by SonicHedgehog:
•
MAP - I totally agree with you. I'll try to meet up with you during Cornell's 2nd look... I noticed you're from Cal. he he ... Give 'em the AXE. the AXE.. the AXE. In case you haven't guessed I'm from your rival school.•••

SoNiC-
Looking forward to meeting you...as long as you don't give me any crap about football (at least we got ONE win!). Just watch out for our basketball team... 😀
-MaPKiNKSTeR
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Are any of you besides sarah going to the Pitt MSTP 2nd look in January?

I was planning on going, but now I cant find my stupid airline e-ticket or the letter they sent me about it.

guess i'll have to call them and see if they can send it again.
 
did they send us one? i don't think they did send one yet. i hope. i think. b/c if they did, i definitely have no idea what happened to it.

-s
 
Chef-

This is in response to the post you made a few days ago:

Much love, Son. I have been getting so stressed seeing all these posters who have interviews at crazy goo d programs while I haven't heard a peep. But, you're totally right: doesn't matter if I get in in December or March, as long as I am in class next fall as an MD/PhD........
I have just been stressing, and it is good that there is someone else out there, other than my girlfriend, who thinks I should just calm the hell down. Best of luck to you- I am suyre we'll both get in.

Peace
Jesse
 
Hey Jesse you can count me in on the group that think you shouldn't stress too much. MD/PhD programs interview and accept the same set of people. I've met people from previous interviews at all my interviews, and almost every single interviewee at my interviews have the exact same experience. All these programs will accept this same small group of people who can obviously only matriculate at ONE school. As soon as they make committments to specific programs, the trickle-down effect will be more interview invites and more acceptances. I think there are over 400 MD/PhD spots available, and just about the same number of applicants. So I say don't stress it. It's only a matter of time buddy.
 
I forgot to add that I was going to stay in a fellow WashU interviewee's appartment while I'm interviewing in Boston Next week, because she'll be out interviewing at Duke. This goes to show that these schools are indeed interviewing the same VERY small set of people. Don't sweat it ma men! in Fall 2002 it's absolutely not going to matter what week in the cycle anyone got accepted.
 
It's always great to hear stuff like this. It really helps those of us who still await ANY information. Thanks fellas.
 
Oh yea, regarding the topic of the "trickle-down" effect. Any of you have a pretty good idea of where you're gonna go?? Sonic -- Rock/SKI is DEFINITELY top notch in sig/trans. I was there for a meeting last weekend and while I wasn't fornuate enough to get an interview from them, my visit made me more aware of how unfortunate I really was . Rockefeller's truly an amazing place for basic science research. I guess the only drawback in my opinion is that their participation on the translational side is not quite astonishing. Then again SKI's got that covered. Also, I was a bit concerned about the sizes of some of the labs there. For some folks, super-powerhouse labs drown them out due to lack of PI interaction and the publishing-level of the superstar post-docs make it hard to feel productive. But then again that's just a thought. I have two friends at the Tri-Institutional prog. and they love it. They're publishing pretty well also (they're in their 5th year). Alright, let me go check my email AGAIN... <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
 
I'll attend Duke, WashU, or Harvard.

Concerns:
Duke- Durham is too small and quiet

WashU- Lack of Diversity

Harvard- Boston is too expensive and to worsen this, I might not be funded.
 
I know Harvard is great and all, but there is NO WAY I'm going there unless I were to get a fully funded offer.

The MD/PhD director at Hopkins told me that some people choose Hopkins even though they dont get full funding. I dont see why people would do that unless Hopkins was the only place they got accepted to. And that seems unlikely that an MD/PhD applicant would get accepted only to Hopkins anyways.
 
Hey Baylor21 I'll have to agree with you on that issue. Though I'm doing my best to remain open-minded about the school, it's no coincidence that I put it down as the 3rd of 3.
 
Guys,

I just got my official acceptance to Baylor's MSTP! That's #4, considering I sort of got an unofficial acceptance at UofC.

Woohoo!!!... I'm still pretty set on going to Cornell - we'll see if the other schools (WashU, Yale or Hopkins can change my mind!)

Sonic
 
Hey folks,
Just wanted to say that you're one amazing group! I've been very impressed by the quality of applicants I've seen so far this year. To those who haven't heard about interviews yet--I want to echo what others have already been saying. Don't start worrying quite yet--there is still plenty of time in the process. Just make sure your applications are complete and if you have a #1 choice, don't be afraid to let them know. Keep up the great work everyone... 😀

Now I'm off to bed so that I get some sleep before tomorrow. It's the start of our Clinical Interlude, in which we're going on the wards as part of inpatient teams. Exciting stuff! 🙂
 
I finally heard something from Hopkins. I was fortunate to get accepted, but as I suspected, they put me on hold for MSTP funding as of yet.

Has anybody else heard from them? I wonder when they are supposed to know who gets funded and who does not.
 
damn you guys are on fire! congratulations! ! wow!

sonic: did they call you? when did you interview @ baylor? just wondering 🙂

WOW. i am just very impressed.

-s
 
Hey I just got rejected from Yale's MD/PhD program without interview. I am not too happy about that. But hey look at the bright side: George double ya graduated from Yale 😀
 
Hey Baylor21: In the midst of my Yale-induced depression I forgot to congratulate you on such a marvelous acceptance. Hopkins is a damn good school in a class by itself. Congrats!
 
hey, man: duke vs yale? come ON 🙂

chin up

and if duke likes people who are rejected from yale's md/phd then i am in luck

=D

s
 
SONIC: Congrats on Baylor! That's awesome!

BAYLOR: Congrats on Hopkins! You should definitely tell them that you'll only go there if you get a fully-funded spot...which you already have from those other schools. My brother-in-law's friend did that with a NIH-funded spot from Yale and bargained one from (I think...) Hopkins (many years ago though).

ORIGINAL: Speaking of Yale...don't even trip about that rejection...in the end you'd be rejecting them anyhow, right? From what I've heard, Yale's PhD program has been on the downward trend. I don't know why they have such a bad rep here, but not many apply there for grad or MD/PhD.
 
Hey thanks for the kind words guys! You guys are all I've got 🙂 Truth is that I really have nothing to complain about. I wouldn't have gone there over Duke; however, rejection almost always feels bad. I had 3 final exams today and I'm glad it's almost over. Whew! lemme go crash.
 
question: has anyone interviewed @ ucsd? did they pay for it? what did you think of it? and if you're headed down there january 31st, i'll see you there . . .

--sarah
 
Everybody:
CONGRATS to all of you! It is almost ridiculous how well everyone on this board is doing in terms of acceptances to top programs. I know a couple of you got a few rejections this week, but you already have acceptances from other great programs, so don't sweat it.

To those of you who are still waiting to here from programs, I just got back from a MSTP interview, and a three members of the first year class interviewed in February and got accepted in March. This just goes to show you that we are still early in the process, especially this year. Keep your chin up.

Later,
Shogun
 
Hey all.

Did anyone get accepted to Albert Einstein COM to the MSTP program yet?
I interviewed there at the end of November and would like to know if they started offering acceptances yet. IF any of you have, could you tell me whether it was via mail or phonecall/e-mail.
Thanks.
 
After I got the bad letter from Yale I started wandering whether I actually got into Duke or whether I just imagined the whole thing. Sort of like a "Fight Club" type of illusion. I've got such a vivid imagination that I even started getting scared that I thought the whole thing up and I've bought into my very own BS.

Anyway I called Duke and asked the MSTP administrator (Pat) when my committment deadline is. She told me to take my time but that they'll like to know by mid-Feb since they will make decisions at the end of Feb. She also said that they are not yet half-way through interviewing yet; implying that it's still very early in the process. They'll make a couple more early notifications, but most acceptances will be mass-shipped out at the end of Feb.

Anyhoo I"ll hear from WashU in 2 days. I hope I get in there so my life can get even more pleasantly complicated; and so I can really think I'm hallucinating big-time. Say no to drugs people 😀
 
SaRaH-

I'm heading down to UCSD on 1/16-1/17. I'll let you know how it goes.

MaPKiNKSTeR
 
Hey I forgot to say in my previous post that after this most recent round of NIH site-visits Duke MSTP came out as the #1 program in the nation; not only that, but it also got the highest score that any program has gotten in the last 2 years. As a reward, they'll soon be getting 2 more slots; so the program size will be 14 which I think is really awesome!


I just had to pay $318 for my plane ticket to Boston, MA. I'll be going up there on Monday for my HST interview on Tuesday. I think I'll chill out after that and just make as much money as I can between now and Fall. I dont understand how I got so broke <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
 
I dont go by the rankings when selecting a program. The particular ranking of an MD/PhD program doesnt mean anything anyways. Research strenghts, graduate program reputation, and location are far more important.

Hopkins trumps Duke in my opinion for my field because its the #1 bioengineering program in the country, and the #1 hospital in America. Duke of course trumps Hopkins in other research areas. But I dont think the MD/PhD program ranking has very much relevance. Thats like ranking MD/MBA programs. The program ranking itself is not indicative of the quality of education, its just the NIH's opinion on how effectively the administrators at the institution run the program.
 
Originally posted by MacGyver:
•I dont go by the rankings when selecting a program. The particular ranking of an MD/PhD program doesnt mean anything anyways. Research strenghts, graduate program reputation, and location are far more important.

Hopkins trumps Duke in my opinion for my field because its the #1 bioengineering program in the country, and the #1 hospital in America. Duke of course trumps Hopkins in other research areas. But I dont think the MD/PhD program ranking has very much relevance. Thats like ranking MD/MBA programs. The program ranking itself is not indicative of the quality of education, its just the NIH's opinion on how effectively the administrators at the institution run the program.•••


I couldn't agree more.
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Originally posted by MacGyver:
•I dont go by the rankings when selecting a program. The particular ranking of an MD/PhD program doesnt mean anything anyways. Research strenghts, graduate program reputation, and location are far more important.

Hopkins trumps Duke in my opinion for my field because its the #1 bioengineering program in the country, and the #1 hospital in America. Duke of course trumps Hopkins in other research areas. But I dont think the MD/PhD program ranking has very much relevance. Thats like ranking MD/MBA programs. The program ranking itself is not indicative of the quality of education, its just the NIH's opinion on how effectively the administrators at the institution run the program.•••

However, by the same reasoning, whatever "ranking" indicates Hopkins as the #1 Bioengineering program in the country is meaningless as well. As far as I know, school X might have a better neuroregeneration or biodegradable prosthetics program than Hopkins; so anyone interested in these areas would have school X marked as #1 on their book; and we can iterate the analogy to the nth degree of specialization

😉 Hey I'm just messing with you. I totally agree with you that these rankings have very little meaning and are really just tools for propaganda. Hopkins is great! will you be going there?
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Original I hear what you're saying.

All the rankings are subject to scorn, the point I was making is that some rankings I think are more valuable than others.

You are also correct about the specializatin of rankings. In my opinion if I was looking at rankings I would consider the following in decreasing level of importance:

1) Med school ranking
2) Graduate program ranking (i.e. engineering)
3) Medical center ranking
4) subspecialty ranking (i.e. bioimaging, tissue engineering)
5) MD/PhD program ranking by the NIH

At least thats how I would rate the relative importance of rankings although I agree with you that overall, numerical rankings shouldnt be given too much importance.

I wasnt trying to knock Duke's program, they have a great system and I'm sure you'll love it there.
 
MacGyver, did you get accepted to Hopkins? Would you mind telling me if you got MSTP funding or not? I understand if you dont want to say it on this forum or whatever. Please PM me if you get a chance. I'm wondering if there is any reasonable hope that I might get MSTP funding or if Hopkins has already given out all of their MSTP slots. When I was there with Dr. Siliciano, it seems like I remember him saying that they may have as few as 4 funded slots this year. I dont understand why they dont get more NIH funding. I guess Hopkins MD/PhD rank is fairly low compared to Duke or WashU because otherwise they should have more funded slots I would imagine.

Right now, I'm curious if they have made ANY funding decisions yet or if they are waiting for some future date before they dole out the money.
 
Comparing MD/PhD programs is really like comparing different styles of suits. You have to find the one that fits you best. There are advantages and disadvantages to every program, school, graduate program, location, etc. Rankings, no matter who they are done by (NIH, US News, etc) have more to do with politics than with actual quality. Different aspects of a particular program may be more attractive to some and less to others. To say that such and such program is #1 or 2 or 20 is rather silly. Any program that is MSTP funded has to meet certain criteria to continue receiving funding, and at almost all of the 30+ schools with MSTPs, you'll find excellent researchers. So it's really splitting hairs (and much too simplistic) to say that one is better than another.

The question is really which program is the best for you. That's why I think that even though you might have a #1 choice, it is important to visit various schools and note both the obvious and subtle differences between programs.
 
Hey all,

I'm back from UCLA. It was a good interview but I ended up staying in LA for a while longer to be with my sick grandpa. UCLA was very nice, and the faculty I talked to were really cool, and were doing some awesome research. The interview day itself could have been scheduled better however. We spent an hour touring the 'imaging facilities' where we basically just looked at full sized and mini (for mice and monkeys) PET and CAT scanners. I don't really know what the point was. At most, about two of the interviewees were interested in doing imaging research. I've now been to two of the UC's (SF and LA) and they are really really different. It's kind of interesting. In any event the school seemed very nice if you can afford to live there.

On another note, I finally got my first MSTP acceptance at University of Wisconsin, Madison. It's not my top choice, but it's very reassuring to know that there's at least one MSTP that wants me.

Good luck to you all,

Adam
 
Hey Adam,
Congratulations men! That's amazing! UW-Madison is kickass for real! I've read alot of papers published from there cause they have some of the best sub-cellular protein trafficking research around; the name Ed Chapman pops to mind. Hey good stuff. I'm excited for you.

Stephen
 
Stephen,

Thanks. Yeah, it feels good. They're a gigantic school. They told us that they graduate 1800 PhD's per year across the whole campus. So, there are great researchers in whatever area you could possibly be interested in. I'm a little concerned with the quality of their medical school, though. I'd definitely be happy to go there, but I'm still waiting to hear from some of the other places. Ahh, the waiting continues. And, I have no more interviews scheduled which feels kind of wierd. I cancelled a couple, but it feels odd to not have any scheduled.

Later,

Adam
 
has anyone interviewed at U.Michigan MSTP? Can you share your impressions about the program? What are their strong fields? TIA
 
Originally posted by chef:
•has anyone interviewed at U.Michigan MSTP? Can you share your impressions about the program? What are their strong fields? TIA•••

Hey Chef,

I was there two weeks ago. It seemed like a very good program. The director, Ron Koenig, was a really nice guy and seemed very interested in making sure that individual needs were met. The program seemed very flexible, which was nice. Michigan is gigantic and there are tons of faculty members in all kinds of fields. The impression I got was that whatever you wanted to do, there was someone there doing it. Not only that, but they're still expanding. They're building a gigantic new life sciences building with room for about 25 new faculty. I'm interested in transcription and gene control work, so there have been tons of people doing that everywhere I've interviewed. Beyond that, I don't know what their specific strong points are. The medical schools seems very standard. The first year is basic sciences and is pass/fail. The second year is organ based and is graded I think.

I'd be happy to answer any specific questions, but it's definitely worth checking out.

Good luck,

Adam
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Hey everyone! I just got an invite for the MD/PhD program at Mayo. I definitely didn't see that one coming. Anyhow, any thoughts?? Does anyone know anything about the program there?
 
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