OHSU=Frustration Station!

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karma4me

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God love the admissions office at OHSU, but I guess as an OR resident I just expected a little more love from my state school! First, they lost my secondary application, and then I get a postcard saying that I should hear from them in 12 weeks!!!!

Has anyone else experienced this frustration?!
 
yeah... i got the 12 week postcard the other day. i think it means we're low priority.
 
I'm with you on the whole Oregon frustration feeling. It makes me feel better that I flip them off when I drive by that exit. Passive aggressive? Oh yes.😡
 
nope.. not an oregon resident. i'm pretty certain i'm in the low priority pile b/c as an out of stater you must have a 3.5+ and 30+ to not be put in it according to someone on here who called the admissions office. hopefully you will have better luck as a resident, but i think 12 weeks is a long time... that puts us into april! aren't they done giving out interviews in april??
 
In-state, submitted AMCAS in August, received secondary end of September, mailed it the next week, received my Postcard end of November, received interview invitation postmarked Dec. 19th, called to schedule January 3rd and signed up for the next available Friday time slot, Feb. 28th. They had a number of mid-week February days available, but I can't fly cross-country for those.

Pretty darn annoyingly slow....
 
I know that last year OHSU interviewed until May... but that was also because of all the AMCAS problems. Also, all interviewees after March were pretty much just candidates for the wait list. The list at OHSU usually has pretty good acceptance rates, though. Last year they overaccepted by 75, and a friend of mine got in who was #50 on the waitlist. So, I guess there's still hope. All I know is that in-state tuition is lookin' mighty fine right about now. . . I'm accepted to Loyola and I'm staring down the barrel of $33K a year.
 
i think you should send a letter of intent or interest. it may not help, but i doubt it would hurt. this week i plan to send all the schools i'm waiting on an update letter expressing my continued interest in their school and reasons why i like their program and what i would contribute to their class. i figure if it makes a difference at 1 out of 10 schools, that's 1 more interview and 1 more shot at getting into a med school i really want to go to.
 
I am so glad that I am not the only one completely frustrated by OHSU. I actually hope that some day I can tell them off. This is my second year applying, and I am not having any more luck with them this year than I did last. Last year I had my interview with them in January and a week later was put on the wait list. Then I did not hear another word from them until end of May (5 months!!), at which point I was rejected. I called them during the summer to find out what I would need to do to better my chances and they told me "MORE LIFE EXPERIENCE." I don't know how I could have managed to do any more ECs during school, but I am assuming that it meant I was too young and naive in their eyes. SOooooo, this year I did everything that they suggested I do, and guess what....not even an interview! I too thought that I would be treated better as an in state resident, but I was wrong. For my own peace of mind I like to think that I am better off without them. But, it is a good school and I wish you all good luck and hope that your experience with them is not as horrible as mine was as mine was.
 
Hey Kat! It sounds like you could be my twin separated at birth! I applied last year as well. I interviewed, and was totally stoked because I love OHSU. Then I was put in the hold pool, and finally rejected in May. And, the admissions commitee told me I needed more life experience, even though I view that as the strongest part of my app. SOOOOO Frustrating! What you have to keep in mind, though, is that OHSU loves older applicants. The average age of their incoming first class is 26! More life experience is just OHSU-slang for 'try again next year.'

So I applied again this year, and I still have my fingers crossed for an interview, but I gotta say that it's not looking too good. I couldn't tell by your post if you've been rejected??? Last year the dean told me that if they interview you the first year, you've got a really good chance for an interview the next time around, and it also increases your chances for acceptance. Who knows how much truth there is to that, though!

What are your stats, if you don't mind posting them?

I have 3.5 cum, 3.4 BCPM, 9V/9P/12B/R

Good luck to you, maybe we'll end up interviewing on the same day!!
 
karma4me
I heard that same speech, about "if you get interviewed the first time around, you have a great chance of getting in this year." And I really believed it, I mean I think that I was hands down a better applicant this year than last (definitely more experience and better LORs). I thought there was no way they would reject me this year. WRONG! I was floored when I received a letter saying I wouldn't even be interviewed this year. My stats aren't the best but I have a 3.65 GPA, 3.5 science GPA, and a 29S on the MCAT. I even had a LOR from the Chief of Medicine at a hospital in Portland (who is also a faculty member at OHSU). Go figure. I used to love OHSU, I always thought that was where I would end up, but life doesn't always work out that way I guess. Good luck to you though. I hope you are more successful than me! Let me know how it all work out, I would really love to know!
-kat13
 
I'm a 4th year at OHSU. I don't know much of anything about admissions decisions here, I can't tell you why I got in, so afraid I'm no help there. I can't comment on anyone's chances, etc.

What I can tell you is that admissions lunches got off to a late start this year, they were delayed at the start by at least two weeks, maybe three. So, I wouldn't worry too much if your app seems to be taking longer than usual/expected, that is the case with everyone. there have been anywhere from 3-8 people per day interviewing, seems like they come from all over.

Also, regarding the instate thing I was instate too, I don't think it plays into admissions decisions, unless you're from some rural place in OR (I wasn't). In fact, when they expanded class size (last year I think?) the extra spots are specifically targeted to be out-of-staters.

Sorry your experience has not been so good, but good luck, and yes I'm very happy having gone here!
 
Also a ms here - gotta back up what Fireaway said - older applicants seem to be popular with the adcom. OHSU is probably on of the nicest places to be a student, once you get past their admissions staff, which no doubt is among the laziest/worst in the country. The teaching is fantastic, especially for clinical years.

Also, Fireaway is right about them wanting more out-of-staters - they are starting to like them because 1 out-stater = 1.5 in-staters, as far as tuition $$$ goes. And, they can afford to be much more selective with them.

Keep trying Kat & others; although remember it's getting more competitive here each year (I don't know if i would get accepted if i applied now 😱
)
 
I like the second quote. I think its fairly accurate, as I'm going into a surgical subspecialty.
 
Fireaway & MSTPBoy,

Can you guys think of anything, based on your experiences, that we could do to better our chances. ie, letter of interest, letter of intent, chaining ourselves to McKenzie Hall? In your opinion, who is the ideal OHSU applicant, because I have been really surprised with the applicants that they have rejected--they all seem to be really qualified and primary-care-oriented!

Thanx🙄
 
I think about the only thing at this point would be to write a brief letter of interest/intent telling the adcom how much you enjoyed your visit, its your top choice, blah, blah. Frankly I don't think it would help, but that's about the only thing that wouldn't hurt.

I don't think there is an ideal applicant, interviews are always important, always subjective, and always depend on who you happen to get. Some interviewers up here don't want to hear primary care, some do. There's nothing wrong with saying you're "not sure if you want to do PC, but will consider it along with the rest of the fields you encounter during your 3rd year clerkships." Actually I think there's a fair amount of "backlash" (I use that loosely) against PC in every dept except family med. Even internal med people don't like to think of themselves as PC. Maybe you're overestimating the importance of emphasizing the PC-oriented aspects of your medical interests?

General advice (if you apply again next year) would be to continue pursuing something, another career track even, and be successful at that, and make that apparent in your interview, but then make it clear that medicine really is what you want to do for all of the reasons that you already have and will have. Sorry I know that's horribly vague and probably not helpful. The other thing to do is keep in mind that the process is subjective, and therefore what didn't work one year may work the next, what works for one person may not for the next.

I do think its important to apply to quite a few schools, simply because someone who only applies in one place may be perceived as lacking commitment. Also, depending greatly on what your interests are, I would not recommend applying to DO school unless you are 99% sure you want to do PC. I know the education is said to be comparable, but as someone who just went on >15 residency interviews in a competitive field, not one person out of the hundreds I met going into same field was a DO. I'm not trying to start anything here, just an observation, nothing more.
 
At my interview in January, Jennifer in admissions said they will be interviewing through April and that they had only accepted 20 people so far. Remember that they need to accept a lot more people than they have seats.

She also said that once applicants are placed on hold post-interview, which is what happens to most interviewees, they are assigned a number that will not change no matter what new information the applicant supplies. Based on these numbers some on hold applicants will be accepted by May 15, some will be rejected and some will be placed on the waitlist.
 
I continue to be frustrated with OHSU. Actually I kind of hate them right now. 20 students??? Good lord, get on the ball and accept some more! I love that they wait until may to let you know and you often end up losing your deposit on another school because you've passed the refund deadline.

They remind me of the DMV. They don't have to be convenient or obliging because they're the only damn thing in the state.

roar.
 
How long did it take from when you got the postcard until you heard from OHSU. I just got my postcard a few weeks ago, since they didn't send me their secondary until over amonth after everyone else and then lost two of LOR's. On it the 12 weeks to wait was crossed, and it said 6 weeks instead. How long was everyone elses wait from postcard to interview, or rejection.
 
Hang in there guys. I finally got an invite from them, but they're booked until end of March for interviews. I spoke to the admissions office and they said that late interviews don't put you at much of a disadvantage. They admitted that OHSU is just REALLY slow!
 
To all of you
Thanks for sharing about the OHSU process. In a year and a half is when I will begin the arduous journey. And the information that I am gleaning now is helpful.
😎
 
By the way folks, once you're finally accepted at OHSU prepare yourself for more-of-the-same with regards to financial aid. It will take forever, and you will hear NOTHING from the FAO. You will try to call them, and they won't answer the phone, and they won't return your phone messages. You will try to e-mail them, and they'll ignore those too. If you show up at their front door in person, they'll probably be out for the day.
Once you get pass all that B.S., the school is fantastic, though it did take me awhile to get past my initial bitterness over the run-around I'd be given.
 
Not only does it suck that Oregon only has 1 med school, the only school that OR residents get any preference at, but now that school is taking ~1/3 of their class from out of state! From the 2003-2004 MSAR: for the 2001-2002 entering class, 68 students were in-state and 33 were out of state. That really bites! How do they get away with that, when most other state-funded medical schools have restrictions on them so that, since they get most of their funding from the state, admitting state residents who are more likely to stay there to practice has to be their priority and consequently most of them admit <10 out of staters a year. Actually, to answer my own question, I heard that a few years back OHSU changed their status to a "publicly owned corporation" or something like that, which legally allows them to still get state funding but have fewer obligations to the state. I don't know how that works, but apparently it allows them to be designated as a state med school and still take a huge percentage of their class from other states. I can see why they would want to though, since they charge nonresidents more than twice as much.
 
OHSU is now a private corporation, they only receive 7% of their budget from the state. We still show preference to instaters, particularly those who are "likely to practice in rural Oregon," but when they expanded class size all of those extra spots were specifically earmarked to be out-of-staters. I agree with you that ppl from out-of-state are less likely (by far) to practice in Oregon, so yes it is very much at odds with their stated mission. However, in Oregon we pay our public employees (excluding teachers, fire and police) way more than they're worth, and outside of Portland/Eugene everyone's a hick and doesn't want to pay taxes, so you get the state budget disaster that we have now! And that does influence the school's budget. Hope that helps answer your question that you already answered for yourself!
 
For what its worth at least oregon has a medical school, and a very good one at that. If you want to complain about states......well I'm from cali and if you didn't know..... 25% of the total applicant pool is from California. However, Cali only has like 9 med schools (one of them has a religious connection so it shouldn't even count) -5 of them are state schools. So that is like 5/125% of total medical schools which is no where near the 25% of total applicants. Not only that...but our public schools also take some out-of-state students. Now OHSU had I think less than 300 in-state applicants last year. If that means there are ~300 oregonians applying and the school gives out 100 acceptances...the school takes care of at least 33% of the applicants from Oregon (not to mention it is a semi-private institution). That is actually a pretty good percentage. Anyways I can understand your frustration...and I hope you don't take this as an attack. I know that just like me you were wishing medical school admissions would be a more predictable process.
 
Oregon had far more than 300 applicants. I don't have the exact stats on hand, but the odds are not 1/3.
 
Originally posted by FireAway
OHSU is now a private corporation, they only receive 7% of their budget from the state. We still show preference to instaters, particularly those who are "likely to practice in rural Oregon," but when they expanded class size all of those extra spots were specifically earmarked to be out-of-staters.
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The most recent budget shows only 4.4% of the money coming from the state, and I'm guessing it won't be too many years before that number is zero. I believe that Dean Keenan is telling interviewees this year that, once past the screening for interview, OHSU is not considering residence as an acceptance factor. Bad news for the state of Oregon, but I suppose good news for OHSU's bottom line. (And even as a resident, OHSU's tuition is rather high.)
 
Originally posted by manicmaven
Oregon had far more than 300 applicants. I don't have the exact stats on hand, but the odds are not 1/3.
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Wrong and right... OHSU did receive approx. 300 applications from the state of Oregon (and a couple thousand from elsewhere), but only about half of those accepted are residents of Oregon, meaning that the odds aren't 33% but rather closer to 15%.
 
Fall 2001 Admissions Statistics

Applied Interviewed Accepted Enrolled
Total: 2,502 331 180 101
In state: 276 140 82 68
Out of state: 2,226 191 98 33
Women: 1,180 178 115 60
Minorities: 485 61 33 18
International: 0 0 0 0

Acceptance rate: 7.2%

GPA
Average undergraduate GPA: 3.61

MCAT
Overall score (composite): 10
Verbal reasoning: 9.7
Physical sciences: 9.9
Biological: 10.3
Writing: P

Looks like a good place to go to meet women, anyway. 😉
 
*cough* *cough* don't come here to meet the women. Portland is great for that, but not OHSU. j/k

Anyway, yeah I agree that it won't be long before the state budget contributes nothing to OHSU. It was 7% when I started, and has already dwindled down to 4.4% as sacrament posted. Thx for the update.

I can assure you that there is some preference, despite what Keenan says, shown to ppl from rural areas of OR, since they are likely to return to those places (at least more so than others). There are several ppl in my class and subsequent classes who had below-average numbers but lots of experience in rural healthcare. And, the majority of recent classes still come from Oregon.

Its not exactly true that CA state schools accept out-of-staters. At least when I applied, they would only consider out-of-staters who were either URM or MD/PhD. Same with UW. Certainly the numbers are not in your favor as you have pointed out tho. Its too bad you don't have more private med schools. Loma Linda is religious, USC is mucho moolah, and Stanford is right next to UCSF. Just out of curiosity, is it true that there is now a primary care quota for the UC med schools? One of the applicants said something about this.
 
Originally posted by FireAway
OHSU is now a private corporation, they only receive 7% of their budget from the state. We still show preference to instaters, particularly those who are "likely to practice in rural Oregon," but when they expanded class size all of those extra spots were specifically earmarked to be out-of-staters. I agree with you that ppl from out-of-state are less likely (by far) to practice in Oregon, so yes it is very much at odds with their stated mission. However, in Oregon we pay our public employees (excluding teachers, fire and police) way more than they're worth, and outside of Portland/Eugene everyone's a hick and doesn't want to pay taxes, so you get the state budget disaster that we have now! And that does influence the school's budget. Hope that helps answer your question that you already answered for yourself!
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OHSU is not really a private corporation, however much they claim to be. Although little of the funding comes from the state, it is still considered part of the Oregon state univ/hospital system. For example, almost all employees of OHSU are eligible for PERS, and are considered public employees. If it wasn't for state funding (albeit 7%) OHSU would have gone belly up a long time ago.

BTW: as far as tuition goes, it used to be low for in-staters (~14-19k) and high for out-of-staters (34k) but this year they normalized it to 25k / 30k. It's true that OHSU is increasingly trying to squeeze money. Here are some more examples:

- Tore down the residence hall, because it wasn't making any money. (replaced by patient care clinic)

- Applying for MSTP funding so they won't have to pay the stipends for MD/PhD students

- Cut health benefits for employees to PPO system only

- Building 2 more research buildings, to bring in more PI's so they can skim ~20% of the grant money.

- Purposefully maintain extreme parking shortage, in order to charge $80-130/month for students/employees.

-Regularly send out requests for donations to students (who are already paying $$$ to the school!)

Alright well i'm going to stop there. I could also add, the cafeteria system (especially MacHall's) is a complete rip-off.
 
Residence Hall was torn down to make room for a new patient care tower, with attached parking structure. Maybe you don't understand that building parking structures costs money, and the land up on Marquam Hill is incredibly expensive, so that's why parking costs $$. I don't care, I can afford it. Most people would see the addition of research buildings as progress.
 
Residence Hall was torn down to make room for a new patient care tower, with attached parking structure. Maybe you don't understand that building parking structures costs money, and the land up on Marquam Hill is incredibly expensive, so that's why parking costs $$. I don't care, I can afford it. Most people would see the addition of research buildings as progress.
 
Originally posted by FireAway

I can assure you that there is some preference, despite what Keenan says, shown to ppl from rural areas of OR, since they are likely to return to those places (at least more so than others). There are several ppl in my class and subsequent classes who had below-average numbers but lots of experience in rural healthcare. And, the majority of recent classes still come from Oregon.
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Yeah, I can't really reconcile what I KNOW the class composition is (i.e. disproportionately more Oregonians accepted than the make-up of the applicant pool would suggest) with what Keenan said, which is that Oregonians aren't given preference. Either they in fact ARE given some sort of preference, or Oregonians are just outstanding medical school candidates. 🙂
OHSU really needs to officially state their policy on this matter and not beat around the bush. Nothing wrong with preferring Oregonians!
 
From the OHSU Admissions website:

Applicants are selected for admission regardless of race, gender, age, religion, national origin, color, marital status or disabilities. The School of Medicine gives preference to the following applicants:

Residents of Oregon.
Nonresidents of Oregon who fit into one or more of the following categories:
WICHE-Certified applicants from Montana and Wyoming.
Members of underrepresented ethnic/racial groups as defined by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Those applying to the M.D./Ph.D. and M.D./M.PH. Combined Degree Programs.
Applicants with superior achievements, such as academics, related experiences, etc.

(look at that last one! preference given to the best applicants!
😉 )
 
Hello fellow OHSU applicants,

Can you guys help me with some questions?

I understand that OHSU has only accepted ~20 applicants thus far and has put everyone else on hold. As an out-of-state who interviewed in December, I have not heard back yet. Do you guys mind telling me what the hold/accept/reject letter envelopes look like?

Also, if you are put on hold, is there any way to find out your ranking #? I take it update letters and letters of intent/interest do not help at all?

Lasty, if you were put on hold/accept, how did your interviews go?

I would give almost anything to attend OHSU...

Thanks-
Mike
 
All right I think my 30% estimate is pretty close, as shown by US News & World report Numbers. If there are more than 300 applicants from oregon it is obvious that they do not want to stay in state as they did not apply to OHSU. One interesting thing was that I was informed that Oregon is notorious for their lack of funding secondary education institutions. They don't even have sales tax up in Oregon (and thus now need to take drastic measures to balance their budget). When I was there it seemed like anarchy. They were letting prisoners walk out of jail....closing down elementary schools. OHSU and portland are gorgeous and I would love to go there for medical school, but the state budget thing was kind of weird.
 
Originally posted by weirdo700
All right I think my 30% estimate is pretty close, as shown by US News & World report Numbers. If there are more than 300 applicants from oregon it is obvious that they do not want to stay in state as they did not apply to OHSU. One interesting thing was that I was informed that Oregon is notorious for their lack of funding secondary education institutions. They don't even have sales tax up in Oregon (and thus now need to take drastic measures to balance their budget). When I was there it seemed like anarchy. They were letting prisoners walk out of jail....closing down elementary schools. OHSU and portland are gorgeous and I would love to go there for medical school, but the state budget thing was kind of weird.
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I'm happy and proud to be an Oregonian, but unfortunately Oregonians have historically been total cheapskates who don't feel like they should pay taxes for ANYTHING. Oregonians want the best of everything but they want to pay for nothing. It is very frustrating that even in the liberal metro areas of the state you can't get support for funding schools.
 
Originally posted by Qwest

I understand that OHSU has only accepted ~20 applicants thus far and has put everyone else on hold. As an out-of-state who interviewed in December, I have not heard back yet. Do you guys mind telling me what the hold/accept/reject letter envelopes look like?
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My original acceptance letter was a thin envelope (single piece of paper inside).
 
Originally posted by sacrament
I'm happy and proud to be an Oregonian, but unfortunately Oregonians have historically been total cheapskates who don't feel like they should pay taxes for ANYTHING. Oregonians want the best of everything but they want to pay for nothing. It is very frustrating that even in the liberal metro areas of the state you can't get support for funding schools.
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Oregon does have a state income tax and a property tax. I don't think their mode of taxation is to blame for budget shortfalls.
 
Originally posted by xaelia
Oregon does have a state income tax and a property tax. I don't think their mode of taxation is to blame for budget shortfalls.
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Unfortunately, your view is shared by many in this state.
I'm not saying there is no tax in Oregon. I'm saying Oregonians haven't voted for a tax increase since 1930, yet everybody whines about the crappy schools and the crappy roads and the understaffed police force, etc. etc. etc. These things aren't free. Either increase your f-ing taxes or stop complaining.
People around here like to blame the economy or government waste or the Oregon Health Plan for the budget shortfall, but I don't buy any of those arguments, for reasons too lengthy (and boring for 99% of SDN readers) to go into here. The fact is that if you talk about raising taxes around here, people get out the tar and feathers and string you up from a pole, or maye just shoot you in the face.
 
I agree that the state schools don't have adequate funding. It's true that bond measures are rarely approved by voters. The state economy is not strong, and the unemployment % is high. It may be unlikely that additional taxes, including a sales tax, would satisfactorily remedy the situation.
 
I have traveled outside of Oregon and 2 of the best things about getting back are no nuisance penny & dime sales taxes and no standing out in the rain pumping ur own gas! If people want those privileges they have 48 other states to live in. The best thing is friendly,pleasant salespeople who are happy to get ur business--& not rude to you.
Just wish we had more med schools here!
BTW--we have a very progressive income tax which is fairer than sales tax and where you know in total what you pay each year. :clap:
 
It's funny...I didn't like the idea of not pumping my own gas until I'd lived here a few years. Now it's just great. No cold hands or standing in the rain and it doesn't take longer than if you were to DIY.

No sales tax does rock, but our income taxes are a little heavier than the rest. I do think that it's more fair. I voted for the tax increase a few weeks ago and I think it's a shame that it didn't pass. I agree that people need to step up if we want to have continued public safety, schools, etc.
 
Had dinner with a friend last night who interviewed at OHSU yesterday. They've only accepted 25 students thus far. Boy will I feel like ass if 65% instaters get in and I'm given the boot. Damn this random process. Damn.
 
A 3.6 and a 30 MCAT for the _average_ shouldn't be horrifically intimidating...though, chances are a significant portion of folks being accepted with lower numbers than that fall into the categories of students "given preference" at OHSU.
 
So after months of waiting, and them losing some letters of rec. I got am invitation to interview, only to find that they don't have any available slots right now. They assured me that I would interview, but they're not sure when. It appears that they're trying to beg their interviewers to free up more time. When I asked if they were interviewing more people that last year, they said no. So, how are there not interview spots. Very frustrating. They must have a backlog of people to interview here at the end.

Enough of that. Can anyone tell me about the interview?
 
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