OHSU=Frustration Station!

Started by karma4me
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Interviews were pretty conversational. Mine were with two MDs who work at the hospital. They were both very approachable and non-threatening. Each lasted between 45 minutes and 1.25 hrs. If OHSU is your first choice, tell them that and be able to back it up. The interviews are open file.

Don't stress too hard about a later interview. It sounds like almost everyone is reevaluated in the first part of May. Good luck to you. PM me if you have any more questions.
 
hi, i'm a ms1 at OHSU. thought i drop a note. we got the list of interview lunches that are available, the last one is april 11th. but sounds like there will be more as soon as they schedule more interviewers. good luck.
 
Still in shock that SDN is back up and running!!!

After reading through all the posts about OR residents being cheap bastards, it made me wonder how many people writing responses are actually paying property taxes? This is, by far, the most expensive part about being an Oregonian! I'm an OR resident, and I haven't even thought about buying property... meaning that I don't pay property taxes and therefore can't bitch about how stingy taxpayers are with their votes.

On the other hand, I definitely agree that the financial situation in OR is truly dire. I think, however, that the issue is not how much money we have for the budget, but the fact that the money is not being used appropriately. Also, OR is one of the few states that is not allowed to operate in the hole, financially. Thank god! Look at California!

My interview at OHSU is next Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how many people they have accepted at this point.
 
I went to Linfield College. (where?)

That's true about the property taxes. Most pre-meds don't own houses or property. I'd still be willing to pay a little more income tax per year to ensure that school years aren't shortened and that OHP and food stamps continue to serve families in trouble. State income tax is already high, but I think these issues are worth it.

Good luck on your interview.
 
For those of you OHSU applicants who have interviewed and are currently in the 'hold' pool, what exactly does this mean? Is it ranked, are you given a number? When will they start going through the hold pool to determine acceptances? Do you have an advantage in the hold category if you interviewed earlier rather than later?

Any input would be much appreciated!
 
Karma4me - From what I can remember, "on hold" status is given to the majority of people who are interviewed at OHSU. A few are accepted, a bulk of people are on hold, and some rejected...What does that mean? Well, the adcom gives you a number which factors in your GPA/MCAT/extracurriculars/research and interview scores. Let's say your number is 69. Sorry, I had to. Anyhow, in the beginning of the application process, the adcom makes this decision that they will automatically accept everyone who "scores" over 80. Then, after reviewing files and realizing how many spots they have available, they lower that number to say, 70. Once they do that, everyone above 70 gets in. Then, they evaluate what they have left and availability and all that jazz, and maybe (depending on what they got) they will lower it again...to, like, 65. Then, everyone who has over 65 gets in. Basically, they just keep lowering that "threshold number" until all of their spots are filled and the first tuition payments are signed, sealed, and delivered. Hope that helps.

Manicmaven - We are on three of the same waitlists/holds/high priorities...WTF? People are playa hatin on us...
 
Chronic,
We apparently are just too cool for some of these schools. I'm surprised we haven't crossed paths at interviews. And...I'll say it again -waitlists blow.
 
i am out of state...and i was just wondering b/c i also got that postcard a while back----about 2 months ago...how were you notified of an interview???
 
Originally posted by nygirl6464
i am out of state...and i was just wondering b/c i also got that postcard a while back----about 2 months ago...how were you notified of an interview???
Click to expand...

my interview invitation came in a very thin envelope...
 
Yep, and it looks deceivingly like a rejection letter. The only clue is that the outside of the envelope is stamped "dated material enclosed."

Good luck! As you can see from the post, applying to OHSU can be a rather frustrating ordeal!
 
Originally posted by manicmaven
Chronic,
We apparently are just too cool for some of these schools. I'm surprised we haven't crossed paths at interviews. And...I'll say it again -waitlists blow.
Click to expand...

Manic - No diggity...no doubt. Do any of these dates look familiar? Maybe we did cross paths...

Saint Louis 10/22
GW 11/19
G'Town 11/20
OHSU 12/5
 
Chronic,
Nope, we missed each other on every one. Our applications must have been hitting the same chord with all these admissions committees, for both interviews/admissions/waitlists. Maybe you are my california twin. hmm.
 
For those that interviewed at OHSU, how long did it take for you to hear from them after the interview?
 
I talked to OHSU this week. They have still accepted very few people and I asked if they were following the AAMC guidelines of having sent out as many acceptances as there are places in the class by March 15th. Short answer? No. They won't even get close to filling the remaining 70 something spots until at least the beginning of may right up until the May 15th deadline.

I told her that I thought that May 15th was the deadline for students holding on to multiple acceptances, not schools. Nope, she said...OHSU likes to give everyone a 'fair chance' at the end.

Interesting. Interesting that by May 15th it will have been 11 and a half months from the time I submitted my application. 2500 applicants, 400 interviews, and 11 and a half months. Something smells really really SLOW.

+pissed+
 
Manic - Do you know when us "hold" people will be hearing from them? Any earlier than May 15? I really want to go there, but it looks like I'm gonna have to wait to see if the feelin's mutual...Did they hint at whether or not they've brought that "threshold" number down at all??? Or do they do that at the end too?
 
Hey All!

I interviewed at OHSU on 2/25 and here's the scoop:

As of now, they have accepted about 30 people. The March 15th deadline, according to the admissions director, is a 'fake' deadline for schools on the west coast. No one really plays along. By May 15th, they will have given out 100 acceptances, approximately 25% of the interviewees. That adds up because as of now, they only accept 25% of the people that walk through the door.

So, then everyone else is in the hold pool basically until May 15th. According to the info they gave us, you won't get pulled out of hold until people start declining acceptances (ie: after 5/15). In the end, they will end up interviewing 420 and sending out 180 acceptances (approximately 80 people off the wait list).

I hope that this helps! Keep updating if you hear anything different.🙄
 
How long did it take after your interview for you to hear that you were placed on hold, accepted or rejected post-interview? Anyone?
 
Calipremed,

Sorry, I meant to answer your question too with the last post. It took me about 3 weeks, but I called and they told me I was on hold and then received the letter about week 4. If you haven't heard, call. They can tell you over the phone.

Karma4me,

I'm a little confused. They've been interviewing since November...4 months, and have only given out 30 acceptances. They have 2 and a half months to go (if they interview right up until May 15th), and at the rate acceptances have been handed out, would at that point only have accepted about 20 or so more. That would leave 50 spaces for those placed in the Hold pool. What they told me was that there are quite a few accepted out of the hold pool before they fill the class and then, depending on the year, many (80) or very few (less than 20) accepted off of the ranked waitlist after May 15th.

Does this make sense to you, or does it conflict with what you heard this week?
 
i think this is the way it will work:

from beginning of interviewing until now:
they've interviewed X number of people, everyone will get a "score", they set the acceptance at a certain score, everyone with a score over the acceptance number will get in automatically. so far it is 30 people. everyone else below the acceptance number gets put on hold.

from now until end of interviewing:
same thing. everyone who meets the acceptance score gets in automatically.

after end of interviewing until May 15th:
they look at how many spots they have left, let's say it's 50 spots. they will LOWER that acceptance score until 50 people meet that score. now their class is "full".

this means everyone who has been put on hold, may potentially now get an acceptance letter if their score is high enough to meet the new acceptance score.

so manicmaven, that very well could be you. and you are right, a LOT of people come off the hold list. they put you on hold so they can see who else is out there and everyone (even the late interviewees) get a fair chance at acceptance. i know that sucks for people who interviewed early and are now sitting on their butts waiting.

after May 15th:
everyone gets ranked according to their score, and the waitlist is formed.

i hope this isn't too confusing.
 
Manicmaven,

I can't be totally sure, but Jennifer seemed pretty positive that they would have given out 100 acceptances from the interviews by May. Maybe they don't interview very many people in November/December, and the number increases until May? Who really knows? I think that the "lowering the threshold" idea is valid, so they might hand out acceptances off the hold list. I have my fingers crossed for ya!

As for me, I'll just be sitting here holding my breath for another 4 weeks... I have an acceptance at Loyola, which is a great second choice. I'd love to stay in Oregon though, and I absolutely LOVE OHSU.
 
the lowering threshold idea was what jennifer told us last year, and i know it worked for many of my classmates who are MSI's now (went from hold to acceptance, although it seemed forever). good luck.
 
By the way, how do you guys feel about OHSU's system of evaluating interviewees?:

1. Motivation for Medicine
2. Communication Skills
3. Extracurricular Activities
4. Emotional Maturity

As far as I'm concerned, it seems pretty arbitrary??? The 4th year who gave us a tour told us that, after spending 4 years watching the committee evaluate applicants, he was certain of 2 things:

1. That all 400 interviewees would make great doctors, and
2. The committee pulls out their Ouigi Board to determine who they will accept.

He also admitted that they do a great job of selecting the incoming class, so... you make the call???
 
Originally posted by amonkeybutt
the lowering threshold idea was what jennifer told us last year, and i know it worked for many of my classmates who are MSI's now (went from hold to acceptance, although it seemed forever). good luck.
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amonkeybutt, I'm extremely curious as which of my classmates you are, but you aren't giving me very many clues to work with.
😉
 
yeah, wouldn't we all like to know 😉 how'd you like that little coffee party today? funny how they always know when we're close to breaking point.
 
What amonkeybutt said is exactly how I'd been informed of the process and what I'd heard from years previous.

Most of the M1 students I met and know from OHSU came out of the hold pool before the waitlist was ranked. The lowered score thing is what I've been going on.

Good luck to everyone. Hate the waiting.
 
Hello from OHSU -

Nothing terribly new to report that hasn't been touched on before. Jennifer says about 35 acceptances have been given out, ~25% acceptance rate so far. Since it takes 4 weeks to get in front of the committee after your interview, that means they've reviewed approximately 2 months worth of applicants, and have about 3 months left to go. It's all based on the absolute score they assign you and their already-established cutoff. 80% of the score comes from committee, 20% from the score they give your academic credentials. Interestingly, they give a bonus to folks from "top 20" schools that don't have grade inflation - sorry Duke. Yale, MIT, U. Chicago, Stanford...even Reed College is on that list (probably because they're locally known).

If they get their 103 acceptances out before May 15th, the top holds will go to waitlist. If they don't get their 103 acceptances out, they'll lower the bar, accept some holds, and then put the top holds on the waitlist. Sounds like in past years between 40-80 people have gotten in off the waiting list, and this year sounds like its shaping up to have closer to the high end of that with so few acceptances.

Overall, man, what a great school. Awesome city, beautiful campus, flexible curriculum with tons of free time, increasing emphasis and funding for research while still maintaining the high level of training for patient care starting in the 2nd week. About the only thing missing are some of the newerfangled technology resources, a somewhat gentrified patient population, and parking is pretty tough....
 
Has anyone else had trouble scheduling an interview? I got an invitation, but was told that there weren't any spots available (scheduling problems). I was told that they were trying to free up more time with their interviewers and that I'd hear back. It's been a few weeks and I still haven't heard anything. They said I would get an interview before April 18 (last interview day).

Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions on how to get an interview scheduled. I'd really like to visit since everyone else speaks so highly of OHSU.
 
I wouldn't stress about it... even though the process seems a little backwards, it's geared to give everyone a fair shot-- regardless of when you interview. They obviously think that you have the potential to go to the school, and they're not going to bail on you before they have a chance to see you. When I was there, they had pushed out the last day until April 14th. They will squeeze you in!
 
Originally posted by xaelia
Oh, also, while I was there:
Someone called and asked if they were still sending out interview invitations. The quick answer from Jennifer: "not necessarily, but for the most part."
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What an ambiguous statement........I guess I might as well count this school out.
 
I think that Jennifer Lesowsky is usually fairly helpful. At least, that was my own impression. I could understand if the administrative staff did suffer from confusion.
 
Well, after months of waiting and giving up on an interview at OHSU, I was finally invited to one....on a date yet to be determined :laugh: I was just wondering if anyone knew how many interview invites are handed out....ie, what are my odds of getting in at this point? Thanks for the info
 
I actually have been keeping up with this thread....I was more wondering if they have a certain number of interviews that they give out....so I have a basic idea of how many other people are still in the running to get accepted. I know that I will be ranked and accepted based on that number, but I want to know how many other people will be ranked with me.
 
Here's the rough numbers (to the best of my knowledge):

# Applied= 2,700
# Interviewed= 420
# Accepted= 103
# Typically pulled off the waitlist = 80

Therefore, you have just about a 50% chance of being accepted if you interview.

Good luck!
 
Originally posted by karma4me
Here's the rough numbers (to the best of my knowledge):

# Applied= 2,700
# Interviewed= 420
# Accepted= 103
# Typically pulled off the waitlist = 80

Therefore, you have just about a 50% chance of being accepted if you interview.

Good luck!
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I don't know that your waitlist numbers are entirely correct. From whom have you obtained this information?
 
The numbers are are a pretty good approximation of this year's process. They're interviewing ~420, they've been accepting at about ~25% rate (~105), and in past years they've accepted about 180 total...so that works out to ~80 waitlist acceptances.

Though, it sounds like this year OHSU is a little higher choice on people's lists.
 
Hey...Scattered here and there throughout this thread and the interview feedback section I've gotten the impression that OHSU interviews are pretty laid back...does anybody want to confirm or disagree with that? I'm wondering if I need to become a master of the Oregon Health Plan before my interview, or if a passing knowledge will do. And, of course, any other tidbit of info on the experience would always be helpful....thanks for helping to make OHSU just a little bit less frustrating 😉

Oh - and just to keep you updated, as of yesterday the earliest interview date they were offering was March 26th, and past that you get bumped to April 8th....
 
I didn't get asked about the OHP. Though maybe that's because I'm from out of state.

Altogether, I would say it was laid back. I did have to do some waiting but since the facilities are really nice, I made use of the time.
 
Just wanted to clarify or at least give some more accurate facts about admissions process. I interview this week and they stated these interesting facts.

400 will be interviewed
103 will be accepted
March 15th offers for entire class will be made
People that interview after that date will be very likely to be place on the hold list or rejected.
May 15th multiple acceptances held by students must be taken care of.
New acceptances will be made
Historically 10 to 80 students have been accepted from the hold pool. Therefore, it does not at all suggest that 80 people are likely to be accepted, more like 50 or 60.

In addition, they give each student a numerical score after the interview; it?s based on a few areas assed by the interviewer. Maturity, motivation, extracurricular, communication, and maybe one other area, I can't remember. The scores of the two interviews are combined and averaged. This makes up 80 percent of your numerical score. The other 20 percent is based on a combination of your MCAT and gpa. Once you are scored, your score never changes. Thus everyone no matter what time they interview has an equal chance to be accepted. The problem is, that score is very high, so most are placed in the applicant pool. To fill the class they will lower the score required to be accepted until they have all the students they need to fill their class. I think they said the do make a rank list, but its just based on your score. So its kind of redundant. People can be accepted any time. They said last year, the last person accepted was notified the second day of classes.
Hope this helps someone. Good luck!
🙂
 
Two people in the admissions office told me that they would not have offered the 103 places by march 15th. They will have all offers sent by mid may.
 
Well, as of yesterday, they've sent out 60 acceptance letters, according to Jennifer and the earliest date for an interview is April 30th.
 
Has anybody who was previously put on hold seen any movement off of the OHSU list?

I interviewed 3 weeks ago today... do you think it's too early to call the admissions office for my results?
 
Originally posted by indo
I hate the fact that there is only 1 medical school in oregon. Doesn't that fact make it even harder for an Oregon resident to get accepted to medical school? Most state schools favor in-state applicants so a person applying in basically any east coast state has a higher chance of being accepted because they can apply to more than one in state school. But the applicant population is higher in those states so I wonder how the final statistics work out.

Anyway, Oregon residents should be considered in-state applicants for a few other medical schools. That's my opinion, dammit.
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ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

you guys are complaining because the number two primary care school in the country is YOUR in-state school... who cares about the east coast states; they also have ten times the applicant pool you guys do.
think about those of us that are Montana residents... marginally smaller applicant pool than you, and NO in-state school. ok, they reserve all of 20 places for us at UW... sweet
 
Originally posted by karma4me
Has anybody who was previously put on hold seen any movement off of the OHSU list?

I interviewed 3 weeks ago today... do you think it's too early to call the admissions office for my results?
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I interviewed 4 weeks ago. I believe I was going to be discussed last Thursday, but I haven't heard anything yet. You should allow at least a month...and they won't tell you over the phone, anyway.
 
Hey X,
How did you find out when your app was coming up for review? And do you have any idea when they'll be giving everyone on the hold pool an A/R/W?
wadoc
 
disregard that first question--I was wondering if anyone could find out when their *already on hold* app might come up for review again.
 
J244.... I PMed you!

Also, has anybody gotten word about the hold pool? Anybody been taken off hold yet? How many acceptances have they handed out so far?

I'm sweatin' bullets everyday when I get to the mailbox... my decision letter should be here any day (interviewed Feb 25th, today is the 5 week mark!)
 
My understanding is that they won't be accepting anyone off of the hold list before May.
 
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