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Anyone else applying there? I haven't heard that much about it and was wondering if anyone did and wanted to share. Also when do they send secondaries?
Ohsu?
- Thread starter limpkitty
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This blog of an OHSU medical student may give you some perspective on what it's like being a student there.
http://www.urbanhonking.com/medschool/
http://www.urbanhonking.com/medschool/
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Starting there in a couple weeks. I'm from Oregon and have been volunteering at OHSU for years, so I've gotten a pretty good feel of the school from talking to students/residents/etc.
The application process to OHSU is a headache. They screen for secondaries, I received mine early September, had it sent in by the end of the month, and interviewed first week in January. They accept people after interviews only if their application score fits within a narrow "traditionally accepted" window. They will offer to those individuals (I believe its around top 5% of interviews), then wait until the AMCAS may deadline before offering more. This is due to their policy of "not accepting most of their class until all interviews are completed to be fair," which you may or may not agree with. As such, most of their letters don't get sent out until June. Their wait list does not even get ranked until mid June. But as a result, there's a lot of movement on their waitlist. They're currently on #70 this year and made it to mid #80s last year. So patience is definitely a virtue.
I love the school itself, I chose it holding multiple acceptances. Even though the school is honors/high-pass/pass, the culture on the campus is very cooperative. Their integrated curriculum is definitely one of their strong suits in my opinion. Everyone I've talked to raves about it, and it definitely seems to promote the kind of learning/thinking that suits well in a clinical situation. OHSU students seemed to have a better time adjusting to clinical rotations during third year than most students at other schools I talked to. There's a reason its so highly regarded for primary care. That being said, OHSU has been transitioning from a public institute to increasingly private in nature, so it doesn't have nearly as much money to throw around for research as some schools. They have high ambitions for their stem cell line future though as they expand their waterfront campus.
The campus itself is great. With 4 hospitals right on campus, there's lots of beds with lots of cases to learn from. The VA hospital is the premiere place for organ transplant in the NW, so if you're interested in that area of medicine its a great plus. Doernbecher and Shriner's childrens hospitals do some pretty cutting edge stuff in regards to various pediatric specialities. With the medical/dental/nursing schools right on the hill in the thick of it, it really feels like a center of medicine. With the tram and sky bridge, it kind of feels like an amusement park at times (I say that facetiously of course).
The class composition is traditionally on the older side. They've traditionally preferred older applicants over people right from undergrad, though they have been trending towards younger applicants the last few years. They average age is down to just over 25 these days. Still, the class contains more married couples and young parents then you might find at some schools. Portland is an awesome city for people in their 20s and 30s. Great music scene, great art scene, fairly good nightlife for a small-big city. Public transportation is great and free for the most part on MAX and the street cars. Rent is on the cheaper side for a "big" city. Single apartments generally go between $550 and $750. If you have roommates you can cut it down more. The city itself is an hour from Mt. Hood and an hour from the beach, so if you love outdoors you're within an hour of some pretty breathtaking sights.
The application process to OHSU is a headache. They screen for secondaries, I received mine early September, had it sent in by the end of the month, and interviewed first week in January. They accept people after interviews only if their application score fits within a narrow "traditionally accepted" window. They will offer to those individuals (I believe its around top 5% of interviews), then wait until the AMCAS may deadline before offering more. This is due to their policy of "not accepting most of their class until all interviews are completed to be fair," which you may or may not agree with. As such, most of their letters don't get sent out until June. Their wait list does not even get ranked until mid June. But as a result, there's a lot of movement on their waitlist. They're currently on #70 this year and made it to mid #80s last year. So patience is definitely a virtue.
I love the school itself, I chose it holding multiple acceptances. Even though the school is honors/high-pass/pass, the culture on the campus is very cooperative. Their integrated curriculum is definitely one of their strong suits in my opinion. Everyone I've talked to raves about it, and it definitely seems to promote the kind of learning/thinking that suits well in a clinical situation. OHSU students seemed to have a better time adjusting to clinical rotations during third year than most students at other schools I talked to. There's a reason its so highly regarded for primary care. That being said, OHSU has been transitioning from a public institute to increasingly private in nature, so it doesn't have nearly as much money to throw around for research as some schools. They have high ambitions for their stem cell line future though as they expand their waterfront campus.
The campus itself is great. With 4 hospitals right on campus, there's lots of beds with lots of cases to learn from. The VA hospital is the premiere place for organ transplant in the NW, so if you're interested in that area of medicine its a great plus. Doernbecher and Shriner's childrens hospitals do some pretty cutting edge stuff in regards to various pediatric specialities. With the medical/dental/nursing schools right on the hill in the thick of it, it really feels like a center of medicine. With the tram and sky bridge, it kind of feels like an amusement park at times (I say that facetiously of course).
The class composition is traditionally on the older side. They've traditionally preferred older applicants over people right from undergrad, though they have been trending towards younger applicants the last few years. They average age is down to just over 25 these days. Still, the class contains more married couples and young parents then you might find at some schools. Portland is an awesome city for people in their 20s and 30s. Great music scene, great art scene, fairly good nightlife for a small-big city. Public transportation is great and free for the most part on MAX and the street cars. Rent is on the cheaper side for a "big" city. Single apartments generally go between $550 and $750. If you have roommates you can cut it down more. The city itself is an hour from Mt. Hood and an hour from the beach, so if you love outdoors you're within an hour of some pretty breathtaking sights.
OHSU accepts a lot of out of state students, in fact, being in-state is not much of a factor is acceptance. However, you will be considered out of state for all four years, with high tuition. Many in state applicants are accepted elsewhere early and take those acceptances rather than wait until June or July to hear from OHSU. Interviews can be hostile or not, depending on who interviews you.
