Penn MSTP Support Group

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This is a thread for Penn interviewees who can't wait to hear back from Dr. Brass and Penn.

Nothing is coming out till mid March at the earliest, but I have the urge to talk all things Penn, and I am pretty sure my friends and family are sick of me talking about how much I want to go there.

Any other interviewees out there who would go to Penn over any other acceptance they have? I hope not -- hopefully they have to go down 50 slots in the waitlist :D

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This is a thread for Penn interviewees who can't wait to hear back from Dr. Brass and Penn.

Nothing is coming out till mid March at the earliest, but I have the urge to talk all things Penn, and I am pretty sure my friends and family are sick of me talking about how much I want to go there.

Any other interviewees out there who would go to Penn over any other acceptance they have? I hope not -- hopefully they have to go down 50 slots in the waitlist :D

Cuing Neuronix and a massive buzzkill in 3...2...1...:rolleyes:
 
lol, saw this thread earlier, decided not to comment. Thought it might be funny if I joined the "Support Group" (ignoring that it's an Applicant Support Group), but not funny enough. Besides, I have NOTHING to complain about right now.

So I will comment since I was called out. I have nothing against Penn. I don't see where the buzzkill is coming from me. My gripes are with systemic issues. The way science is funded and regulated, the way that graduate students and residents have no protection from abuse and those programs are more about work than training, the way that medicine is like an indentured servitude system due to debt, etc etc etc...

I think Penn's MSTP is a great place to be if you're going to do this MSTP sort of thing and they've backed me up in everything I've wanted to do almost 100%. When they haven't they have a good reason, and to be honest I've led such a screwy life, and academics is such a screwy world, that I'd have had issues no matter where I went. Yeah, I've watched a lot of my classmates turn from rah rah researchers to never doing research again, but this is big name big medical school academic research. You fit into this thing or you don't. A lot of what happens is research area specific, lab specific, person specific, and is really out of the MSTP program's hands. I like to talk about it, but what can the program do? It's graduate school. You're getting a PhD, and the PhDs live in their own strange world of high dropout rates, bad job prospects, hard-to-obtain funding, and "You must do X to be a REAL PhD". Are the investigators here REALLY any different than at any of the other big name places? I really doubt it. This is why so few people are heading to the 80/20 research/clinical split down the line, or at least think they are when they're done grad school, but that's reality. If we don't talk about why, we can just hide our head in the sand and say these generic things like "Their heart just wasn't in it", but that's never good enough for me and isn't going to fix anything. Sure, the PDs want to put a good spin on everything so their programs gets lots of money and great students, but I'm not a PD and I don't have to deal with the realities of actually fixing all the problems I talk about.

I don't always agree with the MSTP, but it's just a difference of opinion, and when I talk to applicants I try to give the MSTP's side and my side and try to get them to think about how they feel and about how other programs feel to get them to choose the right place for them. Maybe I'm not like the other students (mostly first years) in admissions who will just say RAH RAH RAH GO PENN!!!!!! But, I don't think my approach is bad? I think it's about helping applicants choose the right place for them. I came off the waitlist, and there are a lot of great people waiting on that waitlist if the people who are accepted don't come. Maybe Penn wants to keep their accepted-to-matriculated ratio as low as possible, but why should I share in that?

Penn Med was annoying at times, but what med school doesn't have its share of issues? There's a few graduate programs that I think should change for MD/PhDs. Our director can't say these sorts of things, but I sure as heck can when I feel like it. Does it dissuade people from coming here? Not really.

I think applicants can trust me to tell them everything about my school that bothers me and the other students when they ask (though now I do reserve this for students with acceptance in hand). I think most applicants appreciate that blunt honesty and begin to think about and suspect about other schools what they're NOT getting from the students there. Thus, our application rate has shot through the roof since I started this long string of SDN posts and our accepted-to-matriculated ratio has gotten much closer to one. How much of this is due to me specifically, who knows...

I view what I do as a public service. My experiences are not uncommon and thus should be shared. I try to be as moderate as I can with things and give all sides of the argument when I speak.

But don't get me wrong--when all went to hell with my PI and committee, the MD/PhD program stepped in to back me up. My coordinator listened to all my gripes and offered advice. While it enraged my PI and committee, my director had no problems with coming to my committee meetings to try to figure out what was going on that my committee couldn't come to a group conclusion on my progress. Overall if someone asked me how I'd rate the job the MSTP is doing, I'd give it a 9/10.

Oh, and finally, I like Philadelphia as a city and have always said nice things about it. I think it's far nicer and has a lot more to offer than say Baltimore, but is much cheaper than NYC or Boston. But if a student is looking for a suburban/rural medical school (happened to me with hosted students or applicants a few times), I'm the first to say this isn't the place.
 
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lol, saw this thread earlier, decided not to comment. Thought it might be funny if I joined the "Support Group" (ignoring that it's an Applicant Support Group), but not funny enough. Besides, I have NOTHING to complain about right now.


Just having some fun is all. I knew you'd show up here eventually, and I knew I could "facilitate" the process! :D
 
Every time I go to check my status, I get freaked out by the "withdraw your application" button. What if I click there by accident?
 
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Ugh. I have to wait ANOTHER week. And it's Spring Break next week, so I won't have classes to take my mind off Penn.

our accepted-to-matriculated ratio has gotten much closer to one.

Don't say that :(

Every time I go to check my status, I get freaked out by the "withdraw your application" button. What if I click there by accident?

:D:D I do the exact same thing.
 
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So will decisions be available on the status page? Or will we find out first via email or snail mail?
 
March 30th really needs to come faster...
 
DobbySamosa, I think it might come earlier than March 30.
 
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What is the committee doing? How could they possibly need this much time?

I love Penn, but I am having a hard time understanding their admissions process. Interviews ended over a month ago.
 
What is the committee doing? How could they possibly need this much time?

I love Penn, but I am having a hard time understanding their admissions process. Interviews ended over a month ago.

Don't you know? They get off on watching you squirm.:laugh:
 
Haha, yup. I am sure they do :p

But, really, I am getting obsessed -- to the point I pulled out my interview schedule and went over how I did in each interview trying to ballpark my chances...that can't be healthy.
 
I used to live on Irving at 41st back in my bike courier days. First night I moved in, some punk arse flashed a piece at the spruce st wawa. Watch yer backs, kiddies.

That said, the illadelpha is a wonderful place to get educated and while there's no place in the city that's not city, I have to say that I'd love to spend a part of my life there again. E-A-G-L-E-S... EAGLES!
(also, good luck ya'll)
 
Good luck to all, I enjoyed my time at Penn's MSTP (before there was electronic applications! :wow:)


The angst you are having now starts all over again circa match day, if it makes you feel any better (probably not! :laugh:)
 
Neuronix (and other Penn-ers), do you know anything about the significance of receiving a snail mail follow-up from Skip Brass vs. an email follow-up? It sounds like people have gotten both.
 
Tiamat, out of curiousity, would you take Penn over your other acceptances?
 
Me too :)

I am starting to prepare myself psychologically for a rejection, though...in case things don't work out. Better to expect the worse and be surprised than expect the best and be disappointed.
 
How often do they dip into non-top tier 1 students?
 
All depends on the year. Sometimes the waitlist moves a lot, sometimes it doesn't. I don't know more specifics than that other than to say it seems to be trending towards less waitlist movement.
 
I hope that is a symptom of Dr. Brass and the rest putting more emphasis on accepting students who have shown a strong interest in attending...
 
I was in contact with the MSTP office today...they said March 27 was the expected date decisions would go out.
 
Update: results are now more likely to go out on Wednesday, 3/25
 
Unlike most schools who are always telling you, “Don’t call us, we’ll write you”, it seems like Penn is the only school reaching out to its applicants post-interview and asking us to “keep in touch” or “share your thoughts”. Instead of making arbitrary assumptions that “Someone didn’t show enough interest”, Penn is actually trying to find out whether we’re still interested. Gotta say that counts for a lot in my mind.

It is still the week of 3/23? Good luck everybody!
 
Penn is actually trying to find out whether we're still interested. Gotta say that counts for a lot in my mind.

Being one of the last schools to announce decisions and caring about accepted:matriculated ratio, this is a very obvious and well planned recruiting decision.
 
Being one of the last schools to announce decisions and caring about accepted:matriculated ratio, this is a very obvious and well planned recruiting decision.

So sending a letter of intent is extremely helpful at Penn?
 
So sending a letter of intent is extremely helpful at Penn?

Of course!

I am often asked whether it's better to send the LOI now or wait for a decision. To be honest, I have no idea whether it's better to send pre or post-decision. Seems like pre would be the smarter move to me.

A pretty sizeable percentage of interviewees send LOIs. Word of mouth is that it's larger than the number of students they matriculate. So it can't mean everything, but I know for sure that it helps.
 
To be honest, I have no idea whether it's better to send pre or post-decision. Seems like pre would be the smarter move to me.

Do you know approximately when they make decisions? Do they decide before March?
 
Some first years told me their decisions are made sometime in February, but they can't release the info until the med school 's general admissions is ready.
 
Seeking out an applicant’s interest about the school must have an obvious motive, as Neuronix mentioned; it is still a good practice. It will be nice if other schools also care about their mat ratio and reach out to their potential recruits.
 
Eleven more days, folks.

I am seriously remembering every mumbled word, sigh, and inarticulate answer from my interviews :(

Love me the way I love you, Penn:(:(
 
I will be honest as well, loved the school, had a near panic the night before interview afraid of screwing it up; I was wondering when all the Penn fans would come out of closet this year...until I saw this thread.
What I'm not sure about is: if we already pledged interest when replying to Skip after the interview, would that count as a LOI or is there a need for an additional one?
 
I am NO where near as impressive as any of the other Penn interviewees I have talked to. Not in MCAT, not in EC's, research, etc.

My question is: does all of that even out once the interview stage is reached? Does anyone have thoughts on this?
 
My question is: does all of that even out once the interview stage is reached?

Absolutely not. Interview is just one piece of the admissions game. On the MD side, it rarely does much for an applicant unless it's really good or really bad (5%-10% of applicants). It's probably the same for MD/PhD, but I don't know for sure.

hzjames said:
What I'm not sure about is: if we already pledged interest when replying to Skip after the interview, would that count as a LOI or is there a need for an additional one?

An LOI is a written statement that you will matriculate at that school if you are accepted. If you already put this in writing, there's no need to do it again.
 
Hoooo man. Anyone get a CBC yesterday? A number of people on the Penn MD thread got them, and most aren't waiting on a CBC from any school but Penn. Hoping either that it's not related to Penn or it's only from the med school...
 
Absolutely not. Interview is just one piece of the admissions game. On the MD side, it rarely does much for an applicant unless it's really good or really bad (5%-10% of applicants). It's probably the same for MD/PhD, but I don't know for sure.

Hmm. Ok. Thanks. That is interesting. I am not sure what to make of it in terms of how it affects my chances...

Hoooo man. Anyone get a CBC yesterday? A number of people on the Penn MD thread got them, and most aren't waiting on a CBC from any school but Penn. Hoping either that it's not related to Penn or it's only from the med school...

No CBC for me.
 
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Tia, why do you think it will go out by phone?

I thought it was all electronic
 
Tia, why do you think it will go out by phone?

I thought it was all electronic

Hah, sorry, I guess my post wasn't formatted too well. The link there is to a post from last year with someone saying they were accepted via phone call on 3/20 (the equivalent of this Thursday).
 
!!! Ok, that is exciting. VERY exciting.

But, hey, Maggie Krall told me acceptances would most likely go out on 3/25 and if we assume Dr. Brass will call one week beforehand again, then it is this tuesday -- TOMORROW:eek::eek:
 
No CBC check here either, and I've confirmed that everything is going out by email.
 
You should not expect a phone call even if you are going to receive an acceptance. Sometimes the program does contact people prior to the official acceptance. They will deny this happens, but over the years I've talked to a few second lookers who were contacted. It's not everyone though.

OncDoc was applying for a social science MD/PhD program, so there might have been other issues at play on that one.
 
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