The Last SMDEP Thread EVER!

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Last Year the sites to fill up the quickest were, I saw on a website when I was surfing by were

Duke, Yale, Columbia

The acceptance rate came from a statement on the last year Columbia facebook group. 1 out of 12 got accepted that year.

Ahh, okay, that makes sense. I expected those three to be the most competitive anyway.
 
maybe i should try that and i keep going back and forth between louisville and nebraska, how long ago did you call?

I called around the start of January. The caller people are really friendly and they can answer pretty much anything about the programs except the stipend amounts.
 
is washington a popular site?..i checked their typical schedule and they dont seem to have much clinical exposure compared to case. i wish i could apply to case but i can't since i'm on quarter schedule.


I believe Washington is a good site, popular I do not think so.

Heres the information they sent me with their acceptances
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
I called around the start of January. The caller people are really friendly and they can answer pretty much anything about the programs except the stipend amounts.


Nebraska told me their stipend amount. $1000
 
Nebraska told me their stipend amount. $1000

Yea, I know Nebraska and Virginia...I still can't seem to find Texas. I called them, but nobody called back. Oh well. I'm really counting on getting into Nebraska, so hopefully it happens...soon! lol

BTW...thanks a lot for the info! Even though I didn't apply to that site, the procedures for check in and all that stuff is probably similar for the other sites.
 
im really concerned as to why washington is taking so long with my response...i mean most ppl say they respond wihtin a day. also did they email you the acceptance info or did u have to keep checking bk for ur status on the site?
 
im really concerned as to why washington is taking so long with my response...i mean most ppl say they respond wihtin a day. also did they email you the acceptance info or did u have to keep checking bk for ur status on the site?


Yes it didnt take very long for me.

What are your stats (#LORS, PS, GPA..when was your application was completed with all necessary components, etc, etc?)
 
im really concerned as to why washington is taking so long with my response...i mean most ppl say they respond wihtin a day. also did they email you the acceptance info or did u have to keep checking bk for ur status on the site?

They email your acceptance, and your status will say ---being processed (when you see this CHECK YOUR EMAIL to see the verdict)

If you have not been rejected or accepted it should read "---------"
 
3 LOR...but its funny how ive only sent 2 so far..but it says theyve recieved all 3
gpa fomr my undergrad is 3.2 but with my community college classe taken in high school its like 3.8
 
sent in 1/1 completed as of the 14
 
are you a URM?
how were you personal statements washington plays heavily into these?
Have you received any accepetances?
 
no im not a urm...and i have not recieved any reponses at all 🙁

so basically your saying the decision whether accepted or rejected will be emailed?

and on the website the status is spposed to change to being processed?
 
Yea...something like that.

I got an email acceptance letter from Houston, and on my status on the SMDEP website it says "Not yet processed".
 
no im not a urm...and i have not recieved any reponses at all 🙁

so basically your saying the decision whether accepted or rejected will be emailed?

and on the website the status is spposed to change to being processed?


If your personal statements were strong you should get in somewhere.
You applied to some strong sites however.

You should call the sites, and ask about your status, that will show intent to attend and may push the process along faster!
 
good idea tech! except where do i find the numbers for the individual sites?
 
good idea tech! except where do i find the numbers for the individual sites?




http://www.smdep.org/progsites/start.htm

Just click the site. And should be there on your right hand side


Columbia, is pretty ruthless just a heads up.


Call tuesday (closed weekend MLK day), and remember these sites are all coners of this country so, times differences will play a role.

And call the SMDEP main office, they are truely helpful but you may have to hold.
 
I was wondering how competitive is this program? Anyone know where I can find some numbers? I looked on the SMDEP site and did not find anything and I looked on TX site and did not find anything either.
 
Ponybreeder4, has it already past the 10 business day mark for you? If not, I would wait before calling the sites because I was looking at the SMDEP website and I ran across this in the FAQ section:

Note: Applicants must not contact any site before the sites' 10 business-day review period is completed even if they have received acceptance notices before the review period ends.
 
man, i hope most seats are still available..
it seems as though ive been waiting for my lors and transcripts to be sent n verified forever..
🙁
i guess my school's registrar office is slow
 
Has anyone applied to or ever been to the UCLA program? How is that site compared to the others?
 
Ponybreeder4, has it already past the 10 business day mark for you? If not, I would wait before calling the sites because I was looking at the SMDEP website and I ran across this in the FAQ section:

Note: Applicants must not contact any site before the sites' 10 business-day review period is completed even if they have received acceptance notices before the review period ends.


yeah do wait.. I think they added that recently.
 
^^ Yup.

Does anyone know about transportation? Do we just take the bus/taxi everywhere?
 
^^ Yup.

Does anyone know about transportation? Do we just take the bus/taxi everywhere?



oh really, well I called before my application was sent. I asked each site what I could do to make my application more appealing to them. And they all gave me different answer I cannot remember at this time.



Transportation depends site to site I suppose.
 
oh really, well I called before my application was sent. I asked each site what I could do to make my application more appealing to them. And they all gave me different answer I cannot remember at this time.



Transportation depends site to site I suppose.

yea; you called before your application was complete, which is before the 10 day period. that rule didn't apply to you.

btw, did anyone try and print out their application? I printed mine out after i sent it online (the person writing my rec letter wanted a copy) but my essays were messed up; there were no spaces between paragraphs in either of my essays... anyone else have this problem..? do you think calling the national program office or the individual program sites will help me fix this??
😕
 
yea; you called before your application was complete, which is before the 10 day period. that rule didn't apply to you.

btw, did anyone try and print out their application? I printed mine out after i sent it online (the person writing my rec letter wanted a copy) but my essays were messed up; there were no spaces between paragraphs in either of my essays... anyone else have this problem..? do you think calling the national program office or the individual program sites will help me fix this??
😕

Thats why I didn't put any paragraphs in. I tried to when I was copying and pasting the essay, but it didn't show up. I know for certain systems that we use at school, even if you put a space for a paragraph, it won't show up. So maybe their system just puts it all in one chunk...but thats a guess.

I don't think it would make a difference in terms of acceptance/rejection.
 
Thats why I didn't put any paragraphs in. I tried to when I was copying and pasting the essay, but it didn't show up. I know for certain systems that we use at school, even if you put a space for a paragraph, it won't show up. So maybe their system just puts it all in one chunk...but thats a guess.

I don't think it would make a difference in terms of acceptance/rejection.



Thats strange my came out just fine, I have paragraphs in both my essays.
You did not see this problem before you submitted it?
 
^^ I didn't submit it with paragraphs because when I pushed tab, it wouldn't move over. The only way I could signify any type of paragraph would be to skip a line. So I just didn't mess with it. I already had trouble with other parts of the application not showing up, so I didn't want to screw anything up. lol
 
Thats why I didn't put any paragraphs in. I tried to when I was copying and pasting the essay, but it didn't show up. I know for certain systems that we use at school, even if you put a space for a paragraph, it won't show up. So maybe their system just puts it all in one chunk...but thats a guess.

I don't think it would make a difference in terms of acceptance/rejection.

i noticed that tab didnt work so i did my essays in microsoft word. when i copied them into the essay boxes, my paragraphs were indented properly..
but i guess i should have printed out a copy before i sent it in as a precaution.. lesson learned

i think i'll have to call and try to sort this out.. when you read them as two huge blobs they seem so unorganized..

man, this sucks. hopefully this can be taken care of easily..
 
i really dont think the paragaph format will be a problem


ahh i want my decision already!!
 
I was wondering - how long were your essays. I know it says up to 5300 characters or one full page, but I seem to be done with all I have to say a lot earlier
 
both of mine came very close to the limit
 
both of mine came very close to the limit

same: both of mine were 5100 plus characters, but you have to believe it's quality over quantity.

that said, my first diversity essay was really short compared to my personal statement so i scrapped it and approached the prompt differently..lol
 
i really dont think the paragaph format will be a problem

i hope you're right, but i think calling just to make sure it's no biggie is the right thing to do here.
 
I attended SMDEP at Case last year...it was pretty good.
SMDEP is like an academic camp.
Class from 8-12, then lunch, then a writing class from 1-2 then clinicals.
That was a typical day. We had homework, quizzes and tests.
Cleveland is somewhat of a dry city...well compared to my hometown and school location, but we still had a great time.
I don't know what else any of you would like to know so you can send me a message and I'll try to help.
 
I was wondering - how long were your essays. I know it says up to 5300 characters or one full page, but I seem to be done with all I have to say a lot earlier


WOW! Both of mine we under 3500 words. Actually my PS was much shorter then the diversity essay. I am happy the way they came out though. I know this guy and his roommate teaches high school English so I had him edit it.


As for paragraphs I made my own by putting five spaces in beginning of each new paragraph. I am not sure if it worked.
 
^^ Yup.

Does anyone know about transportation? Do we just take the bus/taxi everywhere?

I think they provide transportation once the program starts but we have to have our own transportation from the airport to the school.
 
I was wondering - how long were your essays. I know it says up to 5300 characters or one full page, but I seem to be done with all I have to say a lot earlier

Mine were about 3000 characters (w/o spaces). I think my diversity one may have been shorter.
 
Mine were about 3000 characters (w/o spaces). I think my diversity one may have been shorter.



My PS was long maybe a few charecters short of the limit. My Diversity was alot shorter. But quality over quanity.
 
Ok so I called the national program office and they said there's nothing to worry about (concerning my essay being one huge blob and not being separated by indented paragraphs). Besides, once my essay is sent, I cant make any changes.

Also, when I asked if they knew approximately how many seats were available for specific program sites, they said it is still early in the application cycle.
 
It is really early, the deadline is March 1st and extended for others I heard.
I don't think anybody on this thread has much to worry about concerning when the application is submitted.
 
BTW...are we supposed to send an email to the sites that we DON'T want to go to so that they know we're not coming?
 
BTW...are we supposed to send an email to the sites that we DON'T want to go to so that they know we're not coming?



Yes, Or you can just confirm at the site you do want to attend, it will automactically withdrawn from the sites



CONGRATS MAN!
 
Congrats! 👍👍

I feel left out now! no one else is going to TX site, I'll be the only student there 😎



Nobody is going to columbia, as well. But, I am sure more will join this thread and we will have 2-3 SDNers at every site.
 
Top