This Application Cycle has REALLY confused me...

[Futuredoc1364]

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I had to retake the MCAT in August (I improved my score from 28Q (11,6,11) to 33Q(14,8,11). Naturally all my applications were delayed. I was sort of thinking about reapplying until I received an invite from Harvard for the NP program in Dec. As soon as I got the invite, I thought to myself, "OK! this is it! I will get like 8 interviews in the coming months!" Interestingly, I went to the interview and the day I came back I found a rejection letter in the mail from UVa. I am instate for Maryland, and I think the reason that UVa rejected me was an 8 in VR of the MCAT (I have a 4.00 GPA). So any way, the funny thing is that even at Harvard, I was told that I had had a very good score improvent. I recently heard back and interviewed at Penn State, and I have an interview at AECOM in Feb.

I recently got an interview invite at Uniformed Services University. The interesting thing is that my application there got complete VERY late. However, my application at my state school (University of Maryland) was complete back in October. So I either really did bad in my secondary essays, or I am just out of luck.

The reason I am writing this is that I realize that for most people, unless they go to their state school, they will end up paying about $60K a year at any other medical school (tuition, housing, etc.). Therefore, even though I have had four invites and statiscally I have a good chance of getting in somewhere (hopefully), it is still reasonable to expect that I get an interview at my state school. However, it is getting very late in the cycle.

What do you guys think? Has anyone else had similar experiences?😕

 

[notdeadyet]

As soon as I got the invite, I thought to myself, "OK! this is it! I will get like 8 interviews in the coming months!" Interestingly, I went to the interview and the day I came back I found a rejection letter in the mail from UVa.

I got an interview invite to UCSF a week after being shot down by WVU.

It's hard to analyze the logic too much from school to school. Some places you get love, some you don't. I applied to 34 schools and used to be worried that I'd have a negative association from all the schools that denied me. Now, I actually have a fondness for the schools that shot me down and an irritation for the ones that never contacted me at all. Funny process, this.

I have seen a bunch of folks shocked at the fact that as an in-stater that U of Md hasn't shown any interest. That school must be either slow or very fussy. Fixate on the Harvard invite instead.

 

[spicedmanna]

^ I agree completely with Notdeadyet. Don't put too much stock in analysis at this stage. Your results simply support the "crapshoot" theory of medical school admissions. Focus on what you do have and go from there.

 

[Stolenspatulas]

I had to retake the MCAT in August (I improved my score from 28Q (11,6,11) to 33Q(14,8,11). Naturally all my applications were delayed. I was sort of thinking about reapplying until I received an invite from Harvard for the NP program in Dec. As soon as I got the invite, I thought to myself, "OK! this is it! I will get like 8 interviews in the coming months!" Interestingly, I went to the interview and the day I came back I found a rejection letter in the mail from UVa. I am instate for Maryland, and I think the reason that UVa rejected me was an 8 in VR of the MCAT (I have a 4.00 GPA). So any way, the funny thing is that even at Harvard, I was told that I had had a very good score improvent. I recently heard back and interviewed at Penn State, and I have an interview at AECOM in Feb.

I recently got an interview invite at Uniformed Services University. The interesting thing is that my application there got complete VERY late. However, my application at my state school (University of Maryland) was complete back in October. So I either really did bad in my secondary essays, or I am just out of luck.

The reason I am writing this is that I realize that for most people, unless they go to their state school, they will end up paying about $60K a year at any other medical school (tuition, housing, etc.). Therefore, even though I have had four invites and statiscally I have a good chance of getting in somewhere (hopefully), it is still reasonable to expect that I get an interview at my state school. However, it is getting very late in the cycle.

What do you guys think? Has anyone else had similar experiences?😕

havard tends to take their own breed.

meaning, there are a substantial amount of interviewees at harvard that do not get interviews at penn, hopkins, etc (they may get a few in the top 15, but not even close to all)

then again, there are people that get interviews everywhere

 

[Xypathos]

I had to retake the MCAT in August (I improved my score from 28Q (11,6,11) to 33Q(14,8,11). Naturally all my applications were delayed. I was sort of thinking about reapplying until I received an invite from Harvard for the NP program in Dec. As soon as I got the invite, I thought to myself, "OK! this is it! I will get like 8 interviews in the coming months!" Interestingly, I went to the interview and the day I came back I found a rejection letter in the mail from UVa. I am instate for Maryland, and I think the reason that UVa rejected me was an 8 in VR of the MCAT (I have a 4.00 GPA). So any way, the funny thing is that even at Harvard, I was told that I had had a very good score improvent. I recently heard back and interviewed at Penn State, and I have an interview at AECOM in Feb.

I recently got an interview invite at Uniformed Services University. The interesting thing is that my application there got complete VERY late. However, my application at my state school (University of Maryland) was complete back in October. So I either really did bad in my secondary essays, or I am just out of luck.

The reason I am writing this is that I realize that for most people, unless they go to their state school, they will end up paying about $60K a year at any other medical school (tuition, housing, etc.). Therefore, even though I have had four invites and statiscally I have a good chance of getting in somewhere (hopefully), it is still reasonable to expect that I get an interview at my state school. However, it is getting very late in the cycle.

What do you guys think? Has anyone else had similar experiences?😕

You exceed the qualifications for Uniformed Services, so expect an acceptance there --- they accept a large amount of their applicants, primarily b/c not that many want to be military docs. Now, as long as they can tell you really want to serve and are in it for the 7+ years ... you should be golden.

 

[supahdren]

I think Maryland is just embarrassingly slow. Although, who knows, maybe the verbal is killing you there. I'd say there's a good chance you haven't heard from them just because they are slow beyond reason.

 

[Law2Doc]

havard tends to take their own breed.

meaning, there are a substantial amount of interviewees at harvard that do not get interviews at penn, hopkins, etc (they may get a few in the top 15, but not even close to all)

then again, there are people that get interviews everywhere

All med schools are their own breed. They are all looking for variations on a theme, but not necessarilly the same variations. That is what they mean by "good fit". They all weigh applicants and their various credentials slightly differently. Of those matriculants who get into or interviewed by any of the top 10, it is pretty common to have been rejected by others in the top 10 and below. Some adcom members may be excited about a certain kind of EC, or a certain PS topic, others may not. It is why someone gets interviews at A, B and C but not X, Y and Z notwithstanding that their credentials all look about the same in MSAR. You cannot expect a certain result at any one school. That doesn't make it random, because there is a methodology at work which is not transparent to you, which is often quite consistantly applied, just unpredictable to an outsider looking in. Because schools don't work purely on numerical stats or other objective standards, it is hard to know how you will be regarded until you actually apply.

 

[notdeadyet]

That doesn't make it random, because there is a methodology at work which is not transparent to you, which is often quite consistantly applied, just unpredictable to an outsider looking in. Because schools don't work purely on numerical stats or other objective standards, it is hard to know how you will be regarded until you actually apply.

Exactly. I'm always off-put by the amount of folks who describe the process as "random" because they don't get to see how it works.

As you browse SDN, substitute "subjective" for "random" and things make a lot more sense.

 

[Futuredoc1364]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! Well, I am not saying that just because I got an interview at Harvard I should get one at any other school such as my state school. But honestly, HMS only interviews candidates whom it considers competitive. In other words, I know they are looking for certain EC's, good personal statements, etc. However, I really doubt it that someone with a 24 and 3.0 would get an interview there even if they have the best EC's and personal statement.

About the 8 in VR, I would think it is justified, b/c I am a nonnative speaker and came to the U.S. about 6 years ago. Besides, VR is just SO hard and tricky. I know that people say it really does not test your English (vocabulary) abilities, but trust me it takes longer to process the questions and passages. I practiced hard and improved my VR by 2 points from April. I really doubt that my state school would not even offer me an interview because of an 8 in VR. But who knows? Maybe my secondary essays were bad. I put a lot of time into them though, but I might have had grammatical mistakes or whatever.

At this point, I have no acceptances. When do you think is time to start thinking about reapplying?😕

 

[Law2Doc]

However, I really doubt it that someone with a 24 and 3.0 would get an interview there even if they have the best EC's and personal statement.

No, but I doubt someone with those stats would get into many non-top schools or your state school either.

For some reason people on SDN like to paint extremes. Just because a top school puts value on ECs and PS doesn't mean they place no value on grades. It means that as long as grades are within a certain range, folks with other things get more consideration. No school has to make either-or decisions. Enough applicants are in the middle, and have "decent" numerical stats and great ECs/PS. Meaning someone with a 3.5/32 and amazing ECs and a strong PS may beat out a 4.0/36 with lame ECs and a poorly thought out PS. And that doesn't make the process random -- you just aren't placing the same weight on the non-numerical factors as the adcoms are.

 

[chad5871]

I think the reason that UVa rejected me was an 8 in VR of the MCAT.

The Dean of Admissions at UVA came to my school in the fall to talk to our pre-med society about what they look for in applicants. He said that they RARELY ever accept a student with an 8 on any section of the MCAT. He also said that he doesn't think they've ever accepted anyone with a 7 or below on a section of the MCAT. So don't feel too badly about UVA - it's just how they do things.

 

[Bioethics Babe]

What is the Harvard NP program? Nurse Practitioner?

 

[Futuredoc1364]

What is the Harvard NP program? Nurse Practitioner?

Oh, it is the New Pathway M.D. program.

 

[GuzzyRon]

What is the Harvard NP program? Nurse Practitioner?

Phew! I was wondering the same thing...wondering even further why this guy sounded so excited that HMS is offering him a nurse practioner spot as opposed to the MD he applied for.

 

[GuzzyRon]

Oh, it is the New Pathway M.D. program.

Is that a fancy name for their post-bacc program?

 

[deleted103644]

No, New Pathway just means not Health, Science, and Technology (joint MIT program). I'm in a similar boat. Harvard interview, no invite from NYMC? (NY res.) As for worrying about interviews with no acceptances, check out my thread! (Trying to keep it alive. :-D )

 

[Xypathos]

NP is primarily for Non-whites, correct? That's what I gathered from their website anyway.

 

[Futuredoc1364]

No the New Pathway is just the name of their M.D. program which I believe is not as research-oriented as the HST program ( I dont know the details of HST).

By the way Johnnydrama, I am much more worried about not getting an interview at my state school than not having an acceptance. I see you did not get an interview at one of your state schools. But for me, there is only one state school!

I have not heard back from any schools that I have interviewed at, so I guess I will be worrying about acceptances pretty soon too! 😳

 

[CaramelDlite]

havard tends to take their own breed.

meaning, there are a substantial amount of interviewees at harvard that do not get interviews at penn, hopkins, etc (they may get a few in the top 15, but not even close to all)

then again, there are people that get interviews everywhere

Yeah, I've noticed a lot more <32 MCAT invites for Harvard on Mdapplicants than for the other top ten schools. They definitely seem to emphasize the overall applicant more than other schools.