Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Class of 2011

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Meeher said:
Oops. I got the magazine, year, AND data wrong haha. It's been a while so I must have gotten my stats mixed up with something else, except I got Harvard right for some reason. Anyway, the article is here, published sometime in 2003:

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/vumcpub/index.html?pubID=10&articleID=202

Vandy competes the best with WUSTL and Baylor, but only gets 4 of 23 with Hopkins and 4 of 33 with Duke. Like I said before, 1 out of 9 for Harvard too. Since this was 4 years ago, these stats are probably different now because it looks like scholarship funds have gone up. Sorry for the confusion :(...I read the last 3 years of the Reporter when I was trying to make my decision, as I wanted to get the "real" info about the school and not the glamorized version that every Second Look has. That's probably why I jumbled everything up in my mind.

Spatula, what year did you graduate from Duke? I'm a senior right now. I had the same complaints (and praises) as you when I was considering Duke. I felt I'd do better in a curriculum like Vandy's and I didn't want to stay in Durham another 4 years, so I basically removed Duke from my list pretty easily (I think rankings can only tell you so much, especially when USNEWS' methodology is suspicious, so it didn't matter to me that Duke was top 10 and vandy was top 20--not really all that big of a difference to start out with anyway. What's good about both schools though is that they aren't stagnant--they're continuously growing and getting better, making sure to take an active stance to improve themselves. Just look at how much their NIH funding has gone up in the past decade and how many new facilities they have. Having seen the same thing on Duke's undergrad campus, there's a certain amount of positive energy that results throughout campus when you see the administration taking an active stance against deficiencies. It makes the future and present a lot more exciting and the climate a lot more supportive.).
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Honestly, since USNEWS has a monopoly on the public's idea of "rankings" (and if they keep the same methodology)... school's like duke will be ranked even higher in the future just because they have room to grow (make more buildings, etc). School's like Columbia that are stuck in a big city likely won't be able to attract more net NIH funding b/c they don't have space to make more labs, etc.

I graudated last year from Duke.... I really don't want to stay in Durham. It'll be hard to turn down Duke since its Duke... but sheez, if Vandy dropped me some dough that would be so much easier.
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QuantumMechanic said:
I hope that they still have some money left...I really could use some dough to finalize my decision.
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Wait, have they handed out most of their scholarships? I'm thinking they haven't since many are both mixed need/merit based... hence, they'd have to wait for fin aid applications to be processed and assessed....


AH. fu<k i want some money!
 
Stolenspatulas said:
Wait, have they handed out most of their scholarships? I'm thinking they haven't since many are both mixed need/merit based... hence, they'd have to wait for fin aid applications to be processed and assessed....


AH. fu<k i want some money!
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i'm pretty sure the canby robinson scholarships have been offered. (the 2nd look materials said there was a special canby robinson event the thurs. before 2nd look, so I assume those lucky few have already got it, but they don't seem to be on sdn)
 
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Okay, so I found a 5-bedroom house very close to the med center, and it would be $370/month per person if 5 people rent. I think there are 3 bathrooms and we can have dogs. My question is- do you think I could find 4 other people who want to live there? I don't want to get stuck with a huge house all for myself. Let me know what you think or if you think you'd be interested. I think it'd be best with other med students but I guess anyone would work!
 
Meeher said:
Oops. I got the magazine, year, AND data wrong haha. It's been a while so I must have gotten my stats mixed up with something else, except I got Harvard right for some reason. Anyway, the article is here, published sometime in 2003:

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/vumcpub/index.html?pubID=10&articleID=202

Vandy competes the best with WUSTL and Baylor, but only gets 4 of 23 with Hopkins and 4 of 33 with Duke. Like I said before, 1 out of 9 for Harvard too. Since this was 4 years ago, these stats are probably different now because it looks like scholarship funds have gone up. Sorry for the confusion :(...I read the last 3 years of the Reporter when I was trying to make my decision, as I wanted to get the "real" info about the school and not the glamorized version that every Second Look has. That's probably why I jumbled everything up in my mind.

Spatula, what year did you graduate from Duke? I'm a senior right now. I had the same complaints (and praises) as you when I was considering Duke. I felt I'd do better in a curriculum like Vandy's and I didn't want to stay in Durham another 4 years, so I basically removed Duke from my list pretty easily (I think rankings can only tell you so much, especially when USNEWS' methodology is suspicious, so it didn't matter to me that Duke was top 10 and vandy was top 20--not really all that big of a difference to start out with anyway. What's good about both schools though is that they aren't stagnant--they're continuously growing and getting better, making sure to take an active stance to improve themselves. Just look at how much their NIH funding has gone up in the past decade and how many new facilities they have. Having seen the same thing on Duke's undergrad campus, there's a certain amount of positive energy that results throughout campus when you see the administration taking an active stance against deficiencies. It makes the future and present a lot more exciting and the climate a lot more supportive.).

Does anyone know what else we need to do to be in the running for scholarship funds? My parents haven't done their tax returns yet, so I haven't filled out the FAFSA. Do we need that?
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Hmmm..thanks so much for this site. It is really interesting. Pretty soon, im 95% sure they can go ahead and add me to those who chose Vandy over Duke. I dont know what it is, but something about Vanderbilt just excites me and gives me the heebie jeebies!!! I don't really get that "vibe" at Duke. But looks like a lot of us are in similar situations, Im sure whatever happens we'll make the right decision :). Stay up, yall
Oh yea and GSE about 2nd look coming up!!
GSE = Get So Excited
YAY!!:D
 
CheerBear11 said:
Hmmm..thanks so much for this site. It is really interesting. Pretty soon, im 95% sure they can go ahead and add me to those who chose Vandy over Duke. I dont know what it is, but something about Vanderbilt just excites me and gives me the heebie jeebies!!! I don't really get that "vibe" at Duke. But looks like a lot of us are in similar situations, Im sure whatever happens we'll make the right decision :). Stay up, yall
Oh yea and GSE about 2nd look coming up!!
GSE = Get So Excited
YAY!!:D
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wow, thats three of us here picking vandy over duke? wow.
 
SuziQ said:
Okay, so I found a 5-bedroom house very close to the med center, and it would be $370/month per person if 5 people rent. I think there are 3 bathrooms and we can have dogs. My question is- do you think I could find 4 other people who want to live there? I don't want to get stuck with a huge house all for myself. Let me know what you think or if you think you'd be interested. I think it'd be best with other med students but I guess anyone would work!
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I'd rather live in a house than an apt, but its really too early for me to think about the housing situation.
 
Dr Durden said:
I might make #4....
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I haven't decided for certain as of yet. Still waiting on Penn, waitlist movement, second look, ah!

It'd be nice to have that Vandy financial package finalized though... I think its expected April 23rd or something like that...?
 
Stolenspatulas said:
I haven't decided for certain as of yet. Still waiting on Penn, waitlist movement, second look, ah!

It'd be nice to have that Vandy financial package finalized though... I think its expected April 23rd or something like that...?
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here's what finaid staff told me in an email regarding the finaid packages:

"Vicky Cagle, Director of Student Financial Services, will start working on
awards on April 23 so expect your letter in the mail any time
after that date."
 
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would love to get a dual degree though
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If this turns out to be a reason to pick Duke, make sure to go over the details of this second degree with the actual administrators of the third year before you commit to attending.

Upon my looking into it [while picking schools last year], I found the "third year" to be less flexible than advertised -- sounded like there was a disconnect between the people who oversee the third year and the admissions department. Fortunately, I had not yet committed to attending.
 
Dr.Watson said:
Meeher - you're awesome. Thanks so much for digging that up. I'm really impressed with how many of Vandy's/Dean Gabbe's goals from 2003 have come to fruition in 4 years. That kind of responsive-to-students accomplishment and the congenial people is really what I think has my gut so in love with the place.
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No problem :). The medical center and school are definitely gaining progress at a very fast pace. Their 10 by 10 campaign (top 10 by 2010) probably was TOO optimistic, but the point isnt the rank, it's the quality of their progress in the past few years, and I think it's by far the best I've seen at any of the schools I got interviews at (14 schools). For instance, they're now going to build an 11-floor addition to their main hospital for better cardiac treatment areas. It won't be done until 2012, but the idea is that they are ALWAYS building (even though there's no room to expand outwards, only upwards). I like that dynamic touch to the school, and its insistence on building quality and much-needed buildings/expansions rather than building for the sake of building. It is the type of climate I like, which is why my decision was a lot easier to make. People will undoubtedly choose Duke over Vandy simply for its rank, but it's refreshing to see everyone here taking the decision to a deeper level, finding a school that most agrees with you and where you'd be most happy at. That is why you guys should come to Vandy because, well, you guys are awesome too =).

As for me, I'm fairly certain I'm going to Vandy, but I also really liked Pitt, but their grading system for the first two years (H/P/F), their curricular emphasis of PBL, and some random complaints I've heard from students are detracting me from the school. That's why I'm waiting for financial aid info before I make my final decision, although from what I hear, Pitt isn't generous with finaid, which means Vandy for me! (Anyone else thinking of doing the dual degree program for MD/MPH or MD/MBA??? I might do that but not sure yet.)
 
I liked Vandy. They didn't accept me. :( Duke did. :) Made what would have been a hard decision (as y'all are pretty aware) a little easier. If any of you are still debating at all and have ?s re: Duke, just let me know.
 
farikanok said:
here's what finaid staff told me in an email regarding the finaid packages:

"Vicky Cagle, Director of Student Financial Services, will start working on
awards on April 23 so expect your letter in the mail any time
after that date."
Click to expand...

so does that mean ZERO chance at a scholarship at this point? damnit! oh well.
 
When's the deposit due for Vandy and how much is it?

thanks :)
 
SuziQ said:
Okay, so I found a 5-bedroom house very close to the med center, and it would be $370/month per person if 5 people rent. I think there are 3 bathrooms and we can have dogs. My question is- do you think I could find 4 other people who want to live there? I don't want to get stuck with a huge house all for myself. Let me know what you think or if you think you'd be interested. I think it'd be best with other med students but I guess anyone would work!
Click to expand...

I could be interested. I definitely want to live close to the school and with other med students. $370 is not bad at all.... What I've seen from the small amount of research I've been doing, renting a house looks a lot cheaper than an apartment.
 
Stolenspatulas said:
so does that mean ZERO chance at a scholarship at this point? damnit! oh well.
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You think so? I was under the impression they were packaged into your financial aid statement. I bet that Dean Zic calls people for the full merit scholarships though--there has to be SOMEONE on SDN with one of those.

I'm not sure how much the deposit is for. I'm assuming it'd be due on May 15, but I may be wrong. I bet we'll get more info during Second Look.
 
Meeher said:
You think so? I was under the impression they were packaged into your financial aid statement. I bet that Dean Zic calls people for the full merit scholarships though--there has to be SOMEONE on SDN with one of those.

I'm not sure how much the deposit is for. I'm assuming it'd be due on May 15, but I may be wrong. I bet we'll get more info during Second Look.
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Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but someone does have a scholarship. They had decent--not outstanding stats--but apparently some insanely impressive people writing LORs.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=374105
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=333391&page=2
 
Dr Durden said:
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but someone does have a scholarship. They had decent--not outstanding stats--but apparently some insanely impressive people writing LORs.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=374105
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=333391&page=2
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How many full-tuition scholarships do they have? You can't be sure that they've handed all of them out, right?

Are most of these scholarships listed in ''The Catalog'' very small? Do the smaller scholarships come out later?

ah! poops.
 
Oh, fudge. That's OK I guess. Wasn't really expecting a full scholarship anyway =).
 
Meeher said:
Oh, fudge. That's OK I guess. Wasn't really expecting a full scholarship anyway =).
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Yea me neither really, but I somewhat feel like I have a chance for a partial one.... poop!
 
In other news, the game between UNC and USC was pretty intense. I saw it at a restaurant and people were going crazy--reminded me of Duke game nights on campus =). UNC's win brings an ACC team closer to the Final Four, which I think is good. But, back to a school closer to this forum, Vandy lost =(.

Anyway, back to the serious stuff :).
 
Can anyone help me get the email of a few people I'll be starting residency with this fall?

Please PM me if you can help. There are 5 people..
 
Vandy lost because Georgetown traveled!! :D
 
So who on this thread is 1) deadset on going to Vandy... 2) who is waiting for financial (potentially scholarship offers) before making that decision... and 3) who doesnt really see themselves in nashville for the next 4 years?
 
2) Waiting on financial (hopefully scholarship) offers to decide.
 
Stolenspatulas said:
So who on this thread is 1) deadset on going to Vandy... 2) who is waiting for financial (potentially scholarship offers) before making that decision... and 3) who doesnt really see themselves in nashville for the next 4 years?
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2)
 
Between 1 and 2. I really like Vandy and wouldn't mind going, but I really like some other schools too, so financial aid will be the selling point. I hear, however, that out of my acceptances, Vandy is the most generous in financial aid, so yeah, I think it's most likely Vandy, although I got into a school in NYC and man, NYC does NOT compare to Nashville :(.
 
2, but still likely Vandy, as I would need a new car for my other options. Also, family is close by. Good financial aid would be nice though...
 
1) definitely Vandy...binding early admissions will do that..but I'm so excited, I wouldn't want to go anywhere else anyway!
 
I think I'm none of the above...

I will definitely be at Vandy in the fall unless I get off Wash U's waitlist.
 
well, i just got snubbed by penn.

looks more and more like ill be at vandy :luck: :luck:
 
Couldn't agree with you more Spatulas. :thumbup:

Hooray for warmer weather, new construction, and the nation's happiest med students! Not to mention athletic teams that made it past the first round of March Madness. :smuggrin:
 
Dr Durden said:
Couldn't agree with you more Spatulas. :thumbup:

Hooray for warmer weather, new construction, and the nation's happiest med students! Not to mention athletic teams that made it past the first round of March Madness. :smuggrin:
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durden, what acceptances are you choosing from as of now?

(forgive me if youve stated this before)
 
WashU, Duke, and the alma mater are my options.
 
Stolenspatulas said:
So who on this thread is 1) deadset on going to Vandy... 2) who is waiting for financial (potentially scholarship offers) before making that decision... and 3) who doesnt really see themselves in nashville for the next 4 years?
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I'm not deadset, but Vandy is pretty up there. I'm a non-native, but resident Californian, uncertain if leaving is the right move. As of now, I am definitely heading to both Vandy and WashU's second looks.
 
monday_best said:
I'm not deadset, but Vandy is pretty up there. I'm a non-native, but resident Californian, uncertain if leaving is the right move. As of now, I am definitely heading to both Vandy and WashU's second looks.
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I'm from CA too! Because I went to Duke for undergrad, it's easier for me to leave CA and stay in the South for med school, but it still is hard to be away from the beaches =(. You should come to Vandy!

Spatula, I see you got into Pitt. I'm in a similar situation and was wondering what made you prefer Vandy over Pitt. I'm definitely leaning toward Vandy too, but I was just curious about your reasons to better help me in my decision.

PENN UPDATE: Big fat NOT ACCEPTED...hehe...but they didn't interview me :)() so that was expected.
 
Yeah, Vandy's match list looks awesome and their expanding facilities rock. Definitely a great school. Go Vandy!
 
Meeher said:
I'm from CA too! Because I went to Duke for undergrad, it's easier for me to leave CA and stay in the South for med school, but it still is hard to be away from the beaches =(. You should come to Vandy!

Spatula, I see you got into Pitt. I'm in a similar situation and was wondering what made you prefer Vandy over Pitt. I'm definitely leaning toward Vandy too, but I was just curious about your reasons to better help me in my decision.

PENN UPDATE: Big fat NOT ACCEPTED...hehe...but they didn't interview me :)() so that was expected.
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Both schools have about equal reputations, though I think Vandy's reputation has been consistently on the rise, from what I've gathered. Vandy sort of is gaining a reputation of stealing kids from top-10s (which may be b/c of the scholarships).

I like Vandy's emphasis program.

Vandy has probably the best Ortho matches in the past 7 years across all schools (though this stat of course depends on how many students are interested in Ortho, and has the various pitfalls of reading too much into a matchlist....but, BOTTOM LINE... Vandy students are respected by the top Ortho programs. I think this is apparent b/c of the consistency in the strength of the Ortho matchlist. Maybe students interested in Ortho have a really good oppurtunity to do particularly interesting Ortho research at Vandy? Maybe the surgeons that write letters for rotations are very well respected at the top institutions, I dont know? Something at Vandy must stick out to produce such a consistently strong list, year after year.

I kind of liked the oldy feel of the Vandy lecture halls, but kind of didnt like the oldy feel of the Pitt lecture halls :p

I rather live in Nashvegas than Pittsburgh. I liked where my student-host stayed... kind of an open air relatively cheap apartment complex. Pittsburgh is much more gloomy and cold. ah!

Meeher, did you get into duke but dont want to stay?
 
I withdrew from Duke. I was fairly certain from the get-go I would not go there even if I did get in, and the interview clinched what I was feeling before. I'm not in it for the ranking...I just want to go somewhere I feel I'd be the happiest at. I don't want USNEWS to make my decision (my final one too, since match is set)--I want to make my decision. The happier I am, the better I'll do in school, and the better I'll do in the end <--my philosophy :).

I never saw the lecture rooms at Pitt since they weren't on my tour =(. I like Vandy's smaller class size too--makes it a much smaller and happier environment. The emphasis program, I agree, is also really cool.

As for the housing, I didn't stay with a student host, but when I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, it was kind of loud outside facing the main street. Are there places to stay near campus that are relatively quiet?? I'd rather live near the medical center than far away (i.e. needing a car) for the convenience. I can just go home for lunch too :) (although I doubt that that would happen very often, since eating with friends is probably more fun hehe).
 
There are plenty of places around campus to live that are within walking/bike-riding distance, and there will be more in the future since starting next year, off-campus living for undergrads is being phased out. In a couple of years, no undergrads will be allowed to live off campus. Sucks for them, but will make housing much easier to find (and cheaper!) for us!
 
Sounds great!

I looked at the construction pictures in this week's Reporter, and I don't know how they expect to finish the MSRB IV/CELA construction this summer. Unless that's an old picture, they have a lot of work left to do. At least the new anatomy lab will be done in October, right before the start of our anatomy block! I'm not sure if that's our anatomy lab though, since it's on top of the Imaging Science building and not in Light Hall.
 
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