

thes_hunter said:Congrats Anhydrase and Rum Punch! 👍
thes_hunter said:And here I have been considering asking my interviewer his opinions of the two SMP programs I had been accepted to, in order to help me pick which one I want to go to.
However I am afraid the answer would be: "I don't care, it won't really matter much anyway."
But really... what do I have to fear right? 😕
MissCutie said:have you already developed an interactive relationship with your interviewer? i didn't have a great interview at wayne state, so im not sure how i would personally feel about asking, but if you have one, that doesn't seem like a ridiculous question. it's really valid. which smp programs are you thinking about? im glad someone posted what the lady on the phone said about um-flint and um-ann arbor. i went to aa, so it def sucks for me, but i think ti confirms the reasoning behind my decisions for smp programs. im deciding between wayne state and loyola uchicago, and ive already knocked boston u., georgetown, and drexel out of the picture even though those programs are well-respected. my reasoning is that schools dont actually care about university as much as i thought, so it's best to target the program that i feel i can get a high gpa in.
thes_hunter said:I have been accepted to the SMP programs at Tulane in Pharmacology, and University of Cincinnati for Physiology. Both take classes with the medical school students and are ranked with the med students. However at Tulane it is just one class and it's in the second term. At Cinci it's two major classes Biochemistry and Physiology (Which they tout as the two most indicative of medical school performance).
Not to discourage you, but the views here on SDN in the Post Bac forums seems to be adcoms only care about Master's degrees where you take classes with the med students and if it's some other kind of 'normal' master's that they don't really consider it, because of master's degree grade inflation.
As for my relationship with my interviewer, I think it was positive, but I haven't talked with him since the interview. I am very bad with the whole thank you note, letter of intent business that I know you need to do. But I am thinking maybe I just need to get over myself and ask the questions, because really, what's the worst that could happen? Them being rude to me? Come on... that's nothing.![]()
However, I will make you a deal... How about you call the admissions office and ask about master's degree programs and if they recommend SMP's, any given SMP or if a regular master's degree is viewed as favorable towards showing academic commitment, and I will ask my interviewer in email? Deal?
MissCutie said:lol i doubt the man/woman would be rude, and if he/she was, then you dont want their opinion anyway ;-)
i appreciate the insight on the smp programs. ive been sneaking around on the postbac site too, and that seems to be the general consensus. the reasoning makes sense to me, and im still considering the perspectives, but im still unsure about whether to go through with it. here's the thing... i actually have already called wayne state's admissions office. they think that any masters program that is heavy in sciences will address a weak science gpa (i applied with a 3.35 BCPM, though my overall gpa was higher), and they dont necessarily have a preference for which type of program you choose as long as it satisfies that condition. they do feel like wayne state bms will do the trick, so my thoughts are that loyola uchicago mams should do the trick as well. im not sure how other schools feel though. id like to be a competitive applicant for multiple schools, not just wayne state, because god knows with med school admissions. anything weird could happen...
what i WILL do is call wayne state and ask them if they have a preference between smp programs, even if they are okay with any heavy in science masters, just in case. and then ill update you 🙂
MissCutie said:okay, i just called, and that lady just sounded confused, so i dont know how reliable she is ;-) but anyway, she said any of those basic medical science or medical science programs are fine. what i would like to do is meet with dr. norman and ask him what he thinks because i think he would be a lot more reliable as a source of information. unfortunately, you need to get rejected to do that, and im not really sure how much i want a rejection letter 🙁 i gues if im not going to get in anyway, then i would like one, but you never know 🙂 but ya, lemme know what your interviewer thinks. he/she will probably be a much better source of information.
thes_hunter said:Ok, I will admit I called Dawn as well today, and she was very helpful. Maybe us jumping her all at the same time threw her for a loop. However, when I was talking to her she did mention the program in Chicago... maybe you got to her first... and we need to do a little bit of an educational campaign on the behalf of these programs. 😉
Anyways, here is what I got. In order for them to ignore your Undergrad GPA (which would do me loads of good) you have to have 20 graduate credits of Biology, Chemistry, Physics. They do not require you to finish your masters, and at least in my case Pharmacology counts as Health sciences and not Biology, Chemistry or Physics. You also must keep a 3.6 or 3.5 or above. She made sure she warned me that programs where you take classes with the medical schools tend to be graded more competatively and they did not take that into account with the grades. She also impressed upon me that you have one shot at getting a master's degree. Screw it up like I did my Undergrad GPA and I can kiss my chances good-bye.
With these answers I don't feel the need to ask my interviewer... but I do feel that if I have to go through the application cycle that I will need to embark on some sort of PR campagin in order to make sure they are at least informed of the merits of these programs. Otherwise, I might just have to end up going somewhere else.![]()
I hope this helps other people, and as always my disclaimer is when I am rehashing stuff I reheard over the phone, I don't remember everything correctly, so please feel free to correct me if you know differently.
thes_hunter said:Ok, I will admit I called Dawn as well today, and she was very helpful. Maybe us jumping her all at the same time threw her for a loop. However, when I was talking to her she did mention the program in Chicago... maybe you got to her first... and we need to do a little bit of an educational campaign on the behalf of these programs. 😉
Anyways, here is what I got. In order for them to ignore your Undergrad GPA (which would do me loads of good) you have to have 20 graduate credits of Biology, Chemistry, Physics. They do not require you to finish your masters, and at least in my case Pharmacology counts as Health sciences and not Biology, Chemistry or Physics. You also must keep a 3.6 or 3.5 or above. She made sure she warned me that programs where you take classes with the medical schools tend to be graded more competatively and they did not take that into account with the grades. She also impressed upon me that you have one shot at getting a master's degree. Screw it up like I did my Undergrad GPA and I can kiss my chances good-bye.
With these answers I don't feel the need to ask my interviewer... but I do feel that if I have to go through the application cycle that I will need to embark on some sort of PR campagin in order to make sure they are at least informed of the merits of these programs. Otherwise, I might just have to end up going somewhere else.![]()
I hope this helps other people, and as always my disclaimer is when I am rehashing stuff I reheard over the phone, I don't remember everything correctly, so please feel free to correct me if you know differently.
Jon Davis said:Does anyone know if the bulk of the movement is over or nearing completion?
I personally think that what is left are people on waitlists somewhere else dropping Wayne. That being said, I believe there is now a general slowdown in the waitlist movement across the nation and so we should be near the end of the bulk of the movement. I hope I am wrong.
What do you all think?
UMP said:did she specifically only say bio, chem, and physics, or did she say BCPM... I took some math courses post-bacc, wondering if they'll help at all
MissCutie said:what time did you call ? i didn't get dawn street, but i would love to talk to her instead because she actually knows her stuff. what she said about the masters programs is good to know. the only thing im kind of concerned about now, however, is that my program really only has biology courses (biochem, developmental bio, cell bio, genetics, physiology, etc) and no physics or chemistry courses. bah.
thes_hunter said:She said specifically graduate level coursework in Biology, Chemistry, Physics.
I wouldn't worry about that. From my understanding she didn't want to see all three, she was just impressing on me that we needed to have coursework in THOSE catagories in order for them to apply to the ignoring of the undergrad GPA.
And I called about 11:30 AM EDT.
And as for movement, I did not ask, but she said something along the lines of "We hope to have all spots settled by August 1st. But if you do start a program and we offer, we will do the best to accomidate you." I am not really reading hope into this. But I have also given up getting into Wayne State this year, since I really don't think it's going to happen.
MissCutie said:do you live in michigan? on the plus side, you have somewhere new to go. that's how im trying to look at it at least. i dont have much hope for wayne state either. i have one other waitlist im on, but they dont seem to be having a lot of movement either, though the secretary there informed me that they are expecting waitlist movement soon, but that was over a week ago, and ive heard nothing exciting from them 🙁 funny because a year or two back, my biggest nightmare was that i would not get into med school, and now it's coming true :/
thes_hunter said:I am considered a Michigan resident even though I spent the last 8 months in New Orleans. If I would have taken an SMP at Tulane I could have gotten LA residency and possibily made a case for Michigan residency at least at Wayne State.
ijcMD said:You cannot have residency in more than one state. AAMC does not allow it when you fill out the AMCAS application. If this was not the case, many people who try to do double residency because it absolutely helps peoples chances of getting admitted.
elhalish said:Congrats to those that just got called in off the waitlist. I am at the point where my phone is above my ear as I sleep... just in case. 😀
georgeomally said:I know there is not much you could do, but for example, if he says your letters of rec sucked, you would not resend those letters etc....any insight on this matter?
elhalish said:I would apply now, so that it gets processed early. More than likely you will not receive a secondary (meaning you wont have to send in LOR's) before you get formally rejected, so you will have time to meet with Dr. Norman. But regardless of rolling admissions, applying early is always the best. Reason being is if you dont get accepted on the 1st acceptance date, you are considered again for the 2nd acceptance date. Then again for the 3rd and so on. So applying early means you are going to be considered more often, and that might be just what you need to get in.
MissCutie said:i agree that applying early is best, even if you dont get to speak to talk to norman. if you feel totally clueless, perhaps a good option would be to find another resourceful individual who can give you insight on your application. one thing to remember, if meeting with dr. norman is really that important to you, is that once you apply for 2007-2008, im pretty sure you cant talk to him. my understanding is that anyone in the application cycle for any year is unable to meet with him, but i would check with the admissions office. good luck for all of you applying this summer. im waiting a little, but i definitely think it's a good option if you had a good, solid senior year and more to show for, which i cant say for myself 🙁
georgeomally said:yeah i am a little scared, i havent done anything drastic in the last year either 🙁
MissCutie said:what do you think your weaknesses were? i was very borderline, but chose not to apply this year because my science gpa actually went down, and that was my initial weakness :-( also, i would like ample time to retake the mcat to knock my score up a few points if i can help it. AND i wouldn't mind spending my glide year after i finish my post-bacc to get some really useful work/internship experience that will help me stand out in the process. so...i personally am not ready. but maybe if you're in the same spot credentials-wise, you can start devising a plan for the year that you can still write on amcas or let them know through secondaries or updates, etc?
TheProwler said:I haven't been following this thread much at all, but I thought I'd let you all know that a friend of mine just came off the waitlist about 4-5 days ago, so it's still active apparently.
georgeomally said:if you are on two waitlists, it seems that you must have done something right, and i feel like you should reapply! well for me, i applied with a very low science gpa, average mcat, average activities. i was warned by many (including dawn) before applying that my science gpa is quite low and that i should consider a post bac or graduate school to show i can do well in science courses. soo, in preparation for failure, i went ahead and started a graduate program "just incase." wayne was my only interview..so now that i am reapplying, the only diff to my application is WAY earlier (i took the august mcat last year) and 6 additional science courses that I did well in. in terms of research and clinical activities i have not really done anything, and though my mcat was not stellar, i am really avoiding taking it again (especially because my score might go down!)...so i hope my app does not seem to similar, but I will hope for the best. best case scenario though----we get off the waitlist and not have to even worry about reapp 🙂

UMP said:completely off-topic, sorry about that, but...
does Wayne State ask for misdemeanor convictions on their secondary?... have this stupid MIP from 5 years ago that I'd rather not add to my list of headaches...
thanks for any help
and good luck in the upcoming weeks![]()
ijcMD said:They do not ask for misdemeanor convictions on their secondary. If you recieve an interview, they will send you paperwork in which you have to inform them if you have ever been convicted of a felony (and sign it).
In regards to your MIP from 5 years ago, didn't that conviction get dropped following your successful completion of your probation? I never got an MIP, but many of my friends who did had the charges dropped following completion of that. (One of them is going to Umich Medical this year).
MissCutie said:any news anyone? i haven't called them since that email we all got a long time ago, but i kind of want to ask them about how things are looking. it's not like they know who i am. *sigH*
me too 🙁HamburgerHelper said:I haven't heard anything, and I am scared to call...
georgeomally said:me too 🙁
MissCutie said:ya, me too as well. though i dont think they could do anything, i am terrified of taking the risk. :-(
HamburgerHelper said:Yeah... I was thinking about it and I am going to just call... so whatever! Are there any questions you guys want me to ask?
MissCutie said:lol im set. all i want to know is how much movement they've had and how things seem to be going, but i feel like that's what you plan on asking anyway. i guess it should be fine to call... what can they do? you dont really HAVE to tell them who you are i guess. maybe i will too.
HamburgerHelper said:Okay, I just called and the woman I spoke to said she wasn't sure, but there were about 10-12 students taken off the alternate list thus far. She also told me they expect a little bit more movement by July 31st. I forgot to ask if they started rejecting people yet. If you call, please ask that as well!
Jon Davis said:I called about this too and I got a similar response. As far as rejections go, I never asked. I don't think they will do anything till July 31st.
As for talking to Dr. Norman, I set up an appointment just in case after July 31st.
HamburgerHelper said:Can you setup an appointment when you are reapplying or is that not possible?
I think someone earlier mentioned that as well. I have absolutely no faith in the integrity of this process whatsoever.Jon Davis said:I have no clue. You have to call about that.
I havent started on my new AMCAS for this cycle. Should I start it up or wait till end of July?
I feel that this whole process is just one big lottery.I think someone earlier mentioned that as well.
I have absolutely no faith in the integrity of this process whatsoever.
congratssJon Davis said:I got in today. 😀
georgeomally said:congratss
PriorityMed said:Congratulations Jon! When did you interview? Do you mind posting MCRAP and gpa?