What are student interviewers given access to?

[starspells]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello. So a family friend of mine recently was admitted to a medical school and she expressed that she was very excited to work in admissions after matriculating. The school is one of my top choices and actually a target school of mine. I am concerned because I am rather uncomfortable with her potentially looking at my gpa, mcat, family income, etc.

Does it vary by school? I know at some schools interviewers are only given the non-numeric parts of the app.

She was telling me how a 2nd year med student at the school was telling her how they get to sit on the committee meetings and potentially get to vote as well??

 

[gyngyn]

Hello. So a family friend of mine recently was admitted to a medical school and she expressed that she was very excited to work in admissions after matriculating. The school is one of my top choices and actually a target school of mine. I am concerned because I am rather uncomfortable with her potentially looking at my gpa, mcat, family income, etc.

Does it vary by school? I know at some schools interviewers are only given the non-numeric parts of the app.

She was telling me how a 2nd year med student at the school was telling her how they get to sit on the committee meetings and potentially get to vote as well??

If students sit on the committee, they see the whole application.
Your friend would need to recuse herself from voting on your application, though.

 

[starspells]

If students sit on the committee, they see the whole application.
Your friend would need to recuse herself from voting on your application, though.

I feel like that's wrong to some extent. If a state medical school gets a lot of students from the local state undergrad the M1 and M2s are likely to know many of the fellow applicants as they are not far off in age. A medical school app contains many personal elements and I wish that is something they considered.

Some schools I know only allow M4s to vote which makes so much more sense.

 

[gyngyn]

I feel like that's wrong to some extent. If a state medical school gets a lot of students from the local state undergrad the M1 and M2s are likely to know many of the fellow applicants as they are not far off in age. A medical school app contains many personal elements and I wish that is something they considered.

Some schools I know only allow M4s to vote which makes so much more sense.

Don't include anything that is too personal to show a stranger (or a friend!).
Many strangers will look at it.

Students are an important voice in the admissions process.
More would be lost than gained by eliminating them.
MS3's are on clerkships, MS4's are on sub-I's. That leaves underclassmen to bear the brunt of the work.

 

[starspells]

Don't include anything that is too personal to show a stranger (or a friend!).
Many strangers will look at it.

Students are an important voice in the admissions process.
More would be lost than gained by eliminating them.

I think you can understand why one wouldn't necessarily want to share their gpa, mcat, family income among other things with their friends...
It is easier to share that stuff with strangers than people you know.

 

[starspells]

One loses the option of choosing in this case, I'm afraid

That sucks. Would it be against any rules for me to ask what the committee says about my app during the meeting (if it ever gets to that stage)?

 

[starspells]

I told her to throw in a good word for me...I'm going to go tell her now that I was kidding...

 

[gyngyn]

That sucks. Would it be against any rules for me to ask what the committee says about my app during the meeting (if it ever gets to that stage)?

Don't do that.

 

[ski89]

I think you can understand why one wouldn't necessarily want to share their gpa, mcat, family income among other things with their friends...
It is easier to share that stuff with strangers than people you know.

No I don't understand actually. I'm sure your friend or anyone else on the committee will be professional enough to handle your personal information with respect and integrity. I know if I was assigned to review a student that I was friends with I would immediately recuse myself and I'm sure your friend his been informed to do the same. This would be a huge professionalism breach and this sort of thing is taken very seriously by medical schools. Even still, if your GPA is that embarrassing, Im sure you wont get in anyway --- sorry couldnt help myself.

 

[starspells]

Don't do that.

Okay I won't!

I think this person is decent enough to not share personal details about my app with anyone and yes I realize I may be thinking too ahead but if she were to ever discuss aspects of my application with other people we mutually know is this something I can report? I would hate to do that but I feel like committee members should respect the privacy of applicants to some extent.

 

[gyngyn]

Okay I won't!

I think this person is decent enough to not share personal details about my app with anyone and yes I realize I may be thinking too ahead but if she were to ever discuss aspects of my application with other people we mutually know is this something I can report? I would hate to do that but I feel like committee members should respect the privacy of applicants to some extent.

Information gleaned in the application is not to be revealed outside of committee.
Committee members sign an oath at my school.

 

[starspells]

No I don't understand actually. I'm sure your friend or anyone else on the committee will be professional enough to handle your personal information with respect and integrity. I know if I was assigned to review a student that I was friends with I would immediately recuse myself and I'm sure your friend his been informed to do the same. This would be a huge professionalism breach and this sort of thing is taken very seriously by medical schools. Even still, if your GPA is that embarrassing, Im sure you wont get in anyway --- sorry couldnt help myself.

It's a school I'm actually pretty competitive for as I've seen students with stats similar to mine get in which is why I was pretty bummed out but I think I'm just going to deal with it. Hopefully she won't judge me for some of the mortifying grades I received freshman year...

 

[starspells]

Information gleaned in the application is not to be revealed outside of committee.
Committee members sign an oath at my school.

Thank you for your input on all of this.

 

[gyngyn]

It's a school I'm actually pretty competitive for as I've seen students with stats similar to mine get in which is why I was pretty bummed out but I think I'm just going to deal with it. Hopefully she won't judge me for some of the mortifying grades I received freshman year...

You do realize that judging is exactly what the committee is supposed to do...
She would need to recuse herself at any rate.

 

[ski89]

It's a school I'm actually pretty competitive for as I've seen students with stats similar to mine get in which is why I was pretty bummed out but I think I'm just going to deal with it. Hopefully she won't judge me for some of the mortifying grades I received freshman year...

So you are making a number of interesting assumptions.
1. That your friend will actually be one of the few to review your application (highly unlikely)
2. That your friend would agree to review your application given the conflict of interest
3. That your "friend" wouldnt be the absolute best person to get your app and do a great job speaking highly of you.. you know... since she is your friend.

 

[starspells]

You do realize that judging is exactly what the committee is supposed to do...
She would need to recuse herself at any rate.

I'm fine with the committee judging me!

 

[starspells]

So you are making a number of interesting assumptions.
1. That your friend will actually be one of the few to review your application (highly unlikely)
2. That your friend would agree to review your application given the conflict of interest
3. That your "friend" wouldnt be the absolute best person to get your app and do a great job speaking highly of you.. you know... since she is your friend.

This process makes me cynical at times.
I considered that earlier though and realized it could have worked in my favor for that reason but I guess it doesn't matter anymore because gyngyn just said she would be required to recuse herself.

 

[gyngyn]

Go deep into any university and you would find three or four layers of protection for any student/applicant information.
1) Federal laws governing rights/discrimination at any institution getting federal funds, which would include student/applicant information.
2) State employment law directly and as reflected in institution's human resource policy as an employee. A TA or student on a committee would be considered and agent of he school and thus governed by this.
3) State education law as reflected in institutional by-laws/student policy as a faculty member.
4) Institutional by-laws and student policy governing committees.

Gross violation of this causing "harm" to the student/applicant can get the university sued and get the tenured prof out on his/her ass. General Counsel's office worries about this stuff.

I've been told by General Counsel that FERPA protections to not cover applicants.
Applicant information tends to be managed in a similar fashion, nonetheless.