Which admissions office has courteous/helpful staff?

[Yogi Bear]

-Best one I know of is vanderbilt. i.e. they walk you to your interviewer during the interview day. afterwards, they'll take the time to type in your amcas # when you call to ask for your status and can tell you if a decision's been made or if you're still in line to be reviewed.

-Rochester's "policy" is that it will not give decisions over the phone (according to the secretary) or even tell you if a decision has been made for your file. however, i heard that someone who was accepted did get a phone call... hmmm...seems fishy.....

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[chloe5]

yeah, vandy is quite nice.
the pritzker peeps weren't so bad either, helpful when I called them.
michigan staff were pleasant as well.

rochester is mediocre on the phone, they are nice when you are there.

There are plently of schools out there whose staff people are NOT helpful or courteous on the phone:
including
Loyola
Jefferson
Case
Tufts


oh well! They have the power I guess.
chloe

 

[siempre595]

yea, vanderbilt has been absolutely great to me. I called before applying just to ask some questions, they let me talk to one of the admissions committee. The person kept saying, you've got to apply, we want to see every possible applicant. They sold me on that school already.

 

[Yogi Bear]

Originally posted by chloe5
yeah, vandy is quite nice.
the pritzker peeps weren't so bad either, helpful when I called them.
michigan staff were pleasant as well.

rochester is mediocre on the phone, they are nice when you are there.

There are plently of schools out there whose staff people are NOT helpful or courteous on the phone:
including
Loyola
Jefferson
Case
Tufts


oh well! They have the power I guess.
chloe

yah, the rochester people were really nice during the interview, especially mary.

sidenote about case, i had called them to ask if they'd sent out a decision letter for me, the secretary tells me to hold for a few seconds, then she says something to the extent that my file was in line to be reviewed by nothing showed up on the computer screen. that afternoon or maybe the next, i get a letter in mail saying that i've been put on hold (it was postmarked several days before i had called)....geez...

 

[mightymouseal]

The only school I've interviewed at is Yale, but it'd be hard to imagine a nicer group of people. Aside from the fact that the students seem like the nicest people in the world, the Director of Admissions spent hours throughout my stay there just talking to me, telling weird Yale/New Haven stories, describing the best Italian places, etc....

 

[crazyA]

I'd have to give my vote to Michigan...when Katie Horne saw my nametag she remembered both my hometown as well as my undergrad (neither of which were on the nametag incidentally) which just blew my mind. Mayo's Jane Satre is very sweet over the phone too...

 

[SunnyS81]

Mad props to:

Michigan
University of Alabama-Birmingham
Pittsburgh
Vanderbilt

Okay:

Emory



Needs work:
UVA
Georgetown

 

[DW]

red carpet service:

Wash U
Cornell
Northwestern
USUHS
Pitt

pretty good:

einstein
GW
Temple
Penn State
Jeff

ok:
NYMC

satan worshippers:
Georgetown
Mount sinai

 

[Joe Joe on da Radio]

mt. sinai is the absolute worst! i feel so used and abused after i hang up the phone with them...

jj

 

[S.c. Cdc28p]

Absolutely the best:

U Mich (Katie!!!)

Great:

Hopkins
HMS
Stanford
U Penn

OK:

UCSF
Wash U
Cornell

Sh*tty:

Columbia

 

[nichols195]

gotta throw in Ohio State on the red carpet service list

 

[doc4sure]

You go Vermont!!

 

[cabruen]

Here is my evaluations...

Schools that made the interview day an absolute joy:
Texas A&M
Stanford
Mayo
Vanderbilt
BU
Texas Tech

Schools that are awful about organizing their interview day:
USC

Schools that seem wonderful about contacting and asking questions to:
Vanderbilt
Mayo
Rush

I think there is a big difference on how the schools treat you depending on what point your application is in. I think schools tend to be more mean pre-interview, and then get much softer once you have interviewed.

 

[abw]

The University of Maryland admissions people were super nice when I was there. My first interviewer walked me across the hospital to my next interview so I wouldn't get lost. I wouldn't call them on the phone though - they let you know that any communication will be sent to you.

 

[banannie]

Why does everyone say that the admissions office at Mount Sinai is so mean?

After reading this thread, I was scared to death to even call them. Since then, I've called twice and the person answering the phone has been really nice both times! The second time, I even got a real and true status update, beyond just telling me that my file was "complete"

But I'd have to say that so far, the nicest admissions office has been RWJ. I've had great interactions with them on the phone, by e-mail and in person.

 

[lola]

funny... I've called Georgetown twice and both times they were extremely nice. I also thought the people at Tufts were nice. In fact, the only rude admisisons office I've come across is Loyola's.

 

[jot]

the most courteous staff are mstp administrators at every school - they know most of us by nicknames!

 

[DW]

i think it varies looking back on it. some people had bad experiences with jeff, i had a great experience. hey, you might not get the same secretary on the horn as someone else, they might have a bad day, depends on the questions you ask, etc. the one thing i think is true is that having a good or bad experience talking to the secretary probably does NOT affect your chances of acceptance. i had a brutal exchange with the umdnj secretary, and ended up getting in there. well, they were a lot nicer to me on interview day at least

 

[BRUINGOLD]

gotta give props to USC!!! Every time I have called their office, they have been really helpful and curteous.

Ok:

UCLA: not friendly, but not totally rude, either.


Major thumbs down to:

UC IRVINE!!!!
They have the rudest staff I have encountered. Anyone else have negative experiences with UCI??

 

[jonquille]

Also gotta say Jefferson was great. I always got the same receptionist (they split you up my name I guess as to who handles your files?) and he was ALWAYS so nice to me, so helpful, calling me back to answer questions if he didn't know the answer off-hand.

I also thought the people at Medical College of Wisconsin and Wake Forest were nice.

Worst: Tufts and Harvard and UVM and any other school that makes you sit through a long message where they say you can call only during certain hours, or that you can't talk to a human being etc.

Tufts even told me they don't have a fax machine when I was trying to fax them a letter. How uncooperative -- I'm sure they have a fax machine! Phooey.

But yes, it all probably depends on what kind of day the person answering has had, and also how you speak to them. Remember you never know who picks up the phone -- what if the Dean of Admissions happened to grab the phone just "because"? And also it's always a good habit to treat everyone with equal respect whether they are admin assistants or MDs. Not saying you all don't -- I'm sure you all do treat everyone super well -- but I've seen it happen with my very own eyes!

 

[Yogi Bear]

Originally posted by banannie
Why does everyone say that the admissions office at Mount Sinai is so mean?

After reading this thread, I was scared to death to even call them. Since then, I've called twice and the person answering the phone has been really nice both times! The second time, I even got a real and true status update, beyond just telling me that my file was "complete"

But I'd have to say that so far, the nicest admissions office has been RWJ. I've had great interactions with them on the phone, by e-mail and in person.

maybe they've been reading SDN..hehe

 

[Medical123]

Albany, Cincinnati, and Drexel have been great. Vermont has been okay.