2011-2012 Med school applicants and their parents

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
241

<p>this M1 is having a fabulous time in medical school. it’s a LOT of work–definitely more than I ever did in undergrad–but since it’s all clinically relevant and about information i need for this career i’ve always dreamed of, it’s worth it to me to put the time in to study.</p>

<p>i didn’t take histo or anatomy as an undergrad and as far as i can tell i’m doing just fine with it. many of my classmates have taken both of those classes and are happy they did.</p>

<p>i particularly like anatomy and working with patients (even though for this first few months, they’re all simulated patients/actors), and am looking forward to beginning more regular clinical experience in october. i also like the small-group/problem-based focus my school has, and have found it really fun and easy to learn this way. </p>

<p>and while i don’t have as much free time as i used to have, i definitely have enough to survive. all in all, not only is med school manageable–it’s fun!</p>

242

<p>Is it common (or appropriate) that somebody in a schools admissions office ask a student where else they are interviewing at? Knowing that schools want to protect their yield, what kind of response should be given when asked this.</p>

243

<p>Yeah I’d say it’s common. I was asked at two of my schools. I didn’t say where specifically, just that I had interviews coming up in fill-in-the-blank state.</p>

<p>A few friends (one applying MD, one MSTP) had admissions committee members flat out mention other schools they were specifically interviewing at later on in the cycle, which leads me to believe claims that schools know where you’re interviewing even if you don’t tell them–and later on, they know where you’ve been accepted.</p>

<p>In all, I wouldn’t worry about it. I think your kiddo can deal with it however she sees fit. I’d definitely recommend keeping a positive and enthusiastic attitude about the current school she’s at though (assuming that would be genuine)!</p>

244

<p>

This is likely true. DS’s friend received an email from school X from which he had an acceptance. In that email, they basically asked: Please make up your mind about whether you want to go to school Y or X as quickly as possible. The other school Y was specifically mentioned.</p>

245

<p>Thanks for letting me know it is not unusual Kristin. She did have to give him the names of the schools, :eek: he had pen and paper in hand to write them down. How will that information factor in their decision?</p>

246

<p>Beats me. But she should be proud to have earned a nice collection of interviews, and if it means that she doesn’t get into one school because they’re afraid she’ll attend another, then it’s the first school’s loss. Honesty’s the best policy, right? I wouldn’t worry about it :)</p>

247

<p>We have couple schools in our region that definitely compete for applicants. SDN even has a thread called something like battle of Westerns referring to Case and NwU. In many cases, people who apply to Case, also apply to NwU also. I would add that both are somewhat in competition with OSU also. I bet, it is very well known to adcoms at all 3 schools. Case’s Second look event this year was lavish, best hotel, limos…great social events to mix with current Med. Students…OSU has scheduled Second Look on the same weekend.</p>

248

<p>S was also asked at his first interview where else he is applying. He is an MSTP candidate, so I wonder if they already knew the answer. He just gave them a vague answer about applying broadly and turned the conversation back to the school at hand. The interviewer didn’t press it. Another interview this week. At least this one is local.</p>

249

<p>Son was asked the same question and he answered with a list albeit not the whole list. And yes they did know where he applied and was accepted (mentioned schools by name) and yes he definitely thinks it affected where he was interviewed and eventually where he was accepted. It also did affect some of the scholarships he was offered and the amount of said scholarship money.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

250

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<p>Kat, could you clarify if you think them knowing affected him in a positive or a negative way.</p>

251

<p>Couple different things happened throughout the app season. Interview offers started occuring almost as soon as his secondaries were in and in some cases secondary was the signal an interview was coming. And it was not the interview offers themselves that son thinks others could see but when he accepted the interview and then scheduled an interview date.</p>

<p>Everything stopped cold the day he accepted and scheduled Harvard’s interview. He did not schedule Harvard’s interview immediately as he had scheduling conflcits he had to resolve. Some of his reaches had already contacted him, one or two matches and 1 safety. He received acceptances before he scheduled as well, 10/15ish. </p>

<p>And financial aid/scholarships were also being processed. Everything stopped after he scheduled his H interview. Early December. He had scheduled his Michigan interview the Friday before his H interview, used the weekend to fly from one to the other (another story!). They knew about his H interview at M and said so while he was there.</p>

<p>Once he finally started withdrawing from schools and was left with a handful, 2 different deans from 2 different schools asked him to choose between schools, mentioned by name and knew he was waiting on the H acceptance and possibly Cornell’s. Scholarship money was at issue and again discussed. Comparing unit loan vs. scholarship and possible lower COA/COL.</p>

<p>Does son think it was positive or negative? Definitely negative, he did not know what they knew until they told him and it was after the fact. They were transparent when it suited them and he was not privy to that info.</p>

<p>Other factors came into play, his GMAT score(wants an MD/MBA), his recs (HYP and Duke med), how much he wanted to spend on travel for interviews(some schools reimbursed), his ECs (D1 athlete, med reseach, econ research) and of course, him (his personality)…some positive, some difficult,</p>

<p>He only heard from 1 of his safeties, and 2 matches (both after he started withdrawing)…and he applied to many, all his other interviews were his reaches.</p>

<p>Kat
in hindsight he says had he known he would have scheduled interviews differently, different timing</p>

252

<p>^ After reading your post, I wonder whether the medical schools not in the east coast really do not like applicants who have too much tie to the east coast. The tie is reflected by the fact that</p>

<p>1) the applicant is from a state on the east coast.
2) the applicant went to a college on the east coast.
3) (this may be the most important one) the applicant applies to too many top medical schools on the east coast. “east coast” mostly refers to NE here.</p>

<p>If an applicant has the above 3 “qualifications” and is a competitive applicant on surface, many schools may have a second thought about “investing” their valuable time on such a “risky” applicant.</p>

<p>Most medical schools may be more “tolerant” of applicants coming from, say, California, especially those who have never set their foot on the “dreadful” NE schools.</p>

<p>It goes the other way in another twist: NE schools likely show preferences to students who have ties to that region.</p>

<p>I wonder whether the “undercurrent power play” between the schools and the applicants becomes more neutral (not so biased or yield-conscious) in the residency application cycle.</p>

253

<p>^I am not sure about that based on great number of M1’s from Ivy’s in D’s class. There is definite “undercurrent power play” between the schools, they know their prime competitors, sometime they contact pre-med advisors expressing their desire to have certain applicants when they know that they have acceptance to “main competitor” school. However, I bet, each Med. School is just different and there is no general rule about them.</p>

254

<p>“in hindsight he says had he known he would have scheduled interviews differently, different timing”</p>

<p>How so, Kat? My son received a ‘no thank-you’ from a good match school already which had been predicted by his pre-med adviser as a possibility. It’s unfortunate too, as he did like their programs and it would have been a school he might have attended. It’s tough to figure out how schools are reducing their risks to yield, especially when there are no guarantees to applicants. As with under-grad, my son only applied to schools that he thoroughly researched and would attend.<br>
Some lurking Adcom advice would be greatly appreciated. You do want the best and the brightest, yes? ;)</p>

255

<p>Y’all might ask your premed advisor for a history of med admissions from your school by school by year. I obtained one from my D’s school and it was very enlightening. It became clear to me that some med schools took students from D’s undergrad every year and some med schools took zero. And this was regardless of the quality. For example, one or two admissions to Hopkins Med every year, but zero to Harvard and Yale, or more correctly only one over ten years. (Of course, those students could have had ties to Bawlamer, but every year…?)</p>

256

<p>CapeCod…,
“Some lurking Adcom advice would be greatly appreciated. You do want the best and the brightest, yes” - this is a bit simplified. They do look at good match to whatever makes them different from others.
D. indicated that there are differences in current students from school to school. She is always looking for good match to her personality and one way to find out was to stay with current med. student on interview trips. One highly ranked school was crossed off after interview, although she was Wl’d there. She did not wait for status change. Reason is simple: “I do not see myself going there” I did not ask why, she would have hard time explaining her feelings.
The same is going on on another side, they are looking for a good match. “Best and the brightest” might be the first round, then it looks like they are going thru several more. One example: D. has been advised to participate in musical production which is a yearly event at her Med. School. Why? They knew she has music minor. I do not believe that her acceptance was influenced by that, but at some point when they were deciding between 3-4 seemingly the same caliber applicants, maybe her music minor just clicked…or maybe her paid tutoring position in UG as this is again a big EC at her med. school (not paid), they are helping inner city kids with college application process, tutoring them in various aspects priamrily helping with writing essays. D. loves both, she has always enjoyed music and tutoring and is very happy that she has an opportunity to continue with both. I bet that Med. School is happy to have students who are readily able to step into non-academic activities at this school while fully qualify academically to be accepted there.</p>

257

<p>Of course, MiamiDAP. Agree to all, I was speaking directly related to the yield issue, where it sometimes is assumed a student won’t attend x school, if they are also qualified to go to y. I guess there are just too many applicants for schools to invite (understatement there, I know), so they just have to make those decisions. Same was true of undergrad ‘safeties’ that sometimes will wait-list highly qualified students because they do not want to save a spot for someone who most likely not attend. Makes sense. I spoke in jest (mostly) about Adcom advice (and ‘the best and brightest’ expression I used is a colloquialism from a Boston radio station I listen to, sorry if it came off wrong. :slight_smile: )</p>

258

<p>^Yes, probably. Do not have this experience, since D. has applied to very few and only to ones that she definitely consider attending (before interview visit) and she also applied only regionally, kind of limited, did not care to spend too much on application fees.</p>

259

<p>CCL- you have to wonder how many kids there are who get some better ranked interviews and therefore are somehow NOT admitted to their match due to yield, yet perhaps monetarily they would have preferred the match school or maybe they don’t get into the top or match school. Just because you have interviews does not mean you are admitted to the top school. I suppose I can see the match school not giving up interview time when they see a kid already interviewing at half a dozen top schools, but if the interview already happened, why do they care so much about yield that they do not admit the kid with $$ and see if he will come.</p>

260

<p>Yes, interesting, somemom. How is it they ‘see’ who the students are interviewing with to begin with?
I’m also curious to see how other parts of the country (ie. schools) feel about out-of-region students. My son’s list absolutely only contains places he could see himself at, has programs he’s interested in, and would be a good fit, etc. I was a bit baffled by the early ‘no thank-you’ at a nice match school, and my son was pretty disappointed, frankly. His adviser was spot on with that call. Too bad. Guess that’s why you do need to apply to more than you would if there were not so many unknown variables in the admitting process. </p>

<p>Appreciate reading everyone’s experiences and advice. Best wishes to all!</p>