<p>“i’m not sure if i believe haverford’s 99% acceptance to med school, but if that’s true, that’s pretty amazing as well”- my name is kitty galore</p>
<p>Yes. HC’s acceptance rate to med school is 98-100%.</p>
<p>Many reasons…</p>
<p>1) I am a big fan of our pre-med advisor, Dr. Jenette Wheeler. She went to Emory for med school, she’s on faculty at Penn. Also, her father use to be the Chair of the Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine… if you know anything about the medical profession, you will realize how BIG that is… she is very, very well connected. When my friends and I interviewed around, many of the admissions directors (Penn, columbia, Pittsburgh, Mount Sinai, NYU, JH, Harvard… come to mind) would ask during our meetings how “Dr. Wheeler” was … which would sometimes throw us off because at HC, we call her Jenette. Only after the interviewing process did I finally appreciate how respected and connected she is with med school admissions.</p>
<p>She knows the ins and outs of medical admissions innately. She’ll give you the usual advice you would expect from a top LAC advisor but will go above and beyond… the “finishing touches” if you will. I remember that she recommended once to “dress appropriately but still stand out”… so several of my friends and I chose to not wear black or blue suits/dresses for our interviews and it was positively noticed by other applicants and interviewers. It’s the details that make you memorable to admissions personnel. My HC friend and lab partner wore a pastel green skirt/blouse thing and when she went to interview at HMS (“hahvad”), her interviewer said “Wow. Thank you for not wearing a black or blue suit!”… I got a sharp looking brown suit and everywhere I went, other applicants said how they thought that was such a good idea. Also, she recommended that we read the NYtimes each week to keep up on current events… which sometimes science oriented people can neglect when we have heavy academic course loads and extra-curriculars… I normally keep up with current events but I know this advice helped out several of my friends. Thanks Jenette.</p>
<p>One reason why Hc has 99% admissions is because Jenette does take the time to counsel you…and sometimes recommend that you take some time off to buff your resume… especially if you have some issues on your application. Some people think this is “gaming the numbers and artificially raising the acceptance rates” but that is not Jenette’s intention and it is in the benefit of the pre-med student. Being on my med school’s admissions’ committee, I realized that once you apply and are deferred or are rejected, that is a QUESTION MARK on your application that is hard to overcome. If that is the case, you have to show what amazing thing you did from the prior year to warrant reconsideration… which is difficult. So Jenette, with her many years of experience, will recommend some students for this reason to take some time off and do some research or something. I can think of some people from my class who did this… they didn’t graduate with honors or anything like… but still wound up in med school and are currently very sucessful (2 to ivies if that’s important to you)…</p>
<p>Jenette is a huge advocate of HC and its students. When I was applying, I was accepted into a few “good” med schools in October/November but didn’t hear from the top 2 schools on my list which Jenette recommended I apply to. When I told her, she called up the admissions offices at those 2 uber prestigious places to inquire (without me even asking her)… didn’t change anything… but I certainly appreciated her kindness with this and her consolation as well. Even after her work was done and responsibility for me was over, when I applied for the Luce Fellowship (semi-finalist) my 3rd year in med school, she took the time to write me a very thoughtful LOR.</p>
<p>2) the students… nuff said.</p>
<p>3) New direction with admissions committees. With the many issues we face in healthcare today, admissions committees are looking for more than grades, MCATS and lab research experience. Med schools are attracted to great students/scientists who are analytical, active outside of the classroom, can communicate with people and are not awkward, and can balance their lives with work. LACS and HC in particular, because of the small size, can assist with these skill sets because it’s easy to organize and lead groups at LACs and build strong relationships with faculty… all of this helps when applying to professional school.</p>