Pre-Med Hopkins! Help! Help!

collegiate
Sun, 26 Jun 2005 00:32:01 +0000

Good reply Afan. I finally understand your point of view along with sakkys. What you are referring to about cornell is offered to JHU premeds internally. But anyways, you guys should check out www.mdapplicants.com , it definitely shows low scoring JHU premeds who continued with the process and succeeded. I will first address Sakky. Sakky, our conversation is revolving around top medical schools anyways is it not? These are the schools that require the most amount of applicant marketing as you pointed out earlier. There are alot of US med schools (with MCATs that average at around 21) out there that the average and below average jhu premed can obtain a spot at but refuses to apply to. Ofcourse these med schools are not ones JHU premeds typically apply to. They are gunning for the top with Harvard, JHU, Wustl, Upenn along with their respective state schools as potential choices. This is evidenced by Wall Street Journal’s ranking of top feeder schools to top med/business/law schools which you can surely look up. Considering each premed is advised to apply to their state school along with other privates, its a surefire bet that numerous desirable state schools are quite acclimated with JHU’s process further enhancing the knowledge of JHU’s rec process. I do agree however that there are other schools out there that may be unfamiliar to JHU’s process but theses are typically not schools JHU premeds apply to in groups atleast. As for your view on students having a choice, I must admit it is an interesting view. However, JHU premeds who perceive the rec letter as negative by it excluding positives are misguided. They can balance it nonetheless with a supplemental faculty guide. The point is this letter by itself as ive stated numerous times before will not make or break the applicant. It will come down to his/her overall GPA, BCPM GPA, MCAT score,personal statements, volunteering, research ability, work experience, interview and a variety of other factors that are considered in medical school admissions. Now to address Afan, the advisors do not obstruct students as stated before. I understand your disapproval of how the advisors may be overstepping their boundaries in dissuading potential applicants but they cannot stop the applicant from applying and they cannot ruin their chances with an average committee rec. They will NEVER outright tell an applicant that they cannot or should not become a doctor. Ive seen instances where the applicants had sub 20 MCAT scores and sub 3.0 GPAs. What these applicants were told was to not apply now but to apply later after improving their qualifications for an acceptance into a potentially better medical school or any med school rather than what they would have achieved had they applied at that instant. Although those words may appear harsh to some as an off year may be a hard concept for an excited premed, it is in the best interest of the student. JHU does not care nor does it artifically inflate its acceptance rate by actually barring students from applying nor do they completely dissuade poor applicants from applying. Rather they merely attempt to improve the applicants credentials and subsequently his/her chances so it reflects better on the institution and the applicant. When an extremely poor quality applicant applies to med schools, JHU’s reputation suffers by sponsoring such an applicant at all and this reflects badly on the applicants part as it shows immaturity throughout the process. But this readiness and commitment can only be judged in part by the applicant him/herself and not by outsiders such as us. In the end JHU wants what is best for its students although it may appear such dissuasion may seem like a selfish attempt at improving its image. JHU merely wants applicants to maximize their chances and presentation. If such a simple letter portrays or the fact that advisors are telling students to do ther things to improve their situation are contradictions to what the institution is trying to do when advising such students, then so be it.