<p>Clearly, I’m testing my time management skills here.</p>
<p>1) JPP: Nice response. I have to forward it to the admissions director when I get a chance.</p>
<p>2) Momx3: I’m sorry if you took it that way… please note that I also said that many Swat students have fine social skills and it’s a small but noticeable contingent of the latter. Please don’t take it out of context. That’s my impression and that of # people I know from Swat… from my brother to friends that I met on Capitol Hill, at the Mayor’s Office of NYC and during residency who all said the same thing. Personally, I always thought it was a truism and the running joke at Swat. </p>
<p>I think we agree that one aspect of Swat that’s different from, say, Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury and Haverford is that it’s a little more quirky and eccentric. Actually, it kind of celebrates that and as I said before, “quirky” can range from “WOW!!” to “w-w-w-o-o-o-w”. All schools have their strong suite and also their underbellies as well and, like many things, what makes a college strong and unique can also be a problem as well… size of LACs, single-sex education, athletics at Williams, honor code at Haverford… and I believe many of Swat’s strongest attributes are also (if not checked) weak points as well. Swat doesn’t seem to have an athletic culture that, although there’re issues with this, can also promote more mainstream activities and interactions between students. Swat also isn’t in the Midwest like Carleton, Oberlin or Grinnell or have as strong a Quaker vibe as Haverford and, as a result, isn’t as gentle of a place. In addition, “Anywhere else it would have been an A”, promotes a culture of condescension towards others. As a result, Swat doesn’t have as many moderating influences on kids who may come in with interpersonal skills on the “fringe” or egos larger than the endowment. Without such tempering, such kids don’t have as many opportunities to frame their conduct and also they seem to attract similar types.</p>
<p>3) Yes. Haverford does seem to have a better record of sending kids to more and the best medical schools. 1st, med schools, unlike law schools, don’t publish undergrad rosters cause it’s not in the culture of med schools to care about such things so if you want a list, that will not happen. However, I believe I’m a reliable person and, ID, as you’ve seen from some of my posts before, I seem to be a reasoned individual who can appreciate the meaning of numbers.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=188464[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=188464</a></p>
<p>During my 4 years in med school when my friends and I visited each other at the top programs in Boston, NYC, Philly and Baltimore, yes, HC seemed to consistently send double and occasionally triple the number of grads to these schools compared to Swat each year, which was surprising to some. Now, I can’t vouch for this but some random non-HC person wrote the following, which reflects my experience… I’m surprised that I wasted my time actually looking it up but it gives you an idea of HC’s prowess with med admissions…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=3238386#post3238386[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=3238386#post3238386</a></p>
<p>JHU’s 2004-2005 med school class had 6 Haverford grads, 3 Bryn Mawr grads, and 3 Amherst grads, which compare favorably to the 5 Northwestern grads, 7 Dartmouth grads, 11 WUStL grads, and 13 Columbia grads.</p>
<p>Let’s assume this is true. The simplistic answer that I will not support is that it’s just because HC is better at sending kids to med school… please note I said HC “has a better record”, not that it’s “just better” at doing this. There’s a difference. The reasons are multi-factorial and include…</p>
<p>a) Most importantly, the many smart kids from Swat who can get into these med schools probably choose to do other things like get a PhD, MBA, JD…</p>
<p>b) Given HC’s emphasis in biomedical research, it seems to attract top kids interested in a medical career. By contrast, Swat’s bio is split with ecological and organism based bio so it’s less health related. Also, HC has a “Medicine and Society” concentration and a well known bio-ethicist on its faculty. Yes, Yes, I’m also aware that you don’t have to be a science major to go to med school as my friends who were music and history majors are now ophtho and ortho residents.</p>
<p>c) HC’s pre-med advisor is an academic physician from Penn as well as the daughter of the former head of the JHU Dept of Medicine. The former pre-med advisor was also an MD and, when the time comes, the next one will probably be as well. By contrast, Swat’s pre-med advisor before and as now is a PhD and has no clinical training. In addition, she also seems to counsel for pre-law too. The type of knowledge a pre-med advisor (who’s actually in the trenches and is friends/family with academic MDs) can give students is much different than someone with no such background. In addition, given the HC advisor’s contacts, she, in my experience, doesn’t hesitate to call and speak directly to the admissions heads of any med school (she’s 1st name basis with many) to push for students… a pre-med advisor who just got her PhD within the last 5 years does not have that kind of access or moxie. For example, my friend had a bad cold during her interview at HMS and, after this was debriefed, the pre-med advisor called up the head of admissions to intervene… either way, my friend was golden and was accepted. During my interviews, # admissions heads stopped me to ask “How is Dr. Wheeler doing?”. Please note that most top colleges and universities have PhDs as pre-med advisors so it’s not like Swat is doing something different to hurt chances… it’s just not HC in this respect.</p>
<p>d) Swat’s “quirkiness”, “intellectuality” and “political activism” if not tempered aren’t attractive to med schools. This relates to my earlier response. If an interviewer doesn’t think that an applicant can relate to a patient, would make a patient feel uncomfortable, or may not fit with “medical culture” (which is a bit conservative and subdued), they will not be accepted. Again, plenty of kids at Swat with normal social skills and who know how to sell themselves but, like I said before, it’s not a school that necessarily encourages moderation and, if students don’t watch themselves, behavior and words that are considered appropriate at Swat will quickly turn off the majority of people in America who do not go to “quirky and intellectually intense” LACs.</p>
<p>4) Finally, considering I spent approx 20 minutes writing the initial response on one try, which is otherwise quite well written and thoughtful IMO, a slip here and there is expected. Please don’t pick it to death. I imagine similar people with the same time constraints would also write parts that may be better worded. Now, although this has been fun, got to seriously go…</p>