I found MDapps helpful when I was applying, so I hope this will help some of you out there! Here are some things I realized during my cycle: 1.) Submit AMCAS early. Especially if you have a committee letter that is released based on your AMCAS submission date, early is important! 2.) Pre-write secondaries if you can. Gets your creative juices running and seriously will save you some headache when the time comes to complete 20 secondaries. 3.) Take MDapps and SDN with a grain of salt. Each application is unique. So just because someone with similar stats does not get or gets interviews from a given school, doesn't mean the same thing will happen to you. 4.) Take a deep breath, be genuine, passionate, and best of luck in your application cycle!
Summary of Experience:
Georgetown interviews begin with a presentation on the school, followed by a presentation by an admissions staff member (which I felt was intended to intimidate prospective students). Georgetown really prides itself with the concept of fit and waitlists many of the interviewees. In order to move off the waitlist, you must submit a letter detailing why you want to attend Georgetown. They are looking for students who want to be there.
Pros: Excellent service, policy environment in Washington, D.C. Plenty of clinical opportunities.
Cons: Financial aid may be scarce. The admissions officer admitted that aid was limited.
Albert Einstein's interviews are essentially held in the morning or in the afternoon (you can choose what time). If you have a morning interview, you basically check in with the front desk, where they give you information on where and who is interviewing you. If you are interviewing at the Montefiore or other clinics that are off-campus, the office staff will arrange transportation (typically a shuttle) to drop you off. After the interview, you can return to the lobby where you have the option of going on a self-guided tour. If you choose not to go on the tour, you have a lot of down time to surf the internet (if you bring a laptop) or chat with other interviewees, At around noon, there is a tour of the building by current students followed by lunch and a tour of the dorms. Afternoon interviews are then conducted and those who are done with interviews can leave!
If you feel like you didn't have a good interview experience, then you can speak to the office staff and they will arrange a second interviewer to speak with you before you leave. However, you must let them known BEFORE you leave Albert Einstein.
Summary of Experience:
Interview day is comprised of a presentation on the curriculum and quality of life of students at UVA. (There is a strong emphasis on having a positive quality of life at UVA). This is followed by lunch with students and a tour. Interviews are in the afternoon and are scheduled so that you have a half-hour break between your two interviews. One interview is conducted by a 4th year medical student and the second by a faculty member. Each interview is exactly 30 minutes long.
Summary of Experience:
Placed on the hold list and later received a message that class was filled :(
Excellent program with a plethora of clinical opportunities. My only concern was that with a class size of 32, it might be easy to get lost in the bustling environment of Cleveland Clinic.
Summary of Experience:
A presentation conducted by students on the education and student life at RWJ. This is followed by MMI interviews, which seem stressful at first.
To prepare for MMI's, I attended workshops held at the university and browsed SDN and other pages that gave examples of MMI's. I didn't feel the need to have a very in-depth knowledge of bioethics, these questions are really looking for how you think and articulate to questions. One of the MS1's who was talking to us indicated that interviewers are assessing how well you interact with them when delivering a response and whether you have a logical, well-thought out plan.
Summary of Experience:
The interview day opens up with a breakfast. The day was followed by a presentation on Case, interviews, brief financial aid presentation, lunch with current students (typically MS1's), tour of the hospital, and afternoon interviews.
Check out the SDN questionnaire on interview questions for various institutions. I used some of the questions to prepare and found it helpful.
Summary of Experience:
To be honest, this was one of the best interviews that I had during the application cycle. As my first interview, I was slightly anxious about performing well, but the interviewer was warm, personable, and engaging. He gave me a vivid account of Newark and how he had seen the city evolve during his many years living and working at NJMS.
Principessa took the old MCAT and scored a 3 which is in the 0 percentile of all old scores.
We converted this to a 472 on the updated scale which is in the -1st percentile of the updated MCAT. We also converted Principessa’s section scores as follows:
Principessa scored a 1 on the Biological Science section of the old MCAT which is approximately equal to a 118 on the Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems.
Principessa scored a 1 on the Physical Science section of the old MCAT which is approximately equal to a 118 on the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems.
Principessa scored a 1 on the Verbal Reasoning section of the old MCAT which is approximately equal to a 118 on the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills.
