Codes: SR = secondary received, SS = secondary submitted, C = complete
II = interview invite, I = interview
Cost Summary :( (Only major costs detailed)
AMCAS Primary submission fee $550
OMSAS Primary (?)
NYMC Secondary $100 (wtf)
Dartmouth Secondary $75
WashU Secondary $50
MSU Secondary $60
Case Secondary $85
SUNY Upstate secondary $100 (wtf)
UVM $85
UVA $80
Northwestern $75
University of Alberta $100
McGill $80
Memorial
Manitoba
Travel Expenses
Case -> Free (driving + parents)
UVa -> Free (driving + parents)
Upstate/WashU -> $102 (amtrak) + $155 (usair) + $0 accom
DMS -> $263.09 (flights) + $35 (bus) + $0 (accom)
McGill -> $90 (bus) + $0 (accom, friends)
UManitoba/UAlberta -> $716 (flights) + $0 (accom - long long story)
Memorial -> $397 (flights) + $80 (accom)
UWO -> free (day trip)
I've tried to keep my travel/interview costs as low and reasonable as possible compared to what others spend. Nevertheless, it adds up...but I guess it's part of the whole 'invest in your future' thing. A few thousand now is worth the opportunity to pursue a dream.
Post-Interview Comments
Case Western Reserve: I have to admit that I wasn't impressed with Cleveland. Large swaths of the city appear to be going broke and boarded up, lack of multiculturalism and diversity in authentic culinary options, and rampant inner-city poverty. That said, none of these comments apply to the Case campus. VERY nice facilities (medical school building looks quite new, excellent facilities). Biggest selling points to me was the affiliation with some top notch teaching hospitals (i.e. Cleveland Clinic) and unique medical curriculum. Case School of Medicine is the only game in town - the thought of all the potential opportunities that gives (and not having to jostle with competing medical students) is delicious.
University of Virginia SoM: In short, amazing and a great experience. I didn't have many expectations going in, feeling the school would not be a good fit, but the interview completely sold me on the school. The Charlottesville/UVa Campus is beautiful, the ideal classical university campus look with immaculate buildings/facilities, old trees, lawns with students studying. Interview was well organized with VERY little downtime, lunch was the best I've ever had. The dean of admissions actually learned all of our names, only five or six people was at the interview so it was a very personal experience. Crossing my fingers for an acceptance!
SUNY Upstate: a nice school, in a somewhat industrial looking Syracuse. Significant construction projects are underway on campus, and the medical school has a new 'clinical skills' wing. Moreover, the gross anatomy labs were recently renovated and expectedly clean and modern. Interviewers were excellent - a good school, probably just not for me.
WashU: What can I say, it's WUSTL. Amazing facilities, amazing hospital, amazing opportunities. St. Louis isn't so great, but most US cities have serious problems anyways.
DMS: A wonderful school. I loved Hanover, which is a beautiful and picturesque little town, the facilities are fantastic (the gym, library, and DHMC come to mind). Many aspects of the curriculum are attractive such as offsite clerkships. Downsides: can't say I love the thought of having to drive a car. Very cold. Hanover is pretty sleepy and quiet so not much to do. Would love to attend but don't feel the interviews were 'wow' enough.
McGill University: Awesome school...if you're Canadian. I would not attend McGill as an American as I was told its students have not traditionally performed well on the USMLEs. I'm Canadian so it's moot. The facilities are definitely showing their age - likely the oldest compared to all the schools I've interviewed. Tour did not include the hospitals, but I wouldn't expect them to look like hotels like they do in the US. Curriculum is solid with a lot of clinical exposure, although the first ONE AND A HALF YEARS is basically sit in a lecture theatre 8hrs/day. A strong plus: McGill apparently produces a lot of surgeons, something I am gravitating toward. Some advice to anyone interviewing in the future: if they continue with the MMI/traditional interview combo, be prepared for a very very long day albeit extremely well organized. Realistically, the 8 OOP spots and a field of 50 amazing candidates means a waitlist at best for an average applicant like me.
University of Manitoba: Winnipeg is very very cold and I found the limited areas of the city I saw were so-so. However, I was very impressed by the medical school - it's new, with a shiny library and a decked out medical simulation floor. Interaction w. meds students was limited, so I don't have much to comment, although I noticed some other interviewees who were annoyed with the UofM study hard, party harder mentality (I have no problem with this). MMI is a good interview format. Better than traditional interviews? Usually but it depends on the question. Sometimes the questions are too open ended, with little direction. In conclusion, it is a good Canadian school (not too far from home) and I would not hesitate to matriculate here.
University of Alberta: VERY impressed. UofA is awash with oil riches and they're spending it on their facilities in a big way. I thought nothing would top the facilities I saw at UofM, but then I saw the Katz building, the awesome Eaton's like hospital, and just about everything else. I felt the school would be a good fit for me, and I would have no reservations attending UofA. Definitely moving up on my list of schools.
Memorial University: One of my least enjoyable interviews. Very structured Q&A format with disinterested and tired interviewers. School tour/presentation was half-hearted and disorganized at times. Facilities were functional, albeit worn. I get the vibe the school is looking to train out of province students who are a) strongly interested in staying in Newfoundland post-graduation and b) strongly interested in family practice / rural medicine. At this point, I have no interest for a or b. Moreover, although St.Johns is a charming town, I didn't get a feeling it's a place I fit in: too cold, too isolated, too culturally different for me. On a bright note, I met a group of very fun and outgoing out of province applicants and despite no formal post-interview activities, we were able to organize our own.
University of Western Ontario: Interview went smoothly. Was expecting the usual stone faced interviewers and a rigid/uncomfortable Q&A interview format. Instead, interviewers were engaged, pleasant, and excited. Most discussions centred around Canadian health care policy, which I enjoy greatly. Could have done without the role-playing rigmarole: either go all out and do MMI or stick to panel-style interviewing. Future interviewees: I recommend choosing the earliest time slot. Interviewers are human and interviewing candidates can be exhausting - I much rather bore a fresh panel than one itching to get out of the room or sleepy after a heavy lunch. As for the school, I'm mixed. The students were genuinely friendly and welcoming, although there were one or two odd ones that were incredibly socially awkward (to the point of making me uncomfortable). The campus/facilities weren't altogether impressive. Lots of food options on campus, library is functional albeit not shiny and fancy. All in all, it's still one of my top choices because I want to ultimately practice medicine in Ontario.
University of Toronto: There's no place like home and the TDOT is home. Very impressed with the program and consequently my top-choice. Interview went well in my opinion (said almost everything I wanted to say). My interviewer was a witty older lady and I rolled with her jokes and mild punches - was a fun experience. Will have to be cautious though: I found my McGill interviews went very well as well, but I was waitlisted. I will be the happiest person on the planet if I check my email box come May 15 and there's an acceptance. Between now and then, I will try to forget medicine/medical school admissions/etc exists.
Updates:
July 24 - AMCAS Primary Submitted. Still waiting on transcript.
July 26 - Dartmouth secondary completed (rough). Starting on Columbia P&S.
July 27 - Notification of receipt of transcript by AMCAS. File ready for review.
July 31 - Finishing most of Columbia P&S secondary. Starting on Pritzker and Yale. Ugh, I hate secondaries already.
Aug 11 - Took a break. Starting/Finishing WashU. All reference letters received by Interfolio (excellent). Still waiting to be verified by AMCAS. NYMC Secondary submitted. WashU secondary submitted - still haven't paid/electronically sent LORs/Dean's thing etc
Aug 14 - Not being verified is very annoying. WashU is essentially finished except I don't have a picture. Dartmouth mailed out. Pritzker essays finished. Columbia done except they want my GPA on the form...which means waiting for AMCAS to verify. Aiming to finish Northwestern and Case in the next two days.
Aug 16 - What the hell...why is AMCAS taking forever?
Aug 17 - Finally Verified. But my AMCAS GPA is a lot lower than I thought it would be. Pretty disappointed.
Aug 21 - Just submitted Upstate and Case. Working on Michigan. Pritzker/Northwestern/Columbia are good to go.
Aug 25 - Wow, three days for an invite. They are really efficient.
Aug 27 - NU sent out. Still haven't decided what to do with Pritzker and a few other US schools seeing as I don't even know if I can afford it (should've thought about this earlier). Finishing up UVA...work on the Canadian apps will commence in September.
Sept 15 - Rolling with two interview invites right now - both very respectable schools I would love to attend. I think I should've completed more secondaries...but I want to focus on Canadian schools (because they're going to be my first choice regardless).
Oct 1 - Submitted OMSAS.
Oct 4 - Good news hearing back from SUNY. The receptionist sounded a bit like a robot though...threw me off.
Oct 15 - Almost time to the first interview. Finally finished Memorial...just a few more schools to go. Getting nervous. Received NYMC invite a few days ago...was pleasant news.
Oct 22 - omg sick...WashU invite! Still gotta schedule my NYMC
Nov 7 - Still kicking myself. My first acceptance to medical school. It's been a long road, and the road is longer still, but I can't describe how happy I feel.
Nov 19 - waitlisted at UVa. Should have expected it...given they have not accepted a single intl' applicant in the past 3 years
Nov 28 - rescheduling my DMS interview until January because of some unfortunate family issues. I'm sure this will negatively impact my chances there, but it's unavoidable. Still eagerly waiting on news from WashU and of course the Canadian schools!!!
Nov 30 - UVM invite after I told them I'd be around the area for DMS. US schools yet to show me some interviewing love MSUCHM (not surprised) and NU (disappointing).
Dec 3 - LOR request from MSU. On the fence whether I should bother at this point.
Dec 5 - I can't even begin to describe how displeased and bewildered I am with UofA's random and inconsistent assertion I haven't taken a full year of organic chemistry. I guess just about every other med school in North America has a different definition of what qualifies as 'organic chemistry'.
Dec 11 - A letter and several phone calls later, in a 180 degree reversal, I now meet UA's o-chem requirements. They'll probably think of a new reason to reject me.
Jan 05 - I have happy dreams of interviewing at Canadian schools.
Jan 16th - Invite from McGill. Very pleased to have the privilege to interview as an out-of-province (OOP) candidate. Love Montreal.
Jan 17th - Sweet, Manitoba interview! I'm hearing that Queen's will have a WS cut-off of R - which is the dumbest section to use as a cut-off.
Jan 21st - No love from NU...not that I would attend the interview if they invited me.
Jan 27th - Rejected from Queen's for not meeting their MCAT cut-offs. Other than the fact they aren't saying what their cut-offs are, the rumour is the WS score has to be R. Frustrating because it means the chances of staying in Ontario (my home province) for medical training suddenly became a lot less likely.
Feb 2nd - Eagerly anticipating a possible invite from UofT this coming week (according to unsubstantiated rumours). UofA/Memorial are not supposed to respond until mid-late Feb (wow things are slow).
Feb 7th - Amazing...received an offer of acceptance from Dartmouth! I love how they're keeping it old school and doing everything by lettermail; the personalized hand-written postcard was a cute touch. All the amazing aspects of the DMS experience (amazing match list, funding support for off site clerkships across the US, small class size, DMS reputation + DHMC + top notch facilities) is going to make my decisions a lot more complicated come May.
Feb 11th - UofA invite after I expected I was rejected. Very nice of them considering they were going to throw out my application back in Nov for not meeting their 'organic chem' requirements.
Feb12th - MUN interview invite. I don't know if I can afford it at this stage.
Feb 23 - Decided I'll attend the interview at MUN...too good of an opportunity to pass up. But I'm also broke now. Wonder how I'll ever pay tuition!
Feb 27 - Sent in merit scholarship application to Case. I have a 0.1% chance of winning because of the competition AND because I'm sure schools use these to recruit students away from HMS/JHop (and I applied to neither). Oh well...gotta wait 5 weeks for results.
Mar 10 - Wait listed at McGill. What a kick to the stomach.
Mar 11 - Great success! An interview invite from UofT.
Mar 14 - WL at WashU. Not too terribly disappointed - can't afford their tuition.
Apr 12 - All interviews done! What a marathon. Now comes the hard part: waiting.
Apr 14 - WL at Memorial. I'm genuinely surprised I was waitlisted and not outright rejected considering my awful interview. Likely the worst interview this cycle. A significant number of my co-interviewees were rejected post-interview, so something's odd with the MUN applicant selection system.
May 15th - Accepted to UofA as an OOP. I am so happy I don't know what to say!!!! I'm going to be a Canadian doctor!!!
May 16th - Accepted to UWO!! Decision time...this one is going to be a tough one!!!
May 20 - Very sad to let my last US acceptance (DMS) go. A really lovely school that I genuinely liked.
Jun 02 - I received an offer of admission from my #1 choice. Wow. I was confident it would happen, but it's unreal when it does. Now the really hard decision making comes in.
