<p>Congratulations, DocT! :)</p>
<p>Well, that one week off was nice… Cornell, Sinai, and Emory in the next week.</p>
<p>On the plus side, I’ll now be in NYC as the Yankees (hopefully) win the World Series. These interviews aren’t too bad!</p>
<p>Way to go steeler. You are racking up the air miles. Great schools , too! Good luck.</p>
<p>D is still stuck in a holding pattern (and waitlist pattern …uggh). No new interviews and Texas decisions are still 2 weeks away. She might hear from one school this week. </p>
<p>Yes. I am quite happy she has 1 acceptance this early. I’m not forgetting that. Just saying this process has only just begun and I’m already tired of it. For those of you actually up to bat (the students applying this year), to think it’s this way till next June…Yuck. I feel ya. This extensive use of limbo/wait-list/post-interview hold stuff makes it feel much, much different than undergraduate.</p>
<p>My D hasn’t ranked her schools , or at least not clearly. Maybe that’s for the best.</p>
<p>Well I posted this on another thread and feel it needs to be here , too.</p>
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<p>This is not to deny that UG rep, GPA, and soft factors are considered. They are . But it has become very clear to me (from watching the results come in at sdn) that for early acceptances at many top 35 schools with rolling admissions, the MCAT score is the 800lb gorilla. I am still hopeful that later in the process (including that hideous wait-list process), the emphasis wanes just a couple of points.</p>
<p>This process is just waaaaaayyyy too long. Even DS is finding it long and he is not quite 1/2 way through it. Just last night he was saying that this is stressful and he wish March was here already and this was over with. </p>
<p>He had another interview recently and he liked the school far more than he thought he would. Heard back from a second school and was waitlisted but the waitlist activity is pretty heavy, so he remains hopeful. That school was his #1 and he thought he did very very well during the interview. He was disappointed but as I said, still hopeful he will get in. </p>
<p>He still has not heard from about 6 schools and they are actively interviewing. That is making him nervous. Yes, he has one guaranteed admittance, but he was very interested in some of these other schools. </p>
<p>And cur, I agree that MCAT is a large factor. It definitely will make them look at you sooner, but you still have to have the other “soft factors” too. DS has a great MCAT but he is weak on research and probably could have had more volunteering experience. I don’t think he “packaged” himself very well on the applications. I think he could have “tooted his own horn” a little louder. I wonder if that is keeping him from getting some of these later interviews. </p>
<p>DS told a funny story last night. He has one suit but several different shirts and ties to go with it. For awhile he was stuck on one specific shirt and one tie. He finally decided to mix things up yesterday and he was glad he did. He saw a few people that he has seen at other interviews. He was glad he was wearing something different this time! One thing he has mentioned is that most of the men dress very similarly. Dark suit, white shirt, and a tie. They all look alike. The women tend to have a bit more variety in their clothing. Most applicants carry a messenger bag and also a portfolio/folder. DS did not bring any paper to the first interview and felt real stupid about that. Paper and folder are definite musts.</p>
<p>Curm: At what number would you say it’s fine to call it quits? (Or, in other words, what is a gorgeous MCAT score?)</p>
<p>I can’t speak to top ten schools as my D has been ignored there so I don’t follow them as closely, but at the schools research-ranked 13-35 (that I follow) - For women 35-36. For men 36-37. Obviously, anything above that is good, too. ;)) Again, I am not talking about the process in general, just the process to THIS point in THIS app cycle as the schools I’m following have to take somebody lower or else their matriculant scores would be 3 points higher. Even I can do that math. ;)</p>
<p>As to the tip-top schools that have rolling admissions (and have not deigned to offer my kid a look), they are only plucking leaves off the tip-top branches. 38-39-40 is commonplace at this time in the cycle. (Not considering URM apps.) Again, I’m assuming that at all but WashU these scores of accepted students have to come down at some point also. </p>
<p>What makes D regretful is that she did NOT take MCAT studying seriously enough. She put in some time, but as an excellent (little prep) test-taker did not take a review course. It seems now that was a big mistake. Her MCAT study partner pulled the same stunt (she was also an excellent test-taker) and scored below 30 the first time, re-take after a course - hit a 39. :eek:</p>
<p>My point in all this is to say…I am a convert (to this very limited position). A great MCAT (and a GPA a couple of tenths off), trumps a great GPA (and an MCAT a couple of points off) for early acceptances to some top 35 rolling schools this app cycle. Beyond that, I’m still hoping. ;)</p>
<p>Curmudgeon, I’m guessing she heard back from Pittsburgh? I was waitlisted as well.</p>
<p>They do post-interview rejections as well though, so I guess it’s good to still be in consideration.</p>
<p>Pitt and Case came the same day. In fact within an hour or two, IIRC. Hence the doom and :(. She thought she had done really well at the interviews, too.</p>
<p>Mid-high stats are making her the queen of wait-lists and post-interview “holds”. So far.</p>
<p>On a much brighter note, steeler, Go Wahoos!!!</p>
<p>Being wait listed is a lot better than being rejected. As the dust starts to settle, people with multiple acceptances will start letting them go and the wait list offers will start to go out.</p>
<p>My S has a number of friends/classmates who got off the wait list for their school in May. They had been accepted elsewhere but got a better/more desirable choice after the wait lists cleared.</p>
<p>Too early for doom and gloom, especially with UVA in your back pocket…just think if your only choice was NEOUCOM?</p>
<p>The doom and 
was one conversation on one “not particularly inspiring” day. In fact, that conversation ended with an “oh, well…Go Wahoos!!”, too. 
She knows (intellectually) how lucky she is to be in the position she’s in (early acceptance at a fine school she can certainly see herself enjoying). Emotionally? On that afternoon? Not so much.</p>
<p>On another note, waiting for Tejas. Big question on sdn…Friday the 13th :eek: or Monday the 16th? Hoping for some in-state lovin’.</p>
<p>For peeps waitlisted at Pitt (and anywhere else, too), I strongly encourage you to stay in contact with the school. I was also waitlisted there, and I think that I got admitted based on my attempts at being persuasive, suave, and willing-to-toot-my-own-horn-repeatedly. :)</p>
<p>The game isn’t over yet, and if you keep the school updated in a sensible yet enthusiastic fashion, you can turn that waitlist into an admit.</p>
<p>Thanks for that advice shades. I’ll pass that along to DS. He loved Pitt and although he realizes that the wait list is not the end of the world, he was dejected about it. He still has a fine admission at OSU though and he is pleased about that. </p>
<p>He is a bit worried though. All this interviewing has taken a toll on his studies. He is far from failing, but he feels his grades this semester won’t be as strong as usual. And since he will now have to send these grades to Pitt, he is hoping they won’t hurt. Now that he has a bit of a break in interviews, it is time to hit the books real hard.</p>
<p>Well, things could (but most probably won’t) change in the next 4 days. Yep, the Texas Pre-match period :eek: will arrive as early as noon Friday (the 13th) for some schools. Monday for the others, it appears. It would be “very nice” to have an in-state choice in this early period (which runs through December). </p>
<p>Each Texas school has their own peculiarities with how they approach the Pre-match. Some offer very few (Houston) , but some build most of their class Pre-match (Southwestern). There is dearth of specific info available on the 'net about “who does what when” but still…I search. </p>
<p>If she has to go into the Match, I am going to go camp on HubbellGardner’s doorstep until he 'splains it to me in little, bitty words. The strategies are beyond me.</p>
<p>SO, wait a minute, Curm…Nov is PRE match? And Mudgette has ranked her TX schools and her TX schools have ranked her in some TD Waterhouse guarded envelopes and in some mysterious black room top secret location some one will decide if there is any agreement and offer Mudgette to a school and that same school to her?</p>
<p>Then what happens? Are they obligated to each other? Withdrawing from all others?</p>
<p>DD’s state school apparently has admitted about 3 people so far, according to SDN. And they have Adcom meetings either weekly or monthly in which they let in a couple of slam dunks, reject people who are ‘not ready’, and continue the remainder until late March. No stress.</p>
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<p>lol. No stress at all. ;)</p>
<p>Nope. The Pre-match is a bit more of a free for all. She could get all or none or some but she can only keep one. Or she could give up the dining room suite (her best Pre-match offer) and go for what’s behind door #3 in the match. Which could be a dented can of Spam. </p>
<p>It sounds absurd but it can all end quite nicely if she gets SW between now and 12/31. She’d keep them and NOT have to go through the match. The problem comes in if she gets another school she really likes (and would be happy to attend) but doesn’t get SW, does she give up the very nice dining room suite for a shot at the car? And end up with neither? </p>
<p>That is when I’ll be there on HG’s stoop. Or maybe in Nola consulting with a voodoo priestess.</p>
<p>Let’s make a deal, Monty Hall!! Go for Door #3 ;)</p>
<p>B’gosh and Begorah. Good news from Tejas. The kid is in at Southwestern and SA. The relief in her voice was…palpable. Good luck to everybody in this hellish process and to everybody who loves somebody that is in this hellish process. </p>
<p>It will be fun for my D from here on in. No worries. And I am so grateful to all our forum veterans who have very patiently dealt with me. Thank you, thank you , thank you. For the advice and the kindnesses. I know I sound like this process is over for her…and its not. But it IS over for me. Affordability was my last concern. Now that one is gone, too. 2 great affordable IS choices and an OOS that she loves. I’m done worrying about admissions. </p>
<p>She’ll start making decisions, freeing up a few Texas and national slots for others. But not till she savors this day for a little while longer.</p>
<p>as Yoda would say “Great News, this is”</p>
<p>Congrats curm, YOU have now graduated…</p>