<p>Big congrats! Dr. (to-be) MyO!
I heard it is a great school in a great area.</p>
<p>You probably can cancel some of your pending interviews, right? (If that school is ranked below NW, according to YOUR preference.)</p>
<p>Congats MyO, well done!</p>
<p>Wow! Congrat MyO. NU is a great school.</p>
<p>I’ll ditto everyone above. Great news! Congratulations!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!! 
</p>
<p>mcat2, you are right!. Now I will be able to cancel a couple of the interviews that I had scheduled for january. I was really surprised to hear from NU today because my interview was less than three weeks ago (i guess my panel interview went as I thought it did! ) I still have a couple of good places to check out, but I am now totally relaxed.</p>
<p>Here I go… to celebrate! I have no classes tomorrow. Good luck to the rest of my peeps!</p>
<p>Great news…really great news.</p>
<p>Fantastic. What a great result.</p>
<p>Congats MyO! Great News!</p>
<p>Great news! What a relief the first acceptance is.</p>
<p>Correct me if I am wrong, follks, but I think all the “regulars” who came here for advice in the 2009-10 cycle got in somewhere and it looks like the same is happening for this years crop. If you read SDN (scary!) you will run across story after story of applicants who appear viable but who did not get in the current or a previous cycle. I think a lot of it is timing & choices of schools. </p>
<p>I wonder if the self selected sample here is able to really master the process and make the most of their possibilities?? I strongly feel it was the online advice that allowed my DD to be admitted to her #1 school one week after the interview, in the fall, despite average stats.</p>
<p>Congrat, MyOpinion . Could you please post your stats here? Thanks!</p>
<p>Wahoooo congrats to you MyOpinion! What an exciting email to get! </p>
<p>My interviews start this upcoming week–Mizzou on Wednesday (seriously looking forward to it), Northwestern in 3 weeks, and Mayo a few days after that. </p>
<p>Mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas the other day. I thought about saying “An acceptance to an awesome medical school!” </p>
<p>But ended up asking for an iPad. Hopefully I’ll get both!</p>
<p>
somemom, I think you have observed the top two factors.
To know its importance may not always be translated to an actual action. For example, BDM posted a long time ago in his “Timing Alert” post that it is better to have the first draft of PS by Christmas before the year of the application. But it is not easy if you have not had enough materials to put down on your PS by that time – unless you have been a “very devoted” premed since, say, the sophomore year.</p>
<p>house80, I heard from some CC poster here that,. after the stats is above some threshold, it becomes less a differentiator. (e.g., MCAT 37=38=39, GPA 3.8=3.9) That is the reason why a premed needs to set aside his time to do ECs after his/her stats becomes a non-issue. As it is said, the stats get you an invite, but it is other non-quantitative qualifications that really get you in – especially for some top medical schools.</p>
<p>Since DS just wants to get into at least one medical school (in order to get into this career), he would not spend time on applying to many schools (e.g., calif. schools) that likely reject him, or others with similar qualifications as his. Actually, several of his friends from his school said that the school like Mayo does not like ANY kid from his school for many past years. They said that school is for those who really have distinguished life experience. Most kids with a high stats tend to be from a well-protected growing-up environment (at least when they were in high/middle school) – thus no distinguished life experience.</p>
<p>Congrats on the acceptance to Northwestern. They must be releasing their November (1st round) acceptances earlier this year. I didn’t get notification of my acceptance to NU until early December back when I applied. The 2nd round of acceptances is usually late Feb/early March.</p>
<p>My only two pieces of advice with regards to NU:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I wouldn’t necessarily discount any med school (including schools like Feinberg, Cornell-Weill, etc.) that are located in nice areas as having bad clinical experiences. Federally funded hospitals must accept anyone into their ED and admit them if necessary. You should see a wide range of cases regardless of whether you attend UChicago or Northwestern. As a med student, it’s nice to have some “social/ethical/non-compliance/difficult” patients but it’s frustrating if all of your patients are health-illiterate, angry, non-compliant, difficult patients. </p></li>
<li><p>I heard NU’s class went wild on the USMLE this year (I’m talking avg. of 240). They should give you the average USMLE score at second look as they were very forthright with things at their Second Look Weekend.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>DS just informed us he got into UTSW! His strategy (or a daring move?) of going to only one tmdsas school interview, and skipping the other three, plays out well in the end.</p>
<p>I heard the school made a video for each admitted student, in which they explain why they admit the student. In his video, 3 reasons were mentioned: his academic achievement (did mention his school name – isn’t this not very political correct?! After all, most admitted students are from the state universities.), his research experiences, and his commitment to be a musician.</p>
<p>The third one is quite funny. I heard he went to some places to perform last weekend, and actually made $150, just because the party which invited them to perform is super-rich. He needed to get up before 6:00 am as some travel is needed. He did the same in the past one day before his mid-term. So the school is right: he is really committed to this hobby.</p>
<p>^Congrats to your S., mcat2!</p>
<p>D’s involvement with music has been discussed more than her Med. Research, although she is not performing or anything like that. She loves her music classes and almost done composing 4 pager for piano. I suggested to seek a recording contracts (LOL) to pay for Med. School.</p>
<p>Congrats mcat2, and too your son as well. 
What a nice personal touch the video is, thanks for sharing that.</p>
<p>Thanks, MiamiDAP and GA2012MOM.</p>
<p>I wonder whether the same medical school custom-made the individual video for each admitted student last year, or the year before the last. (curm? eadad?)</p>
<p>I remember there was some short video clip for the college admission 4 years ago, but the same (very short, animation) video was for every admitted student then. I guess there is some progress in these 4 years. At least it is not the admission dean who was talking in the video. (I heard it is a lady who talked in the video.I do not know who she is.)</p>
<p>For the other school DS was admitted about one month ago, it was actually the dean who called personally.</p>
<p>Big congrats to the boy, mcat2. Now the fun begins. I have a good feeling he’ll be facing the same fortunate conundrum my D faced last year (fantastic affordable state school vs. high-dollar, big-name private).</p>
<p>And I don’t remember any video last year from UTSW.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>With the stress you were under, it’s a wonder you remember anything from last year curm. :)</p>
<p>Congrats mcat2!! I have also realized that non academic ECs are extremely important. So far, my involvement in the arts has really been the focus of most of my interviews. All interviewers have seemed very enthusiastic about it. </p>
<p>And I also have more great news to report!! I just got a call from Dr Hicks and I have been accepted to Hopkins!!! So thrilled here! Just a couple of months ago all this seemed so foreign. I am really stoked! G’luck to those still waiting out there!.</p>