<p>On the interview road: D1 called this morning from the airport, she’d forgotten to pack her suit :o! We discussed the possibilities of borrowing one from her host or another med student, shopping when she arrives, etc. But in the end she was able to take a later flight (at no extra cost 
) that doesn’t arrive too late, so she’s headed back home to pick up her suit and sit down for a few minutes and take a breath.</p>
<p>Are we having fun yet?</p>
<p>D2’s BFF arrives today to visit. She’ll spend some time with D1 (and other current med students) so BFF can prep for her interview in 2 weeks. BFF really would love to attend this school so wants to impress at her interview.</p>
<p>Kid has a terrific resume including tons of clinical work with underserved and indigent populations, but a <30 MCAT score; we’re rooting for her. </p>
<p>In other news, D2 starts her Kaplan prep class this week…</p>
<p>entomom. Mine only spilt something greasy on her lucky purple silk blouse that she wore with her interview suit . It was midway through a two interview week. Off to Dillard’s and federal express overnight morning. I remember that being a real financial pleasure.</p>
<p>…she forgot her interview suit? ROOKIE MOVE! But seriously, I’m glad she made it and I’m sure she’ll do great.</p>
<p>Other than the tailgating picture snafu (read about it in that thread…) the only major one I can think of is that I had to revise one of my outfits so it had a really high neckline and also get some really awesome concealer and stay cognizant of how I turned my head during one of my interviews. Oops…</p>
<p>Good luck to all your kiddos!</p>
<p>Curm,
My D. was also wearing a purple blouse and considered it the lucky one. What a coincidence! Was not silk though, it was cotton.
She is interviewing them today (or maybe this week, not sure).</p>
<p>When people say…“flat out rejected”…or “never heard a peep out of____”…</p>
<p>do they mean that they applied and didn’t even get a supplemental request?</p>
<p>??</p>
<p>“Flat out rejected” means you get an actual rejection notice either before (if secondary is screened) or immediately after (if secondary is automatic) the secondary submission. </p>
<p>“Never heard a peep out of” means you sent in your secondary, paid your fee and are marked complete, but you don’t get a rejection notice or an interview invitation. (Sometimes called a ‘silent rejection’.)</p>
<p>Some schools can hold onto applications until really, really late in the process without taking any action. (D1 had one school sit on her application until July.)</p>
<p>I still don’t know what “pooled” means…</p>
<p>For schools that screen secondaries, you can be rejected pre-secondary, I’m seeing that on SDN for schools like UDub and UCSF.</p>
<p>x-posted w/WOWMom</p>
<p>Edit: Definition of pooled from a SDN thread:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I pretty sure that none of D1s schools pool so I don’t have first hand experience.</p>
<p>“never heard a peep out of____”…
do they mean that they applied and didn’t even get a supplemental request?"</p>
<p>-In my D’s case with one of her schools, she never ever heard from them at all, no communication from school in any kidn of shape.<br>
"…“flat out rejected”.
-This was the case with another Med. School. She was rejected few houra after paying her application fee. I do not remember at what point they pay. This situation is better than the first, at least you know your status. </p>
<p>Neither bothered her as she had enough on her plate to think about and actually ended up at Med. School of her dreams way back in HS, very interesting how it works out sometime.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The application fee is paid when you submit the secondary. D1 had to wait over a month to be rejected from this school, so I guess we got our moneys worth :rolleyes:.</p>
<p>^You certainly did! Month is the most I ever heard! She could hold some sort of record!</p>
<p>^^^
UChi should be ashamed of itself. Those surely auto-rejections right after supplemental fee is paid reeks of just gathering money. If they don’t want to project that image then they should screen secondaries or at least put forth some pretense of reviewing the secondaries and wait a couple of weeks (not hours) before rejecting.</p>
<p>I’m curious about the history of med school apps, in the past did more schools screen secondaries? </p>
<p>I kind of appreciate the screened ones, at least then you know you’re within range and don’t waste your time and money applying to a school that’s way out of your league. The con is that you don’t have the benefit of the secondary to show more of yourself to that specific school. But I think the PITA factor of the latter outweighs most of the positives :p.</p>
<p>I kind of appreciate the screened ones, at least then you know you’re within range and don’t waste your time and money applying to a school that’s way out of your league</p>
<p>I agree…better to be rejected BEFORE spending time and money on a supplemental!</p>
<p>^Does it ever happen? None of D’s schools did that, although she got only 2 rejections as I have mentioned. Not sure which one I would prefer. On one hand, yes, she did not spend time and we did not spend money on the one that ignored her application completely. It was OK in her case, as she had 2 accpetances on the very first day they can let you know (Oct. 16, I believe). But how about other applicants who did not have early acceptances? If they let you hanging like this, it is pretty aweful. Well UChi rejected her as most others after collecting the fee. We felt like $$ were wasted, but at least she knew her status with them right away. The fact is that most likely she would have not selected UChi if she was accepted, as she turned down NU and city of Chicago was a big factor, although not the most important.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Your D must not have had any schools that screen secondaries, their first decision point is to look at your primary and decide to reject you or send you the secondary (see posts #207 & 208). Like I said, they seem to be in the minority these days.</p>
<p>Interview Invite from EL PASO!!!</p>
<p>I haven’t had time to write update letters because I have been so busy with my classes and research. I am taking a brutal 20 hours this semester. Even though I didn’t send in any update letters to any texas schools, El Paso gave me an interview!! I have had such a long drought in Texas since early July. After getting interviews from UTMB, and A&M I haven’t heard anything from any of my other texas schools until now!!!</p>
<p>I will still send in update letters for Lubbock, and San Antonio later this week because now I am finally caught up in all my classes.</p>
<p>No word from my OOS schools. After making the 1st cut at Mayo, Wake, MCW, and Wayne, I haven’t heard a peep. Hopefully I start getting more interviews!!!</p>
<p>^Awesome, congratulations!!</p>
<p>I feel you on being a busy senior and wanting to focus on senior year classes, but keep in mind that the end goal is med school–so if you have to choose between doing something to improve your chances of being accepted (sitting down and writing that letter, choosing the earliest possible interview date, missing school for interviews, etc) and doing something to keep up your grades senior year, you might well want to choose doing the thing to improve your chances of being accepted. (For the record, I don’t think you’ve messed up or anything, and I’m glad you’ve had such great results so far.)</p>
<p>Here’s a story for you. It was mid-November, and I had an interview coming up in early December. I had just finished confirming that interview and booking travel arrangements when I got another interview. The date options for the second interview were a few days after the first interview (putting them back-to-back required me to miss nearly a week of school, including a final), a few weeks later (during winter break), and about a month later (at the end of winter break). I didn’t want to reschedule my final and I wanted my winter break to be as stress-free as possible, so I was going to opt for the latest possible second interview.</p>
<p>I mentioned this to my advisor, and he framed it to me like this: “Look, both schools have rolling admissions. It’s clear that you’ll have a better shot at admission if you take the earlier dates. What you’re really weighing here is…what is an acceptance there worth? Is it worth missing some art history, senior thesis, and dev bio lectures, and having to reschedule one of your finals? If your end goal is med school, it makes sense to prioritize med school in this instance; your GPA is fine anyway, so even if you don’t do as well in one of your classes as a result of prioritizing med school, the end result (GPA) won’t change much.”</p>
<p>I vividly remember that conversation, and while I was sitting in his office I booked the earlier 2nd interview!</p>
<p>Just saying, don’t lose sight of the prize. At this point, your academic goal for senior year is to pass your classes, and your longterm goal is to get into med school.</p>
<p>You have my permission to “slack off” on lab reports, sneak out of research early, study a little less for your classes, beg your professors to reschedule tests, heck even take a 0 on an exam if it means you’ll improve your chances of ending up at your dream school :)</p>
<p>(Not that you need my permission. I’m joking.)</p>
<p>Congrats on the IIs riseagainst and best of luck on your other schools!</p>
<p>Gripe of the day: Schools that only give you 1 interview date and have an automated system that spits out another one if you need to reschedule. Could they make it more of a pain? Why can’t they just: have a calendar so you can pick your date, give several options, or have a real person to talk to when necessary?</p>
<p>Riseagainst2009 -Listen to Kristin.</p>
<p>From what I have been hearing - med school interviews - you snooze you lose. Don’t ask for a different date unless it conflicts with another interview date that is already booked. Everything else including school finals comes second.</p>