Top student like your son should have no problem to get many IIs, its the middle of the road that is sweating.
Congratulations, @vandyeyes . That is fantastic that your DS getting his interview invite so soon!
Thanks, @WayOutWestMom. DS is slowing adding more schools to his school list.
He received his first secondary so is starting to work on the secondary apps now.
In case anyone else is waiting on a Tulane secondary, a poster at SDN said that there is apparently a technical glitch that is preventing some number of applications from being sent by AMCAS to the SOM.
Interestingly, Tulane has already started giving out II’s to those that were able to receive secondaries. I’m surprised the school didn’t wait until the glitch was corrected to give those who were already verified the chance to get a secondary before beginning to schedule interviews.
Of course, it’s their prerogative, but it seems like a strange way to handle the situation to me.
Lot of what medical schools do is limited by timelines. The schools determine how many interviews they will do and how they can spread them out month by month and so they start interviewing people as and when they receive apps. If they have sent people a secondary, they are considering them qualified unless the school gives everyone a secondary in which case they still would know if they meet the basic criteria that the school uses to call people for an interview.
One of my D’s classmates was invited by Michigan two years ago for an interview and they had not even submitted their secondary.
That is a good point about being on a strict timeline, and I had assumed that was their reasoning. Tulane sends automatic secondaries, but they also receive 10,000+ every year, so I’m sure they have no shortage of qualified applicants to choose from, even with some percentage of primaries not being received.
However, for me personally, it seems in bad taste, since Tulane knows that there are applicants who have submitted early in hopes of interviewing early, but, through no fault of their own, have been shut out. Their rolling interview/admissions policy favors those who submit early. I can’t imagine they couldn’t get the list of names/emails from all verified applicants and just send secondaries to them proactively, the way Michigan sent the interview to your D’s classmate.
Unfortunately, the medical schools dont operate on fairness doctrine. I was pointing out the interview without secondary to prove that point. There were thousands who had filed secondaries but this person who had not was called for interview based on basic info already available from the primary app.
OTOH, WashU was doing all paperwork by hand. So there were people waiting on application completion check before being forwarded for review for almost 60-80 days while interviews were going on. So there were people who filed everything by early August and were not verified still at the beginning of November.
Wait, what? Life isn’t fair?!?!
Why I am just finding out about this now? :((
My oldest is home for the weekend from her summer internship… fascinating to listen to her tell all her stories about autopsies!!! D2 is working on her secondaries, but wants NO HELP. D1 wanted her dad and I to go over everything with a fine tooth comb. So funny how different they are. Is it wrong that I’m stressed about her pushing the submit button without at least looking at her essays?? Regardless, we have had a wonderful 24 hours, full of laughter, wine, and lots of sister time. Feeling super blessed.
Yay, @moonpie ! That sounds lovely. Enjoy your time together.
D’s 21st birthday is tomorrow. Gonna be a small affair, just the 8 of us. She wants a seafood feast, so we’ll see if I can pull it off with my mediocre cooking skills 
I always know once her birthday comes that the time to have her here is growing short. It’s hard to believe this will be her last full summer living at home.
Reading the above descriptions of Tulane process, I wonder if my son should even bother to submit his app to Tulane. He is on the fence about the school at the moment. Why is it such a popular school - 10,000+ applications!
Tulane is like the Philly triplets (Drexel, Jefferson, Temple), the DC schools (GW and Georgetown) and BU & Tufts in Boston-- mid-ranked private med schools with fairly average stats in a major city where a lot of people want to live.
All of those schools I mentioned get 10,000+ applications every year.
I encourage your S file apps asap, its not only for Tulane, but all med school receive very high number of applicants. The earlier he file, the better he is. GWU, for example, also receives over 10K applications and most mid to low range schools receive just about the same number of apps.
There is a joke that adcoms put a stack of application in the wind, whichever blown the furthest got the first II… lol…
@Belle315, a seafood feast for 21st birthday dinner sounds lovely!
@WayOutWestMom, thank you for the heads up on all of those schools. I think DS would try to avoid them, although, I can see why the attraction.
@artloversplus, DS is still waiting for his primary to be verified. So he is only sending in very few schools so far. Unfortunately, I think he is late comparing to a lot of applicants. I agree with you that he needs to hurry.
Sometimes one of those “low yield” schools are a reasonable risk. D1 got 1 of her 2 acceptances from one of the Philly schools. D2’s BFF got 1 of her 2 acceptances from one of the DC schools.
Someone has to get accepted.
,
D got Tulane secondary this morning. The email said something like “We see that you intend to submit an application…” Looks like they took my advice.
D is actually interested in Tulane specifically because of its emphasis on public health and its particular underserved population. I don’t think she would apply otherwise. She is not applying to any of the other schools @WayOutWestMom listed that also receive loads of applications.
@4beardolls, I would just suggest that your S (quickly) make a list and research each program. If he likes the teaching method/schedule, mission statement/values, etc., then put in an application. This is assuming his stats are competitive and you have the $ to pay for it. Has he made an MSAR account yet? It’s a great tool because it puts all that information at his fingertips.
Beside the MSAR, you may want to buy for access to the US News World Compass (for graduate/professional school). It has different information than the MSAR does. Instate vs OOS interview & acceptance rates are especially helpful when deciding whether or not to apply to an OOS public.
@Belle315, that’s great that your DD can start working on her Tulane secondary!
@Belle315 and @WayOutWestMom, DS has MSAR account and not the US News Compass - I will have him look into getting the professional school version.
Can the student really get a good sense of fit for a particular school by reading its mission statement etc on the school website? Or are there reviews out there that go into more details.
Other than the school’s website, I don’t know of any place you can get reliable information about a particular schooll–short of chatting up some current students. Your son might want to read over some current and past school-specific threads on SDN. Sometimes there are current students answering questions for applicants about stuff you won’t find on a website.
I just looked at the websites for a few of the schools to which D is applying. They kind of run the gamut. Some have a mission or values statement front and center, and others didn’t seem to have one at all. Just the accessibility to their priorities communicates something, I guess.
The majority mentioned the words “education”, “innovation”, “diversity”, and “patient-centered”. I look to see the order in which these words appear, as well how often they are used. That gives me an idea of their order of importance.
One school (coughcough) went on and on about their rankings. That told me something about what is important to them.
I do think the websites can give a basic idea of the school’s character and values. I haven’t done so, but it would be interesting to compare what is on their websites with the mission statements on the msar.
As @WayOutWestMom said, the school-specific application threads on SDN have been quite helpful to D (and me).