<p>I am currently in this program and I'd be happy to answer most of the questions about it. Right away I can say that one major thing Case has going for it is the opportunity for close to full tuition merit scholarships and the flexibility to finish in seven or eight years.</p>
<p>would you mind posting your stats, bharath?</p>
<p>thats nice of you, i got a question, during the admissions process did you pick up anything specifically that could help our applications...thank you!</p>
<p>I think extracurricular activities are the most important thing for admission. While academics are definetly considered having a 1600 over a 1500 is probably not as imporant as many think. Many of my peers in the program have extensive research experience with publications, some were firefighters and EMT certified, all have some kind of experience with the health field through volunteering or shadowing. However, I think its simply not important how many "hours" of volunteering one accumulates. Volunteering should give you experiences that will help you decide if medicine is right for you. So basically stats don't matter necessarily, however I did have 1500+ and top ten % which automatically gave me a merit scholarship covering all but 1000 of tuition. They have changed it recently to look at extracurriculars too but most of the same people will still get it.</p>
<p>bharath: say i complete emt training--i'll end up finishing that definately after applications are out.....then will it "matter" anymore to the adcom?</p>
<p>p.s. very impressed/attracted by the financial end of things at case.......</p>
<p>Bharath,</p>
<p>My son is applying to Case western's program. Here is his stats:</p>
<p>SAT 1 (800-Math, 660-Verbal) (his SAT score in Ball park)
SAT II (Math IIC -800, Chem-760, Writing-Nov.)
Top 1% in class
AP Calc BC -5, AP chem-5, Ap Physics C -5,
AP bio, Ap stats, Ap Econo. - currently taking</p>
<p>Captain of Track Team ( Cross country, Winter track, spring track)
Peer Leadership</p>
<p>NIH intership in lung cancer research. 9 getting recommedation letter from his supervisor)
Volunteer in hospital since 9th grade
some other ECs...</p>
<p>What you think of his chances getting an interview and possible admission.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>If it is possible I would probably look into EMT training as it can only help.</p>
<p>mail 4 nrs, your son's stats seem pretty average even including the internship. Although I am not an adcom, since you asked I do not think there is a very strong chance of admission however he should defiently apply.</p>
<p>In general I think there is confusion over what constitutes average, good, and outstanding extracurricular activites. For competivite medical programs I would say outstanding extracurriculars (that could offset low stats) would be like the founding of an anti-tobacco campaign that a student created and promoted for the whole county, or a writer of health literature for teens to stay healthy and active, AIDS awareness/education programs for the community, mental health advocacy and education, extensive research (RSI or publications), radio host of a teen talk show that addressed safe sex issues, organization making vaccinations affordable and dispensing these vaccinations, etc. Extracurriculars that show a demonstrated passion and perhaps even a little bit of activism are probably best. Being president of the student council and captain of the soccer team, while impressive in their own right do not really distinguish one student from another and therefore in the eyes of highly competitive programs are average. In high school I spent a lot of time promoting diversity issues, organizing awareness events for the school and community, and spent my senior year developing a curriculum to turn diversity education into a class, I was awarded a Toyota Community Scholarship for these efforts and I felt that this committment to diversity not only helped me in pursuing medicine but also made me a stronger applicants. I hope this was helpful....</p>
<p>Thanks Bharath,</p>
<p>Not the med. program, would you be able to rate my standings in a regular engineering program (biomed. engineering)? Thanks. <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=2443&highlight=case+western%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=2443&highlight=case+western</a></p>
1 Like
<p>Hi Bharath,</p>
<p>I have an interview with PPSP on 7th April. I am just so excited, never expected it with my stats- SAT 1460, ACT 32, very good essays. I live in Toronto, Canada- anyone else you know from Canada is in the program?</p>
<p>Is there a number I could call you sometime in the evenings to check with you the interview process. Can you tell me some of the questions, that you had on the interview and how you replied to them etc.</p>
<p>Also, I noticed that you can take MCAT and apply out, if you want to, but if you do, do you lose your spot automatically or you still retain your spot in the program.</p>
<p>How are you liking Case so far?</p>
<p>damn, i got rejected with a 1520 sat (old) and 4.0 gpa. whatever. at least i got interviews at a couple other places.</p>
<p>Don't revive old threads: There is a more current PPSP thread giong. Thanks :]</p>
<p>I don’t understand how they could have “extensive research and publications” when they are ignorant highschool students who don’t know the basics of any type of real scientific research. It really is interesting to me and doesn’t make much sense.</p>
<p>lol, did you really bump up a FOUR year old thread to make a negative comment?</p>
<p>I kinda agree that high school students who publish research should be skeptified. I have been extensively involved in research and its ridic hard to get published; its almost entirely based on luck regarding what mentor you get. I knwo some ppl who hada lot more sucess in research than I did (ISEF, etc) and it was bc of their mentor</p>
<p>Neurology, I have done extensive research and had two publications and two conference presentations on biomedical research, outside of ISEF, etc. Contrary to popular belief, it IS possible to do this, it’s just a lot of work. Outside of these publications, I also am the lead inventor on a biomedical patent application, which again took a HUGE amount of time (5 years to get from the original idea to the submission of the patent application, and now 4 years for the application to be evaluated). So before you dismiss all high school students as ignorant - which I agree with you, most of them are - please top to consider that some people have actually been down in the trenches doing the work themselves and deserve some recognition.</p>
<p>i agree with 8yearman to a certain extent-but still-did you mentors/parents/whoever helped you not have a big role in this? Most of the ppl Ive met who have doen publications, etc are either brilliant and would have done something incredible regardless of research or a lot of them had connections (ie. parents) started research, “worked hard” and submitted a publication bc their mentors dont really care. I know for me, a lot of the projects and mentors I had didnt even let me start a project bc ITS ridiculously hard to do graduate level work in high school-i dont care how smart you are-understanding this, its difficult to comprehend and its easy to be skeptical of ppl who have publications-Im obviously not saying 8yearman fits that description, but i know a lot of ppl who do-and thats the annoying thing about research-its heavily contingent upon luck and who your mentor is</p>
<ol>
<li>One publication was completely my idea, and my mentor had a limited role.</li>
<li>One publication was my mentor’s idea, but I carried it out, ultimately as first author.</li>
<li>I gave conference presentations on each of the aforementioned research projects.</li>
<li>Both were in different medical fields.</li>
<li>The patent idea was completely mine. I am also owner of a trademark and copyright on the invention name and have my own patent attorney.</li>
</ol>
<p>^^ I definitely know that your smart but honestly it doesnt make toooo much sense if a high school student produces medical research that is worthy of publication. A med school degree/research degree requires like 9 years of school. Its hard to believe that any high school student has this level of understanding-if this is the case-why arent you a doctor? Im not referring to you 8yearman in this post, just a lot of people who do research and claim a bunch of patents/publications. It just seems slightly ridiculous to me.</p>