<p>Mar,…
You are not only mad at Dwalker, you are mad at entire world…unless you just want to come across as the one who is really angry.</p>
<p>^^ you called me naive and ignorant in two separate threads. Is that how you normally carry out conversations? No your mad</p>
<p>does curating (and all the research that came with it) an exhibition in an art gallery count as a hook? just about zero undergrads are able to curate art galleries…to put in perspective the gallery has had exhibitions from pollock, warhol, rauschenberg to name a few, so it’s not a no-name!</p>
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<p>Not all schools are P/F the first two years, in fact many still have traditional programs with no P/F though that is waning. My S is just finishing MS3 at UTSW and his class has no P/F options. The school had been trying to implement it and got resistance from the “gunner” types who WANTED the grades the first two years. They have since changed the curriculum and now all of MS1 is P/F and I believe they are moving to add MS2 as well though not sure if it has been finalized.</p>
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<p>I don’t know about all schools but at UTSW 3rd year grades and evaluations carry twice the weight of years 1 and 2 so there’s your explanation for not sleeping much during third year.</p>
<p>axc–I wouldn’t consider curating a “hook” so much as interesting factoid that makes you a little different from most med school applicants.</p>
<p>It’s no more a hook than D1 being an author on two high energy physics papers.</p>
<p>Just something a bit different and a bit interesting from the run-of-the-mill. How well it’ll play will depend on who actually reviews your application/does your interview. If the interviewer is into art, then you have point of mutual interest. If the interviewer isn’t, the you’re SOL.</p>
<p>BTW, not a single interviewer ever mentioned D1’s papers. One did ask her about her competitive rock climbing, though…turns the interviewer was and still is a competitive climber…</p>
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One of DS’s interviewers said at the beginning of the interview (likely as an ice breaker): “I thought you would bring your instrument here!” He definitely comes out as an applicant who is good enough academically and has a passion for a hobby – all his volunteering work was related to this hobby.</p>
<p>He got accepted into this school.</p>
<p>However, at another school where he believed he had the best interview (both interviewers appeared to be very interested in what he had been doing and talked with him for a long time), he did not get in.</p>
<p>It is definitely a process for which the outcome is hardly predictable.</p>
<p>(To the sure, for the latter school, he made a fatal mistake: He did not submit his secondary timely. This was definitely one of the reasons – there may be other reasons as well. Lesson to future applicants: Do not make such a mistake. Apply early and complete the secondary promptly.)</p>
<p>Interviews are quirky things. The important thing is to form a human connection with your interviewer. It’s easier of you have something in common.</p>
<p>A good interview isn’t a guarantee you’ll get admitted, but a bad will torpedo your chances just as surely as a bad MCAT or GPA.</p>
<p>Based on D’s experience, I would not say that there were good interviews or bad interviews. D. has always followed one rule - be yourself. If your personality matches to their program, they will take you, if not they waitlist you. At least, that what has happened. D. had 2 rejections - both pre-interview. It is possible there are post-interview rejections, it just did not happen to D. maybe because being yourself strategy has worked for her.</p>