<p>Yeah mom2, I remember saying that too, but now I can’t remember which schools they were–and I don’t think I was working off anything official, just what I had noticed among me and my friends who applied to the same schools. It could have been something altogether different, but it seemed like MCAT was the common thread. </p>
<p>pccool, sift through the 2010-2011 thread–the parts in like, end of July through mid-August, I think. It seems like you and I may have similar enough candidacies that you could really use the advice people gave me–and I bet they’d give you similar advice on this thread (for example, that’s exactly what Mike told me!). </p>
<p>Here are my thoughts on schools where I applied that you’re applying to also. Keep in mind I’m just one person and far from an expert on any of this stuff…I applied last cycle and I’m looking forward to being an M1 this summer. </p>
<p>I’d be happy to expand on any of this!</p>
<p>For your reference, 3.8/30S/big state school</p>
<p>Jesuit schools (St Louis, Creighton, Georgetown, Loyola) applied to all 4, no interviews: </p>
<p>I am Catholic, I’m from a very Catholic city (St Louis), and I went to Catholic schools through high school. I think each of these schools has a wonderful philosophy and I really liked everything they emphasized in terms of service, compassion, leadership, faith, etc in addition to medicine. I had terrible luck with them though! </p>
<p>It seems like Georgetown is much more competitive than its scores and GPA would indicate (Mike has a few theories about this), and SLU seems to value high MCAT scores (my friends who had interviews had 10 or better on each subsection, and I think my 9 subscore is what kept me out of SLU). </p>
<p>I don’t know what went “wrong” with Creighton. A good friend of mine (also Catholic, from St Louis, an all-around great candidate, etc) went to Northwestern for med school (and had a lot of great interviews) and never heard anything from Creighton after he applied. He suspects that it’s because Creighton knew about his other big interviews and figured he wouldn’t bother coming there, so why bother interviewing him? As if he were overqualified or something. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that I was expecting to hear from them and didn’t (I had some great interviews too), and my friends with similar stats to me, but who had fewer interviews than I did, also heard back from Creighton. Which is a long way to say, I think Creighton’s unpredictably picky about giving out interviews. </p>
<p>Don’t know what to say about Loyola, other than I have a few friends who go there or are going there next year and they seem thrilled. The thing that turned me off about Loyola (and actually, I almost didn’t apply) is that their curriculum seems very…archaic? Too traditional? Not very flexible? So you might check into that.</p>
<p>Mayo interviewed, currently on alternate list: </p>
<p>Mayo is a special place, and as a Minnesota kid I’m sure you know. Mayo seems to be looking for students who bring a unique flavor to the table–students who are mature, who have had a wide variety of life experiences, and who have a unique hook. If there’s one thing that made the Mayo applicants stand out to me, it’s that every single one of them had done something absolutely incredible–there was no such thing as a kid who “just” excelled at “normal” stuff. We’re talking a kid who went to Julliard and is single-handedly rehabilitating elementary schools in Harlem or a guy who grew up on an Indian reservation and has clocked thousands of hours volunteering in their clinics, teaching Native Americans about health care, and advocating form their rights in the Arizona government. The Mayo group clearly had developed a passion for something and have made strides to fix a problem they’ve seen. Leadership, service, and compassion are definitely musts for Mayo. </p>
<p>Their curriculum is really unique and flexible. Their class size is tiny. You would get tons of attention from some of the world’s best clinicians and be working in some truly incredible facilities with patients who have diseases no one else can solve. I met a patient on the bus on the way to Mayo, and I asked her why she goes there. “It’s simple. I want the most brilliant doctors to solve my medical problems. And the most brilliant ones in the world at are the Mayo Clinic.”</p>
<p>Who am I kidding, I’d go there in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>(Note that Mayo doesn’t have a secondary, so your primary and your LORs will really need to shine if you’re going to impress them!)</p>
<p>Duke interviewed, currently on alternate list: </p>
<p>Another really unique, forward-thinking curriculum. I think you can learn a lot about Duke from their website and from their alumni magazine (check out the article “Capable of Brilliance” which is about how Duke selects medical students). Durham’s a great town. Duke’s medical center is absolutely gorgeous, state of the art, etc. I was very impressed by the students I met there, and they seemed very down to earth (less quirky than the Mayo crowd, not as competitive as the Northwestern crowd). I’m not exactly sure what Duke’s looking for, but I certainly had an incredible time interviewing there and learning more about it. Duke’s philosophy felt a little like Mayo’s to me (another applicant interviewing with me had interviewed at Mayo too, and he agreed) but seemed less…pervasive, I guess. Bottom line is, if you like the way Mayo works, and the things Mayo values in education, I’m not surprised at all that you like Duke. If you’re applying to one, I’d apply to the other. But FYI, Duke’s secondary is absolutely brutal.</p>
<p>Northwestern interviewed, withdrew application (but withdrew incorrectly, and was eventually rejected): </p>
<p>Northwestern’s curriculum is very similar to my school’s in that they both really emphasize problem-based learning (which I think would work well for me). Northwestern’s facilities are brand new, shiny, and beautiful. Feinberg’s in the heart of downtown Chicago, so if you think you could live in a huge metropolis, Northwestern might be for you. In the end, I decided I didn’t like the big city, I didn’t like the research focus (I too want to do clinical medicine), and I didn’t like how competitive it felt (out of my 4 interviews, it had by far the most competitive and least collaborative environment–and I want collaborative), so I withdrew. </p>
<p>Duke, Mayo, and Northwestern have unique curricula, and I think it takes a certain kind of student to really thrive there. I think Rochester and Durham had very similar “feels” and I thought Chicago was just way too much for me. I thought the Mayo applicants were mature and quirky, the Duke applicants smart and down to earth, and the Northwestern applicants competitive and sophisticated. If I were doing it all over again, I’d definitely apply to the trio!</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>PS: the schools I applied to were Boston, Creighton, Drexel, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Loyola, Mayo, Missouri, Northwestern, SLU, Tufts, UVA. I interviewed at Missouri, Mayo, Northwestern, and Duke. When I was accepted to Missouri in December, I withdrew from the ones I hadn’t heard from (had already been rejected by Georgetown) except Harvard (which later rejected me!).</p>