@agirlinasweater I agree with you 100% on Drexel program. It becomes a question mark for overall experience, if we really want to go there, if offered. I also will mention the same for few other programs, if look and feel for area is not most desirable, they make up with treatment they provide on interview day. it becomes lose lose, as applicant they are swaying us away from program. I agree, I will rather pursue a regular BS MD route in much more better and higher ranked under grad school over drexel, if offered. @AdmissionsAdmin I agree with your assessment on tone and language used by @agirlinasweater could be better, but underline message still remains the same, whether we want to attend âthat particular BS MD If offeredâ , when you were not satisfied with interview day experience. from candidate perspective that experience counts a lot in selection of program. I hope I have not said too much, again by siding with @agirlinasweater. I hope you have not shown any particular bias towards a particular program by overreacting to @agirlinasweater 's comments and revealing your identity.
As a parent of a student hoping to get into one of the BSMD program we closely follow this thread, and itâs a fantastic source of information for both students and parents as well. Iâm sure there are lot of silent followers of this and similar threads on CC. I would like to thank all of you contributing to these threads we have learned a lot. I have stayed silent but this last comment by @AdmissionsAdmin it really calls for a response. I have read your responses you have posted in the past and some of the people may not say this but it does come out very unprofessional. @agirlinasweater is channeling her disappointment and her opinions and in a big part that is also what CC is about. Putting her down pretty harshly is very wrong. I understand you have stated that you are here in a personal level and you rather reveal the program you are working with, but as a parent - and some may or may not agree with me - I would love to know what is that program, so this can be part of equation to figure out what is the right program for the students. And that brings me back to @agirlinasweater 's original post. Most students on these forums have a lot of choices and while BSMD is highly desirable the fit for the school has to be there. Iâm pretty sure all of the kids are here competing for these programs and extremely talented and hard working, and should be highly desirable for the colleges as well, so first impressions, professionalism matters a lot! Rereading to her post itâs not at all comes out as entitled, but more like disappointed and I very much think itâs ok to be disappointed. While the admission officers and the program managers treat these students as young adults and looking for a high level of maturity they should be allowed to stay human as well, and being disappointed and sometimes frustrated should be very much ok. @agirlinasweater I really hope you will find your dream school and will be happy with. @AdmissionsAdmin please keep this tread informative and professional, this has been a very long journey for most of the students and their families, and thread like this should stay very informative for the next yearâs applicants as well.
@AdmissionsAdmin
I also agree that @agirlinasweater
could have used a better choice of words to express her frustration and disappointment with Drexel however her feelings are genuine and based on direct comparison with other BSMD programs which seem to have a better emphasis on the student. She is not generalizing which, on the other hand, appears you might be. In any case, there is a higher standard expected from older/wiser/experienced individuals such as yourself which are in direct conflict with your comments to her. Yes, you are human too and can yield away from our best judgment in moments of frustration but letâs do our best to be tolerant and constructive as much as we can. ***No need to put others down. Take it as a teaching opportunity of which You and Her can benefit.
To all that disagree with my toneâŠI am not here to hold your hand and tell you everything will work out, because in many cases it wonât. Give an interviewer or admissions officer reason to doubt the veracity of your commitment to their program and they will, without thinking twice.
When I give frank advice on what to do and what not do it is from the perspective of someone that does this for a living. The reason I have not revealed my program affiliation is so I can be brutally honest. I stand by my comments unapologetically.
I will stick up for the professionalism of any of the combined degree programs over the misguided observations of any particular applicant. Those that think they are above the process of the application should seriously stop and reconsider their motivation to pursue a career in medicine in the first place.
Still havenât received my official acceptance letter to Stony Brook with interview invite/reject. Anyone else also waiting?
Hahaâwow, I sure opened a big can of worms hereâŠoops! I didnât mean to shake things up this much, I was just wondering whether anyone else had similar experiences or totally different ones.
In hindsight, itâs true, I may have been a little too salty about the interview day itself in my original post!! I was just a little frustrated at all the travelling time/expenses/consideration fees that were required for the interview. I guess no one forced me to apply, but stillâŠ
Now, on the other handâŠwhen it comes to the actual decision, I think itâs alright to evaluate the impressions one gets from the school with a lot more scrutiny. After all, it is 200,000+ dollars of education, and while it may come off as entitlement, I would like to choose the place that will give me an education and guidance that is worth that hefty, hefty debtâŠ! ;u;
Thanks to @captchachah , @CCParentforBSMD , @IfnousWHO for the kind supportâit is all much appreciated, especially in such stressful times. I hope we all get into our preferred programs!!
And thanks to @AdmissionsAdmin too, for the interesting perspectivesâit sure keeps this thread spicy, thatâs for sure!! 
@agirlinasweater That sounds like the tone of someone who Iâd be much more willing to entrust with the well being of my loved one if their life were on the lineâŠ
@agirlinasweater I agree with you 100% both on the way you phrased your response and in your opinion itself. this is a forum for bouncing ideas and in my personal opinion @AdmissionsAdmin may indeed be a hindrance to that.
@AdmissionsAdmin I do value the advice that you have been giving and I have voiced that before and so have many before me. However, you do not control the minds and thoughts that are bounced around in this forum and if anything offends or strikes you personally, it would probably be better to refrain from antagonizing and personally attacking an applicant. In fact, to be âbrutally honestâ as you claim to want to be, I do not think you convey the appropriate temperament, respect, and demeanor as I and many other applicants would expect from a level-headed admissions officer who is charged with the immensely important task of being a gatekeeper to peopleâs future.
In summary, please please do not personally attack applicants and while your advice is valued and much appreciated, at this point, the negatives you have contributed to the forum so far may indeed outweigh what you have contributed positively.
@agirlinasweater Your remarks and opinion are genuine and this is the right board to share.
@AdmissionsAdmin This is not an application submission and decision environment. What you said may be true but we do not need a counselor advice on this board. Kids and Parents should be free to share their thoughts and you are welcome to read them but does not require your input to a degrading level that you provided.
@AdmissionsAdmin On pretext of 'Being Brutally Honest" âI am doing this for livingâ âI am going to manitain anonimityâ etc⊠you are siding for 1 particular program- Drexel. Which after Interview experience, is probably not most preferred by many candidates. In case if someone does not get selected to any program, will probably choose pre-med route like me or @agirlinasweater and put our best to be a doctor. You have so far not sided with any program so much openly like drexel. This kind of giveaway your identity. you can defend yourself and continue to maintain that you are anonymous, but entire board can see whom you are siding with. you are defending wrong program. you as an administrator should take this as a takeaway, that if location and area of your program is not most desired (may be you cannot do much about it), then at least we improve interview experience for candidates to make up for it. it will at least give some very good and qualified candidates to your program as well. Good Luck running drexel program.
@stdmedsch Donât worry you wonât so much as hear a peep from me again; you have convinced me that the parents and children on this board donât want to hear the truth about the application process.
@stdmedsch I agree! If someone wants to rant about a program and hear other opinions, this is the one place they freely can.
@AdmissionsAdmin Yes we want to hear your opinions and suggestions but not reprimands. It is not becoming to say that you will never pass a med interview, I am wondering how you can be so sure of your judgement and that too after reading a paragraph where someone vented their opinion.
If your tone and attitude is haughty your genuine advice will be ignored. I am sure that is not good for the forum.
Ladies and gentlemen: We are almost at the end game, the last inning, another 4+ weeks.
Let us be nice to each other and not get too emotional. Then we loose the purpose of this forum. It is to help current and future students and parents. The BS/MD process is way toooo complex and way toooooooooooooo expensive and not every one knows every thing. So in order to benefit, it is good to get perspective from students, parents and program administrators, otherwise we will be blind sided. It is not that every one need to agree or disagree on any oneâs view points posted, as long as we are not polarizing and attacking personally each other.
Hope this is the last post on this burning topic! Let us be forgiving to each other and move on!
As a parent who has been following these threads for few years; I am happy to see that such a competitive (more than 2 or 3 fold competitive than HPY or MIT or Stanford) environment where many hundred (some over thousands) are competing for handful of seats the applicants (and their parents) are so support of each other. Sharing lot of information // passing on tips that they could have very well kept to themselves, but, sharing voluntarily with others so that everyone could benefit (including passive ones like me) from it.
I agree this forumâs intent and purpose should not be lost; applicants should be able to relieve their stress and speak openly.
Agirlinasweater
I had similar experience at Albany. There was no excitement and it feels like they really donât care. The events were not organized etc.
@radheshyam I will partially disagree with you. I felt with Albany, that Location and area for entry point to Albany was not most desired and looked all skechy. so first impression was not good. however once inside the college and hospital, initial presentation by maria, followed with food and existing student perspective, then director group discussion followed by one-on-one interview was better organised then Drexel program. it is was not the best- for e.g. room itself could have been better, food served could have been better. I dont know how much they interpreted from Group discussion. if they wanted to give us 2 interviews, I would have preferred 2 separate 1-on-1 interviews. 1-on-1 interview could also have been little detailed with all round topics starting from currcullum to ECs etc⊠and not only discussion on application prompts. But Drexel was little further inferior then Albany. they seemed not interested at all. not organised at all. So even though Albany also stand lower to me. Drexel is even further lower then Albany.
I will give another perspective to drexel (I am not on beat down drexel agenda). Completely outside of interview days experience. I was looking at MSAR database for 2016 accepted student to drexel medical for regular pre-med route. MCAT at 50 percentile for accepted student is at 506 and 510 at 75% percentile. Program needs you to get 506, as contingency to get accepted to med school. I do realize, 506 is not super high score as requirement from program perspective, but I am also questioning myself, if people thru regular pre-med route at 50 percentile acceptance is at same level of program requirement, what deal are they cutting to me for accepting there under grad? I would rather do under grad at another in state school get high GPA and get same 506 MCAT and have realistic chance of getting accepted at Drexel anyway. why go to drexel now?
@GoldenRock Thank You.
anyone still waiting on USciences, Stony Brook, or Wash & Jeff??