Sorry to change the topic of conversation, but I was wondering if interviews have already been sent out or if not, when they will be sent out for UIC GPPA, Northwestern HPME, and Boston SMED. Thanks in advance for your help!
@mi2019 research is pretty important for brown IMHO, i know that my fellow PLMEs and I have a couple of HIFs
@ramen2020 may I ask what is HIF?
Thank you @rk2017 ! I referred to your earlier post also. Any specific tips about college tours? what questions to ask etc?
high impact factor publications, sorry should have made that clear @Nvidia20
@ramen2020 What are some common characteristics that you share with other Brown PLMEs? Truly appreciate your response.
College trips and their feasibility is dependent on ones physical location and other factors (like any family and friends in that area). What questions to ask depend on personal situations. We were fortunate enough to be conveniently located so as to be able to drive around in the weekends and holidays to about a dozen places during junior year
Generally the admissions officers prefer the students to take the initiative and ask questions. The parents can step in as and when required. You can get more insights by talking to them than what any web site or forum can provide. You will have to wait for turn in a queue and have limited time though. Once all the students are done and if the officers are still around you can approach them again. They are generally very professional, patient and helpful. Also talking to the students who volunteer to give the campus tours will give some idea about rigor, grade deflation/inflation, the academic environment, internships etc.
Just as an example one of the first colleges we visited was at one of these universities which offers the BA/MD program. We fell in love with the environment and got clues from the student guide giving the tour. At the end we went to the admissions office and asked if we could talk to anyone about their BA/MD program. They made us sit for few minutes and were taken by surprise when the assistant director of the program himself walked up to us and sat and talked to us for about 15 minutes. He patiently answered all our questions including the SAT/ACT and subject test scores and gpa ranges (which we could not have otherwise known). My concern was mainly on gpa since child went to an Uber competitive high school saturated with many smart and ORM background kids. So when the assistant director told about most of the kids accepted to the program tend to have close to 4.0 gpa, I asked what if the student takes a lot of challenging AP level courses in a tough school and falls short of gpa, do they still expect close to perfect figure? He said they normally see lot of applicants with perfect gpas despite taking tough courses but also that they look at the applicant holistically. That let us down somewhat but left a very good impression on the university and the program and that was our top choice though we were not expecting getting accepted (primarily due to GPA)
Guess what, it seems they did look at holistically or perhaps because of all 5s in BCPM APs and the subject sat scores or the kid was lucky, got called for interview and eventually accepted too. Also the high school reputation may have weighed in.
Thank you @rk2017 for the detailed explanation! It may sound stupid but I would like know if itās difficult to visit in winter months. Are we going walk completely outside the buildings? I am little concerned about the cold if we have to walk that long outside. Sorry, this is our first experience with colleges here in USA and no connections at all. Is it ok to visit during weekends if there is an availability for some colleges? I see that not all colleges provide weekend visit. Do they all provide program specific visits?
Folks
I guess we should ask the moderates - @skieurope and @texaspg - to create the 2020 RESULTS thread.
We have one success - @ramen2020 - and it may be time to capture his/her stats and perspectives.
College visits for BS/MD:
Do not go overboard on this.
Most of the time you will get the undergrad admissions office staff who would have no or limited information on the BS/MD program and the tour tells you about college buildings and their history.
I would suggest you visit during the ADMITTED student days - once you have been admitted to the program. You can chose the 2-3 programs (where you were admitted) that you are considering seriously and comparing the pros and cons.
I do not create results threads. Any member is able to do this.
@BAMDHopeful every plme Iāve meet is truly unique, theyāre all at the top of their game and itās hard to not let imposter syndrome creep in XD
What I would say that every student is extremely passionate/driven about something and have all made some amazing accomplishments!
Fall, spring and summer are ideal and I donāt think the colleges even offer visits during the cold months. So you are covered 
Another clue we got, specific to our situation, from a visit to an Ivy the day before the above detailed visit. Child had a stupendous score on ACT in one attempt (missing perfect composite very narrowly) and we were debating about the popularity of ACT in the North east and if should also attempt SAT ( which was undergoing changes). So when we spoke to this admissions officer, she said they receive more applicants with ACT than SAT and donāt distinguish between the two. We dropped the plan and let the kid focus on ECs, summer research etc.
At another local event of yet another top Ivy, I raised the issue of low ACT writing scores with the director of admissions there and he assured not to be worried about it.
Of course we didnāt pursue the Ivys seriously, not even applied to the first Ivy referred to above. Gave priority to the BS/MD route.
Many of the popular colleges hold admissions events across the country. Look out if there is one in your town or city or even anywhere within drivable distance around. The websites of the colleges give the details or you can even call them to find when to expect them.
Iāve read past posts about FAU and it seems people donāt really like it. Or there are discrepancies between what people wrote here and their website. For example, it was written that there would be another interview before officially being accepted into the MD program. However, I donāt see that online. @BigMan1234 I saw that you were accepted last year to the program. Can you comment about the program and whether you are in there now?
@skieurope
thanks for letting us know, I have created a results thread.
Good luck everyone!
@ramen2020 Thanks for the thread. Glad that your hard work paid off early , very few students would be able to accomplish and accumulate these hours in 3 years time.
Since you mention TCNJ interview, may I know when you are notified. Still waiting anxiously hereā¦
Thanks very much for creation of the results thread for 2020 and populating with your profile and reflection. I hope others reading this thread will follow your lead and do likewise at the conclusion of the season or whenever they make up mind, whichever comes first. That will provide a sound knowledge base for future aspirants.
(unfortunately past few yearsā threads we have seen even lot of active participants, students and parents, just go off the radar and never posting anything about themselves even after getting into these programs).
And special thanks for withdrawal from all other programs. Best in your future endeavors and aspirations!
@orm2022
According to the posts of @JBourne5 and may be few others, the interview in the undergrad before entering med school is more of a formality, as long as one satisfied other requirements. I would urge you to do your own research though and perhaps even reach out to the program folks for any clarifications.
@orm2020 i got it a week ago