Agree. If USMLE moves different direction and changes Step 2 CK to P/F in next couple of years, All that left is letters of recommendation. They are super subjective and it would matter most coming from top school professors. Also unless someone has enough network to get away rotations, not all BS/MD schools has all these specialties in M3 rotations.
Thanks. I am not a millionaire but have heard that FAFSA is meant only for financial aid, if you qualify and it does not affect merit scholarships.
Yeah doesnât really impact merit scholarships just need based aid, but most schools do give some need based aids even if not a ton. Usually, if you make no more the $200,000 you get some aid from the school apart from merit. Just in my personal experience at least, weâve submitted the FAFSA for college before.
Exactly, that was my thinking and hence did not fill out FAFSA or CSS for any schools.
Thanks for the tip.
1 Like
If your EFC is high, you may not get any Financial aid neither from federal government nor from any institutional sources. Most merit scholarships are purely based on merit, not on any financial need, otherwise they are misclassified as merit scholarships, IMO.
IMO, it is a universal policy for institutions to request FAFSA/CSS, but you are the one to decide whether to file it or not. Loans are also counted as financial aid. Most medical students incur a ton of debt during their medical school tenure. Only after gaining a residency, there is some income and the debt repayment starts.
for the njms interview confirmation, i got info about a welcome session at 9, when my interview is at 11. they also mentioned something about meeting the deans
is the morning one obligatory? and will meeting the deans and going to the welcome session increase oneâs admittance chance?
Thanks. Since I did not file FAFSA, I was getting concerned that we may lose out on any aid from schools. But looks like everyone agrees that there is no point in filling FAFSA if you know that you are not going to be eligible for any need based aid. Students may receive merit scholarships based on their merit irrespective of FAFSA.
You should attend the deanâs meeting but not for the reason you mentioned. The deans may not know your name.
Welcome session is nothing much - show your ID and get out 
and wait for your interview.
1 Like
FAFSA is only for federal government aid including Pell grants(no need to repay, only free money ), subsidized loans ( where government pays the interest while you finish your UG) , unsubsidized loans ( you are responsible for interest but it keeps on accruing during UG years), work study(you work during UG at school and get paid from government funds). The threshold to qualify for all these is pretty low, most on this thread will not qualify for some of these, IMO.
Yes. My daughter has really enjoyed all of the classes in the ILS track. 2 of her med school LORs were written by professors that are the head of the program. She took their classes and then ended up TAing for them.
1 Like
what???
Do not worry PDs will know how to allocate residencies. USMLE-2-CS (Clinical Skills) was the test where students will examine/ask about medical history of some dummy patients (hired actors) and they were evaluated on their bed side manners.
It supported local economy where medical students had to travel to take this USMLE2-CS test. It cuts down on some expenses for medical students now.
1 Like
United States Medical Licensing Examination-2 Clinical Knowledge(CK)/United States Medical Licensing Examination-2 Clinical Skills(CS)
Morning one is mandatory. Itâs just 5 minutes to check you in.
1 Like
Any med school knowledge is useful as this group of parents/students are embarking on that long journey!
LOL⊠While we are worried about getting one or two interviews and getting that ever eluding one BSMD acceptance, you guys are too deep into USMLE1, USMLE2, CS-2 Vs CK-2 etc⊠Its too far away for us to think about them. 
1 Like
So my daughter used all of her AP credits and took higher level courses. She had taken 16 AP classes so she had enough college credits at UMD to be considered a sophomore which was really nice when it came to registering for classes since they let students with more credits register first.
As for the ILS requirements, my daughter did not find it difficult to meet the requirements. It is a 2 year program and basically 1 extra class per semester, which ended up being some of my daughterâs favorites. Plus the professors that teach the ILS classes get to know you really well and usually end up asking you to TA when you are a junior which is good for med school LORs. During those 2 years you also have to do an internship which are pretty easy to get because the UMD labs love ILS students.
GL to your daughter!! Let me know if you have any other questions
1 Like
it does matter even for this batch as MD school reputation will come to play big time at match time in light of lack of other data, at least that is the consensus on other site.
This a dumb question but whatâs TA?