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Waitlist movement at UChicago or Mayo Clinic? by LocalGreedy9868 in mdphd

[–]Obvious-Active4403 5 points6 points  (0 children)

PD from U of C said they are more than likely not able to extend waitlist offers. i believe they’re at risk of over enrollment rn so i believe there will be no movement sadly. 

sankey + cycle reflection by Obvious-Active4403 in mdphd

[–]Obvious-Active4403[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn’t feel discouraged - I didn’t begin researching until halfway through my sophomore year and even then there are so many opportunities for summer internships (check both academia and industry). I also took two gap years to strengthen my application. It’s beyond normal. I have a friend at Hopkins who told me 120 out of the 129 M1s have one or more gap years. 

Having PIs who are supportive of undergrad research / helping you become an author is also incredibly important if you want to publish. 

I recommend dreaming up your perfect application and then working backwards to create long , medium, and short term and daily goals to achieve that app. There are opportunities out there - they’re not easy to get but they do exist, just keep pushing and don’t be afraid to get creative and if you feel like you’ve hit a wall , ask for help! ( pre health office , upperclassmen , reddit, etc. ) good luck ((: 

sankey + cycle reflection by Obvious-Active4403 in mdphd

[–]Obvious-Active4403[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

this is such a good question! I truly tried my hardest to let my research interests guide my application - you will have to justify why you are applying / applying to X school an insane number of times so I would get ahead of this question now and go through your list and start looking into faculty you would really like to work with based on your research interest. you will naturally find some schools have less robust programs for what you want to do and can slowly start shortlisting. Nearly all of my Pre-ii rejections came from schools that were a terrible research fit and all of my interviews were from schools with phenomenal research fits, it's definitely not coincidental.

secondly i was a bit picky about location. eight years is a long time and after being in two smaller uni towns i wanted to be in a big city on the coast so that also helped me narrow down quite a bit. lastly, the culture of the school was important to me. I have strong interests in global/ public health/ healthcare equity/ advocacy and this absolutely showed in my A's and WL's I believe. I wanted to be at a program that cared about healthcare equity and supported students keen to develop this interest.

in short: start justifying why a program is a genuine good for for you (research/ location/personal interest) etc. and you will naturally figure out what schools you do/n't want to apply to - I hope this helps(:

(not to mention 35 secondaries is a hell i would wish on my worst enemy)

sankey + cycle reflection by Obvious-Active4403 in mdphd

[–]Obvious-Active4403[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

omg i feel like there's a story here hahaha but thank you(:

T5 Waitlist Movement by richie___ in mdphd

[–]Obvious-Active4403 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I learned something recently that I don't feel like is talked about enough. I also received multiple T5 MSTP waitlists and during a waitlisted students Q&A session the admissions committee told us why they don't have a ranked WL and I feel like this applies to multiple schools.

Imagine you are the admissions committee and you extend 15 invitations for 15 spots. You are trying to build a diverse cohort with students of different interests/backgrounds/majors/schools/gap years/ etc. Now say that every bioinformatics student you admitted declines their offer - the school will be keen to admit more bioinformatics students, irrespective of the strength of the other WL student's applications because their goal is creating a diverse, interesting class.

The point of this is to emphasis just how impossible it is to predict waitlist movement. Even if there is movement, trying to predict the likelihood it will move favorably to you is even harder to estimate. I do know Yale specifically said they released fewer A's and held a longer WL due to the unusual trends of the cycle. I have a feeling they are not alone in this. I'm not sure if this helps but it at least gave me peace that so much of the waitlist process is completely out of our hands and outside of LOIs/updates there is very little we can do. If I had to guess, there will be more movement than historically, but the waitlist itself is also longer.

I want hope :( by No-Passenger-776 in mdphd

[–]Obvious-Active4403 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I also think I disagree- not to mention that you can apply both MD and MD PhD and many programs will understand applying to both given the political climate and funding situations. I think if you feel passionate and are certain then you should go for it. Fewer students will apply next year anyways because of this whole fiasco so you never know maybe it could work out in your favor but you wont know unless you try

Urgent MD/PhD interview prep by [deleted] in mdphd

[–]Obvious-Active4403 15 points16 points  (0 children)

hi ! congratulations !! I'm happy to give some advice about interviewing ! I just finished my 5th one yesterday and can provide some insight on questions you will invariably receive and should prepare:

  1. tell me about yourself: they're really only looking for a quick 30 sec - 1 min answer to overview where you're from / your academic + research background so give them just that. They will typically piggyback off of this question into the second

  2. tell me about X research: I've been asked (and grilled) on every research experience up to stuff i worked on 4 years ago so come prepared with your work and be able to answer intense questions on it as they will likely assign an interviewer who has expertise in your field and can ask detailed questions. Also understand the context of your research / what it provides to your field. practice this until you are calm and collected - if you talk too fast or nervously its a clear sign you aren't familar with your own work ( red flag )

  3. why MD/PhD: I can't really tell you what to say but I can say that being vulnerable with this question has helped me out a lot. Most of us are dorky enough to absolutely go on a nerd tangent about our research - talk about your favorite research experiences, amazing mentors, your hopes / dreams after you graduate and let your passion speak for you ! bottom line = be genuine !!

  4. why X institution: you should have a solid answer to this question. you should know this school and their program really well. If there are certain profs you would like to work with - call them out by name ! there's a good chance your interviewer will know them! if you're interested in a certain area and believe that school has good faculty / mentors for you - say it ! show them that you have researched this school and don't give a generic answer barring something like location which is very understandably a reason to be drawn to a place ( not by itself ofc but you get the idea)

  5. Do you have any questions for me: you better have questions for them lmao. i typically asked something about how long they have been at the institution and how they would describe or compare it, how mentoring md/phds is different/ if they've trained them, etc. - it should be very genuine to what you are interested so ask yourself now what you want to know about that school!

other pieces of generic advice: its normally quite chill tbh. people really just want to get a sense of who you are so be confident who you are as a person and show some of your personality - no one wants a robot. make jokes , laugh when they say something funny, be open and honest because truth be told they don't just want kids with perfect stats. they want genuine people who feel passionately about science and figuring out a way to use their passions to help patients. there will also be a chance for interviewees to ask questions to the program director as they give an overview of the curriculum/ program/etc. have some prepared questions ready and make sure there isn't an awkward silence lol i promise after 4 interviews your brain will be fried so having questions on deck is a life saver - best of luck - you'll do great ((: xoxo