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[Your Entertainer]

It is pretty absurd especially for mdphd where like 1000 applicants compete for 300 spots over 50 institutions and these applicants are all absurdly qualified (not me I just got lucky)

Haha. Being URM also helps - a LOT

 

[GoldenEye 007]

I work in admissions. I generally tell students they can submit a recommendation or essay, but I really won't matter much. On some occasions they can help, but mostly they at most get skimmed over and forgotten quickly.

They are helpful for honors college consideration, though.

 

[Catdaddy]

It’s been years, but for an in-state public university all I had to do was meet the minimum ACT score and it was almost a guarantee to get in. If too many applied they bumped up the score. Although my daughter had to write an essays for a couple of scholarships.

 

[Gully State]

Yes - med school admissions are insane. The increase in quality of applicants even from the time I applied to when I graduated was nuts.

I think the applicant pool has increased drastically as well.

 

[TheFixer]

Fascinating being on the other side of this. I conducted interviews for the Ivy League school I'm an alumnus of for the first time this year, very eager to see if the kids I spoke to are granted admission. Might be more than a few elaborate hoops to jump through to even participate in the application process, but I'm heartened by the caliber of kids I've spoken to this year.

 

[Technosteve]

I went state school i laugh at the hoops you guys had to go through.......

Which was paid by in full by weed out classes freshman year ;_;

 

[Brakke]

Fascinating being on the other side of this. I conducted interviews for the Ivy League school I'm an alumnus of for the first time this year, very eager to see if the kids I spoke to are granted admission. Might be more than a few elaborate hoops to jump through to even participate in the application process, but I'm heartened by the caliber of kids I've spoken to this year.

Yeah, I run interview days for applicants to my own less-than-10%-admission-rate alma mater. Some of the kids that show up are bonkers. Like yo, dude, forget about college, I'd offer you a job right here right now. Of course, some of the kids who show up are pretending to be those other kids and totally collapse under casual questions...

 

[Armoured Priest]

Never did any of the prep work in highschool. Worked for two years after HS graduation. Decided I wanted to do more than work at a factory. My parents got the ball rolling with the UW system. I needed to take the ACT because I hadn't bothered to take it while still in highschool (kind of wished I had, actually). Still, I scored a 32 with no study and having been out of school for two years. UW was happy to take me. I went in figured out my initial class load and a major program. The process was spread out over about a 4 month period, and I was ready to go by May to start in the fall.

This was back in 1996, so I don't know if the path is still that easy. in some ways it must be, though...there really wasn't online registration when I started, though it did by the time I graduated university.

 

[Cinders]

I only applied to one school, and it was <10% admission rate school. It was a terrible idea, but I got in, so it worked out. I took both the ACT and the SAT (without studying) and had to write one application essay.

I was very lazy about the whole process. It worked out for me, but I would never suggest only applying to one elite-level school. What the fuck was I thinking?

 

[Saucy_XL]

I wish someone had told me I could have gone to a CC instead of all the bullshit this article talks about. Some schools would require 4+ essays, and even if most schools were on the common app, there were still like 3 essays that were unique to each school. Then some schools accept SAT and SAT II's, some ACT, some both. You had to prepare for and take a minimum of 4-5 tests. Add on 2 letters of recomendatarion, a peer evaluation (had to do some of those for friends too), test prep classes, and fluffing up extra curriculars.... Glad it's over but wish I was aware of the CC route

 

[Hoo-doo]

I had to jump through a few hoops to get into medical school three years ago.

First round was a motivation letter, multiple interviews, high grades and at least two letters of recommendation.
Second round was half a day of computerised exams testing your clinical reasoning potential, empathic abilities, spatial awareness, logic and problem solving.
Third round was roleplaying in four staged situations where they evaluate how you act and behave in the interactions with others, how you deliver bad news, etcetera.

I flew through it. After round two I had the highest score out of all the applicants and I basically could have slept through round three and I still would have gotten in.
Since then i've been honing my resumé to get into surgery once I graduate, but fuck me, that isn't going to be easy.

 

[chifanpoe]

Never did any of the prep work in highschool. Worked for two years after HS graduation. Decided I wanted to do more than work at a factory. My parents got the ball rolling with the UW system. I needed to take the ACT because I hadn't bothered to take it while still in highschool (kind of wished I had, actually). Still, I scored a 32 with no study and having been out of school for two years. UW was happy to take me. I went in figured out my initial class load and a major program. The process was spread out over about a 4 month period, and I was ready to go by May to start in the fall.

This was back in 1996, so I don't know if the path is still that easy. in some ways it must be, though...there really wasn't online registration when I started, though it did by the time I graduated university.

Same year, 1996. I took the ACT test as a senior in highschool and had to score at or above 24 to get into MSU, that was it. Showed up in the fall, signed up for classes, bought books, and paid for my credits. Other than my 2nd house and 1 new German car, it was the biggest waste of money I have ever spend. ~($17,000 in total)

 

[GhostWriter24]

I only applied to one school, and it was <10% admission rate school. It was a terrible idea, but I got in, so it worked out. I took both the ACT and the SAT (without studying) and had to write one application essay.

I was very lazy about the whole process. It worked out for me, but I would never suggest only applying to one elite-level school. What the fuck was I thinking?

That was a horrendous idea...what school did you get into?

 

[davepoobond]

i didnt have to do any of that. almost everyone at my school did though. only had to take the SAT.

i went to in-state public university, and didn't even try to apply to any private schools.

 

[LeroyPantwether]

I'm not being critical or anything. Literally everyone I knew went through the whole essay/extra curricular process. So I'm genuinely surprised that most college students never go through it. I guess it makes sense with the rise in people going to community college. Do you not have to do the whole essay thing if you go for a bachelors after an associates degree?

I did two years at a community college* then applied to U of A. I did not have to write an essay. There was a portion on the application for it, but I left it blank. I was accepted into the honors college.



* I never got an associates degree, I just earned 62 credits at CC and applied to U of A.

 

[Erheller]

I was one of thsoe people that had to write essays and get recommendations three years ago. I applied to around 20-ish colleges (a large number of those were universities that had a guaranteed medical school admissions program).

ACT/SAT, letters of rec, essays, I did it all. The essays were the really difficult part. There are so many of them to write - most of the competitive colleges have one to three essays in their application process (excluding the personal statement). I spent several weeks just writing essays and working on little else. Letters of rec were generally okay for me, but that's because I planned ahead for those.

As for extracurriculars, I didn't do that much (which probably negatively affected my strength as an applicant). I was on the Chess team and the Biotechnology club, but I didn't do a whole lot else. Some odd volunteering here and there, a few one-year stints. On the other hand, my school's chess team almost broke the top 10 in state out of something like 140 schools my junior year and senior years (we were ranked at around 50 my freshman year). I was also head of the Biotech club and got a gene sequence published during my time there. Still, no leadership positions or sporty things.

In the end I got rejected/waitlisted by 6 colleges (Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT rejected me; Stanford and Duke waitlisted me). Regardless, I ended up going to UIC's guaranteed medical school program.

Honestly? Some of my classmates at UIC have done some amazing things. I think that being "successful" as an undergrad is less about the name of the school you go to and more about making the most of what you're given.

I'll give my two cents as one waiting tomorrow on my last 5 college decisions (Harvard, Yale, Upenn, Columbia, Princeton)

I'm the student they are talking of. I had to do all the aforementioned in this piece. Multiple essays (sometimes for one school. Actually most of the time), interviews, testing, more testing, extracurricular sheets, letters of rec, etc. It's quite the load! For me though, it's because those schools with Financial Aid would be much cheaper than my state school (especially considering the budget crisis, it's almost free). This is a nice article, very enlightening.

Best of luck! Somehow I get the feeling that you'll be completely fine

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Everyone I knew had to write admission letters, regardless of whether we were applying for "elite" (Ivy) schools, or state schools (UC system).

I can't imagine not having to do so. How will you differentiate among students with just SAT scores and transcripts? Isn't it important to see what a student has to offer beyond just numbers?

Meh I guess it depends. I don't even really look at GPA. I look at class ranking and test scores. Essays or other items can help if the student is borderline for a certain major. And if there are legitimately unique situations that can help too. Especially family or health stuff going on.

But generally high school performance is enough of an indicator of potential success. Much more than test scores. Not much more is needed for me.

 

[Armoured Priest]

Same year, 1996. I took the ACT test as a senior in highschool and had to score at or above 24 to get into MSU, that was it. Showed up in the fall, signed up for classes, bought books, and paid for my credits. Other than my 2nd house and 1 new German car, it was the biggest waste of money I have ever spend. ~($17,000 in total)

I wouldn't call my university years a waste, but than again it was enough for employers at that point for someone just to have a degree (as long as they weren't hiring for some position that specifically required a specific degree.