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Canadian Applicants for US Schools 2009

n00b

By n00b
in Applying to American Schools

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SpanishFly Newbie

SpanishFly

Posted
Posted
You are looking around august 1-3 (Just like me!)

You can do your secondaries starting this weekend, because most of them are on SDN as well so you don't wait for them. make sure your LORs are into interfolio and you can be completely verified by early/mid august, which is just in time for first wave of interviews to be sent out, but cutting it close (EDP is always considered first)

 

Just submitted my primaries (yikes!)...so I was wondering what they mean by:

 

You have listed at least one letter that has not been assigned to any of

your designated medical schools. AMCAS will not send these letters until

you make the school assignments and submit your application.

 

Is this just for the schools participating in the letter service and are they saying they won't send any of my letters (including the ones I did assign) or just this one? and does that mean it won't be complete until I assign this letter? What if I don't want to assign this letter to the school thats participating in the service and want to send it to the other schools? should I not have entered it as one of my referees? Gahh soo confusing.

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Jane19R Newbie

Jane19R

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Hi,

I've been a longtime lurker, and I finally decided to post because I was hoping some of you could give me some advice because I'm panicking at this point, and I'm convinced I'm not going to get in anywhere and will be forced to go to the Caribbean.

 

I just graduated from the University of Toronto, my last two years, I've had a GPA of 3.64 and 3.74, respectively. However, my cumulative GPA is 3.38 (due to 50's in my general chem and organic chem courses and 64 in physics), my non-science GPA is 3.75. I have written the MCATs before but recieved a 25S (I was going through an emotionally trying time). So I realize I definitely need to re-write the MCAT, so I am scheduled to re-write it Sep.13th (I'm hoping to get a score in the 30s this time around-fingers crossed). I'm hoping to complete my primary applications this weekend, by July 21. I know that medical schools won't look at my application until they recieve my second MCAT marks, but I'm trying to get everything into them before September including letters of reference, secondaries, etc. by Sepetember, when I write my MCATs. Since the AAMC takes 2 weeks to put up scores, my complete application should be ready for review by the first week of October.

 

I'm applying to NYMC, Rosalind Franklin, Wayne State, Albany Medical College, Albert Einstein, Eastern Virginia, George Washington, Jefferson, Michigan State, Mount Sinai, Saint Louis, SUNY Upstate.

 

I'm very worried because I haven't been able to apply as early as others-but I was having a tough time knowing which schools to apply to and where I would actually have a good chance, since its so expensive. Also, will it really hurt my application that because I'm writing the MCAT in September, my application won't be complete until atleast the end of September?

 

I'm really concerned about whether I have a chance at getting in anywhere-I don't care if its a low tier school, if anyone knows of any school that I have not listed, and thinks I may have a good chance (with a hopefully increased MCAT score) please let me know!! What about CASE, Penn State, University fo Vermont (some of you have mentioned these schools)?

 

Also, if I've listed any schools (like Michigan State because its a state school for example), and if someone thinks I really don't stand a chance please let me know!!

 

I appreciate any feedback and comments!

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token Newbie

token

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You are looking around august 1-3 (Just like me!)

You can do your secondaries starting this weekend, because most of them are on SDN as well so you don't wait for them. make sure your LORs are into interfolio and you can be completely verified by early/mid august, which is just in time for first wave of interviews to be sent out, but cutting it close (EDP is always considered first)

Is that true? It looks like on SDN people who submitted 6/26ish are only just getting verified. Also since there will be a spike in applications due to the release of 6/13 MCAT scores, wouldn't it be more like 8/15 verification?

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Monster Newbie

Monster

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Just submitted my primaries (yikes!)...so I was wondering what they mean by:

 

You have listed at least one letter that has not been assigned to any of

your designated medical schools. AMCAS will not send these letters until

you make the school assignments and submit your application.

 

Is this just for the schools participating in the letter service and are they saying they won't send any of my letters (including the ones I did assign) or just this one? and does that mean it won't be complete until I assign this letter? What if I don't want to assign this letter to the school thats participating in the service and want to send it to the other schools? should I not have entered it as one of my referees? Gahh soo confusing.

 

Haha...you're me one month ago:o I didn't apply to any schools that use the AMCAS letter service, but if you entered a referee into that service and you're not using it for any of the schools that participate in the AMCAS letter service, just take it out!!! All the other schools that don't participate in that will send you secondaries requesting LOR's from specific people. None of that goes through AMCAS so it's ok if you use people who weren't used for the AMCAS thing. Hopefully that answers your question

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SpanishFly Newbie

SpanishFly

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Haha...you're me one month ago:o I didn't apply to any schools that use the AMCAS letter service, but if you entered a referee into that service and you're not using it for any of the schools that participate in the AMCAS letter service, just take it out!!! All the other schools that don't participate in that will send you secondaries requesting LOR's from specific people. None of that goes through AMCAS so it's ok if you use people who weren't used for the AMCAS thing. Hopefully that answers your question

 

ahh seems so simple now that you've pointed it out..I swear I'm going cross-eyed with all these applications. thanks again for the info! btw, where did you apply?

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Monster Newbie

Monster

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All the schools I could find close to Ontario that take Canadians (this was before I discovered SDN. I spent WAY too much time researching that:S)

 

Soo...Albany, Rosalind Franklin, NYU, Dartmouth, Medical College of Wisconsin, Michigan State, George Washington, Indiana, U of Maryland and Wayne State

 

Oh, and a few Texas schools that I'm pretty sure I have no chance at but I have a little money tree in my backyard so..you know...

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Jane19R Newbie

Jane19R

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Hi,

 

I was wondering if anyone knew if it was a good idea for a Canadian applican to apply to Howard medical school in DC? I haven't seen anybody mention it ont he forum, so I thought I would ask if its a good idea to apply as a safety school?

Feedback would be appreicated.

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xylem29 Newbie

xylem29

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Just a heads up, I'm pretty sure MCW and Indiana are a waste of money (ie unless you have significant ties to those states you pretty much have no chance of getting an interview).

 

No way! MCW is a very Canadian friendly school - you just need to apply EARLY.

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SpanishFly Newbie

SpanishFly

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All the schools I could find close to Ontario that take Canadians (this was before I discovered SDN. I spent WAY too much time researching that:S)

 

Soo...Albany, Rosalind Franklin, NYU, Dartmouth, Medical College of Wisconsin, Michigan State, George Washington, Indiana, U of Maryland and Wayne State

 

Oh, and a few Texas schools that I'm pretty sure I have no chance at but I have a little money tree in my backyard so..you know...

 

haha that must be nice, I wish I had a money tree...did you receive a secondary from Albany, NYU or Maryland yet?

 

Also, do any of you guys know what kind of a picture we're supposed to submit with the secondaries that ask for one? Should this be some kind of passport-like picture?

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xylem29 Newbie

xylem29

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Just a heads up to everyone - the picture you submit for the 2ndaries should be passport sized, or close to it, but it doesn't have to be an actual passport photo. You should choose a nice picture to send b/c it is this photo that they will be using on their "class of 20XX" poster that will be in the admissions office, maybe their website, probably in some other places in the school, for the duration of your first year.:D

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SpanishFly Newbie

SpanishFly

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Posted
Just a heads up to everyone - the picture you submit for the 2ndaries should be passport sized, or close to it, but it doesn't have to be an actual passport photo. You should choose a nice picture to send b/c it is this photo that they will be using on their "class of 20XX" poster that will be in the admissions office, maybe their website, probably in some other places in the school, for the duration of your first year.:D

 

haha oh boy...so it can be something informal, like say a picture taken at a formal party where your nicely dressed or something, or should it just be a head shot? I don't know why this is bugging me so much, I guess its bugging me more that they actually want a picture...its a bit creepy lol

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xylem29 Newbie

xylem29

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I think he was joking....or at least I hope so hahaha.

 

No man! No joke - the majority of schools do this. I'd send them a picture where you're looking decent and are smiling. The picture isn't for this purpose primarily though, it's so that they can verify that it's you during interview day...funny story, my interviewer at one school had his files mixed up and part way into the interview he asked me "So, your parents are from Japan?" and I was like "Chuckle (confused expression), no" - and he then looked at his file and was like "Oh, I'm sorry, I've got the files mixed up - you're also not a girl! How could I have missed that, haha."

 

Early for MCW is June - August but trust me, I've been through the process twice...just have your application complete by friggin JUNE..JUNE....JUNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Alastriss Newbie

Alastriss

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Hey guys, I was thinking for those of us who will be fortunate enough to interview at US schools, we should create a thread of our personal accounts (what we liked, disliked, etc) like what KennethToronto did a few posts back. Its hard to figure out which schools to apply to and when there is nothing else go on people turn to USNews ranking and that may not be the best means to decide on schools to apply to.

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schnauzr Newbie

schnauzr

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Yeah, sounds good.

I don't think the interview offers have gone out yet though, right?

Maybe we can also share some information about the cheapest/fastest way to get there, where to stay, and stuff like that.

But more importantly, yeah, it'd be good to share some information about the schools and maybe the interview atmosphere and what to expect in the interview questions.

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