2010-2011 University of Michigan Application Thread

[phltz]

What does everyone else like/dislike about UMich?

Michigan has, hands down, the best, most organized, efficient, helpful, polite, professional, savvy admissions department of any school I've interacted with. They seem to really care that they do their job well, and that they treat people with respect. Somehow a lot of schools seem not to be interested in these things. Even some of the elite, big-name schools. Actually, I'll say _especially_ some of the elite, big-name schools.

Doing a good job and treating people with respect are exactly the values that I think are most important in medicine. The culture of a school carries a lot of weight for me. Judging by the way they run admissions, I'd say that Michigan's culture is spot-on.

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[NickNaylor]

Dislike being OOS: cost.

 

[omnirom]

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-michigan-ann-arbor/1788-michigan-weak-any-way.html

This makes me even more proud to potentially be a Wolverine!

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

How did you even find that post...its from like 7 years ago.

If rankings of random departments by US News from 7 years ago (I'm assuming thats where that was pulled from) floats your boat then I guess good for you. Who even ranks "Russian and Slavic Studies" programs? What? Personally I'd be most concerned about the medical school (which is doing great by the way).

 

[Turtlespeed]

Whats even more impressive is that the OP of that thread "Alexandre" who has been constantly posting since 2004.

Talk about dedication!

 

[Beta Cell]

Michigan has, hands down, the best, most organized, efficient, helpful, polite, professional, savvy admissions department of any school I've interacted with. They seem to really care that they do their job well, and that they treat people with respect. Somehow a lot of schools seem not to be interested in these things. Even some of the elite, big-name schools. Actually, I'll say _especially_ some of the elite, big-name schools.

Doing a good job and treating people with respect are exactly the values that I think are most important in medicine. The culture of a school carries a lot of weight for me. Judging by the way they run admissions, I'd say that Michigan's culture is spot-on.

Michigan is an elite school.

 

[phltz]

Michigan is an elite school.

Exactly. They are an elite school, but they don't have the bitchy, We-don't-have-to-bother-doing-anything-well attitude that is all too common in the admissions departments of many other elite schools. Maybe it's just the midwestern thing - I'd say Mayo is the only other elite school that matches them in care, helpfulness, and consideration towards applicants.

 

[dancer89]

sooo who's going to second look?? are you guys staying at the hotel they recommended? (cant remember the name!)

also... on the FAQ it talks about appropriate attire... saying casual is okay for most activities but professional for saturday morning rounds. so really would jeans be appropriate as "casual"? and does professional = suit? haha sounds silly but i wasnt sure!

 

[NickNaylor]

I'll be there, and I met several people at the Pritzker revisit that will be there as well. I'll be staying at the hotel as well.

I don't think a suit is necessary; guys should probably wear slacks and a button-up, maybe with a tie.

 

[loua0731]

I'll be thurrr

 

[mastermix]

Michigan has, hands down, the best, most organized, efficient, helpful, polite, professional, savvy admissions department of any school I've interacted with.

Professional? Here are some past tweets from UMichMedAdmiss:

Now: The best show on all television: ABC's "Modern Family"
March 2, 2011 8:57:40 PM EST via web

Random: Charley Sheen-Really??/"Walking in Memphis" is a catchy tune/Every now and then it's still nice to read the "paper" newspaper!
8:16 AM Feb 25th via Echofon

Do you know Tara Stiles? You should!
3:50 PM Feb 16th via web

Now: Dean & Director hosting Annual Super Bowl Party! Menu: Taco and Nacho bar!
3:10 PM Feb 6th via Echofon

About to watch Angelie Jolie in "Salt"-here's hoping my Sunday night movie selection is a good one!
5:59 PM Jan 30th via Echofon

Does anyone really eat fruitcake? Candy canes? Sugar plums? I'm sticking with our family tradition: Tamales!
December 22, 2010 8:16:14 PM EST via Echofon

 

[NickNaylor]

Professional? Here are some past tweets from UMichMedAdmiss:

Now: The best show on all television: ABC's "Modern Family"
March 2, 2011 8:57:40 PM EST via web

Random: Charley Sheen-Really??/"Walking in Memphis" is a catchy tune/Every now and then it's still nice to read the "paper" newspaper!
8:16 AM Feb 25th via Echofon

Do you know Tara Stiles? You should!
3:50 PM Feb 16th via web

Now: Dean & Director hosting Annual Super Bowl Party! Menu: Taco and Nacho bar!
3:10 PM Feb 6th via Echofon

About to watch Angelie Jolie in "Salt"-here's hoping my Sunday night movie selection is a good one!
5:59 PM Jan 30th via Echofon

Does anyone really eat fruitcake? Candy canes? Sugar plums? I'm sticking with our family tradition: Tamales!
December 22, 2010 8:16:14 PM EST via Echofon

umad?

 

[mastermix]

umad?

Comfortable and furious, Nick.

 

[Beta Cell]

Comfortable and furious, Nick.

Ruiz should write the rules for medical school admissions. If everyone followed his lead, admissions as a whole would be a lot better. I don't see anything wrong with infusing some personality/not being robotic with his tweets. Personal anecdotes and musings aren't unprofessional. This whole process is human, after all.

As an aside, I remember a few of his tweets relating to the possibility of implementing the MMI method. Madness. Changing a winning recipe never works. Just ask Coca Cola or Charlie Sheen if you don't believe me. Duh.

 

[wrathofgod64]

As an aside, I remember a few of his tweets relating to the possibility of implementing the MMI method. Madness. Changing a winning recipe never works. Just ask Coca Cola or Charlie Sheen if you don't believe me. Duh.

Agreed, I actually thought Michigan's interview process was a happy medium between MMI and traditional interviews. 3 short interviews should help eliminate the bias from just 1 interviewer, but you also get to talk about yourself, why Michigan, and your interest in medicine - which aren't typically conveyed in MMIs.

 

[NickNaylor]

Agreed, I actually thought Michigan's interview process was a happy medium between MMI and traditional interviews. 3 short interviews should help eliminate the bias from just 1 interviewer, but you also get to talk about yourself, why Michigan, and your interest in medicine - which aren't typically conveyed in MMIs.

Personally I thought the interviews were a little short. They felt extremely rushed and I didn't feel like I was able to get in all the info I wanted to. I'm a fan of the fewer + longer interview format.

 

[Beta Cell]

Personally I thought the interviews were a little short. They felt extremely rushed and I didn't feel like I was able to get in all the info I wanted to. I'm a fan of the fewer + longer interview format.

Agreed, but anything is better than MMI.

 

[Adventuring]

Michigan second look weekend was going so well.... until the debilitating food poisoning. 24 hrs of puking doesn't leave a good taste in your mouth. Wonder if folks getting sick will effect the acceptance rate...

 

[NickNaylor]

Michigan second look weekend was going so well.... until the debilitating food poisoning. 24 hrs of puking doesn't leave a good taste in your mouth. Wonder if folks getting sick will effect the acceptance rate...

Yeah that was weird. Definitely would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Hawkdoc11]

Michigan second look weekend was going so well.... until the debilitating food poisoning. 24 hrs of puking doesn't leave a good taste in your mouth. Wonder if folks getting sick will effect the acceptance rate...

Wow...how many people were sick?

 

[NickNaylor]

Wow...how many people were sick?

We were only told a "small" number. But clearly enough to warrant enough concern to e-mail everyone that was attending.

 

[loua0731]

Just confirmed my acceptance!

Does anyone know if we get a confirmation email after doing so?

 

[AnnAmore]

Large number of offers & scholarships out coupled with record # of confirmations to date won't allow me to be aggressive in recruiting yet.

This bodes poorly for those of us anxiously waiting in the Upper Tier WL, doesn't it. Congrats to those who've just confirmed!

 

[NickNaylor]

I just confirmed...

...my decision to withdraw my acceptance. Hopefully one of you will get off the waitlist. Good luck everyone.

 

[Beta Cell]

They just sent out an email saying it was approximately two dozen. The Dean of Admissions and the Director of Diversity both volunteered to personally attend to every sick participant. Michigan was on top of things and despite the food-borne illness, we had doctors emailing us to contact them directly if we needed to go to the hospital.

"In our well established spirit of transparency and candor, we also want to update you on an unfortunate situation that took place during the weekend. We did indeed experience an isolated outbreak of food-borne illness that impacted approximately two dozen individuals -- all those impacted, to the best of our knowledge, were DDM participants. The students who fell ill were provided immediate and comprehensive medical attention from the U-M Health System. Additionally, Assistant Dean Steve Gay, MD, and Associate Dean David Gordon, MD, personally attended to each of these individuals to make certain they were comfortable and in communication with family or friends as needed."

It is interesting to note that "only DDM participants" were poisoned.

 

[Fahrenheit 45T]

It is interesting to note that "only DDM participants" were poisoned.

I think this is because they got sick from a meal that was served to the group Thursday before the non-DDM participants showed up to 2nd look.

 

[Beta Cell]

I think this is because they got sick from a meal that was served to the group Thursday before the non-DDM participants showed up to 2nd look.

Yeah, I know. I just thought it was interesting.

 

[Sue88]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me when the first actual day would be? I know the white coat ceremony is in July, but do not know the start date. I have tried searching the website but no luck.

 

[Yeeds]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me when the first actual day would be? I know the white coat ceremony is in July, but do not know the start date. I have tried searching the website but no luck.

I'm fairly certain that white coat ceremony is July 31st and then orientation/classes start the next day, August 1st.

 

[Sue88]

thank you

 

[phosphokinase]

Declined my acceptance/scholarship. Hope they go to someone here!
Good luck everyone

 

[Cpck]

Also withdrew my acceptance. Good luck to those waiting!!

 

[Hemeresearcher]

Also withdrew my acceptance. Good luck to those waiting!!

Cpck: I thought you were really excited about UMich. I hope that this decision wasn't about scholarship money. Hopefully you got an offer you were holding out for. Best of luck!

 

[Cpck]

Cpck: I thought you were really excited about UMich. I hope that this decision wasn't about scholarship money. Hopefully you got an offer you were holding out for. Best of luck!

Curious as to why you "hope this decision wasn't about scholarship money"? I actually think that finances should play a large part in deciding where to go to medical school.....

 

[Hemeresearcher]

Curious as to why you "hope this decision wasn't about scholarship money"? I actually think that finances should play a large part in deciding where to go to medical school.....

I completely agree that finances should and do way heavily into each of our decisions, but I wish that wasn't the harsh reality of medical school. I just hope that wasn't the only factor since you seemed really excited about UMich. Sorry to be confusing. It was meant to be supportive. Best of luck!

 

[Cpck]

I completely agree that finances should and do way heavily into each of our decisions, but I wish that wasn't the harsh reality of medical school. I just hope that wasn't the only factor since you seemed really excited about UMich. Sorry to be confusing. It was meant to be supportive. Best of luck!

No, there was no hostility meant in my post. I was honestly curious what you thought. It was a very difficult decision, you are definitely correct in saying that I was excited about Michigan. The decision wasn't solely based on Finances, but it did play a large role. I was mainly curious if you had some kind of "insider" information about how I had just withdrawn to early or something. Thanks for the support! Good luck!

 

[Hemeresearcher]

No, there was no hostility meant in my post. I was honestly curious what you thought. It was a very difficult decision, you are definitely correct in saying that I was excited about Michigan. The decision wasn't solely based on Finances, but it did play a large role. I was mainly curious if you had some kind of "insider" information about how I had just withdrawn to early or something. Thanks for the support! Good luck!

No insider information here. I landed myself in the middle tier of the waitlist, so I would hardly take advice from me.

 

[doilly88]

has anyone gotten scholarship money in a second or third round (not in March or whenever they first came out)?

 

[blackandyellow]

Does anyone know if the recent Twitter messages from UMich regarding the waitlist sound familiar to last year? There was some waitlist movement last year, and I am wondering what "waitlist action (discouraging)" means relative to the waitlist-related tweets that were coming out at this time last year.

 

[NickNaylor]

Does anyone know if the recent Twitter messages from UMich regarding the waitlist sound familiar to last year? There was some waitlist movement last year, and I am wondering what "waitlist action (discouraging)" means relative to the waitlist-related tweets that were coming out at this time last year.

The word coming out (trust it or not) is that there will likely be very little if any waitlist movement. I've also heard that no more additional scholarships will be awarded. All this tells me that they have more or less selected the class because so many people have accepted their acceptances.

Again, this isn't definite, but that's what I've been hearing from a few people. Whether it's true or not, I don't know.

 

[Beta Cell]

The word coming out (trust it or not) is that there will likely be very little if any waitlist movement. I've also heard that no more additional scholarships will be awarded. All this tells me that they have more or less selected the class because so many people have accepted their acceptances.

Again, this isn't definite, but that's what I've been hearing from a few people. Whether it's true or not, I don't know.

Where did you hear the scholarship bit? That sounds interesting.

 

[NickNaylor]

Where did you hear the scholarship bit? That sounds interesting.

A friend who was deciding between Michigan and another school. Ruiz told him to "not count on anything."

Pretty ominous.

 

[phltz]

So I've accepted my acceptance on the web page. I understand that I'll need to pay a deposit, but it's not clear how much that is or how I go about paying it. I suppose this means I just wait for them to contact me about it. Anyone know what the deposit deal is?

 

[loua0731]

No deposit this year. There's just a medical school choice survey we have to fill out, which is on the applicant status page.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

A friend who was deciding between Michigan and another school. Ruiz told him to "not count on anything."

Pretty ominous.

Looks like they're having a bit of trouble filling the scholarships they gave out in the first place...might have stretched themselves a bit thin this year.

 

[NickNaylor]

Looks like they're having a bit of trouble filling the scholarships they gave out in the first place...might have stretched themselves a bit thin this year.

When I spoke to Ruiz a while ago he said that they initially awarded $2.6 million in scholarships but only planned on awarding $1 million.

 

[Elhers]

Just made my final decision and committed to Michigan. Is there a confirmation of any sort (email or change on the Applicant Status website) that would reassure me that I filled in the information in the right area to accept?

 

[loua0731]

Just made my final decision and committed to Michigan. Is there a confirmation of any sort (email or change on the Applicant Status website) that would reassure me that I filled in the information in the right area to accept?

Congrats!!

You won't get an email, but within a couple days you should see a status change on the website.

 

[justinbaily]

For any current students, how is online testing done at your school? What is the testing frequency and do you get immediate access to your scores and an answer key?

 

[blackandyellow]

Just crunched numbers -again-losing hope for any waitlist action this year-wish we could pick up some people but doesn't look good.