2015-2016 Jefferson Medical College Application Thread

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Doctor Strange said:
You will get an official interview invitation email after the status change on the application portal. It might take a day or two, but it will come, so don't worry about checking your status constantly.
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Thank you for the reassurance. This is my first interview invitation and I'm very excited about Jefferson, so I'm getting a little paranoid that the status on my portal was a mistake.
 
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nwts said:
Thank you for the reassurance. This is my first interview invitation and I'm very excited about Jefferson, so I'm getting a little paranoid that the status on my portal was a mistake.
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We will most likely all have the same first interview day in september, at least thats what im hoping for!
 
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Master3930 said:
Lol thanks, you read my mind.

Doctor Strange any advice for the interview?
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Interview day is always a Wednesday and consists of a morning talk with a keynote speaker, followed by presentations about the curriculum, student life, financial aid, etc. Then you'll have your student interview, which lasts about thirty minutes. Following that is lunch, then a short tour of campus, after which your tour guide will take you to your faculty interview. These usually last about thirty minutes, as well. Cookie Hour is at three and is a great opportunity to speak with current students about Jefferson and life in Philadelphia. They send a blast email out in the morning to the entire medical school telling us where the free cookies and coffee are, so there are usually tons of students there from all years. Dr. Callahan and Brooks, the admissions deans, also make appearances, and it's a great opportunity to let them put a face to a name. The entire interview day from start to finish is student run.

The number one tip I can give you is to be able to speak about yourself outside of the context of medicine and academics. If you're being interviewed, we know you're a good student and checked all the little boxes. What we're truly interested in are your personality and what makes you you. The worst interviews are the ones where all I hear about are your volunteer activities and research. Be yourself. Smile. Breath.

The admissions committee meets every Wednesday, and you will hear as soon as a decision is made. It's usually a one week turnaround, but this can vary depending on when your faculty member can make the meetings. If your faculty is a busy surgeon or doc, it may take up to five weeks, but this is rare. The student interviewer reports are always due the next day at noon. No news is NOT necessarily bad news. Don't panic if you have to wait a couple weeks for a decision. Compared to other schools, Jeff still has an incredibly fast turnaround time.
 
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Doctor Strange said:
Interview day is always a Wednesday and consists of a morning talk with a keynote speaker, followed by presentations about the curriculum, student life, financial aid, etc. Then you'll have your student interview, which lasts about thirty minutes. Following that is lunch, then a short tour of campus, after which your tour guide will take you to your faculty interview. These usually last about thirty minutes, as well. Cookie Hour is at three and is a great opportunity to speak with current students about Jefferson and life in Philadelphia. They send a blast email out in the morning to the entire medical school telling us where the free cookies and coffee are, so there are usually tons of students there from all years. Dr. Callahan and Brooks, the admissions deans, also make appearances, and it's a great opportunity to let them put a face to a name. The entire interview day from start to finish is student run.

The number one tip I can give you is to be able to speak about yourself outside of the context of medicine and academics. If you're being interviewed, we know you're a good student and checked all the little boxes. What we're truly interested in are your personality and what makes you you. The worst interviews are the ones where all I hear about are your volunteer activities and research. Be yourself. Smile. Breath.

The admissions committee meets every Wednesday, and you will hear as soon as a decision is made. It's usually a one week turnaround, but this can vary depending on when your faculty member can make the meetings. If your faculty is a busy surgeon or doc, it may take up to five weeks, but this is rare. The student interviewer reports are always due the next day at noon. No news is NOT necessarily bad news. Don't panic if you have to wait a couple weeks for a decision. Compared to other schools, Jeff still has an incredibly fast turnaround time.
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So hypothetically if I interview september 16th theres a chance I will know by the following wednesday?! thats awesome! Thanks for all of your input I greatly appreciate it!
 
So I emailed Jefferson, and they said they emailed me a secondary invite on July 10th. However, I checked my inbox, and I never received anything from them on July 10th. Nothing in my spam folder, either.

If you haven't received a secondary yet, EMAIL THEM ASAP!!
 
babolat91 said:
So I emailed Jefferson, and they said they emailed me a secondary invite on July 10th. However, I checked my inbox, and I never received anything from them on July 10th. Nothing in my spam folder, either.

If you haven't received a secondary yet, EMAIL THEM ASAP!!
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Please don't do this quite yet. The application comes out in waves to prevent the server from overflowing. If you haven't received a secondary by the end of July, then send an email. The last thing the office needs, though, is hundreds of calls about a possibility that there might have been an email snafu.
 
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Doctor Strange said:
Please don't do this quite yet. The application comes out in waves to prevent the server from overflowing. If you haven't received a secondary by the end of July, then send an email. The last thing the office needs, though, is hundreds of calls about a possibility that there might have been an email snafu.
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^Listen to the strange, not me. He's there, I'm still just applying!

Just figured I'd share my experience in case it is of any use!
 
Is it greedy of me to now just want my II email to come ASAP lol
 
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for those with interviews, when were you complete?
 
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Doctor Strange said:
Interview day is always a Wednesday and consists of a morning talk with a keynote speaker, followed by presentations about the curriculum, student life, financial aid, etc. Then you'll have your student interview, which lasts about thirty minutes. Following that is lunch, then a short tour of campus, after which your tour guide will take you to your faculty interview. These usually last about thirty minutes, as well. Cookie Hour is at three and is a great opportunity to speak with current students about Jefferson and life in Philadelphia. They send a blast email out in the morning to the entire medical school telling us where the free cookies and coffee are, so there are usually tons of students there from all years. Dr. Callahan and Brooks, the admissions deans, also make appearances, and it's a great opportunity to let them put a face to a name. The entire interview day from start to finish is student run.

The number one tip I can give you is to be able to speak about yourself outside of the context of medicine and academics. If you're being interviewed, we know you're a good student and checked all the little boxes. What we're truly interested in are your personality and what makes you you. The worst interviews are the ones where all I hear about are your volunteer activities and research. Be yourself. Smile. Breath.

The admissions committee meets every Wednesday, and you will hear as soon as a decision is made. It's usually a one week turnaround, but this can vary depending on when your faculty member can make the meetings. If your faculty is a busy surgeon or doc, it may take up to five weeks, but this is rare. The student interviewer reports are always due the next day at noon. No news is NOT necessarily bad news. Don't panic if you have to wait a couple weeks for a decision. Compared to other schools, Jeff still has an incredibly fast turnaround time.
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Thank you for all of this helpful information. It sounds like a wonderful day. I can't wait. I'm also very glad to hear that they want to get to know me as a person. I always prefer to share a little bit of my personality in addition to the business side of things (grades, ECs, etc.)

meetsub said:
for those with interviews, when were you complete?
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I submitted my secondary July 10th and was marked complete July 11th. I am still amazed that I got an interview offer 3 days after being marked complete.
 
MarcyTweets said:
Ahhh first interview invite of the season; and I LOVE Jefferson!!! I have a LizzyM Score of 70 and I received and submitted the secondary on July 9!
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congrats!!! I hope to follow in your steps. question - what did you use the additional comments space for?
 
medgal2016 said:
congrats!!! I hope to follow in your steps. question - what did you use the additional comments space for?
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I am not MarcyTweets, but I also was invited to interview, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents. I wrote about my reasons for applying to Jefferson.
 
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Congrats to those with IIs. That is incredibly exciting! I live by Jeff and it is a wonderful place. Can any of the II people tell us when you completed your secondaries? I know it's all speculation during the waiting game period of this process, but I like keeping track.
 
What is their policy on additional letters? I have to send individual letters and I know they recommend one letter from Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Humanities, but the MSAR says a max of 6 letters. Do they accept letters from research mentors or volunteer coordinators as well?
 
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For the additional essay option, I want to update them on my gap year experiences, but I also want to put my diversity essay in. The prior is only like 150 words, and the latter is 250. Is it appropriate to include both? I'm not sure what to say; I know when I submit it will all be one big paragraph.
 
Svenson said:
For the additional essay option, I want to update them on my gap year experiences, but I also want to put my diversity essay in. The prior is only like 150 words, and the latter is 250. Is it appropriate to include both? I'm not sure what to say; I know when I submit it will all be one big paragraph.
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I'd recommend combining the two essays into one narrative. It might take some editing to achieve, but I believe it'll help you big time!

I graduated in 2014 and am entering the second year of an MPH program. I wove that into my "Why Jefferson" narrative so that I could try to explain why it is I love this school so much, AND inform them about what I am doing between graduating college / matriculating medical school.
 
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Svenson said:
For the additional essay option, I want to update them on my gap year experiences, but I also want to put my diversity essay in. The prior is only like 150 words, and the latter is 250. Is it appropriate to include both? I'm not sure what to say; I know when I submit it will all be one big paragraph.
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For what it's worth, I did both and just separated the two.
 
jordan222 said:
Congrats to those with IIs. That is incredibly exciting! I live by Jeff and it is a wonderful place. Can any of the II people tell us when you completed your secondaries? I know it's all speculation during the waiting game period of this process, but I like keeping track.
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I submitted my secondary July 10th, and I was marked complete July 11th.
 
When I click my secondary status, I get :

Jefferson Secondary Application Received? No


Is this normal? I submitted yesterday.
 
RudyRude said:
When I click my secondary status, I get :

Jefferson Secondary Application Received? No


Is this normal? I submitted yesterday.
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Yes. It takes a little while for them to update your portal that they got your secondary.
 
Ahh that's when I submitted and was complete! Yep, feeling the neuroticism with this one haha.
 
I just received my official interview invitation via email, so I am no longer paranoid that my portal was updated in error. It's starting to seem real now that I'm looking at flights. I can't wait to see Jefferson!
 
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Can those who received interviews comment on their stats? Y'all are making me so nervous, I'm submitting my secondary now!
 
Thanks @nwts! Not really, no haha. Just wondering where I kind of fall in the scheme of things. I'm OOS as well but with a slightly lower LizzyM (high 60s due to a low verbal section :/)
 
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So if I was accepted to a seven year program that would have been at Jefferson, but decided not to do it...do I say I have an early acceptance linkage or no?
 
orangecreamsicle said:
What is their policy on additional letters? I have to send individual letters and I know they recommend one letter from Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Humanities, but the MSAR says a max of 6 letters. Do they accept letters from research mentors or volunteer coordinators as well?
Click to expand...

Also curious to know the answer to this.
 
Question: How should I go about providing updates about my spring quarter grades after submitting my secondary?

I just submitted yesterday, and was wondering if it would be appropriate to email admissions with an unofficial transcript that includes my spring quarter grades?

Any feedback is appreciated!
 
Anyone else still waiting to be sent a secondary? Like this message if so...
 
@Doctor Strange you might know the answer to this.. Do you have a better shot at an acceptance if you were invited to an early interview or is it still ~25% for OOS interviewees?
 
babolat91 said:
Question: How should I go about providing updates about my spring quarter grades after submitting my secondary?

I just submitted yesterday, and was wondering if it would be appropriate to email admissions with an unofficial transcript that includes my spring quarter grades?

Any feedback is appreciated!
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Just send an email to the admissions office with any updates.
Master3930 said:
@Doctor Strange you might know the answer to this.. Do you have a better shot at an acceptance if you were invited to an early interview or is it still ~25% for OOS interviewees?
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In general, the earlier you interview, the better. It's hard to say the exact reasons, but it's pretty intuitive to make a conjecture that more qualified applicants are interviewed first and have an overall higher likelihood of being accepted. That being said, Jefferson interviews all the way to the end of April and does NOT interview for waitlist spots. I personally know people that interviewed on the last possible day and were accepted the following week.
 
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They said on my interview day that they purposely space out acceptances because they want to make sure that no matter the date of your interview you have just as much a chance of acceptance as people who interviewed on the first day.
 
Anybody else seeing that they left SSN blank on the review screen? I definitely entered it, so I'm curious if it's just me or a more pervasive error.
 
evansh said:
Anybody else seeing that they left SSN blank on the review screen? I definitely entered it, so I'm curious if it's just me or a more pervasive error.
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That happened to me after I submitted it, but I checked back maybe 2 days later and it was there!
 
so i took physics and chemistry my first year of university and I graduated this past year and they were 350 person classes with multiple rotating teachers of which I knew none of them. I do have four letters but its 1 bio (anatomy), 1 humanities (english) and then 1 psychology and my 4th is the PI in my lab. do yall think this will ruin me for not fulfilling the letters :/
 
KKT1992 said:
so i took physics and chemistry my first year of university and I graduated this past year and they were 350 person classes with multiple rotating teachers of which I knew none of them. I do have four letters but its 1 bio (anatomy), 1 humanities (english) and then 1 psychology and my 4th is the PI in my lab. do yall think this will ruin me for not fulfilling the letters :/
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If it would give you peace of mind, you can email them and ask. However, I have heard that their letter stipulations are more of suggestions than requirements.
 
nwts said:
If it would give you peace of mind, you can email them and ask. However, I have heard that their letter stipulations are more of suggestions than requirements.
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Hmmm, I'm just gonna wait for a few weeks before asking. So far banking on the suggestion thing haha. Thanks!
 
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@DoctorStrange or any other students/interviewees what time does the interview day start? Or is it different depending on when you schedule it?
 
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