2016-2017 Rutgers University - NJMS Application Thread

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ChrisMack390 said:
Interviewed here yesterday. It was a bit strange not having a whole day of presentations and whatnot, but I kind of appreciated it because those things that grown to be fairly redundant. I liked the school a lot - Newark would be a very interesting place to learn medicine.
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radioactive15 said:
Just considering whether the student evaluation can affect the turnaround time from the main one
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I feel like the student interview is pretty much an information conversation to get you the student perspective of the school. During my student interview, she didnt ask me any questions but told me everything that I wanted to know about NJMS. I don't know how much of a say they have in the final admission decision. So I don't think it should affect decision turn-around time
 
Yeah I kind of got that vibe that the student interview is not actually part of the application. That could be wrong, but mine was extremely casual. She didn't really ask me almost any questions, certainly no "interview-ey" questions.
 
map395 said:
Its really weird because some people interviewed on October 17th got an acceptance on Sunday while other interviewed October 21st and received an acceptance 2 weeks ago. I don't see any order to how they are doing it. Its good to know they are behind tho.
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I interviewed on October 12th and I heard on Thanksgiving day, so in my case it was approximately the 6-7 weeks that they said, but I think it really depends on who your interviewer was and whether they can make the committee meetings!
 
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kb1900 said:
Mine had no info on scholarships or anything. In fact all we had was the interview(s), lunch with students and tour
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Oh, strange. We had a woman come into the lunch to tell us about financial aid and such.

She said there are not many scholarships because they don't have much money. There is 1 full scholarship per year and some smaller ones, plus that humanism program.

She said everyone who submits FAFSA is automatically considered for scholarships, but its not a bad idea to shoot an email to the office just to make sure you are all set.
 
Fortyfive said:
I had a question about how many scholarships are given out? and how do I apply for one?
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What type of scholarships? The humanism scholarship?

I'm gonna go ahead and assume it's that one since the merit ones require you to be a god tiered student. The humanism program usually invites people for a separate interview during interview day based on your application. If you were not invited, your best bet is to email the heads of the Humanism Center and talk about your interest in the program. You may or may not get an interview that way.
 
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ChrisMack390 said:
Oh, strange. We had a woman come into the lunch to tell us about financial aid and such.

She said there are not many scholarships because they don't have much money. There is 1 full scholarship per year and some smaller ones, plus that humanism program.

She said everyone who submits FAFSA is automatically considered for scholarships, but its not a bad idea to shoot an email to the office just to make sure you are all set.
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Thanks for the information.

NJMS is my state school but it kinda sucks that they don't have too many scholarships as opposed to RWJ which seems like they have more.


FYI, during my interview day we didn't have a financial aid presentation. We also were not given the opportunity to interview with a student. Maybe it's because I interviewed during "Diversity Day." Who knows.


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Afropolitan said:
Thanks for the information.

NJMS is my state school but it kinda sucks that they don't have too many scholarships as opposed to RWJ which seems like they have more.


FYI, during my interview day we didn't have a financial aid presentation. We also were not given the opportunity to interview with a student. Maybe it's because I interviewed during "Diversity Day." Who knows.


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TBH I found this entire interview day very strange. Not particularly welcoming.
 
ChrisMack390 said:
TBH I found this entire interview day very strange. Not particularly welcoming.
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For NJMS it really depends on who your interviewer is. Some faculty (Dr. Garrett and Dr. Blackwell) are super cool and really understand what questions to ask you and read through your app thoroughly so they can bring up points of interests. But sometimes you can get an out of touch interviewer who is like 40 years behind on the application process. When my buddy interviewed here last year, his interviewer spend the first 20 minutes asking him what the difference between DNA and RNA is, and then asked him some nonsense on explaining transcription. Like really? We took those pre-reqs and the MCAT, and got an interview because out book smarts were deemed good. Why would you waste nearly half an interview asking a question that has nothing to do with an applicant's personality or motivations for being a physician.
 
outkast1 said:
For NJMS it really depends on who your interviewer is. Some faculty (Dr. Garrett and Dr. Blackwell) are super cool and really understand what questions to ask you and read through your app thoroughly so they can bring up points of interests. But sometimes you can get an out of touch interviewer who is like 40 years behind on the application process. When my buddy interviewed here last year, his interviewer spend the first 20 minutes asking him what the difference between DNA and RNA is, and then asked him some nonsense on explaining transcription. Like really? We took those pre-reqs and the MCAT, and got an interview because out book smarts were deemed good. Why would you waste nearly half an interview asking a question that has nothing to do with an applicant's personality or motivations for being a physician.
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My interviewer made me explain transcription, translation, and protein folding.

I have a master's degree in biology and 6 years of cancer and immunology research experience. I got a 131 on the bio section of the MCAT.


BOTH of my interviewers asked me why I didn't write about being a musician in my application. It is one of my 3 most meaningful activities.
 
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ChrisMack390 said:
My interviewer made me explain transcription, translation, and protein folding.

I have a master's degree in biology and 6 years of cancer and immunology research experience. I got a 131 on the bio section of the MCAT.


BOTH of my interviewers asked me why I didn't write about being a musician in my application. It is one of my 3 most meaningful activities.
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Yeah, I've heard this a lot from NJMS particularly. Some of the interviewers are notorious for glancing over the applicant's app for the first time literally minutes before he/she arrives for the interview. One of my good friends got rejected from NJMS last year for not talking about her hobbies enough, despite her putting dancing as one of her three most important activities. When she re-interviewed again this year, her interviewer flat out told her they had made a mistake last year and she should have been accepted and the faculty member reviewing her app and interviewing her did a poor job.
 
outkast1 said:
Yeah, I've heard this a lot from NJMS particularly. Some of the interviewers are notorious for glancing over the applicant's app for the first time literally minutes before he/she arrives for the interview. One of my good friends got rejected from NJMS last year for not talking about her hobbies enough, despite her putting dancing as one of her three most important activities. When she re-interviewed again this year, her interviewer flat out told her they had made a mistake last year and she should have been accepted and the faculty member reviewing her app and interviewing her did a poor job.
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This is ridiculous. Thank God I was spared this misery. I had Dr. Blackwell. One of the coolest interviewers ever!


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My interview was very laid back as well, and my student tour guide was extremely welcoming and friendly. I wasn't asked any science questions at all! However, I read up on medical school interviews before I went in, and it is expected of you to be able to tie your three meaningful activities with your motivation for becoming a physician. Also, a lot of the times people get asked science questions because they may have some research listed in their activities and the interviewers just want to make sure that the applicants weren't exaggerating their extent of involvement.

Also, when the AMCAS asks you to identify three meaningful experiences, they usually mean experiences that confirmed your belief towards pursuing medicine. I grew up playing tennis my whole life, and even played at the collegiate level, but doesn't mean I would pick it as one of my meaningful activities in terms of medicine.
 
ChrisMack390 said:
Oh, strange. We had a woman come into the lunch to tell us about financial aid and such.

She said there are not many scholarships because they don't have much money. There is 1 full scholarship per year and some smaller ones, plus that humanism program.

She said everyone who submits FAFSA is automatically considered for scholarships, but its not a bad idea to shoot an email to the office just to make sure you are all set.
Click to expand...

Not sure if it considered a scholarship, but as an out of state student they offered me in state tuition for the next four years. When dean Heinrich spoke to me about it on the phone (for the acceptance call) it seemed like they made that decision for many of the OOS students they accept. So that's one nice thing about the financial aspect of the school.


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outkast1 said:
Yeah, I've heard this a lot from NJMS particularly. Some of the interviewers are notorious for glancing over the applicant's app for the first time literally minutes before he/she arrives for the interview. One of my good friends got rejected from NJMS last year for not talking about her hobbies enough, despite her putting dancing as one of her three most important activities. When she re-interviewed again this year, her interviewer flat out told her they had made a mistake last year and she should have been accepted and the faculty member reviewing her app and interviewing her did a poor job.
Click to expand...

I interviewed here this past October and was just recently waitlisted and I wish I had known that bad interviewers here were common which I guess is why Dean Heinrich told us to contact him if we had any concerns with the way our interview went. When I walked into the office on the day of the interview, I saw the person who ended up being my interviewer going over my application then and there. It seemed like he didn't really know my app much because he was flipping through it while we were sitting there and picking random things to talk about. Don't get me wrong, that's completely fine with me because i'm more than happy to elaborate on what i've done, but he just seemed *really* uninterested and was even trying to convince me that NJMS wasn't the right school and maybe RWJMS would be a better fit because I was interested in being a clinician and doing research, but NJMS is known for just making clinicians. When I told him NJMS does place a big emphasis on research opportunities for its students and that I was interested in the MD w/thesis path, his response was, "Oh, true." I know some interviewers do this to see how interested we really are in the particular school, but he most definitely did not seem interested in my responses.

He also made some strange comments like assuming my parents may not be okay with "their little girl studying all night" in medical school and questioning how I would pay for medical school (loans like everyone else?!?) because he saw that I was from a disadvantaged background and was fortunate enough to have my undergrad fully funded through scholarships. I think the real icing on the cake was when he told me that interviewers aren't told what the applicant's MCAT score is so he asked me how I did and, despite my attempts at dancing around the exact number, kept pushing until he got the exact number. Looking back, I definitely wish that I had reported how it went because I don't think I really had a real opportunity to show how much I wanted to go to NJMS and why I felt I was a good fit for the school, but it was my first interview so I just went with it.

TL;DR: If you're unhappy with your interview/interviewer, definitely let Dean Heinrich know!
 
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MDreams123 said:
I interviewed here this past October and was just recently waitlisted and I wish I had known that bad interviewers here were common which I guess is why Dean Heinrich told us to contact him if we had any concerns with the way our interview went. When I walked into the office on the day of the interview, I saw the person who ended up being my interviewer going over my application then and there. It seemed like he didn't really know my app much because he was flipping through it while we were sitting there and picking random things to talk about. Don't get me wrong, that's completely fine with me because i'm more than happy to elaborate on what i've done, but he just seemed *really* uninterested and was even trying to convince me that NJMS wasn't the right school and maybe RWJMS would be a better fit because I was interested in being a clinician and doing research, but NJMS is known for just making clinicians. When I told him NJMS does place a big emphasis on research opportunities for its students and that I was interested in the MD w/thesis path, his response was, "Oh, true." I know some interviewers do this to see how interested we really are in the particular school, but he most definitely did not seem interested in my responses.

He also made some strange comments like assuming my parents may not be okay with "their little girl studying all night" in medical school and questioning how I would pay for medical school (loans like everyone else?!?) because he saw that I was from a disadvantaged background and was fortunate enough to have my undergrad fully funded through scholarships. I think the real icing on the cake was when he told me that interviewers aren't told what the applicant's MCAT score is so he asked me how I did and, despite my attempts at dancing around the exact number, kept pushing until he got the exact number. Looking back, I definitely wish that I had reported how it went because I don't think I really had a real opportunity to show how much I wanted to go to NJMS and why I felt I was a good fit for the school, but it was my first interview so I just went with it.

TL;DR: If you're unhappy with your interview/interviewer, definitely let Dean Heinrich know!
Click to expand...

This sounds rough and I'm sorry you had to experience this. They really should vet interviewers.

I thought NJMS was open file. My interviewer literally had my AMCAS application right in front of me and was flipping through it as we talked.
 
MDreams123 said:
I interviewed here this past October and was just recently waitlisted and I wish I had known that bad interviewers here were common which I guess is why Dean Heinrich told us to contact him if we had any concerns with the way our interview went. When I walked into the office on the day of the interview, I saw the person who ended up being my interviewer going over my application then and there. It seemed like he didn't really know my app much because he was flipping through it while we were sitting there and picking random things to talk about. Don't get me wrong, that's completely fine with me because i'm more than happy to elaborate on what i've done, but he just seemed *really* uninterested and was even trying to convince me that NJMS wasn't the right school and maybe RWJMS would be a better fit because I was interested in being a clinician and doing research, but NJMS is known for just making clinicians. When I told him NJMS does place a big emphasis on research opportunities for its students and that I was interested in the MD w/thesis path, his response was, "Oh, true." I know some interviewers do this to see how interested we really are in the particular school, but he most definitely did not seem interested in my responses.

He also made some strange comments like assuming my parents may not be okay with "their little girl studying all night" in medical school and questioning how I would pay for medical school (loans like everyone else?!?) because he saw that I was from a disadvantaged background and was fortunate enough to have my undergrad fully funded through scholarships. I think the real icing on the cake was when he told me that interviewers aren't told what the applicant's MCAT score is so he asked me how I did and, despite my attempts at dancing around the exact number, kept pushing until he got the exact number. Looking back, I definitely wish that I had reported how it went because I don't think I really had a real opportunity to show how much I wanted to go to NJMS and why I felt I was a good fit for the school, but it was my first interview so I just went with it.

TL;DR: If you're unhappy with your interview/interviewer, definitely let Dean Heinrich know!
Click to expand...

That's funny about the research/clinician thing because my interviewer spent an uncomfortable amount of time talking about research and how I should have applied MD-PhD.
 
MDreams123 said:
I interviewed here this past October and was just recently waitlisted and I wish I had known that bad interviewers here were common which I guess is why Dean Heinrich told us to contact him if we had any concerns with the way our interview went. When I walked into the office on the day of the interview, I saw the person who ended up being my interviewer going over my application then and there. It seemed like he didn't really know my app much because he was flipping through it while we were sitting there and picking random things to talk about. Don't get me wrong, that's completely fine with me because i'm more than happy to elaborate on what i've done, but he just seemed *really* uninterested and was even trying to convince me that NJMS wasn't the right school and maybe RWJMS would be a better fit because I was interested in being a clinician and doing research, but NJMS is known for just making clinicians. When I told him NJMS does place a big emphasis on research opportunities for its students and that I was interested in the MD w/thesis path, his response was, "Oh, true." I know some interviewers do this to see how interested we really are in the particular school, but he most definitely did not seem interested in my responses.

He also made some strange comments like assuming my parents may not be okay with "their little girl studying all night" in medical school and questioning how I would pay for medical school (loans like everyone else?!?) because he saw that I was from a disadvantaged background and was fortunate enough to have my undergrad fully funded through scholarships. I think the real icing on the cake was when he told me that interviewers aren't told what the applicant's MCAT score is so he asked me how I did and, despite my attempts at dancing around the exact number, kept pushing until he got the exact number. Looking back, I definitely wish that I had reported how it went because I don't think I really had a real opportunity to show how much I wanted to go to NJMS and why I felt I was a good fit for the school, but it was my first interview so I just went with it.

TL;DR: If you're unhappy with your interview/interviewer, definitely let Dean Heinrich know!
Click to expand...
I 100% had the same interviewer as you and I actually thought it went very well. Granted I haven't heard back yet but my experience was definitely positive. He was doing the same thing flipping through it when I arrived but he knew my application very well. Also the point he was making about your parents not being okay with you studying was that the majority of students are from around the area of NJMS so he makes everyone promise not to live home. He added that he is of the belief that it's difficult for parents to understand the workload that is required to do well and I don't disagree with him. It didn't come off as odd to me at all. We were also able to connect on a few of my ECs and hobbies so that may have made a difference. We discussed research pretty in depth as the area I am currently working as a research assistant in is strong at NJMS.

But I do have to agree when I spoke to Dean Rivero and my student interviewer (who also had this interviewer when they applied) asked how it went so clearly this is a bit of a common problem. He's been at the school for something like 35 years so he's apparently pretty well-respected there. I could definitely see how his attitude could rub others the wrong way.
 
Afropolitan said:
This sounds rough and I'm sorry you had to experience this. They really should vet interviewers.

I thought NJMS was open file. My interviewer literally had my AMCAS application right in front of me and was flipping through it as we talked.
Click to expand...

Yup it is open file and my interviewer had my application in front of him too, but it seemed like he wasn't really too familiar with it when we actually sat down for the interview. I didn't really mind that except for the fact that he seemed kind of uninterested in anything I had to say except when asking about my research which he then tried to use as a reason that NJMS wouldn't be the best place for me.
 
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TightLines22 said:
I 100% had the same interviewer as you and I actually thought it went very well. Granted I haven't heard back yet but my experience was definitely positive. He was doing the same thing flipping through it when I arrived but he knew my application very well. Also the point he was making about your parents not being okay with you studying was that the majority of students are from around the area of NJMS so he makes everyone promise not to live home. He added that he is of the belief that it's difficult for parents to understand the workload that is required to do well and I don't disagree with him. It didn't come off as odd to me at all. We were also able to connect on a few of my ECs and hobbies so that may have made a difference. We discussed research pretty in depth as the area I am currently working as a research assistant in is strong at NJMS.

But I do have to agree when I spoke to Dean Rivero and my student interviewer (who also had this interviewer when they applied) asked how it went so clearly this is a bit of a common problem. He's been at the school for something like 35 years so he's apparently pretty well-respected there. I could definitely see how his attitude could rub others the wrong way.
Click to expand...

+1 on that as well, this most definitely sounds like the faculty member who interviewed me! I ended up getting accepted and it was my first interview so I was very pleased but I can see how it might have been odd thinking back at it! No complaints here though, he was very nice to me but I get where you guys are coming from haha.
 
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did anyone have a dude named dr.modak? very tough science questions from him about protein folding/genetics/molecular biology
 
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TightLines22 said:
I 100% had the same interviewer as you and I actually thought it went very well. Granted I haven't heard back yet but my experience was definitely positive. He was doing the same thing flipping through it when I arrived but he knew my application very well. Also the point he was making about your parents not being okay with you studying was that the majority of students are from around the area of NJMS so he makes everyone promise not to live home. He added that he is of the belief that it's difficult for parents to understand the workload that is required to do well and I don't disagree with him. It didn't come off as odd to me at all. We were also able to connect on a few of my ECs and hobbies so that may have made a difference. We discussed research pretty in depth as the area I am currently working as a research assistant in is strong at NJMS.

But I do have to agree when I spoke to Dean Rivero and my student interviewer (who also had this interviewer when they applied) asked how it went so clearly this is a bit of a common problem. He's been at the school for something like 35 years so he's apparently pretty well-respected there. I could definitely see how his attitude could rub others the wrong way.
Click to expand...

It sounds like we did! I completely agree with you because he was a really nice man and a laid-back interviewer so I don't think that he said these things with any bad intent. I thought the rest of our interview was pretty interesting because we talked a lot about Obamacare and rural medicine, but comparing it to some of my other interviews, I didn't really have the chance to talk about myself or my interest in NJMS. I did get waitlisted so i'm glad he saw me as a potential student regardless of not really being able to talk about those things.

Good luck to you though! I hope you get some good news!! :)
 
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MDreams123 said:
It sounds like we did! I completely agree with you because he was a really nice man and a laid-back interviewer so I don't think that he said these things with any bad intent. I thought the rest of our interview was pretty interesting because we talked a lot about Obamacare and rural medicine, but comparing it to some of my other interviews, I didn't really have the chance to talk about myself or my interest in NJMS. I did get waitlisted so i'm glad he saw me as a potential student regardless of not really being able to talk about those things.

Good luck to you though! I hope you get some good news!! :)
Click to expand...

Yup we talked about both of those sounds like ours went very very similarly. Thanks and good luck to you too!
 
II just now...complete the ides of august uhhhhhh also dates available all of december as early as dec 5th....v excited :)))
 
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MDreams123 said:
I interviewed here this past October and was just recently waitlisted and I wish I had known that bad interviewers here were common which I guess is why Dean Heinrich told us to contact him if we had any concerns with the way our interview went. When I walked into the office on the day of the interview, I saw the person who ended up being my interviewer going over my application then and there. It seemed like he didn't really know my app much because he was flipping through it while we were sitting there and picking random things to talk about. Don't get me wrong, that's completely fine with me because i'm more than happy to elaborate on what i've done, but he just seemed *really* uninterested and was even trying to convince me that NJMS wasn't the right school and maybe RWJMS would be a better fit because I was interested in being a clinician and doing research, but NJMS is known for just making clinicians. When I told him NJMS does place a big emphasis on research opportunities for its students and that I was interested in the MD w/thesis path, his response was, "Oh, true." I know some interviewers do this to see how interested we really are in the particular school, but he most definitely did not seem interested in my responses.

He also made some strange comments like assuming my parents may not be okay with "their little girl studying all night" in medical school and questioning how I would pay for medical school (loans like everyone else?!?) because he saw that I was from a disadvantaged background and was fortunate enough to have my undergrad fully funded through scholarships. I think the real icing on the cake was when he told me that interviewers aren't told what the applicant's MCAT score is so he asked me how I did and, despite my attempts at dancing around the exact number, kept pushing until he got the exact number. Looking back, I definitely wish that I had reported how it went because I don't think I really had a real opportunity to show how much I wanted to go to NJMS and why I felt I was a good fit for the school, but it was my first interview so I just went with it.

TL;DR: If you're unhappy with your interview/interviewer, definitely let Dean Heinrich know!
Click to expand...



We had the same interviewer as well!! I felt that it was decent. He did ask me about some of my hobbies but I felt it was rushed in the sense that he only glossed over the easiest hobby (sports). Afterwards we went straight into questions about medicine, where I saw myself in 10, obamacare, etc. I didn't feel like it was bad but I also didn't feel great. I was just alright with it. I think it went on the better side of alright tho haha. He also made me promise to live on campus and made the parents not understanding comment. Good luck :)
 
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Has anyone that interviewed the week of 10/24 heard back?
 
II today. Complete 9/3, non-trad, OOS but recent resident. Kind of shocked to hear about the science-based interview questions. Time to brush up on that MCAT Bio...
 
shouldn't there be some kind of time frame for interviewers to give their evaluation? The difference in some of these waits is insane.
 
Premedgirl9425 said:
shouldn't there be some kind of time frame for interviewers to give their evaluation? The difference in some of these waits is insane.
Click to expand...

I'd hope so. I just can't see a world in which they don't have a time frame. I can't believe some people have been waiting for nearly 3 months now. I'm only 6 weeks in and I'm getting anxious. My heart skips a beat at every email ding on my phone and does the same when I get any call at night from an unknown number lol. I wonder what is the method of choosing which applications to review.
 
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Froggy25 said:
II today. Complete 9/3, non-trad, OOS but recent resident. Kind of shocked to hear about the science-based interview questions. Time to brush up on that MCAT Bio...
Click to expand...

I didn't have any science based questions. My whole interview consisted of a very personal conversation about my motives and my background. I would not worry at all.
 
Have any GSBS students that meet the guaranteed interview requirements been invited for an interview? I still haven't heard anything back and I was complete mid July. I'm considering writing a letter of intent and letting them know NJMS is my top choice for school since being part of the GSBS program.
 
If I scheduled an interview and decide to withdraw how do I do so? Also will withdrawing from an interview look poorly on me for other school?
 
outkast1 said:
Have any GSBS students that meet the guaranteed interview requirements been invited for an interview? I still haven't heard anything back and I was complete mid July. I'm considering writing a letter of intent and letting them know NJMS is my top choice for school since being part of the GSBS program.
Click to expand...

what are the guaranteed interview requirements?
 
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