2017-2018 Texas A&M Health Science Center

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I'd love to learn more about the scoring, if there's any information out there, and whether admissions see it as "We will only consider students who pass X threshold" or "Student A scored 4 points above X threshold, but Student B scored 20 points above X threshold, so we'll consider Student B more seriously."
They don't release the score to you. similar to a letter of recommendation that you don't get to read.

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I'd love to learn more about the scoring, if there's any information out there, and whether admissions see it as "We will only consider students who pass X threshold" or "Student A scored 4 points above X threshold, but Student B scored 20 points above X threshold, so we'll consider Student B more seriously."

If I had to guess, the high stat applicants will still tend to do well and the low stat applicants won't, regardless of CASPer. Where it will come into play is for qualified applicants around the school mean. There are far more of those applicants than the school can interview, so CASPer offers some sort of objective measure to distinguish between them.

With that said, I highly doubt CASPer will be given much weight the first few cycles. Presumably the school wants to be sure a CASPer score correlates with some desirable trait before the school starts relying on it in its decision making.
 
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How closely should we follow the character limit for the secondary responses? Does it look bad if our responses are ~2000 chars instead of 3500?
 
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How closely should we follow the character limit for the secondary responses? Does it look bad if our responses are ~2000 chars instead of 3500?

In short, no.
 
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I've taken the CASPer before. It's really not too bad, but ethical based questions. Nothing you can study for!

I really hope so, but I've heard mixed thoughts on the difficulty of the test. I'm not sure what to believe.

Taking the test on the 28th! Who else is taking the test then?
 
I really hope so, but I've heard mixed thoughts on the difficulty of the test. I'm not sure what to believe.

Taking the test on the 28th! Who else is taking the test then?
I have never taken the test either. If you don't mind me asking, are you planning on taking your test at a testing center?
 
I have never taken the test either. If you don't mind me asking, are you planning on taking your test at a testing center?
I didn't think CASPER was too hard. I did it for some OOS schools and I got interviews (that I didn't attend). It's lots of ethical scenarios and they're looking at how you would respond. You take it on your computer. No need for a test center. And the CASPER website has a practice exam (shorter), but it gives you an example.

I'm a recently accepted student here. Happy to share my experiences (though I didn't have to do CASPER for Texas A&M).
 
I didn't think CASPER was too hard. I did it for some OOS schools and I got interviews (that I didn't attend). It's lots of ethical scenarios and they're looking at how you would respond. You take it on your computer. No need for a test center. And the CASPER website has a practice exam (shorter), but it gives you an example.

I'm a recently accepted student here. Happy to share my experiences (though I didn't have to do CASPER for Texas A&M).
I've read here and there that there were technical difficulties, causing some students to have to retake their CASPer at a later date. Did you experience anything like this?
 
I've read here and there that there were technical difficulties, causing some students to have to retake their CASPer at a later date. Did you experience anything like this?
Hmmm. I don't think I personally did.
 
I just did the practice CASPer. Seems pretty straight forward. The hardest part is dividing your five minutes properly across the three questions.
 
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For the OPTIONAL question, what does the question mean by "Area"? Like specialty? Or is it more broad where we can talk about research, public health, etc?
 
I didn't think CASPER was too hard. I did it for some OOS schools and I got interviews (that I didn't attend). It's lots of ethical scenarios and they're looking at how you would respond. You take it on your computer. No need for a test center. And the CASPER website has a practice exam (shorter), but it gives you an example.

I'm a recently accepted student here. Happy to share my experiences (though I didn't have to do CASPER for Texas A&M).

Thank you so much for answering questions. It is always nice to get to speak with students. Congratulations on getting accepted hopefully we will be joining you shortly! Thanks for the advice about the CASPER practice I will for sure use that to practice.
How were your interviews at A&M compared to other places if you don't mind me asking? I'm a reapplicant and interviewed at A&M last year and enjoyed it but am wondering what you thought about it compared to others.
 
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Hmm. I actually enjoyed this one, UTHSCSA and El Paso. They were all super chill and I loved the student atmosphere. It was hard to decide. I ranked here first and I am glad I did, because I have already met great classmates and upperclassmen and I know I made the right choice for me.
 
I didn't think CASPER was too hard. I did it for some OOS schools and I got interviews (that I didn't attend). It's lots of ethical scenarios and they're looking at how you would respond. You take it on your computer. No need for a test center. And the CASPER website has a practice exam (shorter), but it gives you an example.

I'm a recently accepted student here. Happy to share my experiences (though I didn't have to do CASPER for Texas A&M).

do you know how CASPer will be used this year?
 
I tried the sample casper test and it doesn't seem so bad, but I've heard that the real test is much harder??
 
I tried the sample casper test and it doesn't seem so bad, but I've heard that the real test is much harder??
I didn't think it was much harder when I took it, it's just much longer. I have no idea how they are going to use it, since it is their first year with it. It's just another metric that they look at. Try not to freak out too much. So far, meeting my classmates, I feel like we are all diverse in our set of skills, careers, age, etc. I feel like Texas A&M goes out of it's way to get a great diverse student body, so they just want to know as much about you as they can.
 
I didn't think it was much harder when I took it, it's just much longer. I have no idea how they are going to use it, since it is their first year with it. It's just another metric that they look at. Try not to freak out too much. So far, meeting my classmates, I feel like we are all diverse in our set of skills, careers, age, etc. I feel like Texas A&M goes out of it's way to get a great diverse student body, so they just want to know as much about you as they can.

Ok thanks.
 
Yeah finished Casper as well. Fingers were flying through the whole things. Skipped the break.
 
Just took it too! The process was very smooth. Only a few questions were related to medicine. I skipped the break too... Unlike the MCAT, it seemed to go by pretty quickly!
 
Just took the casper. Wasn't bad at all :)

Glad to hear it went well for you. Which version of the test did you have?

It was rough !!!!! I thought the test was MUCH harder than the sample test they have posted. I ran out of time on almost all the questions and I do not consider myself a slow typer. :(
 
Glad the test went well for some of you guys! Hope to see you on the interview trail soon!
 
For the optional question, does it look bad if I write both Primary Care and Neurology as my areas of interest in medicine?
 
For the optional question, does it look bad if I write both Primary Care and Neurology as my areas of interest in medicine?

No. Unless you're only writing primary care because you think A&M is a primary care school and you think saying it will get you accepted. Otherwise, people are allowed to have varied interests
 
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Do we have to wait for an email to sign up for CASPer or can we go ahead and do it after submitting our secondary?
 
Do we have to wait for an email to sign up for CASPer or can we go ahead and do it after submitting our secondary?

Apparently takes a few weeks to be scored from what I've seen on SDN. Probably should get on it asap
 
If I haven't taken stats are my chances shot? Or could I take it senior year
How Do I Apply?
Check out the admission requirements. It's on there, so you're going to have to take it prior to matriculation. You can take it during the application cycle, either Fall or Spring Semester, but you do have to take it before you start school. They need to see it in your transcript at some point.
 
Because they are making us do this CASPER test this year do you think it will delay II for A&M compared to previous years? This is the only school in Texas that I am aware of that is using it.
 
Because they are making us do this CASPER test this year do you think it will delay II for A&M compared to previous years? This is the only school in Texas that I am aware of that is using it.

yes most likely. casper said it takes them 3 weeks to send scores to schools so thats why it is probably best to get it done asap
 
yes most likely. casper said it takes them 3 weeks to send scores to schools so thats why it is probably best to get it done asap

Ah so we are in for a long waiting period. I just did mine today. There were so few dates we could choose from.
 
yes most likely. casper said it takes them 3 weeks to send scores to schools so thats why it is probably best to get it done asap
Hmm... So does this mean that for those who took the CASPER test on 6/28, they can expect to hear back from the school sometime next week regarding IIs?
 
Hmm... So does this mean that for those who took the CASPER test on 6/28, they can expect to hear back from the school sometime next week regarding IIs?
You can't assume anything regarding the timing of interview invitations, because there is so much more to the process of reading and assessing applications than the date they were submitted. This is the first year A&M is using CASPer as part of the process. Will they use it as part of their screen to decide whom to interview, or will they use it as one more piece of information to decide whom to accept later on in the process? We don't know at this point.
Being complete with all your components early will help your application be ready for full consideration, though, and it's a good thing because it shows that you are focused and a planner, not a procrastinator.
 
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Congrats! If you don't mind, could you share your stats/timeline? :)

LizzyM ~74 (but A&M specifically states that they look more holistically at your application than just GPA/MCAT). Bilingual. Secondary submitted late May, CASPer finished 6/28.
 
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Has anyone called to ask if interview invites will only be extended once the applicant has completed CASPer?
 
Has anyone called to ask if interview invites will only be extended once the applicant has completed CASPer?
I asked- I was told that application will not be reviewed until it is completed- which included CASPer
 
Congrats! Did you get an email or a phone call?

Hi! I applied last year, and got waitlisted but did not get admitted. When I heard about my II it was through an email where they asked me to confirm a date.
 
I asked- I was told that application will not be reviewed until it is completed- which included CASPer
I called and they said that as long as I'm registered for CASPER they will consider me for an interview (assuming I already submitted my secondary)
 
I called and they said that as long as I'm registered for CASPER they will consider me for an interview (assuming I already submitted my secondary)

Weird! Maybe I just talked to someone who didn't know? I'll call again
 
Weird! Maybe I just talked to someone who didn't know? I'll call again

My CASPer wasn't supposed to be processed until next week and they offered me an interview. I'm guessing it will only affect this first weekend of interviews.
 
Has anyone received an II recently?
 
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