2018-2019 SUNY - Downstate

[gyngyn]

Space Reserved for prompt.

Please post the essays or lack thereof (in addition to word or character counts) in this thread and tag one of the pre-allo mods (WedgeDawg, Ismet, Lucca, or gyngyn) so we can update the OP.

Good luck to everyone applying!

Interview Feedback: SUNY - Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine (Brooklyn)

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[road-to-MD-123]

secondary received

 

[medschoolzombie]

secondary received

prompts?

 

[Mr. Peanutbutter]

There's an issue with the secondary. I just called and they're going to fix it ASAP in case anyone is having difficulty accessing it!

 

[Unlimited Apps]

prompts?

Lol good to see you on this thread too!
+1 secondary received.

 

[swededoc]

There's an issue with the secondary. I just called and they're going to fix it ASAP in case anyone is having difficulty accessing it!

+1 for receiving secondary but not being able to log in!

 

[medschoolzombie]

Lol good to see you on this thread too!
+1 secondary received.

Lol man. I feel like we're on every thread together

 

[tobrittany]

I am able to log in now!

 

[Unlimited Apps]

Love how minimal this secondary application is!

On a separate note, does anyone know if they favor OOS applicants with a connection to NY (undergrad in NY)?

 

[ginsengreset]

Love how minimal this secondary application is!

On a separate note, does anyone know if they favor OOS applicants with a connection to NY (undergrad in NY)?

What are the prompts? Same as last year?

 

[Unlimited Apps]

What are the prompts? Same as last year?

Yea, same as last year.

 

[initialize]

Are we able to access the secondary now? The last email I got said don’t attempt opening the secondary until they send another email out saying it’s fixed.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Pharaoh95]

So they tell you in the secondary to list three LOR's max, but because there was no maximum listed on MSAR or their website, I sent six. I guess I'll just list the three that I want them to read?

 

[jj_Sharp2]

Regarding this question:

If you are not from the 5 boroughs of New York City, describe what personal, urban experiences prepare you to live and study in New York City, and what will be your personal support system. (Limit 150 words)

If I am not originally from NYC but have lived there for the past year, do I still have to answer this question?

 

[ginsengreset]

Regarding this question:

If you are not from the 5 boroughs of New York City, describe what personal, urban experiences prepare you to live and study in New York City, and what will be your personal support system. (Limit 150 words)

If I am not originally from NYC but have lived there for the past year, do I still have to answer this question?

I don't think living there for 1 year counts as being "from" NYC. FWIW, I'm not from NYC either, but went to college there and answered this prompt.

 

[kassagank]

-this was sent around noon today and have not received the follow up email to start the secondary yet, Idk if I should submit tonight

"Thank you for your interest in SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. We are sending email to inform you that we are experiencing some technical issues with supplemental application site and our IT department is currently working on a solution.


Please do not attempt to access the secondary application at this time. Our office will be sending out another communication once the issue has been resolved.


We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you."

 

[theKingLT]

Regarding this question:

If you are not from the 5 boroughs of New York City, describe what personal, urban experiences prepare you to live and study in New York City, and what will be your personal support system. (Limit 150 words)

If I am not originally from NYC but have lived there for the past year, do I still have to answer this question?

I would. Just answer the question describing this past year and basically just say you're going to keep doing the same things in med school (assuming you've been thriving for the past year, not struggling)

 

[initialize]

I submitted my app yesterday.. do you think this is fine considering they didn’t send out another email? I never ran into any problems on the secondary.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[kassagank]

just got email from SUNY secondaries are active and can be completed now

 

[A27]

Secondary completed, praying for some love from my state school *_*

 

[itsalwayssunny96]

So on the prerequisites' page, it says:
If a prerequisite was divided into separate lecture and lab, list each separately.

I took a General Chemistry course that had the lecture and lab combined into one course and lab was technically 0 credits and lecture was 4. What we got in lab though made up a fraction of what our final grades were. Should I just put 0 credits and a grade of an A which is what I got in the lab? It just seems odd to say I earned a grade but got no credit for it because it's not really true. Or maybe my specific Gen Chem course doesn't fit into this requirement? What do you guys think?

 

[futuredoc1297]

So on the prerequisites' page, it says:
If a prerequisite was divided into separate lecture and lab, list each separately.

I took a General Chemistry course that had the lecture and lab combined into one course and lab was technically 0 credits and lecture was 4. What we got in lab though made up a fraction of what our final grades were. Should I just put 0 credits and a grade of an A which is what I got in the lab? It just seems odd to say I earned a grade but got no credit for it because it's not really true. Or maybe my specific Gen Chem course doesn't fit into this requirement? What do you guys think?

I think that since the course wasn't separated into a lab component independent from the lecture component (i.e. even though your lab grade mattered for your overall grade, there is no 'lab' on your transcript) you would just list it as one four-credit course with whatever grade you received.

 

[Pharaoh95]

So what’s up with the whole payment process. Do we just have to keep checking the portal to see if it updates?

 

[itsalwayssunny96]

I think that since the course wasn't separated into a lab component independent from the lecture component (i.e. even though your lab grade mattered for your overall grade, there is no 'lab' on your transcript) you would just list it as one four-credit course with whatever grade you received.

Ok thank you!

 

[liutimot]

Hello,

I have one question regarding undergrad requirement. I am a US citizen who is pursuing undergrad at the University of Toronto in Canada.
I called the other day to SUNY Downstate but apparently they said I needed to submit foreign transcript to World Education Services to validate, and SUNY Downstate wouldn't consider my GPA but will look at other credentials such as MCAT, ECs, LOR etc. I feel there is a misalignment between me and the guy on the phone. I have always been under the presumption that Canadian undergrad is equivalent to US undergrad.

My understanding is that AMCAS verified my transcript and the verified primary had all the grades listed. I would assume "foreign" means non US or non Canada. Am I getting this assumption correct?

Also on SUNY Downstate's website it says "You must have completed at least 90 semester credits of study from a college or university accredited by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) regional accreditation association (e.g., Middle States Association for Colleges and Schools). Admissions preference is given to applicants who have earned, or will have earned, a bachelor degree in a regionally accredited college or university."

Is there a way to see how Canadian undergraduate degree is accredited in the eyes of US adcom?

 

[thinklikeaproton2019]

"If you have a specific reason why you wish to attend SUNY Downstate or a medical school in New York City, please explain. (Limit 150 words)
If this question does not apply to you, enter "not applicable" in the text box below."

Are you all treating this as a why SUNY downstate question like all other why X school secondaries? Or are you focusing more on why you would want to go to school in NYC?

 

[theKingLT]

"If you have a specific reason why you wish to attend SUNY Downstate or a medical school in New York City, please explain. (Limit 150 words)
If this question does not apply to you, enter "not applicable" in the text box below."

Are you all treating this as a why SUNY downstate question like all other why X school secondaries? Or are you focusing more on why you would want to go to school in NYC?

I am treating it as a more reasonable version of why X school questions, meaning they want to see you've done your research and know what the school is about, but you don't have to limit yourself to answers that couldn't fly elsewhere in the region. In other words you an include both, SUNY specific and NYC specific

 

[Negolas24]

Is anyone else having problems paying?

 

[hastey]

This might be a super specific unrelatable question, but I haven't been able to find a concrete answer even after calling the office. Does anyone know? :OO
For UC Berkeley applicants or other undergrad colleges that only have 1 semester of Gen Chem required, which of the following for listing coursework is more correct?
1) General Chemistry: my 1 sem. General Chemistry + 1 sem. Biochemistry
Organic Chemistry: my 2 sem. of Organic Chemistry

2) General Chemistry: my 1 sem. of General Chemistry + first sem. of Organic Chemistry
Organic Chemistry: my second sem. of Organic Chemistry + 1 sem. of Biochemistry
(for some reason I recall people at Cal saying to do option 2, but option 1 seems to make more sense)

 

[theKingLT]

This might be a super specific unrelatable question, but I haven't been able to find a concrete answer even after calling the office. Does anyone know? :OO
For UC Berkeley applicants or other undergrad colleges that only have 1 semester of Gen Chem required, which of the following for listing coursework is more correct?
1) General Chemistry: my 1 sem. General Chemistry + 1 sem. Biochemistry
Organic Chemistry: my 2 sem. of Organic Chemistry

2) General Chemistry: my 1 sem. of General Chemistry + first sem. of Organic Chemistry
Organic Chemistry: my second sem. of Organic Chemistry + 1 sem. of Biochemistry
(for some reason I recall people at Cal saying to do option 2, but option 1 seems to make more sense)

I can't answer your question definitively, but I would agree with option 2 content wise because ochem 1 is closer to gen chem than biochem is. I doubt it really makes a difference though

 

[hastey]

I can't answer your question definitively, but I would agree with option 2 content wise because ochem 1 is closer to gen chem than biochem is. I doubt it really makes a difference though

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[DameJulie]

Regarding this question:

If you are not from the 5 boroughs of New York City, describe what personal, urban experiences prepare you to live and study in New York City, and what will be your personal support system. (Limit 150 words)

If I am not originally from NYC but have lived there for the past year, do I still have to answer this question?

How should we approach this question if we aren't from an urban environment? Most of my living experiences have been rural or suburban (college). No ties to NYC neither

 

[sensati0n]

Alright I think I'm stupid--when they say "as of September 15", do they mean what we have done since September of 2017 or what we will do after September 2018?

 

[theKingLT]

Alright I think I'm stupid--when they say "as of September 15", do they mean what we have done since September of 2017 or what we will do after September 2018?

The section is titled post sep 15th plans so I'm 99% certain they're asking about what you plan to be doing this coming year

 

[wobwob59]

Is there a question in the secondary application asking whether you're a NYS resident? I had a friend ask me that question but I honestly can't remember anymore.

 

[medschoolzombie]

So what’s up with the whole payment process. Do we just have to keep checking the portal to see if it updates?

Does your portal also keep telling you to pay now?

 

[deleted783484]

Regarding the LOR "Institutional Affiliation" refers to the school the writer is affiliated with? What if the writer is not affiliated with any institution?

 

[csmmmm]

This was one of the first secondaries I completed ..Anyone hear of any interviews yet?

 

[NinjasAtMyDoor]

This was one of the first secondaries I completed ..Anyone hear of any interviews yet?

As per their website: "Interviews are scheduled beginning after Labor Day and continue into the first half of the spring semester. We schedule interviews Mondays–Thursdays."
So we gotta wait a while.

 

[osalas]

For the question "If you are not attending college full time as of September 15, please describe your activities for the period September 15 to July 1."

Do they want us to state what we will be doing starting this coming September 15th?

 

[theKingLT]

For the question "If you are not attending college full time as of September 15, please describe your activities for the period September 15 to July 1."

Do they want us to state what we will be doing starting this coming September 15th?

Yes

 

[Pharaoh95]

Does your portal also keep telling you to pay now?

This is what my portal currently says: "Your Online Supplemental has been completed and your payment has been made. Your Online Supplemental has been submitted to the Office of Admissions for further processing." I also got an email stating that my app was complete.

 

[kpcm]

Does this school screen? My primary was verified 2 weeks ago and still no secondary.

 

[sachin123]

Anyone else receive the "Application incomplete, no supplemental" email?

 

[premedalt]

Anyone else receive the "Application incomplete, no supplemental" email?

I got it too

 

[sachin123]

"If you have a specific reason why you wish to attend SUNY Downstate or a medical school in New York City, please explain. "
is this question asking why suny downstate or why NYC?

 

[this is_a foreground]

"If you have a specific reason why you wish to attend SUNY Downstate or a medical school in New York City, please explain. "
is this question asking why suny downstate or why NYC?

I interpreted it as both, and because I had personal reasons for both, answered in this way

 

[sachin123]

I interpreted it as both, and because I had personal reasons for both, answered in this way

Yup, thats how I answered it last cycle

 

[sachin123]

Downstate says to only send 3 letters and designate any others as “ no longer being sent” Anyone know how to do that?

 

[medschoolzombie]

Downstate says to only send 3 letters and designate any others as “ no longer being sent” Anyone know how to do that?

Aw man. And here I was hoping they would do it for me.

Any idea if that’s means 3 total or a committee letter plus more