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Gentle_Scientist said:
I'm not sure what point you're attempting tp make because neither of those posts has anything to do with my question about the particular dates of interview invites wrt what is being posted online.

Also I'm relaxed, but I'm not sure why you're so pressed right now about me asking a question. If they don't want to answer it, they just....won't lol

Regardless, I really have no interest in debating you on here about the merits of a 3-sentence question that doesn't require much acuity to answer. Have a good day, bud.
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Why adcom should be asked to verify/provide an opinion on information posted on a 3rd party site?
Gentle_Scientist said:
Is it safe to disregard these as false information since we are still mid-August?
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What would be unsafe to regard these as true information?
no more debate on this topic, peace.
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CWRU.Sman said:
This question is pretty broad and we see a wide range of topics discussed. I think what your are proposing is fine and also discuss how it affected you personally. I've seen essay responses where the writer talks about a situation involving others but doesn't mention how it impacted them and that's when they miss the mark. Make sense?
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Perfect sense! Thank you!
 
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Gentle_Scientist said:
Hi @CWRU.Sman, I recall that Case Western is not planning to offer interviews until the end of this month at the earliest. There is an interview tracker floating around in which several entries say Case Western. Is it safe to disregard these as false information since we are still mid-August?
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An interview tracker? Oh boy..... Please don't believe this kind of stuff. None of our CWRU programs have put out any interview invitations yet. Has the U of Michigan put out interview invites? Yes, they posted it on social media. I'd say that's a pretty reliable source.

Also, following some kind of interview tracker (which we now know has bad data) is going to cause even more anxiety about this process. Listen, it's already stressful enough so don't create additional unnecessary stress by following something like this. If the last few months have reinforced anything, it is that there are so many things out of our control. We need to focus our energy on what we do have control over.

Interview tracker = :thumbdown:
 
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CWRU.Sman said:
An interview tracker? Oh boy..... Please don't believe this kind of stuff. None of our CWRU programs have put out any interview invitations yet. Has the U of Michigan put out interview invites? Yes, they posted it on social media. I'd say that's a pretty reliable source.

Also, following some kind of interview tracker (which we now know has bad data) is going to cause even more anxiety about this process. Listen, it's already stressful enough so don't create additional unnecessary stress by following something like this. If the last few months have reenforced anything, it is that there are so many things out of our control. We need to focus our energy on what we do have control over.

Interview tracker = :thumbdown:
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damn I kinda want to apply to CWr just because they actually communicate to applicants well
 
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joshuamarcus said:
damn I kinda want to apply to CWr just because they actually communicate to applicants well
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+1
I am reapplying after an unsuccessful cycle. Even though Case is a reach for me, it was an easy decision to send them my application because of the professionalism @CWRU.Sman and their entire Admissions Committee show. I have friends at Case right now and they only ever have great comments about the school. I truly believe if every medical school was like Case applicant anxiety and stress would drastically go down.

Thank you for the advice and kind words Mr. Essman, they go a long way!
 
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CWRU.Sman said:
An interview tracker? Oh boy..... Please don't believe this kind of stuff. None of our CWRU programs have put out any interview invitations yet. Has the U of Michigan put out interview invites? Yes, they posted it on social media. I'd say that's a pretty reliable source.

Also, following some kind of interview tracker (which we now know has bad data) is going to cause even more anxiety about this process. Listen, it's already stressful enough so don't create additional unnecessary stress by following something like this. If the last few months have reinforced anything, it is that there are so many things out of our control. We need to focus our energy on what we do have control over.

Interview tracker = :thumbdown:
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Thank you for this great, encouraging reply!!!
 
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Maurelius_ said:
+1
I am reapplying after an unsuccessful cycle. Even though Case is a reach for me, it was an easy decision to send them my application because of the professionalism @CWRU.Sman and their entire Admissions Committee show. I have friends at Case right now and they only ever have great comments about the school. I truly believe if every medical school was like Case applicant anxiety and stress would drastically go down.

Thank you for the advice and kind words Mr. Essman, they go a long way!
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You're quite welcome and thank you for your exceptionally kind note. I've seen applicants have an unsuccessful cycle, make some changes, and have a completely different experience the next time they reapply. There is no shame in reapplying. We certainly wish you the best this year!
 
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@CWRU.Sman how much weight will be placed on VITA versus the conventional face-to-face interview? It is a rather unconventional way to interview, and say someone does not explain questions well in VITA but does really well communicating in the real interview... how would those two competing scores be weighed?
 
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Does anyone know how long it takes to receive secondaries? Verified on 08/12 with MCAT score, OOS. Getting worried. :(
 
gcksapp said:
@CWRU.Sman how much weight will be placed on VITA versus the conventional face-to-face interview? It is a rather unconventional way to interview, and say someone does not explain questions well in VITA but does really well communicating in the real interview... how would those two competing scores be weighed?
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FOR CWRU, the VITA interview won't be viewed until after the in-person virtual interview takes place. Only Admissions Committee members will have access to VITA - not faculty or student interviewers (trying to prevent pre-interview bias). We will use the VITA as another piece of our evaluation but I can't say exactly what "weight"will be given to the VITA as this is the first time we're using it. I have to think we'll lean toward the in-person interview a little more though. We don't quite know what to expect in how the VITA interviews are going to look so we're not going to set hard parameters on this format until we get better handle on it. That said, I can see us using it to get additional information beyond the in-person interview. Or let's say, for example, both interviewers comment that the applicant seemed extremely nervous and this seemed to impact their ability to communicate. So, I can see us going to the VITA and maybe the applicant seems completely at ease and is able to articulate really thoughtful responses to the VITA questions. We could then chalk up the in-person interview communication issues to extreme nerves (it happens, we get it).

I hope this helps.
 
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CWRU.Sman said:
FOR CWRU, the VITA interview won't be viewed until after the in-person virtual interview takes place. Only Admissions Committee members will have access to VITA - not faculty or student interviewers (trying to prevent pre-interview bias). We will use the VITA as another piece of our evaluation but I can't say exactly what "weight"will be given to the VITA as this is the first time we're using it. I have to think we'll lean toward the in-person interview a little more though. We don't quite know what to expect in how the VITA interviews are going to look so we're not going to set hard parameters on this format until we get better handle on it. That said, I can see us using it to get additional information beyond the in-person interview. Or let's say, for example, both interviewers comment that the applicant seemed extremely nervous and this seemed to impact their ability to communicate. So, I can see us going to the VITA and maybe the applicant seems completely at ease and is able to articulate really thoughtful responses to the VITA questions. We could then chalk up the in-person interview communication issues to extreme nerves (it happens, we get it).

I hope this helps.
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Are you saying that adcoms will tend to focus more on the favorable aspects of these materials rather than the negatives?
 
Hzreio said:
Are you saying that adcoms will tend to focus more on the favorable aspects of these materials rather than the negatives?
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I can only speak for our school but it's hard to say. I was just giving one example of how the VITA may be used in conjuction with the in-person virtual interview in response to the original question.
 
I'll be joining an admissions town hall tonight with friends from UAB and Rush hosted by the Young Physicians Initiative at 8:30 pm EST. You can find out the details below and on their site > Our Work > Premed Portal > 2019-2020 Panels. Hope you can stop by!
Premed Portal Flyer - 8.24.20.png
 
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And so vice versa as well... if the vita goes poorly but the in person interview goes well they might chalk up the vita responses to be due to the time pressure/not speaking with someone?
 
gcksapp said:
And so vice versa as well... if the vita goes poorly but the in person interview goes well they might chalk up the vita responses to be due to the time pressure/not speaking with someone?
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I could see that being a possibility as well!

Look, all of this (VITA, virtual interviews, virtual interview days, etc.) is new for literally everyone - applicants, advisors, and admissions. Our mantra has become - we're going to assume good intentions on your end so please assume the same from us.
 
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CWRU.Sman said:
I could see that being a possibility as well!

Look, all of this (VITA, virtual interviews, virtual interview days, etc.) is new for literally everyone - applicants, advisors, and admissions. Our mantra has become - we're going to assume good intentions on your end so please assume the same from us.
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you are awesome @CWRU.Sman
 
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CWRU.Sman said:
Awww - thanks. Just trying to get you all as much info as we can. I know there is a lot of uncertainty out there and I'd like to believe and hope that it will all work out.
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I believe some else said something similar on this thread before, but you (and your podcast) are the reason I became interested in CWRU in the first place. Your dedication to transparency, empathy, and kindness is so refreshing in a process that is scary and unknown to all of us! Thank you for all of your help, especially in the covid times!!
 
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mountainman15 said:
I believe some else said something similar on this thread before, but you (and your podcast) are the reason I became interested in CWRU in the first place. Your dedication to transparency, empathy, and kindness is so refreshing in a process that is scary and unknown to all of us! Thank you for all of your help, especially in the covid times!!
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Just my two cents on this also - the admissions team was really awesome through the cycle when I was going through it and it was ultimately one of the big reasons I decided to come to Case over staying close to home. I thought this was a good reflection of the school and I think that has turned out to be true.

My experience so far has been that this has been consistent with the rest of the school administration and faculty, not just the admissions team. There are of course administrative hiccups and random things that are frustrating here and there like there will be at any school anywhere, but over all I would say everyone here is very supportive. In my experience, the society Dean advising system is also great and something that I think is especially well developed at Case compared to other schools.

In the future once you all get closer to having to pick schools/I have more time I'll take some time and write a things I like/don't like/wish I knew about Case type post because I really wished that something like this had existed when I was trying to decide.

Good luck everyone - try not to let SDN and reddit stress you out too much.
 
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mountainman15 said:
I believe some else said something similar on this thread before, but you (and your podcast) are the reason I became interested in CWRU in the first place. Your dedication to transparency, empathy, and kindness is so refreshing in a process that is scary and unknown to all of us! Thank you for all of your help, especially in the covid times!!
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Wow - that's very flattering. Thanks for your exceptionally kind thoughts! I haven't posted much on SDN in the past but given all the changes and uncertainty, I figured this would be probably the best time to try and get as much clarity, info, and maybe some reassurance out to the SDNers as I can.
 
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Believe active participation from college admin during application cycle will go long way and prevents so much unnecessary administrative work upfront for everybody. I like UCF @REL for same reasons since last year and now this year Case Western. These are same reasons on other side of spectrum during BS/MD UMKC visit we felt right away that this is not the school you want to be a Dr.
 
Anyone get that diversity email from Case Western? I wonder what their MCAT cut off is :lol:
 
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lebjames2313 said:
What email? Should I be concerned I got nothing?
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It was a diversity email for people on the Medical Minority Applicant Registry. My apologies, I should've specified this in my original post. My MCAT is not super high so I don't think it was very selective.
 
erenyeager said:
Is there any reason not to also apply the CCLM if you're interested in research? One fee includes both schools and it is just a few secondary questions more. Are most of you applying to both?
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I'm not applying to CLCM because I really don't think I'd fit in
 
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erenyeager said:
Is there any reason not to also apply the CCLM if you're interested in research? One fee includes both schools and it is just a few secondary questions more. Are most of you applying to both?
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I'm not applying because I want to do a different kind of research than what's emphasized in the College program.
 
CWRU.Sman said:
I can only speak for our school but it's hard to say. I was just giving one example of how the VITA may be used in conjuction with the in-person virtual interview in response to the original question.
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Do you have any thoughts you might be comfortable sharing regarding speculation regarding the ultimate goal for VITA, taking into account the fact that HireVue has pioneered the use of artificial intelligence technology in conjunction with these one way video interviews to allow companies to have software screen job candidates, and the fact that the AAMC Interviewee Agreement compels candidates to "agree and give permission for the medical schools that select to view my VITA interview to release my relevant school records to the AAMC and any third-party service providers under contract to the AAMC to conduct research on the relationships between interviews, admissions decisions, and medical school performance. My medical school records released to the AAMC may include admission decisions, grades, ratings from courses and clerkships, performance on USMLE exams, professionalism, and graduation."

This requirement seems to go far beyond what would be necessary for schools to merely have one more input in the process. It's easy to assume good intentions when a senior level admissions person such as yourself comes on a forum like SDN and puts himself out here for us. Much less so when the AAMC collaborates with a vendor utilizing AI to sell candidate screening services to employers to offer us a "free" video interview tool that we are compelled to use, and further compelled to basically provide all of our med school information, from cradle to grave, as a term and condition to be permitted to apply to your school. It just seems on my side of the wall to be a lot less benign than you make it out to be. Why make us agree to those terms if the video is just another input to be viewed by no one other than your staff as a supplement to help you help us?

Sorry for the tough questions, but this has been bothering me since it was first announced, and I haven't really received a decent response to my concerns regarding why all my personal information (as well, I'm sure, as my VITA interview) needs to be released to HireVue in order for you to conduct an unscored virtual interview supplement to an in-person virtual interview.

I'm not really sure why I should be compelled to provide personal data, on an uncompensated basis, to a for-profit company for its use in developing an algorithm to sell back to you in order to be allowed to apply to medical school. And, if it's not for that purpose, why would they want the data at all? If this was not part of AAMC's deal with HireVue to get them to provide all this great stuff to you and AAMC for "free," why would AAMC have any interest in sharing it with them? Does AAMC share all of my data with the company that provides the technology that runs AMCAS? With Pearson VUE? With any other outside vendor?
 
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KnightDoc said:
Do you have any thoughts you might be comfortable sharing regarding speculation regarding the ultimate goal for VITA, taking into account the fact that HireVue has pioneered the use of artificial intelligence technology in conjunction with these one way video interviews to allow companies to have software screen job candidates, and the fact that the AAMC Interviewee Agreement compels candidates to "agree and give permission for the medical schools that select to view my VITA interview to release my relevant school records to the AAMC and any third-party service providers under contract to the AAMC to conduct research on the relationships between interviews, admissions decisions, and medical school performance. My medical school records released to the AAMC may include admission decisions, grades, ratings from courses and clerkships, performance on USMLE exams, professionalism, and graduation."

This requirement seems to go far beyond what would be necessary for schools to merely have one more input in the process. It's easy to assume good intentions when a senior level admissions person such as yourself comes on a forum like SDN and puts himself out here for us. Much less so when the AAMC collaborates with a vendor utilizing AI to sell candidate screening services to employers to offer us a "free" video interview tool that we are compelled to use, and further compelled to basically provide all of our med school information, from cradle to grave, as a term and condition to be permitted to apply to your school. It just seems on my side of the wall to be a lot less benign than you make it out to be. Why make us agree to those terms if the video is just another input to be viewed by no one other than your staff as a supplement to help you help us?

Sorry for the tough questions, but this has been bothering me since it was first announced, and I haven't really received a decent response to my concerns regarding why all my personal information (as well, I'm sure, as my VITA interview) needs to be released to HireVue in order for you to conduct an unscored virtual interview supplement to an in-person virtual interview.

I'm not really sure why I should be compelled to provide personal data, on an uncompensated basis, to a for-profit company for its use in developing an algorithm to sell back to you in order to be allowed to apply to medical school. And, if it's not for that purpose, why would they want the data at all? If this was not part of AAMC's deal with HireVue to get them to provide all this great stuff to you and AAMC for "free," why would AAMC have any interest in sharing it with them? Does AAMC share all of my data with the company that provides the technology that runs AMCAS? With Pearson VUE? With any other outside vendor?
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Well, I shared the content of your post with the AAMC. We (CWRU) weren't aware of the stipulations they are asking applicants to agree to and shared our own concerns. Your questions got some swift action and the AAMC is going to be putting the FAQs below on their VITA website today or tomorrow. They vetted these responses through their legal dept. as it related to their contract with HireVue. This all took place within a matter of hours which told me that they were taking the concerns you raised (and ours) very seriously.

Hopefully, these clarifications give you some reassurance. I will say that from the beginning of the VITA conversations earlier this summer the AAMC told us that AI would not be used at all in this process for our applicants. I had specifically asked about this. Also, I can confirm that the AAMC are providing your email address to HireVue. They aren't even sending your AMCAS ID number because I asked about that too. I was hoping the AAMC would provide HireVue with your AMCAS ID numbers so that we can more easily track through an export file which of our interviewees have and have not completed the VITA vs. trying to track it with an email address. But, nope, no AMCAS ID numbers.

What data does AAMC share with HireVue?

AAMC shares the email address of the applicant with HireVue for the sole purpose of inviting the applicant to complete the AAMC VITA interview. As the participating medical schools select an applicant to interview, that information is also shared with HireVue for the purpose of the school’s gaining access to the applicant’s video responses. Applicant data provided by AAMC to HireVue may only be used by HireVue in performance of the VITA interview.

Will my videos be stored indefinitely in HireVue?

HireVue must delete the applicant interviews at the end of the contract term with AAMC.

Why does the interviewee agreement refer to third-party service provides? Why am I being asked to release my medical school application and future medical school data?

AAMC will conduct research to evaluate and improve the AAMC VITA interview, which will likely include inviting participating schools to research and evaluate the interview. Some of that research may involve linking VITA responses with other data, such as school-derived VITA ratings, admissions data, and/or future performance data. It’s possible that some of that research could be conducted with our third-party psychometric vendor. We do not plan to conduct this research with HireVue.


Can HireVue conduct research on my AAMC VITA interview responses?

HireVue is limited to using entirely anonymized data not attributable to any applicant which reflects points such as volume of interviews and general patterns of use. Anonymized data may be used by HireVue for research and product development consistent with its privacy policy.


The AAMC says that neither it nor HireVue will use AI to score applicant interviews. Will software analysis or AI be used in any other capacity in connection with HireVue interviews?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is not being used in the VITA interview. The AAMC specifically excluded HireVue’s use of facial recognition and other sensitive personal data that may be collected from the applicant interviews, which means HireVue cannot use AI or other software analysis to score the videos, or otherwise use our applicant interviews to inform its scoring algorithm, research or product development.
 
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II (my first for this cycle!) IS, complete 7/25.
 
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II this morning! This is my first one, I'm freaking out right now!
Complete 7/17
 
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Idahomie said:
II this morning! This is my first one, I'm freaking out right now!
Complete 7/17
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YES!!!! This just made my day. Knew you had one coming soon!!!! Congrats!
 
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dindjarin87 said:
YES!!!! This just made my day. Knew you had one coming soon!!!! Congrats!
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Thanks, Dindjarin! Your support is the best.

For anyone wondering, my available dates were 9/14, 9/16, and 9/21. They also require VITA one week before your interview.
 
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There’s no vita for the college program righty? Didn’t see anything in my email or portal about it
 
Hi @CWRU.Sman ! I am so excited that I received an II and can't wait for my interview. I signed up for the IQ group discussion and attire wasn't specifically discussed in the instructions. With the times available I can only do right after I get off work-- would it be appropriate to wear scrubs to this or should I wear my business formal attire?
Thank you for your time!
 
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cheyenne123 said:
Hi @CWRU.Sman ! I am so excited that I received an II and can't wait for my interview. I signed up for the IQ group discussion and attire wasn't specifically discussed in the instructions. With the times available I can only do right after I get off work-- would it be appropriate to wear scrubs to this or should I wear my business formal attire?
Thank you for your time!
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Cool! Yes, you can wear whatever is comfortable. Thanks for the tip - we didn't think about that. I'll have something about attire added to those sessions.
 
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Hi @CWRU.Sman !

If I am interviewing with CCLCM, will that interview also be used for the University program if I am fortunate enough to receive an Interview Invite from both or will it be with specific University faculty?
 
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