2020-2021 Colorado

[maybemd21]

Congrats guys!! I'm interviewing on this coming 19th and that was the only date available for me. Will I be meeting you guys then or were you able to schedule for another date?

I am interviewing on the 3/5! 2/19 and 3/5 were the only available dates for me. Good luck!!

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[Maybedoc1]

Congrats guys!! I'm interviewing on this coming 19th and that was the only date available for me. Will I be meeting you guys then or were you able to schedule for another date?

19th as well! I didn't see any other dates

 

[BoneBroCO]

19th as well! I didn't see any other dates

See you then and good luck!!

 

[Maybedoc1]

See you then and good luck!!

Thank you!! Good luck to you as well!

 

[Maybedoc1]

I've been looking at a bunch of sources and CU seems to consistently be ranked as a top 30 medical school, even beating out some schools with serious name recognition. Is this true?

I know school rank doesn't really matter in medicine as opposed to something like law (which is great), but still I'm curious.

 

[meseeksc137]

II this morning! ORM completed 8/8

 

[vanillabean19]

Complete mid-November, II today. IS.

 

[User1803]

II this morning! ORM completed 8/8

Congrats! Are you IS?

 

[meseeksc137]

Nope! OOS

 

[smallermarine]

Just received a scholarship call today!! I AM ELATED. ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED. PLEASE TAKE ME COLORADO!!!!

 

[purple_jpg]

I've been looking at a bunch of sources and CU seems to consistently be ranked as a top 30 medical school, even beating out some schools with serious name recognition. Is this true?

I know school rank doesn't really matter in medicine as opposed to something like law (which is great), but still I'm curious.

Yeah it’s consistently ranked pretty well, it depends on if you’re looking at USNWR research vs primary care rankings as to how good they are ranked, but those are legit numbers

 

[LittleBrother]

II today, complete sometime in October. OOS

 

[ripplesinthesea]

II today! So excited. Complete in July!

 

[MedicalStudent2021]

For those who are who are considering CU (including me).

 

[Virus777]

For those who are who are considering CU (including me).

 

[futuredoc4634]

But...what if it’s my only choice

 

[MedicalStudent2021]

But...what if it’s my only choice

All programs have pros and cons, just know what you'll be looking forward to if you end up at CU. Making a decision based on just one virtual interview is a huge challenge this cycle.

 

[3Ds&anL]

As always, happy to offer my experiences (MS3) by PM if anyone is alarmed. The whole world is a mess right now and I can't imagine interviewing during COVID. Applying to med school is tough and stressful, fall back on the supports you've built up. I'm also happy to offer encouragement to anyone who feels isolated.

 

[pelotan1]

All programs have pros and cons, just know what you'll be looking forward to if you end up at CU. Making a decision based on just one virtual interview is a huge challenge this cycle.

Very true.

 

[smallermarine]

For those who are who are considering CU (including me).

I am just a lowly applicant, but after seeing enough posts like this about different schools... I am personally taking it with a grain of salt. This sounds like a very frustrated person. It seems like they unfortunately picked a school that was not a good fit for them.

 

[medAHHHHHcine25]

Does alternate movement only occur after April?

 

[uglyegg]

But...what if it’s my only choice

same lol

 

[lopsidedegg]

For those who are who are considering CU (including me).

Really disheartening. I’ll be bringing up these concerns at the next Q&As as I’m sure other accepted applicants will too. CU was one of my top choices...now I’m not so sure.

 

[Stride]

I am just a lowly applicant, but after seeing enough posts like this about different schools... I am personally taking it with a grain of salt. This sounds like a very frustrated person. It seems like they unfortunately picked a school that was not a good fit for them.

I tend to agree with this thinking. I think you could find one of these posts for almost every school. Additionally, a lot of these things have to do with the transition to online teaching due to COVID-19, which may not be as much of a factor in next year's course structuring.

Though, I would love to hear a CU student who looks at these board messages give an honest assessment of the accuracy of the complaints. The studying over a shortened Christmas break seems like a very non-ideal situation that would come at the expense of mental wellness.

 

[deleted1050883]

II today! So excited. Complete in July!

When were they scheduling out till?

 

[ripplesinthesea]

When were they scheduling out till?

March 5th was the only available!

 

[cu2021]

I am just a lowly applicant, but after seeing enough posts like this about different schools... I am personally taking it with a grain of salt. This sounds like a very frustrated person. It seems like they unfortunately picked a school that was not a good fit for them.

This. Remember that yelp reviews, google reviews, etc are generally ratings of 1 star or 5 stars (think about the activation energy required to review a "meh" restaurant), so one review can't come close to representing the entire class or all four classes. One of my classmates posted a response way further down this reddit thread, which is 1000x more aligned with how I feel about CU. If I had to go back, I would've chosen to come here over and over again.

MS4 here also chillin & waiting for Match day, answering questions from some other pre-meds via PM. If you have questions, want more details, or even want to bounce ideas about our school vs others--hit me up.

 

[MedicalStudent2021]

This. Remember that yelp reviews, google reviews, etc are generally ratings of 1 star or 5 stars (think about the activation energy required to review a "meh" restaurant), so one review can't come close to representing the entire class or all four classes. One of my classmates posted a response way further down this reddit thread, which is 1000x more aligned with how I feel about CU. If I had to go back, I would've chosen to come here over and over again.

MS4 here also chillin & waiting for Match day, answering questions from some other pre-meds via PM. If you have questions, want more details, or even want to bounce ideas about our school vs others--hit me up.

You mean this one?



Like I said in a previous comment, all medical schools have pros and cons, but the cons seem to start piling up for CU.

For bonus content, read the comments in this reddit post and the previous one that are from current/graduate CU students.

 

[cu2021]

You mean this one?



Like I said in a previous comment, all medical schools have pros and cons, but the cons seem to start piling up for CU.

For bonus content, read the comments in this reddit post and the previous one that are from current/graduate CU students.

Yeah that's a pretty messed up thing for an interviewer to say, and I hope that person was immediately dismissed from having anything to do with admissions for our school. Also, out of fairness sake, I wasn't in the room so I can't really judge their conversation or how it was interpreted on either side...

It's easy to find only the cons, right? It's the internet & there's a reason why public shaming threads are easy to pile onto. Alternatively, here are some pro comments which are easily buried in the hate train:

 

[Bears Eat Beets]

For those who are who are considering CU (including me).

Current CU student here. I'd like to weigh in and give as unbiased of an opinion as possible in response to all the Reddit posts going around.

There is *some* truth to the complaints I've seen on Reddit. CU does have a lot of required sessions compared to many schools. A lot. But that can be good or bad depending on your personality type. I'm an introvert and I study best on my own, so I personally find the required sessions exhaustive and unhelpful but that is not the case for everyone. It definitely depends on your learning style and also the life you have outside of school. I'm non-trad, married, late 20s, and I have an established life outside of school and I hate that the required sessions mean I have less time to spend with my spouse and my family. If I could change one thing about the school, I would make the required sessions optional so that the students who benefit from them can still attend, and those of us who don't can do something more useful with our time.

I don't think the administration is evil or unhelpful like the post claims. And there great things about the school: Colorado is amazing, the research opportunities are solid, and I think the quality of our classes has been pretty decent.

If you are thinking about whether or not CU is the right fit for you, here are a few things I would consider:

1. Are you an introvert or extrovert? In my experience, my introverted friends (and myself) have had a much harder time with the excessive required sessions compared to more extroverted people in the class
2. How much do you value your free time? If you're looking for flexibility with how you study, CU might not be a great fit for you. If you want/need more structure, you might do well here.
3. How important is research to you? The research opportunities here really are great

There are lots of other considerations but I'm running short on time. If you have specific questions feel free to DM me. Good luck with your decision making and congrats to those of you who have been accepted.

Edit: for those of you who want specifics, I read through the comments on the Reddit post and I think this person's comment sums up the issues we're having with small groups very nicely:

"For example, we have 4 hours of required sessions on patient presentation the day before our first cardiology exam this Friday. This is not the first time this has happened either. We had six hours of required sessions on cross-cultural communication, medical economics, and anemia cases the day before a blood and lymph exam, and we had standardized patient exams immediately following our anatomy final last fall. Before our final for Molecules to Medicine, probably the hardest class we've had so far, we had four hours of required histology lab and research ethics the day before our final. The block directors promised histology wouldn't show up on the exam but some histology content did find its way on there. Granted, the block directors were awful and resisted publishing some content early for our final because "other classes will present new material the day before the exam", but they finally caved after our class made a big fuss about it.

We also had a pathology exam immediately after our Christmas break, which they made two weeks this year unlike 3 weeks for past years, so much of our class spent at least some of our Christmas break studying for this exam. On Fri. Feb. 5th, we had back-to-back two-hour block finals on bugs, drugs, and hematological cancers with six hours total of required sessions between Mon, Tues, Wed with TEN more hours the preceding Wed., Th. Fri. I'm not opposed to small groups, and I enjoy getting to know my classmates and working with them, but the number of small-groups that are required is frankly insane. Premeds, ask current students at schools you're considering if there are lots of required sessions. Having more free-time to efficiently study by yourself will make a huge difference in your QOL.

The cardiology block directors already canceled a two-hour small-group session tomorrow to give us more time to study. It's great that they did that, but I think it's a sign that the small-group sessions are maybe a little out of control. In addition to our required 4-hour session this Thursday, we had 2 hours of PBL today, two hours of IPED tomorrow that required an hour of prework time this week, and two-hours of pathology lab on Thursday in addition to the four hours of patient presentation.

They have implemented self-care weeks, the first one is in April, and they call it COMPASS. Basically, we still have a standardized exam we have to prepare for (so still not a true "wellness" break) and a bunch of required zoom sessions on self-care. We do get a few days off, but it's still a bunch of mandatory wellness BS. I was thinking that wellness could mean getting out for a hike or visiting a part of the state I haven't seen before, but the admin thinks differently.

IPED does suck, but the time commitment is around three hours per week. Despite what the M2 says, we can't leave early and there is at least an hour of pre-work that is really just busy-work in addition to two hours of required group-work.

The admin is okay. You can seriously reach out to them about anything and they will respond really fast, but they honestly don't really seem to care much about student feedback and only strive to make superficial changes rather than meaningful ones."

 

[3Ds&anL]

Want to echo some things said above. To preface, my opinions are my own, based on my own experiences before and during medical school. No one here has to agree with them. I provide them as another perspective.

1. MS3 here - like the MS4, would choose CU again and again. Especially given my amazing classmates, deans who have cleared their schedule on a moment's notice to talk to me while I was panicking, deans who went to bat at the highest levels for my class when COVID hit and Prometric threw all med students under the bus, and so far an incredible 3rd year in which I have had universally good experiences with attendings and residents (even in surgery haha!). I feel like there are an abundance of caring people at CU and I have had no problem identifying a compassionate mentor for a wide variety of sticky situations I have found myself in. My classmates have not only be supportive in the "soft" ways, classmates who were pursuing the same competitive fields as me have helped me get research projects and publications. Overall, my experience here has been universally positive with an expected portion of frustrations no different from those that come from... life in general.

2. My response to the concerns about time for studying, etc. is this is a natural process you will have to go through at any medical school. Medical school is hard, harder than you can imagine, no matter where you will go. There will be competing interests for your time and your attention (either competing academic responsibilities or competing personal and academic responsibilities). For example, as a 3rd year, you will frequently find yourself working 12+ hour days and also have to study for your shelf exams and on top of it all, preparing presentations, reading on your patients, doing lit reviews, prepping for OR cases on top of it all. It will feel unfair, you will be tired. Taking the time during 1st and 2nd year to learn how to balance competing demands (like what may be perceived as a "pointless" assignment due the day before an exam) is helpful for your personal and professional development (talk to any attending and they will tell you the busy work does not go away when residency ends...). In the end, you are picking a career in which you will be making a lot of sacrifices and there will be many frustrations. Things will frequently be out of your control during medical school, during residency, and even as an attending. I encourage you all to develop strong supports and coping skills in advance of and during medical school.

Of course, this is not to say there are not areas where systemic change is needed and we should all suffer in the name of learning and self-development alone. Medicine still struggles with its own conservatism and we need people to continue to voice the need for change. This is true at CU, as much as it is true elsewhere.

Still, none of that makes me second guess my decision to come here.

3. In regards to "required self care"... Many people have found the med school families to be enriching, enjoyable experiences. Granted, some families function better than others, so there is a bit of luck of the draw involved. But the point of them was to help prevent isolation during COVID, which I have felt even while working in person on the wards. These groups are required because, as mentioned above, there are competing interests with your time, and many of us would chose to do other things with it if given the opportunity. That said, if everyone who is "doing just fine" can opt out, it leaves no one for the smaller but significant number of people who the groups would measurably help (in large part by those of us doing just fine giving some of ourselves to bring others up). This is part of medicine - making sacrifices for others for the benefit of all, even though it may be inconvenient for you. On a selfish note, I have found the med school families incredibly helpful for getting advice on how to tackle my upcoming rotation, how to study for Step, what courses to pick, or to just vent about the frustrating experiences I had that week (or make shameless plugs in the form of cute pet pictures - or wedding pictures in some cases!). Some of the people I've been most impressed with during my medical school career are the people I've been "forced" to work with and that includes people in my med school family.

Please reach out to any of the current students here if any of the posts worry you. Better yet, reach out to bonafide CU contacts (Admissions, ProReps, etc.). Someone mentioned taking their concerns to an upcoming Q&A session - I think that is a great idea. As I have mentioned previously, some may be skeptical of the ProReps painting a too-pretty picture of the school, but I spoke to them when trying to decide where to go. I received very honest, balanced information from them and the other students they referred me to, to help me make a decision.

 

[LittleBrother]

I've learned to take almost anything on Reddit and throw it in the garbage. R/premed is full of absolute toxic cyrbabies who could complian about anything. Colorado is a highly ranked Western MD school and you have to be obnoxiously glass-half empty in order to some how hate becoming a Doctor in such a gorgeous state.

 

[smallermarine]

I've learned to take almost anything on Reddit and throw it in the garbage. R/premed is full of absolute toxic cyrbabies who could complian about anything. Colorado is a highly ranked Western MD school and you have to be obnoxiously glass-half empty in order to some how hate becoming a Doctor in such a gorgeous state.

Considering someone made a post on r/premed about getting a full ride and people flamed them for being URM... I gotta agree with that part of not taking a lot of whining on there as reality

 

[Virus777]

 

[manhattalorian]

Loving the glow-up on this thread.

 

[Virus777]

In other news, how are my 2/5 interviewers feeling about possible A’s going out on the 19th? Im assuming the 19th is gonna be the day since its exactly 2 weeks from our interview day, and there are other applicants being interviewed on that day as well. Thoughts?

 

[MedKid9]

In other news, how are my 2/5 interviewers feeling about possible A’s going out on the 19th? Im assuming the 19th is gonna be the day since its exactly 2 weeks from our interview day, and there are other applicants being interviewed on that day as well. Thoughts?

I doubt it. I feel like people from 1/29 haven’t gotten their decisions so I’m thinking 2/5 will be next week. Assuming people interviewed on 1/29 LOL

 

[Caffeinated_premed]

I doubt it. I feel like people from 1/29 haven’t gotten their decisions so I’m thinking 2/5 will be next week. Assuming people interviewed on 1/29 LOL

My understanding (from previous years, as well as this year) is that they interview every 2 weeks (01/22, 02/05, 02/19, 03/05, etc.). Since the people who interviewed on 1/22 heard back on 02/05, I'm thinking/hoping that 02/05 interviews will hear back tomorrow (which is the next interview day).
So to all my fellow 02/5ers -- crossed fingers/GOOD LUCK TOMORROW

 

[yogarunner76789]

For the scholarship applications, how are people interpreting the question about what information we would like to share with the donors?

 

[Maybedoc1]

So I'm trying to understand the new curriculum, but there isn't much info online about it. Is this the general layout?

Year 1: preclinical year. Do you cover all of anatomy, pathophysiology, abnormal pathophysiology in this year? Seems like a short time to learn a ton of information.

Year 2: longitudinal integrated clerkships. You rotate through a few different specialties repeatedly? Like you do surgery for a year, but it's only once a week or something like that? Is that correct? What else do you rotate through and is it mainly outpatient?

Year 3: selectives/electives and advanced science courses? Is this when I could rotate through pediatric neuro-cardiovascular dermatologic surgery if I'm interested in it? Do you revist basic science stuff again? Is it a do what you want year?

Year 4: more selectives/electives and then focused residency prep?

Does anyone have any more information? I'm a little confused by their new curriculum tbh.

 

[sunny_d98]

Hey guys, long time lurker first time commenter (finally pulled the plug to join SDN lol). I'm IS ORM complete early August. Still silence. Should I let myself down easy by not expecting more IIs?

 

[chronicallytired]

Hey guys, long time lurker first time commenter (finally pulled the plug to join SDN lol). I'm IS ORM complete early August. Still silence. Should I let myself down easy by not expecting more IIs?

In the same boat. I think the last IIs went out yesterday because I think the interviews only go till 3/5. I'm just accepting this as a loss lol

 

[anythingmatcha]

For the scholarship applications, how are people interpreting the question about what information we would like to share with the donors?

Yeah I have no idea especially since there's no word/character limit either

 

[manhattalorian]

I kind of hate this place for getting $1.3M from their secondaries.

 

[Virus777]

I kind of hate this place for getting $1.3M from their secondaries.

 

[anonymoususer343434]

I kind of hate this place for getting $1.3M from their secondaries.

You hate that? Look at Tulane's profit, 18k+ primaries and 125$ for each secondary, though not all probably completed it

 

[mfuturedoc1]

Anyone hear anything back from 2/5 interview?

 

[Caffeinated_premed]

Anyone hear anything back from 2/5 interview?

Not yet....waiting waiting waiting waiting. I looked back to when the 1/22 interviewees posted on this thread and it was around noon-ish/early afternoon, so I'm getting anxious that if they're calling/e-mailing today, it could be soon.

 

[mfuturedoc1]

Not yet....waiting waiting waiting waiting. I looked back to when the 1/22 interviewees posted on this thread and it was around noon-ish/early afternoon, so I'm getting anxious that if they're calling/e-mailing today, it could be soon.

I’ve been so anxious this week, especially today. Really hoping they stick to the “schedule,” not that they owe us anything lol. Just wanna know either way 😣

 

[beenthere123]

Considering someone made a post on r/premed about getting a full ride and people flamed them for being URM... I gotta agree with that part of not taking a lot of whining on there as reality

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like not picking UC SOM if offered a spot anywhere else.