Harvardocs-medschool-applicants-list June 2021

harvardocs-medschool-applicants-list@lists.fas.harvard.edu

2 participants
6 discussions

[2022] July advising policies for current applicants

by Ceder, Oona Britt

Dear Applicants, As a reminder, here is our July advising policies for current applicants. Congrats again on submitting or being about to submit your AMCAS, and Good Luck with your apps as the process gets under way! OCS premed and pre-health advising summer schedule. In July, OCS advisers throughout the office have reduced student services so we are able to focus on publications updates, web revisions, and program planning for the upcoming school year. Your House premedical tutors remain available to answer questions related to secondary applications, CASPer/Snapshot/Duet/AAMC's SJT tests, your school list, and other questions about your overall application and plans. Time-sensitive application-related questions that cannot be answered by your House premed tutor/s can be emailed to premed(a)fas.harvard.edu<mailto:premed@fas.harvard.edu> and one of the OCS Premed/Pre-Health Advisers will get back to you within one business day. Please review the following bullets about application-related advising during July: Current medical and other health professions school applicants (if you are subscribed to this list and are not applying for 2022 matriculation, please see https://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/premedical-health-careers-advising for premed and pre-health advising policies during the summer and fall term): * We will continue to send important updates about the medical school application process via this OCS Applicant listserv throughout the summer (and for the duration of the application cycle until late spring 2022). Current (2022) applicants not yet subscribed to this list can do so at https://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/harvardocs-medschool-applica… using a @college.harvard.edu address, @post.harvard.edu address, or @alumni.harvard.edu address. * If you are a current (2022) applicant with individual questions or concerns about your application or MCAT, please reach out to your House Premedical Tutors during July. If you need additional guidance or have an urgent question that cannot wait until August, please email premed(a)fas.harvard.edu<mailto:premed@fas.harvard.edu> and we will get back to you within one business day. * For students who are not applying to medical school now, but have other premed or pre-health related questions during this time, please first review the information that can be found on the Premed section of the OCS website for information on premed courses, medical school requirements, getting clinical experience, gap year planning, and how to find research opportunities (http://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/medical-health).<http://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/medical-health).Appointments> Best, Oona and Emiko Oona B. Ceder, PhD Director, Premedical and Health Career Advising Associate Director of Career Services Ph: 617.495.2595<tel:617.495.2595> / Fax: 617.495.3584<tel:617.495.3584> Preferred pronouns: she/her/hers http://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/medical-health Subscribe to the Harvard OCS Medical School Applicant Listserv: If you are applying to medical school in 2021 for matriculation in 2022, please subscribe to our Applicant Listserv at https://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/harvardocs-medschool-applica… with a @college.harvard.edu address, @post.harvard.edu address, or @alumni.harvard.edu address. Office of Career Services<http://www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/>, Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences 54 Dunster Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 [insta small]<https://www.instagram.com/harvardocs/>

2 years, 10 months

[2022] withdrawal of application, OCS premed/pre-health summer advising schedule, secondary timing, optional secondary questions,

by Premedical College

Dear Applicants, Congratulations on all that you have already achieved by this point of the 2022 cycle, which for many of you means having now submitted AMCAS and any other common apps you are completing, taking the MCAT, and now turning your attention to secondaries and awaiting information about this cycle's interview process. For anyone who is still finalizing the decision about whether to apply in this cycle or hold off another year, please see #1 below for how to get any additional advice you may need. A note to applicants applying to other health professions schools including via AADSAS, VMCAS, PTCAS, Nursing CAS and more, and/or to DO, TMDSAS, OMSAS or other Canadian or international schools: The OCS Premed and Pre-Health advisers and your House premed tutors (in fact called Pre-Health Tutors in several Houses) are here to support you also as you know. For reasons of space and length of our listserv emails, and since a significant majority of you are AMCAS MD and/or MD-PhD applicants only, these listserv emails focus on the MD process, but please reach out to your House Premed and Pre-Health Tutors and your assigned application adviser/NRT (non-resident tutor), and to the OCS pre-health advisors, following the same overall instructions as those for the MD applicants. Please take a moment to review the information below. If you think we have missed something that you are wondering about, we welcome your feedback so that we can make the best use of this listserv to address common concerns and questions. 1. Withdrawal of your 2022 AMCAS application: A note on this year's AMCAS transmission timeline: In two days, on June 25, the medical schools that you added in your AMCAS will receive your app if it has been verified. If your AMCAS is or will be verified by June 24, you need to withdraw by 11:59pm on June 24 not to be considered a 2022 applicant. * If you will be taking the MCAT after June 25, or are still waiting on a score, and are considering withdrawing your app after June 25 once you know your score, please follow the same advice and reach out to your resident premed tutor/s. If you have an NRT who is an experienced member of your House's NRT roster, you can also speak to them about the decision (e.g., some NRTs are former resident premed tutors, so would be equally knowledgeable as the resident premed tutors). * If you choose to withdraw your 2022 AMCAS application, it must be done before it is sent to medical schools in order for you not to be considered a re-applicant in the future. No AMCAS applications will be sent to medical schools before June 25. * If your AMCAS has not yet been verified on June 25, and you withdraw before it is verified, you will also not be considered a re-applicant in a future cycle. * You can also withdraw from this cycle after your application has been sent to the medical school/s you added in your AMCAS. In this case, you will need to withdraw in writing from each school to which your AMCAS has been sent, and you will be considered a re-applicant when you next apply. If withdrawing from the 2022 cycle after schools have your AMCAS (but ideally without receiving a secondary from you) turns out to be the best option for you, we want to underscore that this will not be viewed negatively or place you at any disadvantage in a future cycle. When you apply again, the medical schools to which you applied now will prompt you to share that you applied to their program in a past cycle; medical schools to which you did not apply now can look up your past AMCAS application record (and may also prompt you in their secondary to share that you have applied to one or more MD programs in the past). Schools in both of these categories will be able to see the date on which you withdrew your application, and will recognize that you withdrew prior to any evaluation of your application and not as a result of being rejected by any schools. Being this type of re-applicant, again, is not viewed negatively although you may encounter some secondary prompts in the future cycle asking you to explain what prompted the decision to withdraw. * Please consult with your premed tutors with questions about any of these timelines for withdrawing from the cycle. * See https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/faq/amcas-faq/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__students-2Dresidents.a…> for more information about who is defined a re-applicant in a future cycle. * FYI: Having applied to a medical school's BA/MD or similar program does not mean that you are now a re-applicant to that school, despite having potentially gained admission to their MD program while you were still in high school; having done so and turned them down for Harvard College is also not viewed in a negative light when you may now apply to the same school as a regular MD applicant. 1. OCS premed and pre-health advising summer schedule. For general support for current applicants with questions or concerns about the application process, the OCS advisers and your House Premed tutors continue to be available to you in the following ways during July, and from August and on as the cycle continues. The OCS pre-health advisers will resume regular 30-minute individual advising appointments for all enrolled students and alumni on August 2. In July, OCS advisers throughout the office have reduced student services so we are able to focus on publications updates, web revisions, and program planning for the upcoming school year. Given these demands on our time, the OCS pre-health advisers will not be answering routine email questions in July. Your House premedical tutors remain available to answer questions related to secondary applications, CASPer, school list, and other questions about your overall application and plans. Please review the following bullets about application-related advising during July: Current medical and other health professions school applicants (if you are subscribed to this list and are not applying for 2022 matriculation, please see https://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/premedical-health-careers-advising for premed and pre-health advising policies during the summer and fall term): * We will continue to send important updates about the medical school application process via this OCS Applicant listserv throughout the summer (and for the duration of the application cycle until late spring 2022). Current (2022) applicants not yet subscribed to this list can do so at https://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/harvardocs-medschool-applica… using a @college.harvard.edu address, @post.harvard.edu address, or @alumni.harvard.edu address. * If you are a current (2022) applicant with individual questions or concerns about your application or MCAT, please reach out to your House Premedical Tutors during July. If you need additional guidance or have an urgent question that cannot wait until August, please email premed(a)fas.harvard.edu<mailto:premed@fas.harvard.edu> and we will get back to you within one business day. * For students who are not applying to medical school now, but have other premed or pre-health related questions during this time, please first review the information that can be found on the Premed section of the OCS website for information on premed courses, medical school requirements, getting clinical experience, gap year planning, and how to find research opportunities (http://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/medical-health).<http://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/medical-health).Appointments> 1. Timing of secondary applications. We recommend that you turn around your secondary applications in 10-14 days. Some, but not all, schools will give you a specific deadline. Remember just to complete these as they arrive, and do not prioritize your reach schools over your 'safer'/target schools. Our rationale for suggesting 10-14 days is three-fold. First, being early in this process is an advantage and you lose that advantage if you sit on your secondary applications. Second, turning them around quickly shows interest, good organization, and time management. Third, in our experience, hanging on to them just makes them pile up and causes more stress and anxiety. However, do not worry if something comes up and some take you a bit longer to get in. There is nothing magic about our 10-14 day guideline. You do not need to stress over them excessively, but do make sure they are error free. Be aware that some schools expect you to access their secondary applications on their websites or through their application portal, so check MSAR and your school websites to make sure you know what to expect with regard to receiving secondary applications from the schools you have selected. Also see the FAQs for Applicants > Secondary Applications at https://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/amcas. * See the relevant AAMC MSAR reports available at https://students-residents.aamc.org/advisors/article/medical-school-admissi…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__students-2Dresidents.a…>, as well as each of your school's individual MSAR entry for more information about their specific timelines and requirements for being ready for evaluation. Above all, pay careful attention to all communications you will be receiving directly from the schools to which you are applying about their specific criteria for starting to evaluate your application, as this will vary among the schools and may still be further revised in the coming months. *Be sure to check spam folders not to miss a secondary app/link to secondary app, or other important emails from your schools, and take a moment to review how your schools manage communication with its applicants (i.e., do they use a portal, email, social media, snail mail, etc. to communicate with you?). 4. 1. Optional Secondary Application Questions-Are they optional? It really depends on the wording. At times, the question is worded in such a way that they only want you to answer if you have clearly had a hardship, a disadvantage, or a significant bump in the road. Other times, it is an invitation to tell them something else. For schools that do not have a "why this medical school" question, then telling why you are interested in being at that particular school can be great. For schools that already have that question, it is fine to talk about something that helps them understand you better. Some applicants use it to talk about a significant interest (backpacking, running, kayaking, etc.) that might not have found a place in your original application. Just look at your overall AMCAS, look at the secondary for that school, and think about what more you want to convey. It should not be repetitive, but you can use the space to provide more information or a different perspective on something that is important to you even if you touched on it in your original application. A note on additional secondary questions inviting you to address and share COVID-related challenges you have experienced: * Most schools now have an optional secondary prompt about covid-related challenges you may have experienced and that impacted your preparation for the application. Use it to convey anything that has set you back in terms of your timeline or ability to perform up to your usual levels in your classes; that impacted your ability to raise your GPA as a result of not receiving letter grades in Spring 2020 (if you were enrolled that term); that disrupted your MCAT preparation and led to exam date cancellations and format changes that you found challenging and that may have caused you to underperform on the test; to address any changes to your ongoing or planned extracurricular activities, including adding more shadowing and clinical experience hours; to address changes to your work situation, ability to continue to perform clinical responsibilities you may have had, or other disruptions to your work role or hours; the impact on your postgrad job search; and anything else you deem important for the schools to be aware of in terms of how COVID-19 has affected you, your family and loved ones, and your daily routines and access to technology when forced to study or work from home or another place where you have been or were sheltering during the pandemic. If you need feedback on how best to use this added space in your secondaries, reach out to your House premed tutors for their input. * Should you use this additional secondary essay space to address potential impact of the pandemic on your MCAT score?: If you feel that any COVID-19 related circumstances significantly and negatively impacted either your preparation and/or your exam day itself, and thereby preventing you from getting the score you would have been capable of earning under normal circumstances, you can explain this in your secondary and the added space provided in this extra prompt is a good place to do so. If you are unsure whether it will be helpful to draw attention to a lower than expected overall or section score/s, please confer with your premed tutor/s. 1. Committee Letter transmission to medical schools: * Please double-check to make sure you sent your House Academic Coordinator your AAMC ID number and AMCAS letter ID numbers so they are able to upload your Committee Letter in August. (Reminder: You should only have one AMCAS Letter ID for your House letter PDF, which identifies and transmits your Committee Letter and each of the individual recs that you have requested be sent by your House. The same PDF will also be transmitted to TMDSAS if you are applying to Texas schools. Letter transmission to AADSAS, VMCAS, AACOMAS, OMSAS and some other common app portals is also handled by your House; please be in touch with your Academic Coordinator.) * Timing of the Harvard Committee letter (with attached individual recs): As long as you submitted your information to your House by their deadlines, your Harvard Committee letter with your letters of recommendations will be uploaded and sent to your medical schools by August 15. Medical schools are used to this date and our letters are submitted on the same timeline as the letters from our peer institutions. Many schools will begin reviewing your application before this date or will put it in a queue once they receive your secondary, so you still need to get your materials in as soon as you can. * Reminder: If anyone is late to the process and still has questions about letters, be sure to review the FAQ for Applicants > Letters of Evaluation Section and Process on our website at https://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/amcas (also see the relevant slides of Completing the AMCAS 2022 Application<https://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/files/ocs/files/amcas_2022_presentation.pdf?m=1…> (pdf) at the top of the same page), and be in touch with your Academic Coordinator with questions about the transmission process. 1. What to expect from a virtual interview season: * Pre-health advisers across the country have been receiving information both from the AAMC and from individual medical schools about plans for the majority (if not all) 2022 cycle interviews being in a virtual format. Our usual Medical School Interview webinar is scheduled for August 13, 1-2pm ET and will discuss virtual interviews. * Please review this resource from AAMC with interview procedures and formats<https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/7051/download> for medical schools. * Preliminarily, we want you to be aware of the following: The AAMC launched a virtual interview tool called the AAMC Video Interview Tool for Admissions (AAMC VITATM) for use during the 2021 application cycle. It looks as though this is NOT being used for the 2022 cycle. * Since this is the second year of virtual interviews, we do not want you to be overly concerned about how this change from the usual in-person interview and school visit will impact your application. Medical schools are aware that some applicants will not have an ideal space from which to do the interview; they are aware that some of you may experience a poor wifi connection or may be in a time zone that means that you are possibly meeting them and interviewing early in the morning or later in the day than usual, when you may not be at your best; and all schools will be prepared for the unexpected hiccups that could occur on each side of a virtual interview. The schools are all committed to holistic evaluation and recognition of potential obstacles to a successful virtual interview. If you have concerns that the virtual interview process is placing you at an unfair disadvantage due to unequal access to important resources for doing well in this setting, do not hesitate to reach out to the Admissions Offices directly and/or to the schools' Diversity and Inclusion<https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/6981/download> office. * Please be sure to reach out to your House resident or non-resident tutor about mock interviews later in the summer. * Along the same lines of ensuring that all applicants are equally able to compete and do their best on interview day, we do want you to share with us and your House teams any concerns you have about your wifi and computer set-up, time zone challenges, or other issues you are worried may negatively impact your interview performance. But before you reach out to your House teams (in July), or to the OCS advisers and your House teams (from August on), about interview-related concerns and questions, please review the following resources: * https://www.aamc.org/system/files/2020-05/Virtual_Interview_Tips_for_Medica…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.aamc.org_system_fi…> * You may also find this medical school facing resource informative: https://www.aamc.org/what-we-do/mission-areas/medical-education/conducting-…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.aamc.org_what-2Dwe…> * As mentioned above, the OCS Medical School Interview webinar will be offered on August 13. For general tips and information that will still pertain also to a virtual interview day, you can review last year's presentation and resources on our website at: https://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/medical-interview and you will also find helpful resources at https://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/interviewing. We wish you a safe and healthy continuation of the summer. Good luck with your applications and keep checking those spam folders! Best, Emiko & Oona Emiko Morimoto, PhD Assistant Director, Premedical and Health Careers Advising 617-495-2595 / morimoto(a)fas.harvard.edu<mailto:morimoto@fas.harvard.edu> / LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/in/emiko-morimoto-7282386/> Pronouns: she / her / hers Office of Career Services<http://www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/>, Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences 54 Dunster Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 [insta small]<https://www.instagram.com/harvardocs/> If you are applying to medical school in 2021 for matriculation in 2022, please subscribe to the Harvard OCS Medical School Applicant Listserv, by visiting https://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/harvardocs-medschool-applica… and signing up using a @college.harvard.edu address, a @post.harvard.edu address, or an @alumni.harvard.edu address.

2 years, 10 months

[2022] casper & sjt schools

by Premedical College

Hi all, We've received a couple emails from you about how to determine if you need to do these tests. You can go here to see the list of Casper schools (scroll down to the US section): https://takecasper.com/schools-and-programs/ And here are the SJT schools: https://students-residents.aamc.org/aamc-situational-judgment-test/particip… Best, Emiko & Oona

2 years, 10 months

AAMC virtual fair- june 24

by Premedical College

Hi all, Register for the AAMC Virtual Medical School Fair: The Road Less Traveled: Nontraditional Pathways to Medical School. June 24, 2021 |11AM - 4PM ET Connect with admissions officers, advisors, and AAMC experts to learn about application strategies for career-changers, nontraditional students, gap/glide year students, and reapplicants. The fair will feature: 1. Three information sessions<http://offers.aamc.org/fair-agenda> with medical school staff, medical students, and advisors 2. A "Chat with a Medical Student Lounge" where you'll be able to ask current medical students questions about their application and medical school experiences 3. Chat with medical school representatives 4. PDFs, videos, web links and brochures provided by 95+ medical schools<http://offers.aamc.org/Schools> and associations All registrants will receive a code for a 15% discount on the purchase of a 1- or 2-year subscription to the Medical School Admissions Requirements(r) (MSAR(r)) product. The discount code will be emailed to you within five days of your registration. Registration Registration is free, but you must register to access the fair. https://aamc.6connex.com/event/AAMCVirtualFair/June2021/login Best, Emiko & Oona

2 years, 10 months

[2022] information about Casper (and Snapshot, Duet) and AAMC SJT

by Premedical College

Hi all, We hope AMCAS (and TMDSAS) submission is going okay! We wanted to share some details about Casper (and Snapshot/Duet) and the AAMC SJT. Please see the attached slides (pulled from a recent presentation we attended for pre-health advisers) for details of the tests, how to prepare, and resources. In addition, as a note, if required, Snapshot and Duet must be completed within 10 days of your Casper test date. We hope this is helpful and do apologize for the additional tests you might have to complete! As a reminder, we recommend that you complete Casper by early/mid July so that your Casper results do not delay an interview invitation (since some schools use Casper as a pre-interview tool). Best, Emiko & Oona

2 years, 10 months

Online form to contact AMCAS with application and transcript questions

by Ceder, Oona Britt

Dear all, As I mentioned in today's AMCAS Q&A, AMCAS has an online form<https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school-amcas/amcas-con…> that you can use for urgent application-related questions if you can't get through on their phone helpline. Be sure to identify yourself as an 'applicant' when prompted. (The url for the page where this form can be found is https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school-amcas/amcas-con…). We have heard from several applicants that they heard back quickly after submitting this online form, including about transcript status questions not answered at https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school-amcas/applying-… - scroll down to lower right of this page, where AMCAS provides regular updates about AMCAS and transcript processing/receipt: As of June 9 AMCAS is: Marking transcripts as "Received" that were delivered on or before: Paper (mailed) - May 28 Parchment - May 28 National Student Clearinghouse - June 8 Processing applications that reached "Ready for Review" on May 27. Processing Academic Change Requests submitted on June 8. For Parchment-related transcript questions, also review the Parchment FAQ at https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/2022-amcas-upda… (also be sure to scroll down on this page for the full list of transcript and AMCAS app FAQs and answers). Good Luck with the launch of your 2022 med school application! Best, Oona and Emiko Oona B. Ceder, PhD Director, Premedical and Health Career Advising Associate Director of Career Services Ph: 617.495.2595<tel:617.495.2595> / Fax: 617.495.3584<tel:617.495.3584> Preferred pronouns: she/her/hers http://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/medical-health Subscribe to the Harvard OCS Medical School Applicant Listserv: If you are applying to medical school in 2021 for matriculation in 2022, please subscribe to our Applicant Listserv at https://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/harvardocs-medschool-applica… with a @college.harvard.edu address, @post.harvard.edu address, or @alumni.harvard.edu address. Office of Career Services<http://www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/>, Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences 54 Dunster Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 [insta small]<https://www.instagram.com/harvardocs/>

2 years, 10 months

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Harvardocs-medschool-applicants-list June 2021