*** 2022-2023 MD/PhD cycle - Questions, Comments, and other things ***

[Glutenlover1948]

Yeah same with UTSW, haven't seen anything for them either even tho their first interview date is also in less than 3 weeks

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[pcm810]

Does anybody have advice on how to tell if MD/PhD programs are rolling admissions or not? I got offered interviews for two schools that overlap and I am trying to figure out which school it makes the most sense to try and reschedule.

 

[lemon.slice]

Does anybody have advice on how to tell if MD/PhD programs are rolling admissions or not? I got offered interviews for two schools that overlap and I am trying to figure out which school it makes the most sense to try and reschedule.

from what I have seen, they often mention it on the website!

 

[f12345]

Asking for some application cycle advice. I applied to 55 programs this cycle, and so far I've received 11 interview invites (1 MD-only, 10 MD/PhD). I am very incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to be where I am right now. But here's my concern. I got a rec letter from one of my English professors (call them Dr. X) and sent Dr. X's letter to 18 of the 55 schools I applied to. Of those 18 schools that received Dr. X's letter, NONE have contacted me for interviews. So far, only schools that did not receive Dr. X's letter asked me to interview. The 18 schools that received Dr. X's letter are:

University of Illinois
UC Irvine
Thomas Jefferson
UT Southwestern
NYU
Columbia
McGovern in Houston
Harvard
WashU in St. Louis
Kaiser
University of Chicago
University of Wisconsin
Yale
UMass T H Chan
Stanford
UPenn
Medical College of Wisconsin
Mayo

Maybe I'm being excessively neurotic, but I'm starting to worry that Dr. X's letter might have been weak, and that's why schools which received her letter have not contacted me. Dr. X definitely knew me the least well amongst all my letter-writers. If Dr. X wrote me a weak letter of recommendation (but not necessarily a letter that said bad things about me), would that tank my chances of admission at a school? And if so, is there anything I can do to salvage my chances at some of these programs? I should add that I'm 99% confident that all my other letter writers wrote very good things about me.

 

[gregmandel]

Asking for some application cycle advice. I applied to 55 programs this cycle, and so far I've received 11 interview invites (1 MD-only, 10 MD/PhD). I am very incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to be where I am right now. But here's my concern. I got a rec letter from one of my English professors (call them Dr. X) and sent Dr. X's letter to 18 of the 55 schools I applied to. Of those 18 schools that received Dr. X's letter, NONE have contacted me for interviews. So far, only schools that did not receive Dr. X's letter asked me to interview. The 18 schools that received Dr. X's letter are:

University of Illinois
UC Irvine
Thomas Jefferson
UT Southwestern
NYU
Columbia
McGovern in Houston
Harvard
WashU in St. Louis
Kaiser
University of Chicago
University of Wisconsin
Yale
UMass T H Chan
Stanford
UPenn
Medical College of Wisconsin
Mayo

Maybe I'm being excessively neurotic, but I'm starting to worry that Dr. X's letter might have been weak, and that's why schools which received her letter have not contacted me. Dr. X definitely knew me the least well amongst all my letter-writers. If Dr. X wrote me a weak letter of recommendation (but not necessarily a letter that said bad things about me), would that tank my chances of admission at a school? And if so, is there anything I can do to salvage my chances at some of these programs? I should add that I'm 99% confident that all my other letter writers wrote very good things about me.

Correlation does not imply causation. You are absolutely killing it, don’t stress yourself out with something as trivial as this.

 

[matrihound]

Hi there! Has anyone received an II from Emory? Their first interview date is coming up pretty soon and I am curious if they are going to send out stuff last minute or if I just did not get anything as of yet. Thanks!

Haven't received an invite, but I contacted them recently for a different reason and the program coordinator told me that the MD/PhD program only recently began reviewing applications within the last two weeks.

 

[Glutenlover1948]

the program coordinator told me that the MD/PhD program only recently began reviewing applications within the last two weeks.

bruh isn't their first interview like on the 22nd? in 2 weeks lol

 

[lemon.slice]

Haven't received an invite, but I contacted them recently for a different reason and the program coordinator told me that the MD/PhD program only recently began reviewing applications within the last two weeks.

love that😭 did they happen to mention when they are going to start sending out IIs?? thank you for sharing!

 

[poptrop]

Anyone apply Johns Hopkins have their application technically complete? I submitted mine a while back and got an email about my application going under administrative review. They said they would update when this was complete but I haven't gotten an email. I just want to check if I'm the only one because it has been some time since I got the initial email and I don't know if my application is under review or not.

 

[pcm810]

Anyone apply Johns Hopkins have their application technically complete? I submitted mine a while back and got an email about my application going under administrative review. They said they would update when this was complete but I haven't gotten an email. I just want to check if I'm the only one because it has been some time since I got the initial email and I don't know if my application is under review or not.

I got an email that my application had been forwarded to the admissions committee after getting the email that my application was under administrative review. It took 10 days in-between emails.

 

[lemon.slice]

I know this is an extremely neurotic question, but does anyone know whether the schools send out a mass email at the same time on a day they release interview invites, or do they email one person at a time throughout the day? thankss

 

[lemon.slice]

Yeah same with UTSW, haven't seen anything for them either even tho their first interview date is also in less than 3 weeks

I reached out to them and they said they are hoping to have some updates about my app status by the end of this month (I completed the app on 7/30)

 

[texaspremed2023]

Has anyone heard from UTMB's MD/PhD program? Has anyone received an II for the MD/PhD program or heard anything regarding interviews?

I have not heard from utmb since I was invited to "take the next step with your application" in an email that simply had a link to more essays regarding my specific research interests/experiences/publications. Do any past applicants/current students know if this was a good sign for a future interview or if it was sent to all applicants?

Their website says that "applicants who advance after initial review will be contacted to complete a short form regarding their specific interests at UTMB" but I dont know if these means if there is further review prior to II's or if this form is to help coordinate interviewers?

 

[poptrop]

What is the consensus on requesting feedback? Is it alright to request feedback if you didn't get an interview?

 

[Glutenlover1948]

Yes, that's fine. I was personally told to wait til the end of my cycle, not sure if anyone has other opinions

 

[RunningMSN]

What is the consensus on requesting feedback? Is it alright to request feedback if you didn't get an interview?

Yes, that's fine. I was personally told to wait til the end of my cycle, not sure if anyone has other opinions

Schools that do provide feedback will usually not provide anything until the cycle is over.

 

[ioniansea]

Anyone have any advice on how to ask your PI for time off for interviews? I received one II, was over the moon but my PI made it very clear on several occasions that she was unhappy that I needed to take a day off. Now I have two more IIs and it almost feels like I have to break the bad news to her… especially the 3 day in person interview in November… I get why it’s not ideal given that I already take half days off on Wednesday to do hospital volunteering. But it’s not like I’m just trying to get out of research! Advice or positive energy is much appreciated. 🙏

 

[poptrop]

Did anyone apply to UCSD MSTP? If so did your secondary application say anything about the MD/PhD? I didn't see any extra questions or didn't get an email that mentioned the MSTP specifically so I just want to see if it's the same for everyone else too.

 

[thegourd]

Did anyone apply to UCSD MSTP? If so did your secondary application say anything about the MD/PhD? I didn't see any extra questions or didn't get an email that mentioned the MSTP specifically so I just want to see if it's the same for everyone else too.

I didn't have any extra questions. The only "extra" thing I recall is this note in the autobiographical sketch:

Please note: if you are applying to the MD/PhD program, please include why you are specifically interested in seeking MD/PhD training at UCSD.

 

[panexm22]

Hey friends, I've been lucky enough to receive quite a few interviews so far, which is giving me the (wonderful) dilemma of having to resolve some scheduling conflicts. I'm looking for some advice on how to prioritize interviews and the cons of pushing interviews back until much later in the cycle for "non-rolling" schools.

In my current situation, Program A offered me an interview which conflicted with an interview I already had. Fortunately, Program A was willing to reschedule. This week, I was invited to interview with Program B, which conflicts with the rescheduled date that Program A gave me. Program B is a much stronger and larger program than A, with more investigators in my field of interest as well. I informed Program B of my situation and asked if they could reschedule, since I didn't want to have to ask Program A to reschedule twice. They agreed but offered me dates that are all the way out in mid-January.

My concern is if I take the January interview date with Program B, that it will be one of the last interview opportunities they offer and might reduce my chances of an acceptance; they don't release their admissions decisions until February/March, but I'm not sure if interviewing in January means I will be put at a disadvantage for Program B or not. The original date they offered (the conflict) was early December. Should I prioritize doing both interviews and forget about the disadvantage of interviewing in January, or should I prioritize interviewing earlier with the school that I like better?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Glutenlover1948]

I'm looking for some advice on how to prioritize interviews and the cons of pushing interviews back until much later in the cycle for "non-rolling" schools.

If I understood correctly, in this hypothetical Program B is non-rolling? If so, then there is no disadvantage to interviewing later there, non-rolling schools consider everyone equally when all interviews are done. However, if Program B is indeed rolling, that's a different story. The "disadvantage" of interviewing later at Program B really depends on their internal admissions protocol. It can be marginal, even at rolling schools, or more significant. It's worth digging through old acceptance threads to see when the school normally gives acceptances. Some are known to send out a boatload of decisions right before winter break. Others are more conservative and don't send the majority til the spring.

An alternative option would be to start triaging interviews now that you know that you are an exceptional and competitive candidate. I personally would think that rescheduling the same school (Program A) twice won't look too great, so it's worth considering how strongly you value School A if you're willing to keep bumping it down. Schools will engage in a bit of yield protection if they feel like an excellent candidate is not interested in them. Keep in mind that you will still continue to get interview invites throughout the fall for December/January dates, the cycle hasn't even hit the half way mark yet in terms of IIs given out.

 

[lemon.slice]

I feel like Stanford and Pitt do send out a lot of Rs relatively early so do not feel like you were "picked on" or something. and Tri-I is pretty intense so I feel like it does show the competitiveness of your app. I am not sure about this because I did not apply to a lot of top schools but i feel like a lot of them have not started sending out interviews yet? (harvard for example?)

That being said, I would love to hear other people's thoughts too and if there are any non-rolling schools that are not among the top schools that I could also potentially consider applying to rn, because i have been contemplating adding more programs as well.

tldr: Should I apply to more programs?

I applied to ~30 programs (mstp only) and my school list was definitely top heavy ( i refused to apply to any program in a state that abortion was not protected and my research field is pretty concentrated to paricular programs) accepting that was a potentially risky move. Currently, I have 3 Rs from stanford pitt and yale which are all good programs and makes me nervous bc its still relatively early in the cycle. I also haven’t heard back from many programs that have already started to send out interviews. Is this a bad sign? Should I apply to some more non rolling schools before the deadline? However, I also have a II from Tri-I which makes me think that my app is somewhat competitive. I don’t want to waste any more money if its not necessary.

 

[panexm22]

@Glutenlover1948 First of all, great username! And great advice too. It's hard to tell if Program B is non-rolling, but they send out one main wave of admissions decisions in March, so I think the answer is yes? I will probably keep the January interview date. Thanks again for your perspective!

@thehierophant I feel like you're still doing okay as it is pretty early in the cycle. Clearly if Tri-I is interviewing you then you're competitive! One thing that might reassure you is going back to last year's II thread and seeing that most schools send out multiple waves of interviews throughout the fall, not just September. So you might not be in that first wave for some schools, but that doesn't mean you won't get an invite in October or November! I'm one of the blind leading the blind here but maybe that's helpful.

 

[lemon.slice]

@Glutenlover1948 First of all, great username! And great advice too. It's hard to tell if Program B is non-rolling, but they send out one main wave of admissions decisions in March, so I think the answer is yes? I will probably keep the January interview date. Thanks again for your perspective!

@thehierophant I feel like you're still doing okay as it is pretty early in the cycle. Clearly if Tri-I is interviewing you then you're competitive! One thing that might reassure you is going back to last year's II thread and seeing that most schools send out multiple waves of interviews throughout the fall, not just September. So you might not be in that first wave for some schools, but that doesn't mean you won't get an invite in October or November! I'm one of the blind leading the blind here but maybe that's helpful.

I agree with @panexm22 on the advice for @thehierophant!! And also @panexm22, if they release one wave of IIs in March I would want to bet they are non-rolling, so I think you should be good with the January date!! Good luck

 

[thr1932359]

tldr: Should I apply to more programs?

I applied to ~30 programs (mstp only) and my school list was definitely top heavy ( i refused to apply to any program in a state that abortion was not protected and my research field is pretty concentrated to paricular programs) accepting that was a potentially risky move. Currently, I have 3 Rs from stanford pitt and yale which are all good programs and makes me nervous bc its still relatively early in the cycle. I also haven’t heard back from many programs that have already started to send out interviews. Is this a bad sign? Should I apply to some more non rolling schools before the deadline? However, I also have a II from Tri-I which makes me think that my app is somewhat competitive. I don’t want to waste any more money if its not necessary.

I'm in a similar situation. I was sent two interview invitations in August (not to Tri-I, though -- they told me to get lost very early on ), and September has been silent. I think we should sit tight; when were your secondaries (roughly) finished? Most of mine were returned in late July - mid-August, so I suspect many programs just haven't gotten to my file yet or are still deliberating on it. Maybe it's a similar situation for you?

 

[Shell1]

Also wondering if I should add schools... Does anyone else feel like the cycle is slower this year?

From talking to advisors, I think the general feeling is that the cycle is going slower than previously... take it with a grain of salt, but they said that adding additional schools is unlikely to help, as it might seem too late at this point.

 

[thegourd]

@thr1932359 @MD/PhDWannaBe I'd say definitely add more schools if you're noticing there are other schools you really like (especially in terms of research, curriculum, location, etc.). 8 years is a hell of a long time to commit to a place you don't really like or project you aren't very interested in

Agree with @Shell1 that it's getting late though, so if you're gonna add schools probably do it ASAP...

 

[thr1932359]

@thr1932359 @MD/PhDWannaBe I'd say definitely add more schools if you're noticing there are other schools you really like (especially in terms of research, curriculum, location, etc.). 8 years is a hell of a long time to commit to a place you don't really like or project you aren't very interested in

Agree with @Shell1 that it's getting late though, so if you're gonna add schools probably do it ASAP...

I hear you, thanks for the advice! I've actually added three schools in the past two weeks or so. That being said, I don't expect much out of them, and if I do get an interview, they'd probably send the invitation in November at earliest.

I've also applied to a lot of schools already (>30) and have a balanced list with most schools not being in the Top 20 or 30. Consequently, I bet that if I do end up with an unsuccessful cycle that it'd be because of weaknesses in my application and my failure to build a balanced and broad school list. So I think I'm going to sit tight and send application updates as I make some more progress in the lab.

 

[Fencer]

From talking to advisors, I think the general feeling is that the cycle is going slower than previously... take it with a grain of salt, but they said that adding additional schools is unlikely to help, as it might seem too late at this point.

that is incorrect advise.... just need to be smarter adding some specific programs. Some schools behave with early decision process (incl. rejections), while others keep a larger pool of competitive applicants that select every month for interviews. PM me if needed

 

[poptrop]

I'm just going to give this a shot here, if anyone wants to practice doing a chalk talk or doing their research elevator pitch PM me!

 

[Glutenlover1948]

Hello @Fencer , I hope you are doing well. Whenever you get the chance, do you mind please commenting with your thoughts on the cycle so far, and if possible, sharing some numbers if you are allowed to? In general, am curious how you think this cycle is shaping up, and if we have hit ~50% of interview invites yet.

 

[mdphdhopefully]

I thought it might be helpful to leave some resources from the previous cycle in this year's thread. I don't intend on maintaining the graphs moving forward but you can access the data here.

Distribution of number of applicants with minimum 1 acceptance (Data from AAMC Courtesy of Fencer)

Spoiler

View attachment 355802

Distribution of interviews and acceptances by month (Data from SDN Interviews/Acceptances Threads)

Spoiler

View attachment 355805View attachment 355806

Number of interview vs. acceptances (Data from SDN Interviews/Acceptances Threads)

Spoiler

View attachment 355808
##
## Call:
## lm(formula = acceptances ~ interviews, data = .)
##
## Residuals:
## Min 1Q Median 3Q Max
## -3.2580 -0.9216 -0.0117 0.5843 5.3486
##
## Coefficients:
## Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
## (Intercept) 0.40505 0.30220 1.340 0.184
## interviews 0.30331 0.03533 8.585 2.51e-13 ***
## ---
## Signif. codes: 0 '***' 0.001 '**' 0.01 '*' 0.05 '.' 0.1 ' ' 1
##
## Residual standard error: 1.49 on 90 degrees of freedom
## Multiple R-squared: 0.4502, Adjusted R-squared: 0.4441
## F-statistic: 73.7 on 1 and 90 DF, p-value: 2.512e-13

Application Cycle Tracking Website: You can track your cycle and contribute your data using CycleTrack. This is a new initiative created by several applicants from last cycle for crowdsourcing and aggregating information about admissions. You can see admissions actions at various schools here.

love the plots but please +theme_bw() next time

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

that is incorrect advise.... just need to be smarter adding some specific programs. Some schools behave with early decision process (incl. rejections), while others keep a larger pool of competitive applicants that select every month for interviews. PM me if needed

I can concur on this. The school I attend now does not make interview decisions until ~2-5 weeks out from their interview dates in case of late competitive applicants and/or if their pool of “maybe” applicants show continued interest.

I would recommend submitting any secondaries you have left by the end of this week over adding any new primaries, but also shoot your shot.

As an example, I submitted my last batch of 8 primaries last year on September 27th and had all secondaries out by October 4th. Got 3 interviews out of it, including my current school.

 

[thr1932359]

I can concur on this. The school I attend now does not make interview decisions until ~2-5 weeks out from their interview dates in case of late competitive applicants and/or if their pool of “maybe” applicants show continued interest.

I would recommend submitting any secondaries you have left by the end of this week over adding any new primaries, but also shoot your shot.

As an example, I submitted my last batch of 8 primaries last year on September 27th and had all secondaries out by October 4th. Got 3 interviews out of it, including my current school.

Giving me hope, then! I'll go ahead and finish things up in my free time. Hopefully something comes of it.

 

[medscie158]

Hi all, has anyone received an II to TAMU? If so, who did y'all email to confirm the interview? The email is a bit confusing/vague

 

[mdphd?]

Hi all, has anyone received an II to TAMU? If so, who did y'all email to confirm the interview? The email is a bit confusing/vague

I confirmed via the portal, I think. Check the "interview" tab for any buttons you can interact with.

It looks like I responded to their confirmation request e-mail in the "communications" tab of their AMP site.

They invited me more than a month ago and I still don't really know what's up with the interview day besides that interview tab information so just know that's par for the course.

 

[medscie158]

I confirmed via the portal, I think. Check the "interview" tab for any buttons you can interact with.

It looks like I responded to their confirmation request e-mail in the "communications" tab of their AMP site.

They invited me more than a month ago and I still don't really know what's up with the interview day besides that interview tab information so just know that's par for the course.

I noticed my interview was already confirmed on the interview tab, but I definitely didn't do that so I'm wondering if it's somehow linking up with a different amp portal because I had an interview on that date already somewhere else. IDK, super weird, thanks for the info!

 

[pcm810]

from what I have seen, they often mention it on the website!

Just to follow up on this in case anyone is interested- there was no information specific to whether MSTPs were rolling or not, so I made my decision based off of what I could find about MD admissions. In hindsight, this wasn't great because the MSTP and MD admissions are two completely separate committees at most schools. If I have this problem again, I will simply email admissions and ask what the timeline after the interview is. I think schools are understanding that you may have multiple interviews, and I am not as concerned anymore that admissions would take this as lack of interest.

 

[panexm22]

Here’s a fun question: what are y’all wearing as bottoms during your interviews? My suit pants are super comfy and feel more “professional” but wearing them for every single interview is a lot of wear and tear and my room gets VERY hot at times. Any downsides to wearing athletic shorts?

 

[thegourd]

Here’s a fun question: what are y’all wearing as bottoms during your interviews? My suit pants are super comfy and feel more “professional” but wearing them for every single interview is a lot of wear and tear and my room gets VERY hot at times. Any downsides to wearing athletic shorts?

No question I'm wearing shorts. Will certainly be an interesting interview if I'm asked to stand up or something 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

 

[lemon.slice]

Here’s a fun question: what are y’all wearing as bottoms during your interviews? My suit pants are super comfy and feel more “professional” but wearing them for every single interview is a lot of wear and tear and my room gets VERY hot at times. Any downsides to wearing athletic shorts?

I wear black jeans or pants that are not a part of the suit/more casual fit. I figured the camera does not transmit a video that high of a quality for them to see the actual difference of what kind of pants i am wearing...

 

[lemon.slice]

No question I'm wearing shorts. Will certainly be an interesting interview if I'm asked to stand up or something 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

I envision your profile picture being what they would see if you are asked to stand up

 

[thegourd]

same wore sweatpants that matched my jacket just in case I had stand up and didn’t turn off my camera somehow

Is everyone also wearing the same thing on both days?

Gonna wear the same jacket, but will probably change the white shirt (I have like 2, one isn't as nice so it'd be sus in person but no way they'll be able to tell through Zoom). Will probably also change ties

 

[fingerscrossed47282]

Anyone have any virtual "dinner" or "lunches" with current students/faculty during their interview schedules? Do you just make your meal and eat over the screen virtually?

 

[pcm810]

Anyone have any virtual "dinner" or "lunches" with current students/faculty during their interview schedules? Do you just make your meal and eat over the screen virtually?

I've had a couple and no one actually eats on camera

 

[fingerscrossed47282]

I've had a couple and no one actually eats on camera

lol I was afraid that would be the case

 

[gregmandel]

How are you guys dealing with juggling interview conflicts with classes? Some of my teachers have not been as flexible with accomodating my absences. It doesn't help that most interviews run over the course of two days.

 

[wysdoc]

Hello @Fencer , I hope you are doing well. Whenever you get the chance, do you mind please commenting with your thoughts on the cycle so far, and if possible, sharing some numbers if you are allowed to? In general, am curious how you think this cycle is shaping up, and if we have hit ~50% of interview invites yet.

take a look over here: fencers-corner.1469960

 

[MD-PhD-NonTrad]

I've had a couple and no one actually eats on camera

Be the change you want to see in the world

 

[matrihound]

Does anyone have advice on how/when (if ever) to show continued interest in programs? I want to make sure I will be considered for some of the later interview slots that might go out from programs I'm really interested in, but don't have any new publications to report at this point. Would it be beneficial to reach out to the labs I am interested in? I got advice to do this early on while I was working on apps, but the ones I did reach out to basically gave me some form of "would love to talk, hope I see you in the interview" so I didn't commit much more time to that since I was flooded with essays at that point. Would love to hear about others' experiences.