TUCOM-NY Discussion Thread 2009-2010

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Congrats to those accepted. Just curious as to the stats of some of the recent accepts? If you don't mind telling?

3.65 GPA, science and cumulative
28O MCAT

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Did anyone else receive the email with all the information and links? Is anyone else slightly frightened by the fact that the whole entire class will see them half naked on the first week of school?
 
Can anyone comment on how long it took after being complete to receive your interview invitation? I have been complete for about a week and I'm worried about time.
 
Can anyone comment on how long it took after being complete to receive your interview invitation? I have been complete for about a week and I'm worried about time.

1-2 wks, can always email or call to find out what's up? I called up and found they never got my letters so had to resend them.
 
Just want to say congrats to all the people who got accepted to TOURO - HARLEM!
 
how many people was there in yesterday's interview?
 
got into KCUMB today. i'll probably be withdrawing my acceptance in a couple days here...after some much-needed thought. hopefully it goes to an SDN-er!
 
Has anyone heard or know of any information sessions or open houses coming up at Touro-COM NY? I'm assuming it's fairly busy at the school; sent a few emails asking the same and have yet to receive a response.
 
Hey everyone,
For those that have interviewed at Touro NY, can your recommend any hotels not recommended by Touro that were cheap and close to the school.

Thanks
 
Ms. Hunter from the school contacted me; there is an open house this coming Thursday. Contact the school for info or to sign up.
 
Does anyone know how long it takes to get the email with all the links? I sent deposit and reply a while ago.....
 
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I was actually really excited about this school. It is close to home, but after reading through the thread, I am getting scared!!! I feel like UMJNJ and PCOM are better choices.
 
I was actually really excited about this school. It is close to home, but after reading through the thread, I am getting scared!!! I feel like UMJNJ and PCOM are better choices.

Then you should go to UMDNJ or PCOM.
 
I was actually really excited about this school. It is close to home, but after reading through the thread, I am getting scared!!! I feel like UMJNJ and PCOM are better choices.

wont lie. PCOM is the best DO school around. Its the way to go if everything is equal to you. But i will add that UMDNJ is in the midst of some SERIOUS problems so i would avoid that at all costs. We are the most advanced choice as far as facilities go and have a very very strong faculty. So i wouldnt put us too much below PCOM, but they are the 'best'. so do keep that im mind.

in the end, both PCOM or TouroCOM would be great choices.
 
Oh also, i see a lot of people asking about the acquisition of NYMC. The best way to think of it is that it was a business acquisition by the mother institution (Touro) as opposed to the TouroCOM school. Realistically NYMC is having some very serious funding and money hemorrhage issues. It will be a few years before Touro can draw any benefit from it, at which point perhaps TouroCOM will benefit from it.

As of right now, the only way it affects TouroCOM is a prestige matter, that the Touro educational system now owns New York Meidical College. There are no rotations in manhattan to be had, and its not like NYMC has rotations in manhattan either. But in time the spots in manhattan will fill up and I'm sure Touro can use the combined weight of TouroCOM and NYMC to open up quite some space in manhattan. Will it be in time for you guys? IDK, its really cutting it close if so.

Your best bet is to assume TouroCOM draws no immediate benefits from NYMC and treat it as something that may pay dividends in future classes. (possibly yours, but i am thinking 2015 and on. at very best. NYMC really has some issues that need to be addressed from a business POV before it can help out any other schools)
 
I just sent an email to Obed asking if I could be put on the waitlist so I don't have to pay the $2000 right now. I still have two med school interviews to attend, and I want to make sure I'm making the right choice. I wonder if it will work...
 
didn't work. withdrawing my acceptance today. good luck everyone!
 
wont lie. PCOM is the best DO school around. Its the way to go if everything is equal to you. But i will add that UMDNJ is in the midst of some SERIOUS problems so i would avoid that at all costs. We are the most advanced choice as far as facilities go and have a very very strong faculty. So i wouldnt put us too much below PCOM, but they are the 'best'. so do keep that im mind.

in the end, both PCOM or TouroCOM would be great choices.

off-topic, but what are the SERIOUS problems that you allude to?
 
Its pretty complex and very much ongoing, so you'll have to check in with a current UMDNJ MD or DO student to find out more specifics on what is going on right at this moment. But I know from my UMDNJ MD friends that, at least to some level, it is definitely still continuing.

back in october or novemberish a dean (I believe of the DO school) was arrested for fund tampering/embezzling type incident. And that dean was caught and went under because he was linked to another guy who got in trouble. UMDNJ had put a NJ politician on a no-work, no-show position on the administration. Unfortunately this person was a politician with access to state funds that were clearly being misappropriated through both favoritism from him and some creative accounting on the end of the school.

A third incident also happened where the MD school was paying off local specialists to refer patients to the MD hospital so that the hospital could raise its substandard ranking in those surgeries. Apparently paying off highly skilled surgeons to refer people to a place not known for excellence in those specific procedures is extremely bad ethics. who knew. This is all i know from the news clippings. That, and that the whole UMDNJ system was going under a huge crunch from authorities over the actions of various people in the administration. I havent seen anything about this in the news since decemberish of last year. But i live in NYC, so strictly-NJ news sometimes doesnt make it up river to me.

I have no clue what officially has happened since, but my friends are telling me that a bunch of hospitals have pulled out on rotations as a way of condemning UMDNJ for it, and that the MD school doesnt really feel the pinch from that, but the DO school does. I don't have confirmation on that, but I have to assume my UMDNJ MD friends know what they're talking about on that part. As i told someone else. It doesnt effect their education, which is fantastic. The education was never in question. But all these "shenanigans" going down and apparently hospitals pulling out is a thing you need to be aware of before you pledge a ton of money to them.
 
Oh also, i see a lot of people asking about the acquisition of NYMC. The best way to think of it is that it was a business acquisition by the mother institution (Touro) as opposed to the TouroCOM school. Realistically NYMC is having some very serious funding and money hemorrhage issues. It will be a few years before Touro can draw any benefit from it, at which point perhaps TouroCOM will benefit from it.

As of right now, the only way it affects TouroCOM is a prestige matter, that the Touro educational system now owns New York Meidical College. There are no rotations in manhattan to be had, and its not like NYMC has rotations in manhattan either. But in time the spots in manhattan will fill up and I'm sure Touro can use the combined weight of TouroCOM and NYMC to open up quite some space in manhattan. Will it be in time for you guys? IDK, its really cutting it close if so.

Your best bet is to assume TouroCOM draws no immediate benefits from NYMC and treat it as something that may pay dividends in future classes. (possibly yours, but i am thinking 2015 and on. at very best. NYMC really has some issues that need to be addressed from a business POV before it can help out any other schools)

Actually, quite a bit of this is factually wrong.

NYMC doesn't just have rotations in the city, we have entire university hospitals. Half of the 3rd/4th year students live down there. In Manhattan there's Metropolitan Hospital (probably close to you guys) and St. Vincent's Medical Center. There's also RUMC on Staten Island and Montefiore North in the Bronx. Westchester Med isn't that far, either.

NYMC's money issue isn't a hemorrhage - it's a more like a leak that's eroding the endowment. This wouldn't be a problem if our current sponsor (the Archdioceses) actually invested in the school. In the context of a large university system, our deficit is pretty small. That hole gets plugged up almost immediately with the $30 million that Touro's putting in upfront. To put that into perspective, our entire medical education center cost $30 million when it was built 10 years ago.

Based on updates we (as students) have been getting, NYMC/Touro has a task force in place to start integrating the various programs, with short term and long term aims. Our new vice dean of medical education (supposedly a pretty cool guy) is the person who was going to head up the New Jersey school. So integration has been going on for a few months now.

If you're applying to TUCOM, this will probably affect your medical education (in a good way, I would think). Certainly by the time you start your clinical years.

My personal opinion - why not move TUCOM under the NYMC umbrella? It wouldn't be the first university system with both MD and DO schools (MSU and UMDNJ come to mind). It would give NYMC a better foothold in the city and probably really boost the DO school. No reason to keep them separate. Just a thought. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

EDIT: And don't think it's going to be a one-way street. I'm sure NYMC students, residents, and fellows in the city would love to have access to some real facilities. Should be a mutually beneficial arrangement.
 
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Actually, quite a bit of this is factually wrong.

NYMC doesn't just have rotations in the city, we have entire university hospitals. Half of the 3rd/4th year students live down there. In Manhattan there's Metropolitan Hospital (probably close to you guys) and St. Vincent's Medical Center. There's also RUMC on Staten Island and Montefiore North in the Bronx. Westchester Med isn't that far, either.

NYMC's money issue isn't a hemorrhage - it's a more like a leak that's eroding the endowment. This wouldn't be a problem if our current sponsor (the Archdioceses) actually invested in the school. In the context of a large university system, our deficit is pretty small. That hole gets plugged up almost immediately with the $30 million that Touro's putting in upfront. To put that into perspective, our entire medical education center cost $30 million when it was built 10 years ago.

Based on updates we (as students) have been getting, NYMC/Touro has a task force in place to start integrating the various programs, with short term and long term aims. Our new vice dean of medical education (supposedly a pretty cool guy) is the person who was going to head up the New Jersey school. So integration has been going on for a few months now.

If you're applying to TUCOM, this will probably affect your medical education (in a good way, I would think). Certainly by the time you start your clinical years.

My personal opinion - why not move TUCOM under the NYMC umbrella? It wouldn't be the first university system with both MD and DO schools (MSU and UMDNJ come to mind). It would give NYMC a better foothold in the city and probably really boost the DO school. No reason to keep them separate. Just a thought. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

EDIT: And don't think it's going to be a one-way street. I'm sure NYMC students, residents, and fellows in the city would love to have access to some real facilities. Should be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

the term hemorrhage came from my PCP who is on the admissions board at NYMC. I honestly dont know the money situation except that she told me not to apply there until I was certain it was going to have a solution (at the time i was debating deferring for a year, so she wasnt telling me not to apply, just not to apply for this year, since it was unsolved at application time).

I was wrong. I had no idea you guys had metropolitan hospital. And that's big. We dont have any in manhattan right now. I did know you had St Vincent's but... does that really count? I have to assume they wont be having any rotations there next year. The hospital was about to close a month ago and if i remember the news right, it was losing $1 million a week (sounds too absurd to be true, but it was NY1, so who knows if they have any fact checking) and they had to cut pay significantly across the board just to lower that fund-loss rate. Now I'm sure it will survive, but i dont think it will be anything more than a shadow of the near-full service center it is now and i imagine teaching would be something to be cut. But that's
speculation by me.

as far as the other boroughs. we have plenty as well. That's never been our issue. we complain that 3 years in we dont have a manhattan rotation site. We also have the integration corps (though we prob see them a lot less than you guys do), but we were told by our deans that they dont see it being advantageous to us for a few more years. That wasnt an 'official' stance, but i'm gonna figure he knows better than I do.

as for combining under your name. i would LOVE that. NYMC has such a strong history (and... honestly.... name). I just know the Touro guys (law school end, mostly) are very proud of the fact that they literally have a giant education conglomerate going on, and they love to pop their brand on anything they can. So I cant see them giving up TouroCOM to NYMC's banner, even if they are the financial backers on both.

Though you did just excite me because there is some talk around here that the school might "split" from touro, which the deans tell us is wrong with a laugh. And we also know we are changing our logo in a year. Now the deans wouldnt cover up the split if it was from the touro system, so i know thats not the case. But they might act that way if we were 1) totally wrong or 2) using the NYMC name, which makes the accusation 'technically' correct. Choice 2 is a super long shot, but hey, a man can dream, cant he?

You seem confident that the touro investment can fix the issues, so i'll join you in saying that new students will reap some benefits by their clinical years. Both schools can draw a ton from this. Yay for optimism! :laugh:

EDIT: I assume you only mean St Vincent's in the village. I know there are other smaller locations of it that arent in as bad of a shape in westchester and somewhere on the east side. Those are doing just fine even if they are in system with the village one, which is drawing all the news. If its one of those two then invalidate my whole argument haha.
 
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the term hemorrhage came from my PCP who is on the admissions board at NYMC. I honestly dont know the money situation except that she told me not to apply there until I was certain it was going to have a solution (at the time i was debating deferring for a year, so she wasnt telling me not to apply, just not to apply for this year, since it was unsolved at application time).

I was wrong. I had no idea you guys had metropolitan hospital. And that's big. We dont have any in manhattan right now. I did know you had St Vincent's but... does that really count? I have to assume they wont be having any rotations there next year. The hospital was about to close a month ago and if i remember the news right, it was losing $1 million a week (sounds too absurd to be true, but it was NY1, so who knows if they have any fact checking) and they had to cut pay significantly across the board just to lower that fund-loss rate. Now I'm sure it will survive, but i dont think it will be anything more than a shadow of the near-full service center it is now and i imagine teaching would be something to be cut. But that's
speculation by me.

as far as the other boroughs. we have plenty as well. That's never been our issue. we complain that 3 years in we dont have a manhattan rotation site. We also have the integration corps (though we prob see them a lot less than you guys do), but we were told by our deans that they dont see it being advantageous to us for a few more years. That wasnt an 'official' stance, but i'm gonna figure he knows better than I do.

as for combining under your name. i would LOVE that. NYMC has such a strong history (and... honestly.... name). I just know the Touro guys (law school end, mostly) are very proud of the fact that they literally have a giant education conglomerate going on, and they love to pop their brand on anything they can. So I cant see them giving up TouroCOM to NYMC's banner, even if they are the financial backers on both.

Though you did just excite me because there is some talk around here that the school might "split" from touro, which the deans tell us is wrong with a laugh. And we also know we are changing our logo in a year. Now the deans wouldnt cover up the split if it was from the touro system, so i know thats not the case. But they might act that way if we were 1) totally wrong or 2) using the NYMC name, which makes the accusation 'technically' correct. Choice 2 is a super long shot, but hey, a man can dream, cant he?

You seem confident that the touro investment can fix the issues, so i'll join you in saying that new students will reap some benefits by their clinical years. Both schools can draw a ton from this. Yay for optimism! :laugh:

EDIT: I assume you only mean St Vincent's in the village. I know there are other smaller locations of it that arent in as bad of a shape in westchester and somewhere on the east side. Those are doing just fine even if they are in system with the village one, which is drawing all the news. If its one of those two then invalidate my whole argument haha.

I'm really surprised that a person on admissions told you that! Last year we had meetings with the President/CEO of NYMC and he explained to us what was going on. Basically, it's the fault of the Archdioceses. They didn't want to put money into the school and they're the ones who wanted to terminate their sponsorship of NYMC. To some extent I can't blame them. In the 1970's the Archdiocese was a huge provider of healthcare in NYC - now they're basically out of the business. No reason to own a med school.

As for St Vincent's (Manhattan), it's huge in that it's our second academic medical center (lots of residency programs, department chairs, etc)... the problem is it may go under. We don't know. The second year students will not be applying for spots but hopefully the situation will resolve and future classes can rotate there again. I also heard that, if the situation stabilizes sooner then they could apply for spots in the summer. It's a wait and see game.

St. Vincent's problems are related to TUCOM's difficulty with rotation spots. Smaller hospital groups and getting killed financially, and either closing or getting snatched up by the big boys (Sinai, NYU, Einstein). The NYC public hospital corporation sold out to the Caribbean schools. It's not necessarily TUCOM's fault - just bad timing.

I mention NYMC's affiliations because while our city presence isn't what it once was, we still have a lot of resources down there not just in terms of med students but also residents and fellows. Our student clinic probably isn't that far from you guys, either.

I feel the main issue we're going to have to tackle is, well, some MD students just don't like DO or are a little ignorant about it. Maybe when this deal closes we can get together and do some icebreakers?
 
I feel the main issue we're going to have to tackle is, well, some MD students just don't like DO or are a little ignorant about it. Maybe when this deal closes we can get together and do some icebreakers?

would love that. I chose DO because it was either leave the north east for MD or be in the north east for DO. I realized the minute differences dont matter so i went geographic for my decision. But education is the first step in cooperation.

and yea. st vincents is a mess, but i really hope that gets better.

haha and dont get me (or anyone from TouroCOM) started on carribbean schools. we lost our main rotation site because we were working out the final contract at north general and they literally just came in with a few wheel barrows of money (perhaps not literally... but close to it) and that ended our hopes of competing til their contract runs out.
 
would love that. I chose DO because it was either leave the north east for MD or be in the north east for DO. I realized the minute differences dont matter so i went geographic for my decision. But education is the first step in cooperation.

and yea. st vincents is a mess, but i really hope that gets better.

haha and dont get me (or anyone from TouroCOM) started on carribbean schools. we lost our main rotation site because we were working out the final contract at north general and they literally just came in with a few wheel barrows of money (perhaps not literally... but close to it) and that ended our hopes of competing til their contract runs out.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sa_OQgWiPA[/YOUTUBE]
 
we lost our main rotation site because we were working out the final contract at north general and they literally just came in with a few wheel barrows of money (perhaps not literally... but close to it) and that ended our hopes of competing til their contract runs out.

these sites were never TOUROCOM's. They were up for grabs for anybody with money. This is how the world is, even after the contract is up, whoever pays the most will get these sites again.
 
Anyone that interviewed 2wks ago (2/22/10) hear back yet? Waiting for some kind of email or phone call, wondering if anyone else is pulling their hair like I am right now, lol.
 
Anyone that interviewed 2wks ago (2/22/10) hear back yet? Waiting for some kind of email or phone call, wondering if anyone else is pulling their hair like I am right now, lol.


You're going to be waiting until the admissions office closes. 4:30 EST.
 
They usually call after 5:00pm - once the dean is done for the day.
 
these sites were never TOUROCOM's. They were up for grabs for anybody with money. This is how the world is, even after the contract is up, whoever pays the most will get these sites again.

Actually, that's not how it used to be with rotation spots. Buying them outright is a new phenomenon. Med schools used to "tip" hospital sites but training was part of passing on the knowledge of medicine. It's a damn shame that for-profit, foreign schools are allowed to do this. There should be a law.
 
I just got an interview invite from TouroCOM, which I accepted. Exactly ten minutes after my interview confirmation arrived, I got an email from NYMC that I was no longer being considered for acceptance. Because I haven't heard from NYMC in over 4 months, I was very surprised by this timing. Has this happened to anyone else?

Also, I will be interviewing on March 15th and am hoping to get to talk with a current student. Is there anyone following this thread who would sit down with me and share their experience of the school? I noticed a few current students posting. I am a non-traditional student living in California but originally from D.C. I have a three year old son and am very curious to know how if there are many parents at TouroCOM. I am also interested to know to how the mission of the school plays out.

Good luck to everyone else who has an interview coming up! :p
 
I just got an interview invite from TouroCOM, which I accepted. Exactly ten minutes after my interview confirmation arrived, I got an email from NYMC that I was no longer being considered for acceptance. Because I haven't heard from NYMC in over 4 months, I was very surprised by this timing. Has this happened to anyone else?

Also, I will be interviewing on March 15th and am hoping to get to talk with a current student. Is there anyone following this thread who would sit down with me and share their experience of the school? I noticed a few current students posting. I am a non-traditional student living in California but originally from D.C. I have a three year old son and am very curious to know how if there are many parents at TouroCOM. I am also interested to know to how the mission of the school plays out.

Good luck to everyone else who has an interview coming up! :p

We have a couple people with children in the class (ummmm if i were to guess i'd say 5 in my class, but maybe one or two more i'm forgetting). Having children def makes it harder, but they definitely manage quite fine. Its just a discipline and maturity thing to get your work done as efficiently as possible since you never knew when your kids will need your attention and time.

As for the NYMC thing? I had something very very similar happen to me with PCOM. But i decided it was just ridiculous coincidence, despite our dean being, apparently, pretty heavily involved in PCOM up until recently. I'd be curious if anyone could corroborate similar stories about NYMC. It would be interesting.

I can def answer any and all of that stuff for you. Just hit me up by private message with some questions, or even better, if you happen to have gmail i can respond to your initial private message with my Gchat account so you can ask me questions any time they come to you during the interview and (ideally) acceptance process.

So if you have questions ask away to me. and either way, good luck!
 
We have a couple people with children in the class (ummmm if i were to guess i'd say 5 in my class, but maybe one or two more i'm forgetting). Having children def makes it harder, but they definitely manage quite fine. Its just a discipline and maturity thing to get your work done as efficiently as possible since you never knew when your kids will need your attention and time.

As for the NYMC thing? I had something very very similar happen to me with PCOM. But i decided it was just ridiculous coincidence, despite our dean being, apparently, pretty heavily involved in PCOM up until recently. I'd be curious if anyone could corroborate similar stories about NYMC. It would be interesting.

I can def answer any and all of that stuff for you. Just hit me up by private message with some questions, or even better, if you happen to have gmail i can respond to your initial private message with my Gchat account so you can ask me questions any time they come to you during the interview and (ideally) acceptance process.

So if you have questions ask away to me. and either way, good luck!


I got an interview at NYMC and then was invited (and accepted) to TouroNY. I still have my NYMC interview in a month. I'm sure your occurrences are simply coincidental.
 
I'm having a hard time finding an academic calendar online. Might someone know when the first day of classes is this fall (for first year students)?

Thanks in advance!
 
I'm having a hard time finding an academic calendar online. Might someone know when the first day of classes is this fall (for first year students)?

Thanks in advance!

July 19, 2010 - first day of school for 1st years - 95% set in stone.
 
Hello Everyone,

I am interviewing here soon. What kind of questions have you guys been asked?

Thanks!
 
July 19, 2010 - first day of school for 1st years - 95% set in stone.

yup thats your orientation start date. Your classes start the beginning of the next week (as do mine) on the 26th, but you have to be at orientation. Its actually pretty fun and full of important stuff to hear. And it may or may not have a few hours of anatomy wedged in on the last day or two. mine did.

the upside is that you get longer winter break than other schools and a couple of full weeks off thanks to jewish holidays lining up mid-week pretty frequently this upcoming school year.
 
first day of orientation, which will last about 2 days and then straight into anatomy and biochem.
 
first day of orientation, which will last about 2 days and then straight into anatomy and biochem.

so school starts in July. I thought it was august's last week. Could you please tell the courses of 1st yr and the length of 1st year (it runs will april or may?)
 
First year classes are Anatomy, Biochem, Physiology, Histology, and OMM which run throughout the semester. You will also have Preventative Medicine & Public health for the first half of the semester, and Physical Diagnosis for the second half.

Second semester is Neuroscience, OMM, and Physical Diag throughout the semester. You will have Biochem, Physiology, Histology, and Immunology for about the first two months. The second half of the second semester is Intro to Pharmacology, Intro to Pathology, and Microbiology.

The year will run into May.
 
Also for the second semester of first year we take a a PBL course course for about 3 months, an Intro to Clinical Medicine course for about 6-8 weeks and a Shadowing course - which we don't know much about because we haven't started it nor have we received any info about it.
 
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so school starts in July. I thought it was august's last week. Could you please tell the courses of 1st yr and the length of 1st year (it runs will april or may?)

about two weeks ago they began finalizing the schedule. It is not 100% finalized yet (still discussing with profs trying to figure out who really needs an extra week of their class and who can sacrifice a week of theirs), but they did decide that because we have class tues-fri and because the jewish holidays fall smattered throughout various weekdays, that they needed to move the start date up 2 weeks and gave us a few weeks off mid-semester rather than have a one or one and a half day school week. Thats all that is. We end some time in mid may, couldnt tell you the exact date cause it all depends on when the Drs decide they want their finals during the month of may. That will always be the case though, since classes pretty much end right in early may and finals are punched out pretty rapidly thereafter.

Second years begin their classes on the 26th and 1st years begin with orientation on the 19th which sort of blends into a day and a half of classes come thursday and friday of that week. Thats what we just learned two weeks ago.
 
Interviewed on 3/1 Anyone hear back today?? they said 2 weeks?:confused:

From what I understand, they will call if you if you're offered an acceptance. Otherwise, you will be sent a letter via standard mail informing you of a wailist/declined status.
I interviewed on 3/10.
 
From what I understand, they will call if you if you're offered an acceptance. Otherwise, you will be sent a letter via standard mail informing you of a wailist/declined status.
I interviewed on 3/10.

Thanks! I just called Obed and he said they were behind and the adcom was meeting on Thursday and he would send out emails that day.. I interviewed 3/1. Good luck to you too!!!
 
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