The University of Queensland School of Medicine has partnered with the Ochsner Health System in New Orleans to create a program in which students spend 2 years in Australia at UQ and 2 years in New Orleans at Ochsner. Eighty (80) students are being accepted for January 2010 entry. Please go to the website or call 877-777-0155 for more information.
Please see this attached article published last week in The New York Times titled: The Dog-Eat-Dog World of Applying to Medical School.
Please pay particular note to the line that reads -“I needed to think about how I would become a good doctor (not a good applicant).”
In order to assure a smooth application process for those students applying to the professional health schools this year, for those applicants coming through the September 1, 2009 cycle, please do NOT turn in any application materials including Release Forms and AMCAS Letter Request Forms until September 1, 2009.
Since September 1 falls on the second day of classes, it is important that you not try to submit materials to our office Monday, August 31 (FIRST DAY OF CLASSES) as the office could be extremely busy.
You MAY submit individual letters of support/recommendation as long as they are signed and sealed over the back side of the envelope.
Please remember that you need FOUR (4) letters by September 1, 2009 to come through this cycle.
This message is from The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM).
AACOM is excited to share with you another great student advising resource. It is titled: Osteopathic Medical Student Profiles In their Own Words: A Snapshot of the Osteopathic Medical Student. The students profiled here have all made journeys similar to yours. They have completed all their pre-medical coursework, taken the MCAT, volunteered, shadowed a DO, and worked with their prehealth advisors to ensure a smooth transition to medical school. Now, they either are studying in osteopathic medical schools or have recently graduated and are beginning their careers as osteopathic physicians.
Note that UB’s own Mirna Martinez is featured! Undergraduate Studies: BS in Clinical Laboratory Science; minor in Spanish, State University of New York at Buffalo - Graduate Studies: MS in Biotechnology, State University of New York at Buffalo
We hope these profiles will encourage and inspire students from all walks of life to pursue their career goals of joining our community of physicians!
Gina M. Moses, M.Ed.
Associate Director of Application Services
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
Remember that when you are releasing your Committee packet, you need to complete and submit a Release Form to 109 Norton as well as the AMCAS Letter Request Form (if applying to AMCAS Letter Pilot Schools). This form is found in the body of the actual AMCAS application. Also, remember to indicate “Committee Letter” and notate Elizabeth Morsheimer as the primary author/contact. You do NOT need to list all your individual recommenders or your Committee interviewer.
Finally, please note that the following schools are not part of the AMCAS Letter Pilot BUT do accept letter packets via VirtualEvals (VE), so you do not need to pre-address and stamp an envelope for these schools.
Non-Participating Schools AMCAS Letter Pilot Schools
that accept Virtual Evals (VE)
Albany Medical College
Duke University School of Medicine
LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans
LSU School of Medicine-Shreveport
Oregon Health and Science University
Ponce School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program Biomedical Sciences
Uniformed Services University of the Health Science
University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine
University of Utah School of Medicine
Virginia Tech Carillion School of Medicine
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Washington University School of Medicine
For DO schools, simply complete a Release Form listing all your schools. Complete and submit to our office once you begin to get prompted to complete secondary applications.
Please see that the dates for 2010 MCAT administrations have just been posted. Please read the information below as well as several FAQs. As more information is released, we will transmit it to you via this listserv and this Bulletin.
The 2010 testing calendar for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is now available at the link. If you are unable to click on the link, try cutting and pasting the URL into your browser. If that doesn’t work, then you may find the calendar from the home page by clicking on Reserving a Seat. The link for the 2010 testing calendar will be on the right side of the page.
The following are some frequently asked questions about the calendar:
Q: When will registration open for the 2010 test dates?
A: Registration will open in fall 2009 for the January through May test dates. We will announce the exact date about one week prior to the opening day, however, we will not announce a specific time of day. Registration for the June through September test dates will open in early 2010.
Q: Can examinees with 2009 reservations reschedule into 2010?
A: Since registration for 2010 will open after we complete 2009 testing, examinees may not reschedule from 2009 to 2010.
Q: When will the registration deadline and score release schedule be posted?
A: We will post these dates along with updated MCAT Essentials and other relevant information when we announce the registration opening date.
Q: When will international testing dates be available?
A: We are working on the international calendar now and expect to post these dates by the end of this summer.
Michelle Sparacino
Director, MCAT Administration & Reporting
MEDICAL SCHOOL: Timothy F. Murphy, UB Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine, has been appointed senior associate dean for clinical and translational research in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
WHO CENTER: After a few years in hiatus, UB’s World Health Organization collaborating Center for Health in Housing is back on track with a new director and co-director, both of whom have access to the funding and contacts to restart the center and renew its ties with other WHO centers.
IMPROVING MEMORY: While chronic stress can produce wear and tear on the body and have a detrimental effect on learning and emotion, UB researchers have found that acute stress — a short stressful incident — may actually enhance learning and memory.
EVENTS
VIEW FROM CSI: Joyce Paterson, clinical assistant professor, Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, will offer “a real CSI’s perspective of the body” during Wednesday’s Bridge Lecture Series presented by the UB Newman Center.
UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Science Anatomical Gift Program. Read more at the link.
You may recall, we posted a Prehealth Bulletin announcement on June 24, 2009 in regard to a new system for collecting letters called VECollect. The direct posting can be found on this Bulletin under the “Letters of Recommendation” category.
VECollect is an electronic system for collecting letters of recommendation for use in the Prehealth Committee process. It is a way for your recommenders to submit their letters to our office via fax or email for your Prehealth Committee letter in support of your medical, dental, optometry, podiatry, etc., school application. The system will allow for you to check online at the VECollect site as to what letters have been submitted on your behalf. You will also be able to view when your Prehealth Committee packet is added and then forwarded to the professional health schools to which you are applying.
The tentative date to begin to use the new system was noted as August 3, 2009. However, as we seek to insure a very smooth transition for both potential Prehealth Committee applicants and for those individuals composing and transmitting your letters (e.g., faculty, physicians, research supervisors, employers), we are now moving the date back a few months to align with a series of informational workshops regarding the Prehealth Committee/VECollect system.
The workshops and VECollect system will now become available in early October 2009 for those students seeking to apply to the April 1, 2010 Prehealth Committee (for fall 2011 application) and all Committee cycles thereafter. As noted, we will time the opening of the VECollect system with these workshops to assure you understand the new system before you activate a VECollect account. We feel it is best to *require* applicants to attend a workshop before they are provided with an authorization code to use VECollect (before you can have letters submitted on your behalf through VECollect for the April 1 cycle and subsequent cycles).
Workshops will be offered nearly weekly and on various dates and at various times from October 2009 to March 2010. Please note that we are offering ample workshops several months ahead of when your letters are due for the spring 2010 (April 1 application/April 15 letters) Prehealth Committee.
Please look for future announcements as to when the Prehealth Committee/VECollect workshops will be offered.
If you are planning to submit letters for our September 1, 2009 cycle or December 1, 2009 (UB Early Assurance only) cycle, please continue to submit letters as you always have. All information is currently available on our website under “Prehealth Committee”.
