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2017-2018 Cycle


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20 minutes ago, LysiaN said:

Me too! From California.

 

@Anastasia @LysiaN Congrats. I booked my flight today through Southwest. They seemed to have the most affordable one. Since its Veteran's day weekend I decided to fly in on Friday and get to see the area a bit and make it a little weekend getaway. I will be renting a car for the whole stay until Monday so if any of you need a ride let me know. 

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Hey All,

So I just got home from my interview session at OHSU and thought I would post a few things that stood out to me from the day. I know this process is beyond stressful and seeking information on this forum is a good way to ease anxiety if you have an interview coming up or are still waiting for an invite.

 

Full disclosure...I can't reveal any specific interview questions as a matter of integrity and professionalism. But I can tell you that the other candidates in my group were beyond impressive and all very qualified to be there. There were no feelings of competition, and everyone seemed to be supporting each other and rooting for the other's success. The faculty there was WONDERFUL. Every single committee member was gracious and kind, and they really made us feel extremely welcome. While the interview session was stressful, it was also very conversational and really felt like they were getting to know us more than continuing to "test" us. We are all qualified on paper, so they made it clear that the purpose of the interview was to see our personality a bit. We had a chance to hang out with some of the first year students during lunch, and this is really when I saw how wonderful it would be to attend this program. They were all so down to earth and just "cool". Super easy to talk to and more than willing to ease our concerns and answer any questions we had. If you have an interview coming up, there's really only one piece of advice that I can give. BE YOURSELF. I know that's extremely vague and cliche, but it's true. There were portions of the interview day where I just kinda stopped trying to find the right answers and instead just showed them who I really am as a person. Who knows, maybe it'll backfire on me and they'll decide not to select me...but it certainly made the day a lot more fun to just relax and be me. Oh and the campus is gorgeous!

 

Colleen told us that there are still several sessions planned through January or February, and they do not fill the entire class from the first couple of sessions. So if you haven't heard anything yet, don't lose hope. The committee meets a few days after each session (each session is about 3 interview days), and they discuss all of the candidates from that session of interviews. I went on the second day, so I'll be compared to candidates that also interviewed on the day before and after me. Notifications should be made for this session by Oct 23, but possibly as early as the 18th. I'll be holding my phone like a crazy person for the next couple weeks. 

 

Good luck to everyone and keep fighting the good fight! If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them. Bottom line is there is a reason that this program is ranked so high nationally. I knew that before, but to see it with my own eyes just made it that more obvious. 

 

Cheers!

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@fireman2241 Thank you so much for sharing about your interview day! That was super helpful! I was really glad to hear that the faculty was so wonderful, and your advice to just be ourselves. I've been so nervous and excited, and don't know what to expect. So, this at least helps to ease my mind a bit. I've worked really hard to get here, so will try to relax and enjoy the day.

Best wishes to you! I hope you hear good news soon. I'm interviewing on the 6th, and am SO looking forward to it. OHSU is such a well respected school and hospital.

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On 10/10/2017 at 8:07 PM, DDoc-Skyline said:

 

@Anastasia @LysiaN Congrats. I booked my flight today through Southwest. They seemed to have the most affordable one. Since its Veteran's day weekend I decided to fly in on Friday and get to see the area a bit and make it a little weekend getaway. I will be renting a car for the whole stay until Monday so if any of you need a ride let me know. 

Portland is a beautiful city. I live about 45 minutes away in Salem. There is so much to do here. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you need any advice on places to go. The food, beer and wine is good anywhere you go. Oh and coffee. Don't even bother with Starbucks. Go to some of the boutique roasters in town. We love good coffee here! Saturday market is fun for shopping too. Anyway, just let me know what you want to do and hopefully I can help send you in the right direction.

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17 hours ago, HighlandCH said:

Portland is a beautiful city. I live about 45 minutes away in Salem. There is so much to do here. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you need any advice on places to go. The food, beer and wine is good anywhere you go. Oh and coffee. Don't even bother with Starbucks. Go to some of the boutique roasters in town. We love good coffee here! Saturday market is fun for shopping too. Anyway, just let me know what you want to do and hopefully I can help send you in the right direction.

Yup I have driven by a couple of times by it. Haven't been able to explore it. Planning on going hiking at the waterfalls around there. Any recommendations on coffee shops? 

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8 minutes ago, DDoc-Skyline said:

Yup I have driven by a couple of times by it. Haven't been able to explore it. Planning on going hiking at the waterfalls around there. Any recommendations on coffee shops? 

You can never go wrong with Stumptown coffee. They are all over Portland, and a really good standby. But then all the boutique roasters in town are all amazing. I've heard good things about Extracto. Here is a link for some good places to visit. https://pdx.eater.com/maps/20-great-portland-coffee-shops  The areas of town I like to visit are downtown near 6th NW, up on 23rd and Burnside NW, Powells's book store (best book store ever) over on 12th and Burnside NW, and on the east side, down Alberta St NE, or Hawthorne st NE.

Something to be aware of when hiking is that we had a large wildfire in the Columbia Gorge last summer that destroyed some of our really nice trails. So look on Oregonlive.com to find places not damaged by the fire. Some of those trails are closed. It was mostly in the Eagle Creek area. Here is a link to help you find some trails.https://www.travelportland.com/article/waterfalls-near-portland/ Also, Forest Park is a nice place for a hike. I'm not sure if there are waterfalls there though. Near me is the Silver Creek Falls state park. It's a very popular place to visit. Lost of visitors. In the same area is a less popular hike, but really beautiful called Shellburg Falls. It's probably at least an hour from Portland.

McMenamins restaurants and bars are always a good standby. They are all over Portland and always unique. Pok Pok is a popular Thai restaurant on the east side that is amazing. I think it's on Hawthorne. Also, a taco place called Por Que No? Is an amazing taco place. Like really good. Get the brisket tacos.

Ok, hope this helps! Have fun!

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On 10/19/2017 at 5:35 PM, arty0811 said:

I got an email saying that my acceptance decision was put on hold because they did not get around to looking at it. I have to wait until the next meeting which is Nov. 28th. Did anyone else get this email from the November 11th interview?

I did! Not from 10/11*(?) interview though. My last name starts with a “W” which I’m assuming is why they didn’t get to me.

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On 10/13/2017 at 9:25 PM, HighlandCH said:

Portland is a beautiful city. I live about 45 minutes away in Salem. There is so much to do here. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you need any advice on places to go. The food, beer and wine is good anywhere you go. Oh and coffee. Don't even bother with Starbucks. Go to some of the boutique roasters in town. We love good coffee here! Saturday market is fun for shopping too. Anyway, just let me know what you want to do and hopefully I can help send you in the right direction.

Thank you so much! Sadly I'm only there for a short tme. Apparently going on multiple "interview" vacations is not ok with my 2 year old hehe ;) Been to portland once and loved the feel of it and people. Hopefully, I can call it home for at least few years :)

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On 3/7/2017 at 10:52 AM, SGPDX84 said:

My first question is: Is anyone else applying without upper division biology or chemistry credits? My prereqs are finished and my GPA is solid, but I have no 300 level science coursework since I chose community college. We can apply with a class or two in progress (up until December 31st 2017).... but right now I'm debating taking full time work so I can get back on my feet financially before PA school. Any advice on whether to forego the full time work vs push to get an upper division genetics or organic course done? Thank you kindly.

I didn't have any upper division science courses and I was still interviewed. I think my problem was trying to defend the courses I took in the interview. I should have admitted that they were not as impressive as upper division, but I was still prepared for the course load.

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On 11/6/2017 at 10:16 PM, TheDemo said:

Anyone know how much OHSU utilizes the alternate list? I was placed on the list on Oct 25th.

They said they do a ranking system and utilize the list all the way up until the day the program starts. So you could get selected from the list days, weeks, or months before it starts. If I remember clearly they do review the alternate list during each review as well so you could get bumped up the list.

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Got an acceptance call from Glenn earlier today. Interviewed this Monday 11/13. Was not expecting it this soon since they said calls will be made on the 29th of this month after they finish reviewing on the 28th. Good luck to those that interviewed with me. Not sure if they reviewed everyone's application from that interview day or just a few. Hope you guys get some good news soon.  

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50 minutes ago, DDoc-Skyline said:

Got an acceptance call from Glenn earlier today. Interviewed this Monday 11/13. Was not expecting it this soon since they said calls will be made on the 29th of this month after they finish reviewing on the 28th. Good luck to those that interviewed with me. Not sure if they reviewed everyone's application from that interview day or just a few. Hope you guys get some good news soon.  

I got a call this afternoon as well! Totally surprised!! Everybody I met at my interview on 11/13 was so awesome, I hope you all get calls soon too! :)

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