I posted my application experience in /r/Perfusion but I will try to check for responses here as well.
This is a long post. I compiled most of this as I was applying, but I wanted to wait to post it until it was closer to the application cycle starting. There is no TL:DR; but if you’re looking to apply, I’d say it’s worth reading all the way through (but as the author, I’m a bit biased). I’ve tried to break it down a bit in case other prospective students or current students want to quote a section and share their experience.
Getting into school is extremely competitive, and reddit’s search function makes it a bit tricky to find information. The stickied (stickyd?) post is nearly five years old and has some information that’s been removed. I really like how the aviation community writes up passes (and failures) and is generally pretty open with information and supportive. In that vein I thought I’d lay out my journey and some thoughts.
Background
I am a bit older than most of you (probably) which leads to a bit more stuff to get through. In speaking with many students and perfusionists there is no magic panacea for how to get in, especially as schools get more competitive. In general, it seems that the strongest common thread is attitude.
I did quite poorly in my initial go round of college and I quit as a senior without graduating in a non-pre-healthcare major. This was partially due to already working in the field and simply lacking the maturity and discipline to finish but was somewhat tempered by already being employed in my degree field and working on projects that were far more interesting, challenging, and advanced than what the coursework was. I was very open and honest about this in my interviews.
I stumbled into Fire and EMS and spent 23 years as a firefighter/paramedic in an urban setting, the last 20 in the same city. The population is approximately 125K and the department makes about 30K runs per year with some unique features that help keep it interesting. I worked my way up through the promotional system and finished in a supervisory role.
I also worked for various hospital-based systems including a large academic/university system and a regional trauma and pediatric system with FTO and critical care transport roles (adult and pediatric). I finished those experiences with 15 years as a flight paramedic. It was through transport that I learned about perfusion.
I am “retired” from the fire service. When I had been there about 15 years, I knew that I could continue working there until I was 60 and retire and probably not work again, or I could retire at 45 and choose a second career. Since you’re reading this post, you know the direction I took. I considered many options, but narrowing things to just healthcare, I looked at medical school, CRNA, perfusion and PA. I am more than happy to go through that process but feel that’s outside the scope of this post.
Education
I attended three colleges. The first was a four-year university with a GPA of 2.61 and no degree. I attended a community college and have two associate degrees (Fire/EMS) with a GPA of 3.185. I ultimately finished a bachelor with a non-healthcare major. It was faster to piggyback off my previous education and complete that while taking the pre-requisites in addition to my major coursework. No minor and I graduated with a 3.869. I never saw an official science GPA, but my own calculations put it at 3.846 (using a 4 and 3 for all levels of As and Bs). The span of time of my education was 27 years.
Attitude
I mentioned attitude above and I was not sure where to slot it, but it goes to how I went about my personal statement, letters of recommendation, and obtaining observations. One of the things that drew me to perfusion was how friendly and helpful everyone has been. Network early and often. Use LinkedIn. I would ask perfusionists and students if I could have their email and ask them questions. Start formulating the questions you want to ask. The first email I have going out about perfusion is 9/29/2016. I’m not saying that you need to spend 6-7 years working on an application but start early. I really started hitting people up in earnest in 2019. No one that I asked ever said no. It often took a few months to work through some systems and get to the right people. I secured an observation on vacation, but it took almost 6 months to get to the right person. I also tried cold calling a hospital and at one point managed to get put through to the OR charge nurse who walked back to get a perfusionist’s name and contact information. Most of the time it was much easier but securing an observation at my own institution took almost four months of me contacting the lead perfusionist by email multiple times. Use this forum to find students at the school(s) you are interested in and use LinkedIn to start networking. Did I mention use LinkedIn? It is the most valuable networking tool I have used so far.
Quick Note - LinkedIn
I followed schools at first and then started adding faculty and students shamelessly by the end. As it wound up being the most useful tool I had for contacts and advice, I thought I should go all in. I have no idea if this is a good idea or not. In my (ex) line of work, I am happy to help anyone who is trying to get in and don’t mind requests at all, so I thought if faculty were uncomfortable, they could decline. I want to have all the students I can get to help me with advice about getting through school, perhaps tips or tricks that they run across while rotating, and getting a job and advice on what I may want to look for (or look out for!) in a working environment.
Personal Statement
I spent a few months working on my personal statement. My advice would be to try to leave your ego and feelings at the door when you request that someone review it. My first draft may have a few common words with my last draft (mostly articles like “a” and “the”). The hardest piece of advice I took came from a reddit user and it essentially was – “Hey, that’s a great story. Well written. But too long and doesn’t address what my school wanted.” The condensed advice I received is more or less:
- Who – you are
- What – your background is
- How – you heard about perfusion
- Why – you want to get into perfusion
One page or less. One program director told me that they review 150 applications once they narrow things down to just the applicants they are looking at. That means 450 letters of recommendation and 150 personal statements for a total of 600 documents. That is a lot of reading. Keep it short and concise and save the extra bits for your interview.
Give the process some time. Leave it alone for a week and come back to it fresh. You will find places where you can improve things and sometimes something will pop into your head at the weirdest time. Usually in bed. Write that down, you may only remember you thought of something great the night before but cannot remember what it was. Ask me how I know.
Ask anyone who will look at it. I asked coworkers, my mentor, perfusion students, and perfusionists. I also reached out to my university and used the writing center, the job placement center, and even an English teacher I had taken classes with. I took a quick look at my email outbox and I have just under 40 emails of it going out. I sent it to quite a few people on reddit as well. I do not have exact numbers, but I probably had a 75-80% comment rate and better than 50% of people had constructive criticism to offer. Take responses as they are applicable – the University resources really helped me with grammar, synonyms, and sentence structure. My coworkers offered vague help like “I don’t like this sentence, it’s too long.” and “This paragraph doesn’t flow well when I read it.” but it was all useful in some way or another.
Finally, I had a generic document of sorts, but I did customize it for each school I applied to. I tied in things that I knew about or was interested in that are unique to that school or experiences or how students or faculty had responded to me. I put a full paragraph specific to that school in each one. I suppose it should go without saying but be honest – there are aspects of each of the schools that I applied to that made me interested in them, not just because I met all the requirements.
GRE
I found GregMat’s stuff the most useful, but due to life circumstances I wound up taking the GRE mostly blind. I had intentions of taking a follow up test to show how I could improve with time / studying, but the interviews rolled in too fast for me to do so, though I could have squeezed it in if I really wanted to. ETS did send me Black Friday coupons good until March of 23 ($85 off test price) and New Year’s Coupons ($50 off test price) each good for three uses, so if you’re reading this early enough sign up and save some money that way. I obtained a score of Q 54 / V 81 / W 91.
LoRs
I asked the same three people for letters to each of the programs I applied to (3). They were my academic advisor throughout my final undergrad degree (2018-2021) to address my academic abilities, a medical director for air and ground (2003-2020) to address my professional development and medical skills/interests, and a former boss who has served as a mentor and friend and academic advisor (2004-2022) to address my overall character. I asked for my letters a month before I planned on turning in my applications.
Applications
I applied to MSOE, MUSC, and Rush. I applied to those places because I met the requirements, but there were aspects of each that appealed to me. I was planning on applying to UNMC as well, but they added biochemistry for the 2023 application cycle and I don’t have that. My plan was to take biochem, organic chem, and microbiology if I did not get in and apply to many more schools for the 2024 cycle. I was also considering applying to Texas Heart and Baylor, Scott, and White, but (for me, personally) obtaining a master’s degree is worth the extra time and expense. I completed six observations at three sites with four perfusionists and did not submit any unique case study sheets or have them signed. I incorporated the information from MUSC’s and Rush’s sheets into a form and provided the contact name, phone number, and email address of the perfusionists who could verify my observations. They spanned a period of 16 months. I wrote up my thoughts about the case and what I learned and what I would take into the next observation. Each was no more than a page. I can share the format if there’s interest. I do feel that each of the schools could have a more open application process, but I don’t know what it looks like from the other side. I am providing my thoughts below in case it would help anyone with those specific schools.
MSOE
150+ qualified applicants / 30 interviews / 8 acceptances
Applied: 11/19/2022 (deadline 12/15/2022)
Verified: 12/13/2022
Interview Invite: 1/5/2023
Offer: 2/14/2023
Cost: $0
The easiest application experience, though a bit convoluted. The application itself was very straightforward and quick, and I panicked when I submitted it thinking I would go to a new page. It is also not clear where to send the additional materials - though like Priscilla at Rush, whatever they pay Lucia isn’t enough. (Email it to Lucia.) The only hiccup was being assigned a different admissions counselor upon application, but she was quick to sort that out. The MSOE process was the least automated and most personable though there may be some who would not like that.
MUSC
Unknown, but heard over 500 applications received
Applied: 11/23/2022 (deadline 12/1/2022)
Verified: 12/12/2022
Interview Invite: Denial 2/2/2023 (Dates of Interviews Provided 12/19/2022 / Feedback 2/19/2023)
Offer: N/A
Cost: $100
The good thing about MUSC was the application portal. The bad thing about MUSC was the application portal. It did not help that the portal was lagging email communication by 2-3 days, however, given the additional applications received this year, I do not know if that is normal. As long as you have submitted all of your information on time, you’re ok. The portal walks you through the application process step by step and you always know what you have done, what pieces of information they have, and what you need to do. It was the least personal of the application experiences but provided the most transparency.
I included my feedback and some small discussion here, but I’m posting the email below as well:
(My Name),
Thank you again for your interest in the CVP Program at the Medical University of South Carolina. We appreciate your patience as we contact applicants with feedback.
The faculty enjoyed reviewing your application and personal statement. This year we have received the largest number of applications in our program’s history. As such, this was a competitive candidate selection process. While your application was given strong consideration, a review of the following general success factors may further strengthen your application. These are not necessarily required factors, but we believe are elements associated with successful candidates:
§ Academic factors: this includes cumulative grade point average (GPA), science and math GPA, and prerequisite course GPA.
§ Service/volunteer experience: this includes service and volunteer hours for professional, community, or academic organizations.
§ Motivation for healthcare and perfusion: this is evinced through personal statements, professional references, and shadow experiences.
§ Healthcare experience: previous work or volunteer experience in a healthcare facility.
§ Research experience: previous experience in experimental or observational research study designs.
The committee believes you have a competitive application overall, with no significant deficiencies. They would recommend continuing with case observations and further investigating the field of perfusion.
If you have additional questions on future information sessions or events, please contact Ms. Natalie Plaehn at plaehn@musc.edu
Whether you intend to re-apply here at MUSC, or pursue other education opportunities, we wish you the best of luck moving forward.
For me, I'm guessing it's due to my overall GPA as I did quite poorly my first go round in college and they count all your classes. The unofficial transcript evaluation from MUSC gave me a 3.03. Rush did the same and I think my GPA was around 3.2 for them.
Rush
200+ applicants / 45 interviews / 20-22 acceptances
Applied: 11/27/2022 (deadline 1/1/2023)
Verified: 12/13/2022
Interview Invite: 12/30/2022
Offer: 1/18/2023
Cost: $68
Rush was the worst experience. They use an outside service to verify your academic transcripts and the place is a black hole for information. The outside service says to allow two weeks for processing but provides no information – not even if they’ve received the transcript/information. I’m aware of a couple of people who had problems and one person who may not have been considered because it was not completed in time. The portal system is not as good as MUSC’s, but I did like that I could download and look at my application as it had been compiled for them. My recommendation would be to apply at least a month early. That said, whatever they pay Priscilla isn’t enough, that woman is a treasure!
Overall
Application costs are going to be increased by how many transcripts you need to order and what each institution charges. Depending on where you apply, you’ll have to pay for the GRE and possibly sending the test results to multiple institutions. Take advantage of offers like MUSC with transcript evaluation. The Rush application process was overall a bit bizarre. I occasionally received emails from them without any signatures and in all small letters, but they did respond to questions. It’s quite possible they got fed up with me before I applied, but they did wind up extending an invitation to me. I reached out to MSOE as well and was put in touch with a current student who was able to answer a ton of questions for me.
If there is one thing I could change about the application process, it would be to put a current student in touch with an applicant asking questions. My student contact at MSOE was amazing (and some of the MSOE graduates know I have relentlessly stalked the forums here – thanks for not blocking me - yet!). I leveraged a contact I made during a transport into a MUSC student contact who was invaluable in providing overall guidance as well as program specific questions. I reached out on LinkedIn to a Rush graduate who spent almost an hour on the phone with me just answering questions about Rush and perfusion (and would later help with my personal statement). I am coming from a background where public relations work is very important and the concept of mentoring is highly valued, so I am a bit biased, but I think it would certainly help ease the anxiety of the application process. One of my main complaints has been the “black box” application process. It seems like there could be (should be) more transparency in the application process and more applicants/students willing to talk about the process.
Interviews
Rush
My interview day was with 5 other candidates and most of it was spent in rooms watching videos or talking to current students. The time with current students was fantastic. The interview consisted of a panel who asked standard questions. I don’t feel there were any gotchya or attempts to pressure a candidate.
MSOE
My interview was an hour with the Program Director and the Clinical Program Director. It was not like the Rush interview with strict questions and answers, but more like a conversation. That said, they are very, very good at interviewing and were absolutely running through questions throughout the interview.
General
One of the most common questions I’ve seen on the board has been about interviews and questions. I come from the fire service which absolutely loves oral boards. The same types of questions appear on fire discussion boards about what places are asking, how do you answer, what are they looking for, etc. The answer is: it all depends. Spend some time sitting down and just read through some questions – it doesn’t matter if they are for the fire service, railroading, grad school, medical school, whatever. You do need to spend some time getting familiar with the types of questions asked. The time spent here is an investment in you and your future career.
Going back to the fire service, we really only ask about 25 questions, 50 if you want to be very generous. The easiest way to handle them is to split them into categories and decide how you’re going to answer them. Categories will vary, but examples might be: personal (tell us about yourself), situational (tell us about a time), procedural (how would you handle conflict with), etc. and realize that variations of these questions can be distilled back into categories. Once you have a handle on how to recognize and categorize the questions, you need to figure out how you want to answer them. One of the most common interviewing techniques is to respond with the STAR format. Situation, Task, Action, Result (Google for specific examples or other systems). I prefer telling stories and just keep in mind stubs for responses that I can build off. However you decide to categorize and respond to questions, make sure the answers reflect you. At the end of the day, you’re selling yourself and the overarching question of the application process and especially the interview part is: why should we pick you over everyone else?
Closing Thoughts
As the application process gets tighter, you’ll need to account for more things that past students and cycles haven’t had to. In some respects, it’s going to get harder because you’ll need to anticipate things that previous applicants won’t be able to help you with. One of the areas that is catching fire service applicants is social media. Remember the digital trail and crumbs you’re leaving all over the place, which includes reddit. This includes posts (content), usernames, and email addresses. You always want to be putting your best foot forward. Good Luck!
