Medical School Advice

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needsomeadvice123

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Hey Everyone.

I am deciding to apply to medical school after being 4 years out of undergrad. I went to took a couple years off after graduating to work, always wanted to go to medical school but wanted to pay off my loans, etc. I studied Molecular biology at UCLA, graduated with a 3.97 (non science) and 4.0 (science). - Wa native in student gov, and worked in two labs for over 3 years in undergrad. I took the mcat this past september got a 36.

I applied very late in the medical school cycle. Hoping I might, just might get in. I got secondaries to all placed i applied and only two interviews. I am asking for advice on how much does applying late in the cycle affect your prospects of getting in, or is it because I took too many years off from undergrad. In between working I also did volunteering/shadowing at hospitals.

Is my best bet to just try and apply again early in the cycle? any advice would help.

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Hey Everyone.

I am deciding to apply to medical school after being 4 years out of undergrad. I went to took a couple years off after graduating to work, always wanted to go to medical school but wanted to pay off my loans, etc. I studied Molecular biology at UCLA, graduated with a 3.97 (non science) and 4.0 (science). - Wa native in student gov, and worked in two labs for over 3 years in undergrad. I took the mcat this past september got a 36.

I applied very late in the medical school cycle. Hoping I might, just might get in. I got secondaries to all placed i applied and only two interviews. I am asking for advice on how much does applying late in the cycle affect your prospects of getting in, or is it because I took too many years off from undergrad. In between working I also did volunteering/shadowing at hospitals.

Is my best bet to just try and apply again early in the cycle? any advice would help.

If you don't get in, it's because you applied too late. When did you finish your secondaries?

Also, what other activities were you involved in? Any shadowing, volunteer work (in or outside of healthcare), and anything else health related?
 
How late is late? How much volunteering/shadowing? What and how many schools did you apply to?
 
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If you don't get in, it's because you applied too late. When did you finish your secondaries?

Also, what other activities were you involved in? Any shadowing, volunteer work (in or outside of healthcare), and anything else health related?


I sent in my application the week I got my MCAT scored back. October 15. Then got secondaries back between October 30 and as late as November 30. Submitted each one within a week of receiving them (sometimes sooner like 2 days)... SO last secondary was sent like dec 7th.

Activities during school all health related- lab, was party of several research scholar groups, was involved in student government, also went to thialand . Once I graduated I continued to volunteer at hospital, shadowed a GI Doctor.
 
December is SUPER late for being complete.

If your volunteer and shadow hours are good, then your application is fine.

The only thing holding you back is the fact that your application was complete once the majority of interviews was already given out. Schools started interviewing in July/August.

You dun effed up.

Though, if you do a good job on your two interviews, you might have a hope. You're SOL at a lotta places though unfortunately.
 
December is SUPER late for being complete.

If your volunteer and shadow hours are good, then your application is fine.

The only thing holding you back is the fact that your application was complete once the majority of interviews was already given out. Schools started interviewing in July/August.

You dun effed up.

Though, if you do a good job on your two interviews, you might have a hope. You're SOL at a lotta places though unfortunately.


Yeah, I wasn't sure how I would do on the MCAT, I signed up on a whim, and when I saw that my score was competitive I thought what the hell, I'll just apply and see what happens. Thats why I ended up applying late. No big deal. Just apply again, I'm sure my scores are good enough to get in somewhere. I just thought why have i only been rejected by UCI, given two interviews (USC and UCSD) and then not heard anything back from the other schools I applied to. i thought they would just reject me by now.
 
I would do as well as humanly possible on those interviews. Those are both very good schools.

Remember that if you've applied before you have a sort of scarlet letter as a reapplicant if you have to apply again. If you get in anywhere, go. Or say bye to med school dreams.

Be prepared to have a good answer for why you applied so late. The entire "I got my score back and I was like 'why the heck not'" is probably not the answer you want to give.

Having interviews at those schools is a good sign. They're interested in you. If you get in. Never look back!

Good luck!
 
I would do as well as humanly possible on those interviews. Those are both very good schools.

Remember that if you've applied before you have a sort of scarlet letter as a reapplicant if you have to apply again. If you get in anywhere, go. Or say bye to med school dreams.

Be prepared to have a good answer for why you applied so late. The entire "I got my score back and I was like 'why the heck not'" is probably not the answer you want to give.

Having interviews at those schools is a good sign. They're interested in you. If you get in. Never look back!

Good luck!

Thanks for you advice. I would hope I would not have a lapse of judgment and say "why the heck not" to an interviewer... But luckily, I had both of the interviews UCSD and USCthis past weed and neither one asked why I applied late. But UCSD is MMI, so they didn't really have a chance to
 
Asked and answered in another forum.


Hey Everyone.

I am deciding to apply to medical school after being 4 years out of undergrad. I went to took a couple years off after graduating to work, always wanted to go to medical school but wanted to pay off my loans, etc. I studied Molecular biology at UCLA, graduated with a 3.97 (non science) and 4.0 (science). - Wa native in student gov, and worked in two labs for over 3 years in undergrad. I took the mcat this past september got a 36.

I applied very late in the medical school cycle. Hoping I might, just might get in. I got secondaries to all placed i applied and only two interviews. I am asking for advice on how much does applying late in the cycle affect your prospects of getting in, or is it because I took too many years off from undergrad. In between working I also did volunteering/shadowing at hospitals.

Is my best bet to just try and apply again early in the cycle? any advice would help.
 
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