Hi all,
First off, thank you so much for reading this. I was new to SDN these past few months and I am struck by the kindness and help of random strangers, especially during a difficult time as this. I am a possible reapplicant who was unsuccessful in the 2013 cycle. This year has been very disappointing to me, and has culminated in 3 waitlists. I have four burning questions to ask you guys.
My stats:
-CA Resident, 34 MCAT (11PS,12V,11BS)
-3.69GPA
-ECs: I would like to think that they are fairly unique, and to be honest, I thought they were the strong point of my application. I had two leadership positions, one of which was starting a healthcare nonprofit that I have spent nearly 4 years on. On interviews my interviewers mentioned that they liked my experiences, but I guess something must have been lacking.
-I applied to 26 schools, and the majority of my schools were top-heavy. I guess I thought that my ECs would make up for the lack of stellar academics.
In my gap year, I was continuing my extracurriculars, and have added nothing particularly new to my application except a new part time job mentoring at-risk students. Last year, I was complete at most schools in mid to late October, although ironically all the interviews I received were from schools were I was complete in early November.
My questions are:
1) do you think that this is a clear case of applying late? This is completely of my own doing and I know I should have applied way way earlier, and I am set to apply on the first day in a few weeks.
2) Would it be ok for schools to see that I basically continued the activities that I did? I didn't really add anything new but I am very passionate about the my extracurriculars in college and enjoy what I do. I spoke with an admissions counselor at a med school and they said it wouldn't hurt to get a little more clinical, even though they said a lack of it didn't hurt me (they didn't say anything specific about what was wrong with my app). I'm hoping to get in touch with a few more schools before June.
3) I spent months laboring over my personal statement last year and the unequivocal response was that it was great. Obviously, if I am reapplying schools might look at my old application. I've been scouring these threads and it seems like I should at least add to what I did. Since my motivations stayed pretty much the same and I felt like I poured my heart and soul into the essay, you guys feel like a few revisions would suffice? I definitely don't want any schools thinking I'm lazy or anything.
4) LORs. I think my letters were good enough that I got those interviews. Do you think keeping them as is, maybe adding one from my new work would be good enough for a reapp?
I'm staying on the waitlists, although I'm losing hope day by day. This year was full of great stress and regret. Alas, there are much worse things in this world than being a reapplicant to med school.
Sorry for such a long post, and thank you so much for your help.
First off, thank you so much for reading this. I was new to SDN these past few months and I am struck by the kindness and help of random strangers, especially during a difficult time as this. I am a possible reapplicant who was unsuccessful in the 2013 cycle. This year has been very disappointing to me, and has culminated in 3 waitlists. I have four burning questions to ask you guys.
My stats:
-CA Resident, 34 MCAT (11PS,12V,11BS)
-3.69GPA
-ECs: I would like to think that they are fairly unique, and to be honest, I thought they were the strong point of my application. I had two leadership positions, one of which was starting a healthcare nonprofit that I have spent nearly 4 years on. On interviews my interviewers mentioned that they liked my experiences, but I guess something must have been lacking.
-I applied to 26 schools, and the majority of my schools were top-heavy. I guess I thought that my ECs would make up for the lack of stellar academics.
In my gap year, I was continuing my extracurriculars, and have added nothing particularly new to my application except a new part time job mentoring at-risk students. Last year, I was complete at most schools in mid to late October, although ironically all the interviews I received were from schools were I was complete in early November.
My questions are:
1) do you think that this is a clear case of applying late? This is completely of my own doing and I know I should have applied way way earlier, and I am set to apply on the first day in a few weeks.
2) Would it be ok for schools to see that I basically continued the activities that I did? I didn't really add anything new but I am very passionate about the my extracurriculars in college and enjoy what I do. I spoke with an admissions counselor at a med school and they said it wouldn't hurt to get a little more clinical, even though they said a lack of it didn't hurt me (they didn't say anything specific about what was wrong with my app). I'm hoping to get in touch with a few more schools before June.
3) I spent months laboring over my personal statement last year and the unequivocal response was that it was great. Obviously, if I am reapplying schools might look at my old application. I've been scouring these threads and it seems like I should at least add to what I did. Since my motivations stayed pretty much the same and I felt like I poured my heart and soul into the essay, you guys feel like a few revisions would suffice? I definitely don't want any schools thinking I'm lazy or anything.
4) LORs. I think my letters were good enough that I got those interviews. Do you think keeping them as is, maybe adding one from my new work would be good enough for a reapp?
I'm staying on the waitlists, although I'm losing hope day by day. This year was full of great stress and regret. Alas, there are much worse things in this world than being a reapplicant to med school.
Sorry for such a long post, and thank you so much for your help.
