Prepare to reapply or take gap year? (TX ORM)

[premedchances2021]

As we get close to the end of the cycle for TX residents, with no interviews thus far, I am facing reapplication for the 2022-2023 cycle. I know my biggest mistake as a mediocre stats/ECs applicant was not applying early enough: I was complete mid-august at most in TX and I thought this was early enough (evidently not). I also believe my essays were not up to snuff. As I read over my essays I'm not thrilled with my writing, although a few of my readers did like my writing. My LORS were probably decent, likely nothing special. Alongside the obvious reapplication worries, I am unsure what to do about LORs. 2/3 TMDSAS were likely good, but I have no other good science letter writers that I have built a relationship with due to covid.

To work on my weaknesses, I continued growing my ECs in my gap year. I added full-time clinical work as a CNA first then MA now. I continued volunteering a few ways: food bank volunteer, overdose education outreach programs, tutoring, and am also about to begin my volunteering with Crisis Text Line and will look for other opportunities in the new year. I got a low-impact publication for my research in undergrad, which likely won't mean much but is something worth noting.

With that being said, I'm seeking advice on what to do for the next cycle. Should I pursue a masters program or post-bacc work to improve my GPA and continue growing ECs or continue with what I have now?

If I do choose to get a masters or do post-bacc work instead of applying, then I will be facing a MCAT retake for AMCAS schools. With my score now I am strongly against having to retake but will if absolutely necessary.

These will be my stats/ECs at time of application for the 2022/2023 cycle

ORM TX resident
sGPA/cGPA:
MCAT: 516 (Taken late 2020)

Shadowing: 150 hrs
Clinical: (~2200+ hrs)
-900 hrs PCT
-1400 MA (will gain 2000+ more in next gap year)
-100 hours covid vaccination screener
-80 hospital volunteer

Non-clinical: (~500 hrs)
-Freshman service group: 120 hours
-Service org: 100 hrs
-Tutoring: 150+
-Food Bank: 150+
-Drug overdose community outreach program: 50 hrs
-Crisis Text Line: 200+ (expected commitment)

Leadership:
Not much tangible leadership experience;
Officer for 2 years in org
Led a service project in my hometown
Drug education ambassador
Elementary student mentor


Research: 1200 hrs
-Neuroscience research related to drug abuse
-2 posters as main author and 2 more as co-author
-1 low-impact publication

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[Faha]

In addition to all your Texas MD schools also apply broadly to DO schools and I suggest these:
TCOM
SAM HOUSTON STATE
UIWSOM
OSU-COM
AZCOM
TUNCOM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
DMU-COM
MU-COM
CUSOM
PCOM
NYITCOM
Touro-NY

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I looked over your original WAMC thread in February. Yeah, I'm disappointed too, and I'm not sure if it's timing that could have worked against you. The subjective stuff such as your essays and experiences can always be looked at and improved, but I'm not sure. Your GPA is relatively high enough that an SMP probably won't make a huge impact unless you are getting specific feedback that you need to go to one (and even then I'm skeptical). I think you should apply to DO schools because you have choices, and your first-impression stats don't seem to have big red flags.

When you said you transferred: Did you have at least one year of 4-year undergrad worth of courses in your application? I think you said you graduated, so I'm assuming 2 years. Would your suspicion of not having a strong science professor letter be a factor? Perhaps, but then what is the status of these relationships with your professors at your CC?

What steps have you taken in reaching out to admissions staff at the schools before your application? At any recruitment events?

 

[premedchances2021]

I looked over your original WAMC thread in February. Yeah, I'm disappointed too, and I'm not sure if it's timing that could have worked against you. The subjective stuff such as your essays and experiences can always be looked at and improved, but I'm not sure. Your GPA is relatively high enough that an SMP probably won't make a huge impact unless you are getting specific feedback that you need to go to one (and even then I'm skeptical). I think you should apply to DO schools because you have choices, and your first-impression stats don't seem to have big red flags.

When you said you transferred: Did you have at least one year of 4-year undergrad worth of courses in your application? I think you said you graduated, so I'm assuming 2 years. Would your suspicion of not having a strong science professor letter be a factor? Perhaps, but then what is the status of these relationships with your professors at your CC?

What steps have you taken in reaching out to admissions staff at the schools before your application? At any recruitment events?

I did not transfer during my undergraduate career. This cycle I applied MD only hoping I could ride my stronger MCAT to override my weak GPA. I will add some DO schools for my next cycle but I am still going to focus on MD schools. I believe my poor performance my first two years of undergrad definitely came into play on my science letters as I had no relationship from those years. When I finally got focused and engaged in classwork my last 5 semesters, COVID ruined any chance to build lasting relationships. My suspicion is my letters were decent enough, but impersonal and generic, due to virtual learning. I did have one very strong one from my PI that I had a publication under.

To answer your last part: I have admittedly been lacking in this realm. I was not very proactive reaching out to admissions staff nor did I attend many recruiting events.

 

[wysdoc]

@premedchances, please get your application ready to submit early this time - in May or June! I can't emphasize how important this is in Texas.
You will unfortunately have to take CASPer again too, but wait until April or so to see what the TX schools decide about whether to require it again or not. There are a couple of schools that like it so probably you will be taking it again.

When you rewrite your essays, keep things positive, emphasize how you grew through your experiences this year, and try not to make all your essays about being a reapplicant. There will be a few spots where they ask: answer briefly and move on

 

[premedchances2021]

@premedchances, please get your application ready to submit early this time - in May or June! I can't emphasize how important this is in Texas.
You will unfortunately have to take CASPer again too, but wait until April or so to see what the TX schools decide about whether to require it again or not. There are a couple of schools that like it so probably you will be taking it again.

When you rewrite your essays, keep things positive, emphasize how you grew through your experiences this year, and try not to make all your essays about being a reapplicant. There will be a few spots where they ask: answer briefly and move on

Thank you for the words of encouragement. I will absolutely submit early this year and prewritten those secondaries early too. Do you know of any TX schools that look favorably on reapplicants - I have been told that most schools are strongly opposed to reapplicants.

 

[wysdoc]

Thank you for the words of encouragement. I will absolutely submit early this year and prewritten those secondaries early too. Do you know of any TX schools that look favorably on reapplicants - I have been told that most schools are strongly opposed to reapplicants.

Lots of Texans get in on a second try, as long as they have improved in some way since last time

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

This cycle I applied MD only hoping I could ride my stronger MCAT to override my weak GPA.

The way I've had it explained to me is that strength on GPA or MCAT will not compensate for weakness in the other (any evidence of this tends to be against the norm and is often with 520+ MCAT scores, not a ~515). You should not repeat your MCAT, as it is not what is holding you back.

You seem to be a pretty good applicant. The problem is that there are a lot of pretty good to perfect applicants here in Texas. Focus on your weaknesses and improve those over the coming year. Your clinical, research, and volunteering are not holding you back, so I wouldn't stress too much on those.

I'd advise you to consider a SMP to bolster your GPA and more specifically, the one at UNTHSC in Fort Worth, since you'd be an in-state resident (and it is widely considered one of the best SMPs in the country).

You may roll the dice and apply again without doing any significant changes (I wouldn't consider applying early as a significant enough change), but what is that quote about insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? Without significant changes between your application that you submitted this cycle and preparing to submit for next cycle, you should not expect significant changes in garnering interviews.

Read the post in my signature for a glimpse into my path. 4 time applicant and current TX med student. Keep the faith!

 

[premedchances2021]

The way I've had it explained to me is that strength on GPA or MCAT will not compensate for weakness in the other (any evidence of this tends to be against the norm and is often with 520+ MCAT scores, not a ~515). You should not repeat your MCAT, as it is not what is holding you back.

You seem to be a pretty good applicant. The problem is that there are a lot of pretty good to perfect applicants here in Texas. Focus on your weaknesses and improve those over the coming year. Your clinical, research, and volunteering are not holding you back, so I wouldn't stress too much on those.

I'd advise you to consider a SMP to bolster your GPA and more specifically, the one at UNTHSC in Fort Worth, since you'd be an in-state resident (and it is widely considered one of the best SMPs in the country).

You may roll the dice and apply again without doing any significant changes (I wouldn't consider applying early as a significant enough change), but what is that quote about insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? Without significant changes between your application that you submitted this cycle and preparing to submit for next cycle, you should not expect significant changes in garnering interviews.

Read the post in my signature for a glimpse into my path. 4 time applicant and current TX med student. Keep the faith!

My cGPA is 3.6 and sGPA is 3.5. I'm not entirely convinced on spending to 40-50k for an SMP would be worth the investment? I've been told by advisors and faculty at my undergrad's medical school that my gpa and MCAT combo is way too high to do an SMP, but maybe that advice is outdated considering how competitive TX is.

 

[wysdoc]

My cGPA is 3.6 and sGPA is 3.5. I'm not entirely convinced on spending to 40-50k for an SMP would be worth the investment? I've been told by advisors and faculty at my undergrad's medical school that my gpa and MCAT combo is way too high to do an SMP, but maybe that advice is outdated considering how competitive TX is.

I don’t think you need to do one either, but I’m glad it worked out for @pdl2015 .
Your increased activities and an earlier app should help.

 

[premedchances2021]

I don’t think you need to do one either, but I’m glad it worked out for @pdl2015 .
Your increased activities and an earlier app should help.

Ok, thanks for the advice @wysdoc and @pdl2015!

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

My cGPA is 3.6 and sGPA is 3.5. I'm not entirely convinced on spending to 40-50k for an SMP would be worth the investment? I've been told by advisors and faculty at my undergrad's medical school that my gpa and MCAT combo is way too high to do an SMP, but maybe that advice is outdated considering how competitive TX is.

Those GPAs are good, but yeah I wouldn't discredit the fact that its only getting harder to get in nowadays. I didn't do one and wish I had, although my GPA was slightly lower than yours. Also I don't think the CoA is 40k for UNT, even with living costs. They also have an online cohort now that you can do from home for significantly cheaper if you want to save money.

And I was of the same mindset that I didn't think I needed one and therefore didn't want to spend the money, but in the grand scheme of things, an extra $20-40k in debt won't mean much when you pay it back as an attending. It's better than pushing back the earning potential as an attending physician, plus your max earning potential this next year out of college is minimal.

I'd just hate to see you do what I did, not make significant changes, just to have the same bad luck next cycle. Because then another year goes by and you'll have only made minimal changes. It sounds like you could do yourself a favor by revamping your essays and submitting on Day 1, but in the event you do that and still don't garner interest, then you should consider a SMP, even though I agree that your GPA is higher than the typical SMP matriculant.

Edit: As previously suggested, you should add TCOM to your list of applied schools. It's been called a MD level school that just happens to hand out DO degrees. Will you love the extra osteopathic stuff you have to do in addition to everything med school already entails? Probably not, but it's honestly not that much extra and it's well respected amongst program directors. The curriculum is well designed and it has a great relationship with a massive, urban Level 1 hospital, as well as several other high quality clinical sites, something most DO schools don't have.