Re-apply after 6 year hiatus?

[SilentNight]

Hi all!

It's been a while since my last application cycle (2010), but I've always had the thought of re-applying (a third time). It has been a really great experience exploring other career paths, but it seems that I keep coming back to wanting to become a physician/surgeon.

A little background information:
- applied during undergrad (~10 schools) with no interviews
- applied during grad school (~30 schools) with 2 interviews, 1 post-interview hold and 1 waitlist
- uGPA 3.56 and gGPA 3.4
- 2007 MCAT score: 31R
- typical pre-med ECs while in school (hospital volunteer, doc shadowing, community service, research)

After the second round - I decided to figure out if there were other careers that may suite me. I've spent time doing out-patient clinic work as well as working in the biopharma industry. While my industry career is wonderful, particularly working between business/law/science, a part of me still wants to practice clinical medicine. Long-term goal would be academic medicine with industry interactions.

Here are my questions:
What is your opinion of me re-applying a third time having had no target-specific experiences since my last application?

How do you believe admission committees would view my experience working in biopharma?

Would medical school frown upon my career interest having one foot in academia and one foot in industry? Do you believe I should just continue on my industry path entirely?

What do you believe would I need for a strong third application (strong MCAT score is a given)?

Does anyone know of other medical schools that are considering to offer accelerated 3-year MD programs similar to NYU?

Please provide your honest thoughts and I would especially value comments by those currently in medical school, residency, practicing, or have been part of AdComs.

Thank you!

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[JacksonsDad]

I was a third time applicant this past cycle (applied 2007, 2008) and was accepted for the fall. I had the pleasure of re-taking the mcat 10 years after taking chem I and physics. My career path involved healthcare and pharm/tox so not far off from yours. After you retake the mcat, make a solid assessment of where you should apply and get honest reviews of your essays (including descriptions of ec's). A physician I'm close to gave me a very solid piece of advice for interviews: you aren't there to sell your intellect, your paperwork should have done that, you are there to see how you fit with that school and their goals.

2/40 interviews tells me that there is either a red flag with your application or you are applying out of reach. Did you have your essays etc reviewed by a neutral party? Did you practice interviews and thoroughly research schools before writing secondaries?

It's a lot of work to go through a third time but don't go halfway cause you don't want to keep wondering "what if?"

 

[SilentNight]

Thank you, JacksonsDad, for your insight.

Yes - I agree that 2/40 interviews is a concern. The first round, I applied having received bad advice during the application process. The second round, I furthered my experience in the typical pre-med ECs while completing grad school. I applied more broadly with no DO schools as I was targeting research-oriented MD programs. I asked for post-interview feedback and both schools provided me with generic information.

I sent all my essays to multiple people who I knew were able to dish out the truth. They were impressed and my mock interviews went well. I keep reflecting and wondering what went wrong during round two. I had also set up informational interviews with professors/researchers I was interested in working with at the two schools I interviewed at. From what I recall, they were interested in my background and wished me the best during the interview day. In retrospect, I feel that I may have choked during my interviews and possibly my GPA and MCAT were on the low side for MD programs. Another thought is my reasoning to become a physician may have been to broad and I lacked confidence? Now, I have a more carved out path and that fire for medicine is still glowing even after all these years.

I'm trying my best evaluate if a third time would be worth the time and effort. My current strategy is to re-take the MCAT (preferably >34) while working FTE and apply during the 2015-2016 cycle. Due to personal circumstances, I have to be much more selective of where I am able to apply to with most likely a limit of ~15 schools.

How did you come to the decision to go a third round? What did you do to prepare? What is your eventual goal? And, how did medical school view your industry experience? If you are uncomfortable answering this publicly, please feel free to PM me. I am particularly interested in your story!

 

[JacksonsDad]

Thank you, JacksonsDad, for your insight.

Yes - I agree that 2/40 interviews is a concern. The first round, I applied having received bad advice during the application process. The second round, I furthered my experience in the typical pre-med ECs while completing grad school. I applied more broadly with no DO schools as I was targeting research-oriented MD programs. I asked for post-interview feedback and both schools provided me with generic information.

I sent all my essays to multiple people who I knew were able to dish out the truth. They were impressed and my mock interviews went well. I keep reflecting and wondering what went wrong during round two. I had also set up informational interviews with professors/researchers I was interested in working with at the two schools I interviewed at. From what I recall, they were interested in my background and wished me the best during the interview day. In retrospect, I feel that I may have choked during my interviews and possibly my GPA and MCAT were on the low side for MD programs. Another thought is my reasoning to become a physician may have been to broad and I lacked confidence? Now, I have a more carved out path and that fire for medicine is still glowing even after all these years.

I'm trying my best evaluate if a third time would be worth the time and effort. My current strategy is to re-take the MCAT (preferably >34) while working FTE and apply during the 2015-2016 cycle. Due to personal circumstances, I have to be much more selective of where I am able to apply to with most likely a limit of ~15 schools.

How did you come to the decision to go a third round? What did you do to prepare? What is your eventual goal? And, how did medical school view your industry experience? If you are uncomfortable answering this publicly, please feel free to PM me. I am particularly interested in your story!

There were a lot of twists and turns. To sum it up, due to injuries from a car accident I feared I couldn't handle residency etc (fractured L-5) so I decided to get my doctorate in nursing practice/NP. Part way into the masters portion I realized how little autonomy I would really have and was very discouraged with my prospects. I was seeing an orthopedist because I was facing a likely fusion and he challenged me to try another round of PT and I ended up losing a large amount of weight and my pain levels became tolerable. At that time my wife and I discussed things and decided that med school was the only thing that was going to cut it for me.

Preparation-wise I did a few different things. MCAT I still had my Kaplan books so I went through the Bio/Phys books and for verbal I mostly focused on timing as my scores in that area were strong. I used all the free practice tests (aamc, Kaplan, gold standard) to find my weak areas and reviewed. This was from March-July when I took the MCAT. Due to my wife's work and our family's location I actually only applied to 2 schools. I was very familiar with one as I was in the graduate program there, and the other school I researched the school. I chose which EC's to list to highlight ways I fit with the schools I was applying to and geared my secondaries similarly. I continued to do community volunteer work and took a job in an unrelated field so as to not burn any bridges at hospitals etc. I wasn't worried about clinical experience at that point because I had 1000's of hours to list so I'm sure adcoms knew I had some understanding of the field.

Goals: I am really open to a few different things at this point. I really enjoy a lot of different aspects of medicine. Primary care is a large possibility because of the long-term patient relationships and the huge need in my area (really everywhere).

Interviewers/my experience: everyone I interacted with through the process was very positive regarding my experience, one even stated "we don't even need to talk about relevant experience with your background". So I think you will see similar reactions.

If you have any questions about specifics feel free to reply or PM me! Also if you need tips for study,reviews of your essays or ec's etc I'm happy to help. My wife is a physicist so she's a great resource too haha.

 

[Goro]

I think you chances will be weak if you don't show a continued committment to helping others.

What is your opinion of me re-applying a third time having had no target-specific experiences since my last application?

A long employment history is good in that it shows you're reliable, but other than that, it's not going to make up for the expired ECs.
How do you believe admission committees would view my experience working in biopharma?

Avoid those schools that have a committment to educating primary care clinicans.

Would medical school frown upon my career interest having one foot in academia and one foot in industry? Do you believe I should just continue on my industry path entirely?

You had decent numbers the last time out. AdComs will ask you "how youyou improved since your last app cycle? Saying you worked in industry won't cut it. You need to demonstate your alturism and humanity, and
distinguish yourself from all the other cookie cutter pre-meds. Your maturity is a plus for you, but your less than stellar gGPA might hurt.

What do you believe would I need for a strong third application (strong MCAT score is a given)?

 

[SilentNight]

Thank you, JacksonsDad, for a good glimpse into your path. I will be sure to take you up on your offer when I need further advice.

Thank you also, Goro, for your feedback. In response to what you had said - I take when you meant "...chances will be weak...if you don't show a continued commitment to helping others", would mean the need to spend more clinical time? Because, working in industry is helping patients by developing and marketing novel treatments for unmet medical need albeit it is not as apparent as a physician/surgeon's work.

Why and how do AdComs see the ECs previously as 'expired'? I'm curious as how one would demonstrate altruism and humanity without ending up being a cookie cutter pre-med, since I believe pre-meds are already going for the typical channels (e.g., hospital volunteer, clinic work, mission trips, community service, etc.)?

If you can provide me a clearer perspective, I would appreciate it!