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- Aug 6, 2013
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Hello everyone,
I've been posting in the forums for almost a year now (mostly in the School-Specific threads) and this is the first thread I have made. I am most likely going to reapply in a couple of weeks once AMCAS 2015 opens up (because I am being pragmatic about my slim chances on two waitlists) and wanted to ask about my chances for this coming cycle. I apologize in advance for what will be a very long post, but I feel that if I provide as much information as possible, I may receive better advice.
This previous cycle, I submitted my AMCAS near the beginning of July and it was not verified until the third week of August. I was a little slow with secondary submission: I had a few done by the end of August, most done by mid September, and 1-2 done by the middle of October (for some reason I decided to hold on to these secondaries). Looking back, my PS was not that great and I did not do too good of a job with a lot of my secondary essays (because I did not pre-write any essays and I rushed). I am going to finish revamping my PS soon and get it looked over.
LOR were fine - 1 committee letter with 3 individual letters. I will ask my pre-med advisor to reupload these letters and I will garner 1-2 new LOR.
Stats:
PA resident
cGPA - 3.86
sGPA - 3.94
MCAT - 30 (11P/9V/10B) - early July, 2013 administration
Both GPA values are above average, but I know my MCAT score isn't the best. I was averaging ~33-34 on the AAMC practice tests (I took all the available practice exams) but I scored a 31 on AAMC 11 (which is probably the most representative of all the practice exams). I was contemplating retaking the MCAT this July with a different study approach, but I do not want to risk scoring lower so I decided against the retake. Plus 30 is a reasonable score and I do not care if I'm Top 20 material or not, I just want to attend a medical school in the U.S. (they are all great in their own way).
Extracurriculars:
~300 hours clinical volunteering as a Nurse Aide for 1 1/2 years.
~20 hours shadowing (10 hours observing cardiac bypass surgeries and 10 hours shadowing Neurologist)
- I am going to shadow the Neurologist in the very near future on 3 separate days; he has also offered to write me a rec letter for this upcoming cycle.
over 1000 hours employment for 4 years - parents have a business, so I would work on weekends during school/research internship and during holidays. The only employees are me and my parents and the nature of our work demands much manual labor, so this was a major experience (and not some sort of filler).
~100 hours non-clinical volunteering for 8 months in a local elementary school tutoring struggling students during school
~80 hours non-clinical volunteering for 9 months in an after-school program for middle school students as a tutor
~100 hours - leadership position in a university club
~300 hours over 1 1/2 years as a lab assistant
~1000 hours employment over 6 months - research internship in lab where I was a lab assistant
- won a university-wide award - recommended by my PI
- got my name on a poster/abstract for a conference
~I also enjoy astronomy, so I added a couple of activities related to my astronomy hobby.
Gap year activities:
Since applying, I started out working in the lab I mentioned above, but the lab moved at the end of the summer so I had to try looking for another job. In addition, I maintained my clinical volunteering position until December (this winter made it so hard to commute to volunteer - an hour away from home). I was not able to acquire a job until about a month ago when I became an ER scribe (which I must say is such a great experience so far). During my time of "unemployment", I was working 60+ hours/week in my family's business, so that kept me very busy. I should also be starting another non-clinical volunteer position soon as a GRE/ESL tutor, but I've been waiting for the past month for the coordinator to assign me to students (she recently promised she should have an assignment for me soon). I have always wanted to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity (because I like building things , and helping others of course), so once everything cools down, I will register and volunteer for a local chapter.
Schools I applied to this cycle:
Boston University - pre-interview rejection
Case Western - pre-interview rejection
Drexel - pre-interview hold - rejection
Jefferson - pre-interview rejection
Temple - II - waitlist
Penn State - II - waitlist
Hofstra - II - rejection
GW - pre-interview hold - rejection
Loyola - pre-interview hold - rejection
Mayo - LOR request - pre-interview rejection
MCW - small pool - pre-interview rejection
Rush - pre-interview rejection
Stony Brook - pre-interview rejection
U Miami - pre-interview rejection
Tufts - pre-interview rejection
U Maryland - pre-interview hold - rejection
U Virginia - pre-interview rejection
U Pittsburgh - pre-interview rejection
Wake Forest - pre-interview rejection
Looking at the list now, it was a little too top-heavy for my liking. I guess at the time, I thought I had nothing to lose (except a ton of money). I do want to reapply to the Philly schools since I am from the area and I love it. I am open to other suggestions though.
I am contemplating applying to DO schools this cycle too - I just need to make sure I have the LOR from a DO in hand before I do that and I want to have my AMCAS in first (since I heard the DO cycle is longer).
In regards to my interviews, my interview skills are somewhere in the middle: not too great but not bad. This is an aspect of my candidacy that I will need to address and fix.
I believe I fleshed out everything, but if I missed anything, let me know and I'll update this post. I'll wait for some feedback before asking questions. But do you think I have a good chance as a reapplicant to be admitted to medical school next cycle?
Thanks in advance for all of your help!
I've been posting in the forums for almost a year now (mostly in the School-Specific threads) and this is the first thread I have made. I am most likely going to reapply in a couple of weeks once AMCAS 2015 opens up (because I am being pragmatic about my slim chances on two waitlists) and wanted to ask about my chances for this coming cycle. I apologize in advance for what will be a very long post, but I feel that if I provide as much information as possible, I may receive better advice.
This previous cycle, I submitted my AMCAS near the beginning of July and it was not verified until the third week of August. I was a little slow with secondary submission: I had a few done by the end of August, most done by mid September, and 1-2 done by the middle of October (for some reason I decided to hold on to these secondaries). Looking back, my PS was not that great and I did not do too good of a job with a lot of my secondary essays (because I did not pre-write any essays and I rushed). I am going to finish revamping my PS soon and get it looked over.
LOR were fine - 1 committee letter with 3 individual letters. I will ask my pre-med advisor to reupload these letters and I will garner 1-2 new LOR.
Stats:
PA resident
cGPA - 3.86
sGPA - 3.94
MCAT - 30 (11P/9V/10B) - early July, 2013 administration
Both GPA values are above average, but I know my MCAT score isn't the best. I was averaging ~33-34 on the AAMC practice tests (I took all the available practice exams) but I scored a 31 on AAMC 11 (which is probably the most representative of all the practice exams). I was contemplating retaking the MCAT this July with a different study approach, but I do not want to risk scoring lower so I decided against the retake. Plus 30 is a reasonable score and I do not care if I'm Top 20 material or not, I just want to attend a medical school in the U.S. (they are all great in their own way).
Extracurriculars:
~300 hours clinical volunteering as a Nurse Aide for 1 1/2 years.
~20 hours shadowing (10 hours observing cardiac bypass surgeries and 10 hours shadowing Neurologist)
- I am going to shadow the Neurologist in the very near future on 3 separate days; he has also offered to write me a rec letter for this upcoming cycle.
over 1000 hours employment for 4 years - parents have a business, so I would work on weekends during school/research internship and during holidays. The only employees are me and my parents and the nature of our work demands much manual labor, so this was a major experience (and not some sort of filler).
~100 hours non-clinical volunteering for 8 months in a local elementary school tutoring struggling students during school
~80 hours non-clinical volunteering for 9 months in an after-school program for middle school students as a tutor
~100 hours - leadership position in a university club
~300 hours over 1 1/2 years as a lab assistant
~1000 hours employment over 6 months - research internship in lab where I was a lab assistant
- won a university-wide award - recommended by my PI
- got my name on a poster/abstract for a conference
~I also enjoy astronomy, so I added a couple of activities related to my astronomy hobby.
Gap year activities:
Since applying, I started out working in the lab I mentioned above, but the lab moved at the end of the summer so I had to try looking for another job. In addition, I maintained my clinical volunteering position until December (this winter made it so hard to commute to volunteer - an hour away from home). I was not able to acquire a job until about a month ago when I became an ER scribe (which I must say is such a great experience so far). During my time of "unemployment", I was working 60+ hours/week in my family's business, so that kept me very busy. I should also be starting another non-clinical volunteer position soon as a GRE/ESL tutor, but I've been waiting for the past month for the coordinator to assign me to students (she recently promised she should have an assignment for me soon). I have always wanted to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity (because I like building things , and helping others of course), so once everything cools down, I will register and volunteer for a local chapter.
Schools I applied to this cycle:
Boston University - pre-interview rejection
Case Western - pre-interview rejection
Drexel - pre-interview hold - rejection
Jefferson - pre-interview rejection
Temple - II - waitlist
Penn State - II - waitlist
Hofstra - II - rejection
GW - pre-interview hold - rejection
Loyola - pre-interview hold - rejection
Mayo - LOR request - pre-interview rejection
MCW - small pool - pre-interview rejection
Rush - pre-interview rejection
Stony Brook - pre-interview rejection
U Miami - pre-interview rejection
Tufts - pre-interview rejection
U Maryland - pre-interview hold - rejection
U Virginia - pre-interview rejection
U Pittsburgh - pre-interview rejection
Wake Forest - pre-interview rejection
Looking at the list now, it was a little too top-heavy for my liking. I guess at the time, I thought I had nothing to lose (except a ton of money). I do want to reapply to the Philly schools since I am from the area and I love it. I am open to other suggestions though.
I am contemplating applying to DO schools this cycle too - I just need to make sure I have the LOR from a DO in hand before I do that and I want to have my AMCAS in first (since I heard the DO cycle is longer).
In regards to my interviews, my interview skills are somewhere in the middle: not too great but not bad. This is an aspect of my candidacy that I will need to address and fix.
I believe I fleshed out everything, but if I missed anything, let me know and I'll update this post. I'll wait for some feedback before asking questions. But do you think I have a good chance as a reapplicant to be admitted to medical school next cycle?
Thanks in advance for all of your help!