Reapply Now or Later?

[Ikura]

I applied as a junior in undergrad in the 2015-2016 cycle with a 3.5 cGPA/3.4 sGPA, 507 MCAT (129 Chem/126 CARS/125 Bio/127 Psyc), and received 1 interview (which resulted in a waitlist) for an MD program.

I am currently finishing my senior year and my fall/winter grades were a 3.92/4.00 (all but one were science classes). I am on track for a 4.0 this spring. This will bring my overall cGPA and sGPA up to 3.62/3.54.

If I don't get accepted from the waitlist, I will be starting a 1-year Biomedical Masters program in the fall. Should I reapply this year, given my tremendous upward trend in my senior year? Or, should I reapply next year as I finish up the Masters program?

Also, should I retake the MCAT? I am worried because it would be my 3rd attempt in 2 years...

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[Faha]

Where is your state of residence and where did you apply? Have you considered applying to DO schools since you are competitive for any DO school ?

 

[Ikura]

Where is your state of residence and where did you apply? Have you considered applying to DO schools since you are competitive for any DO school ?

CA resident, applied broadly to ~40 MD schools. I haven't applied to DO schools because I wanted to give MD a shot (though I intend to apply as a last resort). I guess I should clarify that my question was meant for reapplying to MD schools.

 

[Faha]

You could reapply this June and submit all your secondaries by July. Include schools such as:
Quinnipiac
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
New York Medical
Albany
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
GW
any private schools that open in 2017 (Roseman, Henricopolis, etc.)
Apply to at least 10 DO schools and you should receive several interviews.

 

[DrMidlife]

Be a smart consumer about that masters program. See the postbac forum for commentary from current/former students in similar programs. Specifically, make sure you're spending smart money or don't spend it. Of note, you can get into the insanely cheap & effective Tulane ACP if you're on a waitlist. (The cheap part dies if you do Tulane med.)

Generally being on an MD waitlist is a green light for applying same-year-as-SMP. But understand that getting into a UC should be priority #1, and the UCs won't look at your masters work-in-progress. So that's a consideration for completing the masters before you reapply, and in that strategy, you would probably want to squeeze out some more MCAT points if possible and max out a June 2017 app.

Best of luck to you.

 

[GrapesofRath]

IF you are doing a masters it's not going to do much for you unless it's an SMP. Problem is it's getting rather late to be applying to the reputable SMPs which you need to be targeting if you do this. But at the same time an SMP with a 3.62 seems a bit excessive even as a reapplicant. I think you might get more bang for your buck on an MCAT retake to 513+, although if you dont have a solid reason to believe you can do that dont retake.

We dont know about your ECs but my guess is a) you probably just dont stand out that much in the non academic parts of you app b) you live in the wrong state. 3.6/29-30 is competitive in many stats: in CA though it's leaning more towards the lower end of competitiveness. And the MCAT is the bigger issue than the GPA with that stat line.

If MD is your end goal it's hard to say without knowing more information but I probably would lean against reapplying this fast and I would give consideration to an MCAT retake. If you are willing to do a masters program perhaps you might be willing to move to a much more favorable state of residency, establishing that residency for the 2017-18 cycle and applying from a much better state like Michigan where your odds are considerably more favorable. If we're being honest, being a resident of a state like Louisiana would do more to your chances than acing a masters. This doesnt mean get out on the next flight to Baton Rouge, it just highlights be smart in how you plan this next year and if you are willing to move OOS, consider doing it in a favorable state for MD admission. Like I said above I think the problems here are it's just hard to truly stand out/be a rather unique applicant which might have to be the standard as a OOS as a reapp 3.6/29-30 and you are in the wrong state. Both those things are fixable, with the latter perhaps easier than the former.

 

[DrMidlife]

Changing states of residency is a good suggestion for any mid/low stats Californian.

But: getting recognized as a resident of a state ("establishing domicile") means you submit to the laws that define residency in that state. Usually you can't get residency just by going somewhere to be a student. Instate preference and instate tuition are for the kids of parents who have paid state taxes for decades, and for the kids who are likely to stay in the state for residency & practice.

Also: you need admissions to recognize you as a state resident in order to get in-state admissions preference, which is triggered by the home state you list in AMCAS and challenged by admissions' eyeballs looking at whether you ever did anything in the state, and you then need to be a state resident as demonstrated on the pile of paper (licenses, registrations, leases, pay stubs, taxes) you submit to the school after you're accepted to get instate tuition. Two separate processes.

Pick a public med school (such as Wayne State in MI) and dig into their website if the issue is of interest.

Best of luck to you.

 

[GrapesofRath]

The one exception I know of where being a student for a year is enough to get state residency and is also a state that is a pretty good one for MD admission is Ohio. You see SMP programs like Cincinnati and Toledo actively use this as a marketing tool to attract people to come.

Otherwise what DrMidLife is saying is correct, taking classes for a year isnt going to cut it for many states residency requirements. If you are interested in this, dig into the website sure but I would also make an effort to specifically call WVU, Marshall, LSU, U of Kentucky, Wayne State, Central Michigan, U of Alabama etc and other state schools in lucky states that tend to have more leinant state residency requirements you might be considering to see what their own individual requirements are and how they consider applicants. These things arent always 100% readily apparent or clear on websites.

Schools themselves have the final say on who is consider IS vs OOS not the official state residency requirements necessairly. So yes there are people who will be considered IS for admission but not get IS tuition benefits. There was actually a case a decade ago where someone sued the U of New Mexico because they moved their and established themselves a resident but U of NM saw them as "gaming" the system and wouldnt treat them as a true IS applicant. And on the opposite spectrum, MA requires people to live their for 7 years to be a resident but Ive heard of scenarios where UMass will consider someone who lives their and works for 3-4 years before applying as IS for their admission purposes.

There are state schools where the "gaming" of the system like this might cause an issue. Mercer is another example of a school that isnt going to look at someone who lives in Georgia for 2-3 years then applies as nearly the same as someone who lives in GA their whole life. Many other state schools however really dont care like the Ohio ones I listed above. Ive seen this strategy work anecdotally well in West Virginia, Michigan and Louisiana in the past as well. Try and get the best sense of where this "gaming" might be less of an issue the best way you can and target states that interest you most and are luckiest.