What happened? Feedback

trtt · Mar 23, 2009

Hi,

I applied this cycle (2008-2009) to about 30+ schools all across the board.

GPA: 3.85
MCAT: 32R
major: biology minor: music

EC:
2 years orgo teacher
2 years hospital volunteer
3 months shadowing physician full time
2 years research
2.5 months research (at a different institution before my 2 year stint)
1 years president of an honour society (1 year as secretary)
1 year major peer advisor
phi beta kappa
dean's list

LOR:
1 from bio major advisor, 1 from a biochem professor, 1 from PI, 2 from physicians I interned with, 1 from my boss (for orgo), 1 from music GSI,

I submitted my primary in June, but because I went abroad for the summer, I didn't get around to finishing all my secondaries until September.

I've gotten 4 interviews and haven't been accepted anywhere yet. What do you think went wrong? I think I may have to reapply, but should I wait a year or just apply this coming cycle with what I have? Do I need to get new LORs?

phospho · Mar 23, 2009

trtt said:
Hi,

I applied this cycle (2008-2009) to about 30+ schools all across the board.

GPA: 3.85
MCAT: 32R
major: biology minor: music

EC:
2 years orgo teacher
2 years hospital volunteer
3 months shadowing physician full time
2 years research
2.5 months research (at a different institution before my 2 year stint)
1 years president of an honour society (1 year as secretary)
1 year major peer advisor
phi beta kappa
dean's list

LOR:
1 from bio major advisor, 1 from a biochem professor, 1 from PI, 2 from physicians I interned with, 1 from my boss (for orgo), 1 from music GSI,

I submitted my primary in June, but because I went abroad for the summer, I didn't get around to finishing all my secondaries until September.

I've gotten 4 interviews and haven't been accepted anywhere yet. What do you think went wrong? I think I may have to reapply, but should I wait a year or just apply this coming cycle with what I have? Do I need to get new LORs?

how did your interviews go?

trtt · Mar 23, 2009

one i know went horribly and i got rejected there
one i felt went smoothly - waitlisted
another one was strange (regional interview and the lady was falling asleep) - no news yet
another one coming up

Ariadne · Mar 23, 2009

If you're willing, a list of the schools that you applied to, where and when you interviewed, and the subsequent outcomes (rejected, waitlisted, waiting to hear) will probably help you get more meaningful/relevant advice.

trtt · Mar 23, 2009

SLU - interview in Jan, no news
Penn State - interview in Dec, waitlist
Duke - interview Jan, rejected
Temple - interview Mar

GWU, UC Davis - no news
Rosalind Franklin - turned down interview

UCLA, UCSD, UC Irvine, USC, Stanford, UCSF, Harvard, Pritzker, Pittsburgh, BU, Georgetown, Cornell, UVa, University of Michigan, Tulane, Dartmouth, Case, NYU, Wake Forest, Baylor, Yale, Hopkins, Northwestern, Columbia, UPenn, Tufts, Albert Einstein - rejected

mmmcdowe · Mar 23, 2009

Poor essays/personal statement/LORS probably explains the low number of interviews.

phospho · Mar 24, 2009

mmmcdowe said:
Poor essays/personal statement/LORS probably explains the low number of interviews.

i agree...

Also, I think that's a terrible list of schools you've chosen. Don't lose hope for this cycle, but if worse comes to worse and you have to reapply, you really need to work on that list of schools. Most of them are schools that people with much higher scores have trouble interviewing at.

Keep your head up and good luck! :luck:

flip26 · Mar 24, 2009

trtt said:
Hi,

I applied this cycle (2008-2009) to about 30+ schools all across the board.

GPA: 3.85
MCAT: 32R
major: biology minor: music

EC:
2 years orgo teacher
2 years hospital volunteer
3 months shadowing physician full time
2 years research
2.5 months research (at a different institution before my 2 year stint)
1 years president of an honour society (1 year as secretary)
1 year major peer advisor
phi beta kappa
dean's list

LOR:
1 from bio major advisor, 1 from a biochem professor, 1 from PI, 2 from physicians I interned with, 1 from my boss (for orgo), 1 from music GSI,

I submitted my primary in June, but because I went abroad for the summer, I didn't get around to finishing all my secondaries until September.

I've gotten 4 interviews and haven't been accepted anywhere yet. What do you think went wrong? I think I may have to reapply, but should I wait a year or just apply this coming cycle with what I have? Do I need to get new LORs?

The underlined and bolded above is a red flag.

Can I assume from your list of schools that you are a CA resident? You guys have it tougher than the rest of us, that is for sure, but your list is extremely top heavy, plus you turned down an interview at a school without having an acceptance in hand, and that is just plain dumb - the idea behind "backup/safety" schools is to get an acceptance, THEN trim interviews.

You need to apply to more schools like VCU, EVMS, Creighton, etc, and forget about Harvard, etc. You should totally rewrite your PS, and you should ask the schools where you got to the interview stage what you could have done better, or ask if there was anything in any LORs that hurt you - either way, if you suspect a bad LOR, you should get a new one for this cycle.

Finally, why so many letters? Focus on the letters you actually need the most: 2 sci, 1 non-sci (humanities preferred)...you listed 7 letters, and half of them are kind of worthless, especially since it seems you did not provide the 3 that are pretty much universally required...I would really focus on these letters as the likely source of your troubles.

Lola2010 · Mar 24, 2009

I don't really see the problem with his letters. I guess it depends on if there was a committee letter or not...

time2go · Mar 24, 2009

ya i agree, hardly any backups

trtt · Mar 24, 2009

I feel like my essays were at least decent - I've had tens of people look over each one (personal statement and secondaries) and give me honest critique. Not all of those who read it knew me well so they were able to provide an honest feedback.

With respect to the LOR, I did not use all that I listed - but I do have the 3 main ones (1 biochem, 1 major advisor (who also taught me in 2 science classes), and 1 music/humanities) that I sent out to each school.

As for choosing schools - top schools (ie. Harvard, Yale, etc.), I applied to for the sake of applying. Not because I thought I could get in because quite frankly, there are hundreds of people out there who are far more qualified there. CA heavy because I'm from CA and I would like to stay in CA or at least a big city. I guess I never realized how hard it was to get into a CA school, but I do now!

I realized I should have withdrawn my Rosalind Franklin application because after getting my interview and thinking about it more carefully, I felt it wasn't for me and stopped before spending anymore money.

Questions: is it worth retaking the MCAT? Obviously submitting my apps earlier would help also.

Thank you for all the feedback.

GoSpursGo · Mar 24, 2009

No, there's no reason to retake the MCAT. Your biggest problem was applying super-late.

I understand that you would much prefer a CA school, or at least a big city, but that describes pretty much every CA applicant, and not everyone gets their wish. Add a few more of those lower tier schools that flip recommended, raise your chance of being a doctor SOMEWHERE.

drizzt3117 · Mar 25, 2009

Personally I think there might be some wisdom in adding a few more schools but if he just applied early with the list he had, I bet he'd get multiple acceptances.

trtt · Mar 27, 2009

found out I got into SLU today!

JJMrK · Mar 27, 2009

Congrats.

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