How to improve my reapplication

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ssturb

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MCAT: 35M (10V, 13PS, 12BS)
GPA: 3.86 (cumulative and science)

ECs
- Research throughout college + currently working full time as a research tech (almost 2 years now)
- ~100 hrs volunteering during college (non medical)
- currently volunteering about 4 hrs/week for the last 6 months at local blood bank
- teaching assistant 1 year
- shadowing ~ 130 hrs of couple cardiologists, orthopedic surgeon, rural primary care physician

I applied very late the current cycle (turned in my secondaries in late october) so only got two interviews...one rejection and one waitlist.

My main question here is how badly does that M on my MCAT writing hurt my application? Should I even bother applying to top 20-30 schools where my gpa/mcat(minus writing) is competitive? Is it worth it to retake the MCAT and risk a lower score for a better writing score?

Also, clearly I am going to apply as soon as I can this next cycle. Any other advice on improving the application? More volunteering hours (seems kinda low to me)?
 
Superficially, I do not see any reason why you were unsuccessful last cycle.

Aside from applying late, do you suspect that your personal statement was poorly written, or any of your LORs were less-than-supportive?

Also, could your school list have been too top-heavy? Yes your GPA and MCAT are very good, but if you only applied to a half-dozen top 20 schools (and nowhere else) then you would certainly be rolling the dice regardless of your academic credentials.

I think if you apply broadly this cycle and have somebody help you put together your primary application (with your activity descriptions, etc) you will be fine.
 
I felt my LORs were very strong...one form my current employer, one from a doctor a shadowed and did research for, one from a professor of a class that I did very well in and TA'd for, and one from a humanities professor that might not be that great. I did apply pretty broadly...maybe 7 top tier schools (columbia, stanford, cornell etc), 7 middle (boston, tufts, sunys, einstein, rochester), and 7 mid/lower (nymc, temple, drexel, jefferson, mcw).

Essay could have been a problem though I had it revised several times by a wide variety of people (doctors, med students, undergrads). Maybe it was unclear why with such a strong research background I wanted to go into medicine.

Anyways, any input on the M writing score on my MCAT? Do you think it's a problem or no? Thanks for the help
 
ssturb said:
Anyways, any input on the M writing score on my MCAT? Do you think it's a problem or no?
Click to expand...

It is my general understanding that the writing store has very little (if any) bearing on one's standing. I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm still stumped on the results of your last cycle though...
 
ssturb said:
MCAT: 35M (10V, 13PS, 12BS)
GPA: 3.86 (cumulative and science)

ECs
- Research throughout college + currently working full time as a research tech (almost 2 years now)
- ~100 hrs volunteering during college (non medical)
- currently volunteering about 4 hrs/week for the last 6 months at local blood bank
- teaching assistant 1 year
- shadowing ~ 130 hrs of couple cardiologists, orthopedic surgeon, rural primary care physician

I applied very late the current cycle (turned in my secondaries in late october) so only got two interviews...one rejection and one waitlist.

My main question here is how badly does that M on my MCAT writing hurt my application? Should I even bother applying to top 20-30 schools where my gpa/mcat(minus writing) is competitive? Is it worth it to retake the MCAT and risk a lower score for a better writing score?

Also, clearly I am going to apply as soon as I can this next cycle. Any other advice on improving the application? More volunteering hours (seems kinda low to me)?
Click to expand...

Wow, you have a pretty awesome application! Sorry to hear it's not working out the way you'd hoped. Definitely do not retake the MCAT just to improve your writing score. The writing score isn't important (they're even going to remove the writing section and change the MCAT in a few years). Definitely apply early next cycle.

Well, you do seem to be weak in terms of clinical experience. The shadowing is great, but I'm sure they expect to see more medical volunteering or experience working in a hospital or clinic environment. 6 months of 4 hrs/wk at a blood bank is only about 96 hours. Do you get a lot of patient interaction at the blood bank? Perhaps you could start volunteering at a hospital/clinic to gain more exposure.

GL!!! :luck:
 
Yea, get a little more clinical experience and reapply earlier. Maybe redo your PS and have some more people read it over again. You should be fine then, do not retake the MCAT. I would also get a good clinical related research job to start building your residency app early while you have a free year.
 
I see the clinical experience as seriously lacking. Even if you work with donors at the blood bank, they aren't sick people. Your shadowing is terrific though.

You might call some schools that rejected you and ask to make an appointment with a dean to see where they think you need to improve, to gain additional insights.

I agree that the M WS is not the reason you had an unsuccessful cycle.
 
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