.

  • Thread starter Thread starter deleted1038378
  • Start date Start date
Med School Insiders
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
When were you complete last year?
Your interview skills are clearly a potential problem.
 
erenyeager said:
had one CA ii at a UC
Click to expand...
I suggest these schools when you reapply:
The UCs
USC Keck
Kaiser
California University
Boston University
Tufts
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Rochester
Pittsburgh
Jefferson
Case Western
Ohio State
Cincinnati
U Michigan
Iowa
Illinois
Northwestern
U Chicago
Washington University
St. Louis
Western Michigan
Mayo (both schools)
Vanderbilt
Emory
Duke
UVA
Miami
USF Morsani
Central Florida
TCU-UNT
Colorado
 
This is not right, that you didn't get in with all your excellent undergraduate work and credentials.

Can you post your list of colleges where you applied to last year ? Outside of California you are top heavy and may need to apply to some safety schools. End of the day, you have to realize not a huge difference between schools ranked 30-60 to the schools ranked 60-90. The top 30 are prestigious and will help your application profile when you apply for residency (especially with USMLE 1 becoming pass/fail) since there are a lot of vain residency program directors who will look at an elite institution applicant differently. Consider getting some of those schools ranked 60-90 on your application list this year.

When applying to the top 30 programs, Look through the MSAR and apply to similar top schools, and prioritize the ones you havent applied to last year, since you likely have a better chance of interviews if you have not applied before. Some medical schools may not offer interviews if your application has not substantially changed. Do apply to the schools which told you that you had a high category waitlist, since they may look on it favorably. Explain why you liked that school, and why you are reapplying there well. Is there something in that school mission which matches your goals ?

I am surprised you didnt match within the UC system this year with those stats, you should have been a shoo in. Should probably apply to ALL the california schools this upcoming cycle. why arent you applying to UC riverside, california U. or calfornia northstate ? Consider taking some coaching for the interviews.

Which undergraduate school are you in ? do they have a committee letter system ? is there a possibility of a "lukewarm" committee letter ? How many letters of reference did you send in, do you think you got any "suboptimal" letters of reference ? when did you graduate ? what are you doing this year, can you do some work at the schools you are interested in ?

Hopefully you will get in this cycle, best of luck. Remember around 40-50% of students do take a gap year, so dont be disheartened.
 
Last edited:
nkal225 said:
This is not right, that you didn't get in with all your excellent undergraduate work and credentials.

Can you post your list of colleges where you applied to last year ? Outside of California you are top heavy and may need to apply to some safety schools. End of the day, you have to realize not a huge difference between schools ranked 30-60 to the schools ranked 60-90. The top 30 are prestigious and will help your application profile when you apply for residency (especially with USMLE 1 becoming pass/fail) since there are a lot of vain residency program directors who will look at an elite institution applicant differently. Consider getting some of those schools ranked 60-90 on your application list this year.

When applying to the top 30 programs, Look through the MSAR and apply to similar top schools, and prioritize the ones you havent applied to last year, since you likely have a better chance of interviews if you have not applied before. Some medical schools may not offer interviews if your application has not substantially changed. Do apply to the schools which told you that you had a high category waitlist, since they may look on it favorably. Explain why you liked that school, and why you are reapplying there well. Is there something in that school mission which matches your goals ?

I am surprised you didnt match within the UC system this year with those stats, you should have been a shoo in. Should probably apply to ALL the california schools this upcoming cycle. why arent you applying to UC riverside, california U. or calfornia northstate ? Consider taking some coaching for the interviews.

Which undergraduate school are you in ? do they have a committee letter system ? is there a possibility of a "lukewarm" committee letter ? How many letters of reference did you send in, do you think you got any "suboptimal" letters of reference ? when did you graduate ? what are you doing this year, can you do some work at the schools you are interested in ?

Hopefully you will get in this cycle, best of luck. Remember around 40-50% of students do take a gap year, so dont be disheartened.
Click to expand...

it seems that you are new here and haven’t spent a lot of time ready threads about the competitiveness of med school applications. And that’s okay but understand that you shouldn’t be giving forceful information without backup information. Each application cycle only around 40 percent of all applicants receive an acceptance. Of that 40 percent about 20 percent receive one acceptance and 20 percent receive more than one. What this means is that around 60 percents of all applicants are rejected. This include applicants with stellar / very strong applications, much like the OP. So nothing is guaranteed to get you an acceptance, even for candidates with 6 interviews.
 
candbgirl said:
it seems that you are new here and haven’t spent a lot of time ready threads about the competitiveness of med school applications. And that’s okay but understand that you shouldn’t be giving forceful information without backup information. Each application cycle only around 40 percent of all applicants receive an acceptance. Of that 40 percent about 20 percent receive one acceptance and 20 percent receive more than one. What this means is that around 60 percents of all applicants are rejected. This include applicants with stellar / very strong applications, much like the OP. So nothing is guaranteed to get you an acceptance, even for candidates with 6 interviews.
Click to expand...
Bingo.

I had 10 II, attended 7 and only got one acceptance. (My interview skills are clearly a problem, but point still made)
 
I don’t think people realize how bad of a hand being a CA ORM is. I have another friend with similar state from CA and he has 0 A’s despite being a really cool person and having great activities. UC schools are also a crapshoot for even the best California applicants.

Happy to read your essays OP, or help in any way possible.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
So sorry to hear that!! 🙁 While I feel you should have gotten in and without needing any special tricks to "stand out", I guess this shows how brutal and unpredictable this process can be. I would def consider newer programs like Hofstra, Western Michigan that prefer high stats, and if you're not exactly from the IE but still in SoCal, still look into UCR and California U. What are you passionate about that you can upsell? With your research-heavy schools, I think your publication will really help this time around, but my undergraduate counselor strongly recommended that all re-applicants wait an extra cycle in order to create the strongest application possible. I know it feels terrible to hear at the time, but it can really pay off if you have any special interests that you want to nurture (like working with the soup kitchen)
 
Oh no that's awful!! Yes I think you ought to get it this time. Praying for the best!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Contrary to what many believe, the school you get your UG degree from, does matter! You mentioned that you graduated from a UC! It DOES matter wether you graduated from UCB/UCLA or from UCM!
 
Does the prestige of the UG school matter for interview offers or after the interview for final offers of matriculation or for both ?

Do medical school ADCOMS use a objective formula for final offers or is it very subjective ?
 
My answer to your first question is for both, and for your second question is “subjective”.
 
Getting interviews and not getting accepted suggests you need to work on interview skills. I'd make this a priority. Another thing that jumps out at me is how many different labs you did research in. I'm not sure if you did this to gain different experience or because you upset the PI/your direct mentor, but schools can easily assume the latter. In addition, many top schools, where your GPA and MCAT are competitive, like to see a letter from each PI you did research with for more than a semester. This is tricky with so many labs. I'd be inclined to focus on the more important research experiences where you had a bigger impact in the project and know for sure the PI genuinely supports you.

Your leadership is also lacking for top schools. Be sure to demonstrate your initiative in your other activities. It won't make up for it, but it might help a bit.
 
erenyeager said:
Yes, I am planning to do some mock interviews.

Most of my labs were research internships, so they had a fixed time, couldn't stay longer. So they were a few months each. Definitely didn't upset any PIs. Current lab I'v been at has been a half a year since now I'm out of school and was able to get a pub.

For my non-profit work, I did have a leadership role, but I marked it as nonclinical cause those hours matter more, but wrote about what I did well I think.

Also, if I'm not really aiming for a "top" school, you think I have a good shot at a mid-tier?
Click to expand...

Yes, do mock interviews and really get critical feedback. I found it hard to get my mock interviewers to be formal enough, even the ones with my premedical advisor. Re: research, that makes a lot of sense. Make sure this is clear however you put research into the work and activities section. I think you have a shot. You already know this since you got interviews before! Make sure you apply to "mid-tier" schools with very high stat averages (check MSAR) as they may be partial to applications like yours.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom