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[treeclimbingmonkey]

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[SpoiledMilk]

What is your MCAT? With 4 II's you might not need to retake. Were the schools you interviewed at MD or DO? Keep your chin up.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

Unless you were/are scoring in the 520s in the FLs, I would not recommend a retake. 4 MD schools gave you interviews, so the CARS score was not an issue. If you don't get an offer from the 4, I would continue with your ECs, rewrite your PS and secondaries, and practice practice practice your interviewing skills as it was likely this that was the issue. Consider adding DOs in a reapp if necessary. I have MD classmates graduating who applied 2-4 times, so continue to keep your head up....

 

[KnightDoc]

Sometimes I feel like this app cycle makes me feel so insignificant and unworthy. I still don't have an A, and waiting on decisions from 4 interviews. Honestly its getting more and more glaringly obvious that I'm going to have reapply and have already scheduled an MCAT retake date.

You're not insignificant or unworthy, so stop thinking like that. You have 4 IIs, which is 1, 2, 3 or 4 more than a ton of your fellow applicants. Measuring your self-worth against the rock stars of SDN is not healthy.

Beyond that, this whole med school application thing is difficult af, and, if you end up not getting in anywhere, not being in the top 36% of this pool is no shame, and you will pick yourself up, dust yourself off, improve whatever needs to be improved, and try again.

It's far too early to call it in mid February with 4 post-II decisions TBD, so just try to chill for the next few weeks and let things play out. Good luck!!

 

[KnightDoc]

Yeah that is kind of my mindset. I will do what I have to do to get in. This entire cycle has just been so mentally exhausting. The one school that I have to hear back from won't get back to me for another 6-7 weeks--- on top of that they are delayed too.

I get it. Waiting sucks, especially at this point in the cycle, but you are not alone. The Harvard people are waiting to trade up from Pitt, plenty of T20s are waiting to trade up from T50s, and plenty of others are anxiously awaiting their first A.

Just keep it in perspective -- many, many, many people either had no IIs, or now have nothing but Rs and WLs from the IIs they did have. You are still waiting for 4 post-II decisions, which, while it's not ideal, is far from the worst place to be. As mentally exhausted as you are, you should keep in mind that, statistically, after taking WL movement into account, you are more likely than not to be sitting on at least one A by the time orientation rolls around.

 

[Moko]

Statically speaking, one of those IIs is likely to turn into an A. It's not a bad idea to continue improving your app (ECs etc), but I would recommend waiting for the interview results first before assuming the worst case scenario. Also, your worth is not determined by a med school acceptance. Best of luck.

 

[LindaAccepted]

While I certainly agree with those who say your self-worth isn't dependent on the outcome of this application cycle, I feel you are smart to be preparing for a reapplication. At the same time, I do hope that you are updating those schools that have wl'd you and that accept updates when you have something to write.

Good luck and stay positive in the meantime!

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

> 60% of students per cycle are not accepted to medical school. Do you consider all of them insignificant and unworthy? It's normal to feel like your value is based on getting into medical school but you will likely be happier in the long term if you find other things that make you feel valuable. That's true whether you're accepted or not this cycle. Because after medical school acceptance, there comes class rank, residency prestige, job prestige, salary. You can chase after being the best of the best your entire life but it will never feel like enough if you don't have an internal way to validate yourself.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Trust the process. This also means you need to believe in yourself that you've done everything you could. Everything else is beyond your control so you just need to do what you can. Prepare to retake your MCAT? Great, if you can focus on it fully and not let this waiting throw you off course. Continue your volunteering and shadowing. Did your ever take up crochet?

CYMS season will begin in a month or so, and with four WL's, you are in a good position. No guarantees of course, but eventually 1 in 3 applicants gets at least one offer and I'm not sure the pool is as many as last year's record.

 

[candbgirl]

Why are you retaking the MCAT? Is it expiring? What if your score goes down? Your 517 is excellent. I don’t think it is the MCAT that is keeping you out. You’ve had several interviews so I don’t think it’s anything on your application. What are you doing about your interview skills? If you are coming across as a “sad_little_octopus” a higher MCAT isn't going to help you. If you have to reapply get some help in displaying confidence and strength. Good luck with your waitlists. 🤞

 

[KnightDoc]

Why are you retaking the MCAT? Is it expiring? What if your score goes down? Your 517 is excellent. I don’t think it is the MCAT that is keeping you out. You’ve had several interviews so I don’t think it’s anything on your application. What are you doing about your interview skills? If you are coming across as a “sad_little_octopus” a higher MCAT isn't going to help you. If you have to reapply get some help in displaying confidence and strength. Good luck with your waitlists. 🤞

I think they're concerned about the 124 in CARS, which might in fact be holding them back at some schools. The advice about not retaking a 517 is solid but, if OP is unsuccessful this cycle and is sure they can get that 124 up by even a point, it's probably a risk worth taking under the circumstances, since an improvement would open some doors that are probably now closed.

 

[KnightDoc]

Yeah, I am scoring 520+ as of now in my practice exams so the risk might be worth it hopefully.🙂 I think the 124 is definitely a hold-up at a lot of the schools that I applied to.

Yup, it's hard to know for sure, since plenty of school review holistically and don't employ strict cutoffs, as evidenced by your 4 IIs. But, of those schools that do have sub score cutoffs, 125 or 126 are common.

 

[wysdoc]

Why are you retaking the MCAT? Is it expiring? What if your score goes down? Your 517 is excellent. I don’t think it is the MCAT that is keeping you out. You’ve had several interviews so I don’t think it’s anything on your application. What are you doing about your interview skills? If you are coming across as a “sad_little_octopus” a higher MCAT isn't going to help you. If you have to reapply get some help in displaying confidence and strength. Good luck with your waitlists. 🤞

I agree, don't retake a 517 MCAT. Practice interview skills and self confidence.

Reverse your sad little octopus

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I would second (or third) not taking MCAT again. Keep in mind that CARS is the most difficult section to improve. As a moderately successful SAT tutor, I have always found that it is extremely difficult to boost verbal standardized test scores. Since MCAT cars is basically sat verbal without the analogies/vocab, I imagine it is the same

 

[allseasons]

I would second (or third) not taking MCAT again. Keep in mind that CARS is the most difficult section to improve. As a moderately successful SAT tutor, I have always found that it is extremely difficult to boost verbal standardized test scores. Since MCAT cars is basically sat verbal without the analogies/vocab, I imagine it is the same

On the flip side though, cars scoring seems to also be very variant by individual test. Three days before the mcat, I got a 132 and my friend got a 123 on FL4 CARS. On the real test, I ended up with a 128 and him with a 130.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

No, I definitely don't consider any of the students that don't get in insignificant. I just personally felt undeserving, for reasons that might not even make sense logically speaking. I guess with med apps, I have a lot of other stuff going on, and I would be so grateful to be able to take a momentary breather (if granted an A). I don't want to delay my reapp, and so I just feel like I am stuck in the perpetual cycle of doing everything all at once until I get admitted. Even that, at times, makes me feel like it's not really helping me get in (even though some of the stuff I actually really enjoy).

It is definitely a tough process from a mental health perspective and can simultaneously feel like one is "doing it all" and "just spinning their wheels". I haven't seen your app so I might be way off-base. But I find that when applicants feel they're overwhelmed and rushing to do everything they need to, the app often ends up half-baked. I know this from submitting my own half-baked app and feeling like my schedule was drowning in EC's even while I was working on secondaries and had a full-time job. I got lucky and got in just days before the academic year started.

Are there any activities that are a particular source of stress and/or any activities that you feel passionate about but aren't doing as much as you want? If you feel like you're running yourself ragged, I recommend taking a step back and focusing on doing what you like for a while. You may find it leads to even better opportunities, ie leadership/accomplishments in that role or position.