2016 Nontrad Applicants' Progress Thread

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You guys, this feels surreal. I have felt nauseous every day since submitting my AMCAS application in June, thinking that I still wouldn't be good enough. Well, I'm good enough, it turns out. I'm starting medical school (MD) in the fall.

Don't give up! I know people told me this multiple times, and you might be tired of hearing it, but don't give up! You will do this.
 
gyrfalcon said:
My week has unfortunately not started off well. Instead of flying out to interview at a certain west-coast school known for short, quirky secondary questions, I spent my day in the emergency room. The good news: I should be well in a few days. The bad news: the med school in question doesn't think I will get another shot because all of their interview spots are full. 🙁
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Oh no 🙁
I'm glad you'll be recovering quickly but sorry about the interview.
 
New_Slang said:
You guys, this feels surreal. I have felt nauseous every day since submitting my AMCAS application in June, thinking that I still wouldn't be good enough. Well, I'm good enough, it turns out. I'm starting medical school (MD) in the fall.

Don't give up! I know people told me this multiple times, and you might be tired of hearing it, but don't give up! You will do this.
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YAAAAAAAY! Go team!! And especially, good for you!!!
 
gyrfalcon said:
My week has unfortunately not started off well. Instead of flying out to interview at a certain west-coast school known for short, quirky secondary questions, I spent my day in the emergency room. The good news: I should be well in a few days. The bad news: the med school in question doesn't think I will get another shot because all of their interview spots are full. 🙁
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What? That is crazy is so many ways... I am so sorry. That is really messed up of them.
 
gyrfalcon said:
My week has unfortunately not started off well. Instead of flying out to interview at a certain west-coast school known for short, quirky secondary questions, I spent my day in the emergency room. The good news: I should be well in a few days. The bad news: the med school in question doesn't think I will get another shot because all of their interview spots are full. 🙁
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wtf! Someone's bound to withdraw from an interview spot though, I mean...ugh.

That's awful...hope you're doing okay 🙁
 
Still waiting to hear back from all 6 schools I've interviewed at. I'm losing patience and October isn't even over yet 🙁
 
idontknowwhatnametopick said:
Still waiting to hear back from all 6 schools I've interviewed at. I'm losing patience and October isn't even over yet 🙁
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Ugh, that sucks. Are they schools that have given you a date to expect to hear from or just 'We'll tell you when we tell you'?
 
idontknowwhatnametopick said:
Still waiting to hear back from all 6 schools I've interviewed at. I'm losing patience and October isn't even over yet 🙁
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Same here, so I sympathize! I was also really expecting to hear something from the Texas schools I interviewed at in July and August. I guess I thought that there would be something more definitive: accept, reject, waitlist. Getting the silent treatment instead is nerve-wracking. Hang in there! Maybe they will send a new batch of OOS acceptances in a few weeks when they tell the in-state applicants the news.
 
dataDyne2 said:
Just got my acceptance from Wayne State, I can't even believe it. My comeback has finally paid off. Graduated undergrad with a 1.85 cGPA (1.66 sGPA) carrying too many F's, D's, and who knows what other awful mess. Got my act together, went back to school, powered through 4 years of post-bacc work, and now look, a future M.D.

Sending my good thoughts out, hopefully everyone gets the great news that I got yesterday, and we're all a success!
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You really, need to post that in this thread too. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...icated-in-all-our-hearts-to-snugseal.1166054/

Everyone else should post acceptances in that lovely uplifting thread made by @pageantry


gyrfalcon said:
My week has unfortunately not started off well. Instead of flying out to interview at a certain west-coast school known for short, quirky secondary questions, I spent my day in the emergency room. The good news: I should be well in a few days. The bad news: the med school in question doesn't think I will get another shot because all of their interview spots are full. 🙁
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That really sucks! It's not like you don't have a good reason, sheesh.
 
Aaaaannnnnd just got my first rejection (pre-interview, so not a big deal)

@gyrfalcon I saw you got a Dell II, congrats! I'll tell you how the interview day there goes for me.

This thread is a great place to air out my frustration, thanks for being such a supportive bunch.
 
idontknowwhatnametopick said:
@gyrfalcon I saw you got a Dell II, congrats! I'll tell you how the interview day there goes for me.
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Yeah! That was a surprising bit of good news when I was feeling cruddy.

I'd be thankful for any interview advice there. And... I think you should totally bring this up the next time an interviewer asks for examples of your altruism. We OOSers are competing for a measly 5 seats at Dell and yet you are still willing to help a fellow applicant out! 👍👍👍
 
gyrfalcon said:
Yeah! That was a surprising bit of good news when I was feeling cruddy.

I'd be thankful for any interview advice there. And... I think you should totally bring this up the next time an interviewer asks for examples of your altruism. We OOSers are competing for a measly 5 seats at Dell and yet you are still willing to help a fellow applicant out! 👍👍👍
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I don't see how that's altruistic but OK 🙂
 
gyrfalcon said:
The bad news: the med school in question doesn't think I will get another shot because all of their interview spots are full. 🙁
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In a surprising turn of events, the school in question has changed their mind and will let me reschedule my interview to January after all! Things are looking up!
 
Finally got accepted at Netter. I've been away from SDN and school related stuff to keep my sanity. The wait is over. For the ones still waiting have faith. It will come.

NON-TRAD COALITION :punch::punch::rage::rage:

Long live SNUG SEAL !

Edit: I will make Snug seal shirts
 
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YES!! been keeping an eye over at Netter for you! Congrats!!
 
I am Working construction-pulling carpet and breaking stuff- and I can't believe I will become a doctor. It has been a very long journey. My mom just cried when I told her that I got accepted.

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM NOW
I AM ALL THE WAY UP HERE ( I think that how it goes the rap song ! Lol
 
... except that awkward moment when everyone else knows "snugseal" as "awkward moment seal" 😛
Eccesignum said:
OMG that would be too funny. If we all showed up at our various schools next year all wearing SnugSeal shirts. lollerskates.
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who/what is snugseal?
 
So, is it appropriate to send a letter of intent post-interview, but pre-waitlist? I've heard you should wait until waitlisted to send one, but I really would rather make my intentions known before the committee meets and decides my fate.
 
dataDyne2 said:
Just got my acceptance from Wayne State, I can't even believe it. My comeback has finally paid off. Graduated undergrad with a 1.85 cGPA (1.66 sGPA) carrying too many F's, D's, and who knows what other awful mess. Got my act together, went back to school, powered through 4 years of post-bacc work, and now look, a future M.D.!
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I sincerely appreciate reading this today! I sent a question to an admissions office recently and the secretary told me that my best bet would be to talk to the director of admissions. I did, explained my situation 2.6 UGPA/2.4 SGPA, asked my question and got laughed out of his office.. WE CAN DO THIS! It just requires LOTS of time and tenacity and dedication even in the face of daunting odds and people who don't believe in us!
 
SSnows123 said:
I sincerely appreciate reading this today! I sent a question to an admissions office recently and the secretary told me that my best bet would be to talk to the director of admissions. I did, explained my situation 2.6 UGPA/2.4 SGPA, asked my question and got laughed out of his office.. WE CAN DO THIS! It just requires LOTS of time and tenacity and dedication even in the face of daunting odds and people who don't believe in us!
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"Laughed out if his office"...ugh that makes me cringe. No constructive feedback or advice on next steps? Here's my advice: keep going! If you want this, you'll work hard enough to get it!
 
SSnows123 said:
I sincerely appreciate reading this today! I sent a question to an admissions office recently and the secretary told me that my best bet would be to talk to the director of admissions. I did, explained my situation 2.6 UGPA/2.4 SGPA, asked my question and got laughed out of his office.. WE CAN DO THIS! It just requires LOTS of time and tenacity and dedication even in the face of daunting odds and people who don't believe in us!
Click to expand...

asyouwish29 said:
"Laughed out if his office"...ugh that makes me cringe. No constructive feedback or advice on next steps? Here's my advice: keep going! If you want this, you'll work hard enough to get it!
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I'm also surprised and disappointed that this happened to you. I found Wayne State to be one of the most supportive schools (in contrast, what happened to you at Wayne State happened to me at EVMS, even after I'd already completed as much GPA repair as possible).

Was it that you asked what would happen if you applied with your current stats? If so that may be why they made a face (though if they were rude that's not cool). Come back to Wayne after your post-bacc. They have a policy (I don't have it in front of me but you can look it up) about replacing overall sGPA with solely post-bacc sGPA after X amount of hours, which can be a great thing for those attempting a comeback.
 
Eccesignum said:
Was it that you asked what would happen if you applied with your current stats? If so that may be why they made a face (though if they were rude that's not cool). Come back to Wayne after your post-bacc. They have a policy (I don't have it in front of me but you can look it up) about replacing overall sGPA with solely post-bacc sGPA after X amount of hours, which can be a great thing for those attempting a comeback.
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Awesome! Thanks for the info! Actually, no. I explained my uGPAs, mentioned my graduate degree (MS in epidemiology -- his scorn was palpable when I mentioned that) and mentioned my 30 hours of 4.0 post bacc and my plans for 40 more hours and I asked how they view that and if I would have a realistic chance at their school with such a low cGPA (~3.1 AFTER post bacc) but 70 hrs @ 4.0 post bacc (all math and sciences). He said unequivocally that no, I wouldn't be competitive.

It's okay. This path is going to require a lot of emotional stamina from me. I can't take every single slight, doubt, question etc. so personally.

Edit to clarify: He wasn't outright mean. He was just very candid in his judgement.
 
SSnows123 said:
Awesome! Thanks for the info! Actually, no. I explained my uGPAs, mentioned my graduate degree (MS in epidemiology -- his scorn was palpable when I mentioned that) and mentioned my 30 hours of 4.0 post bacc and my plans for 40 more hours and I asked how they view that and if I would have a realistic chance at their school with such a low cGPA (~3.1 AFTER post bacc) but 70 hrs @ 4.0 post bacc (all math and sciences). He said unequivocally that no, I wouldn't be competitive.

It's okay. This path is going to require a lot of emotional stamina from me. I can't take every single slight, doubt, question etc. so personally.
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Okay, I gotcha. Your uGPA is going to be an issue. Wayne's policy only replaces sGPA with post-bacc sGPA, it doesn't affect cGPA. And unfortunately master's degrees don't affect cumulative either where MD in general is concerned (DO is a different story though).

That said though. I wouldn't write off Wayne yet. He probably knows that 40 more credits of straight 4.0 is easy to say and hard to do, so young'uns likely show up all the time talking about how they're going to ace the post-bacc and then don't do it. It may be a different story if you can indeed show that you beasted it, because walking the walk means a lot.

Regardless, the opinion of one person won't keep you out, and a beautiful sGPA with an upward trend cGPA will help provided you can slay the MCAT. Not to say anything is guaranteed but I don't think your chance there is dead, especially if you have heavy community service (which Wayne places very high value on, they're a huge service school).

But you are absolutely right. No matter what happens, you can't take things personally. These admissions folks deal with thousands of delusional pre-meds and I think sometimes they tend to write-off easily before they see a finished product because so many come to them starry-eyed in the early process and then burn out. Keep going, do your absolute best, and when it comes time to apply reassess where you are. It'll probably look much different then than it does now, both to you and to admissions.
 
SSnows123 said:
He was just very candid in his judgement.
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At 35, and a Rotarian, the dean of the med school spoke to our club. Afterwards, I asked him my chances. My ugPA is similar to yours but it was 13 years old at that time. He basically said, "Go away, don't waste my time."

At 44, I called a certain non-trad premed advisor and asked her thoughts; giving her my story she said, "Get straight A's, a great MCAT, and apply. Don't listen to naysayers."

At 51, I am taking the MCAT in January and applying June 1 - allo only. I have a near 4.0

I listened to the Dean back then and wasted a decade of my life living with remorse, shame, and regret. Don't be me
 
@SSnows123

I was in a similar situation as you, minus the graduate work.

After many hours of post-bac work, my cGPA is still below 3.1. I have been accepted this cycle to multiple DO and MD schools, including a top 30 school. It can be done, regardless of what one admissions dean says.
 
Xenith said:
I'm so sorry! What date were you complete?
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Around Aug 20th.

It's ok though, I've got one acceptance near home and probably would not have flown out there
 
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