2025 - 2026 Need a Lot of Help Building School List as a Reapplicant

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premedguy101

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Hello,

I'm reapplying this upcoming cycle, but I'm not sure what schools to apply/reapply to.

Overall GPA: 3.98
Science GPA: 4.00
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA:
4.00
MCAT:
524
State of Residence: MI

Major: Neuroscience (12/2023)
Minority? No
Reapplicant? Yes
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: ~100 with a rural pulmonologist at his clinic and the hospital. ~4 hours general surgery. ~2 hours vascular surgery. All of these are part of the same experience.
Volunteering Experience: ~100 hours food pantry, ~200+ hours clinic office assistant (scheduling patients, sorting paperwork, etc), ~150 hours clinical volunteer for free eye care program, and new activity for this year: senior memory center volunteer (~80 hours)
Employment: ~600 hours medical assistant (complete), ~800 hours medical scribe with oncology (ongoing; 245 when I applied last year), and new activity for this year: ~400+ hours EMT (ongoing; when I applied last year, I only stated that I was taking a summer EMT course)
Research: ~250 neuroscience lab (course credit + summer work), ~1000+ cardiology/nephrology lab w/ 1 poster presentation. No pubs.
Other Extracurriculars: Co-founder of foreign language debate club, HEMA (hobby), and new activity for this year: co-founder of non-profit focused on doing health screenings in nearby underserved areas, ~40 hours biochem tutor,

Relevant Honors or Awards:
LOR type and strength:
5 last year (3 profs, 2 research), will be reusing the same letters w/ some edits from writers. Was unable to obtain new letters this year.

School list:

Last year's school list:
Boston University, Albert Einstein, Case Western Reserve, Central Michigan University, Drexel University, Emory University, Geisel Dartmouth, George Washington University, Georgetown, Kaiser Permanente, Michigan State University, Oakland University, Ohio State University, Sidney Kimmel Thomas Jefferson, University of Toledo, Tufts, University of Chicago, University of Cincinnati, University of Colorado, University of Miami, University of Michigan, Wayne State, Western Michigan.
From this cycle, I got 4 IIs (Cinci, Miami, Georgetown, Colorado), which resulted in 2 post-II rejections (Georgetown and Colorado) and 2 WL (Cinci and Miami), so I def need to work on my interview skills. Who knows, maybe Miami and Cinci will pull through 🙂

This year's (tentative) school list:
Central Michigan University, Michigan State University, University of Toledo, Oakland University, Drexel, University of Iowa, University of Vermont, Wayne State, Thomas Jefferson (Kimmel), Tufts, University of Colorado, University of Miami, Western Michigan University, Albert Einstein, Dartmouth, Emory University School of Medicine, Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, Kaiser Permanente, Boston University School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Rochester, University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Vanderbilt, USF Morsani, Wisconsin, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, MSU DO Program, Rocky Vista University, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine ---> want to add 1 more DO school, may remove UVermont.

I was also initially considering a one-year Master's program / SMP, though I was told this would not help me at all, so I will likely not pursue it (though more input on that would be much appreciated).

If I could get some advice on building a brand new school list, including DO schools, that would be much appreciated! Here's my biggest concern: I'm not sure if it's worth applying to some of the same schools I applied to last year, since my only new activities will be a) the new clinical job I obtained last fall, b) the volunteer role I only recently started, and c) the new org I only just began, and I heard that reapplicants need to demonstrate some serious changes.

Thank you!
 
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No need for SMP or Post bac with 520+ and 3.9+. What do you think led to you not getting accepted last cycle? The stats are definitely there and hours seem reasonable too, especially with this school list. Have you considered applying to MORE top schools? I doubt it's the case but its possible you were getting yield protected.
 
No need for SMP or Post bac with 520+ and 3.9+. What do you think led to you not getting accepted last cycle? The stats are definitely there and hours seem reasonable too, especially with this school list. Have you considered applying to MORE top schools? I doubt it's the case but its possible you were getting yield protected.
Hi thanks for the response! While the hours are there, regarding my volunteer hours, I only have around 150 clinical hours working with the underserved community, and only ~100 non-clinical volunteer hours that work with them, as well. My guess is that many of the schools I applied to are more service-oriented than I thought, which is why I'm hoping to get more community service hours during this gap year.
I'm also sure my interviewing skills need work, and it's very possible that my essays for many of the schools were just not up to par / did not show good fit. Of course, I can only speculate.
I got some feedback from some of the schools I applied to, and they said: "many competitive applicants fall into the cracks and we can't accept everyone, but you can try to get more service hours and continue doing what you're doing now."
 
I prefer that you fill out a WAMC template. The details of your activities matter (like state residency, major, responsibilities), as would an accounting of schools where you interviewed and their decisions.

What's your purpose as a physician? It's normal to get 4 interviews, and some schools like to reject more applicants than others after interview... but mission fit matters most.
 
Where were your interviews? Might help to add more schools that are comparable to your interview schools.
 
I prefer that you fill out a WAMC template. The details of your activities matter (like state residency, major, responsibilities), as would an accounting of schools where you interviewed and their decisions.

What's your purpose as a physician? It's normal to get 4 interviews, and some schools like to reject more applicants than others after interview... but mission fit matters most.
Thanks, I just reformatted my post with more information on my activities.

Where were your interviews? Might help to add more schools that are comparable to your interview schools.
UCinci, UMiami, Georgetown, UColorado --> post-II R from GT and Colorado, WL at Miami and Cinci.
 
Your clinical and non clinical hours are more than adequate. I am surprised you received no interest from you Michigan schools. I suggest these schools if you reapply:
U Michigan
Wayne State
Michigan State
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Northwestern
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Vanderbilt
USF Morsani
Miami
Emory
Duke
U Virginia
Georgetown
Johns Hopkins (free tuition)
U Penn
Pittsburgh
Jefferson
Cincinnati
Ohio State
Case Western
Hofstra
Einstein (free tuition)
Mount Sinai
NYU (free tuition)
Cornell
Columbia
Rochester
Vermont
Tufts
Boston University
Dartmouth
Brown
Yale
Harvard
UMass
Iowa
Colorado
 
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