Hi all,
I applied to 13 schools this cycle and was waitlisted from the only school who offered me interview (Very likely to be rejected based on the ranking they sent out). I'm planning to reapply but would like to ask which areas I should improve on.
My stats and experience:
NJ resident
cGPA: 3.75
sGPA: 3.71
MCAT: 507 (129/124/127/127)
- Graduated in 2015. Took MCAT in 2016. Had two gap years but only applied once.
- Had Two research conference abstracts related to medical field.
- Was the President of a student organization when I was in college and had multiple other leadership experiences.
- Had 20 hours of shadowing experience with a family doctor
- Volunteered in Engineers Without Borders.
- Currently working full time in a clinical research company (my position is however related to the design portion of clinical trials. No patient contacts at all)
My mistake/areas I think I need to improve on:
- Applied too late (primary applications completed in late August)
- Did not have enough clinical experience
- Have very low CARS score (124)
- Maybe had bad choices in selecting medical schools
*Robert Wood Johnson
*NJMS
*Case western
*Cooper
*Neomed
*Drexel
*West Virginia
*The Commonwealth Medical
*LKSOM
*NYMC
*Albany
*SUNY upstate
*UConn
- Did not apply to DO
My plan:
- Apply as early as possible this cycle
- Apply to some DO schools
- Look for more clinical experiences
- Choose schools more wisely
- Retake the MCAT (not sure if I can improve though..)
My questions:
- Since I'm working full time, I don't know if I can manage studying for MCAT again while shadowing/volunteering clinically. If I have to choose between studying the MCAT or getting more clinical experience, which one should I go for?
- English is my second language (I know this is not an excuse) and I actually don't know if I can improve on CARS. Should I still retake?
- Should I apply to 20+ schools?
- What schools should I apply to?
- What other advice would you give me?
- As I'm not a student, I was rejected by hospitals for shadowing programs. How do I get clinical experiences in different specialties?
- If I start volunteering in hospitals in summer, would it be too late for the application for this cycle? Or is it still useful if I send in updates to the schools?
Thank you so much for reading my long post and your advice.
I applied to 13 schools this cycle and was waitlisted from the only school who offered me interview (Very likely to be rejected based on the ranking they sent out). I'm planning to reapply but would like to ask which areas I should improve on.
My stats and experience:
NJ resident
cGPA: 3.75
sGPA: 3.71
MCAT: 507 (129/124/127/127)
- Graduated in 2015. Took MCAT in 2016. Had two gap years but only applied once.
- Had Two research conference abstracts related to medical field.
- Was the President of a student organization when I was in college and had multiple other leadership experiences.
- Had 20 hours of shadowing experience with a family doctor
- Volunteered in Engineers Without Borders.
- Currently working full time in a clinical research company (my position is however related to the design portion of clinical trials. No patient contacts at all)
My mistake/areas I think I need to improve on:
- Applied too late (primary applications completed in late August)
- Did not have enough clinical experience
- Have very low CARS score (124)
- Maybe had bad choices in selecting medical schools
*Robert Wood Johnson
*NJMS
*Case western
*Cooper
*Neomed
*Drexel
*West Virginia
*The Commonwealth Medical
*LKSOM
*NYMC
*Albany
*SUNY upstate
*UConn
- Did not apply to DO
My plan:
- Apply as early as possible this cycle
- Apply to some DO schools
- Look for more clinical experiences
- Choose schools more wisely
- Retake the MCAT (not sure if I can improve though..)
My questions:
- Since I'm working full time, I don't know if I can manage studying for MCAT again while shadowing/volunteering clinically. If I have to choose between studying the MCAT or getting more clinical experience, which one should I go for?
- English is my second language (I know this is not an excuse) and I actually don't know if I can improve on CARS. Should I still retake?
- Should I apply to 20+ schools?
- What schools should I apply to?
- What other advice would you give me?
- As I'm not a student, I was rejected by hospitals for shadowing programs. How do I get clinical experiences in different specialties?
- If I start volunteering in hospitals in summer, would it be too late for the application for this cycle? Or is it still useful if I send in updates to the schools?
Thank you so much for reading my long post and your advice.
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