3.79/523/TX/ORM. Reapplicant WAMC (TX resident, MCAT Retake)

[forbiddensalad]

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Reapplicant seeking advice for a school list. Looking to apply for 2021 entry (2020-2021). I have put my stats from my previous cycle in parentheses

cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS

• cGPA: 3.79 (last cycle: 3.71)
• sGPA: 3.73 (last cycle: 3.64)
• general upward trend

MCAT score(s) and breakdown

• 2020: 523 (132/130/130/131) (last cycle: 2018: 512 (126/128/128/130))

State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)

• TX

Ethnicity and/or race

• ORM

Undergraduate institution or category

• USNWR Top 20

Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

• Volunteering
  • ~175 total hours (last cycle: same)
    • 150 hours: Cancer center (last cycle: same)
    • 25 hours: PACU (last cycle: same)
• Non-volunteer
  • Projected ~600 hours scribing in Primary Care (last cycle: 0 hours)

Research experience and productivity

• 2 years in insect biology lab (last cycle: same)
  • 1 co-author publication, 2 posters (last cycle: 2 posters)
• 400 hours: Immunology Cancer lab (last cycle: same)
  • 1 poster (last cycle: same)

Shadowing experience and specialties represented

• 125 hours: Shadowing (orthopedic and GI surgery) (last cycle: same)

Non-clinical volunteering

• ~250 hours (last cycle: ~30 hours)
  • 80 hours: ESL teaching
  • 170 hours: local food banks

Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)

• Last cycle
  • University club sport (leadership)
  • University journal club (leadership)
• New additions:
  • Independent research project in a humanities field (new)
  • Summer medical Spanish study abroad program (new)

Relevant honors or awards

• President's honor roll throughout last 4 semesters of undergrad (last cycle: 2 semesters)
• Distinguished research (new)
• Fellowship to conduct humanities independent research project (new)

Anything else not listed you think might be important

• 1 II and 1 R last cycle. Submitted to ~15 US MD schools (state schools + some private mid-tier OOS without IS bias)
  • Interview was in early November with a school in my home state --> waitlisted (~February 2019) --> rejected (~July 2019)

I will absolutely apply to all of my state schools. I am just wondering what other out of state schools I may be able to consider given my changes since my last application. I was also planning on applying DO this cycle, but now am unsure of what to do.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What were the results from your TMDSAS schools from last application? Only one interview? Feedback?

Sorry if I missed any mention of primary care exposure in shadowing or volunteering. You have hours anticipated instead of completed; zero from attempt 1. Obviously you know that was a deficiency that was likely lethal.

Sent from my SM-N960U using SDN mobile

 

[forbiddensalad]

What were the results from your TMDSAS schools from last application? Only one interview? Feedback?

Sorry if I missed any mention of primary care exposure in shadowing or volunteering. You have hours anticipated instead of completed; zero from attempt 1. Obviously you know that was a deficiency that was likely lethal.

Sent from my SM-N960U using SDN mobile

My only II was from a TMDSAS school. I tried reaching out to them after the cycle for feedback. The feedback I got was that my numbers were fine and my interviewers had only positive comments, so I'm not 100% sure what happened there.

As for primary care, I am currently working full-time as a scribe in a primary care clinic. I have currently completed ~150 hours and will continue to work in this office throughout the upcoming cycle (hence the projected hours). I did not have any primary care exposure the last cycle

 

[coffee&scrubs]

Your new MCAT score will hopefully open lots of doors for you. Apply instate TX and OOS mid and upper tier schools. Wishing you the best. These users below will help you construct a solid list hopefully.

@Goro @gyngyn @Faha @LizzyM

 

[LizzyM]

I don't do lists but I do endorse the WARS system for identifying schools.

 

[Faha]

You should receive more interviews this cycle from your Texas schools. For AMCAS schools you could add Baylor, TCU-UNT and Tulane.

 

[Goro]

PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE THIS MESSAGE.

Reapplicant seeking advice for a school list. Looking to apply for 2021 entry (2020-2021). I have put my stats from my previous cycle in parentheses

cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS

• cGPA: 3.79 (last cycle: 3.71)
• sGPA: 3.73 (last cycle: 3.64)
• general upward trend

MCAT score(s) and breakdown

• 2020: 523 (132/130/130/131) (last cycle: 2018: 512 (126/128/128/130))

State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)

• TX

Ethnicity and/or race

• ORM (Asian)

Undergraduate institution or category

• Top 20 private school

Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)

• Volunteering
  • ~175 total hours (last cycle: same)
    • 150 hours: Cancer center with patient interaction (last cycle: same)
    • 25 hours: PACU with patient interaction (last cycle: same)
• Non-volunteer
  • Projected ~600 hours scribing in Primary Care (last cycle: 0 hours)

Research experience and productivity

• 2 years in insect biology lab (last cycle: same)
  • 1 co-author publication, 2 posters (last cycle: 2 posters)
• 400 hours: Immunology Cancer lab (last cycle: same)
  • 1 poster (last cycle: same)

Shadowing experience and specialties represented

• 125 hours: Shadowing (orthopedic surgery, GI surgery) (last cycle: same)

Non-clinical volunteering

• ~250 hours (last cycle: ~30 hours)
  • 80 hours: ESL teaching with refugees and native Spanish-speaking immigrants (used Spanish skills)
  • 170 hours: local food banks

Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)

• Last cycle
  • University club sport (leadership)
  • University journal club (leadership)
• New additions:
  • Independent research project abroad in a humanities field (new)
  • Summer medical Spanish study abroad program (new)

Relevant honors or awards

• President's honor roll throughout last 4 semesters of undergrad (last cycle: 2 semesters)
• Distinguished research (new)
• Fellowship to conduct humanities independent research project (new)

Anything else not listed you think might be important

• 1 II and 1 R last cycle. Submitted to ~15 US MD schools (state schools + some private mid-tier OOS without IS bias)
  • Interview was in early November with a school in my home state --> waitlisted (~February 2019) --> rejected (~July 2019)

I will absolutely apply to all of my state schools. I am just wondering what other out of state schools I may be able to consider given my changes since my last application. I was also planning on applying DO this cycle, but now am unsure of what to do.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

I can't recommend applying OOS;
Yes, you should have DO school on the list
Rewrite all essays and have multiple eyeballs vet them. (note to SDNers, your parents will make terrible evaluators!)

 

[forbiddensalad]

Your new MCAT score will hopefully open lots of doors for you. Apply instate TX and OOS mid and upper tier schools. Wishing you the best. These users below will help you construct a solid list hopefully.

@Goro @gyngyn @Faha @LizzyM

I sure hope so. Thanks for the feedback!

I don't do lists but I do endorse the WARS system for identifying schools.

Thanks, LizzyM, will try to use that to see if I may be able to add a couple more schools to the list.

You should receive more interviews this cycle from your Texas schools. For AMCAS schools you could add Baylor, TCU-UNT and Tulane.

Thanks, Faha. For sure, I'll look into adding those.

I can't recommend applying OOS;
Yes, you should have DO school on the list
Rewrite all essays and have multiple eyeballs vet them. (note to SDNers, your parents will make terrible evaluators!)

Thanks for the feedback, @Goro. Will absolutely get more feedback on the essays this go around. Do you say that I shouldn't apply OOS because I'm a TX resident?

 

[Goro]

I sure hope so. Thanks for the feedback!


Thanks, LizzyM, will try to use that to see if I may be able to add a couple more schools to the list.


Thanks, Faha. For sure, I'll look into adding those.


Thanks for the feedback, @Goro. Will absolutely get more feedback on the essays this go around. Do you say that I shouldn't apply OOS because I'm a TX resident?

Correct

 

[Hzreio]

I can't recommend applying OOS;
Yes, you should have DO school on the list
Rewrite all essays and have multiple eyeballs vet them. (note to SDNers, your parents will make terrible evaluators!)

May I ask why you would recommend DO schools for stats like these?

 

[Goro]

May I ask why you would recommend DO schools for stats like these?

Insurance only. And I;ll amend my recommendation to "add DO schools ONLY if you get no IIs by late Ocotber"

Even as a 2x exam taker, a 523 score is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[forbiddensalad]

Since this cycle is almost over, I figured I should come back and share my results as reference for other TX (re)applicants.

2020 - 2021 Application cycle (AKA the COVID cycle):

Overall breakdown:

• 21 completed regular MD applications
• 7 interview invites
  • 6 TMDSAS, 1 AMCAS (spoiler: not Baylor)​
  • I received II's from a very wide range of schools (pretty much everything from top 5 to "low-tier" MD). Your essays and activities do matter.​
• 4 acceptances
  • 2 prematch offers​
  • 1 match offer​
  • 1 offer off WL​
  • I do not know what the outcomes would have been for my other TMDSAS schools given the Texas match system​

TMDSAS vs AMCAS breakdown and thoughts:

• TMDSAS: 10 MD primaries - submitted in May 2020
  • Secondaries completed between mid June and early July​
• AMCAS: 13 MD primaries - submitted in June 2020
  • Secondaries completed between late June and early September​
  • All of my AMCAS schools were reaches, since I had some money from my gap year job and wanted to shoot my shot​
  • My experience supports the statement that OOS schools are not interested in TX residents who are not superstars. There is a difference between being a strong applicant and a superstar. If you want to try your luck with AMCAS as a TX resident, I would suggest applying to fewer schools than I did to save money and motivation while writing essays​

MD vs DO:

• I followed Goro's advice and waited until late October 2020 to decide whether or not to apply to DO schools. I still sent my primary to TCOM in May, but held off on submitting anything to AACOMAS. Since I received multiple interviews by October (and because I'm interested in some competitive specialties), I chose to do an MD-only cycle. As a reapplicant, though, this decision sometimes stressed me out because I did not have insurance if I ended up with 0 acceptances again.

What I did differently between the two cycles:

• Retook my MCAT (512 (85%) --> 523 (99%))
  • Please be aware that score jumps like this are statistical anomalies and that retaking scores 509+ are typically gambles. I took my exams 2 years apart. I did not prepare well the first time and needed a year to develop the proper study habits to get my second score. That being said, I feel as though my improved score did open doors for me and helped me gain an acceptance at a school I did not stand much of a chance at my first cycle.​
• Focused on my volunteering and primary care weaknesses
  • I did a gap year of nonclinical volunteering and working in a primary care setting. Out of all the changes I made to my application, I feel as though this was the most effective for me personally.​
• Submitted 1 month earlier (this is especially important for the TX schools)
• Rewrote everything and had multiple proofreaders
  • I found maybe 5-7 proofreaders for my personal statement and 2-3 proofreaders for the first 6-8 secondary applications I submitted. Using the feedback I got, I developed a better understanding of how to write decent secondary essays, and passed everything through only Grammarly after that.​
  • I used my undergrad's pre-med office, a couple of friends, and SDN users as proofreaders. My most effective proofreaders came from SDN.​
• Did a lot more interview prep
  • I practiced twice (once with a friend) during my first cycle with little prep. Do NOT use your friends to practice, especially if they are not in the medical field.​
  • I maybe practiced a total of 7 times throughout my second cycle (3 times before receiving interviews to work on weaknesses early on and then a practice round before each of my earlier interviews).​
  • Try going through your school's pre-med advising office and/or alumni networks.​

Miscellaneous thoughts:

• I had the advantage of being a reapplicant during the COVID cycle, so I already knew the application systems, was not taking classes (i.e. no new grades to report), and did not have to deal with the disaster that was the condensed MCAT. Maybe this caused me to receive more interviews than I would have during a normal cycle? Not sure.
• When I compare applying as a senior year student vs as someone in their gap year, I much prefer applying while working during my gap year from a stress/scheduling perspective.
• My unexpected gap year turned out to be good for me mentally. I was really frustrated by my first cycle, and taking off time to work/indulge in my hobbies/talk with friends helped me slowly overcome that. I was able to ask myself if I still actually wanted to pursue medicine and use that motivation to put together a better application. That being said, I still had days where I cried and felt jealous of my peers who got in the first time. It's okay. Keep your head up, and, as they say, run your own race.

I hope this was helpful to someone. I'm also happy to answer questions/DM's regarding MCAT retaking, unexpected gap years, proofreading, and reapplying in general. To my fellow reapplicants, I am sorry for what you are going through, but you can do it. Reevaluate, be honest with yourself, and take some time off to give yourself a break/forgive yourself if need be. When that acceptance shows up in your inbox, the victory truly will be that much sweeter because of the obstacles you had to overcome to get there.

 

[Bored_Conscious]

Since this cycle is almost over, I figured I should come back and share my results as reference for other TX (re)applicants.

2020 - 2021 Application cycle (AKA the COVID cycle):

Overall breakdown:

• 21 completed regular MD applications
• 7 interview invites
  • 6 TMDSAS, 1 AMCAS (spoiler: not Baylor)​
  • I received II's from a very wide range of schools (pretty much everything from top 5 to "low-tier" MD). Your essays and activities do matter.​
• 4 acceptances
  • 2 prematch offers​
  • 1 match offer​
  • 1 offer off WL​
  • I do not know what the outcomes would have been for my other TMDSAS schools given the Texas match system​

TMDSAS vs AMCAS breakdown and thoughts:

• TMDSAS: 10 MD primaries - submitted in May 2020
  • Secondaries completed between mid June and early July​
• AMCAS: 13 MD primaries - submitted in June 2020
  • Secondaries completed between late June and early September​
  • All of my AMCAS schools were reaches, since I had some money from my gap year job and wanted to shoot my shot​
  • My experience supports the statement that OOS schools are not interested in TX residents who are not superstars. There is a difference between being a strong applicant and a superstar. If you want to try your luck with AMCAS as a TX resident, I would suggest applying to fewer schools than I did to save money and motivation while writing essays​

MD vs DO:

• I followed Goro's advice and waited until late October 2020 to decide whether or not to apply to DO schools. I still sent my primary to TCOM in May, but held off on submitting anything to AACOMAS. Since I received multiple interviews by October (and because I'm interested in some competitive specialties), I chose to do an MD-only cycle. As a reapplicant, though, this decision sometimes stressed me out because I did not have insurance if I ended up with 0 acceptances again.

What I did differently between the two cycles:

• Retook my MCAT (512 (85%) --> 523 (99%))
  • Please be aware that score jumps like this are statistical anomalies and that retaking scores 509+ are typically gambles. I took my exams 2 years apart. I did not prepare well the first time and needed a year to develop the proper study habits to get my second score. That being said, I feel as though my improved score did open doors for me and helped me gain an acceptance at a school I did not stand much of a chance at my first cycle.​
• Focused on my volunteering and primary care weaknesses
  • I did a gap year of nonclinical volunteering and working in a primary care setting. Out of all the changes I made to my application, I feel as though this was the most effective for me personally.​
• Submitted 1 month earlier (this is especially important for the TX schools)
• Rewrote everything and had multiple proofreaders
  • I found maybe 5-7 proofreaders for my personal statement and 2-3 proofreaders for the first 6-8 secondary applications I submitted. Using the feedback I got, I developed a better understanding of how to write decent secondary essays, and passed everything through only Grammarly after that.​
  • I used my undergrad's pre-med office, a couple of friends, and SDN users as proofreaders. My most effective proofreaders came from SDN.​
• Did a lot more interview prep
  • I practiced twice (once with a friend) during my first cycle with little prep. Do NOT use your friends to practice, especially if they are not in the medical field.​
  • I maybe practiced a total of 7 times throughout my second cycle (3 times before receiving interviews to work on weaknesses early on and then a practice round before each of my earlier interviews).​
  • Try going through your school's pre-med advising office and/or alumni networks.​

Miscellaneous thoughts:

• I had the advantage of being a reapplicant during the COVID cycle, so I already knew the application systems, was not taking classes (i.e. no new grades to report), and did not have to deal with the disaster that was the condensed MCAT. Maybe this caused me to receive more interviews than I would have during a normal cycle? Not sure.
• When I compare applying as a senior year student vs as someone in their gap year, I much prefer applying while working during my gap year from a stress/scheduling perspective.
• My unexpected gap year turned out to be good for me mentally. I was really frustrated by my first cycle, and taking off time to work/indulge in my hobbies/talk with friends helped me slowly overcome that. I was able to ask myself if I still actually wanted to pursue medicine and use that motivation to put together a better application. That being said, I still had days where I cried and felt jealous of my peers who got in the first time. It's okay. Keep your head up, and, as they say, run your own race.

I hope this was helpful to someone. I'm also happy to answer questions/DM's regarding MCAT retaking, unexpected gap years, proofreading, and reapplying in general. To my fellow reapplicants, I am sorry for what you are going through, but you can do it. Reevaluate, be honest with yourself, and take some time off to give yourself a break/forgive yourself if need be. When that acceptance shows up in your inbox, the victory truly will be that much sweeter because of the obstacles you had to overcome to get there.

Currently applying for EY 2022 and my stats (GPA: 3.87 and MCAT: 510) are relatively similar to yours. (First cycle)

My EC's and hours are pretty good overall. No weak spots except I don't have primary care exposure. All my of shadowing has been specialists (GI and Neurosurgery) and my clinical experience has been mostly with intensivists (I work in the ICU).

Is no primary care exposure such a big deal?