3.8 | 515 reapplicant advice?

[eggsbenny]

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As this cycle winds down towards the end, I am preparing myself for a re-app. This cycle, I received 4 MD II's (all occurring in 2018) with 2 post-II rejections, 1 pending decision, and 1 interview next month. I applied quite late this year, being complete at most schools in mid to late September.

Profile:
cGPA: 3.8
sGPA: 3.8
MCAT: 515
top 20 UG

EC's:
-1 year of hospital volunteering
-50 hrs shadowing
-3000hrs research in two different labs (no pubs yet but 1 poster, senior thesis, presentation at undergrad conference, submitting a first author pub soon)
-research fellowship and awards
-leadership positions in 4 or 5 different clubs

Recs:
-4 recs total - two from my research mentors should be outstanding, other two are good/above-average

Flaws:
I think there were three flaws in my application: mediocre clinical exposure, late application, mediocre - average interviewing skills.

Schools applied:
Quinnipiac
BU
Tufts
UMD
Georgetown
SLU
Rosalind Franklin
Pitt
Baylor
UCSD
UCSF
Einstein
Hofstra
NYMC
Albany
Drexel
Rochester
Indiana

Currently, I'm conflicted on whether or not to reapply this upcoming cycle or if I should bolster my clinical hours and interviewing skills over the next year and then reapply in 2019. For one of the schools I'm waiting to hear back from, I felt really good about the interview but at this point in the cycle who really knows. Additionally, I kind of shot myself in the foot by submitting ~30 primaries but only completing the above secondaries (and quite late at that) - I know that the other 10 or so schools I didn't complete the secondary for will have my original AMCAS app. Considering adding Seton Hall to my list right now, but kind of wary of a short application process (thinking of the CNU disaster a few years back).

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Magus5454]

As this cycle winds down towards the end, I am preparing myself for a re-app. This cycle, I received 4 MD II's (all occurring in 2018) with 2 post-II rejections, 1 pending decision, and 1 interview next month. I applied quite late this year, being complete at most schools in mid to late September.

Profile:
cGPA: 3.8
sGPA: 3.8
MCAT: 515
top 20 UG

EC's:
-1 year of hospital volunteering
-50 hrs shadowing
-3000hrs research in two different labs (no pubs yet but 1 poster, senior thesis, presentation at undergrad conference, submitting a first author pub soon)
-research fellowship and awards
-leadership positions in 4 or 5 different clubs

Recs:
-4 recs total - two from my research mentors should be outstanding, other two are good/above-average

Flaws:
I think there were three flaws in my application: mediocre clinical exposure, late application, mediocre - average interviewing skills.

Schools applied:
Quinnipiac
BU
Tufts
UMD
Georgetown
SLU
Rosalind Franklin
Pitt
Baylor
UCSD
UCSF
Einstein
Hofstra
NYMC
Albany
Drexel
Rochester
Indiana

Currently, I'm conflicted on whether or not to reapply this upcoming cycle or if I should bolster my clinical hours and interviewing skills over the next year and then reapply in 2019. For one of the schools I'm waiting to hear back from, I felt really good about the interview but at this point in the cycle who really knows. Additionally, I kind of shot myself in the foot by submitting ~30 primaries but only completing the above secondaries (and quite late at that) - I know that the other 10 or so schools I didn't complete the secondary for will have my original AMCAS app. Considering adding Seton Hall to my list right now, but kind of wary of a short application process (thinking of the CNU disaster a few years back).

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Others are more qualified at me at school lists, but it seems to me your school choices are all over the place.

 

[mk04447]

Vanity shot you in the foot this year. You could have been a doc in lots of places, but you tried to keep up with the Joness.

 

[calivianya]

Your MCAT/GPA numbers look a lot like mine and I didn't get in this year either.

You have four flaws, not three - where's your community service? I seriously got told in one of my interviews that my lack of service to the underserved was my major flaw and I needed it to reapply next year. I swear some schools care more about community service than clinical experience.

I doubt you can get hundreds of hours of community service before May since it looks like you're starting at zero, so your best bet is starting some community service now so you can have a good application for 2019.

 

[eggsbenny]

Your MCAT/GPA numbers look a lot like mine and I didn't get in this year either.

You have four flaws, not three - where's your community service? I seriously got told in one of my interviews that my lack of service to the underserved was my major flaw and I needed it to reapply next year. I swear some schools care more about community service than clinical experience.

I doubt you can get hundreds of hours of community service before May since it looks like you're starting at zero, so your best bet is starting some community service now so you can have a good application for 2019.

I forgot to mention my community service. It's kind of minor but for one of my clubs I helped run/organize fundraisers for the needy (~70 hours) - although it's not community service in the traditional sense.

 

[Pokepokee]

Agreeing with the above that community service hours should be upped as most applicants will have this. ~70 hours is a start, but adding more would help. Also being complete sooner (Augustish) and finishing all your primaries will help a lot. That being said, you still did get 4 IIs, it could be your interviews weren't enough to push you over.

As for applying this cycle, it's risky as you won't have as much time to work on improving your activities, but it is possible if you don't mind putting in the time and money.

 

[Redpancreas]

As this cycle winds down towards the end, I am preparing myself for a re-app. This cycle, I received 4 MD II's (all occurring in 2018) with 2 post-II rejections, 1 pending decision, and 1 interview next month. I applied quite late this year, being complete at most schools in mid to late September.

Profile:
cGPA: 3.8
sGPA: 3.8
MCAT: 515
top 20 UG

EC's:
-1 year of hospital volunteering
-50 hrs shadowing
-3000hrs research in two different labs (no pubs yet but 1 poster, senior thesis, presentation at undergrad conference, submitting a first author pub soon)
-research fellowship and awards
-leadership positions in 4 or 5 different clubs

Recs:
-4 recs total - two from my research mentors should be outstanding, other two are good/above-average

Flaws:
I think there were three flaws in my application: mediocre clinical exposure, late application, mediocre - average interviewing skills.

Schools applied:
Quinnipiac
BU
Tufts
UMD
Georgetown
SLU
Rosalind Franklin
Pitt
Baylor
UCSD
UCSF
Einstein
Hofstra
NYMC
Albany
Drexel
Rochester
Indiana

Currently, I'm conflicted on whether or not to reapply this upcoming cycle or if I should bolster my clinical hours and interviewing skills over the next year and then reapply in 2019. For one of the schools I'm waiting to hear back from, I felt really good about the interview but at this point in the cycle who really knows. Additionally, I kind of shot myself in the foot by submitting ~30 primaries but only completing the above secondaries (and quite late at that) - I know that the other 10 or so schools I didn't complete the secondary for will have my original AMCAS app. Considering adding Seton Hall to my list right now, but kind of wary of a short application process (thinking of the CNU disaster a few years back).

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

OP, I am very sorry this happened to you. I had these numbers and pretty much waltzed into medical school but I was in an admittedly friendly state to do medicine. Do not trust the advice of those at admissions office or even people on here who are pointing out flaws. They all mean well and probably feel bad for you and are trying to find flaws in attempt to help you. That being said, I’m positive no one would be able to distinguish matriculants from people like OP. You application is outstanding even taking into account the competitiveness creep that occurred since I applied 4 years back. The minute people hear you weren’t accepted, they put your application under the microscope. OP, your main problem seems to be your application strategy. First, you applied late which is a really stupid thing to do given your stats, but I guess that’s good news for this upcoming hypothetical cycle. Second you applied to 18 schools all of which are known to be either highly applied to privates... or publics like Indiana which does cast a wide net out, but then ghost everyone post-interview and hands out acceptances to state students and minorities. You are competitive/slightly below the tier for places like UCSF/Pitt/Baylor and not sure about UCSD. BU and Georgetown are some of the most applied to places in the country. BU looks for some significant service background which is one of the tiny weaknesses in your overall app and who knows about Georgetown but I think it’s the most applied to place despite its average reputation. Many others are low tier or mid tier privates that probably didn’t even invite you because they thought you would go elsewhere. Tufts is pretty much nationally known for this and I suspect the same thing happened to you at RFU/Drexel/Albany/Q/SLU/Hofstra and other low tier places. That leaves Einstein/Rochester/UMD as your only good targets (meaning that both ways, they should deserve you as well...you are a really strong applicant).


Reapplicant Strategy: Double the number of schools you applied to. Don’t forget to add places like NYU/Sinai/Columbia as well. You also need actually apply early and fill out ALL your secondaries in time (2 day turn around). That alone should yield an acceptance but for good measure you should consider beefing up your clinical skills because it will look bad to have been sitting idle for a year lol. Don’t take a volunteer position at a hospital filling waters that a high schooler could do. Seek out paid scribing experience or EMT experience (if the training’s not too long). What you learn there is worthwhile and directly translatable to clinical skills you’ll be taught in medical school and will put you ahead of the game. It will also help with interviewing skills which I’m only mentioning because you said it could be a weakness. Lastly, it will also eliminate what I feel like is a very questionable weakness of less clinical exposure. You can shadow a bit more and volunteer a bit more to CYA. Lastly, since your new position will become a factor after applications go out, you need to be more proactive about your applications. Send update letters. Tell some of the less competitive schools that you are indeed interested and at the same time, update them on your hours of substantial clinical work. If you would be happy to go there, you could apply to DO schools, but I don’t think it’s necessary. Unless there’s a serious red flag I’m not seeing here, I’d bet quite a lot that you’ll be in MD school next fall if you don’t get it this fall. Good luck!

 

[Redpancreas]

Your MCAT/GPA numbers look a lot like mine and I didn't get in this year either.

You have four flaws, not three - where's your community service? I seriously got told in one of my interviews that my lack of service to the underserved was my major flaw and I needed it to reapply next year. I swear some schools care more about community service than clinical experience.

I doubt you can get hundreds of hours of community service before May since it looks like you're starting at zero, so your best bet is starting some community service now so you can have a good application for 2019.

I am sorry this happened to you, but I don’t trust that feedback you’re getting from places that rejected you. Once you’re not accepted, these people just tell you whatever crap they can think of but they really don’t know. I applied to 25 places, did the secondaries, had 6 acceptances, but I received some early rejections. When I called those places and asked what I did wrong, they said similar things, but then I also interviewed at much more competitive places that praised me for same thing another place called inadequate. If interested, look what I typed above and good luck to you as well.

 

[eggsbenny]

OP, I am very sorry this happened to you. I had these numbers and pretty much waltzed into medical school but I was in an admittedly friendly state to do medicine. Do not trust the advice of those at admissions office or even people on here who are pointing out flaws. They all mean well and probably feel bad for you and are trying to find flaws in attempt to help you. That being said, I’m positive no one would be able to distinguish matriculants from people like OP. You application is outstanding even taking into account the competitiveness creep that occurred since I applied 4 years back. The minute people hear you weren’t accepted, they put your application under the microscope. OP, your main problem seems to be your application strategy. First, you applied late which is a really stupid thing to do given your stats, but I guess that’s good news for this upcoming hypothetical cycle. Second you applied to 18 schools all of which are known to be either highly applied to privates... or publics like Indiana which does cast a wide net out, but then ghost everyone post-interview and hands out acceptances to state students and minorities. You are competitive/slightly below the tier for places like UCSF/Pitt/Baylor and not sure about UCSD. BU and Georgetown are some of the most applied to places in the country. BU looks for some significant service background which is one of the tiny weaknesses in your overall app and who knows about Georgetown but I think it’s the most applied to place despite its average reputation. Many others are low tier or mid tier privates that probably didn’t even invite you because they thought you would go elsewhere. Tufts is pretty much nationally known for this and I suspect the same thing happened to you at RFU/Drexel/Albany/Q/SLU/Hofstra and other low tier places. That leaves Einstein/Rochester/UMD as your only good targets (meaning that both ways, they should deserve you as well...you are a really strong applicant).


Reapplicant Strategy: Double the number of schools you applied to. Don’t forget to add places like NYU/Sinai/Columbia as well. You also need actually apply early and fill out ALL your secondaries in time (2 day turn around). That alone should yield an acceptance but for good measure you should consider beefing up your clinical skills because it will look bad to have been sitting idle for a year lol. Don’t take a volunteer position at a hospital filling waters that a high schooler could do. Seek out paid scribing experience or EMT experience (if the training’s not too long). What you learn there is worthwhile and directly translatable to clinical skills you’ll be taught in medical school and will put you ahead of the game. It will also help with interviewing skills which I’m only mentioning because you said it could be a weakness. Lastly, it will also eliminate what I feel like is a very questionable weakness of less clinical exposure. You can shadow a bit more and volunteer a bit more to CYA. Lastly, since your new position will become a factor after applications go out, you need to be more proactive about your applications. Send update letters. Tell some of the less competitive schools that you are indeed interested and at the same time, update them on your hours of substantial clinical work. If you would be happy to go there, you could apply to DO schools, but I don’t think it’s necessary. Unless there’s a serious red flag I’m not seeing here, I’d bet quite a lot that you’ll be in MD school next fall if you don’t get it this fall. Good luck!

Thanks so much for your thoughtful post! I didn't realize that I hadn't applied smartly (in terms of where I applied) - I guess I misjudged the competitiveness of my application. NYU's median MCAT of 521 scared me away when I was applying haha although one of my family members is an alum of the medical school. I received interviews from BU, SLU, RFU, and Einstein with I guess RFU being the only odd one out in terms of matching. I am setting up some community service stuff at the moment and am considering scribing but most of the positions I'm seeing are full time (I'd rather do part time so I could continue doing research as well). No red flags that I know of either - I'm an ORM so that might have affected me slightly but probably a negligible amount.

Next year I'm considering adding some of these schools as well:
Jefferson
Temple
Emory
Sinai
Miami
Vermont
Dartmouth
Creighton

Do you have any suggestions on what other schools I should add? Thanks again for your help!

 

[Redpancreas]

Thanks so much for your thoughtful post! I didn't realize that I hadn't applied smartly (in terms of where I applied) - I guess I misjudged the competitiveness of my application. NYU's median MCAT of 521 scared me away when I was applying haha although one of my family members is an alum of the medical school. I received interviews from BU, SLU, RFU, and Einstein with I guess RFU being the only odd one out in terms of matching. I am setting up some community service stuff at the moment and am considering scribing but most of the positions I'm seeing are full time (I'd rather do part time so I could continue doing research as well). No red flags that I know of either - I'm an ORM so that might have affected me slightly but probably a negligible amount.

Next year I'm considering adding some of these schools as well:
Jefferson
Temple
Emory
Sinai
Miami
Vermont
Dartmouth
Creighton

Do you have any suggestions on what other schools I should add? Thanks again for your help!

Dude now’s not the time to be stingy. If you don’t get in this year (hopefully you do) that’s a 300K opportunity cost. You don’t want it to be 600, do you? Add more! You want to maximize everything possible so you don’t lose years. Also it seems like you have more than enough research. I suppose even more helps and research is the biggest EC in medical school, but I dont think medical schools chose not to take you because of 100 or so hours of less volunteering. It’s more or less a less than stellar strategy, lack of public schools, and any non-apparent red flags. I’m sure some of the places would that rejected you this time around would have loved to have you. Best of luck whatever you decide.

 

[eggsbenny]

Dude now’s not the time to be stingy. If you don’t get in this year (hopefully you do) that’s a 300K opportunity cost. You don’t want it to be 600, do you? Add more! You want to maximize everything possible so you don’t lose years. Also it seems like you have more than enough research. I suppose even more helps and research is the biggest EC in medical school, but I dont think medical schools chose not to take you because of 100 or so hours of less volunteering. It’s more or less a less than stellar strategy, lack of public schools, and any non-apparent red flags. I’m sure some of the places would that rejected you this time around would have loved to have you. Best of luck whatever you decide.

Haha definitely applying to 40 schools next time around - was just giving examples of some that I had decided to add already to see if they were a good match. Starting some new community service this Thursday! I was thinking of continuing the research part since its a big focus of my application and I guess stopping entirely would look a bit odd? Thanks again for your help!