- Joined
- Jun 9, 2014
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Hi guys,
So I'm finding myself applying to med school for the third time. My main question has to do with the personal statement, but any additional advice people could offer would be greatly appreciated. In regards to the PS, should I acknowledge/account for the fact I'm applying for the third time? How much time should I spend on this relative to the main stuff around why I want to be a doctor/experiences/etc? I'm also wondering how I should address this in interviews.
Some more background info: two previous attempts were spaced several years apart. I was not sure after the first time whether I'd reapply, and did not try again for four years or so. I then skipped a cycle before applying again, this time, for the third time. I am fairly confident, given my scores (3.73 GPA, 99th percentile MCAT) and ample experiences, that the main reason I did not get an acceptance was that both times my secondaries were submitted relatively late into the cycle. Despite that I did get on the waiting list for my top school the the previous cycle. The guy who interviewed me there was very surprised that I hadn't been accepted anywhere the first time around and was sure I'd get an acceptance that cycle.
One other consideration is that I'm now 31 years old. I think ideally I would've stayed in the med school track after my initial attempt and just reapplied and got everything in on time, but I've pursued a variety of other interests in that time as I was so discouraged and bewildered by my rejections. I'm wondering if this is something I should address in my personal statement. I should also mention that each attempt has also included new relevant experiences, (volunteer, professional, and taking classes after being away from school for so long).
This time I will have no problem getting everything in on time (the thing holding me back last two times was getting the LORs, which are already taken care of for this cycle), and I want to make sure I do everything right this time, so any guidance is greatly appreciated!
Thank you all so much.
So I'm finding myself applying to med school for the third time. My main question has to do with the personal statement, but any additional advice people could offer would be greatly appreciated. In regards to the PS, should I acknowledge/account for the fact I'm applying for the third time? How much time should I spend on this relative to the main stuff around why I want to be a doctor/experiences/etc? I'm also wondering how I should address this in interviews.
Some more background info: two previous attempts were spaced several years apart. I was not sure after the first time whether I'd reapply, and did not try again for four years or so. I then skipped a cycle before applying again, this time, for the third time. I am fairly confident, given my scores (3.73 GPA, 99th percentile MCAT) and ample experiences, that the main reason I did not get an acceptance was that both times my secondaries were submitted relatively late into the cycle. Despite that I did get on the waiting list for my top school the the previous cycle. The guy who interviewed me there was very surprised that I hadn't been accepted anywhere the first time around and was sure I'd get an acceptance that cycle.
One other consideration is that I'm now 31 years old. I think ideally I would've stayed in the med school track after my initial attempt and just reapplied and got everything in on time, but I've pursued a variety of other interests in that time as I was so discouraged and bewildered by my rejections. I'm wondering if this is something I should address in my personal statement. I should also mention that each attempt has also included new relevant experiences, (volunteer, professional, and taking classes after being away from school for so long).
This time I will have no problem getting everything in on time (the thing holding me back last two times was getting the LORs, which are already taken care of for this cycle), and I want to make sure I do everything right this time, so any guidance is greatly appreciated!
Thank you all so much.