38 MD complete in july and early aug, high stats and ECs, no II

[premed@new27]

CA ORM application with no gap years, 4.0 from private liberal arts college, 520 MCAT

500 clinical hours as scribe and patient care coordinator in ED
90 clinical volunteering
100 shadowing in pediatric hospital, multiple specialties
over 1000 research hours in microbiology, immuno oncology, and ALS stem cell work at ucsf, city of hope, etc. (no pubs)
110 non clinical volunteering at senior senter
200 non clinical volunteering and leadership tutoring underserved students
200 hours as ochem lab TA
Leadership (infectious disease lead and treasurer) in health literacy initiative
Various other activities / ECs related to medical innovation and entrepreneurship

School list:

• Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine
• California University of Science and Medicine
• Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
• Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
• Drexel University College of Medicine
• Emory University School of Medicine
• Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
• George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
• Harvard Medical School
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
• Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
• Loma Linda University School of Medicine
• Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
• Medical College of Wisconsin
• NYU Grossman School of Medicine
• New York Medical College
• Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine
• Ohio State University College of Medicine
• Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
• Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
• Stanford University School of Medicine
• The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
• Tufts University School of Medicine
• University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
• University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
• University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
• University of California, Riverside School of Medicine
• University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
• University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
• University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine
• University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
• Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
• Wayne State University School of Medicine
• Weill Cornell Medicine
• Yale School of Medicine

So far: 5 R, 1 Pre-II hold from UCSD, and silence from the other 32 schools

Received secondaries from all UCs (except Davis) and Vanderbilt so I think my primary was pretty solid
Had my writing in secondaries evaluated by advisor and multiple people, so not sure what went wrong

Feeling really hopeless and lost, so wondering if anyone else is in the same boat or has any advice

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ecobio]

IMO you seem to have a pretty well rounded app. could do with some more volunteering w/ underserved communities and primary care experience, but surprising you havent received much love yet. clearly your stats are not holding you back, and you seem to meet most minimum hours for ECs... my gut says there was something wrong with your writing and/or your story. what is your MISSION in pursuing your MD? what do you hope to accomplish, and what have you done so far to show that?

also -- who specifically reviewed your apps? could be helpful to get them reviewed by recently successful med school applicants/students.

school list looks reasonable to me given your high stats but you could go less top heavy if you end up re-applying.

i can understand the feeling of hopelessness. this process is really, really hard and it can make you feel very vulnerable. in the meantime, try to stay positive while bolstering your ECs. finish strong at school, volunteer more, connect with friends, start thinking about a possible gap year job.

 

[premed@new27]

IMO you seem to have a pretty well rounded app. could do with some more volunteering w/ underserved communities, but surprising you havent received much love yet. clearly your stats are not holding you back, and you seem to meet most minimum hours for ECs... my gut says there was something wrong with your writing and/or your story. what is your MISSION in pursuing your MD? what do you hope to accomplish, and what have you done so far to show that?

also -- who specifically reviewed your apps? could be helpful to get them reviewed by recently successful med school applicants/students.

school list looks reasonable to me given your high stats but you could go less top heavy if you end up re-applying.

i can understand the feeling of hopelessness. this process is really, really hard and it can make you feel very vulnerable. in the meantime, try to stay positive while bolstering your ECs. finish strong at school, volunteer more, connect with friends, start thinking about a possible gap year job.

my writing was focused on developing personal relationships with future patients, empathizing with unique needs and how that relates to my interests in innovation as well. Discussed several experiences in patient care, tutoring, etc. I thought there was maybe an issue with writing, but considering I received secondaries from ucla, ucsf, vandy, etc at least my primary was fine? My premedical advisor at my school has reviewed several applications of successful MD candidates the past few years, otherwise I had some older med school friends vet them too.

 

[Goro]

Your app seems to be really good, rock star territory, so getting shut out is a mystery.

You might have a bad LOR.
Note: some of the schools you applied to would pass on your due to resource protection, figuring that you'd rightly go elsewhere (Drexel, GWU, MCW, Wayne State). If you're not a SDA or VERY religious Christian, Loma Linda was a donation. Ditto UCR if you're not from the Inland Empire.

If you are shut out this cycle, consider:
USF/Morsani
U VM
Hofstra
NYMC
U IA
U Cincy
Baylor
UTxSW
SUNY.SB
U MA
Pitt
Duke
U VA
U MI

And get in more service to others less fortunate than yourself.

 

[premed@new27]

Your app seems to be really good, rock star territory, so getting shut out is a mystery.

You might have a bad LOR.
Note: some of the schools you applied to would pass on your due to resource protection, figuring that you'd rightly go elsewhere (Drexel, GWU, MCW, Wayne State). If you're not a SDA or VERY religious Christian, Loma Linda was a donation. Ditto UCR if you're not from the Inland Empire.

If you are shut out this cycle, consider:
USF/Morsani
U VM
Hofstra
NYMC
U IA
U Cincy
Baylor
UTxSW
SUNY.SB
U MA
Pitt
Duke
U VA
U MI

And get in more service to others less fortunate than yourself.

true, ended up not doing loma linda secondary, but received the UCR secondary (and they screen primary) bc I go to school and work near inland empire. Might ask my advisor to evaluate my LORs since I wasnt allowed to see them. Thanks for the praise and advice on school list!

 

[AJS59]

First of all all things considered it's not too late in the cycle. My 1 and only came in Feb. and look where I'm at now. So I wouldn't give up faith as of yet.

As to potential issues:
-the non-clinical is definitely a bit low. What specifically did you do at this senior center? Were you working with seniors from underserved populations in particular? If the answer is no, I would start working on more hours now...it won't demonstrably help you this cycle but if you're able to gin up 5ish hours a week you'll be in a stronger position
-That being said, I doubt it's only the service holding you back. When did you submit your apps? How did you feel about your PS? Agree that LORs could also be involved...sometimes all it takes is one "meh" letter to sink an app.

Keep your head up. What I'd do for now is work on bolstering your non-clinical hours and go from there.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Your community service / service orientation still looks light. 100 hours... what did you do at the senior center? Without 150 hours at application, you could be screened out.

 

[premed@new27]

Your community service / service orientation still looks light. 100 hours... what did you do at the senior center? Without 150 hours at application, you could be screened out.

i assisted them in the technology lab and volunteered at the food bank. I also have over 200 additional non clinical volunteering as a tutor for underserved K-12 students.

 

[premed@new27]

First of all all things considered it's not too late in the cycle. My 1 and only came in Feb. and look where I'm at now. So I wouldn't give up faith as of yet.

As to potential issues:
-the non-clinical is definitely a bit low. What specifically did you do at this senior center? Were you working with seniors from underserved populations in particular? If the answer is no, I would start working on more hours now...it won't demonstrably help you this cycle but if you're able to gin up 5ish hours a week you'll be in a stronger position
-That being said, I doubt it's only the service holding you back. When did you submit your apps? How did you feel about your PS? Agree that LORs could also be involved...sometimes all it takes is one "meh" letter to sink an app.

Keep your head up. What I'd do for now is work on bolstering your non-clinical hours and go from there.

submitted my primary on 5/28 with majority of secondaries completed early-mid july with a couple in early august. I felt really good about my personal statement, and considering UCs and vanderbilt (who all screen the primary) sent me their secondary, I feel like it mustve been at least decent from the perspective of adcoms. for my non clinical, I tutor underserved kids as well (~ 200 hours)

 

[chilly_md]

Agree with Goro. Even if I would have swapped out around a dozen schools and the UCs are very difficult to get into, you would have been expected to receive a few interviews from the likes of WUSTL, Jefferson, Dartmouth, Brown, etc.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

i assisted them in the technology lab and volunteered at the food bank. I also have over 200 additional non clinical volunteering as a tutor for underserved K-12 students.

Tutoring is an academic activity and every premed does some tutoring, including with underserved students. It doesn't get you out of your comfort zone, and it is not going to move the needle compared to other applicants. If it did, you would also compete with candidates working more hours as teachers in Tier 1 schools and may not measure up.

How to Assess Your Academic Competencies - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

It's unclear to me what your narrative is, and regardless of any "bad writing" or bad LORs, clarity with your purpose as a physician is important (to me). Showing that you would be the type of student a school would want in their learning community is important too.

I'm also trying to think of other things that have blocked you from getting more attention, but the service orientation hours is the one clear obstacle that sticks out. Your clinical hours are also a little lower than I would expect, but not so much that you could get screened out for that reason.

Medical innovation and entrepreneurship would be interesting, but I don't see the link with your description of activities and you had not submitted a more detailed WAMC profile before now. There's something you are overlooking to tell us that may be a critical factor in your lack of success.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Moving to WAMC.

CA is rough, I would probably focus on community service activities