521, 3.98 -- No Interview

[Kasra321]

The application cycle is almost over with many people securing an acceptance or two. Yet, I haven't received a single interview. I've lost hope as most interview spots are probably taken at this point. To be honest, I didn't expect this at all.
Anyways, I'm moving on. But I really want to know what went wrong and what I need to do for the next cycle. I was hoping to get some feedback from this community. Any comments is appreciated.

GPA: 3.98
MCAT: 521 [132, 125(CARS), 132, 132]
Major: Neurobiology
Minor: Management
UC Davis (transferred from cc)
CA resident
Primary verified late August.
Secondaries submitted by mid-late Sept

** I also went to a medical school outside the US for 4 years. But I had to quit due to immigration. I started all over again from community college. And my previous school didn't release my transcripts in accordance to their policies. (I discussed it with a few advisers and they thought it shouldn't be a problem.)

Community service : ~50-100hrs

Work: 4years of part-time/full-time as a photographer/videographer

Leadership: director at a national pre-health conference
Officer at a few clubs
Biochemistry Tutor for one quarter
Mol. Bio. Lab assistant for one quarter

Research: 1 year at my previous school
2 year in UCD
1 summer project
1 publication

Clinical: nothing really. I pretty much relied on my 4 years of being a medical student

Reflecting on my PS and secondary answers, I think they were generally ok. That said, I could have done a better job at making a more compelling case. There were no technical error though.


School list:

Boston University
Case Western Reserve
Columbia
UCLA (Geffen)
Harvard
Icahn Mount Sinai
USC Keck
Mayo (MN)
NYU
Northwestern Feinberg
Oregon Health and Science
UPenn - Perelman
Stanford
SUNY Downstate
Tufts
University of Arizona Phoenix
UC San Diego
UCSF
UC Davis
UC Irvine
Pritzker
University of Michigan
UNC Chapel Hill
Pittsburgh
Washington University in St. Luis
University of Washington (Seattle)
Cornell
Yale

I personally could think of 3 downfalls in my application.
1. Lack of clinical experience in the US
2. Late submission
3. PS / secondaries could have been better

These three, combined with an unconventional academic history and a top heavy list of schools.

I've already started a 6 months clinical internship at a cardiac rehabilitation center internship that give me around 200hrs.
I'm also looking for a job as a medical interpreter or a scribe.

Any specific tips for writing a strong PS, specially for top 20 schools?

Thank you!!!




PS: I posted a similar post (link below)a few weeks ago and received some great inputs. But I wanted to seek more feedback! Thanks.

individual feedbacks after rejection?
https://www-forums.studentdoctor.ne...ndividual-feedbacks-after-rejection?.1231497/

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[Faha]

You could still receive interview invites in the next month. You have very good stats but most of the schools you applied to are very competitive. If you are not accepted this cycle then concentrate on schools that are not very competitive and include some DO schools. Submit your application in June and all your secondaries by July. Find a DO to shadow since some DO schools require a DO LOR. Schools to consider include:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
New York Medical College
Albany
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
GW
Georgetown
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Miami
Cincinnati
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
Tulane
California Northstate
any new schools that open in 2018 (Seton Hall, Roseman, etc.)
Also apply to at least 10 DO schools and you have several in the west.
Some of these schools may not consider you because of your high stats but obviously your strategy of applying to top tier schools has not worked.

 

[Surgeongirl]

You're in the same boat as other applicants who have awesome stats but apply to very competitive schools and either get very little interviews or none at all. I would apply to less competitive schools, include some DOs and amp up your community service hrs which IMO are very few for a med school applicant. I know you said you went to medical school for four years already but you should definitely include some shadowing hours too so that they can see your medical field exposure in our healthcare system. My stats are way lower than yours and I have gotten 4 interviews so far thanks to my extracurriculars. Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[Siroucity]

Hey! Fellow UC Davis cc transfer here too. Not to sound too creepy, I think we have a mutual friend (If your GF's name begins with a "N" that is).

Bump up that volunteering/clinical experience though and you're definitely in with your stats and experience.

 

[ciestar]

I think your lack of clinical experiences is what is hurting you most. You need to have experience in this country. Maybe beef up your nonclinical experiences too.

I agree, your list is a bit top heavy but there are many schools your stats are more than within range for.

 

[mw18]

Your top heavy school list is likely your issue. I could see the prior medical school thing raising eyebrows, but if explained well they can look past it. Obviously your stats are in range for almost all schools, but so are many people who don't get interviews to those schools. It's not one of those things where they interview every "qualified" applicant, they pick a select few and this year you weren't among them. You could have more success at these schools next year, but you'd be much more well served adding some out of state privates that are known to be more friendly and mid-tier competitiveness-wise. It also wouldn't help for you to get some clinical experience here, since your medical school time in the other country has some mystery to it.

 

[LizzyM]

What is your citizen status in the US? if you are not a US citizen, will you have funding to attend school?
Your secondaries were late.
Your CARS score is lower than I see at my top 20. that said, you'd be nuts to retake.
You attended medical school abroad (which is similar to attending BS/MD degree program in the US) but that is not sufficient clinical exposure for practice in US. Doing an internship in cardiac rehab it okay but you need to shadow, volunteer or work in a primary care setting. in addition to anything you might do in a specialty area such as plastics or derm. (doing only plastics & derm might be a red flag).

You left school and immigrated due to political unrest. Is that correct? Have you done any community service in the US related to assisting refugees and immigrants. As a fellow immigrant, you might be a very valuable resource and being involved in community service of that kind would be a good thing to become involved in.

In geographic areas where there are large numbers of immigrants of your ethnic group, you might play that up in applications but not in applications in areas where there are few of your countrymen. The point would be that you understand the culture and language and can help to serve that community with awareness to cultural issues in that community.

You do need to consider that you have a bad letter.

There is also the possibility that there is something very glaring in your primary-- either in the PS or in the experience section. What did you list on the application with regard to the years you were in school abroad?

 

[DokterMom]

I think @LizzyM nailed it --

It sounds like there's a big red flag in your application somewhere. It could be your international status, what your status as an international student means as to your ability to pay for US medical school, a significant tone or content issue in your personal statement, the lack of transcripts, or a bad letter. Something that's bringing your application to a dead stop.

Since you're at UC Davis, can you reach out through the school's internal channels to find out what they saw and why you didn't get an interview there? Does Davis have a Premed advisory committee? A professor you know well who can/will work the system for you? Also follow up with the other schools after this cycle ends to see if you can get some feedback. Most won't, but a few might...

Spend some time on the International forum to see which schools accept international students with your citizenship status and target your application to those schools. With your numbers, I'm not seeing DO as a high-yield proposition.

 

[Goro]

I think that this is what's lethal.

Clinical: nothing really. I pretty much relied on my 4 years of being a medical student

 

[psu228]

You could still receive interview invites in the next month. You have very good stats but most of the schools you applied to are very competitive. If you are not accepted this cycle then concentrate on schools that are not very competitive and include some DO schools. Submit your application in June and all your secondaries by July. Find a DO to shadow since some DO schools require a DO LOR. Schools to consider include:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
New York Medical College
Albany
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
GW
Georgetown
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Miami
Cincinnati
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
Tulane
California Northstate
any new schools that open in 2018 (Seton Hall, Roseman, etc.)
Also apply to at least 10 DO schools and you have several in the west.
Some of these schools may not consider you because of your high stats but obviously your strategy of applying to top tier schools has not worked.

Yea man you just need to apply more broadly. It's a weird phenomenon that, even with top stats that are on par with those top programs' averages, a lot of people don't get in anywhere when they limit themselves to such lofty expectations.

I think this is because these programs get so many apps, they have to make quick decisions to start cutting the fat so to speak. They look at your app, see the weaknesses you have, and discard you. They get plenty of apps from people who have stats similar to yours AND great statements and clinical hours.

Just apply broadly next time and I'm sure you'll be successful. You have a year to get clinical exposure, work on writing, etc.

 

[Kasra321]

I do appreciate all the responses. They have all been very helpful.

I definitely should gather more clinical experience, as well as shadowing experience before the next cycle. Looking back, it was immature, and wishful, to rely entirely on my out of the country medical exposure.

I've already started a clinical internship at a cardiac rehabilitation center, but as LizzyM suggested, I'll also be looking for more opportunities in primary care settings.
I'll definitely rewrite my essays and seek as much help as possible along the way. I never thought it could be such a significant factor.

As for the school selection, I think I would keep the majority of schools on my initial list and add more midtier schools to it. I understand top schools have very low yields, and that's why applied to a large number of them. AButn the reason I didn't apply to as many mid-tier schools was that I thought as a California resident, my chances of getting into a UC, even the more competitive ones, was higher than most OOS midtier schools. Nevertheless, I'll apply to more schools; more broadly and more strategically.

Thank you all for your help. Wish me luck!

PS. And if you ever encountered an overconfident applicant, feel free to direct them to this thread! Hopefully, my story serves as a lesson to them.

 

[Kasra321]

Not to sound too creepy, I think we have a mutual friend (If your GF's name begins with a "N" that is).

Bump up that volunteering/clinical experience though and you're definitely in with your stats and experience.

I never knew I had such a famous girlfriend! She'd be flattered!

 

[5words]

You could still receive interview invites in the next month. You have very good stats but most of the schools you applied to are very competitive. If you are not accepted this cycle then concentrate on schools that are not very competitive and include some DO schools. Submit your application in June and all your secondaries by July. Find a DO to shadow since some DO schools require a DO LOR. Schools to consider include:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
New York Medical College
Albany
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
GW
Georgetown
Eastern Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Miami
Cincinnati
Oakland Beaumont
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
Tulane
California Northstate
any new schools that open in 2018 (Seton Hall, Roseman, etc.)
Also apply to at least 10 DO schools and you have several in the west.
Some of these schools may not consider you because of your high stats but obviously your strategy of applying to top tier schools has not worked.

How do I find a DO TO SHADOW?

 

[Doggeronie]

How do I find a DO TO SHADOW?

cold call, email, ouija board

also: http://doctorsthatdo.org/

 

[jordansnfootbal]

Yeah bro your school list is too narrow in scope need to make it broader. Applying late does not help either. 1 month earlier can make a huge difference especially from my experience lol

 

[deleted631385]

Lack of US based clinical experiences are not the problems since I did most of my shadowing and clinical volunteers in Asia. I think the issue is that you are a dropout from foreign medical school. One of my peer is a graduate from foreign medical school, but he chose to reapply medical school in US. He has his transcript and diplomat sent to AMCAS. Therefore, I believe the red flag in on your previous school since medical school will do the background check in which they will find you hiding previous dropout. You can try to apply early this cycle , but if the same questions happen, you need to go back to your country to finish medical school. Dropout from school without completion is a red flag. There is one possibility that they consider you as a transfer student. Since most of medical schools refuse transferring, of course you are relegated.