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Hey all,
I applied last cycle relatively late, then had a LOR seal the lateness with a September 30 submission. In hindsight, I think I should have indicated that it was no longer to be submitted in August or before, but the past is the past.
Last year I had nearly 0 hours of clinical exposure and only 30 hours of shadowing. This year I have over 500 hours of clinical exposure and almost 50 hours of shadowing. I have a 4.0 GPA and a 526 MCAT. I also think last year I applied too narrow and too high-end. I also have 1000+ hours of research, lots of mediocre to weak leadership (thousands of hours of tutoring and TA'ing), and a small amount of high-quality leadership (50-100 hours). I received one interview, from Columbia, in December of last year, but no acceptances. I feel like I botched the interview a bit, which felt super bad considering the hours and hours I spent preparing. (I was working nights, and I was scheduled for 6am my time, paired with pre-interview at a dream school jitters that led to approximately 0 hours of sleep).
My list last year is as follows:
Harvard,
NYU,
UCLA,
UCSF,
Columbia,
Wash U St. Louis,
Perelman,
Stanford,
Baylor,
Yale,
OHSU (I qualify for heritage applicant status, but thought I qualified for in-state, which led to a lot of confusion and may have contributed to a no-Interview from them)
UW (I didn't apply for their regional program, but qualify for it this cycle as an Idaho resident),
Minnesota,
Johns Hopkins,
Mayo.
I have completely revamped my application, including throwing out my old PS that contained a lot of red flags, rewriting my entire primary, and adding new experiences, such as clinical exposure, additional shadowing, and a new leadership experience, as well as a hobby/small business that I've been running for the past 2 years that I didn't think to include. I also submitted the primary June 11th, and it is currently in queue for verification. Last cycle I submitted the primary July 20th, and it was verified August 31. I'm not sure where I should apply this cycle, but I am determined to apply much more broadly. For example, I now have a connection to two other states with close relatives that moved within the last year, and I plan to apply to schools in those states (North Carolina and Missouri).
I'm concerned that I haven't done enough to warrant reapplication to the same schools as last cycle, even though my dream schools are there, or at least the top 4 out of my 5 dream schools. I plan to apply to some masters programs in either my field of interest (Neuroscience) or in Biomedical sciences as a plan C, which would work out to being able to apply one last time after I finished a masters before my MCAT score expires, if I don't get accepted this year.
Any advice as to strategies for schools to apply to? Should I reapply to schools that I applied to last cycle? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I applied last cycle relatively late, then had a LOR seal the lateness with a September 30 submission. In hindsight, I think I should have indicated that it was no longer to be submitted in August or before, but the past is the past.
Last year I had nearly 0 hours of clinical exposure and only 30 hours of shadowing. This year I have over 500 hours of clinical exposure and almost 50 hours of shadowing. I have a 4.0 GPA and a 526 MCAT. I also think last year I applied too narrow and too high-end. I also have 1000+ hours of research, lots of mediocre to weak leadership (thousands of hours of tutoring and TA'ing), and a small amount of high-quality leadership (50-100 hours). I received one interview, from Columbia, in December of last year, but no acceptances. I feel like I botched the interview a bit, which felt super bad considering the hours and hours I spent preparing. (I was working nights, and I was scheduled for 6am my time, paired with pre-interview at a dream school jitters that led to approximately 0 hours of sleep).
My list last year is as follows:
Harvard,
NYU,
UCLA,
UCSF,
Columbia,
Wash U St. Louis,
Perelman,
Stanford,
Baylor,
Yale,
OHSU (I qualify for heritage applicant status, but thought I qualified for in-state, which led to a lot of confusion and may have contributed to a no-Interview from them)
UW (I didn't apply for their regional program, but qualify for it this cycle as an Idaho resident),
Minnesota,
Johns Hopkins,
Mayo.
I have completely revamped my application, including throwing out my old PS that contained a lot of red flags, rewriting my entire primary, and adding new experiences, such as clinical exposure, additional shadowing, and a new leadership experience, as well as a hobby/small business that I've been running for the past 2 years that I didn't think to include. I also submitted the primary June 11th, and it is currently in queue for verification. Last cycle I submitted the primary July 20th, and it was verified August 31. I'm not sure where I should apply this cycle, but I am determined to apply much more broadly. For example, I now have a connection to two other states with close relatives that moved within the last year, and I plan to apply to schools in those states (North Carolina and Missouri).
I'm concerned that I haven't done enough to warrant reapplication to the same schools as last cycle, even though my dream schools are there, or at least the top 4 out of my 5 dream schools. I plan to apply to some masters programs in either my field of interest (Neuroscience) or in Biomedical sciences as a plan C, which would work out to being able to apply one last time after I finished a masters before my MCAT score expires, if I don't get accepted this year.
Any advice as to strategies for schools to apply to? Should I reapply to schools that I applied to last cycle? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
