Advice and thought on 2015 reapplication

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abcjmz

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Hello all,
So, it looks like I will potentially be a reapplicant to medical school. I am planning to reapply this upcoming cycle, but it would be great to get your thoughts on whether this would be a good idea. Here is an outline of the application that I just submitted in 2014, with additional info in bold:

Stats:
(11 PS/6 VR/10 BS) for a 27 on the May 8, 2014 MCAT
(12 PS/8 VR/11 BS) for a 31 on the July 24, 2014 MCAT

3.78 verified cGPA (will be 3.82 when I reapply)
3.68 verified sGPA (will be 3.70 when I reapply)

EC's:
300 hours of volunteering in 2 hospital ERs
+ 55 hours of volunteering in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit
+ 16 hours of volunteering as a patient escort

100 hours of physician shadowing (1 ER physician, 2 family practice)
Founder of website hosting company (10 years so roughly 1000 hours spent)
Member of 2 university bands for a few semesters throughout college
Played for church since I started with my instrument (10 years ago, 1000 hours total across practicing and university playing)
Chemistry Teaching Assistant - 1 year, will be 1.5 by the time I interview, 230 hours (have continued this into senior year, will have 2 years [4 semesters], 460 hours total)
Member of Campus EMS club - 1 semester
Research Assistant (1 semester in addition to winning a $4000 Summer Fellowship for this past summer) 7 months total, 480 hours, no publications
Mentor for Disadvantaged (low income) elementary children - 1 semester, 40 hours
Dean's List and Partial Academic Scholarship

I am currently attending a large state university majoring in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a minor in Business. I am an Ohio resident, non-URM and going to be graduating this May.

My School List (with secondary completion dates):

Ohio State U (9-9-14)
NEOMED (9-2-14)
University of Toledo (9-7-14)
Wright State University (8-29-14)
University of Cincinnati (8-29-14)
Case Western Reserve U (did not complete secondary)
University of Michigan (did not complete secondary)
Wayne State (11-10-14, they screen, was sent to me 11-3-14)
Michigan State U (9-21-14)
Oakland University (9-7-14)
Medical College of Wisconsin (9-14-14)
University of Wisconsin (9-15-14)
Indiana University (9-4-14)
University of Kentucky (9-6-14)
Pennsylvania State U (9-10-14
The Commonwealth Medical College (did not complete secondary)
University of Colorado (did not complete secondary)

I did receive 4 interviews this past cycle. I interviewed at University of Toledo, Oakland University, and Indiana University in February, and NEOMED in March.

I was waitlisted at Toledo (not sure of priority), Oakland (third tier, so basically rejection), and am still waiting to hear back from Indiana and NEOMED (should hear within the next week).

I do not have my hopes up for an acceptance at this point in the game, and I figured it would be smart to plan a reapplication, get feedback, get some new LORs, etc in case I do need to reapply.

My questions are:
1. Does my improved application look OK to reapply with? I submitted it late July and it was verified August 24 because I wanted to ensure that my MCAT was higher before releasing it to all schools. I know that this was a big mistake.

2. What is your opinion on my MCAT? Being that I did get 4 interviews, I am inclined to think that it is OK. I really don't want to study for the new one.

3. Any suggestions on my school list? I was planning to reapply to all of them except Case. Anyone have some insight on schools I should add/remove?

4. I have two options for my gap year. The chemistry department is seeking teaching assistants for summer gen chem. I was going to go ahead and do that for 7 weeks, then continue teaching in the autum and spring semesters while going to interviews. The money is pretty good, and if I take on more responsibility (i.e. more labs) I will get paid more during the school year. The other option is to apply for a research assistant position in the neuroscience department - I just received the email posting for it today. From the job description it looks like I would be maintaining mouse colonies and doing routine paperwork, etc. I would much prefer doing the teaching, but would this be OK for my application? Since it would be submitted, it wouldn't matter right?

5. Lastly, I do have all secondaries and PS saved. Should I completely rewrite my PS, or just tweak it? Being that I did get 4 interviews, I would like to think that my main problem was applying late. Any thoughts?

Thanks very much for any advice.

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Do not give up on your chances for this year. There will be a lot of movement on waiting lists during May and June. If you do end up reapplying apply to all the Ohio schools (except Case) and Indiana and Oakland Beaumont. You could delete Michigan and Michigan State, University of Wisconsin, Kentucky and Colorado. Schools you could add include:
Quinnipiac
Western Michigan
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
New York Medical College
Albany
Hofstra
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
GW
Tulane
 
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Thank you @Faha and @gyngyn for your feedback. Would you also recommend completely rewriting my personal statement, or just tweaking it?

Thanks!
 
Thank you @Faha and @gyngyn for your feedback. Would you also recommend completely rewriting my personal statement, or just tweaking it?

Thanks!
I check to see if a re-applicant cared enough to re-work the PS.
The basics don't change but the way motivations are expressed can always be improved upon further reflection.
 
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I check to see if a re-applicant cared enough to re-work the PS.
The basics don't change but the way motivations are expressed can always be improved upon further reflection.

I'll make sure it's totally different in a good way :)
 

It's actually a blast to edit people's PS'. I'm doing it for the OP and have done it for a bunch of others as well. It's funny that people actually seek you out if you tell them that you're going to be a crazy harsh editor.


Just don't tell my boss that I'm going to spend more time doing this than actual work over my last few weeks!
 
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It's actually a blast to edit people's PS'. I'm doing it for the OP and have done it for a bunch of others as well. It's funny that people actually seek you out if you tell them that you're going to be a crazy harsh editor.


Just don't tell my boss that I'm going to spend more time doing this than actual work over my last few weeks!
You're a saint.
Outside of my day job I only read/edit my student and resident PS's.
 
@gyngyn Do you have an opinion on the quality of my EC's? Would you consider my application "changed" enough with my one new EC and continued teaching along with applying extremely early?

I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right when I reapply.

Thanks!
 
@gyngyn Do you have an opinion on the quality of my EC's? Would you consider my application "changed" enough with my one new EC and continued teaching along with applying extremely early?

I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right when I reapply.

Thanks!
I think your EC's were good enough to get in this cycle but your strategy was lacking (timing).
 
Thanks very much for your feedback. My next question is: Could I get some help on forming a list of DO schools to which I should apply? Maybe @Goro could help me out.

My current MD list for this cycle is:

Ohio State U
NEOMED
University of Toledo
Wright State University
University of Cincinnati
Wayne State
Oakland University
Medical College of Wisconsin
Indiana University
Pennsylvania State U
The Commonwealth Medical College
Quinnipiac
Western Michigan
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
New York Medical College
Albany
Hofstra
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
GW
Tulane

As an aside, should I bother applying to schools that get 10,000+ applications?
 
You're fine for ANY DO school, so start with OH-COM, MSUCOM, LECOM and MUCOM, then work outwards.

Your MCAT is 3 points below Hofstra's median, so I recommend deleting skipping them. I recommend the following:

All OH schools, U VM Miami St. Louis Albany Rochester Rush Rosy Franklin NYMC VCU EVMS Wake Forest Jefferson Temple Drexel Creighton George Washington Tulane Loyola Creighton, any new MD school, except Hofstra and Central MI.
 
What is your opinion on MCW? I was placed on pre-interview hold and they select interviewees based on credentials and completion date. I'm thinking my completion date was what prevented me from interviewing there.
 
Thanks to @gyngyn and @Goro I have a preliminary school list, with 31 MD schools and 10 DO schools. Is this too many? Are there any obvious ones I should eliminate? Thanks!

Albany
CCOM
Commonwealth Medical College
Creighton
CUSOM
Drexel
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Indiana Univ.
Jefferson
LECOM
Loyola Univ.
Medical College of Wisconsin
Miami Univ.
MSUCOM
MUCOM
NEOMED
New York Medical College
NSU-COM
Oakland Univ.
OU-HCOM
Ohio State Univ.
PCOM
Pennsylvania State Univ.
Quinnipiac
Rochester Univ.
Rosalind Franklin
Rush Medical College
St. Louis
Temple
TouroCOM
Tulane
UNECOM
Univ. of Vermont
University of Cincinnati
University of Toledo
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest
Wayne State Univ.
Western Michigan Univ.
Wright State Univ.
 
Can you do 41 secondaries????? Suggest deleting Gtown (too many apps); Penn State (their parent body protected a child molester for decades), and maybe Wayne State or MSU (I believe has obscene tuition or OOS).

Albany
CCOM
Commonwealth Medical College
Creighton
CUSOM
Drexel
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Indiana Univ.
Jefferson
LECOM
Loyola Univ.
Medical College of Wisconsin
Miami Univ.
MSUCOM
MUCOM
NEOMED
New York Medical College
NSU-COM
Oakland Univ.
OU-HCOM
Ohio State Univ.
PCOM
Pennsylvania State Univ.
Quinnipiac
Rochester Univ.
Rosalind Franklin
Rush Medical College
St. Louis
Temple
TouroCOM
Tulane
UNECOM
Univ. of Vermont
University of Cincinnati
University of Toledo
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest
Wayne State Univ.
Western Michigan Univ.
Wright State Univ.[/QUOTE]
Thanks to @gyngyn and @Goro I have a preliminary school list, with 31 MD schools and 10 DO schools. Is this too many? Are there any obvious ones I should eliminate? Thanks!

Albany
CCOM
Commonwealth Medical College
Creighton
CUSOM
Drexel
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Indiana Univ.
Jefferson
LECOM
Loyola Univ.
Medical College of Wisconsin
Miami Univ.
MSUCOM
MUCOM
NEOMED
New York Medical College
NSU-COM
Oakland Univ.
OU-HCOM
Ohio State Univ.
PCOM
Pennsylvania State Univ.
Quinnipiac
Rochester Univ.
Rosalind Franklin
Rush Medical College
St. Louis
Temple
TouroCOM
Tulane
UNECOM
Univ. of Vermont
University of Cincinnati
University of Toledo
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest
Wayne State Univ.
Western Michigan Univ.
Wright State Univ.
 
Well, I just got rejected by the last school on which I was waitlisted, so I will for sure be re-applying. Right after I graduated I took a 4 week phlebotomy class and was just certified. During the summer I will be continuing to teach, as well as throughout next school year. Should I be looking for a part time Phlebotomy job for more clinical experience? Or can I just focus on teaching.

I submitted AMCAS on the first day, and it is already verified. I will be adding more schools shortly, and waiting for a new letter of reference (hopefully it will be in by end of June).

@Goro I will be submitting my DO app in a few days. Is it too late to still have my DO letter be coming mid-July?

And of course, I will be working on my interview skills for this coming year.
 
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