Advice appreciated!

[mj1878]

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Hey all---

Well even though I'm still waiting to hear from two other schools, I've sort of resigned myself to being a "reapplicant" in the next cycle. Here's my dilemma: I am sure that my not being accepted had much to do with the lateness of my application, but I didn't have a whole lot of control over that, largely because I had to take the August MCAT last year (1st time taken), and so my secondaries weren't complete until November. I hadn't planned on taking the MCAT again because I thought I would get interviews, and now there's not enough time for me to take the April MCAT. I will likely take the August MCAT, but hope to have secondaries complete by July this year.

Is submitting the application much earlier this time enough of a change in the application for schools to take a renewed interest in you, or do I need to add something else to it? I've been working in a health-related field for almost five years now, have a ton of volunteering in non-health and health, great extracurriculars, and will graduate in May with pretty much no change in my GPA. Thusly, I cannot "upsize" my GPA between now and the next cycle, can't really improve on the extracurriculars and volunteering/healthcare field work.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Thank you!

 

[Law2Doc]

Hey all---

Well even though I'm still waiting to hear from two other schools, I've sort of resigned myself to being a "reapplicant" in the next cycle. Here's my dilemma: I am sure that my not being accepted had much to do with the lateness of my application, but I didn't have a whole lot of control over that, largely because I had to take the August MCAT last year (1st time taken), and so my secondaries weren't complete until November. I hadn't planned on taking the MCAT again because I thought I would get interviews, and now there's not enough time for me to take the April MCAT. I will likely take the August MCAT, but hope to have secondaries complete by July this year.

Is submitting the application much earlier this time enough of a change in the application for schools to take a renewed interest in you, or do I need to add something else to it? I've been working in a health-related field for almost five years now, have a ton of volunteering in non-health and health, great extracurriculars, and will graduate in May with pretty much no change in my GPA. Thusly, I cannot "upsize" my GPA between now and the next cycle, can't really improve on the extracurriculars and volunteering/healthcare field work.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Thank you!

Sort of a tough post to respond to, given the lack of info. Self diagnosis of application issues is sometimes problematic. You say you didn't get accepted due to a late application, which could very well be true. But you are planning to retake the MCAT, so presumably this could also be a reason you didn't get any interest. Even if your ECs are stellar, GPA, LOR or PS issues could also have contributed. If GPA is a culprit, note that there is no requirement to apply in the "next cycle" -- you can always spend another year or two improving things if necessary. This is a process, not a race. It might pay to have someone knowledgable and impartial (a school advisor?) look at your app and credentials and let you know where you need to improve, or even better, maybe talk to the dean of a med school that rejected you and find out how you best might improve your application for next year.