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Advice for Gap Year Please!?
Started by summer14
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If you don't get in this season, it is NOT because of your GPA/MCAT. The easiest is to post a bullet pointed version of your application, the way it would be in AMCAS.
If you don't get in this season, it is NOT because of your GPA/MCAT. The easiest is to post a bullet pointed version of your application, the way it would be in AMCAS.
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I would like to help you out but I need a lot more info. Tell me about your ECs. Are you a traditional applicant? etc.
Don't retake a 30 MCAT when you have a 3.9 GPA. There's clearly something wrong if you don't get in. Did you apply to all of FL schools? Did you lack ECs?
Shadowing?
MCAT is a tiny bit lower than it should be, and limited shadowing experience may have hurt.
When were your applications complete?
That's strange. You seem to have your boxes checked. Strong LoRs, anyone have the potential to say something that would red flag? PS well-written? Difficult to say what would be the best thing because I'm not quite seeing a problem.
How many schools did you apply to? List them.
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I mean, 8 is a little bit low. If your MCAT was unbalanced, then that's not the greatest. 30 is still a decent score. If you're really confident that you can score better then I suppose you can retake it.
Based on all this, I can really only guess a few things.
1) You checked all the boxes but were too "bland" in that nothing stood out enough about you. A unique experience may help with this.
2) You only had 1 month of shadowing and I don't see any non-clinical volunteering. I believe about 70% of those accepted have non-clinical volunteering so this may hurt you.
3) There was a red flag somewhere in your application. Maybe something in an LoR, maybe something one of your references for activities said if contacted.
Based on all this, I can really only guess a few things.
1) You checked all the boxes but were too "bland" in that nothing stood out enough about you. A unique experience may help with this.
2) You only had 1 month of shadowing and I don't see any non-clinical volunteering. I believe about 70% of those accepted have non-clinical volunteering so this may hurt you.
3) There was a red flag somewhere in your application. Maybe something in an LoR, maybe something one of your references for activities said if contacted.
I feel like the texas schools are pretty low yield for you since you're not really a resident...
Georgetown and baylor are a huge reach, GWU gets a ton of apps. UVA is a reach OOS.
So you applied to about 9 reasonable schools. Are you rejected from the rest of the places or are you on hold?
Complete by end of july means that it's been just about 3 months. I'd give it another couple of weeks tbh. This cycle seems to be pretty strange and drawn out.
Georgetown and baylor are a huge reach, GWU gets a ton of apps. UVA is a reach OOS.
So you applied to about 9 reasonable schools. Are you rejected from the rest of the places or are you on hold?
Complete by end of july means that it's been just about 3 months. I'd give it another couple of weeks tbh. This cycle seems to be pretty strange and drawn out.
First of all, yes an 8 in verbal might be hurting you. However, you are unfortunately in a difficult spot with the new MCAT starting next year. I just can't justify recommending you take the MCAT again, especially since you are not confident in your ability to improve upon your score.
1. Your GPA is great, good job.
2. Being a traditional applicant does have its disadvantages. You must be able to show ADCOMs that you have the character, maturity, determination, etc to succeed in med school. Often times traditional students lack the life experience to convince ADCOMs that this is the case. If you are to apply again, you may want to consider this in terms of how you write your PS, your secondaries, who you ask for LORs.
3. I think your clinical experience might be a weak point for you. In my opinion/experience, hospital volunteering is a great altruistic EC but is not a great clinical experience. My hospital volunteering provided me relatively little experience with patients and physicians. A scribe job sounds like a great opportunity, try to get one ASAP so you have you solid experience you can talk about in your AMCAS application and later your secondaries. See if there are any hospitalist scribe positions in your area; not only is it a more unique experience than ED scribing, but I actually feel that I have learned a lot more working on the in patient side of medicine compared to the ED.
4. Your research, how involved were you? were pursuing projects with relative autonomy? or were you just making solutions and running gels all day? If its the latter, your research is not helping you as much as you would like.
Bottom Line: Focus hard on #2 and #3 above. Also, this cycle is NOT over. I think its good that you are preparing for next year, but done give up all hope at this point.
This is disappointing. I'm in Florida with similar stats and an even lower GPA =/ hope I can make it.
I wouldn't do an SMP for the reasons you listed. Your GPA is fine (so long as you are calculating it accurately). I'll echo @SnakeOilForSale and say that if your MCAT score was atypical, with one of your 3 subscores being below a threshold, you could've been screened out. There's got to be an extraneous variable you aren't considering. Are you sure you have good letters?
I find it highly unlikely that your limited shadowing experience screened you out as a 3.9/30 applicant.
Is there a reason you did not apply to FSU?
In addition, I would recommend just doing research and shadowing in your year off. Take that year off to enjoy yourself. Taking a gap year has been the best decision I have made; it should almost be a requirement. So don't get down, just reapply, get a research job if you can and shadow, and enjoy yourself you'll be fine. Also go to your university's medical admissions office and ask them what you can do to make your app better. I just do not understand why you have not heard anything back because those stats seem ideal for florida. Maybe your personal statement?
In addition, I would recommend just doing research and shadowing in your year off. Take that year off to enjoy yourself. Taking a gap year has been the best decision I have made; it should almost be a requirement. So don't get down, just reapply, get a research job if you can and shadow, and enjoy yourself you'll be fine. Also go to your university's medical admissions office and ask them what you can do to make your app better. I just do not understand why you have not heard anything back because those stats seem ideal for florida. Maybe your personal statement?
Good advise, however, I would argue that you should focus on getting a healthcare-related job (scribe being the easiest since it requires no certifications of any kind). Clinical experience is far more important for someone like you who is not shooting for top, research oriented institutions.
