taubeladdi said:
I've just got my last rejection today and have no more hope for this cycle and was wondering how best I could go about improving my application. I graduated from college in '97 with a 3.6 (Bio, chem) and last April got a 30 on the MCAT. I've shadowed a few doctors for a couple of days and have about 150 hours volunteering in the E.R. Until recently I thought these were descent credentials, but my state schools (FL) wiped the floor with me. Anyhow, I have no idea as to how to improve my app. I 've only taken the MCAT once, but don't think I could really improve my score significantly. In addition, I'm not too excited about the concept of studying for the MCAT again while working full time. I'm beginning to believe its the age (staleness, if your from UF) of my grades that may be holding me back. I'm not getting much feedback from the schools I applied to either. I did manage one interview, but to no avail. Anyone have any ideas...reconsider MCAT, post-bac, full time clinical job (major pay cut and training, definitely required for this one). Thanks.
I'm so sorry to hear about your application this year, but don't you give up. It's probably not your age. A couple of people in my year are in their 30's and 40's. One is even 50 and his last academic grade was earned in 1980!
Your GPA and MCAT are both fine. I would not bother retaking the MCAT (unless your 30 is
very unbalanced - 12, 12, 6...or something like that). Your volunteer activities appear to be there and many people are accepted with less. Always keep in mind that the applicant pool is a massive, impressive, rather homogeneous group of individuals and it must be nightmarish for adcoms to distinguish between them.
Not knowing you and going only by what you've posted, my
best guess would be the logic of your application package - the AMCAS stuff, that is. Too many good applicants take this lightly. Did you apply
widely (to schools where your stats alone make you competitive
as well as to schools you consider to be a 'reach'?). My first of just three interviews was at my biggest reach school and it resulted in an immediate acceptance and I promise you that my GPA and MCAT were a few notches below their average. It's sometimes hard to tell what will make you attractive to a particular school in any given year.
Was your essay unfocused or less than stellar? How have your past endeavors suitably prepared you for a medical career and convinced you that you want this more than anything? Did this come across l
ogically in your essay? Don't underestimate just how important these essays are to schools. Also, were your letters of recommendation written by people
who really know you, or were they formulaic, perhaps written by a chairman (or worse...by the chairmen's staff) who may have a fancy title, but doesn't know your personal attributes or the non-cognitive characteristics that highlight your suitability for a medical career? Those are important things to consider, IMHO.
Ask for honest feedback from schools that rejected you. Many reapplicants have found success in this. Apply again next year, apply early, apply widely, strengthen your application with quality activities, and NEVER use the same AMCAS essay (the director of admissions at my school reads the previous AMCAS essay if the applicant was rejected without interview the previous year).
Good luck and apply again, and again, and again if you have to. This is too precious to give up on when you're so close to getting in.