Advice for my really neat friend...

[Csv321]

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Hello helpful SDNers...

I have already submitted my AMCAS but my friend just submitted his today without proofreading it carefully and he copied and pasted his personal statement. He ended up with a random question mark right in the first line of his personal statement. He was quoting something ["blah blah blah...?"blah..]

That's what it looks like. It just has a question mark and then the next word without spaces. I'm sure there are threads out there regarding mistakes like this but will adcoms toss his app aside because there's a mistake already in his first line?

Second concern: We're both from Cali. I applied to 28 schools (which I'm told is "normal" for a CA resident) He applied to only 15 and got a 28 on his MCAT. He's 28 years old and a psych major and was in the Coast Guard for about 4 years. No research experience but he's done some volunteering and some leadership stuff in clubs. I tell him that he's old and that he can milk the Coast Guard thing. Plus, he's got excellent letters of rec...I mean SUPERB letters!

His GPA overall is a 3.76 and his science is around there as well. So basically, I'm asking what his chances are on his behalf? Is 15 schools too little for his stats?

I don't want to give him false hope and reassure him (even though I'm his friend) without getting advice from people who've been through the experience and know more about this crazy random process than I do. I know nothing is for sure or set in stone when it comes to this but what do you think?

Thanks!

 

[Csv321]

Oh yeah...I forgot to mention he's white and applying disadvantaged cause of problems with his mother, he was homeless while younger, first to go to and graduate college in his immediate family, and pretty much grew up poor, living in a car. Hence, why he joined the Coast Guard.

 

[TRUE]

The question mark is certainly not going to hurt him at all. It happens. My PS had plenty of them because of some formatting issues. He can ignore it.

Anyway, I'm just curious why people always write these "My friend did..." or "My sister did...". What's the point? Why doesn't your friend ask if he really wants to know?

As for his chances, it's a crapshoot. It's very hard to tell.

 

[Csv321]

Anyway, I'm just curious why people always write these "My friend did..." or "My sister did...". What's the point? Why doesn't your friend ask if he really wants to know?

As for his chances, it's a crapshoot. It's very hard to tell.

Cuz he's a lazy bum I suppose...but thanks for replying about the mistake. I think that's what he is really worried about.

 

[WatchingWaiting]

Cuz he's a lazy bum I suppose...but thanks for replying about the mistake. I think that's what he is really worried about.

If five of those schools are UCs, he might be in a bit of trouble unless he has made very smart choices with the other ones. With a 28 MCAT, he is below the average matriculated med student by 2-3 points. I would say his chances at any of the UCs are not very good, since they all have average MCATs above the national average. It sounds like he has an interesting personal story, but make sure he really has leveraged it into, "Why medicine?" Assuming he applied to a good number of Drexel, Finch, and the other lower-tier private school types, he probably has a decent chance of getting an acceptance, though it is by no means a sure deal. The best advice is apply broadly, and consider paying the $30/school extra fee to designate some more schools. An extra thousand dollars to apply more broadly is chump change compared to how much money he will be paying out for med school, and, for that matter, the opportunity loss if he doesn't get accepted anywhere.

 

[BklynWill]

I keep noticing mention of "lower tier" medical schools. Is there really such a thing?? I don't think so.
There are legitimate tiers for law schools. I've never seen tier rankings for med schools, just admissions stats.

 

[WatchingWaiting]

I keep noticing mention of "lower tier" medical schools. Is there really such a thing?? I don't think so.
There are legitimate tiers for law schools. I've never seen tier rankings for med schools, just admissions stats.

Oh, at the end of your four years, an MD from Columbia and an MD from Drexel are both MDs, both will have equivalent income earning potential (actually, given the higher likelihood of the Columbia student to go into academic medicine, the average Columbia MD grad income may actually be lower than that of grads from less competitive med schools), both will have undergone pretty similar training and have had similar educational opportunities to become competent physicians. If the Drexel grad dominates the USMLE and is at top of his or her academic class, he or she will be matchable in competitive residencies at competitive schoools. But, the schools are certainly on different "tiers," in terms of reputation and academic/research quality of incoming students and ability to ultimately procure an academic appointment. The difference in opportunites/training between a Harvard med graduate and a Finch grad is certainly nothing like the difference between a Harvard Law grad and any of the dime-a-dozen virtually open-admission law schools; however, there is certainly a stratification in med schools. You can't say that a place with an incoming student body with a 34 MCAT/3.8 is the same as a student body with an incoming 28 MCAT/3.5 gpa.

 

[TripleDegree]

Hello helpful SDNers...

I have already submitted my AMCAS but my friend just submitted his today without proofreading it carefully and he copied and pasted his personal statement. He ended up with a random question mark right in the first line of his personal statement. He was quoting something ["blah blah blah...?"blah..]

That's what it looks like. It just has a question mark and then the next word without spaces. I'm sure there are threads out there regarding mistakes like this but will adcoms toss his app aside because there's a mistake already in his first line?

Second concern: We're both from Cali. I applied to 28 schools (which I'm told is "normal" for a CA resident) He applied to only 15 and got a 28 on his MCAT. He's 28 years old and a psych major and was in the Coast Guard for about 4 years. No research experience but he's done some volunteering and some leadership stuff in clubs. I tell him that he's old and that he can milk the Coast Guard thing. Plus, he's got excellent letters of rec...I mean SUPERB letters!

His GPA overall is a 3.76 and his science is around there as well. So basically, I'm asking what his chances are on his behalf? Is 15 schools too little for his stats?

I don't want to give him false hope and reassure him (even though I'm his friend) without getting advice from people who've been through the experience and know more about this crazy random process than I do. I know nothing is for sure or set in stone when it comes to this but what do you think?

Thanks!

Give me a break - you and your friend both need to get a frikkin life and realize that your life doesn't ride on a question mark

Sheesh

 

[sacrament]

I would give advice but frankly, while you consider your friend to be "really neat," I personally would describe him as "kinda neat" at best.

 

[Csv321]

Give me a break - you and your friend both need to get a frikkin life and realize that your life doesn't ride on a question mark

Sheesh

I guess you don't understand that when you've put so much effort into something and finally get it to where you think it's perfect, it sucks to find a mistake later.

And we realize that our lives don't depend on the question mark. However, whether our application is presented in the best light or not might be. This was specifically emphasized by our advisor. I'm afraid adcoms might look at carelessness as a sign of not being serious or "professional" enough for their school.

Don't details matter when it comes to being a physician?

Ick..never mind, how do I delete a post since I'm obviously not receiving the same friendliness/patience I have seen others get on this board.

 

[Csv321]

Oops..I take back my last line. There have been people on SDN that have been uber-nice to me. But I guess people like TripleDegree are needed to keep a person humble...

 

[shanddallar]

Csv321,

I think the adcom will likely give your friend the benefit of the doubt in regards to the questions mark. I made several spelling errors on my AMCAS (spelled principal investigator as "principle"...yeah pretty dumb mistake...) but I still got secondaries from all the schools and no one at the interview mentioned it to me. But tell your friend to be real careful from now on. Proof read the final version and don't trust spellcheck from microsoftword!

 

[willthatsall]

I would give advice but frankly, while you consider your friend to be "really neat," I personally would describe him as "kinda neat" at best.

I like it. 👍

 

[joselind]

i agree that your friend should be more careful from here on out. to be honest with you, submitting without proofreading carefully isn't too smart in this process. 👎

 

[bkmonkey]

they'll probably shred his app as soon as they see the mistake. that's it, too bad...but seriously, a little mistake is fine. we all totally stressed out when we found some tiny little error in our apps. mine had a couple and it came out ok. it's just part of the nature of being pre-med to be a worry wart.

 

[Medikit]

I'm pretty sure you can still add on more schools if you think it's a problem.

 

[Csv321]

Thank you for all the responses! I didn't mean to take the responses so personal. It's just been a long, frustrating day but I'm all better now since I got my 2 hours at the gym! 😀

 

[UT_OC]

Thank you for all the responses! I didn't mean to take the responses so personal. It's just been a long, frustrating day but I'm all better now since I got my 2 hours at the gym! 😀

Wow 2 hrs at the gym.. a gym buff like me. Hm... temptations. 😍

 

[Csv321]

Yeah...I realize that I'm a much happier camper if I go to the gym...especially with all the stress this process causes. It was either the gym or a massage every week and the gym option was way cheaper! I love 24 Hour Fitness because you can go at odd hours of the night when no one is there.

 

[UT_OC]

Yeah...I realize that I'm a much happier camper if I go to the gym...especially with all the stress this process causes. It was either the gym or a massage every week and the gym option was way cheaper! I love 24 Hour Fitness because you can go at odd hours of the night when no one is there.

haha workout vs. massage... wow, big baller here..