Advice for re-applying needed

[kroman]

Hi everyone,

I applied early this past cycle with a 517 and 3.85 GPA (upward trend). I have received 0 interviews so I'm preparing to reapply. I'm looking for any and all advice on improving my application.

I am somewhat nontraditional, since during my undergrad I planned to go into research and only fell in love with medicine after I graduated and shadowed some docs. I'm a couple years out of school now and I work full time as a tutor to support myself. I'm willing to change my primary employment to something more clinical if necessary, but need to afford CA rent.

Stats from my initial app:

- ORM, CA resident
- 1000+ hrs basic science research (academic & industry), 4 presentations, no pubs
- 100 hrs clinical research w/ patient contact
- 40 hrs shadowing
- 60 hrs hospital volunteering
- 1000+ hrs tutoring
- 2500+ hrs non-clinical employment (during undergrad)
- Several unique experience such as working as a commission artist
- I think my personal statement was solid, LORs good to my knowledge, although secondaries may have been a bit rushed

Since applying, I have gained an additional ~100 hrs clinical research, ~50 hrs volunteering, and 1000+ hrs tutoring MCAT.

My school list was top heavy and I only applied to 13, most of which were CA. I am trying to decide whether to reapply this upcoming cycle (assuming I can further improve my app between now and June) or skip a cycle to do something dramatically different & completely rework my app. Any advice would be super helpful!

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[mellie0]

I am by no means an admissions expert, but I think the problem may have been your school list. You say you only applied to 13 and the list was top-heavy. Maybe you got overconfident and shot too high?

 

[Siromas]

Hi everyone,

I applied early this past cycle with a 517 and 3.85 GPA (upward trend). I have received 0 interviews so I'm preparing to reapply. I'm looking for any and all advice on improving my application.

I am somewhat nontraditional, since during my undergrad I planned to go into research and only fell in love with medicine after I graduated and shadowed some docs. I'm a couple years out of school now and I work full time as a tutor to support myself. I'm willing to change my primary employment to something more clinical if necessary, but need to afford CA rent.

Stats from my initial app:

- ORM, CA resident
- 1000+ hrs basic science research (academic & industry), 4 presentations, no pubs
- 100 hrs clinical research w/ patient contact
- 40 hrs shadowing
- 60 hrs hospital volunteering
- 1000+ hrs tutoring
- 2500+ hrs non-clinical employment (during undergrad)
- Several unique experience such as working as a commission artist
- I think my personal statement was solid, LORs good to my knowledge, although secondaries may have been a bit rushed

Since applying, I have gained an additional ~100 hrs clinical research, ~50 hrs volunteering, and 1000+ hrs tutoring MCAT.

My school list was top heavy and I only applied to 13, most of which were CA. I am trying to decide whether to reapply this upcoming cycle (assuming I can further improve my app between now and June) or skip a cycle to do something dramatically different & completely rework my app. Any advice would be super helpful!

I agree with @mellie0 above. With a 517/3.85, there's no reason you shouldn't have landed some interviews barring some undisclosed IA, issues with your PS or rushed secondaries, or applying with an inappropriate (no "safeties") school list.

 

[calivianya]

I have slightly lower stats than yours, and got interviews, but only have one MD waitlist. What I have discovered is schools don't like unbalanced applications. Mine was unbalanced in the other direction - lots of clinical exposure, no research/community service.

Others have touched on school list, so I won't mention that.

You have hospital volunteering, but a very, very tiny amount as of when your primary app was submitted - and I don't see any community service with the underserved on your application. I wonder if this may have been part of your problem. I had a MD interviewer specifically ask me why I didn't make time for community service, and state that "for next year" I needed to get significant community service and primary care shadowing to be a contender at that school (MCAT 9 points above their accepted median). Post interview decision was a rejection there, unsurprising.

Schools can and do reject for something that simple. You have four-ish months if you want to submit in June - if you can squeeze in 100 hours of community service somewhere between now and then, I'd say you'd have much better luck next cycle.

 

[mellie0]

I had a MD interviewer specifically ask me why I didn't make time for community service, and state that "for next year" I needed to get significant community service and primary care shadowing to be a contender at that school (MCAT 9 points above their accepted median). Post interview decision was a rejection there, unsurprising.

This baffles me every time. They knew that right off the bat, pre-interview. Why waste your time (and theirs) making you come to an interview if their minds were already made up?!

 

[calivianya]

This baffles me every time. They knew that right off the bat, pre-interview. Why waste your time (and theirs) making you come to an interview if their minds were already made up?!

I sometimes wonder if they were looking to pull up their median matriculant MCAT score since it's pretty low, and they were hoping I'd somehow come up with 500 extra hours of working with the underserved or something else amazing that I simply "forgot" to put on my primary application.

That's all I can think of.

 

[kroman]

Thanks so much everyone! I definitely agree part of the issue is low community service / volunteering / shadowing. If anyone would be willing to check out my school list and suggest better schools for a reapp, I would be very grateful. I know now that most of these are low yield / top tier (wish I had done more research in the beginning!) and I need to cast a wider net.

UCD
UCSD
UCLA
UCSF
UCI
USC
Stanford
OHSU
U Boston
Tufts
Columbia
Mayo

@gonnif thanks for your input. I did read some of your posts on similar threads and checked out the school links on reapplying. I am definitely concerned about reapplying too soon, but trying to decide whether my school list / lack of ECs was the main problem and could be amended in time for the next cycle. Certainly willing to wait another 2 years if necessary, but I just want to make sure it would be the best call for my situation.

 

[kroman]

@Goro @LizzyM your perspectives would also be extremely helpful! Thanks so much.

 

[MDhopeful324]

Thanks so much everyone! I definitely agree part of the issue is low community service / volunteering / shadowing. If anyone would be willing to check out my school list and suggest better schools for a reapp, I would be very grateful. I know now that most of these are low yield / top tier (wish I had done more research in the beginning!) and I need to cast a wider net.

UCD
UCSD
UCLA
UCSF
UCI
USC
Stanford
OHSU
U Boston
Tufts
Columbia
Mayo

@gonnif thanks for your input. I did read some of your posts on similar threads and checked out the school links on reapplying. I am definitely concerned about reapplying too soon, but trying to decide whether my school list / lack of ECs was the main problem and could be amended in time for the next cycle. Certainly willing to wait another 2 years if necessary, but I just want to make sure it would be the best call for my situation.

*After having interviewed at a good number of these schools with stats slightly above yours, I have definitely noticed that most of them are quick to reject certain applicants, even if they have high numbers. Why? Most of your CA schools have specific missions, many of which include a focus on community service (both clinical and non clinical). Take another year off to beaf up your application and reapply in the 2019-2020 cycle with a well rounded school list. Include some high OOS yield mid and lower tier schools. Unfortunately, even a top CA resident's chances at a CA school are slim. Good luck to you!

 

[Goro]

Hi everyone,

I applied early this past cycle with a 517 and 3.85 GPA (upward trend). I have received 0 interviews so I'm preparing to reapply. I'm looking for any and all advice on improving my application.

I am somewhat nontraditional, since during my undergrad I planned to go into research and only fell in love with medicine after I graduated and shadowed some docs. I'm a couple years out of school now and I work full time as a tutor to support myself. I'm willing to change my primary employment to something more clinical if necessary, but need to afford CA rent.

Stats from my initial app:

- ORM, CA resident
- 1000+ hrs basic science research (academic & industry), 4 presentations, no pubs
- 100 hrs clinical research w/ patient contact
- 40 hrs shadowing
- 60 hrs hospital volunteering
- 1000+ hrs tutoring
- 2500+ hrs non-clinical employment (during undergrad)
- Several unique experience such as working as a commission artist
- I think my personal statement was solid, LORs good to my knowledge, although secondaries may have been a bit rushed

Since applying, I have gained an additional ~100 hrs clinical research, ~50 hrs volunteering, and 1000+ hrs tutoring MCAT.

My school list was top heavy and I only applied to 13, most of which were CA. I am trying to decide whether to reapply this upcoming cycle (assuming I can further improve my app between now and June) or skip a cycle to do something dramatically different & completely rework my app. Any advice would be super helpful!

Unless the tutoring was otherwise, you have zero service to others, and you have only 60 hours of patient contact experience. Clinical research is different...the patients aren't patients, but subjects.

Hence, you need service to others less fortunate than yourself, and more patient contact experience.

Your list was too small and top heavy. If you wish to aim high, you have to be high, in terms of ECs. SDNers how have made in into Really Top Schools have hundreds if not even 1000s of hours of patient contact experience and/or service to others. Indeed, while UCSF likes non-trads and people who have reinvented themselves, the theme I see of what they like is GIVING OF YOURSELF TO OTHERS. Medicine is a service profession, after all.

 

[Goro]

Thanks so much everyone! I definitely agree part of the issue is low community service / volunteering / shadowing. If anyone would be willing to check out my school list and suggest better schools for a reapp, I would be very grateful. I know now that most of these are low yield / top tier (wish I had done more research in the beginning!) and I need to cast a wider net.

UCD
UCSD
UCLA
UCSF
UCI
USC
Stanford
OHSU
U Boston
Tufts
Columbia
Mayo

@gonnif thanks for your input. I did read some of your posts on similar threads and checked out the school links on reapplying. I am definitely concerned about reapplying too soon, but trying to decide whether my school list / lack of ECs was the main problem and could be amended in time for the next cycle. Certainly willing to wait another 2 years if necessary, but I just want to make sure it would be the best call for my situation.

When you're ready, I suggest:
Case
Columbia
Harvard
Yale
Stanford
JHU
BU
U AZ
U VM
All UCs
Miami
Tulane
Albert Einstein
Emory
USC/Keck
Mayo
Rochester
Dartmouth
Duke
Pitt
Hofstra
Wash U
U Chicago
NYU
U Penn
Vanderbilt
Columbia
Sinai
Cornell
Northwestern

 

[kroman]

@Goro thanks so much! In that case I will probably wait two cycles to reapply so I can get that experience.

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

One cycle should be more than enough time, and then just continue volunteering through the application cycle (which you can include those hours in the AAMCAS - and at that point it doesn't look like your just adding it on to check a box because you will have already been doing it for a year.)

 

[mellie0]

Whatever you do, though, don't let that MCAT expire...

 

[kroman]

Whatever you do, though, don't let that MCAT expire...

Oh, good point. If my score is from April 2016, would I still be able to use it to apply in June 2019? Thanks!

 

[MDhopeful324]

Oh, good point. If my score is from April 2016, would I still be able to use it to apply in June 2019? Thanks!

That is school specific. Most accept scores anywhere between 2-3 years. I would refer to their individual websites.

 

[Cookiess]

As a CA applicant, I think you didn't apply to enough schools and the ones you did apply to were on the top heavy side. I would apply to 20-25+ schools.

Your stats are fine and you have a lot of research experiences, but you can strengthen your application with more clinical experience and community service. You do have some time between now and June when you would submit to add some clinical experience and community service, but it might be too rushed and give the impression that you're trying to squeeze in those experiences.

I would try to start clinical experiences and community service soon and see how you feel in June. If I were in your shoes, I would take an additional year off to avoid rushing things.