Advice for reapplying

[hk1620]

Hi! I applied to ~25 MD schools this past cycle (2021-2022) and received no II. I was wondering if there is any advice for how I can improve my application / if there were any red flags or weaknesses. 2 things I realize is (1) I applied pretty late (secondaries submitted ~Sept/Oct), and (2) applied to too little schools or just made a bad school list. Since I didn't really have any activity changes in the past year, I plan to reapply next year (2023).

What I had in my application this past cycle:

General: CA/ORM, strong interest in underserved/global medicine

Stats:
GPA: 3.8 (top tier public school)
MCAT: 513 --> 515

Extracurriculars:
Research: ~2000 hrs full time public health research: 2 pubs (1 first author), +200 hours in clinical research (no pubs)
Clinical volunteer: ~700 hrs in large hospital, rotated around different units in hospital, observed procedures
Community volunteer: ~270 hrs
Other service stuff: went on several medical service trips abroad
Leadership: director for global health club during college
Shadowing: ~200 hrs (100 plastic surgery, 100 urology)

School list: Basically all California schools, BU, U Iowa, Georgetown, George Washington, Rush, SLU, Pittsburgh, Rosalind franklin, Tufts, Jefferson, UIC, U Wash, SUNY downstate

I'm trying to get more paid clinical experience this year, hopefully working as medical assistant/scribe or EMT experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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[chilly_md]

What was your non-clinical volunteering in? Medical service trips are not the best thing to include on an application. They are seen as a form of voluntourism. If they were a significant part of your personal statement, that would not have been very helpful.

Your shadowing was more than enough, but you should have had some in an area like IM, FM, peds instead of so many hours in very competitive specialties.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Too many low yields and not enough volume/

Add some DO as well this cycle

 

[hk1620]

What was your non-clinical volunteering in? Medical service trips are not the best thing to include on an application. They are seen as a form of voluntourism. If they were a significant part of your personal statement, that would not have been very helpful.

Your shadowing was more than enough, but you should have had some in an area like IM, FM, peds instead of so many hours in very competitive specialties.

Thank you for the feedback!

I volunteered with a homeless outreach for 2 years

That's unfortunate with the medical service trips~ I included it because it was a big part of why I wanted to go into medicine and I am highly interested in global health, but I understand why it's seen as voluntourism and I've included a lot of reflection in my personal statement/secondaries on why I want to do sustainable/long-term service instead. I'll try to improve my service component or emphasize it on something else when I do reapply.

 

[hk1620]

Too many low yields and not enough volume/

Add some DO as well this cycle

Thank you I agree! Will do that next time and make a more comprehensive school list

 

[chilly_md]

Thank you for the feedback!

I volunteered with a homeless outreach for 2 years

That's unfortunate with the medical service trips~ I included it because it was a big part of why I wanted to go into medicine and I am highly interested in global health, but I understand why it's seen as voluntourism and I've included a lot of reflection in my personal statement/secondaries on why I want to do sustainable/long-term service instead. I'll try to improve my service component or emphasize it on something else when I do reapply.

Your non-clinical volunteering is good then. You can continue working with that organization and/or do similar activities in your community. But you otherwise seem like a candidate who can reapply again with a significant change in your essays and school list. It is up to you whether you can do that in time for this cycle. With 700 hours of interacting with patients at a hospital, you do not need to mention your service missions. It likely missed the mark if George Washington was not interested in your desire to pursue global health. Apply early as well.

Try:
UCI
UCD
UCR (only if from IE or attended there)
CUSM
Georgetown
GW
Tufts
SLU
Creighton
Hackensack
Western Michigan
Wayne State
Oakland
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
NYMC
Albany
Hofstra
Einstein
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Rochester
Nova MD
Dartmouth
Penn State
MCW
VCU
EVMS

DO, you are competitive for all of them. Here are some suggestions:

Touro CA
Western
Touro NV
Touro NY
NYITCOM
DMU
Marian
KCU
KCOM
AZCOM (high tuition FYI)
PCOM

 

[hk1620]

Your non-clinical volunteering is good then. You can continue working with that organization and/or do similar activities in your community. But you otherwise seem like a candidate who can reapply again with a significant change in your essays and school list. It is up to you whether you can do that in time for this cycle. With 700 hours of interacting with patients at a hospital, you do not need to mention your service missions. It likely missed the mark if George Washington was not interested in your desire to pursue global health. Apply early as well.

Try:
UCI
UCD
UCR (only if from IE or attended there)
CUSM
Georgetown
GW
Tufts
SLU
Creighton
Hackensack
Western Michigan
Wayne State
Oakland
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
NYMC
Albany
Hofstra
Einstein
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Rochester
Nova MD
Dartmouth
Penn State
MCW
VCU
EVMS

DO, you are competitive for all of them. Here are some suggestions:

Touro CA
Western
Touro NV
Touro NY
NYITCOM
DMU
Marian
KCU
KCOM
AZCOM (high tuition FYI)
PCOM

This is really helpful, thank you again!