Advice please!

[jennie 21]

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Hi, I need some advice about re-applying please. I applied this year mostly to "dream schools" with the intention of re-applying to a broader range of schools next year if I wasn't accepted. I received interviews at Wash U., Columbia, Einstein, and NYU. I was waitlisted at NYU and Columbia and am still waiting to hear from Wash U. and Einstein. I am hopeful about getting accepted to one of my remaining schools or getting in off a waitlist, but if I don't I'll need to reapply. My stats applying this year were: GPA 3.35, Science GPA 3.22 from Princeton, MCAT 38-40Q (13-15 V, 12B, 13P). I have three years' experience as an EMT and three summers' research experience. I realize that my low GPA is my problem. During my first two and a half years of college, I earned mostly B's with a few B-minuses and C-pluses in my science courses; my humanities grades were better. Halfway through my junior year, I was diagnoses with ADD (attention deficit disorder) and placed on medication; since then my grades have shot up dramatically. I earned about a 3.7 second semester of my junior year and about a 3.8 first semester of my senior year. So if I were to reapply this summer, my overall GPA would be about a 3.45 and my science GPA about a 3.35, which isn't that different from last year, but I would have a full year of almost straight A's on my record that I didn't have when I applied this time. So I guess my question is, do you think I'd have a reasonable chance applying next year with a 3.45/3.35 sci (with a 3.8 or 3.9 senior year)? Or do I need to do a master's or post-bac to try to boost my cumulative GPA more and then re-apply? I don't really care about going to a "name" school but I do need to be near my fiance, who will be going to med school at NYU, which limits me to about 9 schools (the 5 private ones in NYC, Suny-Downstate, NJMS, RWJ, and NYMC). It's just frustrating that bad grades from a few years ago are still holding me back, even though I'm doing very well now.

Opinions? Re-apply this June to a range of schools or wait and do a post-bac or master's to raise my GPA?

Thanks for your help.

 

[DarkChild]

reapply again - make sure that you get your apps in early though.
(dont forget cornell's med school is also in the city; i'm not sure if you applied there). try and have something different on your application this time - medical related experience is always good or perhaps you could do research or something - regardless you'll need some way of occupying your time between now and august 2004 when you'll start med school.
as an aside - write LOIs and what not to columbia.
also i think you really need to look at how you interview. it seems you are getting interviews at pretty good places but that you're having problems closing the deal. i really think that once you make it to the interview round, all the applicants are on the same stage vis a vis stats - i.e. your stats arent the problem. be as candid as possible with yourself. write out everything you remember from your various interviews - how you felt (tired, nervous), what kind of questions were asked, how you responded...
something you're doing at these interviews is holding you back...
my $0.02