ADVICE WANTED FROM SUCCESSFUL REAPPLICANTS

[KPstudent]

Hello SDN Team!

I am at the very end of the 2016-2017 cycle and its looking like I might possibly have to reapply. I hear back from one other school this week post interview and am on an additional waitlist, but I figure it's time to start thinking about how to improve my application. My question is for those of you out there who are reapplicants who succeeded in getting into medical school your second (or third, whatever) time around and what advice you can give to all offs out here who had seemingly strong applications, received interviews, but sadly not an acceptance.

I know a lot of people could benefit from a thread like this so it doesn't have to be specific to me. Personally, I do feel ready to reapply, as I graduated from a good school with a 3.67 GPA 3.66 sGPA 515 MCAT (just discovered what LizzyM was; 71) and have lots of research, volunteer, and shadowing experience. I know that in my new application I should stress what I have done in the last year that makes my application better than last year. I also know I need to reevaluate my school list to take off some good schools and low-yield schools, but what other advice do you all have? Can I reuse all of my letters of rec, and add another? What about my personal statement, is it best to rewrite completely, or can I take the same theme and update with new info from this year? Are there particular people (such as counsellors) that would be worth talking to to get individualized attention, as I am someone who is not exactly sure how to improve my app?

Anyway thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[efle]

What schools did you apply to and where did you interview?

 

[KPstudent]

What schools did you apply to and where did you interview?

George Washington
NYMC
Stony Brook
Hofstra
Duke
Tufts
Rochester
Drexel
Vanderbilt
USC
Miami
Pitt
UVA
Mt. Sinai
Georgetown
Einstein
NYU
Emory
Columbia
Maryland
Brown
Thomas Jefferson
Tulane
Northwestern
Boston
Temple
Case Western

Interviewed at:
Hofstra (waitlist)
Duke (rejected; but was my alma mater so probably a favor interview)
Thomas Jefferson (decision pending)

Residence:
Maryland (was put on "hold", rejected pre-interview post-hold)

I realize in hindsight I had way too many hopeful schools and didn't fully understand the concept of a "low yield" school. I was cocky and really wanted to attend a school in a big city so I basically eliminated most school options that were suburban or rural with just a couple of exceptions. Again in hindsight, its four years of my life and I want to be a doctor so I can get over it.

 

[mariposas905]

When were you complete?

It sounds like you have a good application overall, so I'm not sure what caused this...possibly bad LORs or interviewing skills? And yeah, most of those schools are on the upper end. Some of them are also low yield b/c they receive too many apps (GW and G'town in particular)

 

[KPstudent]

When were you complete?

It sounds like you have a good application overall, so I'm not sure what caused this...possibly bad LORs or interviewing skills? And yeah, most of those schools are on the upper end. Some of them are also low yield b/c they receive too many apps (GW and G'town in particular)

I submitted my primary on the first day 6/7 but had an issue with a transcript so wasn't complete until 7/7. My school then took three weeks to submit my LORs so schools received my entire application (secondaries and LORs) all by the end of July.

I am pretty sure my interviewing skills are strong, I usually come out better in person than I do on paper as I'm not a great writer. I actually felt really, really good about my MMI with Duke but my stats were below their averages anyway, I think there are just many better applicants than me. One possible issue is I was on disciplinary probation for 10 months in undergrad for smoking weed while on a volunteer trip in San Francisco. I have gotten very mixed reactions to it, my Hofstra interviewer referred to it as my "greatest flaw" and my TJ interviewer laughed out loud and said "who cares its 2017 I'm shocked you even have to report something like that." So maybe if anyone has any insight into schools that are cool like that??? I spent the year working for a drug and alcohol rehab center so I am very aware of the risks and concerns and am regularly drug tested, it really was just an isolated incident in a city that does not really regulate (actually is legal now) but I do have to report it

 

[Goro]

The wise gonnif has posted extensively about what to do about reapplying.

Rule 1 is NOT to immediately reapply.

 

[KPstudent]

The wise gonnif has posted extensively about what to do about reapplying.

Rule 1 is NOT to immediately reapply.

What if I have added an additional 200 hours of shadowing, 450 hours of clinical volunteering, 150 hours of non-clinical volunteering, and 100-150 hours of teaching/ tutoring MCAT during this past year? I also have been living in South America and my Spanish has improved significantly.

I guess my question is, what would you recommend I do next year that will make me even more attractive? I'm trying to decide what to do regardless, I have been accepted to a few MPH programs with scholarships, as well as Columbia's Master's of Nutrition, but am leaning more towards getting a years worth of work experience, maybe a health-related startup. Ideas?

 

[efle]

This is another odd cycle tbh. I think you are right that the Duke interview was due to being a Duke undergraduate. But, it is weird for a 3.7/34 out of Duke with good research, volunteerism and shadowing to apply to a wide range of 26 other places and get only interviews at Hofstra and Jefferson.

Even U of Maryland didn't give an interview, despite interviewing a big chunk of instate applicants with you def being on the strong side of their app pool.

Feels like another case where it was the essays/narrative, letters, or something else in the subjective parts the app causing issues.

 

[KPstudent]

This is another odd cycle tbh. I think you are right that the Duke interview was due to being a Duke undergraduate. But, it is weird for a 3.7/34 out of Duke with good research, volunteerism and shadowing to apply to a wide range of 26 other places and get only interviews at Hofstra and Jefferson.

Even U of Maryland didn't give an interview, despite interviewing a big chunk of instate applicants with you def being on the strong side of their app pool.

Feels like another case where it was the essays/narrative, letters, or something else in the subjective parts the app causing issues.

Thanks efle, yes its a bit tough because no one can give me a clear answer. I plan on reaching out to my advisor at Duke and the writing center to see if they can really help me with my personal statement and whether they can give me any insight into my letters. Since I used the same letters for my grad programs and have received merit scholarships to all of them I feel like there can't be anything glaringly wrong with them. Maybe I'm just generic and need to sell myself better!

 

[KPstudent]

Do any of you guys have recommendations for advisors/ outside resources who can help with specific guidance? I like SDN for general things but it seems like a lot of overarching advice rather than nitty gritty individual attention that I think in my case I need.

Also, any particular schools you might recommend adding?

 

[nonamesleft]

Do any of you guys have recommendations for advisors/ outside resources who can help with specific guidance? I like SDN for general things but it seems like a lot of overarching advice rather than nitty gritty individual attention that I think in my case I need.

Also, any particular schools you might recommend adding?

Call the schools you applied to and see if you can schedule an appointment. Call back at appointment time (so they have your file in front of you), and ask how you can improve.

 

[efle]

I'd definitely go see the Duke prehealth people, they should be able to tell you pretty quickly if your essays/activity descriptions are good or not. You can also try contacting some of the schools and asking if they would be able to highlight what could most use improvement (I'd say start with calling U Maryland). If there was a big red flag LoR then you wouldn't have gotten those interviews or had such success with grad programs I'd guess, so yeah that becomes less likely as a culprit.

Your list already included all the places I'd tell someone in your position to make sure and include (e.g. Case, Rochester, Einstein, Miami...)