Application Weaknesses to Improve for Next Cycle?

[birds_eye_view]

Hi everyone,

I have only received 1 II so far from my state school (5 R, 1 pre-II hold, silence from 19) so I'm trying to prepare for re-application. Currently feeling very lost about what I can improve in my application, so any insight would be helpful. Stats are below:

sGPA/cGPA: 3.8, T20 undergrad; MCAT: 524 (131/130/132/131); ORM (but LGBTQ, if that matters?)
Non-Clinical Employment: >5,000 hrs (1 summer at medical device company, currently in second year of full-time job in healthcare consulting)
Research: 500 hrs (part time in college & full-time summer internship, 1 poster presentation but no pubs)
Clinical Employment / Shadowing: 700 hrs (full-time summer internship; part-time in college; various shadowing)
Clinical Volunteering: 200 hrs
Non-Clinical Volunteering: 450 hrs
Extracurriculars/Leadership: ~1,000 hrs (2 significant leadership positions in college)


As far as I know, decent essays/LORs (wouldn't have received an II from my state school if these were bad?) I definitely need to re-apply next cycle if this one doesn't pan out, otherwise my MCAT score will expire. Any advice on areas to improve for next year would be greatly appreciated!!

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[NYCVillain]

When did you apply and what was your school list

 

[stickgirl390]

This sounds like an excellent example of the element of luck playing a role in the application process. Aside from your school list, LORs, or personal statement, you may just have had your application put at the bottom of 20+ piles by chance.

 

[chaim123]

Hi everyone,

I have only received 1 II so far from my state school (5 R, 1 pre-II hold, silence from 19) so I'm trying to prepare for re-application. Currently feeling very lost about what I can improve in my application, so any insight would be helpful. Stats are below:

sGPA/cGPA: 3.8, T20 undergrad; MCAT: 524 (131/130/132/131); ORM (but LGBTQ, if that matters?)
Non-Clinical Employment: >5,000 hrs (1 summer at medical device company, currently in second year of full-time job in healthcare consulting)
Research: 500 hrs (part time in college & full-time summer internship, 1 poster presentation but no pubs)
Clinical Employment / Shadowing: 700 hrs (full-time summer internship; part-time in college; various shadowing)
Clinical Volunteering: 200 hrs
Non-Clinical Volunteering: 450 hrs
Extracurriculars/Leadership: ~1,000 hrs (2 significant leadership positions in college)


As far as I know, decent essays/LORs (wouldn't have received an II from my state school if these were bad?) I definitely need to re-apply next cycle if this one doesn't pan out, otherwise my MCAT score will expire. Any advice on areas to improve for next year would be greatly appreciated!!

When did you apply?

 

[birds_eye_view]

Submitted all my secondaries in August. School list is below:

My state school
NYU
Columbia
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Weill Cornell
Dartmouth
Tufts
Harvard
Yale
Penn
Michigan
Jefferson
Temple
Miami
Northwestern
U Chicago
Emory
Johns Hopkins
Brown
Yale
USC/Georgetown/Pitt/BU/Stanford (received pre-II R)

 

[birds_eye_view]

This sounds like an excellent example of the element of luck playing a role in the application process. Aside from your school list, LORs, or personal statement, you may just have had your application put at the bottom of 20+ piles by chance.

That's generally the advice I've gotten, but I just don't want to roll the dice and re-apply with the exact same application next year

 

[Blanky]

Im sure someone with more knowledge will jump in but... Your GPA and MCAT are awesome but your list looks a little top heavy when compared to your ECs. Those top schools are going to like more research and maybe publications.
I would advise others in the future to make a WAMC thread in June/ July.

Faha, goro, and gyngyn are insane, insane resources and they help others build powerful school lists and offer guidance freely.

 

[chemdoctor]

This sounds like an excellent example of the element of luck playing a role in the application process. Aside from your school list, LORs, or personal statement, you may just have had your application put at the bottom of 20+ piles by chance.

My professor talked about that actually. Sometimes, it comes down to your luck... adcoms get tired too. And if your app is at the bottom and the last one they’re viewing before they go home.. well... that just sucks

 

[NYCVillain]

Im sure someone with more knowledge will jump in but... Your GPA and MCAT are awesome but your list looks a little top heavy when compared to your ECs. Those top schools are going to like more research and maybe publications.
I would advise others in the future to make a WAMC thread in June/ July.

Faha, goro, and gyngyn are insane, insane resources and they help others build powerful school lists and offer guidance freely.

I don’t know man. His school list looks pretty good to me. Maybe he shouldn’t have applied to Georgetown/Temple but he definitely doesn’t have a bad school list by any stretch of the imagination

 

[Blanky]

Hopkins, Yale, Harvard etc make up more than half his list and he has 500 hr of Research.
Granted his stats are in line for average for those schools. ECs are not on par for those schools. Again someone wiser than me can jump in.

 

[ginsengreset]

Yeah, luck is a big factor, even more so if you applied in August (as did I). After applying to 23 schools with a similar LM score, I have 4 II's, 4 rejections, and 1 hold so far, and my II's have come from:
1) one of my state schools,
2) the school where I work for my gap year job,
3) a school where I'm immediately eligible for IS tuition because of my parents, and
4) a school that gave me an II after an ITA (and I went to HS 15 minutes away from the school).

What I've gathered from this is that connections seem to be pretty important.

 

[972210]

Hi everyone,

I have only received 1 II so far from my state school (5 R, 1 pre-II hold, silence from 19) so I'm trying to prepare for re-application. Currently feeling very lost about what I can improve in my application, so any insight would be helpful. Stats are below:

sGPA/cGPA: 3.8, T20 undergrad; MCAT: 524 (131/130/132/131); ORM (but LGBTQ, if that matters?)
Non-Clinical Employment: >5,000 hrs (1 summer at medical device company, currently in second year of full-time job in healthcare consulting)
Research: 500 hrs (part time in college & full-time summer internship, 1 poster presentation but no pubs)
Clinical Employment / Shadowing: 700 hrs (full-time summer internship; part-time in college; various shadowing)
Clinical Volunteering: 200 hrs
Non-Clinical Volunteering: 450 hrs
Extracurriculars/Leadership: ~1,000 hrs (2 significant leadership positions in college)


As far as I know, decent essays/LORs (wouldn't have received an II from my state school if these were bad?) I definitely need to re-apply next cycle if this one doesn't pan out, otherwise my MCAT score will expire. Any advice on areas to improve for next year would be greatly appreciated!!

Any updates?

 

[lalalallala]

My state school
NYU
Columbia
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Weill Cornell
Dartmouth
Tufts
Harvard
Yale
Penn
Michigan
Jefferson
Temple
Miami
Northwestern
U Chicago
Emory
Johns Hopkins
Brown
Yale
USC/Georgetown/Pitt/BU/Stanford

I think you have a very strong application but you picked too low yield of schools. USC/Georgetown/BU get many applications and even though you have the stats that doesn't mean you will get in (they may assume you wouldn't go). Jefferson/Temple/Miami may have also assumed you wouldn't go - aka your secondaries didn't convince them that you truly have reasons you want to go there. Brown takes a lot of their own undergrads and doesn't have room for much else. As far as the top schools - assuming your PS and essays were good I would have expected to see more II's but I do agree with previous posters that Stanford, JHop, Penn, Yale, NYU, Columbia are huge into research and you may not have been able to compete with the people who did many years of research. It would be good if you applied to more state schools (idk where you are from - UVA or a school like that could be a good option).

I would try to think about what it is that you're passionate about (clinical care vs research) and then add one more EC to show that and re-do your essays and apply again. If being LGBTQ+ is something you feel comfortable talking about then I would definitely volunteer with that community or something. That can definitely be the sort of thing that gives you a bit of a bump over other applicants.

 

[lalalallala]

Basically what I am saying is that I think your school list is the problem. You basically have top schools + low yield schools + your state school.

 

[ThrowawayShmoaway]

I think it has to be the essays. The stats and ECs seem solid, and the school list actually isn't that bad. The state school II was probably in spite of your essays; it shouldn't be considered proof that they weren't bad.

 

[965978]

I think it has to be the essays. The stats and ECs seem solid, and the school list actually isn't that bad. The state school II was probably in spite of your essays; it shouldn't be considered proof that they weren't bad.

I disagree. The EC’s are solid for mid-low tier schools. But not for top schools.

Stats are not enough for top schools. Everything above 520 is essentially the same. The difference between a 520 and 525 is likely just a handful of missed questions.

 

[theKingLT]

I disagree. The EC’s are solid for mid-low tier schools. But not for top schools.

Stats are not enough for top schools. Everything above 520 is essentially the same. The difference between a 520 and 525 is likely just a handful of missed questions.

There's a small difference between a 520 and 524+ among the really Stat heavy schools like WashU or NYU who are always trying to one up each other and raise their medians. But I agree when talking about T20s you really need stellar everything

 

[965978]

There's a small difference between a 520 and 524+ among the really Stat heavy schools like WashU or NYU who are always trying to one up each other and raise their medians. But I agree when talking about T20s you really need stellar everything

I was referring to the scoring of the exam itself. Someone who scored a 526 may end up getting a 521 the second time simply because of slight content variations. The higher the score, the fewer questions you need to miss in order to bring it down. In other words, the margin of error is much higher for high scores. Which is why there’s no reason to believe a 526 scorer is much smarter than a 521 scorer.

In fact, I’ve seen the scoring charts for some prep companies. On the C/P section for one of them, your score will go from 132 to 130 if you miss one question. These charts aren’t really accurate, however.

 

[deleted688779]

Is it probable that this is due to a bad LoR but your II came from a school/admissions officers who just happened to not read the bad LoR? i was told that not all letters sent in are read. Worried about that for my upcoming cycle tbh.

 

[lalalallala]

Is it probable that this is due to a bad LoR but your II came from a school/admissions officers who just happened to not read the bad LoR? i was told that not all letters sent in are read. Worried about that for my upcoming cycle tbh.

I think it's presumptuous to assume OP had one bad LOR. It is certainly possible and could be the answer - but I think it's wrong to assume it's the answer

 

[Cracking Med Admissions]

Based on our experience the past 8 years of helping per-meds get into medical school, it's all about how you pitch yourself and the THEMES of your application. For example, it's great that you have 500+ hours of community service, but how does that correlate with all your other experiences?

 

[birds_eye_view]

Thank you all for the responses - I actually received 4 additional IIs in December & January, and was accepted to my top choice a few weeks ago!