Applying while still waitlisted

[BK611]

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I am waitlisted at an MD school in my state currently. The waitlist was just made last monday and I am concerned about the timing of applying early for DO schools next year should i not get in off the waitlist. The application service i believe opens May 3rd. My question is would it be detrimental to wait until maybe june 1st or mid june to submit my primary for DO schools?

I'll give some stats just to help with the whole picture.

GPA (according to AMCAS) 3.38 s3.26
MCAT 11B 9P 9V Q
over 200 hours shadowing (radiologist, family practice, ER)
good LOR, including a DO letter
alot of research (currently working at well known university in immunology research)
leadership in my fraternity and school orgs.

Any advice would be helpful, Thanks!

 

[bigyihoroi]

I am waitlisted at an MD school in my state currently. The waitlist was just made last monday and I am concerned about the timing of applying early for DO schools next year should i not get in off the waitlist. The application service i believe opens May 3rd. My question is would it be detrimental to wait until maybe june 1st or mid june to submit my primary for DO schools?

I'll give some stats just to help with the whole picture.

GPA (according to AMCAS) 3.38 s3.26
MCAT 11B 9P 9V Q
over 200 hours shadowing (radiologist, family practice, ER)
good LOR, including a DO letter
alot of research (currently working at well known university in immunology research)
leadership in my fraternity and school orgs.

Any advice would be helpful, Thanks!

Applying in early to mid June is fine. I actually submitted mine on June 3rd last year. AACOMAS finished reviewing my application by late july/early august and secondaries never came until mid august...some schools don't start the new interview season until late august to mid sept...I think June is just gonna be fine and you will still be considered an early applicant...

 

[Bitsy]

Obviously, the earlier you apply, the better. However, I think your application is very competitive and that waiting until mid June should be fine. Apply to at least 4 to maximize getting in. I think you have a great shot btw. Good luck!

 

[BritfutureDO]

If your worried about the timing issue, you can always start the application and make sure you have a good personal statement before June, then if you dont get off the waitlist you can be ready.

I agree that you should be fine to wait until June.

 

[GraceEuphoria]

I was in the same boat last year, so I feel your pain on that dilemma. I just made sure I had my AACOMAS ready to go, minus hitting submit, so that on the day classes started where I was waitlisted, I could turn it in immediately. It sucks, but you should be fine. If you aren't super confident about getting in, you could go ahead and submit the AACOMAS on the earliest date because obviously the earlier you submit the better. Do they rank the waitlist at your MD school? If so, find out where you stand and how many they usually move off the waitlist and go from there. Good luck!

 

[BK611]

Thanks for the advice and confidence. the school I am waitlisted at unfortunately doesn't say where you fall on the waitlist so I can't use that as a measure of what i should do. I agree that i can have everything prepared to submit and hit the button at the earliest should i not hear anything. Hopefully i won't be waiting until the first day of classes.
Another question i was wondering, i like my personal statement from this last cycle and I didn't apply to any DO schools. Would it be wise to write a new statement or do you think I could use the one i like. It doesn't say I only want to go MD or anything like that so it is bipartisan, if you will. Like the rest of the process doing these over again is not something i am looking forward to. But hopefully i won't have to worry about doing anything over again and the waitlist will come through for me.

 

[GraceEuphoria]

Thanks for the advice and confidence. the school I am waitlisted at unfortunately doesn't say where you fall on the waitlist so I can't use that as a measure of what i should do. I agree that i can have everything prepared to submit and hit the button at the earliest should i not hear anything. Hopefully i won't be waiting until the first day of classes.
Another question i was wondering, i like my personal statement from this last cycle and I didn't apply to any DO schools. Would it be wise to write a new statement or do you think I could use the one i like. It doesn't say I only want to go MD or anything like that so it is bipartisan, if you will. Like the rest of the process doing these over again is not something i am looking forward to. But hopefully i won't have to worry about doing anything over again and the waitlist will come through for me.

Always prepare for the worst in these situations of course 🙂

As long as your personal statement is still 100% true to where you currently stand in your pursuit of medicine, I see no problem with using it again. The only suggestion I have is tweaking it perhaps to include why osteopathic medicine appeals to you. Make sure that part sounds genuine or it really might be a wasted effort. Numbers really do only take some people so far! Other than that, have it ready and you'll still be well ahead of most of the pack on your submission date, should it come to that.

 

[Skippygonenuts]

On that note, how do u guys think it is looked at to Reapply to DO schools with the same PS. I submitted my app for the last cycle in january and am waitlisted at one school. I'm pretty confident I'll get in, but just in case, would it be too bad if I reapply with the same PS? I'm generally in the same part of my life that I was in 3 months ago and am still in the same program in school. I would just like to apply early this cycle. Any ideas?

 

[GraceEuphoria]

On that note, how do u guys think it is looked at to Reapply to DO schools with the same PS. I submitted my app for the last cycle in january and am waitlisted at one school. I'm pretty confident I'll get in, but just in case, would it be too bad if I reapply with the same PS? I'm generally in the same part of my life that I was in 3 months ago and am still in the same program in school. I would just like to apply early this cycle. Any ideas?

If you are applying to any of the same schools as last year, absolutely do NOT recycle the personal statement. Although I know some schools destroy your file after that very cycle, some may not. And even if they do not, they might remember it, you never know.

Even if they don't remember it, from what I've gathered in my reapplication process, the whole concept of reapplying is given a lot of attention. I would try to get a new focus in your new statement. This year, I wrote about a key experience that really motivated me to reapply, despite some of my doubts after having not gotten in. Of course I made it very positive as well as relevant to my future goals, but the point is I addressed the fact that I was reapplying, just like someone with a really poor semester or two is encouraged to address it in the statement. The only reason I say all this is because: if you are rewriting your personal statement, it's because you are applying to a particular school or two again. You have no idea what kind of records they keep, so you want to be forthright about your application history.

If you just apply to new schools, then to heck with it! No need to let on about not having gotten in, unless the secondary asks you (some do!) and in that case be honest. However, I will say this...you might want to consider tweaking the personal statement regardless if you have any suspicion whatsoever that it affected your chances last cycle.

Good luck! Hopefully that wasn't too long winded and repetitive! 🙂

 

[HeelHookin]

You and I are in a very similar situation, with nearly identical stats, except i am on 2 waitlists for DO school, and had/have no intentions of applying MD, and you did a little better on the MCAT. I applied very late, did not have a committee letter (which i have since acquired), and my DO didn't submit his letter until mid-february. I feel my chances greatly increase applying early, but don't really want to throw away the primary application fee, because all this **** is really starting to get expensive. So I feel your pain, especially having to rewrite a personal statement, mine was awesome.

 

[BK611]

Yea, Heel it is a difficult decision but i rather still have a decision at this point than already be rejected totally. this is my second application cycle and like you I am hoping to not have to consider another. But I always like to be prepared for everything so here I am.

I actually was very ignorant to DO school until the end of last years cycle. However it was too late for me to get any Do shadowing experience and the schools that didn't require a DO letter i didn't care to apply to. So if need be this next year I will be applying to both my in state MD schools and a few DO schools.

BTW, any suggestions on the best DO schools (best= reputation, curriculum, match stats, quality of life)

 

[Ditto1114]

Yea, Heel it is a difficult decision but i rather still have a decision at this point than already be rejected totally. this is my second application cycle and like you I am hoping to not have to consider another. But I always like to be prepared for everything so here I am.

I actually was very ignorant to DO school until the end of last years cycle. However it was too late for me to get any Do shadowing experience and the schools that didn't require a DO letter i didn't care to apply to. So if need be this next year I will be applying to both my in state MD schools and a few DO schools.

BTW, any suggestions on the best DO schools (best= reputation, curriculum, match stats, quality of life)

I'm right there with you BK! It's also rather hard to find DOs in Alabama. I think next year I'm going to apply to mainly DO schools plus our state MDs. I went to Michigan State for undergrad so I know they have a really good DO school. The unfortunate thing is that tuition is about $60,000/yr for OOS. If you want to stay close to Alabama you should look into PACOM-Georgia, LECOM-Bradenton, WCU-COM and NOVA. Some of them are rather new so that might affect your decision.

 

[BK611]

I'm right there with you BK! It's also rather hard to find DOs in Alabama. I think next year I'm going to apply to mainly DO schools plus our state MDs. I went to Michigan State for undergrad so I know they have a really good DO school. The unfortunate thing is that tuition is about $60,000/yr for OOS. If you want to stay close to Alabama you should look into PACOM-Georgia, LECOM-Bradenton, WCU-COM and NOVA. Some of them are rather new so that might affect your decision.

Proximity to Alabama is something i would like to be able to work with but i can handle anything for 4 years. Actually a friend of mine from undergrad and a DO resident both told me that if you are diligent enough and can find programs at teaching hospitals you can work it out to do some of your 3rd and 4th years in Alabama or another state. I liked that idea. Are you still waitlisted at Either UAB or South? I am only waiting to hear from South unfortunately. Don't get me wrong though i loved South and would definitely go there in a heart beat. UAB has never given me the light of day. It is weird. I must have something that they just don't like on my app. Oh well, I'll show them what they are missing, lol!

 

[Ditto1114]

Proximity to Alabama is something i would like to be able to work with but i can handle anything for 4 years. Actually a friend of mine from undergrad and a DO resident both told me that if you are diligent enough and can find programs at teaching hospitals you can work it out to do some of your 3rd and 4th years in Alabama or another state. I liked that idea. Are you still waitlisted at Either UAB or South? I am only waiting to hear from South unfortunately. Don't get me wrong though i loved South and would definitely go there in a heart beat. UAB has never given me the light of day. It is weird. I must have something that they just don't like on my app. Oh well, I'll show them what they are missing, lol!

I'm on UAB's waitlist and South rejected me. It's interesting how the schools pick their students, ya know?

As for school choices if proximity isn't that big of an issue I lived right by Midwestern in Chicago. It's a lovely area and a friend of mine is a student there and loves it! The cost of living is a bit high and tuition is around $45,000 for OOS so like MSUCOM if money is a big issue I'd suggest not applying.

Also, I know several DO's at LECOM (not the Bradenton campus) that have nothing but great things to say about that school and from browsing SDN it seems that PCOM and NYCOM are also generally liked.

I really hope you get into South this year, but if not we'll definitely get in next year!!

 

[BK611]

It's interesting how the schools pick their students, ya know?...
I really hope you get into South this year, but if not we'll definitely get in next year!!

Ditto,... Ditto!