August Reapplication Buddies

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IAMS

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How are you all coming on Secondaries?

I just got my AMCAS verified - turned out they didn't do anything with that 1 hour of credit that put me on hold and back at the end of the verification line. Just glad its over.

I'm submitting my Dartmouth 2ndary tomorrow, that's the only secondary I've received so far. This one's only $75. 🙂
 
I've received the following:

MCW
Temple
UVM
VCU
DMCOM
KCOM
MSUCOM
OUCOM
PCOM
PCOM-Ga
UNECOM (today)

Still waiting for:
Albany (receipt for amcas, but no secondary yet)
Drexel
Univ. Colorado
NYCOM

All of my received secondaries are out the door except UNECOM, which I got today, so I'm hoping to have it done and out the door tomorrow. Unfortunately, even though I've got a 2 day turnaround for secondaries, I'm waiting on my pre-med advisor LOR - he's not in the office for the summer. So far I've spent a total of $620 in secondary fees (ugh). I don't think I'll be submitting NYCOM - after looking at housing and stuff, I can't afford to live there with my family.
 
you can see my progress in my profile below, i'm gettin there, only a few more secondaries to go....

Jim
 
AACOMAS received my final transcript last week, so I'm just hanging around waiting for verification.

One thing I was considering is including an updated CV and unofficial transcript with my secondaries. I want the acdoms to see I'm getting more clinical XP and that I'm taking additional coursework. Is this a pretty good idea?
 
JKDMed said:
One thing I was considering is including an updated CV and unofficial transcript with my secondaries. I want the acdoms to see I'm getting more clinical XP and that I'm taking additional coursework. Is this a pretty good idea?
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I've considered that, and figured it's probably a bad idea. If it weren't, everyone would probably do it...I could definitely list more than 15 experiences that the AMCAS allows. And some schools say if they want a transcript they'll ask for it. Maybe you should call the schools? I just wouldn't want to make them angry by sending more than they want.
 
Well, most people just do what everyone else does. I'd rather they see my updated stuff when it matters, such as before deciding to offer an interview or not.
 
Hey everyone!

I'm still waiting to re-take Aug. MCAT and get results before I get some secondaries (I hate that! should have done better in April!) but I've gotten secondaries from:

UVA
VCU
ECU
and been put on hold at Wake Forest, until MCAT scores come out in October.

good luck, guys!
 
Hey Mustang, Good luck on the MCAT this time. We're gonna kick butt.
I've been doing good on my practice tests - let's just hope there's not too much endocrine biology, that's my weakpoint!
 
hey - i'll join the group!

for once, i got an early start on things.

submitted tulane, tufts, gw, buffalo, nymc, rosalind franklin, slu, mcw, boston u, njms, & rochester so far.

got canned from wake forest (eh, who needs em!)

still waiting on about 6 or 7 more. may add some more schools.

good luck you guys! 👍
 
ingamina said:
Hey Mustang, Good luck on the MCAT this time. We're gonna kick butt.
I've been doing good on my practice tests - let's just hope there's not too much endocrine biology, that's my weakpoint!
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I've been studying endocrine bio (last week) and it seems pretty straightforward to me. But I have difficulty with the PS section. Physics and General Chem are not my strong points at all. I never had a problem with organic chem, and most bio is okay. I found EK to be helpful with the endocrine biology. Any info in particular you are looking for?

I see you've changed your avatar. Is that one of your dogs too? I kind of miss the black puppy-dog, though. I need to get some more pics of my mustang so I can change my avatar more frequently.

All I have to say at this point is that if I don't do much better on the MCAT this time around, then I'm just SOL because I've studied so hard this summer. Good luck, fellow re-takers!
 
- Yeah, this is the baby saint bernard, Atlas. He's already 27 pounds, he was 12lb 3 weeks ago...

Basically what gets me is when you have to know the endrocrine responses, and then start throwing in the inhibitors and enzyme breakdown inhibitors - and couple interactions with sympathetic excitation of fight or flight and parasympathetic rest digest.. throws me for a loop.

I like EK bio - it helped me last time, but sometimes I worry they make things sound TOO simple. This time, I've been reading out of a molecular bio textbook - I can't tell you how many things I've read that seem right out of the AMCAS practice exams.

The EK physics REALLY helped me there, since I never took physics before the last Mcat!

EK Chemistry is lacking, pretty pittiful explanations - I again went back to a text book and studied solution chemistry/acids bases/ chemo and thermodynamics.. the trick here is to do a LOT of practice problems so you understand how to solve for Ksp's, pH's, red/ox, and delta G's. Those are probably the big 4 for the Mcat. But don't forget molarity/molality, fluids (bouancy especially), and halflives. You see those quite a bit as well, but they're not as bad.

We've got 2 weeks.. I've taken all the AMCAS except 7, which I'll take this weekend. In the meantime, I'm brushing up on all the bio I can.
 
I need to get on the EK Physics, then. I've kind of been skimming it and doing the 1001 practice problems, but physics/gen chem is my weak point, so I've got to really concentrate on that.

MCAT is ruining my life! :laugh: I'm hoping the third time is the charm.

Cute st. Bernard! Right now I've got kitties, but when I get my own place I'm definitely have a few dogs around.

Thanks for the EK advice! Good luck with last-minute studying! :luck:
 
mustangsally65 said:
I need to get on the EK Physics, then. I've kind of been skimming it and doing the 1001 practice problems, but physics/gen chem is my weak point, so I've got to really concentrate on that.

MCAT is ruining my life! :laugh: I'm hoping the third time is the charm.

Cute st. Bernard! Right now I've got kitties, but when I get my own place I'm definitely have a few dogs around.

Thanks for the EK advice! Good luck with last-minute studying! :luck:
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EK is great. I found AudioOsmosis helpful too. I used it both times to study for the MCAT. And I hear ya mustang, I had no life for the 2-3 months before the April MCAT, I just figured if I was gonna do it twice I may as well do it right, and it would be worth it in the end. And it was, I got a 34 (although I thought I may have done better). When I saw my score I have to say it made the 2-3 months of being a loser before hand worthwhile. So goodluck and go in there with confidence, dont let the test intimidate you and I'm sure all of you will do fine.

Jim
 
Thanks, JDW. I know I'm going to do better this time, but it's hard sometimes to make myself study and do practice problems/exams. It'll all be over in a little more than a week! I'll be soo happy Saturday night!

We should have our own party here or in chat or something! :hardy:
 
I need to bust out the Phys/Chem studying too. I have all next week to mess with it.

I picked up, "Organic Chemistry for Idiots" at the local bookstore -- awesome book! I wish I had it when I took the class the first time! I got a 77 in the course, which was a C+, but I'm retaking it to get that A and bump my SGPA up to a 3.47.

Anyways, has anyone else felt that you're going to do worse this cycle even though your numbers are better than last time? I have this nagging feeling that I'm not even going to get any interviews this time. 🙁
 
JKDMed said:
Anyways, has anyone else felt that you're going to do worse this cycle even though your numbers are better than last time? I have this nagging feeling that I'm not even going to get any interviews this time. 🙁
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Yes, I feel like that a lot. I took the MCAT twice and got 24R twice, so it has to get better from there! I only had one interview last year, so I'm really counting on an upward trend from there.

We're already reapplying. That has to count for something. And we're going to ace the MCAT next week. That's been my biggest obstacle. :luck:
 
Mustang, you have a new Avatar! Sorry he's gone, was it recent? 🙁
 
ingamina said:
Mustang, you have a new Avatar! Sorry he's gone, was it recent? 🙁
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My new avatar is only temporary. I don't think I could call myself "mustangsally" if I didn't have a Mustang in my avatar. 😉 Yesterday was the third anniversary of my little girl's passing, so I thought I would honor her for a while in my avatar. I had her for a little less than two years when she died suddenly in 2002. She had an anemic reaction to a feline leukemia vaccination. I felt soooo responsible for that, 'cause I took her in to get the shots. Now I don't get the leukemia vaccination for my current kitties.

Thanks for your kind words!
 
mustangsally65 said:
My new avatar is only temporary. I don't think I could call myself "mustangsally" if I didn't have a Mustang in my avatar. 😉 Yesterday was the third anniversary of my little girl's passing, so I thought I would honor her for a while in my avatar. I had her for a little less than two years when she died suddenly in 2002. She had an anemic reaction to a feline leukemia vaccination. I felt soooo responsible for that, 'cause I took her in to get the shots. Now I don't get the leukemia vaccination for my current kitties.

Thanks for your kind words!
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oh, mustang, i don't know you, but i wanted to tell you that i'm so sorry about your loss. you absolutely should not hold yourself responsible because you did what you thought was the best thing. vaccines seem to cause all sorts of problems for cats that vets don't tell you about -- seriously, i'm thinking about stopping all vaccines on my cats because they're indoor-only and have no risk of catching anything anyway. mustang was a beauty.
 
Thanks, exlawgrrl. Your words mean a lot. And we do know each other, we're both on sdn! 😛 My current kitties get two shots whenever I take them to the vet, one is rabies (which is required by law, at least where I live). But I wouldn't give them any if I had a choice. Both of mine are indoors-only as well. Then again, they'd probably end up getting some disease that could have been preventable and I'd feel guilty 'cause I didn't get them the vaccination. :laugh:

It's so easy to second guess yourself where your four-legged friends are concerned, because they can't tell you when they are sick or hurt. You are totally responsible for their well-being, and it's a big burden. But they bring us so much pleasure that the worries are worth it.
 
mustangsally65 said:
It's so easy to second guess yourself where your four-legged friends are concerned, because they can't tell you when they are sick or hurt. You are totally responsible for their well-being, and it's a big burden. But they bring us so much pleasure that the worries are worth it.
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You hit a nail here! I'm really glad you shared the story of Fluff. I had two russian blues about 7 years ago - they both ended up running away. The breed is beautiful, but can't stand to stay indoors.
 
ingamina said:
I had two russian blues about 7 years ago - they both ended up running away. The breed is beautiful, but can't stand to stay indoors.
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That's so sad. 🙁 I think in some ways it's worse than having your pet die, because you always wonder about what happened to them, or if something you did drove them away. Some kitties are just happier outside. Fluff was that way, she was a stray when I adopted her, and she lived outside except at night when I'd bring her inside and keep her in my room. She was okay as long as I was in the room with her, but she did not like being left alone in there, and she loved being released outside in the morning. I think one of the reasons she gave up on living was because she'd been in a cage at the vet's for almost two weeks, and missed the outdoors she loved so much.

My Fluff was part Norwegian Forest Cat, and I adopted two cats of the same breed to honor her. They are wonderful, but I think I will go back to "alley cats" next time I get kitties because sometimes they have the best personalitites.

Less than one week until MCAT! 😱

Going to bed now, helped a friend move today and I'm pooped. :laugh:
 
Well, a little good news today, two interview invites, Georgetown and Tulane...

Jim
 
Congrats on the interviews and being complete at schools, guys! Hope there are many more to come.
 
How'd you do, ingamina and others taking the MCAT this weekend?

i was soooooo disappointed. I studied my butt off for biology and physics, and NOT one physiology question was on my test form (BG), there were absolutely no physics questions my PS section, it was all general chem, which I didn't study that much at all, as Physics and anatomy/physiology were my weak points. And I am really good at organic, but the organic passage I got was really weird, and I was so unsure about it.

I hate this! The same thing happened to me in April, so I decided I"d study the things that came up on my test (physics and anatomy/physiology.) Now I got absolutely none of these questions, which I spent the bulk of two months studying for!

Sorry to rant. But I"m really down tonight. This is my third time.
 
You didn't sound so bad in your posts immediately after, Stang.. take a breath, and don't feel bad, you're not down or out. It's normal to feel unsure about yourself - and we never feel like we've studied enough. I spent a lot of time studying molecular chem, and it seemed to help with bio, but there was a LOT of general chem on this test. And not the gen. chem I remember, something about interhalogens, did you get that passage? That was freaky.

I do know what it feels like to have a bad test experience. Last year, I skipped a passage in the verbal without knowing, filled in a bunch of circles before I caught the mistake and it completely threw me off.

All in all, I felt pretty good about this time. I really tried to focus on understanding the passages before going to the questions.. but who knows,.. it's back to the old waiting game for scores - 2 months will go by like *snap*
 
Done with secondaries. Waiting on pre-med committee LOR. Had one interview.
 
I so lucked out on the mcat. The physical science section of my form was almost all chem (my bachelor's degree), and the biology section was all stuff I knew or wasn't supposed to know but knew from work...I mean, I could tell you the patient's name, age, and what treatments they had. I even had the lady with mg who underwent the thymectomy! so needless to say, I'm pretty pumped. I was thinking of sitting this year out until wrote that test. Now I'm slowly but sure getting all my transcripts sent in, and waiting for october 15th!
 
Hey, glad you did well, Rach!
Until Oct 13 - the best thing to do is try to stay really busy and not think about it.
Now I gotta get moving on this stack of 2ndaries.
 
That's Awesome, Shy!! Congrats, and good luck.

Looks like things are moving along for some people, I kinda wish I took the Aprl MCAT, but I'm hoping things will work out this way.

Anyone else running low on dough with secondaries - there really needs to be a cheaper way.
 
I just wanted to join the group... I applied last year to 12 MD schools, had three interviews, waitlisted at one school. I interviewed at my state school but was rejected without being waitlisted, this was a big surprise. This year I am applying to 6 DO schools and 7 MD schools (things are more complicated this year because I am trying to get into schools in the same city as my boyfriend). I already have one interview scheduled for NSUCOM (Oct 21!), and am working on getting my secondaries in.

My stats are 3.5 overall GPA, 3.3 science GPA, Double major in Biology and Jewish Studies from Tulane University (I graduated in three years). My MCAT is a 30M (10PS, 11V, 9BS). The first time I applied I really had no medical experience, but I have done several things to help my application since then. I am now in a Masters of Public Health program and will finish by next summer, and am volunteering at a hospital and in a free health clinic, and have shadowed 3 doctors.

So hopefully this time around it will work out (because my MCAT expires after this cycle!) Good luck to everyone else!
 
Welcome to our humble thread, sweetlill!

Here's hoping we get good news when MCAT scores come out in October, and lots more interviews!

ingamina, I didn't sound too down about my MCAT right after the test because it still hadn't sunk in! I posted at the lunch break, when I was still doing my best to stay positive, but since I had time to think about it I'm getting more and more worried! I know that is normal, but I really hope I'm pleasantly surprised come October.

It's good to hear that others thought they did good, though.
 
For us re-takers, its a lot harder to study for it. My method was to take practice tests, since it had been a year, I recycled all the aamc tests from last time. My practice scores sure did improve - by at least 5 points overall. Maybe that's too much, do you think I could have a memory for the answers after that long? It's possible, too possible, a bit like de ja vu when I missed some of the same questions..

I felt pumped after the test, but its possible I could have slipped into the pitfall of comfort and didn't look hard enough - or maybe just buzzing from my sugar-high :-D BUT conjecture is pointless, there is no need to worry.. its out of our hands. We did our best, and worked our hardest - and that's all we can ask of ourselves.

Are you applying to just NC schools? - I made it to Wake's waitlist last year.. I had an interview second to last week. Not sure if I had gotten my app in earlier if that would have turned out different, I don't think they reject anyone after interview. Still, I bet a lot of the chances of acceptance are knowing the dance and jumping the hoops.. we know it, we're doing it... you'll get in, Mustang - don't sit down yet.
 
Thanks for the encouraging words. I like your new avatar! One of your labs is named ingamina, right? I remember when you had one of them in your avatar before.

I'm applying to schools in NC, TN, VA, WV, and AL. I've gotten a pre-secondary rejection from Vanderbilt, which wasn't a surprise, as I know it was a reach school. I'd love to go to Wake if I got accepted there! After MCAT scores come out, though, I'll be worried that I'll join the rest of the SDNers in the pre-sec rejection pile that Wake is accumulating! 😳

Congrats on your Wake waitlist last year! I think a large majority of thier class came from the waitlist last year, so you probably had a decent chance. Wake is one of my top choices, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Everyone stay safe with Hurricane Katrina coming inland in the next few days! Let us know if you need anything if you're on the Gulf Coast!
 
No doubt about Katrina! I remember trying to get out of N'orleans when there was a little frost on the ground, this has got to be scary!

Well, Mustang, I really think you're doing the right thing. You obviously have a passion for medicine, dedication is the most valuable trait, so it's only a matter of time before you're recognized and thrust to the front of medical school student echelons.

Wake is an amazing school, I got my interview by calling and calling - they do seem to respond to that, though not the annoying way, but showing that you are very interested and sincerely want a shot. I think that's one of the most beautiful parts of the country.

The avatar now is of Ingamina - Inga and Mina 🙂 The previous was just Mina (the bigger one).
 
Okay, I remember now about your username being a combination of both of your dogs' names. Inga and Mina are beautiful dogs. I can't wait until I can get a dog of my own.

so it makes a difference if you call Wake all the time? What did you say when you called, just that you were interested? I don't mind making the effort at all, but I can't imagine calling and saying the same thing every week or two. But thanks so much for the info.

We reapplicants are very determined, even though it's not much fun having to shell out all the money again and go through the waiting and waiting (and waiting!). We'll all make it, as long as we don't give up.
 
I always called with a question, did you receive my letter of recommendation, did you receive my transcripts, can you confirm my app is complete - and then I would ask other questions, like can you tell me my status? Or, do you know if or when my file will be reviewed at the next meeting? When is the next meeting? When are interviews being scheduled for at this time? ..
They're suprsingly helpful and conversational, so you can pry a bit without seeming to be nosey.. And yeah, I wouldn't call more than once every 2-3 weeks.. but for sure after you send them updates, or additions to your file, just to make sure they got it - and use it as a wedge to pry a little wider 🙂
 
Just thought I'd let you guys know I got my first interview of this year! It's at East Carolina University on September 14. I'm excited!

Everyone take care during this storm!
 
Hi Everyone-
I just wanted to join the group as I am also applying to medical school AGAIN!!! However, it seems to be going much better as I already have three interviews, georgetown, tulane and U of Hawaii. I guess it did make a big difference to go to graduate school and take the MCATs over again as last time I applied I did not even get one single interview. Well best of luck to everyone applying again 🙂
 
Phone interview from the Mayo Clinic, things are going much better this time around, goodluck everyone...

Jim
 
Congratulations on the interviews, everyone!!! 😀
Goes to show that knowing our way around the block counts! Now at your interview, knock 'em dead,.. 😱 er.. break a leg,.. 😳 er.. take two and call me in the morning!!! 😎
 
mustangsally65 said:
Just thought I'd let you guys know I got my first interview of this year! It's at East Carolina University on September 14. I'm excited!

Everyone take care during this storm!
Click to expand...

Oh, congrats!!! Good luck!
 
ShyRem said:
Another DO interview invite - UNECOM. Haven't heard much from MD schools yet....
Click to expand...

I just got an interview invite from UTMB Galveston! 😀 Hopefully It'll go well... ::crossing fingers:: 🙂
 
MSUCOM came in today too. Still no word on the MD front.

JDK - I've got a 29 MCAT and what aacomas calculates as a 3.0 GPA (mainly due to craptacular grades from 18 years ago); amcas calculates my GPA as a 3.23. Go figure. However, I just graduated with a dual chem/math degree in 3 years with a 3.5+. I also have 15 years in the pre-hospital field, 12 as a paramedic. I know a girl who is at UNECOM now and absolutely loves it.
 
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