Can anyone take a look at my list of schools for 2005?

[flaktroop3r]

Hi, it's me again. I'm hoping that I'll get off a waitlist this year, but I guess I'll have to apply once more if I don't. Therefore, I took some of the suggestions from the last thread I started and compiled this list. Note that I fared pretty well numbers wise, 39/3.9, but my EC's suck and I attended a cal state school. I'll be 20 this time around so age shouldn't be much of an issue.

Please take a look:

I. Schools that I really want to attend (MD):
Duke
Pitt
Columbia
U of Michigan
U Penn
WashU
Cornell

II. Schools that I don't particularly care for but will attend if I have to:
Wake Forest
SLU
Finch
Ohio State
Jefferson
U. Maryland
Temple
Boston
Georgetown

III. MD/PhD schools... I really don't care if I get an MD or MD/PhD.... its all good. I prefer these over II. but not over I. Note that I recently got into a lab (that actually PAYS me to work there!) so I'll be doing nothing but research until Jun/Jul/Aug 2005.)

U. of Chicago
Emory
Vanderbilt
NYU
Mt. Sinai
U. of Iowa
Case Western
U. of Kansas
Baylor

IV. Other:
USC

(26) total.

I'm kind of hesitant about the UC's considering the poor treatment I received from them this year. Additionally, I'm considering Northwestern, Stanford, and Yale, but I'll probably get my ass kicked in the group interview at NW (apparently I'm a bad interviewer). I also have a feeling that the latter two will reject me w/o interviews. So what do you guys think?

Thanks in advance,

jd

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[DadofDr2B]

How old do you look? 20 and look 15 or 10 and look 24 could mean a big difference. Also, have you lived enough to understand what is going on outside of schools and books? Do you understand malpractice, managed care, and real world situations? This could be some of your interviewing problems. Get a newspaper everyday and read it. Study some ethics problems. Get real. JMO

 

[Gbemi24]

It seems to me that you were extremely unlucky this cycle. Due to some degree of unpredictability in the admissions process, students like you get left out from time to time although it is rare.

Keep doing research, do some clinical volunteering and work on your interviewing skills. You should get multiple acceptances next year. Also, if you are on the Wash U or Duke waitlists right now, do some aggressive letter writing to demonstrate your interest in them. They seem to go for that.

 

[Wednesday]

Schools that I don't particularly care for but will attend if I have to:

I really don't care if I get an MD or MD/PhD.... its all good.

I wonder why you didn't get accepted yet this year?

 

[patzan]

That seems like a pretty good list to me. You have backups (Finch, SLU) as well as dream schools (I) and a bunch in between. Also curious why you didn't get in this year, did you only apply to UCs?

 

[sickofit]

I wonder why you didn't get accepted yet this year?

agreed.

med school is med school, buddy. the sooner you realize that it's a privilege to become a doctor rather than a given, the sooner you'll get in.

 

[jlee9531]

I wonder why you didn't get accepted yet this year?

awesome numbers do not mean automatic acceptance.

if all you are going to do is research this next term...i hope you can somehow incorporate that into you new personal statement and relate it into you interest in medicine.

you should also be aware of the issues in medicine today and get educated on them like the dadofdr2b said. if you don't interview well on these common interview topics you might experience the same thing next cycle. some people think they are good interviews when in fact, they really aren't.

i assume the major flaw in your application was your lack of ECs & interviews so you should work on improving them as well. good luck.

 

[jeonsied]

If you are planning on applying to MD/PhD's just for the fun of it I do not recommend it especially if you think your ECs are weak and are just starting to work in research. For this type of program you need to be really committed and the AdComs can normally tell if you are for real or not. However, if you really want that go ahead, I for one am an aspiring physician-scientist and think it is an awesome career choice. Do a lot of research hopefully to the extent of publishing.

 

[TheFlash]

3.9/39 are excellent numbers. They have enough brute force to get you into a fair number of schools just by themselves, even if you're from CA. So you either A) had terrible LOR's, B) interviewed very poorly, C) came off immature in your lack of EC's/personal statement/age or D) all of the above. There is nil chance that if you were mediocre in everything else and had a 3.9/39 would you not get in. Hence, try to focus on A-D and you'll be good to go. Best of luck.

 

[CalBeE]

I you're committed to MD/PhD, you should apply to more programs, unless the school specifically says that if they reject you from MD/PhD, they won't consider you for regular MD programs.

Did you end up doing more *meaningful* EC's before you apply again? Sometimes even not doing much, you can still be accepted by schools that previously waitlisted/rejected you, but then gambling on that may end up costing you time and money.

 

[sickofit]

awesome numbers do not mean automatic acceptance.

it's called sarcasm, friend. wow.

 

[Horseradish99]

Maybe it is the fact that I very happily attend one of the schools that you "don't particularly care for, but would attend if you had to," but your post really rubs me the wrong way.

Like someone else mentioned with the whole MD/PhD thing, you really shouldn't go into a track or attend a school you don't like.

Understandably, not everyone gets into their top choice, or their 2nd, or even 3rd choice. People sometimes get into a school that they don't like as well as others. But I sure as heck hope I don't see you at my school next year if you "don't particularly care for" it. Otherwise, it will be a very long 4 years. You shouldn't apply to schools you don't like. Some might disagree with me, but if you can't find some reasonable schools that you would be happy at, why bother applying to them?

I "don't particularly care for" your attitude.

 

[jlee9531]

it's called sarcasm, friend. wow.

regardless. its information for everyone out there. hence the purpose of these boards.

 

[DMBUGA34]

You don't seem too interested in research, and you seem fairly immature. If you don't get in this year, try doing social work instead of research for the next year. Hopefully that would A) help you appreciate your opportunities a little more after seeing how bad others have it B) show admissions committees that you might care for others C) knock you off your high horse, improving your attitude during your interviews, and D) (if hospital social work) teach you more about healthcare from the patient's point of view, perhaps helping to make you a better physician in the future. Just my .02

 

[SFW]

I'd throw penn state in their if you don't mind not living in a city too much