Hello,
I am a medical school applicant for the 2020-2021 application cycle. I applied to 30 schools, received 2 II within a week of each other in August and September to state schools, and as of today, just received a waitlist at the second school after being deferred indefinitely to the next committee meeting at the first school in November. Technically at the first school, I can be re-reviewed at each committee meeting, but right now, it's just feeling like a soft WL after what I've seen on previous SDN threads. I suppose there is a chance I could still pull an A from either of these, but I want to start preparing for my re-app and I'm looking for some solid advice. First I will list all of my stats and activities followed up by my school list. I am ORM from PA.
I submitted my primary in late June, verified late July, and had my last secondary submitted on 8/16 with one exception on the 28th because I didn't get the secondary until the 27th. I received II's to two state schools (one unranked and one T20 on 8/24 and 9/1 respectively) and interviewed in late September and Mid-October
Stats:
cGPA/sGPA -3.68/3.57
MCAT - 512 (129/129/129/125)
Clinical ECs -
Clinical Experience - 125 hours ER volunteer, 25 hours hospice volunteer (completed through a pre-med program, tried to get more hours but the hospice closed down and they had very limited number of spots after my first year)
Shadowing - 10 hours ophthalmology (my favorite specialty). Had more scheduled right as COVID hit. I know this is still my fault for not getting them in earlier.
Non Clinical ECs -
Volunteering through school organization (trash pickups/community improvement) - 150 hours
Junior golf camp assistant - 50 hours
Random Volunteering through my University - 20 hours
Leadership -
Biology 1 UTA - 2 semesters (150 hours). Gained a lot of good experience here and became a mentor to some students.
Officer Board member of national society chapter on university campus (150+ hours) - 2 years (president 1 year). - Recognized as a top-ten chapter nationally out of over 330 chapters across the US. Won several national awards for collaboration and volunteer/teaching events we set up. Awards and recognition were during my year as president.
Research -
1500+ hours translational research. Continued during my gap year. Couldn't really pick up much else due to COVID. In ophthalmology (my passion). Heavily involved in many projects. 4 publications and 2 presentations at time of application, now 5 publications and 3 presentations. 1 publication is as first author.
LORs -
2 Strong Science - 1 from professor I was close with and 1 from the Biology professor I UTA'ed for
1 Strong from Research PI
1 Non-Science
1 ER volunteering
Now onto School List -
PA RESIDENT
Albany Medical College
Drexel
Eastern Virginia
Geisinger Commonwealth
Penn State
Pitt
Temple
Sidney Kimmel at Thomas Jefferson
Virginia Tech
Marshall
Quinnipiac
Vermont Robert Larner
Wake Forest
Medical College of Wisconsin
Louisville
Nova MD
Oakland Beaumont
Toledo
USF Morsani
West Virginia
Western Michigan
Wright State Boonshoft
Creighton
FAU
NYMC
Rosalind Franklin
Rutgers RW
TCU UNT
Indiana
Tufts
My Assessment -
Looking back, I can see a few of the mistakes I made. I felt like I had a strong and competitive app, and was told that I did, but it's pretty obvious now that I messed up somewhere. Here are a few of my thoughts.
1) Not enough clinical experience - Obviously very "cookie cutter" numbers that I did not even continue throughout my gap year because I preferred my research in my passion specialty. Also very limited shadowing and none in primary care which I know is preferred. I know this is on me. Looking back, with research as a strength, I probably should have focused more on my clinical hours during my gap year instead of research, but I felt I had enough to at least be counted as OK. Maybe I was wrong. If I were to re-app, I'd probably quit the research job and try to do something like scribing. But that brings a whole host of questions (Could I get enough time in to make it a meaningful experience before the newest app cycle? Would I need an LOR from this if it is a new commitment? Would I be better off taking a year in between cycles to get these hours up?)
2) Bad writing - I know this seems to be a favorite idea of many, that secondary writing and PS writing are very important, and I agree. I have always been told that I am a very good writer and my experiences in writing have also yielded me success. I had my PS looked over by multiple people and had several drafts. They agreed that it was good. Due to the high volume of secondaries and wanting to get them in quickly since I submitted kind of late, I did not have many of them read over besides the first few. I tried to write about how my experiences each taught me something about the important roles and responsibilities of physicians, which I feel is true. However, I'm worried I didn't create a "cohesive narrative" about my application other than all of my experiences contributing to my passion to pursue a career in medicine. How would I even go about creating this cohesive narrative that many speak of being so important?
3) Bad school list. At first I thought my list was good, but looking back I think I might have put in quite a few low-yield schools and schools that are OOS unfriendly. I did not get any love from any OOS schools whatsoever.
If you have any advice as to where I went wrong, I would love to hear it. If you have any other advice as to what should be done in the case of a re-app, I'd also be happy to hear that too. Thanks for your help!
