Comparison to previous applications for reapplicants

[Homunculus150]

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Hello,

As someone who may need to reapply, I was wondering to what extent adcoms would look at the following factors when comparing our old apps to the new ones

1. Potential Red Flags in Essays

I talked about issues I had with giving emotional support to people in the past (Long story short: I wasn’t very good at it) and how I worked on those skills to become better at it since I wanted to be able to provide care for my patients in all capacities including their mental/emotional health.

Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have written about that at all but would this be a major red flag that adcoms would stigmatize me for if I reapplied, even if I don’t talk about it as much (if at all)?

2. Significantly Altered Personal Statement
Going off the above, if we significantly alter our personal statement the next time around, would that raise any red flags? I made my personal statement this year about a topic that was extremely emotionally significant to me at the time. Now that I’ve had time to reflect, it doesn’t seem as important and I plan to alter the focus of my personal statement next time around.

Thanks!

 

[KnightDoc]

Hello,

As someone who may need to reapply, I was wondering to what extent adcoms would look at the following factors when comparing our old apps to the new ones

1. Potential Red Flags in Essays

I talked about issues I had with giving emotional support to people in the past (Long story short: I wasn’t very good at it) and how I worked on those skills to become better at it since I wanted to be able to provide care for my patients in all capacities including their mental/emotional health.

Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have written about that at all but would this be a major red flag that adcoms would stigmatize me for if I reapplied, even if I don’t talk about it as much (if at all)?

2. Significantly Altered Personal Statement
Going off the above, if we significantly alter our personal statement the next time around, would that raise any red flags? I made my personal statement this year about a topic that was extremely emotionally significant to me at the time. Now that I’ve had time to reflect, it doesn’t seem as important and I plan to alter the focus of my personal statement next time around.

Thanks!

I'm not an adcom (just a future applicant), but the obvious answer is to find new schools to apply to. You get a clean slate at them!

Other than that, the answer to your concern is going to depend on just how big a turn off whatever you wrote was. Adcoms certainly expect improvements the second time around, and a significantly altered PS isn't a red flag in an of itself, but if they didn't like what you submitted this year, it's not like they are going to burn it and not look at it next year.

If they are "stigmatizing" you for it now, they'll either let it go, or not, in a future cycle. You can't control for that, other than submitting apps at schools where you don't have to deal with it. My advice would be to shoot for a mix of new schools and repeats if you need another cycle, so if the worst case comes to pass and your essays were, in fact, red flags, you won't have to overcome them everywhere on a reapp. Good luck! With any luck, this cycle will work out and it won't be an issue!!!

 

[paimei42]

YMMV but I got arrested for weed possession in a past cycle. It's since been expunged and so I didn't check yes to the amcas question but obviously if a school wanted to look at my previous file it would be there. I have received interviews from schools that I had applied to and notified of that arrest in the current cycle so compared to the things you describe I feel like you'll be fine.

 

[Homunculus150]

I'm not an adcom (just a future applicant), but the obvious answer is to find new schools to apply to. You get a clean slate at them!

Other than that, the answer to your concern is going to depend on just how big a turn off whatever you wrote was. Adcoms certainly expect improvements the second time around, and a significantly altered PS isn't a red flag in an of itself, but if they didn't like what you submitted this year, it's not like they are going to burn it and not look at it next year.

If they are "stigmatizing" you for it now, they'll either let it go, or not, in a future cycle. You can't control for that, other than submitting apps at schools where you don't have to deal with it. My advice would be to shoot for a mix of new schools and repeats if you need another cycle, so if the worst case comes to pass and your essays were, in fact, red flags, you won't have to overcome them everywhere on a reapp. Good luck! With any luck, this cycle will work out and it won't be an issue!!!

Makes sense; I was starting to get a little bit worried after I reread some of my essays and realized that they weren’t the masterpieces I thought they were.

I definitely came off as naive but having had a corona gap year has really helped move my development forward.

Thanks for advice; I was planning on adding a bunch of new schools anyways since I applied too top heavy this time around.

 

[Catalystik]

Hello,

As someone who may need to reapply, I was wondering to what extent adcoms would look at the following factors when comparing our old apps to the new ones

1. Potential Red Flags in Essays

I talked about issues I had with giving emotional support to people in the past (Long story short: I wasn’t very good at it) and how I worked on those skills to become better at it since I wanted to be able to provide care for my patients in all capacities including their mental/emotional health.

Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have written about that at all but would this be a major red flag that adcoms would stigmatize me for if I reapplied, even if I don’t talk about it as much (if at all)?

2. Significantly Altered Personal Statement
Going off the above, if we significantly alter our personal statement the next time around, would that raise any red flags? I made my personal statement this year about a topic that was extremely emotionally significant to me at the time. Now that I’ve had time to reflect, it doesn’t seem as important and I plan to alter the focus of my personal statement next time around.

Thanks!

A review (really, skimming) of your previous PS to compare it to the new one is most likely (but not inevitably) going to happen. Reading both old and new Secondary and Activity essays is time consuming, and is far less likely to happen. IA/Legal and Disadvantaged essays will likely get close perusal for changes.