Confused/Frustrated

[Didrow]

I wanted to post my current situation and get everyone’s' thoughts and opinions on the subject.

I applied last year- finished my AACOMAS application in one day. It was not a very well put together application to say the least. Grades/MCAT were okay and my letters of recommendation letters could have come from better professors. I was in the Army and I do have a large amount of medical exposure (shadowing and work). What was amazing is that I received two interviews and was waitlisted at both.

This time around I took my time and had my personal essay reviewed by my school, grades improved, currently working on a Masters, continued to shadow a physician, and received letters of recommendation from better professors. To my surprise I have not received any interview invites (secondary’s finished late Sept).

I am worried since the application timeline is getting near the end. I am pretty shocked at my current situation considering I improved in almost every area of my application.

If any of you have suggestions or advice to possible help push my application for review in order to hopefully end this application session with an acceptance I am all ears.

Thanks

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[fireflygirl]

I wanted to post my current situation and get everyone’s' thoughts and opinions on the subject.

I applied last year- finished my AACOMAS application in one day. It was not a very well put together application to say the least. Grades/MCAT were okay and my letters of recommendation letters could have come from better professors. I was in the Army and I do have a large amount of medical exposure (shadowing and work). What was amazing is that I received two interviews and was waitlisted at both.

This time around I took my time and had my personal essay reviewed by my school, grades improved, currently working on a Masters, continued to shadow a physician, and received letters of recommendation from better professors. To my surprise I have not received any interview invites (secondary’s finished late Sept).

I am worried since the application timeline is getting near the end. I am pretty shocked at my current situation considering I improved in almost every area of my application.

If any of you have suggestions or advice to possible help push my application for review in order to hopefully end this application session with an acceptance I am all ears.

Thanks

I am really sorry Didrow. I hope you are still keeping your hopes up.

Let's start with the basics: what are your stats - science, non-science, and MCAT? What about ECs?

There might be an answer within some of these kinds of key things that could help you understand. Also, who wrote your LORs? Did you get a DO to write at least one letter? Some schools take that into importance.

Finally, the only other suggestion that I have is if nothing works out that this season, that you go back to the schools that you particularly wanted to get into, and ask them if someone from the adcom would be willing to talk with you about your application. Maybe there is something subtle that we are missing here.

But keep your chin up and keep trying!

 

[EpiPEN]

Did you get a chance to call the school you applied for last year and ask them why they turned you down in the end? I wasn also a re-applicant and calling the schools last year helped me understand the one huge mistake I made which was applying late. By the way, when did you apply this year? You didn't mention if you applied super early this year too like last year so I'm thinking maybe that's where the problem lies? Although the same problem that happened to me might not apply in your case, but calling them and getting feedback is definately a must.

Sorry to hear the bad news by the way, don't give up though!

 

[LodiDodi]

The problem might be the date of completion for this cycle. In late September your application has a lot more competition. Your best chance for this year might be to
1) look for any problem spots that can be addressed in the next two months
2)Apply again and make sure that you are complete in Early June

I really feel you on the frustrated part. It's very difficult to keep putting yourself out there and getting rejections. However, your best bet now is to email schools which rejected you for reasons and plan on applying again. It's pretty late in the cycle to salvage this year's application unless you have already interviewed and been waitlisted.

 

[Didrow]

Thanks for the help.

To respond to some of the questions - My secondaries were complete 09/18/2008 which was only a couple weeks later than my previous year. Last year my letters of recommendation were from a biology lecturer and a physics teacher that I had for one class (not the greatest letters). This year my letters came from a professor of genetics and a professor of organic chemistry (I even taught peer-lead classes for her). I used the same physician (DO) for my LOR for both years since I have shadowed with her for over two years. My ECs are good, GPA is above 3.0 even with a rough start, and I do know my weakest area is my MCAT which retaking it would be an option for next year not this year.

Like I said it still amazes me that with how crappy of an application I put together last year I received interviews right away and this year nothing so far (there were probably more words spelled wrong in my personal essay than in my post here).

One of my waitlisted schools last year was LECOM and when the interviewer walked me back he pulled me aside and emphasized and highly recommended that I apply next year. I thought for sure LECOM would be almost a guarantee interview.

I guess another frustration is when I called the admissions office to check my status for the four remaining schools they all tell me, “Well you have not been rejected, but you have not been given an interview. Your file is just kind of in limbo right now.”

I guess there is still time even though it is coming down to the wire - does anyone know how late the interviews run to?


Thanks again for listening to me vent

 

[EpiPEN]

I've heard of interviews in April but but I'm pretty sure it won't go into may seeing as how May 15 is the deadline for getting everything set. The GPA might be hurting you? I get the impression from reading forums and talking to friends that even a 3.5 you might still be applying below the mean GPA. But at the same time, improvement over the years does play an important role in the decision as well (one of my interviewers picked on me for letting my grades "drift" over the years but I had the execuse of loads of EC). But yeah, getting killer MCAT score will definately change things. At least, it did for some of my friends.

And honestly, I think the decision of who gets an interview or even who gets into a school is decided in a bar. See they get drunk first, then bust out the dart board with our names on them, and randomly tosses a few darts on it to see who it lands on. If you were lucky enough to get stabbed, then you get an intervieiw! And ofcourse the early you apply, the longer your name gets to be on the dart board which increases your chances!

At least, that's my take on it...

 

[Blade28]

What's your GPA and MCAT, exactly?

 

[Didrow]

The problem is not understanding where I stand with my stats. I just found it confusing/weird that I was able to make it further with a crappy application last year than I have with an all around improved application for this year. It would seem like common sense that with an improved application I should have seen better results than last year. It seems like the admissions office went "He applied last year and we interviewed him and put him on the waitlist ... this year he has improved, lets not even offer him an interview."
Only in the medical school application world does this happen. Good thing in the working world it is not like this - I would hate to have my salary reduced because I improved myself at work.

 

[Wylde]

What's your GPA and MCAT, exactly?

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[ShyRem]

This past year's applicant pool had better numbers overall than last year's pool from what I hear. And the admissions offices just anticipate the trend continue. Many schools are getting more competitive for their applicant pool.

as for your application. Even a few weeks can be crucial for getting interviews. If your numbers are borderline (as it seems yours may be), your best bet is EARLY. My GPA wasn't great due to 20 year old grades (even though I went back and graduated with a 3.6+) and I had a 29 MCAT. First time I applied later due to August MCAT. Nothing. Second time I applied the VERY FIRST DAY. I had five interviews by Labor Day and by October 1 I had an acceptance.

Timing is EVERYTHING and if your numbers are borderline early is definitely better.