DO interview invites

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sarain

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No DO Interview invites w MCAT 508, GPA 3.63, is it just matter of time? its radio silence! applied June 10, all verified and under review
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Where did you apply, and what does the rest of your application look like?
 
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Real McCoy said:
Where did you apply, and what does the rest of your application look like?
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application is well balanced over all- has shadowing, work as EMT while in college so tons of clinical experience, extracurricular w work last 2 years in Red Cross, soup kitchen, research poster presentation, also shadowed 2 DOs, and got LOR from them as well as science professors, was Biology dept ambassador. Bio major w chem and Studio art minor. no red flags, all As and Bs.. Can not explain dead silence with a rationale mind!
 
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My suggestion is to apply to more DO schools if you can. Its not too late in the DO cycle.
 
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How many schools have you applied and the lists?
 
applied to 23 DO schools, and it is just spooky that everywhere it says under review. how long after application is marked complete do they generally give inter view invite ?
 
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To be honest this is for my son! I will have him do the form
 
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My sister applied to about the same amount of schools with 510 MCAT, 4.0 gpa with good extracurriculars, and still radio silence as well. I have no idea what is going on with her app. If I was applying this year with my 500 mcat and 3.7 gpa (from 2017 cycle), I would have been screwed.
 
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Thank you. At this time he does not want to talk about it and I am so anxious!!, to top it off, I am a physician myself so it makes it even more torturous!. He is under review every where.. literally every where,, he has no red flags, went to Chapel Hill a competitive school and came out w great GPA and other activities etc, is dedicated to this field since Grade 10, working as EMT for 2 yrs now.. even shadowed 2 DOs who gave great LOR.. so don't know what the problem is!
 
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DrStephenStrange said:
My sister applied to about the same amount of schools with 510 MCAT, 4.0 gpa with good extracurriculars, and still radio silence as well. I have no idea what is going on with her app. If I was applying this year with my 500 mcat and 3.7 gpa (from 2017 cycle), I would have been screwed.
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That is super weird, I think it might be yield projection because I have precisely your stats and have gotten many interviews and acceptances. Not trying to flex, just giving a data point that maybe if she sent school update letters now, it will show her interest in DO and she isn't applying as backup
 
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That Guy 20125 said:
That is super weird, I think it might be yield projection because I have precisely your stats and have gotten many interviews and acceptances. Not trying to flex, just giving a data point that maybe if she sent school update letters now, it will show her interest in DO and she isn't applying as backup
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Interesting, I have been encouraging her to send letters of interests, but still nothing at all. Same on the MD side. She has no red flag that I know of, and this is her second cycle applying. The first time she applied, she had at least 3 MD and 2 DO interviews. She took a year off to work on her app, and now it’s like she took a step backwards. It is so weird. Today, I told her I guess you gotta send more DO apps at this point and see what sticks.
 
sarain said:
18 DO and 20 MD
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With these stats, they should have heard back by now, especially for DO.
-Check the spam folder of the email and the portal itself of each school, not just the email
-Make sure there was no typo made in the email address itself that is listed on the application.
-There was an applicant here on SDN whose stats were great but did not find out until much late that their bachelors degree was showing up as an associate’s degree to schools. They found out when one of the schools reached out to them and they had to get everything fixed through AMCAS. This is a one in a million happening but it happens. Reach out to a school or 2 to find out, as it is really surprising that they haven’t heard anything.
- Have someone review their personal statement and a few secondaries to make sure their writing isn’t an issue.
 
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Busy11pk said:
With these stats, they should have heard back by now, especially for DO.
-Check the spam folder of the email and the portal itself of each school, not just the email
-Make sure there was no typo made in the email address itself that is listed on the application.
-There was an applicant here on SDN whose stats were great but did not find out until much late that their bachelors degree was showing up as an associate’s degree to schools. They found out when one of the schools reached out to them and they had to get everything fixed through AMCAS. This is a one in a million happening but it happens. Reach out to a school or 2 to find out, as it is really surprising that they haven’t heard anything.
- Have someone review their personal statement and a few secondaries to make sure their writing isn’t an issue.
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How would I go about asking a school to make sure my application is correct? This would be for MD schools, though I'm getting some DO applications submitted this week. I submitted 2/3 of my apps in July, and the rest in the second half of August. Really expected to hear something by now based on my stats. I am a re-applicant with 4 interviews last cycle, but nothing so far this year.
 
Busy11pk said:
With these stats, they should have heard back by now, especially for DO.
-Check the spam folder of the email and the portal itself of each school, not just the email
-Make sure there was no typo made in the email address itself that is listed on the application.
-There was an applicant here on SDN whose stats were great but did not find out until much late that their bachelors degree was showing up as an associate’s degree to schools. They found out when one of the schools reached out to them and they had to get everything fixed through AMCAS. This is a one in a million happening but it happens. Reach out to a school or 2 to find out, as it is really surprising that they haven’t heard anything.
- Have someone review their personal statement and a few secondaries to make sure their writing isn’t an issue.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for taking the time. We used Medschool coach for essays and to be honest I am baffled - as he had writing advisors reviewing each essay, and his EC etc are all great! And he has zero response for any school period. He did not apply to hard to get in as we wanted to stay realistic
 
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penguinalhernia said:
How would I go about asking a school to make sure my application is correct? This would be for MD schools, though I'm getting some DO applications submitted this week. I submitted 2/3 of my apps in July, and the rest in the second half of August. Really expected to hear something by now based on my stats. I am a re-applicant with 4 interviews last cycle, but nothing so far this year.
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Well, the scenario I described is rare. Mentioned it to the OP because their case is baffling indeed especially for DO schools. I wouldn’t certainly want to advise people to inundate med school admissions offices with calls just because they haven’t received an interview.

What are your stats and ECs? How many schools did you submit to and which ones? Home state?
 
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sarain said:
Thank you so much for taking the time. We used Medschool coach for essays and to be honest I am baffled - as he had writing advisors reviewing each essay, and his EC etc are all great! And he has zero response for any school period. He did not apply to hard to get in as we wanted to stay realistic
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Welcome. Did he apply to ICOM (good match list but so far have a private loans options only, though that may change next year) ? University of the Incarnate Word? LECOM ? BCOM in New Mexico?
Did he reach out to admission offices or check websites for open houses for each med school? Send letters of interest?
Mission fit for schools?
What feedback has the medschool coach given, if any?
 
DrStephenStrange said:
My sister applied to about the same amount of schools with 510 MCAT, 4.0 gpa with good extracurriculars, and still radio silence as well. I have no idea what is going on with her app. If I was applying this year with my 500 mcat and 3.7 gpa (from 2017 cycle), I would have been screwed.
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That being said, some folks have received A’s with those stats. Granted, they may not be the best schools in the country, but they’re still accredited med schools.
 
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Busy11pk said:
Welcome. Did he apply to ICOM (good match list but so far have a private loans options only, though that may change next year) ? University of the Incarnate Word? LECOM ? BCOM in New Mexico?
Did he reach out to admission offices or check websites for open houses for each med school? Send letters of interest?
Mission fit for schools?
What feedback has the medschool coach given, if any?
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He attended all the online open houses. Asked questions, Medschool coach says just wait.. they thought he was a very strong candidate for all DO schools. He has applied LECOM among others. Today checked each portal to make sure email address and other college info is good … just waiting and praying 🙏
 
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sarain said:
He attended all the online open houses. Asked questions, Medschool coach says just wait.. they thought he was a very strong candidate for all DO schools. He has applied LECOM among others. Today checked each portal to make sure email address and other college info is good … just waiting and praying 🙏
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He indeed sounds like a very strong candidate for DO schools and even MD. Here is wishing you all the best. Do update us if there is something new.
 
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DrStephenStrange said:
My sister applied to about the same amount of schools with 510 MCAT, 4.0 gpa with good extracurriculars, and still radio silence as well. I have no idea what is going on with her app. If I was applying this year with my 500 mcat and 3.7 gpa (from 2017 cycle), I would have been screwed.
Click to expand...
Just wanted to update on my sister’s case specifically. She applied to about 20 DO and 30 MD schools. As I mentioned before, I encouraged her to reach out to schools and show interests after not getting a single interview by mid October. As of the last couple weeks, she luckily managed to land 3 interviews so far. 1 MD (Tulane), and 2 DOs (DMU and LECOM). All of them are schools she had reached out to. Which goes to show that the system is not perfect, you can be very competitive and still get passed over. You have to get out of your way sometimes to give yourself a chance. I’m still shocked though that she only has 3/50 in terms of yield.

Which is weird because when I applied with a 500 MCAT (4th retake) and a 3.7 GPA in 2017, I still received 1 MD and 11 DO interviews.
 
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DrStephenStrange said:
Just wanted to update on my sister’s case specifically. She applied to about 20 DO and 30 MD schools. As I mentioned before, I encouraged her to reach out to schools and show interests after not getting a single interview by mid October. As of the last couple weeks, she luckily managed to land 3 interviews so far. 1 MD (Tulane), and 2 DOs (DMU and LECOM). All of them are schools she had reached out to. Which goes to show that the system is not perfect, you can be very competitive and still get passed over. You have to get out of your way sometimes to give yourself a chance. I’m still shocked though that she only has 3/50 in terms of yield.

Which is weird because when I applied with a 500 MCAT (4th retake) and a 3.7 GPA in 2017, I still received 1 MD and 11 DO interviews.
Click to expand...
Do you think the MCAT held you back in medical school? I took it thrice and my highest was 501 and im scared to death of failing medical school because its supposed to be an indicator
 
DrStephenStrange said:
Just wanted to update on my sister’s case specifically. She applied to about 20 DO and 30 MD schools. As I mentioned before, I encouraged her to reach out to schools and show interests after not getting a single interview by mid October. As of the last couple weeks, she luckily managed to land 3 interviews so far. 1 MD (Tulane), and 2 DOs (DMU and LECOM). All of them are schools she had reached out to. Which goes to show that the system is not perfect, you can be very competitive and still get passed over. You have to get out of your way sometimes to give yourself a chance. I’m still shocked though that she only has 3/50 in terms of yield.

Which is weird because when I applied with a 500 MCAT (4th retake) and a 3.7 GPA in 2017, I still received 1 MD and 11 DO interviews.
Click to expand...
What do you recommend students show interest in schools?
 
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Busy11pk said:
Well, the scenario I described is rare. Mentioned it to the OP because their case is baffling indeed especially for DO schools. I wouldn’t certainly want to advise people to inundate med school admissions offices with calls just because they haven’t received an interview.

What are your stats and ECs? How many schools did you submit to and which ones? Home state?
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MCAT 519, GPA 3.9. 3000 hours clinical work in urgent care, about 180 hours volunteer at food bank, 480 research hours with no pubs, but 1 poster presented at my school. A few other ECs like contact tracing, caregiving, other volunteer work, but those are the big ones. Last year, received feedback at interviews that my LORs were stellar. Got 4 interviews last cycle, 3 of which I got in August/September. Which is why I'm a little perplexed at what happened this year. Definitely don't want to inundate ADCOMs, but once I get my DO apps in, will probably send letters of continued interest (don't have any substantial updates), hoping they'll tell me if something's wrong on AMCAS.

Currently live in Colorado with home state of Oregon. Applied to 30 schools (and will submit 8 DO apps)
Top Schools: Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Emory, UChicago, UCLA, UCSF, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Virginia
Target: Albert Einstein, Brown, George Washington, Kaiser, Mt Sinai, Northwestern, OHSU, Thomas Jefferson, Tulane, UCSD, Cincinnati, Colorado, Iowa, USC Keck, Vermont, Wisconsin, Virginia Commonwealth.
 
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penguinalhernia said:
MCAT 519, GPA 3.9. 3000 hours clinical work in urgent care, about 180 hours volunteer at food bank, 480 research hours with no pubs, but 1 poster presented at my school. A few other ECs like contact tracing, caregiving, other volunteer work, but those are the big ones. Last year, received feedback at interviews that my LORs were stellar. Got 4 interviews last cycle, 3 of which I got in August/September. Which is why I'm a little perplexed at what happened this year. Definitely don't want to inundate ADCOMs, but once I get my DO apps in, will probably send letters of continued interest (don't have any substantial updates), hoping they'll tell me if something's wrong on AMCAS.

Currently live in Colorado with home state of Oregon. Applied to 30 schools (and will submit 8 DO apps)
Top Schools: Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Emory, UChicago, UCLA, UCSF, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Virginia
Target: Albert Einstein, Brown, George Washington, Kaiser, Mt Sinai, Northwestern, OHSU, Thomas Jefferson, Tulane, UCSD, Cincinnati, Colorado, Iowa, USC Keck, Vermont, Wisconsin, Virginia Commonwealth.
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Did you better your application from last year? Did you have the same MCAT last year and didn’t get in? Your stats are good, no doubt.

Hope you applied to mid tier schools too that don’t have a heavy in state bias. USC Keck though private doesn’t admit many out of state applicants. UCSD has an instate bias too. Did you apply to schools like SLU (Missouri) Western Michigan and OUWB (Michigan) ?
Yes, do apply soon to DO as well. I agree with sending letters of interest.
 
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Busy11pk said:
Did you better your application from last year? Did you have the same MCAT last year and didn’t get in? Your stats are good, no doubt.

Hope you applied to mid tier schools too that don’t have a heavy in state bias. USC Keck though private doesn’t admit many out of state applicants. UCSD has an instate bias too. Did you apply to schools like SLU (Missouri) Western Michigan and OUWB (Michigan) ?
Yes, do apply soon to DO as well. I agree with sending letters of interest.
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Same MCAT last year. My main improvements were more volunteer hours, re-writing my work/activities section, edits to my personal statement. I thought my main weakness last cycle was interview skills, so I've been working on those too. I excluded some of the mid-tier schools because my MCAT was >90th percentile. Looking back, I should have added more mid-tiers, but I wanted to limit my school list to 30 because that's just a lot of secondaries. I'd heard so many re-applicant success stories, and I guess I just thought I would've heard something by now.
 
penguinalhernia said:
Same MCAT last year. My main improvements were more volunteer hours, re-writing my work/activities section, edits to my personal statement. I thought my main weakness last cycle was interview skills, so I've been working on those too. I excluded some of the mid-tier schools because my MCAT was >90th percentile. Looking back, I should have added more mid-tiers, but I wanted to limit my school list to 30 because that's just a lot of secondaries. I'd heard so many re-applicant success stories, and I guess I just thought I would've heard something by now.
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Excluding the mid tiers may have been one of your issues. The top schools on your list are often very research heavy. Its also getting very competitive each year, no doubt. Nowadays with interviews being virtual, applicants don’t have to think about travel costs, so there may be less chances of applicants declining interviews. I have seen students with your near to your stats getting accepted to lower to mid tier schools too, so yield protection may not have come into play here.

You may still get interviews from MD schools, but it would be a good idea to apply to DO schools as well just in case you don’t want to be a re applicant yet again. There may also be the issue of your MCAT expiring, depending upon when you took it. CCOM likes higher MCAT scores. Look into that school, though the higher cost of attendance may be a deterrent.
 
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That Guy 20125 said:
Do you think the MCAT held you back in medical school? I took it thrice and my highest was 501 and im scared to death of failing medical school because its supposed to be an indicator
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It’s an indicator to a certain point, but it does not dictate your future. I know people who did great on their MCAT and did poorly in medical school and vice versa. So no I don’t think the MCAT had any bearing in my medical school performance.
 
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onestep_05 said:
What do you recommend students show interest in schools?
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Send them updates, or send them a LOI. Tell them why you would be a great fit at their programs. Tell them why among a bunch of qualified candidates, they should choose you. Etc…
 
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That Guy 20125 said:
Do you think the MCAT held you back in medical school? I took it thrice and my highest was 501 and im scared to death of failing medical school because its supposed to be an indicator
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With a 501, you'll be fine.

It's <500 scores that are problematic for med school
 
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Goro said:
With a 501, you'll be fine.

It's <500 scores that are problematic for med school
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DrStephenStrange said:
It’s an indicator to a certain point, but it does not dictate your future. I know people who did great on their MCAT and did poorly in medical school and vice versa. So no I don’t think the MCAT had any bearing in my medical school performance.
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Thank you 🙏 means a lot
 
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An application is so much more than just numbers. Your writing and LORs can make or break your application. If with good stats, you haven't heard back, that is what I would consider looking into.
 
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Don't agree with lot of people here. Took MCAT twice and got 498 in 2016/17 went thru SMP route. Never failed a class and or level 1/2/3 and I'm a 2nd year resident. I don't think MCAT is a good indicator.
 
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dial1010usa said:
Don't agree with lot of people here. Took MCAT twice and got 498 in 2016/17 went thru SMP route. Never failed a class and or level 1/2/3 and I'm a 2nd year resident. I don't think MCAT is a good indicator.
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I too took the MCAT 4 times, and my highest score was a 500. I am also a second year resident. I get that we made it out despite the odds against us, but I’m not so sure we can say the same thing about a majority of sub 500 scorers. We may be the exception in this case and not the rule. This is the reason why I caution people with borderline scores (496-499) against going the Caribbean route thinking they will be able to make it out and match Derm.

Like I said above, the MCAT is a predictor of your future performance only to a certain point, but it doesn’t define your future. Your past poor performances can always be overcome. However, you have to be willing to put in the work and grind to be better.
 
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