Does persistence pay off?

[chillinillinkillin007]

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lets say one doesn't get into medical school following graduation and numerous gap years. does constant persistence to apply, boast up ECs, etc. eventually lead to the golden ticket (acceptance letter)?

 

[Jojokarade]

It can. Persistence shows that you are dedicated, but it is probably all the ECs you get by being persistent that get you in. However, sometimes if your grades are not great, you just have to go into a post baccalaureate program to prove that you can handle medical school level classes.

 

[mrh125]

lets say one doesn't get into medical school following graduation and numerous gap years. does constant persistence to apply, boast up ECs, etc. eventually lead to the golden ticket (acceptance letter)?

yea, if you don't mind being discouraged every step of the way unfortunately =/ and have crazy overgeneralizations and assumptions thrown at you every step of the way. it's basically a damned if you do damned if you dont type deal. go for it if medicine is really your goal, otherwise there are much easier paths where you can actually be encouraged to reach your goals.

 

[mrh125]

Also, applying and going through the entire process over and over again can take a huge toll on you mentally, not to mention financially and after cycle after cycle you'll have to keep upping your ECs and reinventing yourself and paying medical schools to wear you out with primaries and secondaries all while charging you for it. Also if your weakness is the mcat it's even more of a damned if you do and damned if you dont. I retook my mcat and did a point worse (29 => 28) and some guy here spent 2 years studying for the mcat after getting a 33 to get a 42 and didn't get in anywhere and he's being told it could be complete luck and that he could have "guessed" his way to a 42. That's the sort of discouragement going through this process entails If you go for it take absolutely everything negative people say with a grain of salt. Words cannot describe how frustrating this process is.

 

[HinduHammer]

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Calvin Coolidge

At my state med school an adcom told me that one person was recently accepted after applying 6 times

 

[WillburCobb]

Also, applying and going through the entire process over and over again can take a huge toll on you mentally, not to mention financially and after cycle after cycle you'll have to keep upping your ECs and reinventing yourself and paying medical schools to wear you out with primaries and secondaries all while charging you for it. Also if your weakness is the mcat it's even more of a damned if you do and damned if you dont. I retook my mcat and did a point worse (29 => 28) and some guy here spent 2 years studying for the mcat after getting a 33 to get a 42 and didn't get in anywhere and he's being told it could be complete luck and that he could have "guessed" his way to a 42. That's the sort of discouragement going through this process entails If you go for it take absolutely everything negative people say with a grain of salt. Words cannot describe how frustrating this process is.

 

[DokterMom]

This is the thread you need to read.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/failed-out-of-do-program-trying-to-get-back-in.665422/

 

[gettheleadout]

Also, applying and going through the entire process over and over again can take a huge toll on you mentally, not to mention financially and after cycle after cycle you'll have to keep upping your ECs and reinventing yourself and paying medical schools to wear you out with primaries and secondaries all while charging you for it. Also if your weakness is the mcat it's even more of a damned if you do and damned if you dont. I retook my mcat and did a point worse (29 => 28) and some guy here spent 2 years studying for the mcat after getting a 33 to get a 42 and didn't get in anywhere and he's being told it could be complete luck and that he could have "guessed" his way to a 42. That's the sort of discouragement going through this process entails If you go for it take absolutely everything negative people say with a grain of salt. Words cannot describe how frustrating this process is.

Let's think about this for a second. We have to assume that, as a test taker, he was already trying as hard as he could to "guess" (i.e. select without absolute certainty) the correct answers to all questions all the time, and that even so he scored a 33 on the first test. Provided he was still "guessing" as hard as he could on the second, we can attribute any increase in percentage of "guessed" questions answered correctly to chance. The scale for AAMC 11 provides that there would be a difference of at least 14 questions between scoring a balanced 33 (11 PS, 11 VR, 11 BS) and an even 42 (14 PS, 14 VR, 14 BS). Being generous, let's assume that for every question he "guessed" on, he had narrowed down the choices to two answers. This gives a probability of (0.5)^14 = 0.000061, that is a 0.006% chance that he "guessed" his way from a 33 to a 42.

Aside from this, I'm highly doubtful any legitimate adcom would actually interpret the score increase like this and tell an applicant something so insulting.

 

[WillburCobb]

Let's think about this for a second. We have to assume that, as a test taker, he was already trying as hard as he could to "guess" (i.e. select without absolute certainty) the correct answers to all questions all the time, and that even so he scored a 33 on the first test. Provided he was still "guessing" as hard as he could on the second, we can attribute any increase in percentage of "guessed" questions answered correctly to chance. The scale for AAMC 11 provides that there would be a difference of at least 14 questions between scoring a balanced 33 (11 PS, 11 VR, 11 BS) and an even 42 (14 PS, 14 VR, 14 BS). Being generous, let's assume that for every question he "guessed" on, he had narrowed down the choices to two answers. This gives a probability of (0.5)^14 = 0.000061, that is a 0.006% chance that he "guessed" his way from a 33 to a 42.

Aside from this, I'm highly doubtful any legitimate adcom would actually interpret the score increase like this and tell an applicant something so insulting.

This specific individual also has some glaring red flags on his/her app that he/she vehemently refuses to address. There's much more to an app than the MCAT.

 

[gettheleadout]

This specific individual also has some glaring red flags on his/her app that he/she vehemently refuses to address. There's much more to an app than the MCAT.

Indeed.

 

[Goro]

Persistence by itself does not. if you have a better app the following cycle, then yes. I don't have the numbers handy, but I beleive that most reapplicants are successful.

But that attitude of "I'll keep on applying until I'm 60" is a sign of immaturity, and an inability to accept reality, not persistence.

lets say one doesn't get into medical school following graduation and numerous gap years. does constant persistence to apply, boast up ECs, etc. eventually lead to the golden ticket (acceptance letter)?

This person may have been rejected not for "guessing" (for which I agree with leadout that was a stupid excuse for a rejection) but for displaying poor choice making of retaking the MCAT after having a perfectly acceptable score. Then again, maybe he didn't apply to the right schools.


... and some guy here spent 2 years studying for the mcat after getting a 33 to get a 42 and didn't get in anywhere and he's being told it could be complete luck and that he could have "guessed" his way to a 42. That's the sort of discouragement going through this process entails If you go for it take absolutely everything negative people say with a grain of salt.

 

[gyngyn]

Relentless repetition of an essentially equivalent application is not likely to succeed.
I have seen an applicant apply 17 times over the course of 25 years.

 

[Goro]

Think of the paper we could write on this person's mindset!

I have seen an applicant apply 17 times over the course of 25 years.

 

[milski]

Think of the paper we could write on this person's mindset!

I have seen an applicant apply 17 times over the course of 25 years.

Maybe he is writing a paper on applying and collecting data? 😛