Excellent Application - 1 Misdemeanor = BAD?

[InfinitiPSI]

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BCPM 3.83 AO 3.93 Total 3.88
34P MCAT 13/15-PS 8/15-VR 13/15-BS
Substantial Hospital Volunteering/Shadowing
Volunteering at YMCA Afterschool Program/Comunity Foodbank
Research involving Sodium Potassium Pump/Membrane Potential(No published papers)

Received Misdemeanor for "wreckless driving" which was later in court reduced to careless driving(Traffic Offense).


I am white/caucasian, not underpriviledged.

I see a lot of people recieving acceptances and getting interview invites. My last secondary was verified/completed around 9/20.

I got one interview invite which I attended, at UF(Gainesville). I feel above average at mosts schools. I've had MDs, school adjunct faculty(who went to Harvard, is a DMD, MD) and family review all and help me with my personal statement and work/activities sections. I have letters from two physicians (The DMD,MD and an MD Anesthesiologist) among the other required letters.

Is there a reason I am not getting even as much as a phone call from any other schools? I am a Florida resident, yet I have not heard anything from USF(My undergraduate institution), FSU, UM. Nothing from Baylor, Emory, etc either.

Thanks for your input.

 

[tripwm]

I highly doubt this will be an issue.

Anecdotal evidence: a buddy of mine had the same offense/reduction and was still given early acceptance to Dental School.

Did you talk about the action in the conduct prompts (it should not be in your PS/activities since it is so minor)? Additionally, if it's just a traffic offense, will it even show up on your background check now? I was under the assumption that traffic offenses are not an issue.

 

[TTigers70]

Why would it come up? You are going to report what probably was a speeding ticket that got bumped down to wreckless that got bumped again down to careless. At the end of the day you paid a fine and got no points correct?

 

[jbz24]

I'm not sure why you haven't heard from the other Florida schools, but why did you apply to so few places? Your application otherwise seems decent, you should have had no problem gaining an acceptance if you applied a bit more broadly. For the OOS schools that you applied to, it's not a huge surprise to me that you haven't heard anything (your stats are average to below-average for those places, especially your 8 on verbal), but for your in-state schools you should have had a good shot. Have you sent any updates to those places and reiterated your interest?

 

[TriagePreMed]

Contact an attorney. My layman understanding is that once the charge has been reduced, it is as if the original higher offense never existed according to the law, so if that's the case, you wouldn't even have to list it when they ask you about offenses.

 

[Suncrusher]

Is there a reason I am not getting even as much as a phone call from any other schools? I am a Florida resident, yet I have not heard anything from USF(My undergraduate institution), FSU, UM. Nothing from Baylor, Emory, etc either.

Thanks for your input.

I don't think the traffic offense is the problem. Looking at your MDApps, my humble opinion is that you should have applied to at least 5 more mid-tier private schools. You only applied to 3 normal schools. Your other 5 applications were sent to Harvard, Baylor, Dartmouth, Emory, and Stanford. Those 5 schools are all ridiculously hard to get into. Even for someone with good stats, like yourself, it would be arrogant to "expect" to hear anything from them, especially with an 8 in verbal. If you had applied more broadly, you would probably not be having any trouble getting into medical school. In any case, like the previous poster said, if it has been reduced to a traffic offense, then I doubt that you need to even list it on your application. But I should probably cover my butt too and advise you to ask an actual attorney

On a side note, how early did you apply? Applying a bit late seems more likely to be the reason you haven't heard from the other Florida schools yet.

 

[InfinitiPSI]

I highly doubt this will be an issue.

Anecdotal evidence: a buddy of mine had the same offense/reduction and was still given early acceptance to Dental School.

Did you talk about the action in the conduct prompts (it should not be in your PS/activities since it is so minor)? Additionally, if it's just a traffic offense, will it even show up on your background check now? I was under the assumption that traffic offenses are not an issue.

I talked about it as needed in the misdemeanor box on AMCAS. Nowhere else.
I was arrested due to the charge, and spend the night in jail. There is a public arrest record, that anyone that knows some of my biological information, and the county it occured can look it up on the internet.

Why would it come up? You are going to report what probably was a speeding ticket that got bumped down to wreckless that got bumped again down to careless. At the end of the day you paid a fine and got no points correct?

Paid court costs, which were 500 (minus 250 bail). No points after taking Advanced Driving School.

I'm not sure why you haven't heard from the other Florida schools, but why did you apply to so few places? Your application otherwise seems decent, you should have had no problem gaining an acceptance if you applied a bit more broadly. For the OOS schools that you applied to, it's not a huge surprise to me that you haven't heard anything (your stats are average to below-average for those places, especially your 8 on verbal), but for your in-state schools you should have had a good shot. Have you sent any updates to those places and reiterated your interest?

I have sent an update expressing interest to Baylor, and sent an additional (Peer) Letter of Recommendation to Emory. I finished secondaries at UM, Tulane(Just recently rejected), USF, Baylor, Dartmouth, FSU, UF, Emory, Stanford and UF. I am currently working on applying to UCF now.

I don't think the traffic offense is the problem. Looking at your MDApps, my humble opinion is that you should have applied to at least 5 more mid-tier private schools. You only applied to 3 normal schools. Your other 5 applications were sent to Harvard, Baylor, Dartmouth, Emory, and Stanford. Those 5 schools are all ridiculously hard to get into. Even for someone with good stats, like yourself, it would be arrogant to "expect" to hear anything from them, especially with an 8 in verbal. If you had applied more broadly, you would probably not be having any trouble getting into medical school. In any case, like the previous poster said, if it has been reduced to a traffic offense, then I doubt that you need to even list it on your application. But I should probably cover my butt too and advise you to ask an actual attorney

On a side note, how early did you apply? Applying a bit late seems more likely to be the reason you haven't heard from the other Florida schools yet.

I took a class taught by the DMD, MD that went to Harvard, that strictly deals with advise and help in applying to MD, DMD, DO, Vet, etc schools. That, with my own due diligence here, USNews, etc etc. I felt like FSU, USF, and even UF were safety schools, and that I'd have a good chance at Tulane, Baylor, Emory, and a longshot at Stanford, Harvard, Dartmouth etc.

I also applied to John-Hopkins, Duke and Tufts, but never finished the secondaries(running low on funds and it was around September, kind of late, for my stats).

I realize that an 8 on VR, is not ideal, that a 9, preferably a 10 or higher would be ideal. But how many people really get 13/15 on both science sections? I mean, everyone that asked my MCAT score, were so surprised I got a 34, and congratulated me. I know people get 36, 38, 40, etc, but the avg who get accepted atleast last year was a 30/31. So a 34 I thought was exceptional. I guess not...

So I am trying to finish my UCF application ASAP, and hope I can get another interview yet. I thought I'd have more interviews, but right now I am starting to let my nerves get to me. My friend who happens to be underrepresented, I think got a slightly lower MCAT, but a slightly higher GPA. He got interviews at UF, FIU, UCF already and will be interviewing at Harvard and a few others this month and next.


And a comment to all those interested about the Misdemeanor. I contacted my lawyer(not a public defender), and AMCAS representatives. There opinion was basically, better to include it then to not include it, and it turn up on the background check.

 

[jbz24]

You should update the other Florida schools as well.

Baylor and Emory are both top tier schools. While your overall MCAT score is good, I would guess that the 8 in VR falls below the 10 or 20 percentile for both of these schools and your overall score is probably average to below-average for the top schools you applied to. Additionally, top tier schools generally like to see extensive research/leadership/unique interests. Tulane I would think you have a reasonable shot at but it could be a similar issue as well since they probably receive a large number of applicants. I'm not trying to belittle your MCAT score - I think it's a great score - but the 8 in VR may be auto-screening you out of some schools, especially those top tier ones.

Not sure if it's even worth finishing an application for a school at this time (isn't it way past the deadline anyway?). Focus your efforts on your state schools because you should still have a reasonable shot at them. Continue your current ECs and continue to strengthen your application for the unfortunate circumstance that you need to reapply.

 

[Suncrusher]

I realize that an 8 on VR, is not ideal, that a 9, preferably a 10 or higher would be ideal. But how many people really get 13/15 on both science sections? I mean, everyone that asked my MCAT score, were so surprised I got a 34, and congratulated me. I know people get 36, 38, 40, etc, but the avg who get accepted atleast last year was a 30/31. So a 34 I thought was exceptional. I guess not...

Well, I suppose that wherever you include the information about the misdemeanor, just be sure to mention that it was later downgraded to a mere traffic violation.

My MCAT score is higher than yours and I'm currently going through my second application cycle : ) My GPA is worse than yours, f.y.i. (yours is plenty high and mine is truly on the borderline of what is acceptable). Your stats are good and I agree that you have a reasonable shot at landing an interview, even considering schools you applied to (the majority of which are very hard to get interviews at). Your ECs, GPA, and MCAT are plenty good, but the 8 in verbal might be acting as an easy excuse for baylor, emory, tufts, harvard, jhu, duke, stanford, dartmouth, USF, etc to ignore you, because all of those schools have plenty of 12+/12+/12+ applicants to choose from when sending out interviews. Your stats do have the potential to get you an interview from one of those places, but you need a better sense of how likely that is to happen and so you need more safety schools (the low-tier private OOS ones).

I also agree with you that you should have been a much safer bet for an interview at the other florida schools, but the application cycle is not over yet. They might still be getting to your app, so I don't even want to say something like 'you must have some problem in your app somewhere and you need to figure out what it is.' And honestly, a misdemeanor that got downgraded to a traffic violation just does not seem like a big deal, considering that most of the times on secondary applications schools ask whether you have any misdemeanors or felonies and specifically say that they don't care about traffic offenses. Did the downgrade happen after you filled out those secondaries, so all the schools think it is more serious than it is? 😕

Don't panic! The cycle isnt over yet, especially for instate. Also, things aren't even as bad as they might seem right now in December because many of those top schools send out interviews really slowly (non-rolling admissions).

 

[InfinitiPSI]

^This incident happened my freshman semester in college. The change, court appearance, etc all occured about 3 years ago.

Thanks so much for the comments. Any other tips would greatly be appreciated.