ORM (Sikh, so maybe some diversity there), US Citizen, North-easterner
Sihks are ORM in Medicine.
Shadowing:
280 hours of shadowing doctors of multiple specialties through an internship, 30+ shadowing a CT surgeon (who also wrote me a letter of rec)
280 hrs is overkill
Clinical Volunteering:
Well over 1000 hours of EMS-First responder work as an Advanced EMT
Frequent Contributor to Cancer Outreach website that helps newly diagnosed patients understand their illness
Fine
Research:
Part of Melanoma lab. Recently published with a Nature Partner Journal (not 1st or 2nd author).
Also fine
My Common Thread/ Angle:
Cancer: Always science-minded, but father was diagnosed in Freshman year. Learned a lot about healthcare while he was being treated, made me want to want to pursue medicine, so I could give back and kinda pass the torch on to the next generation. His diagnosis really changed my life, started pursuing shadowing opportunitites to learn more about medicine, joined melanoma lab, started working for the cancer-outreach website, took a near graduate level class as a sophomore to understand the disease, served as the TA for that class the year after.
You have no non-clinical volunteering. You need to show off your altruism.
Your app may have been too research focused and not Medicine-focused.
This Cycle:
Submitted Primary: 2nd week of June
Finished Submitting Secondaries: First week of Sept.
Interviews: 1 @ Rutgers RWJ
Holds: 3 (1 @ NYMC, 1 @ SUNY Upstate, 1 @ U of Rochester)
Rejections: 1 @ U Pitt
IF your are not a NJ resident, Rutgers was a donation. NYMC likely resource protected you. Pitt and U Rochester definitely should have been on your list.
My question:
I am not the world's greatest candidate, that I will admit. However, I'd like to think I am not the worst. I applied to schools that were just above or just below my MCAT/GPA. I am finding myself incredibly disheartened (although I am aware, schools don't owe me anything) at the way this cycle has turned out. Again, I am thankful for the one interview I did get, but I can't help but wonder what went wrong. My pre-med advisor keeps telling me to wait (he is not wrong here), but I fear that if I wait too long I'll be caught unawares and be forced to scramble to improve my app for next cycle. I am sure there isn't a right answer for why this cycle has not gone how I thought it might, but any sort of direction for improvement or critiques would be welcome. Should you require, I can provide my P.S. and some of my secondary essays.
You might get an II tomorrow, or in March. But you should be working on your Plan B.
Most applicants get rejected.
20% of them get only one accept.
Rewrite all essays and have multiple eyeballs vet them
The wise
LizzyM writes: Ditto from LizzyM:
If you have more than 300 hours of non-clinical volunteering by the time you apply you will be in the top 25% of applicants with regard to community service (based on what I see). The tip top of the pyramid are those who do a full-time volunteerism during a gap year or two (Peace Corps, City Year, etc).
We're also not looking for merely for good medical students, we're looking for people who will make good doctors, and 4.0 GPA robots are a dime-a-dozen.
Service need not be "unique". If you can alleviate suffering in your community through service to the poor, homeless, illiterate, fatherless, etc, you are meeting an otherwise unmet need and learning more about the lives of the people (or types of people) who will someday be your patients. Check out your local houses of worship for volunteer opportunities.
The key thing is service to others less fortunate than you. And get off campus and out of your comfort zone!
Examples include: Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Humane Society, crisis hotlines, soup kitchen, food pantry, homeless or women’s shelter, after-school tutoring for students or coaching a sport in a poor school district, teaching ESL to adults at a community center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, or Meals on Wheels.
