Finding out what went wrong

[sageian1]

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Longtime lurker on the MD/PhD side of things; I'm hoping you can offer me some advice. I received 9 interviews for MSTP programs (Hopkins, Northwestern, NYU, Duke, Penn, SUNY Downstate, Jefferson, Yale, Mt sinai) and have yet to receive an acceptance. I've gotten a couple rejections (Hopkins, Duke, Yale) and some waitlists (NYU, Sinai, Jefferson).

Right now things are feeling/looking pretty grim, and I'm facing the possibility of reapplying next year. In retrospect, given my number of interviews, I would have thought things may have fared better, and perhaps I hit a snag in how I interviewed or in some specific aspect of my application that was a red flag. Do you think it's appropriate for me to reach out to the schools and find out what gave them pause in my app? I would like to have that knowledge prior to reapplying, if possible, so I know how to be a better applicant next time. Hope some at SDN can help!

 

[bluelamin]

Longtime lurker on the MD/PhD side of things; I'm hoping you can offer me some advice. I received 9 interviews for MSTP programs (Hopkins, Northwestern, NYU, Duke, Penn, SUNY Downstate, Jefferson, Yale, Mt sinai) and have yet to receive an acceptance. I've gotten a couple rejections (Hopkins, Duke, Yale) and some waitlists (NYU, Sinai, Jefferson).

Right now things are feeling/looking pretty grim, and I'm facing the possibility of reapplying next year. In retrospect, given my number of interviews, I would have thought things may have fared better, and perhaps I hit a snag in how I interviewed or in some specific aspect of my application that was a red flag. Do you think it's appropriate for me to reach out to the schools and find out what gave them pause in my app? I would like to have that knowledge prior to reapplying, if possible, so I know how to be a better applicant next time. Hope some at SDN can help!

I have the exact same question thank you for posting this

 

[ResilientJeans]

There with you! It's easy to anticipate the worst right now but we still have a fair chance at being pulled off a waitlist/hearing good news. @Fencer provided some very solid insight into what to do from this point so I encourage you to send a PM. Sending good vibes to you, friends. 🙂

 

[Lucca]

If it’s any consolation, MD/PhD tends to see way more waitlist movement than MD.

 

[Fencer]

I already discussed via PM situation with OP. I happy to talk via PM with others. Please know that there are about 200 people with no acceptance right now who will be by the end of the cycle. If you have multiple interviews, you are in the group of potential future acceptees. Once the accepted students at the top of the food chain MSTPs make their decisions (hopefully only between 2-3 programs), then the domino effect happens and impacts every single MD/PhD program in the country. You should have hope until mid-May... PM me if needed.

 

[Future MD/PhD]

I felt the same way, in terms of thinking that I did something wrong during my interviews. I went to 13 interviews total and I thought I was a hot commodity (at least a little). 3-5 months later, I've been rejected from most top schools, and I've been waitlisted at many top/mid-tier schools. In total, I received 3 offers, one of which is Northwestern. Throughout the course of receiving a lot of rejections and waitlist positions, I started to feel like my interviewing skills sucked, or that I was a sucker to think that I was such a great student. Still, I recently looked at the Acceptances thread and I noticed that for all the schools that I'm still considering in very high regard, there are at least two students who are holding two acceptances (most times, both in schools that I am considering). Therefore, there is a good chance that waitlist movement will work its magic. That said, @Fencer was 100% on the money when he said that 8-12 interviews correspond with 3-5 acceptances. Since you went on more than 3 interviews, you're likely to get in somewhere, and when you do get your acceptance, I enthusiastically encourage you to you focus on the positive. I have a friend who's MCAT kinda flopped and now he's barely getting interviews, and that keeps me super grateful at all times.

Side note: I was additionally shocked to find out that some of the students who got into great MSTPs also got rejected from great or average MSTPs, sometimes even pre-interview. It is what it is.