Freaking out: why am I not getting interviews?

[hoyaaaa]

I was wondering if anyone had any insight/advice into what is going on with my application and whether I have a chance of getting into med school during this application year.

All of my applications were completed between 9/4 and 9/15. However, I have only heard back with an interview offer from Georgetown, which is where I go for undergrad. No other school has gotten back to me with either a rejection or another interview invite.

Here are my stats:
gpa: 3.5 science, 3.5 cum
mcat: 34 Q (11 p, 11 v, 12 b)
research: since freshman year at georgetown, penn and nih. published twice, once as primary author, acknowledged in a third paper
honors thesis for which i received a grant to travel to europe
activities: very good leadership experiences, lots of community service and physician shadowing
internships on the hill and in dc
good recs

I applied to only 10 schools:
penn
harvard
nyu
mt sinai
columbia
cornell
tufts
northwestern
georgetown
yale

What is going on? Do I realistically have any chances? It has been 3 months since I applied and only one school contacted me. Should I put all my hope in Georgetown at this point, or is there a chance for other schools also?

Please help....

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[majahops]

I'll save you the time and tell you that 9/10 of the replies you get are going to reference the small and highly selective set of schools you chose to apply to. Dang I wish you'd of asked this question before you chose that list of schools. Who was advising you? I know it wasn't Ali Whitmer, she'd never tell you to do that.

I was wondering if anyone had any insight/advice into what is going on with my application and whether I have a chance of getting into med school during this application year.

All of my applications were completed between 9/4 and 9/15. However, I have only heard back with an interview offer from Georgetown, which is where I go for undergrad. No other school has gotten back to me with either a rejection or another interview invite.

Here are my stats:
gpa: 3.5 science, 3.5 cum
mcat: 34 Q (11 p, 11 v, 12 b)
research: since freshman year at georgetown, penn and nih. published twice, once as primary author, acknowledged in a third paper
honors thesis for which i received a grant to travel to europe
activities: very good leadership experiences, lots of community service and physician shadowing
internships on the hill and in dc
good recs

I applied to only 10 schools:
penn
harvard
nyu
mt sinai
columbia
cornell
tufts
northwestern
georgetown
yale

What is going on? Do I realistically have any chances? It has been 3 months since I applied and only one school contacted me. Should I put all my hope in Georgetown at this point, or is there a chance for other schools also?

Please help....

 

[bluesmd]

sorry but you're stats seem kinda low for all those schools. are you URM? is there any else you haven't listed. usually must have some crazy good ECs with that gpa and mcat to get into those schoools.

 

[StIGMA]

You are below average for most of those schools.

 

[Decicco]

I applied to only 10 schools:
penn
harvard
nyu
mt sinai
columbia
cornell
tufts
northwestern
georgetown
yale

You will be OK. I think you will get into Georgetown, although you may have to get waitlisted first because thats how they roll. You have strong stats (despite what some of the posters above said) and really good research experience. I think if you write a LOI to tufts and nyu, you will probably get interviews there. As per the rest, many of them are ultra competitve and no one knows for certain if they will get an interview. Good luck!

 

[hoya09]

Hello fellow Hoya. That's an insane list of schools you've got there... At this point, I'd say you've done all you can. All you can do is wait. Whether you want to "put all your hopes in Gtown" or you want to hope for others, it really doesn't matter. All of those schools get incredible applicants- hopefully your app catches someone's eye! Best of luck!

 

[RySerr21]

your GPA is subpar for the schools you applied to. Thats probably what has done you in. But you havent been rejected, you still have half a cycle to get invited.

 

[majahops]

Yeah, I second that. I certainly didn't mean to suggest that you have weak stats by any means... It's just that those schools are all really competitive (if not competitive in terms of avg mcat/gpa, then in terms of sheer number of applicants)... I wish you'd of asked this question earlier so we could have recommended that you throw in some lower-tier schools. Sigh. I wish I could help you here. It's finger-crossing time for you though. I'll be crossing em for you fellow Hoya.

You will be OK. I think you will get into Georgetown, although you may have to get waitlisted first because thats how they roll. You have strong stats (despite what some of the posters above said) and really good research experience. I think if you write a LOI to tufts and nyu, you will probably get interviews there. As per the rest, many of them are ultra competitve and no one knows for certain if they will get an interview. Good luck!

 

[Gut Shot]

What is going on?

Yeah, you really dropped the ball here. It's not that you suck, it's that your competition at those schools is beyond fierce. A 3.5 GPA and 34 MCAT, with your ECs, is good, but not up against a herd of 3.7-4.0s, with 35+ MCAT scores and similar ECs.

It's good that you haven't been outright rejected. Perhaps one or more will still come through, so keep your fingers crossed. If nothing happens this cycle, at least next year's plan is obvious: apply to more schools.

 

[pianola]

Applying to 15 schools with your stats would have been ideal. Applying to 10 schools shouldn't have been too much of a problem with your stats.

**Applying to THOSE 10 schools with your stats...huge problem.***

Start thinking about what you want to do during this upcoming year while you wait to reapply.

You might get in, but I would certainly start looking into other options just in case nothing pans out.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I think you have a shot at most of the schools, but the problem is you applied late and top-heavy. Except for Tufts, NYU, and Gtown, those are all top 25 schools, and the other three are still in the top 50. If you're going to apply to those schools with a 3.5, you've got to have your app in early; I know the rest of your app is strong, but that's just how it is- nothing is a sure thing, especially with a below-average GPA. You really should have added 10 more schools of lower selectivity.

Luckily, your application IS strong aside from the GPA. I think you've got a good shot at Gtown, and it's not unreasonable to think you could get some late love from one or two of your other schools.

 

[mbe36]

Your list.

 

[funkydrmonkey]

No offense, but he has not been rejected outright, because those schools do not reject until march... sorry to be a bearer of bad news...

 

[Decicco]

No offense, but he has not been rejected outright, because those schools do not reject until march... sorry to be a bearer of bad news...

He could still get an interivew, there's no reason to assume he is rejected.

 

[DocWalken]

Look at my MDapps and the schools I applied to. We have similar stats and honestly, I expected a few more invites (at least maybe 1 or 2 of my reach schools) to interview. But yea, school selection mishap seems to be the consensus.

 

[Chemist0157]

Majahops kind of took our thunder, but everyone else is right: it's that super list of schools that's hurting you. However, you must still stand a fair chance since you haven't been rejected by anyone yet!

 

[TRN1983]

Look at my MDapps and the schools I applied to. We have similar stats and honestly, I expected a few more invites (at least maybe 1 or 2 of my reach schools) to interview. But yea, school selection mishap seems to be the consensus.

We have similar stats and you've had MUCH better luck than I have. You should be thankful for all of those interview invites and acceptances

 

[bozz]

I was wondering if anyone had any insight/advice into what is going on with my application and whether I have a chance of getting into med school during this application year.

All of my applications were completed between 9/4 and 9/15. However, I have only heard back with an interview offer from Georgetown, which is where I go for undergrad. No other school has gotten back to me with either a rejection or another interview invite.

Here are my stats:
gpa: 3.5 science, 3.5 cum
mcat: 34 Q (11 p, 11 v, 12 b)
research: since freshman year at georgetown, penn and nih. published twice, once as primary author, acknowledged in a third paper
honors thesis for which i received a grant to travel to europe
activities: very good leadership experiences, lots of community service and physician shadowing
internships on the hill and in dc
good recs

I applied to only 10 schools:
penn
harvard
nyu
mt sinai
columbia
cornell
tufts
northwestern
georgetown
yale

What is going on? Do I realistically have any chances? It has been 3 months since I applied and only one school contacted me. Should I put all my hope in Georgetown at this point, or is there a chance for other schools also?

Please help....

It's definitely your school list.

I've been to 11 interviews so far

BUT

I applied to 8 of the schools on your list and have only heard from 2 of them. I was complete earlier on. There is no problem with your application, and you don't really have anything to improve on.

 

[jelly476]

hey hey hey,

so i am a fellow gtown graduate and i applied in the last application year. Lets see. I think the fact you applied in september might also have something to do with the fact that you havent interviewed yet. You have slightly subpar (not that far off the mark) stats for the schools you listed and you applied in the later half of thecycle (not too late), meaning that these schools get a ton of ppl like you and they'll tend to interview the earlier applicants first.

That being said dont give up hope. I had a high GPA but lower MCAT than you (30T with a 3.85 average) and I interviewed a 6 schools and hell im going to NYU next year. I would say be prepared for interviews to come in january or february and hopefully you will get a few more. You'd better knock them out of the park tho since i doubt you will get too many with only the 10 schools you applied to. Go talk to Tad Howard (is he still there?) cause I found him much more helpful than the premed dean who was a total butt and didnt know jack about applying realistically to med school.

 

[DocWalken]

We have similar stats and you've had MUCH better luck than I have. You should be thankful for all of those interview invites and acceptances

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm more than grateful! I was just trying to stress the diversity of medical schools that I applied to and the ones I have had luck with.

 

[RSAgator]

I applied to a number of those schools with slightly better stats (35S and 3.8GPA) but possibly weaker EC's (lots of research with nothing published, limited clinical volunteering/other volunteering). I got interviews at NYU and Sinai, heard nothing from penn, yale, northwestern, or cornell. Pity your GPA is a bit low for all those schools, but you may still hear from somewhere.

 

[EpiPEN]

See, you have to play hard to get. Med school is like trying to get a girl to notice you. You have to be like, "I don't care about whether or not you give me some face to face time" and then they'll invite you to see you in person.



Okay but the real point is I think you need to stop freaking out because what's done is done and what happened has happened. Best you can do is to ask, what can you do at this point to ensure you are sitting in a medical school classroom by September. I don't remember anymore but there are still schools accepting applications right? Have you wrote your letters of interests? Are you prepared for the worst with a back up plan for the next year just in case? Simply getting frustrated will only get you hypertension and stomach ulcers.

 

[hoyaaaa]

thank you everyone for your advice and insight! i guess all there is to do now is wait and see!
i really needed this: some honest opinions about what is going on.

 

[drcarter77]

thank you everyone for your advice and insight! i guess all there is to do now is wait and see!
i really needed this: some honest opinions about what is going on.

you're going to get into gtown which is a great school besides some of the basement facilities, i'd so those facilities are really the only thing to complain about. but ya i know gtown undergrads who are at the med school and had similar gpas and one guy only had a 29 so they are pretty nice to their undergrads.

but ya that GPA can be a biatch. i've got a very similar list of ECs and MCAT score and just wish i had put in a few more hours of studying freshman year.

but ya oh well nothing we can do now but wait

 

[gujuDoc]

I was wondering if anyone had any insight/advice into what is going on with my application and whether I have a chance of getting into med school during this application year.

All of my applications were completed between 9/4 and 9/15. However, I have only heard back with an interview offer from Georgetown, which is where I go for undergrad. No other school has gotten back to me with either a rejection or another interview invite.

Here are my stats:
gpa: 3.5 science, 3.5 cum
mcat: 34 Q (11 p, 11 v, 12 b)
research: since freshman year at georgetown, penn and nih. published twice, once as primary author, acknowledged in a third paper
honors thesis for which i received a grant to travel to europe
activities: very good leadership experiences, lots of community service and physician shadowing
internships on the hill and in dc
good recs

I applied to only 10 schools:
penn
harvard
nyu
mt sinai
columbia
cornell
tufts
northwestern
georgetown
yale

What is going on? Do I realistically have any chances? It has been 3 months since I applied and only one school contacted me. Should I put all my hope in Georgetown at this point, or is there a chance for other schools also?

Please help....

Except for Tufts and Gtown, your list is unrealistic and overly optimistic. You don't have anything that makes you stand out against most people applying to and getting interviews at top tier schools. Most people who get into those kind of schools have published research. So you are not too unique in that respect. Some even have Rhodes Scholars or Goldwater Scholars or other similar awards. Most have both MCAT and GPAs higher then yours. Many have done something significantly different i.e. performed on broadway, professional musician, held their own business, i.e. something different and unique.

Even for those who interview at the Yales and Harvards of America, there's a significant percentage that get rejected ultimately.

You should have applied more broadly rather then getting over confident. I've had friends with better stats and better ECs then you, who've interviewed at some of these same places who didn't make the final cut.

Sorry to be harsh. Just giving you the reality.

If you don't get in Gtown or Tufts or anywhere for that matter, my advice is to pick up an MSAR and apply more realistically.

 

[kdizzy]

i agree with everyone else, but i can tell you come off arrogant and very conceited perhaps that came through on your personal statement. I think that you should start thinkign about what to do during your next two years off because i dont think you'll figure it out after the first one

I was wondering if anyone had any insight/advice into what is going on with my application and whether I have a chance of getting into med school during this application year.

All of my applications were completed between 9/4 and 9/15. However, I have only heard back with an interview offer from Georgetown, which is where I go for undergrad. No other school has gotten back to me with either a rejection or another interview invite.

Here are my stats:
gpa: 3.5 science, 3.5 cum
mcat: 34 Q (11 p, 11 v, 12 b)
research: since freshman year at georgetown, penn and nih. published twice, once as primary author, acknowledged in a third paper
honors thesis for which i received a grant to travel to europe
activities: very good leadership experiences, lots of community service and physician shadowing
internships on the hill and in dc
good recs

I applied to only 10 schools:
penn
harvard
nyu
mt sinai
columbia
cornell
tufts
northwestern
georgetown
yale

What is going on? Do I realistically have any chances? It has been 3 months since I applied and only one school contacted me. Should I put all my hope in Georgetown at this point, or is there a chance for other schools also?

Please help....

 

[GoSpursGo]

i agree with everyone else, but i can tell you come off arrogant and very conceited perhaps that came through on your personal statement. I think that you should start thinkign about what to do during your next two years off because i dont think you'll figure it out after the first one

Huh? Not knowing how competitive those schools are =/= conceited and arrogant... there are a lot of people who don't quite know how this process works. Then the whole "two years off" thing was then completely over the top and unnecessary.

Don't get why some people feel the need to tear others down to make themselves feel morally superior...

 

[thewendster]

I agree that the OP put together an ambitious list of schools and would probably be sitting on more interview invites had he/she thrown in a few lower tier schools. My advice to you is to put 100% into your Gtown interview (research their program, do multiple mock interviews, review sample questions, personal statement, etc) and to follow up with the other schools on your list. You can send them an activities update and end of semester grades updates. Hang tight, if there is any area of your application you could improve such as research/community service/etc.. then you can work on this over the break and into the spring.

Also, I found the quote below to be a little "mean spirited".

i agree with everyone else, but i can tell you come off arrogant and very conceited perhaps that came through on your personal statement. I think that you should start thinkign about what to do during your next two years off because i dont think you'll figure it out after the first one

 

[thewendster]

Hey Spurs,

I saw you interviewed at the new EP school. I grew up in El Paso and would have applied if I had found out about it earlier (because I would have had to do the Texas application system thing).

Congrats on that. I hope my adopted state school shows me some love too.

Huh? Not knowing how competitive those schools are =/= conceited and arrogant... there are a lot of people who don't quite know how this process works. Then the whole "two years off" thing was then completely over the top and unnecessary.

Don't get why some people feel the need to tear others down to make themselves feel morally superior...

 

[silas2642]

I was wondering if anyone had any insight/advice into what is going on with my application and whether I have a chance of getting into med school during this application year.

All of my applications were completed between 9/4 and 9/15. However, I have only heard back with an interview offer from Georgetown, which is where I go for undergrad. No other school has gotten back to me with either a rejection or another interview invite.

Here are my stats:
gpa: 3.5 science, 3.5 cum
mcat: 34 Q (11 p, 11 v, 12 b)
research: since freshman year at georgetown, penn and nih. published twice, once as primary author, acknowledged in a third paper
honors thesis for which i received a grant to travel to europe
activities: very good leadership experiences, lots of community service and physician shadowing
internships on the hill and in dc
good recs

I applied to only 10 schools:
penn
harvard
nyu
mt sinai
columbia
cornell
tufts
northwestern
georgetown
yale

What is going on? Do I realistically have any chances? It has been 3 months since I applied and only one school contacted me. Should I put all my hope in Georgetown at this point, or is there a chance for other schools also?

Please help....

Put all your hope into Georgetown at this point because at the list of schools that you applied to, you are nothing special. Sorry to tell you the harsh truth kid, but that was some list. Georgetown and Tufts were kind of sort of realistic options but not really because they get a huge volume of applicants, and some of those applicants are pretty amazing; the rest were reaches. You had no "safeties" and in this game there is no such thing as a safety.

 

[halekulani]

the OP has to be trolling...

 

[nevercold]

Also, I found the quote below to be a little "mean spirited".

I think "mean spirited" is too nice. I think it was more so a demonstration of extremely poor verbal reasoning skills. He clearly created a specific, powerful tone out of an original post without much tone at all. Usually that suggest and underlying personal insecurity requiring one to project emotion onto something external.

 

[JLC]

ur list it realy top heavy, that's all. That said I'm sure you'll hear from some of the other schools eventually.

 

[majahops]

Roger that!

Huh? Not knowing how competitive those schools are =/= conceited and arrogant... there are a lot of people who don't quite know how this process works. Then the whole "two years off" thing was then completely over the top and unnecessary.

Don't get why some people feel the need to tear others down to make themselves feel morally superior...

 

[majahops]

Everytime I start to think I'm cool, I just mosey on over to your mdapps profile. That usually puts me back in my place.

Majahops kind of took our thunder, but everyone else is right: it's that super list of schools that's hurting you. However, you must still stand a fair chance since you haven't been rejected by anyone yet!

 

[Chemist0157]

Everytime I start to think I'm cool, I just mosey on over to your mdapps profile. That usually puts me back in my place.

I'm glad I could be of service! (I have no idea what you're talking about)

 

[kdizzy]

Nevercold, obviously your pseudo-psychoanalytical skills are less than par. The need to divulge in one's work through the dribble that you had come up with is not necessary and is proof of your own need to showboat the skills that you might have picked up from the latest "House" episode. This is not only a failed attempt at subduing one's opinion, but also an inconsequential act of abhorrently misusing information from an experience that you have little to no experience in.

I bid you good day.

I think "mean spirited" is too nice. I think it was more so a demonstration of extremely poor verbal reasoning skills. He clearly created a specific, powerful tone out of an original post without much tone at all. Usually that suggest and underlying personal insecurity requiring one to project emotion onto something external.

 

[armybound]

no personal attacks, please. keep all comments constructive and on-topic.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Nevercold, obviously your pseudo-psychoanalytical skills are less than par. The need to divulge in one's work through the dribble that you had come up with is not necessary and is proof of your own need to showboat the skills that you might have picked up from the latest "House" episode. This is not only a failed attempt at subduing one's opinion, but also an inconsequential act of abhorrently misusing information from an experience that you have little to no experience in.

I bid you good day.

Hmmm... "less than par"... "divulge in one's work" ... "subduing one's opinion" ...

Good day.

OP, I'll be crossing my fingers for Gtown for you! Have you already interviewed there, or is it still coming up?

 

[mmmcdowe]

Nevercold, obviously your pseudo-psychoanalytical skills are less than par. The need to revel in one's work through the drivel that you had come up with is not necessary and is proof of your own need to showboat the skills that you might have picked up from the latest "House" episode. This is not only a failed attempt at subduing one's opinion, but also an inconsequential act of abhorrently misusing information from an experience that you have little to no experience in.

I bid you good day.

fixed, now the insult makes sense

 

[kdizzy]

thanks mmmcdowe, from one philosopher to another, you make all of my philosophizing make sense.

fixed, now the insult makes sense

 

[johnniewalker11]

.

 

[gujuDoc]

Please, look up the difference between "then" and "than."

To the OP, I made the same mistake (sort of) when I applied the first time around. I didn't apply to a bunch of ivy league schools, but I applied only to a handful or programs. I found I didn't get a lot of guidance from my pre-med advisor. How was the advising at G-Town? If you don't get in, and I hope you do, apply more broadly next year.

Best of luck!

A. Get over yourself. When I come on the boards the last thing on my mind is how grammatically correct I am, and the first thing I'm thinking about is getting my point across. I'm sure everyone else is the same.

B. You got the gist of my message so I'm not sure what else is so important that you act with a snotty attitude about a single word.

C. I think everyone's made it pretty much clear to the poster what they need to do. In my opinion this thread has run its course.

 

[johnniewalker11]

.

 

[thewendster]

This thread is surprisingly feisty.

 

[TRN1983]

This thread is surprisingly feisty.

I spend LOTS of time on LOTS of internet forums. What I've discovered is that putting someone behind a computer is a lot like putting them behind the wheel of a car; they immediately become MUCH more aggressive than normal It's very strange, but people just get really rude and "feisty" over the internet.

 

[NPEMTIV]

I applied to only 10 schools:
penn
harvard
nyu
mt sinai
columbia
cornell
tufts
northwestern
georgetown
yale

Well you have several 'dream' or 'reach' schools here, but how about a few others? Most of these would require a 4.0 or curing cancer or something. I'd probably try to see about applying late to another school or maybe broaden your base next year. This is a nice list...good luck!

 

[JackInTheBox]

I spend LOTS of time on LOTS of internet forums. What I've discovered is that putting someone behind a computer is a lot like putting them behind the wheel of a car; they immediately become MUCH more aggressive than normal It's very strange, but people just get really rude and "feisty" over the internet.

 

[NPEMTIV]

i agree with everyone else, but i can tell you come off arrogant and very conceited perhaps that came through on your personal statement. I think that you should start thinkign about what to do during your next two years off because i dont think you'll figure it out after the first one

Um...I don't see this at all. If anyone has an attitude problem.....

 

[NPEMTIV]

This is my favorite post in a long time. Thanks.