Hey all you reapplicants:
[Keep in mind I write this under several assumptions: (1) you're applying for American allopathic schools only, (2) you are not an underrepresented minority, (3) any application weaknesses are your own fault (e.g., bad grades not because you nearly died in an accident or had to take a leave of absence).]
I feel your pain, but at the same time I'm somewhat relieved that I'm not the only one who's experienced a sense of injustice after the first application cycle. Whomever outlined a list of common mistakes applicants make is completely on point. Below I've weighed in with what I've done to address my mistakes (outside of bad grades) and what I think people should do if possible regarding those same issues.
I applied for 2005 and interviewed at two schools out of 20 to which I had completed applications, Vanderbilt (in August '04) and SUNY Upstate (in March '05). I had gotten waitlisted at the former and rejected from all others.
Granted, I had a lot of strikes going against me. Undergrad GPA from Princeton (Economics) was 2.89, GPA from Brooklyn Law School was an abysmal 2.31 (it's considered grad school, but still, no ADCOM wants to see a 2.31 of anything). I had a 30S on the April '04 MCAT (11 BS, 11 PS, 08 VR), and I believe the Verbal score was a big liability. Despite a 30R on the August '98 MCAT (09 BS, 11 PS, 10 VR), the score was expired and thus earlier proof that I could do Verbal couldn't count. Also, my father and brother are both surgeons, and for someone with my particular ethnic background (an Indian whose last name's synonymous with convenience stores and physicians), that potentially makes me a sketchy applicant, since schools can easily question my motive for applying (family pressure or genuine, rekindled interest?). I was told as much when I applied to NYMC for grad school a few years back (despite that they accepted me, weird), so I have basis for saying this.
What made me a "good" applicant? Sixteen years as a serious classical cellist, my Princeton degree, my law degree, having passed the New York Bar Exam (July '03) and gotten admittance to the New York Bar (May '04), and a solid 3.78 GPA from an NYU Master of Biology program. As far as clinically relevant ECs go, I was in good shape - hundreds of hours of ER and OR volunteering, EMT certification, shadowing, office work, active in college health advising, etc. Unfortunately, that 1 1/2 yrs at NYU did nothing toward my undergrad GPA, so ironically my M.S. can be a weakness too, especially since at the time I had no research experience.
I did not contact schools after receiving rejections, but I did look critically at my candidacy and strategized ways to mitigate bad numbers and anything else lacking from my CV.
This is what I'm doing, along with what I recommend for those that still have certain applicant variables within their power to effect/change:
(1) Retaking the MCAT this April '06.
On the surface this sounds "bad," since I'm taking the test a third time, but I'm figuring since they technically are ignoring my 1998 score, they should perceive this upcoming test as my second attempt that counts. There are hundreds that would disagree with me, but take the MCAT in April only, unless you're taking the MCAT in August the year before you file apps (e.g., summer after sophomore year).
A colleague at my lab has a 37 MCAT and 4.0 post-bacc, but he took his MCAT in August of his application year. It was a fair strategy, since the alternative (April '05) meant studying for the test while taking three premed science courses (with lab). And he's gotten 7 interviews out of 25-28 applications. That still doesn't change the fact that he put himself at a serious disadvantage - out of the 7 are 3 waitlists. Heck, I got an August interview at a top school and got waitlisted. Imagine how many med school classes fill up by the time you even get that August score back. If it means having to putz around another year doing something else (research, paramedic, teach, coma), do it. As for people's hangups about age, if you're old, you're old. Don't listen to 22-yr-old kids citing statistics about schools not liking older applicants. These same schools are beginning to see 21 and 22 as hallmarks of naivete - even considering the age outliers, the fact that the average matriculant age is 24 or so means they value some "objective" measure of maturity. If you're 50 and applying, you have my congratulations - my dad's a 55-yr-old surgeon taking the California Bar this month, so don't listen to naysayers.
Do it once, and don't get less than 10 BS/10 PS/10 VR on the very first try. The essay score's useless (I know, I had an R and an S my first two tries), just don't get below, say, a P. If you have to retake, look at it as "I have to improve so that my AVERAGE score (among scores that "count") is 10/10/10. I know Cornell in particular doesn't care if you have 15/15/15 or 10/10/10, as long as you're double-digits in all three. A pretty lame Indian kid I knew at NYU (at NYU, undergrad Indian premeds are clones) got 10/10/10 and also got 20 interviews out of 30 applications - 3.6 GPA, lag year of research, and otherwise a tool.
(2) Doing (clinical) research for two years for a famous and heavily cited researcher.
Most people do the lag year thing, which is fine. Definitely do research. People talk of humanism in medicine, and folks certainly get in without any research. [I was totally anti-research until I started my current job.] But as long as you're doing other ECs like volunteering, shadowing, tutoring, etc., research cannot hurt you. If you volunteered 10 yrs ago and have since done 7 yrs of research, think about putting in one night a week in the ER. Or get EMT-certified and work for a volly (volunteer ambulance company). If you plan to do research for at least one year, get published, just get your name on a paper. Again, it's not critical, but having it is one of those checklist things they have that keeps you in the later Medical Idol competition rounds.
(3) Applying to more schools, applying to less selective schools.
I applied to 20 initially because my alma mater had a ceiling of 20. I asked if this could be changed, especially since the proponent for the policy left the premed office, but they stood firm. Even this time around, I had to fight over e-mail and over the phone last summer to convince them that applying to 30 (or even 40) would have gotten me at least one more interview.
I did apply to far too many top-tier schools (my brother, who advised me on my first application strategy, is a Duke surgery resident and he definitely biased my chances of getting into a top place after Vandy had granted me such an early interview). I'm using NYU this time for my Committee letter, particularly b/c my M.S. came recently in January '05, my grades are better there, and they have no limit on the number of schools.
One critical mistake is to apply to any state school outside of your state of residence. I did not do this, with one exception (my Princeton premed advisor was a former ADCOM member at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson) - this time I'm not bothering to waste my money on a non-New York state school unless they take a significant (30+%) of applicants from out-of-state and their admission stats aren't ridiculously high. Folks often apply naively to a lot of Cali or Florida (or Texas) schools not stopping to realize they have a statistically 0% chance of getting in.
I know I wrote a lot, but it all boils down to: don't mess up. If you do mess up, you have to spend 2 years for every year that you were lackluster in ANY one area (grades, MCAT, research, volunteering, not being a tool, etc.). One last thing - have a life, too. I interview well (in my PI's own words), b/c I prepare and can strike up conversation about pretty much anything. There are some 3.9 GPA/37 MCAT folks that get completely hosed during the apps season b/c they're mentally backward when it comes to common social things like conversing. Take some time once a week to go out and be normal like 99.99999% of the population. Then spend the rest of the week being utterly outstanding. Schools every once and a while will give you a shot if your numbers are not up to snuff, if they also think for coolness' sake (i.e., diversity) they need to talk with you face-to-face...but the odds of that are statistically 0 in my opinion (1/1,000 or 1/10,000 apps is not a stat worth banking on is what I'm saying).
