Has anyone ever been rejected from all DO schools they applied to?

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
I am really gonna like this thread.

If you are worried, just apply to enough schools like LUCOM LMU ACOM CUSOM MUCOM WCU PCOM-Ga VCOM PNWU WVSOM KYCOM, and I guess VCOM-Auburn if it opens next year.

Most of the people that don't get in apply with average stats to too few schools (< 10) or too top-heavy and wind up shooting themselves in the foot.
 
Last edited:
Aspiringphysician said:
I have this fear, that this will happen to me when I apply.

Has anyone ever experienced this?
Click to expand...

Honestly, just be smart about it. Do your research to see which schools you have a good chance at. Apply to schools that matches your stats and apply to some schools with lower stats then yours. If you've gotten this far in the pre med journey I'm sure you can figure out how to avoid this situation as best as you can.

And remember to stay humble .. Just because a person is considered to have competitive DO stats doesn't mean they will get into every DO school
 
It has happened. To those it has happened to, it is often because they:
1) applied late
2) applied with poor grades, poor MCAT, poor LOR/ECs or an incomplete application
3) applied to a narrow selection of schools or schools they had a less than decent chance at being accepted to

Avoiding those can STILL get you finding rejection all around, but at that point it is more just bad luck than your own doing

However, fear of failure is a darn poor excuse to keep yourself from doing what you would want to do.
 
Even if you had poor stats and bad circumstances, you can still get accepted. Even if you had stellar stats and good circumstances you can still get rejected from every play.

Do yourself a favor and go ahead and try anyway. If you love medicine, you're going to work your ass off and apply despite what anyone says on this or any other thread.
 
Yeap.

1st cycle I applied with a low MCAT score and late. Also I applied to 4 schools.
2nd cycle I applied with a higher MCAT but I was still low in that sense. Applied to 8 schools with all rejections. PCOM, LECOM, Pikeville, NYCOM, TOURO, VCOM, WVSOM, and one more but I forgot.
3rd cycle: I applied with a higher MCAT, got my Masters in Biomedical Sciences. I applied to LECOM, PCOM, Pikeville, NYCOM, UMDNJ SOM and some other schools. Got an interview to UMDNJ SOM, waitlisted, eventually accepted. Now currently a 1st year at UMDNJ SOM
 
Gsun88 said:
Yeap.

1st cycle I applied with a low MCAT score and late. Also I applied to 4 schools.
2nd cycle I applied with a higher MCAT but I was still low in that sense. Applied to 8 schools with all rejections. PCOM, LECOM, Pikeville, NYCOM, TOURO, VCOM, WVSOM, and one more but I forgot.
3rd cycle: I applied with a higher MCAT, got my Masters in Biomedical Sciences. I applied to LECOM, PCOM, Pikeville, NYCOM, UMDNJ SOM and some other schools. Got an interview to UMDNJ SOM, waitlisted, eventually accepted. Now currently a 1st year at UMDNJ SOM
Click to expand...
You probably would have had more acceptances last year had you applied to the 3 new schools and maybe LMU.

Once again, SCHOOL SELECTION put this person at a significant disadvantage all 3 cycles they applied.
 
user3 said:
You probably would have had more acceptances last year had you applied to the 3 new schools and maybe LMU.

Once again, SCHOOL SELECTION put this person at a significant disadvantage all 3 cycles they applied.
Click to expand...

Yea, major factor was I was paying for my own applications, MCATs, review notes, plus the usual world expenses. Apply broad peeps!

Also, I did apply to LMU, I'm a bit of a weird situation though so yea
 
First time around, I applied to a whole bunch of DO programs really late with stats well above average and got rejected at all of them. The next time around I submitted very early in the season and got interview offers from all except 2 which told me they required a DO LOR (which I did not have), and then accepted to all where I interviewed.
 
I applied with above average stats to a bunch of DO schools and the ones I didn't hear back from were the low-mid stat ones.. So if you apply with good stats thinking you'll get into a specific school, good luck.

DO schools in particular seem to like people that know what they want and don't care for applicants with high stats that aren't interested in their school. Getting a DO letter and being truthful and enthusiastic at the interview helps a lot (and in your essays).
 
Last edited:
Unlikely unless you applied to schools with scores below the cut offs. For me, I wasn't worried about getting into a DO school... I was worried about not getting into Nova. ..South Florida is my everything.
 
DocWinter said:
It has happened. To those it has happened to, it is often because they:
1) applied late
2) applied with poor grades, poor MCAT, poor LOR/ECs or an incomplete application
3) applied to a narrow selection of schools or schools they had a less than decent chance at being accepted to

Avoiding those can STILL get you finding rejection all around, but at that point it is more just bad luck than your own doing

However, fear of failure is a darn poor excuse to keep yourself from doing what you would want to do.
Click to expand...

Pretty much all of these applied to me the first two cycles that I was rejected.
 
Nope, it's never happened.
 
TreadLightly said:
I applied with above average stats to a bunch of DO schools and the ones I didn't hear back from were the low-mid stat ones.. So if you apply with good stats thinking you'll get into a specific school, good luck.

DO schools in particular seem to like people that know what they want and don't care for applicants with high stats that aren't interested in their school. Getting a DO letter and being truthful and enthusiastic at the interview helps a lot (and in your essays).
Click to expand...

This is why I think applying broadly is better than applying to what you think is a good fit. Unless you have spoken to an ADCOM, you will never know exactly what a specific school wants.

I have avg stats and places like LECOM-B, WesternU, KCUMB, DMU replied to me before WVSOM and ACOM. LMU hasn't told me anything after 3 months of being complete!

Lets say I had narrowed down my list of schools I thought were a good fit 2 months into the cycle... LECOM-B was grabbing up people with ~30 MCAT so I wouldn't have applied there. WesternU is a great school and their MCAT avg is higher than mine so I wouldn't have applied there. DMU stats are slightly higher so I wouldn't have bothered applying there. The school I thought was my 100% perfect fit ended up giving me my ONLY rejection.

Who knows which school would have accepted me if I had only applied to low/mid tier.
 
A friend of mine applied this cycle with 3.4/29 to CCOM, WesternU, PCOM, RVU, TouroCA, LECOM-B, MSU, and Marian. Got either a flat or a silent rejection from all but Maria where he interviewed and was eventually rejected. Last month, that person added LMU, LUCOM, ACOM, WVSOM, and Pikeville and, still, hasn't received any ii. No red flags. Plenty of EC's and research experience. True story.
 
Ibn Alnafis MD said:
A friend of mine applied this cycle with 3.4/29 to CCOM, WesternU, PCOM, RVU, TouroCA, LECOM-B, MSU, and Marian. Got either a flat or a silent rejection from all but Maria where he interviewed and was eventually rejected. Last month, that person added LMU, LUCOM, ACOM, WVSOM, and Pikeville and, still, hasn't received any ii. No red flags. Plenty of EC's and research experience. True story.
Click to expand...

Besides RVU and Marian, I'm not too surprised about your friend's rejections. CCOM is super competitive, PCOM favors IS, URM or very high stats, WesternU, TouroCA and MSU seems to have higher stat requirements for their OOS applicants. Overall, I think well-established DO schools are not as easy to get into as people think especially if you are not IS.

Best of luck to your friend!
 
Ibn Alnafis MD said:
A friend of mine applied this cycle with 3.4/29 to CCOM, WesternU, PCOM, RVU, TouroCA, LECOM-B, MSU, and Marian. Got either a flat or a silent rejection from all but Maria where he interviewed and was eventually rejected. Last month, that person added LMU, LUCOM, ACOM, WVSOM, and Pikeville and, still, hasn't received any ii. No red flags. Plenty of EC's and research experience. True story.
Click to expand...

Breaks my heart to read this.
 
Ibn Alnafis MD said:
A friend of mine applied this cycle with 3.4/29 to CCOM, WesternU, PCOM, RVU, TouroCA, LECOM-B, MSU, and Marian. Got either a flat or a silent rejection from all but Maria where he interviewed and was eventually rejected. Last month, that person added LMU, LUCOM, ACOM, WVSOM, and Pikeville and, still, hasn't received any ii. No red flags. Plenty of EC's and research experience. True story.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, but there has to be a red flag somewhere cause this just doesn't happen for no reason
 
O Grady said:
I'm sorry, but there has to be a red flag somewhere cause this just doesn't happen for no reason
Click to expand...

No red flags. Nada.

The only 2 things I can think of are 1) the person applied a little late (end of August, beginning of September). 2) They didn't do good quality work on their secondary essays (I read some and it seemed to me that they were rushing through it and didn't put the necessary efforts that correlate to the rest of the application). Still, I still think that this person should have received more ii's.
 
O Grady said:
I'm sorry, but there has to be a red flag somewhere cause this just doesn't happen for no reason
Click to expand...
Nope. Outside of RVU, nothing is surprising. Marian gave an interview invite as expected, but they are known for rejecting a ton of people. The rest of the applications are late. If one applies early and broadly, this scenario is avoidable.
 
You have not been rejected from all DO schools until you apply (before August) to ACOM and LUCOM and get rejected.
 
I feel for launcelot and others who are still on the outside waiting and hoping. I'm grateful for the 1 acpt. I have after applying to 17 and only hearing back from about 8.​
 
Last edited:
I'm in both the apply broadly, and apply smartly to schools you know you have a better than average shot to camps.

I think your highest chance of being accepted will always be at schools you either identify with, or who's mission know you align well with as an applicant. Take me for an example, I have tons of community health center experience, ATSU-SOMA was always going to be the most likely acceptance for me. And that was the first place I got in to.

That being said, I still scattered my apps around because you never know exactly how things are going to play out. I got interviews at other schools after my SOMA interview but I didn't attend them because I got in where I wanted to be.
 
How late is late?

pietachok said:
First time around, I applied to a whole bunch of DO programs really late with stats well above average and got rejected at all of them. The next time around I submitted very early in the season and got interview offers from all except 2 which told me they required a DO LOR (which I did not have), and then accepted to all where I interviewed.
Click to expand...
 
Ibn Alnafis MD said:
No red flags. Nada.

The only 2 things I can think of are 1) the person applied a little late (end of August, beginning of September). 2) They didn't do good quality work on their secondary essays (I read some and it seemed to me that they were rushing through it and didn't put the necessary efforts that correlate to the rest of the application). Still, I still think that this person should have received more ii's.
Click to expand...
Ask him what the schools said (if he contacted any). Weak essays aside, you got ii's from several high stat schools with 3.3/28, and got into COMP (which people sometimes refer to as a low tier MD in competitiveness). Yet crickets with his 3.4/29...
 
Last edited:
bionerd89 said:
Besides RVU and Marian, I'm not too surprised about your friend's rejections. CCOM is super competitive, PCOM favors IS, URM or very high stats, WesternU, TouroCA and MSU seems to have higher stat requirements for their OOS applicants. Overall, I think well-established DO schools are not as easy to get into as people think especially if you are not IS.

Best of luck to your friend!
Click to expand...

But WesternU has two campuses, in two different states... Does that mean it favors people from both of those states?
 
No matter how many schools one applies too, if one has a poor app file, or applies too late, nothing on Earth will save them. A person with a 2.5 GPA and MCAT of 20, and zero DO exposure is not going to be a DO, even at LUCOM. Even they have standards.

user3 said:
You probably would have had more acceptances last year had you applied to the 3 new schools and maybe LMU.

Once again, SCHOOL SELECTION put this person at a significant disadvantage all 3 cycles they applied.
Click to expand...
 
So basically, if you apply early with decent stats, you'll get in? Also, applying to how many schools is considered "broadly"?

I also have one DO school in my state (WesternU lebanon), but I'm not sure if it cares for in-state applicants from oregon. Another school is PNWU which does say that it prefers applicants from the pacific northwest including Oregon. I'd prefer to get into one of those schools, preferably western, but I'm not sure if WesternU's lebanon campus school prefers oregonians, or if they don't care for in state. My stats are mid 3.5 gpa, but I might actually be able to raise it up to 3.6 before I graduate. My science GPA is like a 3.48 or something. It might fluctuate as I am taking sciences right now, but I'm assuming it will stay above 3.4.
 
Something is very wrong there. Keep in mind that your friend might not be telling you the full story, and cannot possibly know if he has a bad LOR if he's signed the confidentiality waiver.

And it's definitely very late in the cycle, and way too early, to pull an II with a January app.


Ibn Alnafis MD said:
A friend of mine applied this cycle with 3.4/29 to CCOM, WesternU, PCOM, RVU, TouroCA, LECOM-B, MSU, and Marian. Got either a flat or a silent rejection from all but Maria where he interviewed and was eventually rejected. Last month, that person added LMU, LUCOM, ACOM, WVSOM, and Pikeville and, still, hasn't received any ii. No red flags. Plenty of EC's and research experience. True story.
Click to expand...
 
Aspiringphysician said:
But WesternU has two campuses, in two different states... Does that mean it favors people from both of those states?
Click to expand...

I was referring to Western-Pomana...I'm not sure about Western-Lebanon.but I'm assuming they will favor Oregon residents...did you already take your MCAT? Without your MCAT score its hard to determine anything. As long as you don't completely bomb the MCAT then I think you have a very solid chance at both Western-Lebanon and PNWU.
 
bionerd89 said:
I was referring to Western-Pomana...I'm not sure about Western-Lebanon.but I'm assuming they will favor Oregon residents...did you already take your MCAT? Without your MCAT score its hard to determine anything. As long as you don't completely bomb the MCAT then I think you have a very solid chance at both Western-Lebanon and PNWU.
Click to expand...

I haven't taken the MCAT yet. I am kind of afraid to take it, but will anyway... I want to take it in the summer, but I haven't taken organic chemistry, and won't be taking it until next year. But I really don't want to take the new MCAT, so I'll study as much as I can in the summer. Maybe I can score well in the physics+verbal, and aim for whatever I can on the biological... 11 physics and 11 verbal would be 22, plus 6-8 biological would put me in the 28-30 range. Hopefully. I guess I better study my physics hard as hell.
 
A < 8 in Biological Sciences may be a bit disturbing.
 
CSqueed said:
A < 8 in Biological Sciences may be a bit disturbing.
Click to expand...

I just havent taken ochem. If Ochem is only a small part of the Bio section, then I would be able to score higher, if the bio knowledge is the most important.
 
Aspiringphysician said:
I just havent taken ochem. If Ochem is only a small part of the Bio section, then I would be able to score higher, if the bio knowledge is the most important.
Click to expand...

Ochem is usually 1-2 passages in the biological section out of the 7.
 
I did pretty well in Ochem and found it to be of little use for the test. Not only did I not get many Ochem questions, the ones I got were really focused discretes that I wouldve only gotten if I was fresh out of Ochem or had dug insanely deep in Ochem minutia study material. Your time is better spent studying for the physical sciences section (via practice problems) or on bio sections where they present series of information (graphs, results, etc) and you have to determine what it means.

I think they will be moving away from heavy Ochem on future tests because a lot of it (except for some acid/base stuff and resonance) is basically completely random and you wont ever use that again. I found that on the practice tests they hit random knowledge heavily but when I came time for the real deal, it really tested whether or not you can see information in a passage and understand the consequences and results from that information. One reason why I think having a biochem section is good; It takes the important stuff from Ochem and puts it into a more reasonable perspective in biology.
 
Awesome Sauceome said:
I did pretty well in Ochem and found it to be of little use for the test. Not only did I not get many Ochem questions, the ones I got were really focused discretes that I wouldve only gotten if I was fresh out of Ochem or had dug insanely deep in Ochem minutia study material. Your time is better spent studying for the physical sciences section (via practice problems) or on bio sections where they present series of information (graphs, results, etc) and you have to determine what it means.

I think they will be moving away from heavy Ochem on future tests because a lot of it (except for some acid/base stuff and resonance) is basically completely random and you wont ever use that again. I found that on the practice tests they hit random knowledge heavily but when I came time for the real deal, it really tested whether or not you can see information in a passage and understand the consequences and results from that information. One reason why I think having a biochem section is good; It takes the important stuff from Ochem and puts it into a more reasonable perspective in biology.
Click to expand...

You could say that for 90% of the MCAT. Ochem is the basis for biochemical reactions.
 
CSqueed said:
Ochem is usually 1-2 passages in the biological section out of the 7.
Click to expand...

Agree, but I had 3. Two short passages and one super long. I would say, between passage-based and discretes, I had at least 20 Ochem questions. They were tough questions too. Even the typical IR/NMR questions that you find on the practice test were a little harder because the questions weren't straightforward and required more critical thinking.

I admit my exam was an anomaly, but one should be prepared for any possible scenario.
 
Aspiringphysician said:
Oh. How many questions are there per section?
Click to expand...

If I remember its like 4-7 questions per passage and 7 passages, so you have like 35 problems total for ochem/bio. Maybe 8-10 problems will be Ochem. Of those 8-10 maybe 4 or 5 will be common stuff that is consistently hit and will therefore be highlighted in prep books. The other couple questions are like if you REALLY studied Ochem heavily or if you understand and remember it remarkably well from class.

Either way I would suggest not taking it until all of your pre-reqs are done. Would that help? Absolutely. But if the question is whether ochem is heavy or not on it, I would say no. A biochem course might even be able to help, if its pretty chem heavy (I know some schools teach biochem with different emphasis')

I found that what was highlighted most and what I shouldve studied more was bio passages that have graphs and stuff and you had to interpret results. Like I wish I could retake my MCAT now that I have professional research experience because I basically do that every day. I spent too much time studying random stuff (cell structure and signalling etc) when I shouldve been studying how to interpret data.
ex. graph shows that some sort of chemical was added to the cells and various responses occur resulting in some cells dying, some cells growing faster etc.
The questions will relate to possibilities of why the cells would be dying, why they are growing faster, what it could mean physiologically (like if the chemical was theoretically a hormone or something). That sort of thing. Which brings me to the one big thing you should study for bio is hormones. Flash card all of them. Its very easy points if you know the hormones: what they do, where they come from, where they are going.
 
Awesome Sauceome said:
If I remember its like 4-7 questions per passage and 7 passages, so you have like 35 problems total for ochem/bio. Maybe 7-9 problems will be Ochem. Of those 7-9 maybe 4 or 5 will be common stuff that is consistently hit and will therefore be highlighted in prep books. The other couple questions are like if you REALLY studied Ochem heavily or if you understand and remember it remarkably well from class.

Either way I would suggest not taking it until all of your pre-reqs are done. Will it help? Absolutely. But if the question is whether ochem is heavy or not on it, I would say no.

I found that what was highlighted most and what I shouldve studied more was bio passages that have graphs and stuff and you had to interpret results. Like I wish I could retake my MCAT now that I have professional research experience because I basically do that every day. I spent too much time studying random stuff (cell structure and signalling etc) when I shouldve been studying how to interpret data.
ex. graph shows that some sort of chemical was added to the cells and various responses occur resulting in some cells dying, some cells growing faster etc.
The questions will relate to possibilities of why the cells would be dying, why they are growing faster, what it could mean physiologically (like if the chemical was theoretically a hormone or something). That sort of thing. Which brings me to the one big thing you should study for bio is hormones. Flash card all of them. Its very easy points if you know the hormones: what they do, where they come from, where they are going.
Click to expand...

I'll keep that in mind. It seems like the bio section should be easy then, just interpreting graphs and stuff? Also, why does everyone say that the MCAT is so hard? All it seems like to me is just interpreting data, except maybe for the physics stuff you actually have to know how to solve problems. But for verbal and bio, it sounds like all you do is interpret data.
 
Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Agree, but I had 3. Two short passages and one super long. I would say, between passage-based and discretes, I had at least 20 Ochem questions. They were tough questions too. Even the typical IR/NMR questions that you find on the practice test were a little harder because the questions weren't straightforward and required more critical thinking.

I admit my exam was an anomaly, but one should be prepared for any possible scenario.
Click to expand...

I wish I had had that. I'm orgo strong and bio meh. I had only 1 orgo passage and maybe 2-3 independent questions.
 
Aspiringphysician said:
I'll keep that in mind. It seems like the bio section should be easy then, just interpreting graphs and stuff? Also, why does everyone say that the MCAT is so hard? All it seems like to me is just interpreting data, except maybe for the physics stuff you actually have to know how to solve problems. But for verbal and bio, it sounds like all you do is interpret data.
Click to expand...
Have you taken the MCAT yet? I sincerely hope that you're trolling. If not, approach it with that attitude and let me know how it goes.
 
I mean easy is a relative term. I did reasonably well in most of my science course and I will be the first to admit it was a challenging test and wore me out. You need to learn how to answer questions very differently for each section:
verbal: gut instinct, learn to trust your first instinct without falling for traps (which become more obvious when you practice), answer the question, then move on.
bio: learning how to quickly and accurately interpret data. Again there may be trends that make you fall for stuff (common ways of thinking that may be wrong), but mostly its just seeing the data and figuring it out. Then the second half is just muscling through and memorizing some basic anatomy, hormones, cell structure.
physical: practicing with tons and tons of problems, both discretes and complex chained problems.

I only remember 1 problem on my tests that had me just put my head down in sadness. It was my first passage in the physics and it was just way more complicated than I had practiced. It covered a lot of material from like 5 different sections in physics. So like I had to piece together thermo, kinetics, electricity etc. Its the combination that can get you. I was expecting all passages to be like my last physics passage which asked like 6 electricity and magnetism questions.

I mean conceptually it is not insanely hard. Its not like you are asked to do something that you have never done, like design a rocket or something. Its just the fact that it takes so much material (pretty much all of your undergrad science courses) and then puts a serious time constraint on you. Thats really all.
 
Aspiringphysician said:
I'll keep that in mind. It seems like the bio section should be easy then, just interpreting graphs and stuff? Also, why does everyone say that the MCAT is so hard? All it seems like to me is just interpreting data, except maybe for the physics stuff you actually have to know how to solve problems. But for verbal and bio, it sounds like all you do is interpret data.
Click to expand...


Yeah, sounds easy, but passages are timed. You're under a sweat-inducing crunch to not just interpret data, but fully understand and conceptualize the IDEA of what the passage writer wants to relay. Which you have spit back to them when they ask hypothetical questions that involve you thinking of what COULD be written, additionally, or alternative circumstances...
For every softball interpretive data question, expect 2-3 others to which you might wish you had stayed home that day.

Ones ability to read and absorb and understand dense material will be severely tested.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Smart to apply to DO school?
Replies
11
Views
1K
bananabuttercup
B
H
can you re apply to DO school after rejecting an acceptance?
Replies
15
Views
2K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
BayerischeMotorenWerke
  • Locked
Should I defer my acceptance to a DO school to apply to MD schools next year?
Replies
5
Views
2K
BayerischeMotorenWerke
BayerischeMotorenWerke
Mr.Smile12
[MSUCOM] So you want to be a DO/PhD? (from Research Scientists forum)
Replies
0
Views
300
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
H
thoughts on specialized LOR to dream med school from a DO doctor who attended there?
Replies
2
Views
674
ecobio
ecobio
Top