Have I covered everything?

[About28]

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I'm going to be a reapplicant, and I want to make sure I've covered all my bases before I reapply. People on SDN have been very helpful with sorting my issues out from this cycle, I just want to be sure this is going to be my cycle.

See the MDapp for details but if thats tl;dr here's a quick summary:
c/sGPA 3.65
MCAT 34 (PS 10, VR 11, BS 13)
-2 years of research
-One week trip to Honduras and one week trip to Panama
- +200 hours hospital volunteer
- +80 shadowing hours for PCPs, Internists and surgeons at the hospital
-Leadership role in a comedy group, absurd amount of hours at this point
-Over 10,000 hours working a full time blue collar job during the summer
-Used my trades skills to build homes for people in Mississippi for a week

I've spoken to my advisor and he has assured my that my letters are good to great
Heres what I think went wrong:
-I was complete at schools super late (Oct-Nov) and took my time returning secondaries
-Poorly constructed school list: GW, UMass, Tufts, BU, UVM, Penn State, UConn, Jefferson, Temple, Pit, NYU, Columbia, SUNY Upstate and SUNY Buffalo.

I was lucky enough to receive one interview at SUNY Upstate (Probably my #1 or #2 choice), which ended in a post interview rejection. When I talked to the school, I was told that all my interviewers thought I was a great candidate for admission, but being somewhat late and being an out of state applicant hurt me a lot.

How my application will be different next time around: I'm going to apply on the first possible day to all of the schools I applied to. I will have everything in within a day of receiving the secondary. My GPA will rise a little bit (from a 3.65 to a 3.68; small victories, people). I went from a member in the comedy group to a leader and upped my hours by A LOT. I also added the Panama trip and I will be returning to my trades job with a raise. I have a new letter of recommendation from the dean of my college and I also bought the MSAR and have a much better list of schools put together.

So that's my story. Do you see anything I missed? Do you think I'm ready to go for this cycle? Thanks for any help!

 

[Mad Jack]

Add more schools and you're in. Might get in anyway, but MOAR SCHOOLS!!@!@@!J@LJ!KL@J!L@UOI

 

[BrawnsNBrain]

Agree that you need more schools. You have a good application in my opinion- good luck!

 

[gyngyn]

Apply day one to at least dozen schools that might interview you and you're done!
Those weeks in Central America can rub people the wrong way, it's important how your frame them.

 

[Goro]

Heed the wise gyngyn's words carefully. MSAR Online is your friend. Build a realistic list this time.

Apply day one to at least dozen schools that might interview you and you're done!
Those weeks in Central America can rub people the wrong way, it's important how your frame them.

 

[About28]

Heed the wise gyngyn's words carefully. MSAR Online is your friend. Build a realistic list this time.

Apply day one to at least dozen schools that might interview you and you're done!

I got it here's my list that I put a lot of time into making (note: I'm not from upstate new york but I have strong ties to the region and would like to stay here)
Albany Medical College, BU, Cooper, Drexel, Dartmouth, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Georgetown, Jefferson, Medical College of Wisconsin, New York Medical College, Oakland University COM, Penn State, SUNY Upstate, Toledo College of Medicine, Tufts, Tulane, University of Buffalo, University of Arizona- Phoenix, UMass, University of Nebraska, University of Kentucky, University of Rochester, UVM, Virginia Commonwealth, Virginia Tech, Western Michigan, Wright State, Creighton, Saint Louis, Rosalind Franklin, UCF, Rutgers and Loyola.

Any that I should add or remove?

Those weeks in Central America can rub people the wrong way, it's important how your frame them.

I'm trying to be realistic about what I say about these. What I'm saying pretty much comes down to this: I raised all the money myself and was continually involved in the organization for two years. Also, there was a doctor that went with us on the trip and explained everything he did to a patient and explained why he asked the patient the questions he asked, so I really felt that I learned something from him and that was just a taste of what it feels like to be a med student and I really enjoyed it. I didn't do anything I wasn't qualified for, just took blood pressure, handed out medications and learned (generally) how the diagnostic process works while genuinely feeling like I helped people.

I hope that's realistic!

 

[Goro]

Remove U NE, U KY, U MA. Add Hofstra, Consider Mt Sinai and Einstein, EVMC, TCMC, and Rush

I got it here's my list that I put a lot of time into making (note: I'm not from upstate new york but I have strong ties to the region and would like to stay here)
Albany Medical College, BU, Cooper, Drexel, Dartmouth, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Georgetown, Jefferson, Medical College of Wisconsin, New York Medical College, Oakland University COM, Penn State, SUNY Upstate, Toledo College of Medicine, Tufts, Tulane, University of Buffalo, University of Arizona- Phoenix, UMass, University of Nebraska, University of Kentucky, University of Rochester, UVM, Virginia Commonwealth, Virginia Tech, Western Michigan, Wright State, Creighton, Saint Louis, Rosalind Franklin, UCF, Rutgers and Loyola.

Any that I should add or remove[/

 

[gyngyn]

I'm trying to be realistic about what I say about these. What I'm saying pretty much comes down to this: I raised all the money myself and was continually involved in the organization for two years. Also, there was a doctor that went with us on the trip and explained everything he did to a patient and explained why he asked the patient the questions he asked, so I really felt that I learned something from him and that was just a taste of what it feels like to be a med student and I really enjoyed it. I didn't do anything I wasn't qualified for, just took blood pressure, handed out medications and learned (generally) how the diagnostic process works while genuinely feeling like I helped people.

I hope that's realistic!

Many people view these trips through a glass darkly. As long as you focus on what you learned about life in developing countries and not on how the recipients "benefited" from your intervention, your application will not be harmed.

 

[About28]

Remove U NE, U KY, U MA. Add Hofstra, Consider Mt Sinai and Einstein, EVMC, TCMC, and Rush

I'm a MA resident, does that change anything?

Many people view these trips through a glass darkly. As long as you focus on what you learned about life in developing countries and not on how the recipients "benefited" from your intervention, your application will not be harmed.

I'll be sure to stick to that, either way I wasn't going to go too far into it in my application and it's mentioned in passing in my PS. Also here's my reapp info:
Tried to keep that number down, I sent a primary but not a secondary to: Albany, Drexel and UCF
I sumitted secondaries to: BU, Georgetown, Jefferson, NYMC, Penn State, Upstate, Buffalo, Tufts, UMass and UVM.

 

[Corvid]

I'm going to be a reapplicant, and I want to make sure I've covered all my bases before I reapply. People on SDN have been very helpful with sorting my issues out from this cycle, I just want to be sure this is going to be my cycle.

See the MDapp for details but if thats tl;dr here's a quick summary:
c/sGPA 3.65
MCAT 34 (PS 10, VR 11, BS 13)
-2 years of research
-One week trip to Honduras and one week trip to Panama
- +200 hours hospital volunteer
- +80 shadowing hours for PCPs, Internists and surgeons at the hospital
-Leadership role in a comedy group, absurd amount of hours at this point
-Over 10,000 hours working a full time blue collar job during the summer
-Used my trades skills to build homes for people in Mississippi for a week

I've spoken to my advisor and he has assured my that my letters are good to great
Heres what I think went wrong:
-I was complete at schools super late (Oct-Nov) and took my time returning secondaries
-Poorly constructed school list: GW, UMass, Tufts, BU, UVM, Penn State, UConn, Jefferson, Temple, Pit, NYU, Columbia, SUNY Upstate and SUNY Buffalo.

I was lucky enough to receive one interview at SUNY Upstate (Probably my #1 or #2 choice), which ended in a post interview rejection. When I talked to the school, I was told that all my interviewers thought I was a great candidate for admission, but being somewhat late and being an out of state applicant hurt me a lot.

How my application will be different next time around: I'm going to apply on the first possible day to all of the schools I applied to. I will have everything in within a day of receiving the secondary. My GPA will rise a little bit (from a 3.65 to a 3.68; small victories, people). I went from a member in the comedy group to a leader and upped my hours by A LOT. I also added the Panama trip and I will be returning to my trades job with a raise. I have a new letter of recommendation from the dean of my college and I also bought the MSAR and have a much better list of schools put together.

So that's my story. Do you see anything I missed? Do you think I'm ready to go for this cycle? Thanks for any help!

I agree with everyone here, apply earlier and add more schools for sure. You seem to be on it for that. Your ECs are pretty unique (blue collar job and the comedy group), too.

But yeah, I've heard stories of pre-meds who put too much weight in their decisions to go to medical school from short stints to third-world countries or oversold their experiences: "I changed the lives of the natives of (insert third-world country) for good by dispensing blankets and taking their temperatures". Keep it humble and grounded. It helps that you were involved for two years (shows more commitment to the cause than just hopping on a plane and "helping out" for a week). When you're describing these experiences you might want to think of why you went to another country to see/participate in some medical work (maybe see for yourself the plights people suffer from where access to healthcare is limited or non-existent? Was it an initial step towards a commitment to serving the under-served? Do you have a particular connection with a certain group of people? If so, why?) I feel this is really important. If ADCOMS get any hint that you picked the experience as a ploy to be unique (i.e. not because you actually care for these people) or that you believed yourself to be saving these people from illness (lack of access to healthcare is a consequence of complex underlying issues - simply providing healthcare, although it benefits the people receiving it at that time, will not solve the serious causative structural issues in the long run), it will hurt your application. Not that you're doing of any of these, which is good. Your current view on it seems fine.

Also, there was a doctor that went with us on the trip and explained everything he did to a patient and explained why he asked the patient the questions he asked, so I really felt that I learned something from him and that was just a taste of what it feels like to be a med student and I really enjoyed it.

I would keep this idea, but modify it slightly. It's good that you learned something about the interaction a doctor has with his patients (the physician-patient relationship). However, if you feel like this gave you a taste of what medical school will be like, just know there are other more relevant ways to do this. In my mind at least, it's hard to see how having a doctor tell you his treatment process (in another country with a very different socioeconomic setting than where you will go to school) directly relates to what medical school will be like (to your credit you did say small taste).

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

If you apply day one and have your application refined you will be fine. Make sure to modify your PS. Hopefully you have a good gap year set up too.

For schools: Check state ties to Arizona Nebraska and Oakland. Those seem kind of randomly thrown in so I'm not sure if you have a specific reason to apply to them. Consider adding Wake Forest Drexel Temple and Northwestern.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

-Over 10,000 hours working a full time blue collar job during the summer

Is that real life?

 

[bearded frog]

​

 

[Corvid]

That's almost 500 days...of summer

(Over 416 days, so not quite)

 

[Goro]

Add U MA then! With an avg GPA, that's why I suggested deleting thew other state schools. Keep U VT. The other private schools on the list won't care where you're from.

I'm a MA resident, does that change anything?



I'll be sure to stick to that, either way I wasn't going to go too far into it in my application and it's mentioned in passing in my PS. Also here's my reapp info:
Tried to keep that number down, I sent a primary but not a secondary to: Albany, Drexel and UCF
I sumitted secondaries to: BU, Georgetown, Jefferson, NYMC, Penn State, Upstate, Buffalo, Tufts, UMass and UVM.[/QUOTE]

 

[About28]

I would keep this idea, but modify it slightly. It's good that you learned something about the interaction a doctor has with his patients (the physician-patient relationship). However, if you feel like this gave you a taste of what medical school will be like, just know there are other more relevant ways to do this. In my mind at least, it's hard to see how having a doctor tell you his treatment process (in another country with a very different socioeconomic setting than where you will go to school) directly relates to what medical school will be like (to your credit you did say small taste).

Here's a very rough version of what I'm going to say in my PS:
"My first direct experience in medicine was at a clinic in Panama, where I met a women who complained of lower back pain and pain while urinating. The doctor asked if I had any questions for her. “Does she have a history of Urinary tract infections?” I asked her. The woman did, and I learned that, she had left one of these infections untreated, and it had caused a kidney infection. Had I not been there the doctor I was with would have had no issue diagnosing this patient, but that didn’t matter to me at that moment. (talk about how it felt to actually diagnose someone)"

What do you think?

Add U MA then! With an avg GPA, that's why I suggested deleting thew other state schools. Keep U VT. The other private schools on the list won't care where you're from.

[/QUOTE]

I've been to Arizona and loved the area, that's why I chose it, I knew being OOS with no ties was a long shot. Also, you really think I have a shot at Sinai and Einstein being out of state with an average GPA?

Is that real life?

Well if you only include hours from my summer job, it's closer to 4000 I think with overtime and being called in for emergencies (yes I have a blue collar job where I am on call), I'd have to check my pay stubs to be sure. In that 10,000 number I also included stuff from high school where I learned the basics of boiler maintenance, AC instillation and repair, plumbing, carpentry and super basic electrical work (I'd be able to install light switches and outlets to code, that's about it). I also worked for my dad in high school doing construction and carpentry. My dad doesn't care what I do with my life but he'll be damed if he puts a son into the world who doesn't know the trades and hadn't done a hard day's work in is life haha.

 

[Goro]

>50% of the acceptees at Einstein are OOS; >60% at Einstein. You GPAs are < avg for both, bit in striking distance. I think Einstein will be the easier of the two for you.


I've been to Arizona and loved the area, that's why I chose it, I knew being OOS with no ties was a long shot. Also, you really think I have a shot at Sinai and Einstein being out of state with an average GPA?