How bad is it to be a reapplicant to schools you didn't apply to last cycle?

[over]

If you apply to a school in your first cycle and don't get in and apply to other schools in the next cycle, they can still see you are a reapplicant. The reason consecutive reapplicants are seen in a negative light is because they did not do anything to improve their application to fill in whatever hole that may have gotten them rejected(imo this is extrememly stupid because medical school is largely luck based. Just because they didn't get in last cycle doesn't mean their application is bad and should be fix).
So back to my question: would schools you didn't apply to last cycle penalize you for being reapplicant when they can't see your last cycle's app?

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[gyngyn]

If you apply to a school in your first cycle and don't get in and apply to other schools in the next cycle, they can still see you are a reapplicant.

AMCAS will not report you as a re-applicant to schools where you have not previously applied.

 

[Goro]

It's a common SDN delusion that being a reapplicant is a fate worse than death. It's not. SDN's WAMC forum is littered with posts from people who failed to get in the first cycle because they applied late, and then reapplied tot he same school in the second cycle earlier, and were accepted.

 

[KnightDoc]

If you apply to a school in your first cycle and don't get in and apply to other schools in the next cycle, they can still see you are a reapplicant. The reason consecutive reapplicants are seen in a negative light is because they did not do anything to improve their application to fill in whatever hole that may have gotten them rejected(imo this is extrememly stupid because medical school is largely luck based. Just because they didn't get in last cycle doesn't mean their application is bad and should be fix).
So back to my question: would schools you didn't apply to last cycle penalize you for being reapplicant when they can't see your last cycle's app?

You are absolutely correct, and might be misunderstanding how this works. Schools you didn't apply to last cycle, will NOT consider you a reapplicant, and will not "penalize" you, specifically because they cannot see your prior application.

By the way, adcoms don't consider it a "penalty," and we applicants can agree to disagree with them on this. The simple fact is, whether or not we as applicants believe their process is nothing more than a lottery, it is understandable why they don't see it that way, and want to see significant improvement after they have already rejected us in a previous cycle.

Anyway, hopefully this puts your mind somewhat at ease. You are not a reapplicant unless you have previously submitted a primary to a school.

 

[medigal97]

Being a reapplicant is not this horrible crutch that everyone makes it out to be (unless you truly have changed nothing). My second try, my app had about half schools from my prior cycle and half new (since more were available to me with a second science prof letter second time around). Cycle went great.

Go in confident and ready to show how you improved. Use it to your advantage and they will be impressed. Everyone loves a comeback!

 

[Spider-Med]

I got accepted this cycle to a school I hadn't applied to previously. When asked about previous applications on their secondary, I was honest and said that I had applied to the past and had since researched their school, thought it was a great fit, and decided to apply there. I wouldn't worry about schools being turned off that you didn't apply to in the past, just find ways to highlight your improvements for previous schools. Also, reach out to their admissions office if they don't explicitly say not to. They can give you great information to work with for improving.

 

[LizzyM]

The thing is this: if you had all your ducks in a row in a previous cycle and that included an excellent GPA and MCAT, some might wonder if you applied in a previous cycle, if not, why not, and if so, why you didn't get in anywhere. That can make it look as if you are lukewarm on medicine and/or that you you interview poorly. That can make it seem like someone else might be a better choice for an interview slot. When we are only interviewing a small fraction of the applicants to our school, sometimes it seems that everythng is a data point. Overall, if I see this sort of thing, I might comment prior to interview, "interviewer should ask about prior application cycle(s) or why applicant didn't apply sooner-- sometimes at interview there is a good story of hubris or family issue that messed up a prior cycle, if it even happened.

 

[KnightDoc]

The thing is this: if you had all your ducks in a row in a previous cycle and that included an excellent GPA and MCAT, some might wonder if you applied in a previous cycle, if not, why not, and if so, why you didn't get in anywhere. That can make it look as if you are lukewarm on medicine and/or that you you interview poorly. That can make it seem like someone else might be a better choice for an interview slot. When we are only interviewing a small fraction of the applicants to our school, sometimes it seems that everythng is a data point. Overall, if I see this sort of thing, I might comment prior to interview, "interviewer should ask about prior application cycle(s) or why applicant didn't apply sooner-- sometimes at interview there is a good story of hubris or family issue that messed up a prior cycle, if it even happened.

Absolutely, but, information like this should NOT be used against applicants. There is literally a TON of information that I'm sure you'd love to have access to that it would be inappropriate for you to require.

The MAR and NAR were great in terms of helping schools manage yield, but they could absolutely be abused to the point of limiting choice for applicants and price competition for schools, so they don't exist anymore.

The fact that I might suck at interviewing is something you should have to discover for yourself rather than screening me out pre-II because another school might have made that determination in another cycle. Maybe I improved, but it will have been for nothing if I am going to be forever tagged by a judgment made by a stranger at another school. What an applicant did or didn't do in other cycles at other schools really should not be data points for you in this cycle.

 

[LizzyM]

Absolutely, but, information like this should NOT be used against applicants. There is literally a TON of information that I'm sure you'd love to have access to that it would be inappropriate for you to require.

The MAR and NAR were great in terms of helping schools manage yield, but they could absolutely be abused to the point of limiting choice for applicants and price competition for schools, so they don't exist anymore.

The fact that I might suck at interviewing is something you should have to discover for yourself rather than screening me out pre-II because another school might have made that determination in another cycle. Maybe I improved, but it will have been for nothing if I am going to be forever tagged by a judgment made by a stranger at another school. What an applicant did or didn't do in other cycles at other schools really should not be data points for you in this cycle.

This is not something that is official; just something that can poison the mind of an application reviewer. "Wow, this guy graduated a year ago last June from TopNotch University with a 3.99 and took the MCAT 2 years ago and scored a 524. Why didn't they get in before now?"

Then you look for things that might be slightly negative in the LORs, what have they done since, etc
If they did a prestigious fellowship the year after graduation, you have that in the plus column but if they've done nothing but volunteer 2 hours a week in a food pantry, you have to wonder....

It is just a way that being an applicant in your second cycle can hurt you, even at schools where you are a first time applicant.

Perversely, if you were a not-so-great on paper candidate the first time, a second cycle that shows where you've improved your application since the end of junior year (the earliest that applicants apply) can work in your favor to show that you are serious about self-reflection and improvement.

 

[Goro]

This is not something that is official; just something that can poison the mind of an application reviewer. "Wow, this guy graduated a year ago last June from TopNotch University with a 3.99 and took the MCAT 2 years ago and scored a 524. Why didn't they get in before now?"

We literally ask the same questions ourselves when we see this (and yes, my school does get Stanford/Harvard class applicants and yes, we interview them).