How to go about reapplicant essays when not much has occurred since I applied the previous time? (Timespan: 1 Year)

[Blue Lion]

A concern that I have with my upcoming secondaries is that I do not how to go about discussing my past year, saying in what areas I improved, what I did, etc., when not much occurred.

For the record, I did what med schools asked of me in terms of improving my application. Went back and finished up my year of post-bacc, including replacing grades from pre-requisites that were a C-. And got some more clinical experience by doing over a hundred additional hours of shadowing.

But ultimately that's really it. August to September were secondaries for me, October to December was figuring out career plans + taking care of my grandparents. Then January onward I got a desk job and finished up my post-bacc classes, right until the pandemic happened.

Did want to get some more clinical experience, put was pretty unsuccessful with applying to jobs October onward, hence why I settled with the desk job because I needed SOME form of income.

Given everything that I just said, what would be the best way to go about reapplicant essays for me this year?

And for the record: I do have a decent amount of clinical experience already, through over a thousand hours in clinical research, over a hundred in clinical volunteering, and over 150 hours in shadowing. The way the feedback appointments phrased it though is that they wanted more hands on stuff, and that there's never "enough" clinical experience, and I know that's something that's being brought up to medical schools, including AAMC themselves doing so, in order to be more lenient on this category given how limited these opportunities are right now, but just trying to be cautious.

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[GreenDuck12]

How did last cycle work out for you in terms of interviews etc?
Basically, reapplicants have two options:
1. Apply this cycle and highlight the improvements that you have made. This is reasonable since it is what schools asked you to do.
2. Wait another year so that you have more changes to discuss in your reapplicant essay. Some schools, mine included, warn applicants about reapplying in consecutive cycles. Others, do not. It really depends on the feedback you receive and the outcome of the prior cycle.

Personally, given the conditions in much of the US right now, I wouldn’t anticipate being able to add much in the way of clinical volunteering, shadowing, and research outside of paid employment. This makes me lean towards option 1.

 

[Blue Lion]

How did last cycle work out for you in terms of interviews etc?
Basically, reapplicants have two options:
1. Apply this cycle and highlight the improvements that you have made. This is reasonable since it is what schools asked you to do.
2. Wait another year so that you have more changes to discuss in your reapplicant essay. Some schools, mine included, warn applicants about reapplying in consecutive cycles. Others, do not. It really depends on the feedback you receive and the outcome of the prior cycle.

Personally, given the conditions in much of the US right now, I wouldn’t anticipate being able to add much in the way of clinical volunteering, shadowing, and research outside of paid employment. This makes me lean towards option 1.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. While I would've liked to take a year off and just do clinical work, it's just not happening for me. Especially as someone who is immunocompromised as well.

And besides that clinical experience, again, there really isn't anything else they specified on me improving.

Honestly I really hope that the "frowning upon consecutive application" schools are a bit more empathetic given so many of them pretty much closed their application cycles early because of COVID, and because of the reason above that getting more experience is going to be really hard for the year to come.

 

[GreenDuck12]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. While I would've liked to take a year off and just do clinical work, it's just not happening for me. Especially as someone who is immunocompromised as well.

And besides that clinical experience, again, there really isn't anything else they specified on me improving.

Honestly I really hope that the "frowning upon consecutive application" schools are a bit more empathetic given so many of them pretty much closed their application cycles early because of COVID, and because of the reason above that getting more experience is going to be really hard for the year to come.

Just highlight your new experiences and rewrite your secondaries with another set of eyes going through them. I imagine schools will deviate to some extent from past practices and consider reapplicants in a different light. If you had interviews before then I think you’re in good shape. When it comes to this application cycle “nobody knows nothin” in terms of how things will go.

 

[basophilic]

Just highlight your new experiences and rewrite your secondaries with another set of eyes going through them. I imagine schools will deviate to some extent from past practices and consider reapplicants in a different light. If you had interviews before then I think you’re in good shape. When it comes to this application cycle “nobody knows nothin” in terms of how things will go.

On a related note, if I got an MPH between my previous and current cycle, I should be strongly emphasizing my MPH coursework and fieldwork right? Also, if I've updated schools in the previous cycle on my MPH work in the winter, should I go into it again during the secondaries?

 

[GreenDuck12]

On a related note, if I got an MPH between my previous and current cycle, I should be strongly emphasizing my MPH coursework and fieldwork right? Also, if I've updated schools in the previous cycle on my MPH work in the winter, should I go into it again during the secondaries?

You should rewrite your secondaries to include all pertinent information and experiences they are asking for. I would include the MPH but also include other experiences you have had including those you wrote about in the prior application cycle.