If you were me...

[axekilo111]

Would you reapply in June 2008 or wait until June 2009?

Summary of 2007-2008 application cycle:
-Applied to a broad spectrum of schools(28 schools in all) and received only one interview from my state school, from which I was ultimately rejected.
-Graduated from a top 5 public university with a 3.3 overall, 3.2 BCMP GPA, and a 29O MCAT.
-AMCAS submitted in early August and my file(secondary plus recs) was complete at most schools by mid to late September.
-I was given a small glimmer of hope by 3 schools who put me on hold or in the "possible interview pool": GW(yes I know they probably put ~5000 applicants in the hold category but they also rejected many people outright), UVM, and VCU. I received screened secondaries from Loyola and Toledo but was not invited to interview.

I have leadership ECs, 3 summers of camp counselor/instructor, 300 hours of ER clinical research(strong patient contact experiences), 1 year of doc shadowing(all w/ same doc, was given "extremely strong recommendation"), basic science research, summer clinical research internship w/ poster presentation at national conference.

Reasons for not applying June 2008:
-low GPA and MCAT
-not enough volunteerism aka helping people ECs
-pretty much the same application as previous cycle except that I have been working full time at a hospital doing clinical research and basic science research for the last 5 months and will continue to do so until at least December 2008.
-I would like to retake the MCAT but would have to take in August and would thus be complete at the same time as last year, resulting in 0-1 interviews

Reasons for applying June 2008:
-I'm 24 and want to start med school/career ASAP
-Will have new letter of rec and will submit AMCAS on 1st day and try to be complete at all schools by July
-Application will be complete 2 months earlier
-New personal statement(it was good, probably different from the typical personal statement, but didn't give the whole picture of who I am)

Reasons for waiting to apply June 2009:
-More time to prepare for MCAT and have new score ready at time of June AMCAS submission
-Submitted clinical research paper(2nd author) 1 week ago and it should be accepted(may not be accepted by the time I submit AMCAS this year)
-Will have more helping people/patient contact experiences
-May have time to move to South America or Africa and live there for several months, which will give me a more interesting background/experiences(something I would like to do before med school craziness)
-Will have done another poster presentation at national conference, which will most likely lead to 1st authorship publication if I put in the time

People say it can't hurt if I apply again this year, don't get in, and have to apply a 3rd time? Is this true? With my current stats, will applying early significantly increase my chances at schools like UVM, VCU, Loyola, and Toledo? I'm just worried that since almost all the schools passed on me the first time, why would they all of a sudden show interest in me now just because they receive my application 1-2 months earlier?

Basically, do I just go for it and reapply this cycle or wait for a stronger application and reapply June 2009? And suggestions/comments are very much appreciated. Thanks for reading~

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[RySerr21]

you applied pretty late last cycle. i bet you see a huge difference being complete in July compared to being complete in september.....


i would apply early and broadly, that includes DO schools. did you apply DO last time?

 

[cpants]

First, don't retake the MCAT. You have no reason to think you will do significantly better on a retake, and if you do worse you are in a horrible position. A 29 is good enough. Second, wait a year to reapply. Don't worry so much about research/EC's in that year. Instead, take science classes...a lot of them. And get A's. Your GPA is your weak point, and your plan needs to be upping the GPA before you reapply.

 

[deleted74029]

290 MCAT.

 

[gujuDoc]

I was wondering if someone would catch that.

I'm sure they meant to say 29 O.



That said, I'd do a masters, postbac, or some other form of GPA improvement and improve ECs and then apply next year.

 

[diosa428]

If your application has not significantly changed from last year, there is no real indication that simply applying earlier will help. Your numbers just aren't high enough. I would take a year off, save the money it would cost you to reapply (reapplying twice would be VERY expensive), and apply early in 2009. You also need to either bring up your GPA, MCAT, or both, or apply to DO schools.

 

[flip26]

Maybe you apply early to your state school and the couple of others you mentioned that gave you some favorable comments, but during the upcoming year, unless you are ready to commit to an SMP now, you should do an informal post bacc and raise those grades, and do more volunteering.

Personally, I would attend an SMP this fall - I think it is your best shot. I know they take late apps, but don't know when it is too late...

PS - I see VCU, but did you also apply to EVMS?

 

[axekilo111]

wow, thanks for the quick responses. Here's some info that may help you help me:

-My 300+ hours of clinical research was neuro related, my summer research was neuro related, and the basic and clinical research I'm doing now is neuro related. Basically, I want to go into neuro and would like to do academic medicine. Talking to docs that I know, I need to get an MD as opposed to DO to do academic medicine.
-I was consistently scoring 32-34 on practice MCATs and feel I underperformed when scoring the 290, I mean 29O.
-I did a very science heavy undergrad major and more science classes would do almost nothing to up my GPA
-I was actually accepted to the BU MAMS and Drexel IMS program a year ago but decided not to do either. Didn't think the risk or price was worth it. I'd like to avoid doing an SMP because I've already amassed a nice sized debt from undergrad loans. However, the one SMP I think would be worth taking on extra loans for would be the EVMS SMP
-The cost of reapplying is not a major factor. I got FAP last cycle and am assuming I will get it again(already turned in the FAP request for this year)

Again, thanks for the feedback.

 

[axekilo111]

Trying to maintain some type of anonymity, my state school is one of the few that doesn't do rolling admissions. And I did apply to EVMS and was denied a secondary.

 

[diosa428]

Talking to docs that I know, I need to get an MD as opposed to DO to do academic medicine.

This is really not true. You can do research as a DO, and you can hold academic positions as a DO. When it comes to applying for these jobs, they'll probably care about your past research experience and your past work history or where you did your residency; they're not going to care where you went to med school. I don't know how research heavy DO residencies are, but you can get into allopathic residency programs from a DO school. It is somewhat harder to get in as a DO than an MD, but neuro isn't a very competitive field. Perhaps you should consider researching it a little further. Check out the DO forum for more info.

 

[axekilo111]

Anyone else have any suggestions? Do I have something to lose by re-applying this cycle, knowing that I would have a stronger application in 2009? Does it become more difficult to gain acceptance the 3rd try as opposed to the 2nd?

 

[flip26]

Anyone else have any suggestions? Do I have something to lose by re-applying this cycle, knowing that I would have a stronger application in 2009? Does it become more difficult to gain acceptance the 3rd try as opposed to the 2nd?

I don't think there is any stigma or reduced chances associated with multiple tries. It is an exhausting and expensive process, but plenty of people do it.

 

[ssisterdoc]

I took a year off to do the requisite shadowing. But the two most important components of your application are your grades and your MCAT score. Everything else, to me, is "covering the bases". If I were you, I would take post-bacc classes to try and boost your gpa and retake the MCAT. I would definitely not apply again, just to "wait and see". I would rather work really hard to improve key components of my application and then, apply again. I wouldn't want to go through the med school admissions process more than I absolutely have to.

 

[cpants]

You'll basically have the same chances as you did this year. The reason not apply is that it is a waste of a few grand and a lot of your time. Better to reapply from a stronger position, then send in the same unsuccessful app.