Improving application for MD/PhD reapplication

[dworstell]

Hi everyone. I'm just now coming to terms with the fact that I may have to reapply next cycle, and I was wondering if I could get some input on how to beef up my application. I applied solely to MD/PhD programs at 27 schools.

cGPA: 3.73 sGPA: 3.69 Major: Biomedical Engineering, JHU

MCAT: 517 (130/130/129/128), expires this year.

Year: Second Gap Year

State: Massachusetts

Here was my school list, which I feel may have been too heavy for MD/PhD:

Harvard, JHU, UCSF, Stanford, UPenn, Pittsburgh, Michigan, Duke, UCSD, UCLA, Emory, UNC, Boston U, Keck USC, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, U Maryland, Minnesota, Wake Forest, Tufts, Oregon, UMass, U Rochester, Dartmouth, Alb. Einstein, Georgetown.

Research experience: Since senior year of High School cancer immunology lab -at least 5000 hours. Worked in two different labs at JHU, and most recently a lab at Harvard for the last two years. Unfortunately, no publications yet.. Hoping to get a pub out soon, and we're submitting to Nature, but it's looking too late for this cycle. A few poster presentations, and had a presentation at a division retreat at Hopkins that won an award (voted on by the division). But, nothing really official.

Extra curriculars: Musical director of a cappella group, lots of shadowing of multiple doctors across disciplines (including a doctor who treated a relative with glioblastoma). Volunteering at homeless shelters, pet shelters, soup kitchens, driving cancer patients to/from treatment, tutoring elementary schoolers. Lots of other cool stuff that's possibly not too interesting to MD/PhD, like playing chess and minoring in music.

Immediate family members in medicine? Not immediate - uncle, grandparent, great-grand parent

Interest in rural health (y/n): N

Research Interests: Genetics, Personalized Medicine

I had a couple of IAs involving drinking and marijuana that I reported on AMCAS. Every school I interviewed at asked about those. I also had a death in the family during my Sophomore year just before a big test, which led me to withdraw from an important class and retake it that summer.

I ended up with four MD/PhD interviews, one at a very small program and the other at medium-large programs. Two of them do MD separately (I'm not sure how connected with MD/PhD).

As of now, I've been waitlisted at one of the MD programs, I'm deferred at another. I was deferred post-II at one of the MD/PhD programs and rejected post-II at another. I'm waiting to hear back from the very small MD/PhD program where I was waitlisted MD only, the medium-sized one where I was deferred MD only, and the school where I was deferred in January post-II. None of these are looking particularly good.

I'd love to hear your advice on a new school list and an approach to take when it comes to re-applying or at least preparing to re-apply. I've been hearing very mixed things from people. I would really appreciate your feedback.

Thank you!

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[Trollest]

Well, its' not done yet.. With 4 interviews, I don't think the IA is the issue. So, is there a reason why you are not interested in being a scientist in rural area?

 

[dworstell]

I'd actually love to do it, but I have a significant other working in pharmacoepidemiology. It would be really difficult to find her a job in a rural area, and also we're hoping to start a family soon, and the rural area might not work out best for us.

 

[Trollest]

I'd actually love to do it, but I have a significant other working in pharmacoepidemiology. It would be really difficult to find her a job in a rural area, and also we're hoping to start a family soon, and the rural area might not work out best for us.

Oh yeah, that is a very legit concern. I wouldn't do that to my SO as well.

 

[ValentinNarcisse]

The IAs killed your application. Next year will not be any different.

 

[Trollest]

The IAs killed your application. Next year will not be any different.

how so?? If that was the case he would not have gotten 4 interviews. I wonder what @Goro thinks of this

 

[Goro]

how so?? If that was the case he would not have gotten 4 interviews. I wonder what @Goro thinks of this

The IAs may have been a factor in the rejection, but not THE factor.

I'm suspecting it's the relative lack of productivity from 5000 hours of research and yet no pubs. And then if throw in the IAs, it's possible the Adcom felt that you were a borderline candidate worth looking at, but no one wanted to go to bat for you.

A bad interview may also have been in play.

 

[Microbug]

I don’t think it’s the lack of publications. Our numbers are around the same (you have much better MCAT), but I have 6000+ hours and no pubs either (I have a middle author manuscript in preparation which doesn’t really count). I have much more success this cycle. I think the majority of the issue is IA, which explains lack of interview (school list is also pretty top heavy), OR hidden problem with LORs/essays, like a lukewarm letter. Although I didn’t have publication, my letter from the lab is very nice and no doubt addressed that issue and explained it as circumstance and not due to my ability.

 

[dworstell]

Thank you everyone for your help! So as I’m figuring out how to best address this, I’m definitely going to contact places that rejected me. I was concerned with a couple letters being lukewarm, I’ve had a bunch of research mentors and one of them came from a lab I hadn’t been in for very long. One also came from a professor who i didn’t know particularly well, but I’d had for three classes. Do you think I’d fare better just getting rid of these? I’d only have one letter from a science professor in that case. Also, hopefully getting this publication out will help.

I’m also concerned about my current pi a little. I thought his letter would be fine, but thinking back, his last student also didn’t get into medical school and had to reapply, and she was a Harvard undergrad. He seems very hung up on some past students he had and how great they were, so I’m worried his letters may not be that glowing.

I am pretty confident in my essays, I worked with my schook’s writing center through several drafts on the personal statements. My committee letter didn’t get done until late however due to a rec letter coming in late, so my apps didnt get out until mid August.

 

[Microbug]

Thank you everyone for your help! So as I’m figuring out how to best address this, I’m definitely going to contact places that rejected me. I was concerned with a couple letters being lukewarm, I’ve had a bunch of research mentors and one of them came from a lab I hadn’t been in for very long. One also came from a professor who i didn’t know particularly well, but I’d had for three classes. Do you think I’d fare better just getting rid of these? I’d only have one letter from a science professor in that case. Also, hopefully getting this publication out will help.

I’m also concerned about my current pi a little. I thought his letter would be fine, but thinking back, his last student also didn’t get into medical school and had to reapply, and she was a Harvard undergrad. He seems very hung up on some past students he had and how great they were, so I’m worried his letters may not be that glowing.

I am pretty confident in my essays, I worked with my schook’s writing center through several drafts on the personal statements. My committee letter didn’t get done until late however due to a rec letter coming in late, so my apps didnt get out until mid August.

Class professor letters doesn't really carry weight for MDPHD. It's ALL about the research letters. It could be that your application was borderline and the lukewarm letter tipped you the wrong way. You school list is quite top-heavy so it didn't make sense to them to take risk on someone with multiple IAs and lukewarm letters from PIs. Since there's nothing you can do about the IAs, and you did manage to get some interviews, I would apply much wider next cycle. I wouldn't get my hopes up for Top20s but it doesn't hurt to try. Also try to get a publication meanwhile, go to some conferences and present and things of that sort. Definitely reach out to schools to see if you can get any feedback regarding your application. I think you can also reach out to your committee and ask how your PI's letter was. They can't show it to you but they can tell you if it is glorious or meh. You will definitely need to include your PI's letter either way for your app. In the situation that he didn't write you a great letter, I am not sure if there is anything you can do about it. You can try to discuss it with him without being too confrontational... life skills

 

[moggat]

Sorry to bump kind of late, but I just saw this. In the event that you do have to reapply... have you thought about how you framed your application? I know that seems ambiguous, but I had to reapply, and although I was able to somewhat beef up my application between cycles (retook MCAT, added shadowing and volunteering, etc), reapplying forced me to reanalyze my motivations for applying MDPhD and when I rewrote my application I was able to frame it through a much more concise, direct lens. I think I was much better able to get my message across that "yes, I know exactly what I want to do and the only way to get there is this degree program" whereas my previous application was a lot more wishy washy in how exactly I wanted to incorporate research and medicine into my career and what they both meant to me. When I was interviewing, I got a lot of comments that the way I had presented my application/essays had really demonstrated that I knew exactly what I was getting into and what I wanted, and that definitely couldn't have hurt.

I only say this because it doesn't seem like your numbers are the thing holding you back--your MCAT/GPA are about avg for MDPhD and your ECs look fine (I also don't think the no-pubs thing is necessarily your achilles heel, but if your paper is submitted and in revision that's worth an update letter, as thats a lot better than just submitted or in preparation)--and it's not like you can do anything about the IAs other than own up to being a stupid college student and having learned the error of your ways. Obviously people can and will argue about appropriate school lists and it would be worth examining the quality of your recommendation letters, but if you do end up needing to reapply (and I really hope you don't!), a lot of the nebulous stuff is sort of out of your control. One thing you can do is make sure that your application brings all the disparate parts of your life from the last however-many years together into one cohesive story and demonstrates that you know what you want to do and how you're going to get there. I think there's a little anxiety in the MDPhD field in general about people who lean more one way or the other towards medicine and research or are kind of splitting the difference by doing both without a clear idea of how they work together (tbh I think that's all of us at some point in our career), but if you can assure your reader that you're confident about what you're doing, it will likely help them read your application in a more kindly light.

Sorry for the rambling, long winded answer--I have an exam on Monday and I'm procrastinating lol. Also I'm not an ad-com, grain of salt, etc, etc; I'm just someone who's had to go through the process twice and learned a lot. Best of luck on your current cycle!

 

[dworstell]

Sorry to bump kind of late, but I just saw this. In the event that you do have to reapply... have you thought about how you framed your application? I know that seems ambiguous, but I had to reapply, and although I was able to somewhat beef up my application between cycles (retook MCAT, added shadowing and volunteering, etc), reapplying forced me to reanalyze my motivations for applying MDPhD and when I rewrote my application I was able to frame it through a much more concise, direct lens. I think I was much better able to get my message across that "yes, I know exactly what I want to do and the only way to get there is this degree program" whereas my previous application was a lot more wishy washy in how exactly I wanted to incorporate research and medicine into my career and what they both meant to me. When I was interviewing, I got a lot of comments that the way I had presented my application/essays had really demonstrated that I knew exactly what I was getting into and what I wanted, and that definitely couldn't have hurt.

I only say this because it doesn't seem like your numbers are the thing holding you back--your MCAT/GPA are about avg for MDPhD and your ECs look fine (I also don't think the no-pubs thing is necessarily your achilles heel, but if your paper is submitted and in revision that's worth an update letter, as thats a lot better than just submitted or in preparation)--and it's not like you can do anything about the IAs other than own up to being a stupid college student and having learned the error of your ways. Obviously people can and will argue about appropriate school lists and it would be worth examining the quality of your recommendation letters, but if you do end up needing to reapply (and I really hope you don't!), a lot of the nebulous stuff is sort of out of your control. One thing you can do is make sure that your application brings all the disparate parts of your life from the last however-many years together into one cohesive story and demonstrates that you know what you want to do and how you're going to get there. I think there's a little anxiety in the MDPhD field in general about people who lean more one way or the other towards medicine and research or are kind of splitting the difference by doing both without a clear idea of how they work together (tbh I think that's all of us at some point in our career), but if you can assure your reader that you're confident about what you're doing, it will likely help them read your application in a more kindly light.

Sorry for the rambling, long winded answer--I have an exam on Monday and I'm procrastinating lol. Also I'm not an ad-com, grain of salt, etc, etc; I'm just someone who's had to go through the process twice and learned a lot. Best of luck on your current cycle!

Thank you so much for that answer, moggat. I'm going to remember it as I'm figuring out the coming year, if it comes to that