Is it time to panic yet-2009 version...

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Food

Food

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Of course it showed me similar threads...and none were for this cycle, so I don't feel as bad asking about this.

I sent 16 secondaries all between the months of 8/27 and 9/23. All were considered complete by 10/24 or so. I have so far interviewed at only 1 school (my current undergrad institution, U of Florida) and I was put on "hold" there. I have received 3 rejections (Mayo, Brown, Case Western) and a 'pre-interview' hold from Drexel and Albany. The rest have as of yet been unresponsive. (stats are 3.3 science, 3.45 overall, 38O mcat)

I really have no idea if it's foolish to be hopeful for any more interviews at this point. I am still happy I at least interviewed at my school, and still have a shot. I was wondering when it would be a good time for me to throw in the towel for the other schools, and send a letter of intent to UF, and do everything in my power to appeal to their admissions?

I have sent a letter of update to all FL (my state) schools that were willing to take them. I have also sent letters of updates to most of the other schools that were willing to accept them. Same with fall transcripts. My fall 2008 GPA was roughly equal to my overall GPA, and science GPA. Also, I indicated I would be increasing my workload for the spring by double (teaching MCAT for Kaplan), and would be volunteering at the hospital (new activity).

I don't know if that will have any effect, but it was worth a shot. Do you think I should just call it quits in late Feb?

thanks!
 
Your situation sounds excruciating. I don't know when you should throw in the towel but good luck on hearing from some more schools!
 
Starcraft avatar? Nice... I'm in a similar situation as you my anxious friend. I was done with my secondaries in Oct. and have been offered only 1 interview. I've read in other forums that the end of January is a bleak time point for us hopefuls. Nevertheless, I think that planning ahead for another round is never a bad idea and you can apply a lot of the lessons you learned from this cycle to the next. Good luck!
 
*sigh* is it really that bleak? I don't even know any viable plan B options other than re-applying next year.
 
What I am going to say,lot of people will not agree, but it is your South Asian descent which is holding you back.
Every school probably will deny that they have a quota for South Asian and they will not take more after that. If it is an open merit more that 30% will be south Asians in the medical schools. With your MCAT you should have 2-4 acceptance by now. Cincinnati has offered to a person with 36MCAT and 3.3 GPA, Arkansas last year offered with 35/2.9. You probably will get in eventually in Florida. For next year try the Georgetown postbach that will improve your GPA and you can really go for the upper tear schools. The whole admission process is very arbitrary there is no science involved in it. More than 60% of the students have professional write their personal statement and all this EC stuff is very subjective and not truthful. There are only two things which are very objective MCAT and GPA.
Good Luck and hang in there.
 
Food said:
*sigh* is it really that bleak? I don't even know any viable plan B options other than re-applying next year.
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Your BCPM GPA is slightly low. Maybe do a post-bacc?
 
KeyzerSoze said:
Your BCPM GPA is slightly low. Maybe do a post-bacc?
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Agreed. Also, the one major thing you are missing is research--is it too late to join a lab now that you could continue with post-graduation? Also, maybe do some shadowing or another clinical experience that involves sicker patients. The one thing I will say is that if you haven't been doing anything in this application year that would be an improvement on your application, it might be smarter to take 2 years off instead of 1.

As for sending in a letter of intent--when do the schools you have yet to hear back from generally stop interviewing? If their season ends in January, then a letter to UF at the end of this week would be in order (since their invites will have run out anyway)
 
I forgot to include my extra currics, so here they are.

I did 4 semesters of research - synthetic organic chem. No pubs, but I did do poster presentations at state conferences.

I also included a year of research I did in high school - Micro/molecular bio - that research was also presented at a state conference.

My volunteering was working with Lions Club (which focuses mainly on vision type service - providing poor with eye exams, vision correction, etc) and I helped out many of their vision clinics in college. It was a continuation of a high school activity. Also did hospital volunteering

That was really about it - in addition to my job as an MCAT teacher, and the usual memberships in campus clubs.

I didn't think I was lacking completely in any one particular area (except for a solid GPA) , but I guess I was wrong. I was hoping a 38 could cover my ass just a bit, which is why I retook from a 33. I really didn't expect this much trouble - I suppose it was foolish of me to think I was clear after a great MCAT.
 
scarletgirl777 said:
Agreed. Also, the one major thing you are missing is research--is it too late to join a lab now that you could continue with post-graduation? Also, maybe do some shadowing or another clinical experience that involves sicker patients. The one thing I will say is that if you haven't been doing anything in this application year that would be an improvement on your application, it might be smarter to take 2 years off instead of 1.

As for sending in a letter of intent--when do the schools you have yet to hear back from generally stop interviewing? If their season ends in January, then a letter to UF at the end of this week would be in order (since their invites will have run out anyway)
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One of the state schools that I sent an update letter to, USF, said they interview up until May. UF interviews until March. Most other schools run through to March - April.
 
Man, I'm sorry. That's a rough situation. Sorry I have nothing terribly constructive to add. The BCPM is probably what's hurting you -- if you decide to reapply, perhaps looking at your AMCAS app and having someone else re-read it will be helpful.
 
Also, why the 16 pre-secondary withdrawals?
 
Crickter said:
What I am going to say,lot of people will not agree, but it is your South Asian descent which is holding you back.
Every school probably will deny that they have a quota for South Asian and they will not take more after that. If it is an open merit more that 30% will be south Asians in the medical schools. With your MCAT you should have 2-4 acceptance by now. Cincinnati has offered to a person with 36MCAT and 3.3 GPA, Arkansas last year offered with 35/2.9. You probably will get in eventually in Florida. For next year try the Georgetown postbach that will improve your GPA and you can really go for the upper tear schools. The whole admission process is very arbitrary there is no science involved in it. More than 60% of the students have professional write their personal statement and all this EC stuff is very subjective and not truthful. There are only two things which are very objective MCAT and GPA.
Good Luck and hang in there.
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That's not true...is it?
 
phospho said:
nope... i wonder if people actually get these numbers from somewhere or just simply pull them out of their ass...
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Maybe he was just referring to the Georgetown program? Is that what you were referring to as well? (I'm just kind of curious is all).
 
KeyzerSoze said:
Also, why the 16 pre-secondary withdrawals?
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Oh wow, I missed that--I thought those were rejections. I would say given your new posts, OP, your problem is that you did not apply to every single state school. With that GPA, you should have applied to 20ish schools, including your state schools, if you wanted to be safe. Plus, looking at your list, you really only have 3 "mid-tier" schools. If you're not going to apply to all your state schools, then you at least need to apply to more mid-tiers.
 
KeyzerSoze said:
Also, why the 16 pre-secondary withdrawals?
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I ran out of money and could not afford to keep going with more applications. Also, I guess I was overly confident in my application. Otherwise I wouldn't have applied to that many top tier schools (NW, CW, Brown, Sinai, Mayo). And generally, just ran out of energy around that time of the year =/
 
Crickter said:
What I am going to say,lot of people will not agree, but it is your South Asian descent which is holding you back.
Every school probably will deny that they have a quota for South Asian and they will not take more after that. If it is an open merit more that 30% will be south Asians in the medical schools. With your MCAT you should have 2-4 acceptance by now. Cincinnati has offered to a person with 36MCAT and 3.3 GPA, Arkansas last year offered with 35/2.9. You probably will get in eventually in Florida. For next year try the Georgetown postbach that will improve your GPA and you can really go for the upper tear schools. The whole admission process is very arbitrary there is no science involved in it. More than 60% of the students have professional write their personal statement and all this EC stuff is very subjective and not truthful. There are only two things which are very objective MCAT and GPA.
Good Luck and hang in there.
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People have pros write their PS!? I'll look into that if I end up reapplying! 🙂
 
With a 38 you should have received more than one interview. Something else is holding you back. Could be the south-asian thing bu I doubt it. How good are your letters of rec, and what is the scope of the schools you applied to? Btw, you have been rejected from top schools, so its not that bad.
 
scarletgirl777 said:
Oh wow, I missed that--I thought those were rejections. I would say given your new posts, OP, your problem is that you did not apply to every single state school. With that GPA, you should have applied to 20ish schools, including your state schools, if you wanted to be safe. Plus, looking at your list, you really only have 3 "mid-tier" schools. If you're not going to apply to all your state schools, then you at least need to apply to more mid-tiers.
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I applied to every state school except FSU - namely UF, FIU, UCF, Miami. I do regret not applying to FSU.
 
OnlyNeedOneYes said:
People have pros write their PS!? I'll look into that if I end up reapplying! 🙂
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Some people do. Sad, desperate people. Apply to all your state schools and a wider variety of schools and your application will be fine.
 
gujuDoc said:
Wow with your numbers I'm shocked you've not got in anywhere yet. I'd improve your extracurriculars with more clinical voluteerism and what not and maybe consider doing a 1 year MS at USF i.e. their Anatomy program or Molecular Medicine program or something. might not need an SMP with those stats. But with your GPA I'm surprised they weren't more forgiving of your GPA. Either that or do another year of ugrad courses in higher level sciences.
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Amen gujuDoc. Also, I just noticed you quoted me in your signature. Coolio.
 
Food said:
I applied to every state school except FSU - namely UF, FIU, UCF, Miami. I do regret not applying to FSU.
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And USF? I think you already mentioned it.
 
Arkansas last year offered with 35/2.9.
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Hey, I had a 3.1. 🙁 Pretty sweet that I'm your example of a crappy applicant, though. Oh, and I definitely had a professional write my PS for me. How else was it supposed to be good? Everyone knows that pre-meds can't write.
 
gujuDoc said:
I sense some sarcasm. hahahahaha

I don't think its the southasian thing. Not sure what it is. I'd PM REL and see his opinion on your profile Food. He's pretty good at gauging what will help your situation for Fl. school admissions.
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Thanks - Just PMed him.
 
Hey Food,

I have similar stats... Well worse I guess, lower GPA etc, but same MCAT. Anyway, I applied to like 40 schools or something, and I have 4 interview offers so far, and they are all to schools I NEVER guessed would give me interviews. If you don't get in this cycle I can send you a list of the schools I applied to, but at this point, just in case, I'd save up for next cycle so you can apply more broadly. Also funny enough, the schools that I didn't expect interviews from are now also the schools that I would pick over any of them.

Good luck!
 
I think you are going to either get lucky late in the game or have to reapply. If you reapply use the What are my Chances? subforum to have SDNers help you pick better schools. You withdrew from schools you shouldn't have, imo.
 
Food, your MDapps indicates an insanely sloppy application cycle. even with a 3.4/33R you should have been able to pull off an acceptance had you applied intelligently, especially with a good state of residency like FL.

i don't really believe that you couldn't afford to file 16 secondaries. if you were really that strapped for cash you should have applied for an initial fee waiver. it really looks like you were lazy and didn't take the application process seriously. Not to mention your ECs are pretty lackluster and your GPA isn't particularly strong. Of course I can't comment on your LORs but from what i see on your MDapps i wouldn't be surprised if your application essays were unimpressive.

as for advice for this cycle - send that letter of intent to the school at which you interviewed immediately. it is not binding and noone will really fault you if you end up getting another interview that leads to an acceptance and renegging on your letter....however this scenario is VERY unlikely now that it is the end of january. Make sure you word your letter tactfully. As in, don't say "i will matriculate no matter what" but say that as things stand right now and if nothing changes i will definitely matriculate at your school.

now in case you don't get in this cycle which is likely, the most important thing you can do for next cycle is to get more clinical experience, do well senior yr (assuming you are still in school), maybe take 2 years off instead of 1 to get more experiences under your belt, definitely apply EARLY...getting your secondaries in early sept won't cut it. apply for a fee waiver if you have to and complete your app at every school you apply to. also you have to have a smarter list of schools. if you really want to be a doctor you have to take the app process more seriously and approach it with more humility.
 
For those who have only received none or very few interviews, I would say it is probably time to panic, but for those who have interviewed at a number of places, but just havent heard back or on a number of waitlists, Id say you still probably have a good shot.
 
skinMD said:
Food, your MDapps indicates an insanely sloppy application cycle. even with a 3.4/33R you should have been able to pull off an acceptance had you applied intelligently, especially with a good state of residency like FL.

i don't really believe that you couldn't afford to file 16 secondaries. if you were really that strapped for cash you should have applied for an initial fee waiver. it really looks like you were lazy and didn't take the application process seriously. Not to mention your ECs are pretty lackluster and your GPA isn't particularly strong. Of course I can't comment on your LORs but from what i see on your MDapps i wouldn't be surprised if your application essays were unimpressive.

as for advice for this cycle - send that letter of intent to the school at which you interviewed immediately. it is not binding and noone will really fault you if you end up getting another interview that leads to an acceptance and renegging on your letter....however this scenario is VERY unlikely now that it is the end of january. Make sure you word your letter tactfully. As in, don't say "i will matriculate no matter what" but say that as things stand right now and if nothing changes i will definitely matriculate at your school.

now in case you don't get in this cycle which is likely, the most important thing you can do for next cycle is to get more clinical experience, do well senior yr (assuming you are still in school), maybe take 2 years off instead of 1 to get more experiences under your belt, definitely apply EARLY...getting your secondaries in early sept won't cut it. apply for a fee waiver if you have to and complete your app at every school you apply to. also you have to have a smarter list of schools. if you really want to be a doctor you have to take the app process more seriously and approach it with more humility.
Click to expand...

I agree I had a "sloppy" admissions cycle. I do not know if my ECs were "lackluster". I do however acknowledge that they were probably "average". My GPA is reasonably below average. But I fail to see where you draw the connection between my MD apps and likely "unimpressive" essays. My MD apps is hardly complete, which is why I included supplemental information in this thread.

As for my apparent lack of humility with the application process...I guess what you are trying to say is that I did not choose a good selection of schools. I agree, but hindsight is 20/20. I acted foolishly as I acknowledged earlier.
 
I'm a little panic-y myself, so I'm inventing a dance, as illustrated below, the "Premed Panic." Please join in.


:banana::banana::zip::banana::banana:
​
 
It's already past Jan 21.. like I said, start working on a plan B if you haven't already. Decide if you'll apply again this coming year, or apply the next year and work on accumulating meaningful experiences/boosting GPA/etc. in the meantime so that will show on the AMCAS when you submit it. Your choice.
 
I think your MCAT score is too high for many schools to consider you. Alot of schools try to keep their median mcat scores at a 30-33, so if they let in too many 38 mcat people, then their median will go up. Your best options are probably limited to schools with high median mcats of 35-38. There are many people who have gotten into medical school with lower mcats and lower GPAs, so I wouldn't think that it is just your GPA that keeps the interviews from coming.

Just my guess though.
 
megamega said:
I think your MCAT score is too high for many schools to consider you. Alot of schools try to keep their median mcat scores at a 30-33, so if they let in too many 38 mcat people, then their median will go up. Your best options are probably limited to schools with high median mcats of 35-38. There are many people who have gotten into medical school with lower mcats and lower GPAs, so I wouldn't think that it is just your GPA that keeps the interviews from coming.

Just my guess though.
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too high?? hahaha..not likely..ithas to be something else in his app, lower than average gpa...bad LOR, etc.
 
megamega said:
I think your MCAT score is too high for many schools to consider you. Alot of schools try to keep their median mcat scores at a 30-33, so if they let in too many 38 mcat people, then their median will go up. Your best options are probably limited to schools with high median mcats of 35-38. There are many people who have gotten into medical school with lower mcats and lower GPAs, so I wouldn't think that it is just your GPA that keeps the interviews from coming.

Just my guess though.
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Definitely. That's gotta be it.
 
I'm actually amazed that QofQuimica got in. I thought they'd throw his app out right away when they saw that >40 score.
 
megamega said:
I think your MCAT score is too high for many schools to consider you. Alot of schools try to keep their median mcat scores at a 30-33, so if they let in too many 38 mcat people, then their median will go up. Your best options are probably limited to schools with high median mcats of 35-38. There are many people who have gotten into medical school with lower mcats and lower GPAs, so I wouldn't think that it is just your GPA that keeps the interviews from coming.

Just my guess though.
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I wish my MCAT was too high...
 
ChubbyChaser said:
too high?? hahaha..not likely..ithas to be something else in his app, lower than average gpa...bad LOR, etc.
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I think that's a good point. The letter of rec thing is something I have been thinking about a lot. Is it possible one of the writes wrote a bad letter?

I made sure to stress the word "positive" when I asked. I know for a fact that two of my recommenders had good reputations as "nice" professors. The third was also a pretty "nice" guy, and I did well in his class, went to his office quite a bit to talk about random things pertaining to the subject. I assumed the non-science person wrote a good rec, but I suppose I could be wrong. The doctor I shadowed wrote a good letter...(I sort of gave him ideas on what to write about - but from what I gather, this is very common).

Anyway...is it likely that I got a bad letter of rec? Just curious...I mean I know there is no really no way for most people to know...given the fact that these letters are contingent on waivers.
 
Food said:
I think that's a good point. The letter of rec thing is something I have been thinking about a lot. Is it possible one of the writes wrote a bad letter?

I made sure to stress the word "positive" when I asked. I know for a fact that two of my recommenders had good reputations as "nice" professors. The third was also a pretty "nice" guy, and I did well in his class, went to his office quite a bit to talk about random things pertaining to the subject. I assumed the non-science person wrote a good rec, but I suppose I could be wrong. The doctor I shadowed wrote a good letter...(I sort of gave him ideas on what to write about - but from what I gather, this is very common).

Anyway...is it likely that I got a bad letter of rec? Just curious...I mean I know there is no really no way for most people to know...given the fact that these letters are contingent on waivers.
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Wait, letter of recs should not be about who's the nice professor. When I was in high school applying for awards and colleges, my 2 nicest teachers wrote me the worst/most generic letters. I think that was partly because so many people were asking them and partly because when people are really nice, you can't tell if they like you specifically. Letters of rec should be from people who know you the best/longest--that should be the most important criterion by FAR. I'd say if you have to wonder about your letters of rec, that's a bad sign.
 
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scarletgirl777 said:
Wait, letter of recs should not be about who's the nice professor. When I was in high school applying for awards and colleges, my 2 nicest teachers wrote me the worst/most generic letters. I think that was partly because so many people were asking them and partly because when people are really nice, they can't tell if they like you specifically. Letters of rec should be from people who know you the best/longest--that should be the most important criterion by FAR. I'd say if you have to wonder about your letters of rec, that's a bad sign.
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Hrm...I see what you mean. Well my research supervisor, wrote me a character reference letter. I assumed he wrote me a good letter, he has always been very supportive, and I know him the "longest". I asked him about my other recommenders (every single of my science recommendations is from within the chemistry department) and he said they were known for writing pretty good letters. So I was speculating that I would be okay...
 
Food said:
Hrm...I see what you mean. Well my research supervisor, wrote me a character reference letter. I assumed he wrote me a good letter, he has always been very supportive, and I know him the "longest". I asked him about my other recommenders (every single of my science recommendations is from within the chemistry department) and he said they were known for writing pretty good letters. So I was speculating that I would be okay...
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Did you have a non-science letter? Like a work supervisor outside of research or a non-science professor? Did you know him/her well?
 
scarletgirl777 said:
Did you have a non-science letter? Like a work supervisor outside of research or a non-science professor? Did you know him/her well?
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the non-science letter was from a language professor. She knew me pretty well, because she was doing research on the demographics of immigrant populations from specific parts of the world, and she asked me (along with 2 other students) a number of questions for her work. So I really didn't think she would write anything negative.

My last letter was a letter from the doctor I shadowed in Jacksonville. And we knew each other pretty well, as he is a family friend...and again - I don't think he would have put anything negative. My father and he are great pals.

That really just leaves the 3 science letters. One from research supervisor, who was never overtly disappointed with my work. In fact, I ended up taking a graduate course in organic spectroscopy, from him - and I was hoping that would have a positive impact on the recommendation he would write for me. My Pchem 2 professor liked me, because I would profess my love for quantum mechanics to him, whenever I could. My Biochem / advanced biochem professor was a guy I took 2 classes from - so I figured it was a good idea. He was a very nice guy - I mean in every way possible. Again - he knew my name, I had spent a lot of time in his office hours. All of the grades in those classes were either B+ or A. And I asked every single one about a "positive" letter...dunno if that matters lol.
 
Anyway - I am starting to face the probable truth - reapplying. I think I will most likely re-apply right away, this June - if things don't work out before then. I don't know if an SPM is worth it - I don't think I can raise my GPA by a whole lot. At least I will not have to worry about MCAT. I can possibly work a second job that is somehow medically related? I think this is getting tougher and tougher with the current economic climate - there are far more experienced people competing for these low level jobs now, unfortunately. In any case, I will do my best to greatly increase volunteering, I think that is all I really can do at this point.

Does anyone know about the procedure regarding letter of recs - IF you reapply? Do you have to get new ones? (I would assume so). I will check with my on-campus letter service tomorrow. I am also making arrangements to begin more hospital volunteering - and this is something I indicated in my update letters. (BTW, my update letters were marked as 'received' last week - so I think I will hold out on a glimmer of hope for at least a few more days.)
 
Food said:
Anyway - I am starting to face the probable truth - reapplying. I think I will most likely re-apply right away, this June - if things don't work out before then. I don't know if an SPM is worth it - I don't think I can raise my GPA by a whole lot. At least I will not have to worry about MCAT. I can possibly work a second job that is somehow medically related? I think this is getting tougher and tougher with the current economic climate - there are far more experienced people competing for these low level jobs now, unfortunately. In any case, I will do my best to greatly increase volunteering, I think that is all I really can do at this point.

Does anyone know about the procedure regarding letter of recs - IF you reapply? Do you have to get new ones? (I would assume so). I will check with my on-campus letter service tomorrow. I am also making arrangements to begin more hospital volunteering - and this is something I indicated in my update letters. (BTW, my update letters were marked as 'received' last week - so I think I will hold out on a glimmer of hope for at least a few more days.)
Click to expand...
Well, it sounds like there's nothing wrong with your letters 🙁 It looks like it's just that your list was not reasonable. I guess I would say this time around totally redo your PS and have several people look at it, apply more broadly, and you should be set. The problem with an SMP is that it's high risk. They're very expensive, and if you don't do well you're SOL...but your science GPA is too low to be comfortable, so if you're taking any science classes this semester you should aim to ace them. If you get rejected from UF, it would be a good idea to ask them if they'll tell you how you could improve.
 
I'm panicking, so yes, it's a good time.
 
I know UF has some somewhat limited post-bacc options (which might help with the GPA situation). Your best bet might be to talk to our pre-med advisor regarding this sort of thing. It probably won't be a fun conversation, but insofar as UF is concerned, he knows what he's talking about, I would say. Maybe he will have some useful suggestions.
 
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