I would agree and disagree with several of the comments posted on this thread. I have now successfully applied and gotten into both medical and dental school (long story) and been heavily involved in the process for several years. I have been teaching discussion sections for a core required class at a major university and watched 8 years of students apply/interview for medical/dental schools. As a very friendly TA I have gotten to know most of the students passing through very well. I can safely say that I know most of them better than any admissions committee would ever be able to. I have seen dishonest students CHEAT their way through the course and get into good medical/dental schools (yes, they got caught and were failed). I have seen the most obnoxious and stupid people you could ever meet get in to medical/dental school. I have seen people get in who I would never ever in a million years choose to be my doctor. And I have watched those who I would choose slip through the cracks and get rejected. During one particular interview, a dean of admissions stated, "You know, a lot of this admissions process is just dumb luck. Just because you don't get in, doesn't mean you're not qualified. It depends on who interviews you, when the committee talks about you, and who was talked about before and after you."
After applying to medical school, I went and talked with the dean of admissions of my number one choice school (where I was not accepted). I asked him how I could improve my application, and he said I couldn't. He told me that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my application. Everybody on the ADCOM loved me. They had nothing negative to say. There were just too many white males applying to the school and I didn't get in (yes, being a white male puts me at a disadvantage and being a female gives you the advantage. We all know it, we just avoid/deny it - I'm not saying it's wrong, it's just the way it is). I will have to say that although you application/stats/personal statement play a large roll in the application process, there is a large random factor included in the acceptances. I have been told straight out that I would get into a particular dental/medical school by my interviewer and not gotten in. I have been told by interviewers and other students during group interviewers that I interview exceptionally well. When I applied to med school they had to make a special attachment for the application just for me because the original wasn't big enough to list all my extracurricular activities. The last interview I had I was told that the only reason I wouldn't get into that particular school was because they had already accepted too many people from my state. I got into 2/14 medical schools I applied to and so far only 1/14 dental schools. I say all this not to be cocky, but to make a point.
So, what have I learned from all this? First and most important: when you apply you have to be OK with the fact that you might not get in (or into your first choice school). You have to be OK with reapplying. You have to be OK with getting rejected from schools. It's not because you suck. There IS some randomness to the process. No, it's not fair, but it's just the way it is. Sometimes it's who you know. Sometimes it's cause you show your panties a lot on online forums and get male interviewers who are horn-dogs (it happens). Sometimes it's because daddy pays the school a lot of money. So to sum it all up, if you don't get in and you have a descent application, suck it up, swallow your pride, and apply again.
) let me be the first to tell you that it's not just numbers and adcom's methods are anything but random!
