Late applicant going insane waiting

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donaldduckfanatic

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donaldduckfanatic said:
Hey all, Im a Canadian applicant who submitted secondaries from mid to late September to about 10 schools and have only heard back from 3 with 1 II and 2 Rs. The school I interviewed at has a low post II admissions rate and my MCAT is below their median. Without taking my II into account, when is it time to assume Rs from all those schools. My LM is 76. Does anyone know if Thanksgiving is still the day to start worrying even for late submissions? Also do we know if International students are given interviews later than US?
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You have a II before Thanksgiving. That generally bodes well.

Hard to say if schools would slot international students later, but you did submit your application late. It is very possible, maybe even likely, that your remaining schools simply haven't gotten to you yet.

Until then, don't give up hope and focus on what you can do to strengthen your application further if need be.
 
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donaldduckfanatic said:
Hey all, Im a Canadian applicant who submitted secondaries from mid to late September to about 10 schools and have only heard back from 3 with 1 II and 2 Rs. The school I interviewed at has a low post II admissions rate and my MCAT is below their median. Without taking my II into account, when is it time to assume Rs from all those schools. My LM is 76. Does anyone know if Thanksgiving is still the day to start worrying even for late submissions? Also do we know if International students are given interviews later than US?
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The start worrying on Thanksgiving if you don't have an interview invitation is a myth and false. Many (if not most) schools send out invitations in to January and February and some into March.

Keep busy doing things you enjoy and that will improve your chances of acceptance. That will take your mind off the deafening silence.

Congrats on the 1 II.

Edit 11/26: Please see this post for clarification of my point here.
 
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LindaAccepted said:
The start worrying on Thanksgiving if you don't have an interview invitation is a myth and false. Many (if not most) schools send out invitations in to January and February and some into March.

Keep busy doing things you enjoy and that will improve your chances of acceptance. That will take your mind off the deafening silence.

Congrats on the 1 II.
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It is not that interview invites do not go out after Thanksgiving but that one should not worry excessively before Thanksgiving, the cycle is still young. (So many here are distraught not to have an interview by October 1st.)

Although some interview invites do go out after Thanksgiving, if one is to get an offer of admission in the cycle, I do think that it is very likely that the person will have at least one interview invite by Thanksgiving. And, I'd also wager that most applicants who do not get in anywhere will not have an interview invitation by Thanksgiving (many applicants will get nothing over the entire cycle). So, that is the time to double down on thinking about what would need to be done as a reapplicant.

When do you think that people who don't have any interviews should start worrying? Do you agree that people without an interview in September and October should not be stressed out?
 
Thanks all for replying! I have a q for whoever can answer. Im a canadian applicant who has no ties to the US (Ive never lived, volunteered, or worked there) and I came upon a thread where an adcom was giving advice to a rejected applicant letting them know that it could possibly be the lack of clinical experience in the US. I have over 500 clinical hours as a volunteer in Canada. Could this possibly be the reason for the silence? I have one II from WashU which I am extremely excited about, but Ive recently learnt that they have a high II rate and most high stat applicants get an interview there so I still feel as though there is a red flag somewhere in my application. I have thousands of research hours and a pub in a high IF journal, have 500+ non clinical and 500+ clinical volunteering hours, leadership at an NGO that relates to my story, and tutoring and research awards. i dont know where i went wrong to try to improve for the next cycle if i have to reapply.
 
donaldduckfanatic said:
it could possibly be the lack of clinical experience in the US. I have over 500 clinical hours as a volunteer in Canada. Could this possibly be the reason for the silence?
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How many schools did you apply to? Are you sure they are friendly to international applicants? You've got one which is good but you should always be improving until you have an offer. Any luck in Canada?
 
LizzyM said:
How many schools did you apply to? Are you sure they are friendly to international applicants? You've got one which is good but you should always be improving until you have an offer. Any luck in Canada?
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About 10, mostly top schools because i found that those are the ones that consider canadians as OOS. The Canadian cycle isnt rolling and we start hearing back late Jan. Do you think i shot myself in the foot applying this late? I thought i had a very cohesive narrative and an interesting life story but this silence is making me doubt my whole app.
 
donaldduckfanatic said:
About 10, mostly top schools because i found that those are the ones that consider canadians as OOS. The Canadian cycle isnt rolling and we start hearing back late Jan. Do you think i shot myself in the foot applying this late? I thought i had a very cohesive narrative and an interesting life story but this silence is making me doubt my whole app.
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How late are we talking? If you just applied like a week ago then yeah that's problematically late.
 
secondaries mid-to-late September are later than my recommendation of first Monday in September (the American celebration of Labor Day). So, between arriving late and being non-citizen, you might be at the back of the line.

I also wonder if there is some legitimate concern on the part of med school that it may be more difficult to get students visas in 2025 than it has been in the past.
 
LizzyM said:
It is not that interview invites do not go out after Thanksgiving but that one should not worry excessively before Thanksgiving, the cycle is still young. (So many here are distraught not to have an interview by October 1st.)

Although some interview invites do go out after Thanksgiving, if one is to get an offer of admission in the cycle, I do think that it is very likely that the person will have at least one interview invite by Thanksgiving. And, I'd also wager that most applicants who do not get in anywhere will not have an interview invitation by Thanksgiving (many applicants will get nothing over the entire cycle). So, that is the time to double down on thinking about what would need to be done as a reapplicant.

When do you think that people who don't have any interviews should start worrying? Do you agree that people without an interview in September and October should not be stressed out?
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Thank you @LizzyM for asking your thoughtful question. I shouldn't have used "worrying" in my previous post.

My main point is that med school applicants should prepare for the possibility of reapplication long before they know or believe or are concerned about rejection in this cycle. As you know and per AAMC, almost 58% of applicants are rejected so confidence about acceptance is not warranted. Even among those with GPAs >3.79 and MCATs > 517 there is a ~17% rejection rate.

Frankly, med school applicants should give themselves a short break after submitting their last secondary, and then start preparing for the possibility of reapplication -- while at the same time doing everything they can to get accepted this cycle. The latter would mean sending updates to schools that value them and when the schools want them, prepping for each interview, sending thank you's to interviewers if one has their card, etc.

There is also overlap as I indicated in my previous post in terms of improving your qualifications for this cycle and for next cycle. For example, if you clinical experience is on the low side and you are now working full-time as a scribe or MA, you will have a lot of experience to reflect on and talk/write about in an interview or update letter. You can also highlight that additional insight in a reapplication. If it's the MCAT, prepare for and retake, but start preparing not when it's clear you are rejected. Start preparing early enough so that you have plenty of time to prepare and get a score back before you submit your primary app. You can schedule the MCAT for March 21 or early April. By then, if you don't have an II, it's pretty obvious you're not getting any and you will get your score back before you submit your primary.

Furthermore these activities -- being realistic about the prospects for acceptance, improving your qualifications and preparing for a reapplication -- will also lessen "worrying" and stress if rejected this cycle.

And the final element that is improvable in a reapplication is the presentation of one's qualifications. That you should start focusing on in March or April. of the cycle in which you plan to apply.
 
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