Lessons I learned from this application cycle

[NYCdude]

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+1 for sure, I know a lot of people who "couldn't afford" apps but are the same people who eat at expensive restaurants 4-5 times a week or spend their money partying etc. Applying to medical school is an investment towards your life, you have to look at applying like that.

On the flip side, I know a girl who has to work to support her parents, qualified for the fee waiver, and still applied to an extra 20-30 schools using her hard earned money just for a shot at the dream. Seems like for some people, getting into med school is just a formality or something they "deserve."

 

[miamiheatfan]

On the flip side, I know a girl who has to work to support her parents, qualified for the fee waiver, and still applied to an extra 20-30 schools using her hard earned money just for a shot at the dream. Seems like for some people, getting into med school is just a formality or something they "deserve."

I respect that so much! Yes seriously, I know people who only applied to 7-10 schools when I know they could've applied to more, to make matters worse they applied to reach schools, and they are pouting because they aren't seeing the success they thought they "deserved"- just like you said.

Anyone reading this, no one is entitled to anything when applying to medical school. Approach this process humbly and sooner or later you'll get good results!

 

[ridethecliche]

Damn RTC, I feel like one of your favorite pocket squares got ruined this morning.

This made me lol. It's probably more to do with the fact that I wore tweed pants today and my office is warm and I am sweating my balls off. I should go change into scrubs. brb.

This times 1,000. Sell all of your worldly possessions to finance the secondary fees for 40 apps if you have a low GPA. I'm sort of regretting not doing this.

Seriously. I applied to 45 schools in mid august. I have had 3 interviews so far, 1 acceptance and 1 rejection, and 3 more interviews in the next 2 weeks. I haven't heard from over 20 places but will be sending in an update letter this week that should lead to some movement I hope.

+1 for sure, I know a lot of people who "couldn't afford" apps but are the same people who eat at expensive restaurants 4-5 times a week or spend their money partying etc. Applying to medical school is an investment towards your life, you have to look at applying like that.

Yeah... I've spent the majority of the last year and a half trying to balance some play with saving up for this cycle. I was super lucky to qualify for FAP (never thought anyone would ever say that...), but I would have been back to eating ramen again if I wasn't.

 

[Omppu27]

I figured I would share some vital things I learned during my application experience. If any premeds happen to see this, I think it would be of some benefit. Also, feel free to post what you learned as well!

1.) APPLY EARLY APPLY EARLY APPLY EARLY. Seriously, I can't stress enough how important this is. Even on SDN, the importance of applying early might not be hyped enough. I made the completely stupid decision to apply in July and it probably hurt me in terms of the number of opportunities I might have lost.

Looking back, if I had to do it again, I would have every single thing about my application ready as early as humanly possible. Like I would bug the heck out of my premed office to get my Committee Letter ready, have the primary app ready to go, and hire the world's fastest mouse clicker to submit the app as soon as it was possible to be submitted.

2.) Spend as much time possible making sure your personal statement is amazing. At one of my interviews, the dean of admissions mentioned that the personal statement BY ITSELF constituted an entire factor equal to or on par with the level of importance given to the interview itself. Write bazillions of drafts, get it checked over, and edit, edit, edit. I happen to think my PS was pretty good but even then, I think I should have spent much more time on it.

3.) Apply broadly, this is not the time to skimp on money. Don't underestimate just how tough it is to get into med school. Keep your options as wide open as possible. It's better to fork over the extra 500-600 dollars for a few more well matched schools (Oh yeah, get the MSAR), rather than have to spend thousands more for a new reapplication cycle. I'm very fortunate that I got into a school while only applying to 10 or 11 like an idiot. I was shocked at just how fast I started to run out of options when schools started putting me on hold and rejecting me.

4.) Don't stress! I found myself too stressed and upset a lot of the time throughout this whole process and it definitely affected me negatively. Worst comes to worst, you reapply, so what? There are people who don't even have the option of applying to medical school due to various circumstances, count your blessings and keep firm!

These are the things that stood out to me but I can probably think of more things later on.

1. Yes. You don't want to leave yourself thinking, "I wonder if I would have maybe an II or two more right now if I just would've submitted earlier." Also, ask you letter writers about your LOR around April. This will give them plenty of time. My application was complete at schools probably 4-6 weeks later than it should have been since I had to wait for one of my science LOR writers...

2. Eh, I think the PS is more important for some applicants than others. You obviously want it to be your best piece of writing, but depending on your application it might not be weighted so high. However, for schools that stress things like community service, serving the underserved, faith (eg Loma Linda), the PS can help them identify applicants that might be a better fit at their school.

3. Yes. Don't be naive.

4. Easier said than done 🙂

 

[fancymylotus]

This made me lol. It's probably more to do with the fact that I wore tweed pants today and my office is warm and I am sweating my balls off. I should go change into scrubs. brb.



Seriously. I applied to 45 schools in mid august. I have had 3 interviews so far, 1 acceptance and 1 rejection, and 3 more interviews in the next 2 weeks. I haven't heard from over 20 places but will be sending in an update letter this week that should lead to some movement I hope.



Yeah... I've spent the majority of the last year and a half trying to balance some play with saving up for this cycle. I was super lucky to qualify for FAP (never thought anyone would ever say that...), but I would have been back to eating ramen again if I wasn't.

Tweed pants? Someone's fancy. I'm wearing spandex gym pants under my white coat. No one can tell 😀

 

[RedPhys]

Your application isn't complete till everything is received. No one cares that they're waiting for your letter. You're not a special flower. I really like that incredible insight that the rest of the application should be complete prior to the letter. Marvelous insight really, nobel worthy!

It took me over 2 months from submitting my secondary to being complete at drexel because of their backlog. People complete in july were interviewing when I was complete. So please stop your kvetching to yourself till you go through the process.

You cannot dispute that there is less of a backlog at schools for early applications. For that reason alone, I would recommend people getting their crap in early.

Do you see that 'accepted' next to my name? I applied mid august and I got in before Christmas. I'm no super star, but I know people with similar stats that were interviewing at schools when I was marked complete. Yes, the rest of their application was probably very different, but schools are definitely more lenient with interviews till the point where they can see what their class is shaping up like.

Schools don't pay much attention to your stuff till you're complete, some schools like tufts don't want you to submit the secondary till the rest of the stuff is about in.

I never said august is late. I said it is not early. There's a big difference between being early and being 'on time'. Now please, stop extrapolating and let people that are actually going through the process or have gone through it talk.

Got it? Good.

... calm down, man. I'm going through the process myself at the moment. My stuff was complete mid-September (with my below 70 LizzyM score) and I've gotten two interviews, one of them being offered to me within a month of being complete. Sorry if it didn't seem clear I am also going through interviews and stuff like you because I'm not so transparent, but I am.

I'm just saying that the OP should not freak out or worry if his committee letter is sent in mid-August. Hell, my own undergraduate school does committee letters. Schools understand that committee letters take time, and so they most likely won't be sent out until, at the earliest (in my cycle's experience, from my school) beginning of August.

 

[ridethecliche]

... calm down, man. I'm going through the process myself at the moment. My stuff was complete mid-September (with my below 70 LizzyM score) and I've gotten two interviews, one of them being offered to me within a month of being complete. Sorry if it didn't seem clear I am also going through interviews and stuff like you because I'm not so transparent, but I am.

I'm just saying that the OP should not freak out or worry if his committee letter is sent in mid-August. Hell, my own undergraduate school does committee letters. Schools understand that committee letters take time, and so they most likely won't be sent out until, at the earliest (in my cycle's experience, from my school) beginning of August.

I never said they should freak out... I said it's better if it gets in earlier. Plenty of schools don't do committee letters. Sure they're a nice service, but are the schools that students pay tens of thousands of dollars to attend serve the students or are they self serving. The entire process could be moved up or have two dates.

The letters are certainly a ton of work and I'm not discounting that, merely saying that the entire process could be moved up if the school cared enough to do it.

 

[beachside]

This times 1,000. Sell all of your worldly possessions to finance the secondary fees for 40 apps if you have a low GPA. I'm sort of regretting not doing this.

I wish I would have applied more broadly as well. I still got accepted to a good school, but it could have been better. Sometimes you can't predict who will offer you an interview. Those damn secondaries essays are rough though. I really wish more schools prescreened before sending those out. They just want our application fee money, which is why they send them to everyone.

 

[hoihaie]

Agreed.

Lessons of my own...

1) I applied to alotta schools and I was super anxious to return all my secondaries in less than 3 days. I wish some one would've assured me that it was ok to take longer. Quality>speed. I totally burnt myself out at the end and didn't turn in secondary for 2 schools.

2) expect the worse and hope for nothing. This way the silence and rejections hurt a little less.

3) always apply to mayo! No secondaries and such a good school. Too bad I didn't get to the interview stage... 🙁

4) find something meaningful to do during the app year.

5) it is tempting to exaggerate your experiences. Don't.

 

[NervousNerd]

Yep. That is in fact what I did. I submitted everything on my end and my application wasn't complete until my school came around to sending in my committee letter.

Can vouch everything you've said in this thread! There is a method to this madness!

Ps--- see you next year at upstate!!?!?!?

 

[NYCdude]

Agreed.

Lessons of my own...

1) I applied to alotta schools and I was super anxious to return all my secondaries in less than 3 days. I wish some one would've assured me that it was ok to take longer. Quality>speed. I totally burnt myself out at the end and didn't turn in secondary for 2 schools.

2) expect the worse and hope for nothing. This way the silence and rejections hurt a little less.

3) always apply to mayo! No secondaries and such a good school. Too bad I didn't get to the interview stage... 🙁

4) find something meaningful to do during the app year.

5) it is tempting to exaggerate your experiences. Don't.

Haha what do you mean by this?

 

[NYCdude]

Can vouch everything you've said in this thread! There is a method to this madness!

Ps--- see you next year at upstate!!?!?!?

Haha, most likely! I don't have any interviews coming up.

 

[NervousNerd]

Haha, most likely! I don't have any interviews coming up.

Same!! Message me if you care to talk more at any point in the cycle!

 

[beachside]

I've actually got one more piece of unsolicited helpful advice. When you first submit your primary AMCAS application, you only have to submit it for one school to get AMCAS to start evaluating your application/transcripts (which takes a few weeks). If you are not yet complete with your letters of recommendation, and prepared to start writing secondaries, then do not add more than one school to your primary AMCAS application. I got seriously boned when I submitted three schools initially to get the ball rolling, and two immediately came back and demanded the completion of the application within 2 weeks. It was literally impossible for me to complete those applications at the time... so I finished them about two months later. Needless to say, I didn't get invited for an interview at either school. To make it worse, they were two of my top choice schools. What I should have done is submitted only one school on my initial AMCAS application, and then added the other 20+ when my MCAT/letters/etc were within a few weeks of being complete.

 

[gyngyn]

I'm just saying that the OP should not freak out or worry if his committee letter is sent in mid-August. Hell, my own undergraduate school does committee letters. Schools understand that committee letters take time, and so they most likely won't be sent out until, at the earliest (in my cycle's experience, from my school) beginning of August.

Not really. It's unfortunate that the students are put at a disadvantage, but no one was waiting around for (name of school) to finally get their committee letter out. Invitations went to those whose aps were ready and by the time the committee letter was released there were very few spots left (at least in CA).

edit: I probably shouldn't call out one school since more than one was late this year.

 

[RedPhys]

Not really. It's unfortunate that the students are put at a disadvantage, but no one was waiting around for (name of school) to finally get their committee letter out. Invitations went to those whose aps were ready and by the time the committee letter was released there were very few spots left (at least in CA).

edit: I probably shouldn't call out one school since more than one was late this year.

Thanks for the information.

 

[sunflower18]

My own lessons:

Something major that I learned was to apply to your dream schools and just see what happens. I was offered interviews at schools that I thought were way beyond my caliber, and I'm glad I took a chance and sent out apps to those schools.

I also learned that traveling for interviews is fun and exciting, but also exhausting, costly, and can bring up a lot of insecurities. It's nerve-wracking to spend an entire day trying to impress people who you know are judging you, and then to wait for them to tell you what they thought of you weeks or months after the fact. But dwelling is not useful, and I wish I had come to that conclusion earlier.

Also, I've met some truly wonderful people on SDN and along the interview trail that I have become very close to, and that I hope to be friends with for a long time. It's really special to have the opportunity to bond with people from all over the country and hear about their unique experiences and perspectives.

This cycle has been a rollercoaster but I'm so happy that I've been able to experience it. 🙂

 

[hoihaie]

Haha what do you mean by this?

I have friends/acquaintances who greatly exaggerated on their apps making the ECs sound so much better than what they really are. and many of them have gotten interviews in July and August (esp from schools that i really wanted a shot at) while I was still working on my secondaries, so i had the devil on my shoulder thinking if I also did what they did, i would get interviews as well. It was tempting, especially facing the uncertainty that plagues many of us during this process.

Glad I didn't though, because I don't think i would've felt comfortable and deserving of whatever "good" that would've came out of that.

 

[NYCdude]

I have friends/acquaintances who greatly exaggerated on their apps making the ECs sound so much better than what they really are. and many of them have gotten interviews in July and August (esp from schools that i really wanted a shot at) while I was still working on my secondaries, so i had the devil on my shoulder thinking if I also did what they did, i would get interviews as well. It was tempting, especially facing the uncertainty that plagues many of us during this process.

Glad I didn't though, because I don't think i would've felt comfortable and deserving of whatever "good" that would've came out of that.

Wow, that's terrible! It sucks that people get away with this stuff so easily and don't face any serious repercussions. But good on you for not stooping to that level. At least you have a clear conscience and can trust yourself to not fall into temptation when the going gets tough. Kudos!

 

[hoihaie]

Wow, that's terrible! It sucks that people get away with this stuff so easily and don't face any serious repercussions. But good on you for not stooping to that level. At least you have a clear conscience and can trust yourself to not fall into temptation when the going gets tough. Kudos!

yeah.... but oh wells. What people may or may not deserve is not something I should be judging on, especially when i have many of my own faults.

Though i can't say for certain that the next time a greater temptation comes i'll be able to resist it, i can trust myself to at least think back on this experience and hopefully remember how glad I am to not have done something i would regret! How awesome are life lessons, right??

 

[ridethecliche]

I have friends/acquaintances who greatly exaggerated on their apps making the ECs sound so much better than what they really are. and many of them have gotten interviews in July and August (esp from schools that i really wanted a shot at) while I was still working on my secondaries, so i had the devil on my shoulder thinking if I also did what they did, i would get interviews as well. It was tempting, especially facing the uncertainty that plagues many of us during this process.

Glad I didn't though, because I don't think i would've felt comfortable and deserving of whatever "good" that would've came out of that.

Welcome to reality.

You sold yourself short. Embellishing a bit is okay if you're not fabricating stuff. The bs falls apart during interviews

 

[turayza]

My own lessons:

Something major that I learned was to apply to your dream schools and just see what happens. I was offered interviews at schools that I thought were way beyond my caliber, and I'm glad I took a chance and sent out apps to those schools.

I also learned that traveling for interviews is fun and exciting, but also exhausting, costly, and can bring up a lot of insecurities. It's nerve-wracking to spend an entire day trying to impress people who you know are judging you, and then to wait for them to tell you what they thought of you weeks or months after the fact. But dwelling is not useful, and I wish I had come to that conclusion earlier.

Also, I've met some truly wonderful people on SDN and along the interview trail that I have become very close to, and that I hope to be friends with for a long time. It's really special to have the opportunity to bond with people from all over the country and hear about their unique experiences and perspectives.

This cycle has been a rollercoaster but I'm so happy that I've been able to experience it. 🙂

Seconded! After spending way too much time looking at average GPA/MCAT of schools and arranging my list to what seemed acceptable to SDN, I ended up invited to more of my "reach" schools than my "target" ones!

A tip for the interview trail--take advantage of student host programs whenever possible. Not only will you save money, but you will get a better feel for the student culture and environment, as well as insider perspectives on what the school/curriculum/local area is like.

 

[Scribblers]

Everyone above has given great advice for applying in general, but as I look forward to planning something to do in what I am expecting to be my Last Summer Ever, there is some pragmatic advice I got from my student interviewer at UVA that I wish I had known about back in July.

If you find yourself flying a lot to interviews, I would highly recommend signing up for a frequent flyer program AND a travel rewards card that you pay off as you go. Between the actual flying you do for interviews, the 2-to-1 mile bonuses you get booking flights with some cards, and the sign-up bonus, this can get you an absolute ton of miles to dedicate to something FUN after all the stress. Just remember to cancel the stuff when you're done.

I did some napkin math and basically missed an opportunity to have a free round-trip flight to Europe (that I am now saving money for) by not doing this, and I flew substantially less than some other applicants.