- Joined
- Jul 8, 2020
- Messages
- 102
- Reaction score
- 480
I'm finally able to share my story with a happy ending. Four application cycles, 3 MCATs, 50+ medical schools, thousands of dollars on secondaries, tons of rejections, and countless tears/mental breakdowns later, I can finally say that I have been accepted into my dream school (a US MD program).
I have to admit, I was emotionally broken last year (my 3rd cycle) when I couldn't get pulled from my very first waitlist at this school (they even placed me in the upper tier waitlist). I applied to a Caribbean school out of desperation and got an instant acceptance but quickly came back to my senses and withdrew from that option. This cycle, my only interview was last week at my dream school (my third interview there), and I am beyond grateful to say that I was accepted.
I'm sharing my journey not to encourage applying to medical school with low stats, but to let others know that the process can be excruciating, and that metrics absolutely matter. I tricked myself into thinking that numbers don't matter as much (bc I thought I was hot stuff with my ECs and such), but I've learned the hard way that they do. The feedback from my prior applications was always the same: "improve your MCAT/GPA." I used to think that the gurus on SDN were insensitive and callous, but now I see that they were just being brutally honest.
During my most recent gap year, I completed an SMP and continued my research fellowship at a federal agency. I focused on improving my GPA (earned a 3.8 in my masters), and it paid off. I received my interview last week and an acceptance call today.
To those of you who might be thinking of applying with bad stats, I want to be clear: metrics matter. No matter how much of a superstar you think you are, med schools don't dance around the numbers. I'm a very lucky outlier who's incredibly grateful for my acceptance, and I hope that my pre-med journey can serve as a cautionary tale for others.
I have to admit, I was emotionally broken last year (my 3rd cycle) when I couldn't get pulled from my very first waitlist at this school (they even placed me in the upper tier waitlist). I applied to a Caribbean school out of desperation and got an instant acceptance but quickly came back to my senses and withdrew from that option. This cycle, my only interview was last week at my dream school (my third interview there), and I am beyond grateful to say that I was accepted.
I'm sharing my journey not to encourage applying to medical school with low stats, but to let others know that the process can be excruciating, and that metrics absolutely matter. I tricked myself into thinking that numbers don't matter as much (bc I thought I was hot stuff with my ECs and such), but I've learned the hard way that they do. The feedback from my prior applications was always the same: "improve your MCAT/GPA." I used to think that the gurus on SDN were insensitive and callous, but now I see that they were just being brutally honest.
During my most recent gap year, I completed an SMP and continued my research fellowship at a federal agency. I focused on improving my GPA (earned a 3.8 in my masters), and it paid off. I received my interview last week and an acceptance call today.
To those of you who might be thinking of applying with bad stats, I want to be clear: metrics matter. No matter how much of a superstar you think you are, med schools don't dance around the numbers. I'm a very lucky outlier who's incredibly grateful for my acceptance, and I hope that my pre-med journey can serve as a cautionary tale for others.
