My plan- Does this make sense?

[nabilesmail]

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Hey guys, now that the semester is over, I'd like to get some feedback on my plan.
Quick Summary: Applied late last year with a 3.74/34 MCAT, got 4 late interviews and waitlisted. However, during the application year, I kind of bombed my courses and received a 3.0 for my senior year. Bad trend :/

Reapplied this cycle with a 3.6/3.64 34 MCAT to 30 schools, most of which are low tier (aside from alma meter, state schools, and 1-2 schools I liked). I have one interview coming up in 2 weeks. I'm hoping for the best and preparing for the worse.

I decided to stay in school to raise my GPA trend, took 16 units and got a 4.0. Though the rigor of this is questionable as 6 units were General Eds Pass/No Pass (I suck at Spanish (though I ended up getting an A in both), and the other 10 units were Stats, and two research oriented classes. I was given advice not to update schools with these grades as they may further lead to questions about if I have truly bounced back, so I won't be updating, but I understand that the grades will help me if I apply again as I doubt admissions thoroughly looks at every single semester's courseload etc.

If I don't get in this cycle (most probably), I have two options.

Option 1: Take a 18 units rigorous courseload and study my butt off. Because I'm not a post-bacc student , this would combine with my other senior year and my GPA for senior year would be around a 3.5.

It would look like this on my application:

Freshman: 3.72
Sophomore: 3.74
Junior: 3.82
Senior : 3.5 (as opposed to 3.0 right now)
CGPA: 3.66ish

While the senior year still looks a bit off, I don't think it looks near as bad as how it looks on this application cycle (Senior : 3.0). However, after two application cycles, I'm a bit insecure on whether or not I would get in with this one year grade redemption. I also absolutely HATE being in undergrad. It feels so wrong for me to be there and I truly can't stand it. Also, I would have to submit an appeal to get financial aid if I were to stay again.

Option 2: I'm leaning towards this.

Take this spring semester off, enjoy life, work, etc and apply to a couple of SMP's. I am only considering SMP's that pretty much guarantee admission to the resident medical school without a glide year so long as you perform well.

Rosalind FRanklin (students post that as long as you get B's, you'll get in, roughly 60ish% get in. However, it is not too rigorous to get into this SMP. 3.2 gpa average 27 MCAT. I imagine the people who don't get in are still not ready for the curriculum.

Temple- Guarantees admission, no glide year, as long as you receive a 3.5 in the program and 30 MCAT. I already have the MCAT, and students say virtually everyone gets the 3.5, the people that do not get admissions are people who drop out or never get the 30 on the MCAT. This program is SUPER competitive 50 spots and 700 applications.

Tulane ACP: You must have a waitlist to apply. Roughly 70 apply for 16 spots. You take 2 med school courses. Roughly 86% of Tulane ACPers got into Tulane. Generally, all you have to do is beat the med school curve (your taking a much lighter courseload) and not piss anyone off.


Though Option 2 is more expensive, I feel it is much safer than option 1.

Another note: I had a USC admissions person look over my app. Though I was rejected at USC, he told me that I had a 50/50 chance of getting into a medical school as competitive as USC, and an excellent chance of getting into medical school over all. He told me my paper application is quite good, though my GPA may be a concern. This is kind of weird as I pretty much applied low tier and only got 1 interview.

Summary:

Option 1: Continue fixing GPA for one more semester and apply again. Bit insecure about this, would like time away from undergrad.

Option 2: Join a SMP that pretty much guarantees admission without a glide year so long as I perform at the medical school average (for which I am sure I am capable). More expensive etc.Leaning towards the security of this option.

Sorry for the long read!

 

[Gunslingerneckbeard]

I'll be honest, I don't think rigor is truly evaluated. Anyone is free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I was disappointed to hear repeatedly that taking seven classes in junior/senior level classes while working 2 jobs and making a 4.0 meant nothing.

Anywho, I would update the score anyway. There's nothing wrong. From a purely numeric sense, yes you indeed "rebounded" with respect to GPA, despite what anyone says.


Also, your numbers are competitive for straight up admission considering you interview well. Your MCAT is definitely solid, and your GPA is respectable. Do you lack volunteering and shadowing experience? I had a friend with a 3.43 GPA (changed majors three times, Math ----> Physics ----> Bio, so his GPA took a nice beating during those Physics and Math classes), 31 MCAT, but because had over 900 hours in combined volunteering, shadowing, scribing, I think that's what ultimately saved him when he got into medical school, which was being around the medical environment a lot, seeing what it's like to see a patient die, etc. Those intangibles reassure the school that you have the emotional and/or awareness to complete an MD and practice well.

If you truly feel like an SMP would edge your chances, join one, but play it conservative and join one that has the best combination of time, financial burden from a positive sense, locality, and connection to a medical school of interest.

 

[vagabondrunning]

I think your GPA-MCAT combo is fine. I wonder, though, about the quality of your secondary essays if you did 30 of them. At least for me, I started to get fairly burnt out after 9 or 10 quality applications, and managed to squeak out another 4-5 after that. The first time you applied, you applied late and you received 4 late interviews. So, I have a few quick questions: When you applied this time, did you apply late again? Did you change your personal statement? Did you look to see if you were a good fit at the schools you applied to, and were you able to really reflect your desire to attend those medical schools in all of those secondary applications?

As for your upcoming interview, I hope it goes really well and that you get an acceptance!!! Don't give up.

 

[LostinLift]

If your MDAPPS is accurate it seems like you are waiting to hear back from a fair number of schools so don't count yourself out just yet. If you know of anyone who can write you a stellar letter of rec (seeing as you don't think any of them were great), I would recommend updating schools with a new activity (get one, like scribing), the 4.0 semester, the new letter of rec, and a statement of interest.

It doesn't look like school is your weak point, so I'd focus on more experiences if you do need to reapply, though an additional semester of good grades wouldn't hurt you. I don't think you need an SMP by any means. I think that one extra semester of classes combined with more intense clinical experience (scribe/tech/cna/ma) would be more than sufficient.

 

[Plecopotamus]

Another note: I had a USC admissions person look over my app. Though I was rejected at USC, he told me that I had a 50/50 chance of getting into a medical school as competitive as USC, and an excellent chance of getting into medical school over all. He told me my paper application is quite good, though my GPA may be a concern. This is kind of weird as I pretty much applied low tier and only got 1 interview.

While it obviously doesn't help you to have a low senior year GPA, with an OK overall GPA and clearly decent performance in hard classes in the past, that shouldn't be a deal breaker for getting interviews/admissions. Given that you had 4 interviews last year and received no admissions, I think you seriously have to look to something other than your GPA as the source of what's holding you back, especially since the other options you're looking at are very expensive for something that's possible not even the right fix.

Plenty of people get into medical school with GPAs lower than yours, and you had interviews -- which means you either (1) didn't interview well, or (2) there's something in a part of your file that they didn't fully review before inviting you for an interview. Given that someone at USC (are you talking about your pre-med adviser?) reviewed your app & said it was strong, I'd lean toward (1), b/c the one part he couldn't have assessed was how you did in interviews (or was this at the med school, where they possibly could have told you it was due to the interviews?), and additionally I think it's unlikely that 4 different schools would all have invited you without noticing something in your file that they weren't willing to overlook when your file was finally on the table. Consider re-writing your personal statement and whether or not you need any different LORs . . . maybe they're borderline and you got interviews b/c a positive interview could clearly have pushed you into the accept pile, but they're not enough once you've interviewed and not been stellar.

If your weak point is your interpersonal skill, then I think the best option for you is to go get a job (or volunteer job) from which you can get a LOR that discusses your ability to interact with colleagues and clients when you're not in the acute stress of an interview. Ideally, this job would be medically related so they can also comment on your empathy/interest in medicine/intelligence/curiosity . . . something like a clinical research coordinator/assistant.

 

[nabilesmail]

Thanks for the responses guys, last year my personal statement and activity descriptions were not very good. This year, they were much much better. My pre-med adviser said my activitys were informative and descriptive and she did not see any red flags. The USC person was a USC Med ADCOM who said my app was quite strong. My grades have to be the problem because I wrote much much better essays this time around than last time (though that doesn't necessarily mean they are great).

I think last year, i suffered from a late app (despite interviews) and was carried on my GPA/MCAT. I dont think i'm a terrible interviewer, but maybe, not exceptional. I come off as a cheery vibrant person.

This year, I applied much earlier, secnd by mid august even with the delays, better secondaries (Edited many at writing center), much better PS , and much better activity description. The only thing negative is my terrible grades.

I'm just really insecure about a 3rd normal application cycle without the SMP preference factor.