No acceptances :/ where to go from here?

[stgiuseppe]

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So it’s been a pretty unsuccessful application cycle for me; I only received one interview for which I was waitlisted. Bummer, it was my top school, but ah well life goes on! So, in the event that I don’t find myself an M1 in a few months, I wanted to ask some advice on how to go about improving myself as an applicant for some future cycle 🙂 I’m a non-traditional applicant, having graduated in May 2016. Here’s how I stack up:

GPA: 3.66, not terrible but trending downwards with the As turning to Bs in my upperclassman science courses :/

MCAT: 514, also solid but I bombed one particular section (58th percentlle in it). Not sure if that makes adcoms put an asterisk next to it, but I’ll probably have to retake it anyway since I took the exam the summer of 2015

Research: 2 years of research, not published

Volunteering: led a middle school youth group, led a college men’s Bible study, held a couple board positions, and volunteered at the local nursing home

Work: 2 years as a campus Christian missionary. Not very medically related but gosh was it a wild and educative experience

Clinical: Here’s where I think I shot myself in the foot; I did a good bit of ER volunteering but I did my shadowing in Australia while I was visiting family, and for not as many hours as some other people have

So I’ll need to do a whole gang of stuff to reinvent myself and make sure I’m not in this position again! Here are some things I’ve considered so far:

SMP; from what I’ve read, my academic stats aren’t quite what the typical SMP candidate has, but I’m thinking I might need to demonstrate that I can excel in upper level bio classes, which wasn’t the case my upperclassman years, and that I “still got it” after two years out of school.

CNA certification; training in a lot of medical procedures and the opportunity for a medically-related job if I need to spend a year workin’.

Medical scribe; this seems to be a really educative and noteworthy thing for any med school applicant to have under their belt. I’m also hoping it’ll make up for my shadowing experience faux pas in the past. I’m thinking to work as both a scribe and a CNA if I spend this reinvention period in the workforce.

Retake the MCAT; yep.

Right now I’m thinking an SMP isn’t quite necessary given my stats so I’d prefer to not go that route, but my hope is that an improved MCAT and a year of medically-related work would bolster my application for a more successful cycle down the road! But I could be so very wrong about all this, so I appreciate any feedback and advice you kind people decide to throw my way! And feel free to ask questions/critique/roast as appropriate 🙂

 

[deleted480308]

What was your school list like ? DO?

 

[Faha]

Which schools did you apply to and where were you interviewed? Where is your state of residency?

 

[soysizle]

Most schools don’t mind if you “bombed” a portion of the mcat as long as it’s over the 50th percentile, which would be 125. There are some schools that are still accepting 2015 scores for next cycle. I’d suggest getting more clinical experience. And honestly, admissions is a numbers game. Sometimes the odds are in your favor sometimes it’s not. Last year I was in a similar situation as you and with worst stats. This year it worked out for me. Applying to DO schools helped. But I also only applied to 5 schools through AMCAS and got an acceptance.

 

[stgiuseppe]

I applied to Baylor, Indiana University, Loyola, Northwestern, Perelman, UChicago, UCincinnati, UIllinois, UMichigan, UMinnesota, USC, UWashington, and UWisconsin. Looking back I think I overshot with this list of schools, but at least I know better moving forward 🙂 I've not thought about going the DO route; should I? And I live in Illinois, interviewed at Loyola.

 

[stgiuseppe]

Most schools don’t mind if you “bombed” a portion of the mcat as long as it’s over the 50th percentile, which would be 125. There are some schools that are still accepting 2015 scores for next cycle. I’d suggest getting more clinical experience. And honestly, admissions is a numbers game. Sometimes the odds are in your favor sometimes it’s not. Last year I was in a similar situation as you and with worst stats. This year it worked out for me. Applying to DO schools helped. But I also only applied to 5 schools through AMCAS and got an acceptance.

Appreciate the input! And congrats on going to med school this year!! Hm do you think if I've got a good shot at next cycle if I get in some clinical experience between now and June, with my current stats?

 

[soysizle]

Appreciate the input! And congrats on going to med school this year!! Hm do you think if I've got a good shot at next cycle if I get in some clinical experience between now and June, with my current stats?

We’ll you’d probably have a better shot than you do now. Another issue is your school list. You applied to all the big name schools in their respective states but forgot or didn’t know about the little guys. Maybe consider Quinnipiac, western Michigan, Albany (these are some schools I got interviews to) Also don’t be afraid to apply to Texas schools. People told me I was wasting my money but I got an II. So who knows.

 

[Goro]

I applied to Baylor, Indiana University, Loyola, Northwestern, Perelman, UChicago, UCincinnati, UIllinois, UMichigan, UMinnesota, USC, UWashington, and UWisconsin. Looking back I think I overshot with this list of schools, but at least I know better moving forward 🙂 I've not thought about going the DO route; should I? And I live in Illinois, interviewed at Loyola.

Classic example of an applicant with a poorly thought out list. Most of these were donations.
for starters, shadow US doctors in the US.
How many hours clinical volunteering? If < 100, get them to > 200
Get in more non-clinical volunteering, especially to those in greater need than yourself.
The GPA trend of all As to all Bs might imply senioritis, or I have to be honest, laziness. You MAY need to take a few courses in your gap year to show Adcoms that you can still ace coursework.
Rewrite all your essays and have multiple eyeballs look at them.
IF you get rejected from Loyola, contact the Admissions dean and ask for feedback on the rejection.

Here is a more reasonable school list:


U VM
U Toledo
Mayo
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Rochester
Rush
Rosy Franklin
BU
MCW
Hofstra
NYMC
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
George Washington
Georgetown
Emory
Tulane
Dartmouth
Loyola
Netter
Oakland-B
Your state school(s).
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Any DO program. I can't recommend Touro-NY, or LUCOM, for different reasons. Nova has had declining COMLEX I pass rates for the past 4 years, so they are of concern. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide. Start list with CCOM, MUCOM and DMU
And as a reapplicant, you need DO schools on the list. Beggars can't be choosy.

 

[Faha]

To Goro's list above you could also add any new schools that open for 2019 (NOVA MD, Seton Hall, Kaiser, Roseman)

 

[stgiuseppe]

I appreciate the feedback everyone! So would a solid route to go be work/volunteer in clinical environments for this gap year, picking up some shadowing and CC classes, and apply this next coming cycle? If I could do without an SMP I need to decide now because applications and enrollment are currently ongoing.

 

[Goro]

I appreciate the feedback everyone! So would a solid route to go be work/volunteer in clinical environments for this gap year, picking up some shadowing and CC classes, and apply this next coming cycle? If I could do without an SMP I need to decide now because applications and enrollment are currently ongoing.

Correct. I don't see a need for an SMP. Your cGPA needs a little polishing, not reinvention.

 

[The Dragon Slayer]

I am/was a similar applicant to you so I understand where you are coming from. I had a 3.6GPA/30MCAT and have failed to gain acceptance two times. I too had one interview (only the first time applied) and that amounted to nothing. I seriously doubt your school list has anything to do with it. I applied to many more schools than you (both MD and DO) and still got nothing. It could be that we are just boring applicants on paper who are easily overlooked, but who really knows at this point. I look at it like this........You are already a couple years out of college. Do you really want to waste more time doing complete scut work for little to no compensation and absolutely no guarantee that it will result in you getting into medical school? At some point, it is time to move on to something else, pick another career in the medical field, or look outside of this country for this part of your training.

 

[seren1051]

I am/was a similar applicant to you so I understand where you are coming from. I had a 3.6GPA/30MCAT and have failed to gain acceptance two times. I too had one interview (only the first time applied) and that amounted to nothing. I seriously doubt your school list has anything to do with it. I applied to many more schools than you (both MD and DO) and still got nothing. It could be that we are just boring applicants on paper who are easily overlooked, but who really knows at this point. I look at it like this........You are already a couple years out of college. Do you really want to waste more time doing complete scut work for little to no compensation and absolutely no guarantee that it will result in you getting into medical school? At some point, it is time to move on to something else, pick another career in the medical field, or look outside of this country for this part of your training.

I'm sorry to hear that your cycles aren't going great. I also was a reapplicant with 3.7/34 so I know how it feels. That being said this is honestly a ****ty advice. You don't tell people to give up after a single cycle, even when OP's not even two years out of college. What do you mean it's not about the school list? OP applied to 13 MD schools. Of these, three were far reaches (I'm sure OP knew about it before submitting), one's at Texas, and all the rest except for UI and Loyola were OOS publics. With better school selections and bit more ECs OP has some serious chance. I understand you're pissed about the system and the schools and about not getting in, but if you're around advise people to call it quits, then probably SDN's not the best place to do that.

 

[Amelia.]

Did you apply for Hofstra, NYMC, VCU, EVMS, Wake Forest, Jefferson? If not then you should apply here

 

[deleted480308]

I applied to Baylor, Indiana University, Loyola, Northwestern, Perelman, UChicago, UCincinnati, UIllinois, UMichigan, UMinnesota, USC, UWashington, and UWisconsin. Looking back I think I overshot with this list of schools, but at least I know better moving forward 🙂 I've not thought about going the DO route; should I? And I live in Illinois, interviewed at Loyola.

yes, add DO schools. You can always choose the MD over them if you want once you have acceptances to choose from

 

[mwsapphire]

Is it just me or is the biggest issue the downward trend in GPA?
I mean a 3.66 is competitive but isn't going from A's to B's in upper level classes a red flag of sorts. Downward trend could make a 3.5+ GPA non competitive, can't it?
I think some post Bacc good grades in upper level science classes will help you a lot, OP.

 

[Prestige88]

I appreciate the feedback everyone! So would a solid route to go be work/volunteer in clinical environments for this gap year, picking up some shadowing and CC classes, and apply this next coming cycle? If I could do without an SMP I need to decide now because applications and enrollment are currently ongoing.

I'm in somewhat of a similar position to you. Hopefully both of our cycles will go better next time! I'm curious: how many hours researching and volunteering?
And (I'll admit I'm trying to figure this out for myself too) is applying right away with new activities/classes starting up but maybe not a ton of hours yet with a better school list a good option, or should OP wait a year, rack up hundreds of hours doing volunteering/working/shadowing/acing his CC classes, then reapply?

 

[stgiuseppe]

Had to go away for a bit so late post here, but thank you everyone who posted! I'd buy each of you a drink or something if I could haha. Really though, I truly appreciate your willingness to help out and lend your input and direction!

 

[stgiuseppe]

I'm in somewhat of a similar position to you. Hopefully both of our cycles will go better next time! I'm curious: how many hours researching and volunteering?
And (I'll admit I'm trying to figure this out for myself too) is applying right away with new activities/classes starting up but maybe not a ton of hours yet with a better school list a good option, or should OP wait a year, rack up hundreds of hours doing volunteering/working/shadowing/acing his CC classes, then reapply?

I scored about 750 hours research and 100 hours volunteering. I wish I had a poster or publication to show for my research, but at least the experience in a lab should count for something. Anyways, if you're in a similar position as myself I don't see it being a bad thing at all to apply right away, especially if you've already put yourself on a good track. True, we won't have a ton of hours at that moment but it'd still be a good bit and that, along with a better school list, could make a difference. Way I see it, worst case scenario is heading into the next application cycle with tons of accrued hours and a better understanding of the application process 🙂