No interviews first time around...

[cornishpixie100]

Hi all,

So I was a first-time applicant this cycle, taking a gap year, but did not receive any interviews. I finished secondaries around July/August. I am planning on reapplying this coming cycle. This is what I applied with:

----------------------------------------------------

GPA: s3.95/c3.97 MCAT 515: 128/127/128/132

ORM

3rd author publication (basic science research)

Shadowing hours: 18

Clinical Volunteering hours: 108

Non-clinical Volunteering hours: 53 + 240 hours interning abroad

Lab basic science research hours: 1000+ (throughout all four years)

Other ECs:

Eboard and member of Global Health group for 3.5 years

Internship in El Salvador, a partner of our health org, working on a hygiene campaign

Volunteering for a summer at the Detroit farmers market

Member and chair of a volunteer org, where we worked at food pantries, ran clothing drives, and became penpals with students in Detroit

Studied healthcare systems abroad in Japan

Bio and Orgo peer tutor at science learning center

Piano


Currently working in clinical research at an Ivy university during the gap year and at a social-work volunteering organization for patients.

--------------------------------------------------------

School List (Michigan resident)


University of Michigan
UNC
Case Western
Northwestern
U Chicago
University of Illinois
Wayne State
Michigan State
Loyola
Oakland Beaumont
Tufts
University of Wisconsin
Upenn
UCLA
UCSF
Harvard
Stanford

--------------------------------------------------

What I would add this cycle:

2000 hours of clinical research (full-time work) with ~70-80 hours so far of patient and clinic interaction

~50 hours clinical volunteering (volunteer organization)

16 hours of ED shadowing

First-author abstract + presentation


My questions are:

1. Should I apply to DO, MD (and MD/PhD?) this cycle
2. Can you take a list of this updated MD school list?

St Louis University
Albany Medical College
Albert Einstein
University of Rochester
Rosalind Franklin
Rush
New York Medical College
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Wake Forest School of Medicine
Thomas Jefferson University
Temple
Drexel
Tulane
Keck
Dartmouth
Emory
Boston University
Tufts
Mayo
Duke
Case
University of Pittsburgh
Hofstra
Penn State
CUNY
SUNY Downstate
Columbia
NYU
Georgetown
George Washington University
Yale
All Michigan Schools

3. Should I change my residency to the east coast, where I am now?

Thanks for your input!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[stickgirl390]

Your stats are great, but I still think your school list is too top heavy. I think you’d be an excellent candidate for mid-tier schools. Michigan should be a good state to claim residency in: lots of schools there and nothing too top heavy.

I think your application is lacking in the physician shadowing (looks like box checking with those low numbers), and your ECs don’t show much service to local communities. I would also have someone look over your essays/secondaries for feedback.

I think the general consensus is after one cycle of MD, you should try MD/DO. Best of luck!

 

[You're My Boy Blue]

Your list this cycle was top-heavy and the schools that weren't top-heavy have strong IS biases (MSU and UW). Your new list should be fine. You could add Medical College of Wisconsin, Creighton, and Iowa since you seem to be ok with applying in the midwest. I would probably remove Rush from your list unless you plan on improving on service - I explain in the next paragraph.

I would also get those shadowing hours to around 50- but thats probably not that important. The one area that your (impressive) application can benefit from is community service. This aspect is HUGE at Rush, SLU, Loyola, and Tulane. The average number of community service hours at Rush was 1,324.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Hi all,

So I was a first-time applicant this cycle, taking a gap year, but did not receive any interviews. I finished secondaries around July/August. I am planning on reapplying this coming cycle. This is what I applied with:

----------------------------------------------------

GPA: s3.95/c3.97 MCAT 515: 128/127/128/132

ORM

3rd author publication (basic science research)

Shadowing hours: 18

Clinical Volunteering hours: 108

Non-clinical Volunteering hours: 53 + 240 hours interning abroad

Lab basic science research hours: 1000+ (throughout all four years)

Other ECs:

Eboard and member of Global Health group for 3.5 years

Internship in El Salvador, a partner of our health org, working on a hygiene campaign

Volunteering for a summer at the Detroit farmers market

Member and chair of a volunteer org, where we worked at food pantries, ran clothing drives, and became penpals with students in Detroit

Studied healthcare systems abroad in Japan

Bio and Orgo peer tutor at science learning center

Piano


Currently working in clinical research at an Ivy university during the gap year and at a social-work volunteering organization for patients.

--------------------------------------------------------

School List (Michigan resident)


University of Michigan
UNC
Case Western
Northwestern
U Chicago
University of Illinois
Wayne State
Michigan State
Loyola
Oakland Beaumont
Tufts
University of Wisconsin
Upenn
UCLA
UCSF
Harvard
Stanford

--------------------------------------------------

What I would add this cycle:

2000 hours of clinical research (full-time work) with ~70-80 hours so far of patient and clinic interaction

~50 hours clinical volunteering (volunteer organization)

16 hours of ED shadowing

First-author abstract + presentation


My questions are:

1. Should I apply to DO, MD (and MD/PhD?) this cycle
2. Can you take a list of this updated MD school list?

St Louis University
Albany Medical College
Albert Einstein
University of Rochester
Rosalind Franklin
Rush
New York Medical College
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Wake Forest School of Medicine
Thomas Jefferson University
Temple
Drexel
Tulane
Keck
Dartmouth
Emory
Boston University
Tufts
Mayo
Duke
Case
University of Pittsburgh
Hofstra
Penn State
CUNY
SUNY Downstate
Columbia
NYU
Georgetown
George Washington University
Yale
All Michigan Schools

3. Should I change my residency to the east coast, where I am now?

Thanks for your input!

Looks like you had a flawed app list the first time. Your mix was mostly instate, unlikely OOS publics and reaches.

Red flag that you weren’t interviewed by any instate. Did your app or shadowing experiences suggest that you have no interest in primary care? Many instate public meds are looking for students who are at least “open to the idea of primary medicine” even if you have interests in a competitive specialty.

Did anything you write give the impression that you want (and only want) a competitive specialty.

I wouldn’t waste time with applying to more than a couple of OOS publics. Maybe include UVM since it accepts a good number of OOS and its OOS app ratio isn’t daunting** like many others.
** look at the instate/OOS application ratios. If you’re seeing a public SOM where 75%+ of the apps are from OOS, but the school is only seating about 25% or less OOS, then chances aren’t great. And realize that publics often accept OOS students that help their numbers/needs in some way (more UIMs, geographical diversity, high MCAT score, etc.)

For this cycle, I would suggest applying to all of your instates, a few OOS publics that have ok OOS app ratios, a large number of private mid-tiers, and a few reasonable reaches. Pay attention to each school’s mission.

Also...get some more shadowing hours in....and include primary care..peds, Family med, etc.

 

[dillydilly2]

Your clinical volunteering hours are super low for the schools you applied. So far all your “clinical” exposure has been in research. You can have a great gpa and MCAT but not get in because you haven’t shown the schools your commitment to underserved populations (or people in general).

I would cut back on getting 2,000 research hours and only 50(???) of volunteering. That’s a huge discrepancy. I’m confused how someone takes a gap year and only gets 50 hours volunteering. No shade but seems like you have the time to rack up the research hours, why not the others?

 

[cornishpixie100]

Your clinical volunteering hours are super low for the schools you applied. So far all your “clinical” exposure has been in research. You can have a great gpa and MCAT but not get in because you haven’t shown the schools your commitment to underserved populations (or people in general).

I would cut back on getting 2,000 research hours and only 50(???) of volunteering. That’s a huge discrepancy. I’m confused how someone takes a gap year and only gets 50 hours volunteering. No shade but seems like you have the time to rack up the research hours, why not the others?

It's because being a clinical researcher is my full-time job (40 hr/week) right now. I do volunteering as well on the side.

 

[Gilakend]

I will be curious to see what the adcoms say. I'm from MI too (haven't applied yet, I am this cycle) from what I've been told it is very weird with your stats that no IS school interviewed you. Barring Texas I think MI is one of the best states for med school applicants. Very surprised Wayne didn't interview you of all of those.

 

[candbgirl]

This is the third time you have posted the exact same post. Why? You received good advice the first two times.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

It's because being a clinical researcher is my full-time job (40 hr/week) right now. I do volunteering as well on the side.

Med schools probably don’t consider that to be a valid excuse. Full-time students have class, studying, and often part-time jobs which often total more than 40 hours per week, yet they’re expected to fit shadowing hours and volunteering hours as well.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

I will be curious to see what the adcoms say. I'm from MI too (haven't applied yet, I am this cycle) from what I've been told it is very weird with your stats that no IS school interviewed you. Barring Texas I think MI is one of the best states for med school applicants. Very surprised Wayne didn't interview you of all of those.

Because he wasn’t interviewed by any instate publics with his great stats and his app wasn’t late, I suspect there’s an issue with his app. Above I referenced possible problems such as the app/essays suggesting a narrow medical interest that excluded primary care. Many state schools (maybe not Univ Michigan) have a mission to educate more primary care doctors for their state. If the student didn’t convey a message that shuts out primary care, then perhaps his LORs are an issue or his personal statement was a turn-off.

 

[dillydilly2]

It's because being a clinical researcher is my full-time job (40 hr/week) right now. I do volunteering as well on the side.

All I’m saying is that if you have thousands and thousands of research and minimal
Volunteering or patient exposure(clinical research doesn’t count.) the adcoms are gonna wonder why you’re not going PhD. And if you want that, do it.

 

[cornishpixie100]

Thanks for everyone's input. I just have one more question, do you think I would be a competitive applicant to MD/PhD programs?

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Thanks for everyone's input. I just have one more question, do you think I would be a competitive applicant to MD/PhD programs?

I think the bigger questions are: is that a heart-felt path? Is it what you really want? Or do you see it as your path into med school??

 

[cornishpixie100]

I think the bigger questions are: is that a heart-felt path? Is it what you really want? Or do you see it as your path into med school??

It would be heart-felt. I do enjoy research, which is why I have pursued and continued with it. However, I have done enough to know that I would not be fulfilled with a career that solely focuses on research, which is why I'm not pursuing a PhD. My fear, though, is my MCAT score isn't high enough for these programs and that I'd be screened out.

 

[Forever Geebs]

You received solid advice here. Looks like you've opened other threads asking the same question, too. Apply broadly, don't have such a top heavy list, and I don't think MD/PhD makes sense given your responses.

Best of luck to you.