Nontrad Reapplicant -- am I hosed?

[hebrewBAMmer]

Background: I applied back in summer of 2010 to medical school and didn't get in anywhere or interviews (I applied super late in the cycle and didn't know it was rolling admissions, which was a big mistake clearly.) I was then going to have at least a year off anyways, but I also didn't feel mentally and emotionally ready to begin medical school had I gotten accepted back then. I also really enjoyed the research side of things, and knew I wanted to focus on that, so I applied to graduate school in 2012 and have been working on my PhD since. Here's the timeline of things:

May 2011: Graduated undergrad (science GPA and cummulative GPA are around 3.67) with a double math and chemistry major
July 2011-April 2012: Worked as a medicinal chemistry intern at Novartis
September 2012: Started PhD program
March 2014: Earned M.S. in Chemistry
December 2016: Earned M.A. in Applied Math

Now I'm finishing PhD and should finish by spring 2018 latest, which then I would hopefully start medical school Fall 2018. My PhD has been on applying math to neuroscience to model neural network behavior. I really love math/applied math and I actually really wanted to find a way to combine both math and medicine. I spent a couple of days visiting a Mathematical Oncology division at a very well-known medical center to see how MDs and PhDs work together to solve problems in medicine. I really would like to focus on a career path similar to that and become a physician scientist where I use the MD side of my career to see patients and pose questions that need answering, and use the PhD side to actually research these questions and develop models.

I retook the MCAT and got a 510 (132/126/126/126). I've also been doing hospice volunteering for a year now and will continue to do so for as long as I stay in the area. I had a bunch of E.C.s in college, but now that I'm a full time grad student, the time for E.C.s just isn't what it was outside of hospice volunteering at music lessons.

My question is: A lot of people on this forum have seemed to suggest that being a reapplicant puts you at a big disadvantage, and it's gotten me really concerned. I would like to believe that I've worked hard to improve myself and strengthened my application with things in life that would help me with my goal of becoming a physician scientist. If I was a first time applicant, I would think I have a reasonable chance at getting accepted, but since I'm a reapplicant, am I at too big of a disadvantage to overcome? (If it matters, I'm a CA resident)

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[Faha]

You should receive several interviews if you apply broadly. Apply in June and submit all your secondaries by July. Consider all of these schools:
Arizona (both schools)
Quinnipiac
Vermont
New York Medical College
Albany
Einstein
Hofstra
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
GW
Georgetown
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Medical College Wisconsin
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
Tulane
Your CA schools
any new private schools that open for 2018 (Roseman,Seton Hall, etc.).

 

[DrMidlife]

How about let's look at app quality before picking a school list.

To start med school in Fall 2018 you have to have a complete app in June this year. That's 3 months away. You'll have to decide whether to make more of an investment in your app to improve your chances, or take your chances in 3 months.

To repeat: apply in June. You can't mess around with "summer". Do it right.

25-30% of MD applicants are reapplicants. Reapplicant status is substantially less of a disadvantage than the basics of your app. With ~7 years between app cycles, it's a point of interest that you applied before, followed by immediate attention on what you've done since and the basic quality of your app now. There's no assumption that you're EXACTLY THE SAME PERSON who applied 7 years ago. Presumably the only thing wrong with your app before was the timing. On average, med schools will look at your 2010 app, see no red flags (presumably), and largely forget your reapp status.

Your undergrad GPA is a top 2 med school app asset. It's fine. 3.67 is not going to keep you from getting accepted, assuming you apply using consensus best practices. 3.67 plus grad work with pubs is plenty to make a reviewer confident that you can handle long-haul academics.

Your MCAT, which is the other top 2 asset, is ok on first review. Then the reviewer sees that it's below average except for one section which is perfect. The other sections of the MCAT actually do matter. As a reviewer I'm thus looking for evidence that you're not, um, a savant way down the autism spectrum who is a professionalism incident waiting to happen. Your post above is so fixated on the not-that-important downside of being a reapplicant that I'm already concerned about your ~soft/social comprehension. And the MCAT is all I have to go on that you'll be okay with the endless (ENDLESS FOREVER) hours-to-days-long multiple choice exams that are ahead of you.

As a nontrad you've not done much other than school. If you have pubs in your grad program, then that's "work". But if you don't have anything yet that is productive, grown up "work" in the last 7 years, that's a red flag. No, interning isn't productive. Interning is training for productive work. If you have no pubs, and your dissertation isn't submitted for publication within 3 months, then you don't have much that I'd call "work" in your 2017-18 app.

Hospice/music would be fine as maybe #4 on your list of experiences that expose you to clinical medicine. You can read the bazillion posts on SDN that cover what counts as a clinical experience and why it's important to smell patients and push stretchers. You have a gaping hole since 2010, after which the biggest change wave in US health care since the 60's happened, the aftermath of which is at least a minor obsession of every doctor in the country right now, comprehension of which is going to be a topic (or should be) in any med school interview. You have to figure out how to manage your time and priorities to get the substantial clinical exposure that legitimizes your ambition to practice medicine. With 3 months to go, I'd be kinda panicked about this in your shoes.

California is just about the worst state for maximizing app chances. If you're in Louisiana, by contrast, you can fairly assume with your app that you'd get in at a state school. You'd apply to Tulane as your reach. You'd maybe apply to a few schools out of state. And you'd most likely get in at a school that starts with LSU. In California you have about a 10% chance at a UC, and everything else on your list is the odds equivalent of a Tulane or worse.

I like the math angle. Math, data & genomics are largely intimidating to the average reviewer. If you have the ability to succinctly, enthusiastically, personably explain your math onc project(s) in an interview, that's a win.

In your shoes I might look at a gap year after you finish your PhD, do part time paid work in math onc (WITH PUBS), balance out your MCAT, beef up clinical experience, and apply with a big bang in June 2018. I suggest that the improvement in your residency and research choices, after such a gap year, would be worth it.

tl;dr: you know the list of basic app components: you listed them. look at each of of those components with more rigor.

Best of luck to you.

 

[bears1992]

Im not even going to try on this one as I don't really know jack about how adcoms would view your situation and also the above poster just replied in the most detailed fashion that you'll ever get. Nice job on the Ph.D. though.