Nontrad waitlisted application help

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taeyeonlover

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I am a nontrad applicant who applied during this application cycle. I graduated from college in 2014 and have 3.9+ GPA and 513 MCAT (I have 3 scores but this one is the most recent one). I was fortunate enough to receive 4 interview invitations. However, I was rejected from one and waitlisted at three. I talked to admission officer at one of the schools I am currently waitlisted at for some tips. They told me that

  • My clinical experiences and volunteering are weak. They are outdated (last major non clinical volunteering was done in 2016 and a little bit of shadowing and hospital volunteering in 2018~2019) and I could definitely do more => Do more in this area.
  • I haven’t taken courses since 2014 =>Do 1 year masters program in biomedical science
My overall application looks like this

GPA : 3.9+ Science GPA : 3.8+ from a large state university

Residency : Texas but grew up and went to college in another state

MCAT : 513 (two previous scores were something like below 505 and 28 on the old scale)

Research : 5 pubs with one that has me as a second author, worked in full time setting and did summer internships at various institutions such as NIH, two top 25 medical schools, and my undergrad so I have thousands of hours in this area

Non clinical volunteering : I did things such as teaching at church, mentoring youth, playing music at church, helping out at homeless clinic from 2010~2016 for a total of 800+ hours

Clinical experiences : I volunteered at a hospital and hospice and shadowed physicians in various specialties. Majority of my clinical experiences were obtained during my undergraduate years (2010~2014). I did a little bit of shadowing and hospital volunteering in 2018~2019.

Total hours of hospital volunteering : 308 hours

Total hours of shadowing : 148 hours

Employment : worked at couple research labs in full time setting for several years after college. I didn’t work for couple years and took a break due to personal issues. I am currently working now as a lab tech. I will be vague here just to hide my identity.

Leadership : comes from one of my nonclinical volunteering activities

I think my rec letters and essays were good : science prof letters, research PI letter, non science prof letter
I applied to a little bit over 20 schools (Texas schools, Florida schools, and schools in other states). I turned my application kinda late but I did receive 4 interviews idk.



I thought about ways to address my flaws based on what they said and came up with the following.
  • Medical scribing to beef up my clinical experiences
  • Americorps for nonclinical volunteering experiences: I am particularly interested in mentoring but I am open to other opportunities
  • Doing a masters program in biomedical science but I have no idea how I can afford it. I am a lab tech and do not get paid well.
  • Or just looking for more general volunteering opportunities in my area

What do you guys think? What steps would you take in my situation? Out of the options I listed above, which ones would you do? I always thought that my interview skills were bringing me down because I did receive 4 interview invitations but this is what the school told me.


I have applied multiple times and it’s taking a lot of toll on me emotionally so I would really love some help. Thank you!
 
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I don’t have any advice for you, but it’s outrageous that you couldn’t get in given your stats and ECs. Like what more could they want. Hope you are successful at coming off the waitlists!
 
You've been at this for a long time and you've been coasting or something in regard to volunteering and clinical service over the past couple years. A masters degree is not going to help in that regard.

Taking 3 MCATs is not as good as taking it once and scoring 513, Nothing you can do about it but it does hurt a bit. Was this your first application cycle?
 
LizzyM said:
You've been at this for a long time and you've been coasting or something in regard to volunteering and clinical service over the past couple years. A masters degree is not going to help in that regard.

Taking 3 MCATs is not as good as taking it once and scoring 513, Nothing you can do about it but it does hurt a bit. Was this your first application cycle?
Click to expand...

No I applied once in 2016 but got rejected after one interview. I applied again in 2017 but due to something personal I gave up in the middle.


So don’t do masters but focus on clinical experiences and community service activities?
 
LizzyM said:
What kind of masters? Would the masters courses have any market value if you did not get into med school after completing it?
Click to expand...

Sorry for being unclear. I think they meant something like a 1 year postbac/masters program in biomedical science.
Their point is this would be useful since I have been out of school since 2014.


Not like mph or something unrelated to medicine.
 
taeyeonlover said:
Sorry for being unclear. I think they meant something like a 1 year postbac/masters program in biomedical science.
Their point is this would be useful since I have been out of school since 2014.


Not like mph or something unrelated to medicine.
Click to expand...
You need to bulk up the ECs. No need for SMP or postbac.

Have DO schools on list
 
You've had two complete applications and one aborted cycle with no offers. If you do very well in a one year MS in science, you might get into medical school but it is likely you will not unless you also have recent shadowing, non-clinical volunteering and clinical exposure. If you don't get into medical school after the MS and the third application, what jobs will you be prepared to take? That's my problem with the MS in science... they aren't very marketable if you don't get into med school.

@Goro is right, you should be looking at DO schools and if you have an objection to that, I think you have to seriously consider how serious you are about wanting to be a physician.
 
You have to add DO schools and focus in-state. We don't have access to your transcripts to know whether the issue is "expired" prerequisites or what, but if your GPA's are properly calculated, that's just someone else's opinion (on the admissions committee, not necessarily the recruiter/staffer you talked to). An SMP won't prove anything other than you're willing to spend money given your GPA.

You don't mention employment, especially since 2016.

Your networking is critical. Find someone at the schools you want to attend to have you speak with a similar non-trad medical student with a profile similar to yours. You need to find a way to know whether a school really is non-trad friendly when it comes to reviewing your application, and you already have a sense of one that doesn't seem to be.
 
Mr.Smile12 said:
You have to add DO schools and focus in-state. We don't have access to your transcripts to know whether the issue is "expired" prerequisites or what, but if your GPA's are properly calculated, that's just someone else's opinion (on the admissions committee, not necessarily the recruiter/staffer you talked to). An SMP won't prove anything other than you're willing to spend money given your GPA.

You don't mention employment, especially since 2016.

Your networking is critical. Find someone at the schools you want to attend to have you speak with a similar non-trad medical student with a profile similar to yours. You need to find a way to know whether a school really is non-trad friendly when it comes to reviewing your application, and you already have a sense of one that doesn't seem to be.
Click to expand...

Thank you!!

I forgot to add that I’m working right now as a lab tech at top 25 med. been working here since 2018.

And according to msar the school that told me all of this picks plenty of people who are above 25 years old so I’m pretty sure they are nontrad friendly
 
Goro said:
You need to bulk up the ECs. No need for SMP or postbac.

Have DO schools on list
Click to expand...
LizzyM said:
You've had two complete applications and one aborted cycle with no offers. If you do very well in a one year MS in science, you might get into medical school but it is likely you will not unless you also have recent shadowing, non-clinical volunteering and clinical exposure. If you don't get into medical school after the MS and the third application, what jobs will you be prepared to take? That's my problem with the MS in science... they aren't very marketable if you don't get into med school.

@Goro is right, you should be looking at DO schools and if you have an objection to that, I think you have to seriously consider how serious you are about wanting to be a physician.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I definitely will add DO schools.

To improve my application for this upcoming cycle, I am adding more clinical experiences and volunteering activities since I need something more recent.
I am looking to work as a medical scribe and also do couple of the following community service activities.

Volunteering activities related to homeless or underprivileged population such as mentoring underprivileged youth, habitat for humanity, working at a homeless shelter
Teaching sunday school at my church
hospice or hospital volunteering

I am also thinking about taking online graduate physiology certificate program offered at my alma mater. It's not a full masters degree but it says in the program description that it is geared toward people interested in medical or graduate school.

I would technically be starting these this summer so I will list them as "future activities" in my primary application that will be submitted at the beginning of June and talk about them more in secondary applications.


Would starting these activities this summer still be considered improvement by the schools during the upcoming application cycle? or is it too rushed and would schools not take these new activities seriously?
 
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OK, so one school told you that you've been out of school too long and you should do a masters. I would posit that they'd like to see the grades from that MS so you'd be best off taking an MS in bioscience during the coming academic year and applyng in June 2021 so that you can show your performance in that program and, perhaps, have some fresh letters as well. It is a bummer to delay a year when you are a non-trad but it is the only way I can see to respond to the criticism that you have been out of school too long.
 
Goro said:
The online program will be worthless
Click to expand...
LizzyM said:
OK, so one school told you that you've been out of school too long and you should do a masters. I would posit that they'd like to see the grades from that MS so you'd be best off taking an MS in bioscience during the coming academic year and applyng in June 2021 so that you can show your performance in that program and, perhaps, have some fresh letters as well. It is a bummer to delay a year when you are a non-trad but it is the only way I can see to respond to the criticism that you have been out of school too long.
Click to expand...

I see. Thank you so much!

Except for the master program, since the adcom I talked to told me that I need more volunteering and clinical experiences, I have been doing these activities starting around beginning of May. I will be submitting my primary around middle of June. I have had a lot of free time due to my work being shut down due to covid situation so I was able to dedicate a lot of hours to these activities. Do you think these activities would still be considered improvement by the schools if I apply for 2020~2021 cycle which is coming up very soon?

1) non clinical volunteering : Volunteering at a food bank : packing, sorting, and giving food to underprivileged groups : about 50+ hours by the time I submit my primary.
2) clinical volunteering: Volunteering at a mobile covid19 testing clinic : registering individuals who are being tested, checking to make sure those individuals have the necessary documents, delivering supplies, cleaning the areas, helping the medical practitioners and individuals being tested in any other ways. : about 100+ hours by the time I submit my primary.

What do you think? I started these around end of April/ beginning of May. Are my new activities too rushed and added too late for 2020~2021 cycle despite the many hours I dedicated to them? Of course, I would keep doing these activities throughout the entire application cycle.

I'm also planning to do medical scribe job soon but they told me to wait until the corona situation improves a little.

@Mr.Smile12
 
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You have applied three times. The next will be your fourth cycle. When you asked, a school told you, to paraphrase, "because you haven't taken courses since 2014 =>Do 1 year masters program in biomedical science"

If you haven't done that, do you expect this cycle to be different than the others? How will schools feel assurance that you still have the academic chops?

What you've done with regard to service and clinical exposure is okay but it is only half of what was recomended to you.
 
My remark to network with schools and current nontraditional students similar to you stands.

Be safe in any pandemic volunteering that you do. I'm sure that will help you a bit, but a strategic application to MD and DO schools is vital.

Sent from my SM-N960U using SDN mobile
 
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