Out of curiosity, how many times can one reasonably apply to medical school?

[Wiesal]

Let's say you applied, one year, then a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and so on every single year. When would your application be screened out/immediately thrown in the trash?

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[Goro]

Let's say you applied, one year, then a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and so on every single year. When would your application be screened out/immediately thrown in the trash?

That's a great question.

There are schools that do not review reapplicants. I think the highest number I have seen for an interview candidate at my school was three rounds.

If someone keeps reapplying without success, then they are both clueless, and failing to fix the deficits in their app. Or they have a red flag they're unaware of, but this still leads to their being clueless.

 

[jarednogeek]

You could possibly apply 70ish times depending on your life expectancy.

 

[gyngyn]

I recently saw someone who had applied more than 40 times...
I don't think he is going to get in.

 

[mydogmolly]

knew a guy who applied 6 times in 9 years. got into his state school on the sixth try

 

[ciestar]

Einstein has a limit to how many times you can apply, but judging by posts here, most don’t

 

[Goro]

I recently saw someone who had applied more than 40 times...
I don't think he is going to get in.

40........times????????????

You're trolling us!!!!!!

 

[beeboops]

This is my third round, but I took a significant amount of time between my second and third tries to fix deficits and get more experience. But, yeah, if I hadn't been successful this cycle, this would've been it, and I would've been looking for something else to do with my life.

I can't imagine doing this more than 3 times. It's too exhausting.

 

[Naruhodo]

HMS only allows 2 cycles. One of my state schools that send my a secondary during my first application cycle didn't on my second (even though the MCAT/ whole package had improved). That's just anecdote though.

 

[Med Ed]

Let's say you applied, one year, then a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and so on every single year. When would your application be screened out/immediately thrown in the trash?

This usually happens in year one.

 

[gyngyn]

40........times????????????

You're trolling us!!!!!!

I went back to confirm, you are right, my memory fails. He took the (old) MCAT more than 40 times. He appears to have applied about 25 times (by his own recollection).
He didn't apply to my school until last year. At least he is changing his strategy...

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

That's a great question.

There are schools that do not review reapplicants. I think the highest number I have seen for an interview candidate at my school was three rounds.

If someone keeps reapplying without success, then they are both clueless, and failing to fix the deficits in their app. Or they have a red flag they're unaware of, but this still leads to their being clueless.

U


-A few schools have either formal or informal policies that will not look ar any reapplicant.
-some have formal policies that only consider 2 applications from same spplicant.
-many more have informal process that will not look at more than 2 applications except in extraordinary applications
-in reality, most schools will not look beyond 3 applications, whether formally stated or not.
-25% of the applicant pool are reapplicants
-of that about 20% are 1x reapplicants, 5% 2x reapplicants and very few are 3x applicants or more.
-most persistent repeat applicants (PRA) have unrealistic school hopes and, more importantly, unrealistic schedule hopes. That is, they flail away at repeated application with taking time to improve their applications.
-even with the wide availability of many postbacc and SMP, many applicants do not take adavantage of them or apply DURING these programs instead of AFTER they have completed them.
-many PRAs fail to adequatedly prepare and/or rush MCAT retakes.
-lastly, there are many applicants who SHOULD reapply but in the belief that they should be in medical school NOW get rejected from US MD but then choose off-shore schools during same cycle.

I never knew that some schools didn't look at reapplicants. That's crazy. I kinda don't think that's fair. I get it if they reapply multiple times but a lot of people don't get in on their first try. Like gonnif mentioned, about 20% of applicants are first time reapplicants. A lot of those reapplicants probably had no business applying to meds schools the first time around, but a lot of people in that 20% probably had really good applications but really bad school lists or bad luck. I've seen people on here with good apps and good school lists who don't get in, granted they could be trolls or had parts of their applications that sucked, but they still shouldn't be penalized for it.

 

[Goro]

I never knew that some schools didn't look at reapplicants. That's crazy. I kinda don't think that's fair. I get it if they reapply multiple times but a lot of people don't get in on their first try. Like gonnif mentioned, about 20% of applicants are first time reapplicants. A lot of those reapplicants probably had no business applying to meds schools the first time around, but a lot of people in that 20% probably had really good applications but really bad school lists or bad luck. I've seen people on here with good apps and good school lists who don't get in, granted they could be trolls or had parts of their applications that sucked, but they still shouldn't be penalized for it.

My school (and all other DO schools) have no problem with reapplicants. At times we do wonder why MD schools haven't picked up a stellar candidate who is clearly on their 2nd or later cycle, and this can affect our decision.
BUT:

A) Life's not fair
B) It's a seller's market
C) It's the responsibility of the candidate to apply with the best possible app, with the best school list, and to apply on time.

 

[Goro]

I went back to confirm, you are right, my memory fails. He took the (old) MCAT more than 40 times. He appears to have applied about 25 times (by his own recollection).
He didn't apply to my school until last year. At least he is changing his strategy...

So this is someone in his early to mid 50s???

 

[gyngyn]

So this is someone in his early to mid 50s???

A little older than that.

 

[Goro]

A little older than that.

I suspect that the only way he's going to get into medical school is as a standardized patient.

 

[gyngyn]

I suspect that the only way he's going to get into medical school is as a standardized patient.

Anatomic donor, maybe.

 

[Goro]

Anatomic donor, maybe.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

[Isoval]

Anatomic donor, maybe.

Place ice pack over burned area.

 

[HomeSkool]

I went back to confirm, you are right, my memory fails. He took the (old) MCAT more than 40 times.

Dare I ask what his best score was?

Anatomic donor, maybe.

 

[gyngyn]

I can tell you that his first and last score were identical.

 

[CAFFEINE!]

Technically, you're only allowed 7 MCAT attempts in your lifetime, so given that one score is good for 2-3 years depending on the school, you have a maximum of 14-21 application cycles to try to get an acceptance.

 

[gyngyn]

Technically, you're only allowed 7 MCAT attempts in your lifetime, so given that one score is good for 2-3 years depending on the school, you have a maximum of 14-21 application cycles to try to get an acceptance.

I sometimes think my candidate (above) was the reason for the 7 attempt restriction!

 

[raiderette]

At my third cycle, I would have gone to Plan B. Podiatry, PA, CRNA and Certified Nurse Midwife programs were all on the table.

 

[stickgirl390]

There is a handful of 3rd-time reapps in my medical school class. None higher than that though.

 

[deleted645092]

For some reason the magic number in my head is 3 attempts. I probably read that here somewhere while I was applying, but I've also not met anyone who applied more than 3x.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

The MCAT changes every ten to twenty years; after a number of unsuccessful attempts, an applicant might be able to take the new version and keep on trying. Not a recommended strategy, and medical schools aren't terribly keen on applicants over 45 or so.

 

[kraskadva]

I personally know 2 people who got in on their 5th app cycle.
Both had enough IIs in prior cycles to let them know that there weren't glaring red flags and/or their apps were improving. Both were also at the point of giving up too, i.e. would not have pursued a 6th cycle. Neither would recommend that many cycles.