Possible high stat reapplication: need advice

[Keki]

I'm applying in the 2020-2021 cycle. I've had 3 II (1 R, 1 WL, 1 silence so far). I really need advice as to what I can improve on for reapplication in the 2021-2022 cycle.

App summary:
Undergrad school: Georgia Institute of Technology
Major: Biomedical Engineering
GPA: 4.0 cumulative and 4.0 science
MCAT: 519 (August 2019)
Bio: Asian, female, Georgia resident, no physicians in the family
Graduation: May 2020 (I took a gap year to apply to medical school and work as a scribe)
Primary submitted: June 7, 2020
Secondary's submitted: Early-Late August, some in late July

Activities (specific):
Scribe at a pediatric orthopedics clinic (1640 hours)
Clinical Observations in X and Y Hospital ED (96 hours)
Vice President of the Georgia Tech Anime Club (674 hours) - Most meaningful
Undergraduate Research in the X Lab in Sickle Cell Disease (1380 hours) - Most meaningful
Internal Medicine Shadowing at X Hospital (63 hours)
Biomedical Engineering Capstone Senior Design Project (160 hours)
Volunteer at X Medical Center (600 hours) - Most meaningful
General Member of Wishmakers on Campus (60 hours)
Human Resources Records Student Assistant (226 hours)
Faculty Honors and Alpha Eta Mu Beta BME Honors Society (0 hours, honors/reward category)

TOTAL activity hours:
159 hours physician shadowing/clinical observation
1640 hours medical paid employment
1380 hours research
600 hours medical community service/volunteering
226 hours non medical paid employment
60 hours non medical community service/volunteering

School List:
NOTE: blank = I submitted a secondary, but did not receive an interview or response yet

School:	Response:
Mercer University School of Medicine
Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University	post interview- WL
New york medical college
University of Virginia School of Medicine	post interview- WL
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Yale School of Medicine
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine	no secondary received
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania	R
New York University Grossman School of Medicine	post interview- R
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine	R
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health	R
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine	R
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	R
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons	R
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California	R

Essays: I paid for a pre med advising service to look over all my essays, since my undergrad pre health advisor is not very accessible. I also had my friends and communication center at school edit them too. I won't post my PS here unless you want it, but I don't think my writing was that bad.

Other: I also conducted computational COVID-19 research in my gap year, which I talked about in my secondary's. I was listed as an author on a paper about this, which was recently submitted for review.

Main Concerns:
People on reddit said my main issue was my school list, but I'm still surprised that schools in my state like Mercer and Emory didn't offer me an interview. Do you guys have any school suggestions that I may have a better chance at? Also, if I "fix" my school list, is it ok if the rest of my application (essays, activities, LOR's) remain mostly the same?

Also I haven't done much this year because I've been so busy with my job and applying to med school (plus COVID), so I don't have many other additional activities to add for the next cycle. Should I take a year off to have more volunteering or research in my app? But if I take a year or more off, I will probably have to retake the MCAT because it'll expire for a lot of schools

EDIT: I got waitlisted from MCG......

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dral]

I think it could be your list. I had similar stats to yours back when I applied. I applied fairly top heavy (Cornell, Penn, UofC, U of Michigan, etc). I got a lot of silence and post interview waitlists. I finally got a straight up A at UVa, but I thought I would have gotten a bit more than I did.

The only other thing I can think of is LoRs.

 

[KendallJennerSniperLady69]

I think it could be your list. I had similar stats to yours back when I applied. I applied fairly top heavy (Cornell, Penn, UofC, U of Michigan, etc). I got a lot of silence and post interview waitlists. I finally got a straight up A at UVa, but I thought I would have gotten a bit more than I did.

The only other thing I can think of is LoRs.

I'm a current applicant, but one red flag(???) I see is why they thought it would be a good idea to put anime club as one of their most meaningful experiences on their application to *medical school*???

 

[celtic6643]

First of all congrats on your success this application package is pretty solid, so I don’t think you should go and look to do drastic things you have a lot of the major pieces. I think the main issue is the school list, it’s really top heavy and for some of the schools whose stats you are far and above it doesn’t look like you have many ties to them. So I would definitely talk to a premed advisor about how to restructure the list of schools you apply to. Also I think the anime club as the most meaningful experience may be a interpreted differently by different people. I think being in the Eboard of a club is great because it shows leadership but bc the club doesn’t seem like it had a focus on helping others or community contribution, making it the most meaningful experience may leave them a bit confused. However including it as an experience in general should be totally fine.

 

[Keki]

First of all congrats on your success this application package is pretty solid, so I don’t think you should go and look to do drastic things you have a lot of the major pieces. I think the main issue is the school list, it’s really top heavy and for some of the schools whose stats you are far and above it doesn’t look like you have many ties to them. So I would definitely talk to a premed advisor about how to restructure the list of schools you apply to. Also I think the anime club as the most meaningful experience may be a interpreted differently by different people. I think being in the Eboard of a club is great because it shows leadership but bc the club doesn’t seem like it had a focus on helping others or community contribution, making it the most meaningful experience may leave them a bit confused. However including it as an experience in general should be totally fine.

great point, I think i'll definitely make my scribe job as one of my most meaningful experiences next cycle instead of the anime club thing. But at the time I submitted this cycle, I had just started scribing

EDIT: also, do you have any suggestions for less top heavy schools? The problem is I don't have ties to any states besides Georgia really, and I applied to almost all the med schools in georgia with only 1 II from them

 

[Keki]

I think it could be your list. I had similar stats to yours back when I applied. I applied fairly top heavy (Cornell, Penn, UofC, U of Michigan, etc). I got a lot of silence and post interview waitlists. I finally got a straight up A at UVa, but I thought I would have gotten a bit more than I did.

The only other thing I can think of is LoRs.

but like, what can I do about LoRs when I can't even see them?? I think I had a great relationship with my letter writers (1 research PI, 1 volunteer coordinator, 1 quantitative physiology lab science professor, 1 systems and modelling BME professor).
next cycle though, I am thinking about asking one of the orthopedic surgeons I work with as a scribe for a letter too

 

[celtic6643]

great point, I think i'll definitely make my scribe job as one of my most meaningful experiences next cycle instead of the anime club thing. But at the time I submitted this cycle, I had just started scribing

EDIT: also, do you have any suggestions for less top heavy schools? The problem is I don't have ties to any states besides Georgia really, and I applied to almost all the med schools in georgia with only 1 II from them

So a couple schools I can think of are Drexel, Quinnipiac, Georgetown, Albany, BU, Temple and I’m sure others I’m missing. Also was one of your LORs from a clinician?

 

[Dave1980]

It's your school list. You need to focus on the lower to mid schools for next round and you should get in somewhere.

I would forget about NY and Cali schools. Being from GA you should look in the SE.

 

[spottedcory]

Your school list was really top heavy, even more so than mine, and of the other schools you applied to, Tufts and NYMC are low yield. Look into schools like OSU, Cincinnati, Florida schools.

So a couple schools I can think of are Drexel, Quinnipiac, Georgetown, Albany, BU, Temple and I’m sure others I’m missing. Also was one of your LORs from a clinician?

Only apply to BU if you've demonstrated a significant commitment to the underserved. Albany, GT, Temple, Drexel are low yield, but could apply if school list is bigger. I also think a clinician letter is just a cherry on top

 

[GreenDuck12]

4/21 schools you applied to have extreme IS competition for a state in which you are not a resident. With the exception of the Georgia schools, your list was very, very top heavy. I would take a serious look at your written application materials with some trusted mentors who can give you feedback - I suspect that may be a factor here.

 

[ThatSerb]

im curious which consulting group you used?

 

[Keki]

It's your school list. You need to focus on the lower to mid schools for next round and you should get in somewhere.

I would forget about NY and Cali schools. Being from GA you should look in the SE.

Oh I forgot to mention, my boyfriend lives in cali and my sister went to NYU for undergrad. That was my only connection to other states outside of GA which is partly why I wanted to go to NY and Cali schools

But yeah I agree, they are really competitive

 

[Keki]

So a couple schools I can think of are Drexel, Quinnipiac, Georgetown, Albany, BU, Temple and I’m sure others I’m missing. Also was one of your LORs from a clinician?

No, I asked the physician I shadowed for a LOR but he never replied to me. I will definitely get one from my scribe job next cycle though!

 

[Keki]

im curious which consulting group you used?

White Coat Strategists

 

[Keki]

4/21 schools you applied to have extreme IS competition for a state in which you are not a resident. With the exception of the Georgia schools, your list was very, very top heavy. I would take a serious look at your written application materials with some trusted mentors who can give you feedback - I suspect that may be a factor here.

Which 4 schools? I can see how Wisconsin may have been a mistake but idk about the others

 

[Keki]

Your school list was really top heavy, even more so than mine, and of the other schools you applied to, Tufts and NYMC are low yield. Look into schools like OSU, Cincinnati, Florida schools.

Only apply to BU if you've demonstrated a significant commitment to the underserved. Albany, GT, Temple, Drexel are low yield, but could apply if school list is bigger. I also think a clinician letter is just a cherry on top

is there even such thing as a high yield school?? lol

 

[GreenDuck12]

Which 4 schools? I can see how Wisconsin may have been a mistake but idk about the others

All the UCs have extreme IS bias and are highly competitive. since you are a resident of Georgia these programs fall into the low yield highly competitive category.

 

[efle]

I'm shocked a paid consulting service didn't have you mark your 1000+ hours of clinical employment as a "most meaningful" instead of anime club...

Other than improving the way you write/present your ECs, you might drop your volunteer coordinator LOR unless you know for a fact they've written med school LORs for previous successful applicants. The volunteering speaks for itself, your letters should be professors, PIs or other folks who are experienced writing letters like this.

Also, what kind of authorships or presentations did you get from your 1000+ hours of research time?

 

[spottedcory]

is there even such thing as a high yield school?? lol

No, but I believe there's such a thing as a high yield list for yourself. I picked schools that got less apps, or locations outside of popular cities, used the post-II A sheet to find schools with high post-II A rates. I also picked schools that let me showcase my app and fit for the school through their secondaries (vandy, bu, Jeff for me). My undergrad also has data showing where graduates matriculate/are accepted to the most, and some medical schools show which undergrads are the most common in their classes

 

[zorcandpals]

All the UCs have extreme IS bias and are highly competitive. since you are a resident of Georgia these programs fall into the low yield highly competitive category.

This is wrong for UCLA and UCSF which basically give very little weight to in state applicants. UCSD also seems to not care much. The other UC schools have IS preferences but OP didnt apply to them though.


TBH OP; you're school list isn't that bad as people are making them out to be based on your stats. Some other schools you can consider adding next cycle if it doesnt work out might be Pitt, Rochester, Dartmouth, Miami.

 

[spottedcory]

This is wrong for UCLA and UCSF which basically give very little weight to in state applicants. UCSD also seems to not care much. The other UC schools have IS preferences but OP didnt apply to them though.


TBH OP; you're school list isn't that bad as people are making them out to be based on your stats. Some other schools you can consider adding next cycle if it doesnt work out might be Pitt, Rochester, Dartmouth, Miami.

Yeah the UCs don't have in-state bias but I agree that they basically fall into the low yield / highly competitive category. That's how I treated them and I'm in state lmao

 

[zorcandpals]

Yeah the UCs don't have in-state bias but I agree that they basically fall into the low yield / highly competitive category. That's how I treated them and I'm in state lmao

I dont think anyone denies that they're highly competitive but I will say that UCSF basically doesnt have a secondary and UCLA secondary is relatively short so I suppose for an applicant looking to add spots the time cost is low.

 

[Keki]

I'm shocked a paid consulting service didn't have you mark your 1000+ hours of clinical employment as a "most meaningful" instead of anime club...

Other than improving the way you write/present your ECs, you might drop your volunteer coordinator LOR unless you know for a fact they've written med school LORs for previous successful applicants. The volunteering speaks for itself, your letters should be professors, PIs or other folks who are experienced writing letters like this.

Also, what kind of authorships or presentations did you get from your 1000+ hours of research time?

Well at the time of submitting, I JUST finished scribe training and didn't even start my clinical training yet due to COVID.

hmm idk my volunteer coordinator offered to write me a LOR herself, and I heard she wrote LOR for other volunteers as well. IDK how successful they were though.

At the time of submitting, I didn't have any authorships or presentations outside of my lab. BUT in October 2020, I presented at a virtual BMES conference. and very recently I was listed as an author on a paper that was just submitted to a journal.
EDIT: also I talked about these in update letters... no positive response :/

 

[bpinyourarea]

The list is top-heavy for 4.0/519??? That's the average stats at most T20s, and OP has pretty decent ECs. I think we're only saying it's top-heavy because OP didn't have a good cycle. If OP posted WAMC before the cycle, people would be absolutely fine with the list.

OP, I don't really have good advice. I'm sorry this whole process is nebulous and a crapshoot. It might be your writing, which I suggest you re-write your app if you do end up applying. You need to write in a way that makes your application stands out, and I'm not sure even a consulting company helps with that. Also, your now-fulfilled scribing experience will look really good on your reapp!

 

[efle]

Well at the time of submitting, I JUST finished scribe training and didn't even start my clinical training yet due to COVID.

hmm idk my volunteer coordinator offered to write me a LOR herself, and I heard she wrote LOR for other volunteers as well. IDK how successful they were though.

At the time of submitting, I didn't have any authorships or presentations outside of my lab. BUT in October 2020, I presented at a virtual BMES conference. and very recently I was listed as an author on a paper that was just submitted to a journal.
EDIT: also I talked about these in update letters... no positive response :/

Starting to make more sense if, at the time you submitted AMCAS, you didn't yet have any of your clinical employment hours nor any research productivity after 1000 lab hours.

I think reapplying with those two improvements, a broader list, and re-prioritizing how you present your ECs, you'll have better interview yield.

 

[gyngyn]

No, I asked the physician I shadowed for a LOR but he never replied to me. I will definitely get one from my scribe job next cycle though!

There are only a handful of MD schools that request a clinical letter. I hope that you don't send a shadowing letter to the rest of us!

 

[deleted1085158]

Honestly, there is nothing you can do to improve, you just have to accept your fate.

I went to the open house at my state school and according to the dean, they reject plenty of 4.0's so that is not an automatic in.

Personally, when I see that your "most meaningful" experience has to do with anime, I'd say you could easily become one of those 4.0's he was talking about.

Maybe work on your personal statement and take anything with anime out.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

You have a great application but I agree it your school list may be the culprit. Your numerical stats are in the range for a T10. But from my perspective, there's not a true wow factor that makes you one of those larger than life people who net those T10 A's. Also a lot of people apply to 30-40+ schools, especially if they're low yield, have in-state preference or are T10.

I also agree that it may not have been best to include an executive position for a non-medical club as most meaningful. Nothing against anime (in fact I quite like it) but it's a hobby that doesn't demonstrate traits that will make you a successful physician as much as, say, tutoring, academic publications, starting a non-profit, having professional leadership experience etc. Truthfully I question how you were able to make it into an essay that accentuates your abilities as a future physician.

(Though I concede there is cultural bias in what non-medical hobbies are considered acceptable. It seems like athletics [perhaps descended from the classical "scholar-athlete" ideal] and are viewed as developing professional traits.)

It seems like you're a great candidate who just didn't "play the game" as well as you could have this cycle. Best of luck.

 

[Isoval]

I'm a current applicant, but one red flag(???) I see is why they thought it would be a good idea to put anime club as one of their most meaningful experiences on their application to *medical school*???

just wanted to chime in and say that I may disagree with this depending on the context.

depending on how it is framed, this could very well be an acceptable experience to mark as most impactful, and I frankly think that lying about which experiences meant the most to you is disingenuous if you truly felt that being in this club was a formative experience.

 

[deleted1085158]

just wanted to chime in and say that I may disagree with this depending on the context.

depending on how it is framed, this could very well be an acceptable experience to mark as most impactful, and I frankly think that lying about which experiences meant the most to you is disingenuous if you truly felt that being in this club was a formative experience.

I think you have to look at the culture of the school. Doesn't matter what we think is important. If they don't feel certain personalities fit in with the class overall, the decision to put down that activity could be a deal-breaker.

 

[Vivid_Quail]

Impressively top-heavy list. I count two schools (NYMC and Tufts) that are not in-state schools or T20-30...and those two are both some of the lowest yield schools to apply to. 10k+ apps for not that many spots.

You have an amazing application and probably would have been accepted to my state school in August, but to be honest your list is a little arrogant, even for someone with your stats. Your app is about average, maybe a little below average, for students accepted to these top schools. I defer to WedgeDawg's excellent list of schools to focus on this coming cycle:

Category 4 (LOW): USF-Morsani, Wayne State, Creighton, Oakland, SLU, Cincinnati, Indiana, Miami, Iowa, MC Wisconsin, Toledo, SUNY Downstate, Stony Brook, VCU, Western MI, EVMS, Vermont, WVU, Wisconsin, Quinnipiac, Wake Forest, Maryland

Category 5 (STATE): Your state schools if they do not appear elsewhere on this list - You should always apply to all of these if applying MD

Category 6 (LOW YIELD): Jefferson, Tulane, Tufts, Georgetown, Brown, BU, Loyola, Rosalind Franklin, Drexel, Commonwealth, Temple, GWU, NYMC, Penn State, Albany, Rush

 

[Isoval]

I think you have to look at the culture of the school. Doesn't matter what we think is important. If they don't feel certain personalities fit in with the class overall, the decision to put down that activity could be a deal-breaker.

I disagree.

I heard people come and talk all day long about how they shadowed or scribed or some such during their interviews, and all I really wanted to hear was why this person was “special” in their own way.

I can tell you, by the end of the interview day, I was sick of people telling me their vanilla scribing experiences that I reckon they picked since it’s what they thought I wanted to hear. If you have a genuinely great experience to speak on, do it. If you don’t, shove that somewhere else and put something there that is a genuinely great experience.

Obviously, these experience should have impacted or otherwise show who you are as a person. Don’t write stuff there because you think it was cool or fun. It needs to be impactful on your person.

 

[Vivid_Quail]

Also...hol' up, you spent 700 hours as vice president of an anime club?! Did you count your time watching anime as one of the most meaningful experience on a medical school application?? How do you spend 700 hours as an officer of any club?

In the eyes of many (most?) 50-70 year old adcoms, you literally just advertised that you think cartoons are more important in preparing you for medical school than volunteering or clinical experience.

 

[theendisnigh]

I disagree.

I heard people come and talk all day long about how they shadowed or scribed or some such during their interviews, and all I really wanted to hear was why this person was “special” in their own way.

I can tell you, by the end of the interview day, I was sick of people telling me their vanilla scribing experiences that I reckon they picked since it’s what they thought I wanted to hear. If you have a genuinely great experience to speak on, do it. If you don’t, shove that somewhere else and put something there that is a genuinely great experience.

Obviously, these experience should have impacted or otherwise show who you are as a person. Don’t write stuff there because you think it was cool or fun. It needs to be impactful on your person.

I agree with this sentiment, OP. If you are going to put an interest club like anime in your application, there should be really good essays as to WHY it helped you grow as a person or how in that position you may have impacted others.

Your application besides that point is very impressive and you should be proud. I see you are waitlisted at UVA and with your excellent stats you may come off the WL this cycle.

 

[deleted1085158]

I disagree.

I heard people come and talk all day long about how they shadowed or scribed or some such during their interviews, and all I really wanted to hear was why this person was “special” in their own way.

I can tell you, by the end of the interview day, I was sick of people telling me their vanilla scribing experiences that I reckon they picked since it’s what they thought I wanted to hear. If you have a genuinely great experience to speak on, do it. If you don’t, shove that somewhere else and put something there that is a genuinely great experience.

Obviously, these experience should have impacted or otherwise show who you are as a person. Don’t write stuff there because you think it was cool or fun. It needs to be impactful on your person.

I think the better advice that we can both agree on is that this issue is school-specific.

I recommend applicants study the schools that they are applying to and see what these schools are looking for.

 

[LindaAccepted]

I'm applying in the 2020-2021 cycle. I've had 3 II (1 R, 1 WL, 1 silence so far). I really need advice as to what I can improve on for reapplication in the 2021-2022 cycle.

App summary:
Undergrad school: Georgia Institute of Technology
Major: Biomedical Engineering
GPA: 4.0 cumulative and 4.0 science
MCAT: 519 (August 2019)
Bio: Asian, female, Georgia resident, no physicians in the family
Graduation: May 2020 (I took a gap year to apply to medical school and work as a scribe)
Primary submitted: June 7, 2020
Secondary's submitted: Early-Late August, some in late July

Activities (specific):
Scribe at a pediatric orthopedics clinic (1640 hours)
Clinical Observations in X and Y Hospital ED (96 hours)
Vice President of the Georgia Tech Anime Club (674 hours) - Most meaningful
Undergraduate Research in the X Lab in Sickle Cell Disease (1380 hours) - Most meaningful
Internal Medicine Shadowing at X Hospital (63 hours)
Biomedical Engineering Capstone Senior Design Project (160 hours)
Volunteer at X Medical Center (600 hours) - Most meaningful
General Member of Wishmakers on Campus (60 hours)
Human Resources Records Student Assistant (226 hours)
Faculty Honors and Alpha Eta Mu Beta BME Honors Society (0 hours, honors/reward category)

TOTAL activity hours:
159 hours physician shadowing/clinical observation
1640 hours medical paid employment
1380 hours research
600 hours medical community service/volunteering
226 hours non medical paid employment
60 hours non medical community service/volunteering

School List:
NOTE: blank = I submitted a secondary, but did not receive an interview or response yet

School:	Response:
Mercer University School of Medicine
Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University	post interview- no response
New york medical college
University of Virginia School of Medicine	post interview- WL
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Yale School of Medicine
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine	no secondary received
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania	R
New York University Grossman School of Medicine	post interview- R
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine	R
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health	R
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine	R
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	R
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons	R
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California	R

Essays: I paid for a pre med advising service to look over all my essays, since my undergrad pre health advisor is not very accessible. I also had my friends and communication center at school edit them too. I won't post my PS here unless you want it, but I don't think my writing was that bad.

Other: I also conducted computational COVID-19 research in my gap year, which I talked about in my secondary's. I was listed as an author on a paper about this, which was recently submitted for review.

Main Concerns:
People on reddit said my main issue was my school list, but I'm still surprised that schools in my state like Mercer and Emory didn't offer me an interview. Do you guys have any school suggestions that I may have a better chance at? Also, if I "fix" my school list, is it ok if the rest of my application (essays, activities, LOR's) remain mostly the same?

Also I haven't done much this year because I've been so busy with my job and applying to med school (plus COVID), so I don't have many other additional activities to add for the next cycle. Should I take a year off to have more volunteering or research in my app? But if I take a year or more off, I will probably have to retake the MCAT because it'll expire for a lot of schools

I agree with the other posters that your school list is top heavy, and applying to two UCs and U of Wisconsin from OOS probably wasn't a good idea. I wonder about the effectiveness of your presentation and interview skills. And let's face it, this is a very tough cycle.

The cycle is not over. For the schools that accept updates, update them. Continue to show interest. Consider a mock interview before any future interviews.

 

[lakers2020champs]

Also...hol' up, you spent 700 hours as vice president of an anime club?! Did you count your time watching anime as one of the most meaningful experience on a medical school application?? How do you spend 700 hours as an officer of any club?

In the eyes of many (most?) 50-70 year old adcoms, you literally just advertised that you think cartoons are more important in preparing you for medical school than volunteering or clinical experience.

I agree, you seem to have a lot of hours for EC activities to the point where I might even question whether you’re telling the truth. Not saying that you’re lying but wow you were super busy considering you got a 4.0 in your engineering major.

You’re impressive on paper no doubt. It might’ve just been your essays tbh.

 

[spottedcory]

Also...hol' up, you spent 700 hours as vice president of an anime club?! Did you count your time watching anime as one of the most meaningful experience on a medical school application?? How do you spend 700 hours as an officer of any club?

In the eyes of many (most?) 50-70 year old adcoms, you literally just advertised that you think cartoons are more important in preparing you for medical school than volunteering or clinical experience.

I mean it's definitely how the experience is framed--especially since anime is a form of expression and art, albeit with stigma that is obvious from this thread (tbh I think OP is getting bashed unnecessarily hard on this because we really don't know how it was presented--it might not be the disaster everyone is thinking it is). They already put research and clinical experience down as their two other MMEs, so choosing anime might've been to diversify their application. I also want to add that I spent 700+ hours as an officer of a MME club and adcoms really liked what I took away in terms of leadership lessons.

@OP I think it's mainly your top heavy/low yield school list. If anime club was truly your most meaningful experience, then ensure that your writing is very reflective and shows how you grew. If another activity shows your growth and introspection better, and in a different way than your other MMEs, then consider swapping anime with that one

 

[Vivid_Quail]

I mean it's definitely how the experience is framed--especially since anime is a form of expression and art, albeit with stigma that is obvious from this thread (tbh I think OP is getting bashed unnecessarily hard on this because we really don't know how it was presented--it might not be the disaster everyone is thinking it is). They already put research and clinical experience down as their two other MMEs, so choosing anime might've been to diversify their application. I also want to add that I spent 700+ hours as an officer of a MME club and adcoms really liked what I took away in terms of leadership lessons.

@OP I think it's mainly your top heavy/low yield school list. If anime club was truly your most meaningful experience, then ensure that your writing is very reflective and shows how you grew. If another activity shows your growth and introspection better, and in a different way than your other MMEs, then consider swapping anime with that one

To be clear, I think it was because of the top heavy list. The anime thing is just meme-y. Anime is art but there is a big stigma and most adcoms are older. You just shouldn’t risk putting controversial stuff on your app. Shooting guns is one of my hobbies but I sure as hell didn’t put that on AMCAS. Doesn’t matter if I think it is a good hobby. Anime =/= guns but hopefully my point is clear.

 

[deleted1085158]

I agree, you seem to have a lot of hours for EC activities to the point where I might even question whether you’re telling the truth. Not saying that you’re lying but wow you were super busy considering you got a 4.0 in your engineering major.

You’re impressive on paper no doubt. It might’ve just been your essays tbh.

Lol, I didn't even look at the hours. Totally fabricated. Most 4.0 people don't do anything else but study.