Possible third time Reapp (need advice)

[bp14]

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cGPA:3.84 sGPA:3.88 MCAT:514 (about to expire)
This cycle I received four interviews; however, I have 2 R's, 1 WL, 1 no decision yet.
I applied to thirty schools: Wayne State, SLU, Rosalind, dartmouth, tufts, duke, george wash, temple, loyola, Miami, UC davis, drexel, Oakland Beaumont, USC, Brown, Quinnipiac, RUSH, Ohio state, Albany, Arizona, NYMC, UCI, UCSF, UCR, PSU, Geisinger, Tulane, SKMC, UCSD, Mayo.
Clinical hours: 1000 hours ICU
Non clinical: 22 hours crises counselor
Leadership position: TA for organic chemistry and manager at a restaurant
research: 200 hours (no pubs, one poster presentation) I think this a major area of weakness for me.
Any advice would be much appreciated. I have no clue what to do now.
CA. ORM

One more question: I took the MCAT in 2015, does this mean I have to take it again?

 

[curbsideconsult]

I'm curious as to why you didn't get more interviews considering your stats. Though you don't have a lot of different experiences, the ones you have show you have commitment so your ECs/work experiences aren't too lacking. Although beefing them up a bit couldn't hurt.

Did you have a couple people look over your personal statement and secondaries? As for the four interviews, again, with your stats, you should have gotten at least one acceptance from them if you interviewed early enough. Did you do practice interviews?

 

[bp14]

First, thank you so much for replying. I had my premed advisor and another English professor look over my essay. After I received my first interview, I practiced interviews with my premed advisor and multiple friends.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

research: 200 hours (no pubs, one poster presentation) I think this a major area of weakness for me.

I don't believe this is the reason. Since you received 4 IIs, looks like your app does not have any red flags. Therefore, I can only conclude that you need to work on your interviewing skills.

Getting your friends and pre-med advisor to critique your interviews was a good idea. However, perhaps they weren't critical enough. I don't generally advise paying for a 3rd party interviewing consultant, but perhaps it is worth the $$.

Also, it does not appear you applied to DOs. Therefore, broaden your MD school list and apply to DOs.

Paging @Faha and @Goro to help with a list of schools.

 

[bp14]

Thank you, DV-T. I think my school list was kind of crap too. I applied to schools that I had no business applying too.

 

[Faha]

Where were your 4 interviews?

 

[Goro]

cGPA:3.84 sGPA:3.88 MCAT:514 (about to expire)
This cycle I received four interviews; however, I have 2 R's, 1 WL, 1 no decision yet.
I applied to thirty schools: Wayne State, SLU, Rosalind, dartmouth, tufts, duke, george wash, temple, loyola, Miami, UC davis, drexel, Oakland Beaumont, USC, Brown, Quinnipiac, RUSH, Ohio state, Albany, Arizona, NYMC, UCI, UCSF, UCR, PSU, Geisinger, Tulane, SKMC, UCSD, Mayo.
Clinical hours: 1000 hours ICU
Non clinical: 22 hours crises counselor
Leadership position: TA for organic chemistry and manager at a restaurant
research: 200 hours (no pubs, one poster presentation) I think this a major area of weakness for me.
Any advice would be much appreciated. I have no clue what to do now.
CA. ORM

One more question: I took the MCAT in 2015, does this mean I have to take it again?

MCATs have different expiration dates for different schools. You'll have to do due diligence and research who has what.

You made a lot of donations with your school list. They don't need the money.

I suggest getting in a lot more non-clinical volunteering, especially with those less fortunate than yourself.

And work on your interview skills.

Here's a more reasonable list:

UCF (maybe)
Duke (maybe)
U Cincy (maybe)
U VM
Pitt
Mayo
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rush
Rosy Franklin
BU
MCW
Hofstra
NYMC
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
George Washington
Georgetown
Emory
Tufts
USC/Keck
Tulane
Dartmouth
Loyola
Netter
Oakland-B
Nova MD
Cali U Med
UCLA
UCD
UCI
UCR ONLY IF you're from the Inland Empire.

Read gonnif's post on reapplications

 

[BuckStrickland]

cGPA:3.84 sGPA:3.88 MCAT:514 (about to expire)
This cycle I received four interviews; however, I have 2 R's, 1 WL, 1 no decision yet.
I applied to thirty schools: Wayne State, SLU, Rosalind, dartmouth, tufts, duke, george wash, temple, loyola, Miami, UC davis, drexel, Oakland Beaumont, USC, Brown, Quinnipiac, RUSH, Ohio state, Albany, Arizona, NYMC, UCI, UCSF, UCR, PSU, Geisinger, Tulane, SKMC, UCSD, Mayo.
Clinical hours: 1000 hours ICU
Non clinical: 22 hours crises counselor
Leadership position: TA for organic chemistry and manager at a restaurant
research: 200 hours (no pubs, one poster presentation) I think this a major area of weakness for me.
Any advice would be much appreciated. I have no clue what to do now.
CA. ORM

One more question: I took the MCAT in 2015, does this mean I have to take it again?

I think you should plan on retaking the MCAT to maximize the number of schools that you can apply to (most of the ones I've looked at only take the last 3 year's worth). If you really don't want to do this again, you should apply to 30-40 mid/low tier schools and eliminate all of the reach/low yield MD programs you have on the list like UCSF or Mayo (class size 50). Also, as suggested by the previous posters, I would also go volunteering more, as it seems like one of the few true weakness you have on the app. I hope you get off the waitlist this cycle though, all of your worries would disappear!

 

[bp14]

@Goro, thank you so much for the school list. I am really glad that you took the time to help out a stranger on the internet. Also, I love your line about giving school donations.
@BuckStrickland thank you for complimenting my school list. I took the MCAT Septermber 2015 so I might have just made the cut off (fingers crossed). I really hope so too and thank you for your kind words. Also, I'm doing some nonclinical volunteer.

Thank you so much to the both of you for taking the time to hear me out. Once again, it really does mean a lot.

 

[HomeSkool]

I agree with the other posters that your nonclinical volunteering is pretty light. I also don't see any dedicated shadowing experience there. Have you shadowed? If not, get busy doing it with a goal of at least 40 hours, preferably in primary care.

I'm still curious about why you only got four interviews off of thirty apps. Do you have any red flags in your application? Academic misconduct, run-ins with the law, screwing around with the mayor's daughter, etc.?

One more question: I took the MCAT in 2015, does this mean I have to take it again?

You'll want to buy a subscription to the MSAR (it costs less than $30) to check each school's cutoff. But as a third-time applicant, you'll want to apply as broadly as possible, and that could be a big problem with a 2015 MCAT. If I were you, I'd plan to retake the MCAT. I'd also plan to skip the 2018-19 cycle since three months just isn't enough time to adequately address application weaknesses.

 

[bp14]

Hey, HomeSkool. Sorry for replying so late and thank you for your time. I do not have any red flags in my application. I shadowed an ICU attending for about 100 hours now. Yeah, I need to work on my nonclinical volunteering. I might have to skip the next cycle because I do need to retake the MCAT. Thank you for your time!

 

[MedFriend2015]

Wish you much luck.