Potential reapplicant.. Help!

[thetwinkle]

Hi everyone!

I applied this cycle to ~25 MD schools, complete at most places in late July. So far I have a lot of rejections and 0 interview invites.
My cGPA is 3.8 and sGPA is 3.7. Took MCAT twice: scored 505 (127/125/126/127) first time and 512 (128/126/129/129) 4 months later. CA resident ORM. I think other parts of my app (EC, LOR, PS, secondary) are pretty average. 2 LOR from science professors, 1 from non-science professor in my major, 1 from non-clinical volunteer coordinator and 1 from my research program director who is an MD. Nothing special in EC but I made sure I check all the boxes.

-200 hours non-clinical volunteering
-~400 hours clinical volunteering
-30 hours shadowing
-~200hours research, no pub
-non-science honors thesis for my major + presentation
-PBK (if it matters)

All secondaries submitted within 2 weeks of receiving. Applied to following schools:

Albany (reject)
Arizona-Tuscon (reject)
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
Drexel
EVMS
Quinnipiac (reject)
George Washington (hold)
Georgetown (reject)
Temple
Loyala Stritch
MCW Milwaukee
NYMC (hold)
Oakland Beaumont
Penn State (hold)
St. Louis
UC Davis (pre-secondary rejection)
Vermont (small-pooled)
VCU
Wake Forest (reject)
Western Michigan (rejection. not even a phone interview... sigh)
Virginia Tech Carillion
UC Irvine
Tulane (reject)

I ended up applying to few DO school and have 4 II's so far. I attended one and got rejected for not having enough DO shadowing hours (emailed the admissions office).
I honestly do not think I have any significant red flags in my app.... Very lost as to what else I should be working on.

I will be adding following things for my next cycle:

-~200 more hours of clinical volunteering + outstanding volunteer award
-leadership position at my clinical research program
-naturalized to US citizen (was a permanent resident when I applied)
-~1000 hours research + will have ~2 publications
-possibly a new MCAT if I can score 518+ in practice exams, but very unlikely :/

Suggestions? I am mostly interested in MD and I think my MCAT is not so solid. Is the fact that it is a retake, even if I improved in every section, that much of a concern? I do not want to waste any more money doing SMP or other masters program.
I read somewhere that schools recommend reapplicants to take a year off before reapplying. Is that necessary in my case? If so, I am willing to work as a scribe or EMT for a year to add more to my clinical hours.
I think I will keep most of the schools in the list unless I end up taking 3rd MCAT and score significantly higher. Please give suggestions if I should add any other schools. I am not a UC alumni and not local to either UCR or UCD (hence not in the list).

I'm sorry for the long post. I was told by various people that I should expect at least a few MD II, so I am very disappointed and losing a lot of hope. Any suggestion would be really helpful.

Thank you so much in advance!!

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[MiamiBoyy]

The only red flag I can see is your statement "Nothing special in EC but I made sure I check all the boxes." This attitude may have been reflected in your personal statement, secondary essays, AMCAS essays, etc. which may have not inspired many adcoms to jump at the thought of interviewing you. Just an assumption based on what Im reading because on paper your stats are pretty solid.

 

[Shawna-Kaye Lester]

Hi everyone!

I applied this cycle to ~25 MD schools, complete at most places in late July. So far I have a lot of rejections and 0 interview invites.
My cGPA is 3.8 and sGPA is 3.7. Took MCAT twice: scored 505 (127/125/126/127) first time and 512 (128/126/129/129) 4 months later. CA resident ORM. I think other parts of my app (EC, LOR, PS, secondary) are pretty average. 2 LOR from science professors, 1 from non-science professor in my major, 1 from non-clinical volunteer coordinator and 1 from my research program director who is an MD. Nothing special in EC but I made sure I check all the boxes.

-200 hours non-clinical volunteering
-~400 hours clinical volunteering
-30 hours shadowing
-~200hours research, no pub
-non-science honors thesis for my major + presentation
-PBK (if it matters)

All secondaries submitted within 2 weeks of receiving. Applied to following schools:

Albany (reject)
Arizona-Tuscon (reject)
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
Drexel
EVMS
Quinnipiac (reject)
George Washington (hold)
Georgetown (reject)
Temple
Loyala Stritch
MCW Milwaukee
NYMC (hold)
Oakland Beaumont
Penn State (hold)
St. Louis
UC Davis (pre-secondary rejection)
Vermont (small-pooled)
VCU
Wake Forest (reject)
Western Michigan (rejection. not even a phone interview... sigh)
Virginia Tech Carillion
UC Irvine
Tulane (reject)

I ended up applying to few DO school and have 4 II's so far. I attended one and got rejected for not having enough DO shadowing hours (emailed the admissions office).
I honestly do not think I have any significant red flags in my app.... Very lost as to what else I should be working on.

I will be adding following things for my next cycle:

-~200 more hours of clinical volunteering + outstanding volunteer award
-leadership position at my clinical research program
-naturalized to US citizen (was a permanent resident when I applied)
-~1000 hours research + will have ~2 publications
-possibly a new MCAT if I can score 518+ in practice exams, but very unlikely :/

Suggestions? I am mostly interested in MD and I think my MCAT is not so solid. Is the fact that it is a retake, even if I improved in every section, that much of a concern? I do not want to waste any more money doing SMP or other masters program.
I read somewhere that schools recommend reapplicants to take a year off before reapplying. Is that necessary in my case? If so, I am willing to work as a scribe or EMT for a year to add more to my clinical hours.
I think I will keep most of the schools in the list unless I end up taking 3rd MCAT and score significantly higher. Please give suggestions if I should add any other schools. I am not a UC alumni and not local to either UCR or UCD (hence not in the list).

I'm sorry for the long post. I was told by various people that I should expect at least a few MD II, so I am very disappointed and losing a lot of hope. Any suggestion would be really helpful.

Thank you so much in advance!!

You look solid enough for an interview on paper. Do you trust the people you asked to recommend you? Also, did you talk about yourself in a positive tone? Feel free to reach out to me if you want someone to look over your PS and application to see how you spoke about yourself. It can be hard for admissions to get excited about you if you have not gotten excited about what you have to offer.

 

[gamieg]

really recommend getting more eyeballs on your personal statement and secondary essays.
does your undergraduate not offer a committee letter option?

also was the DO rejection post-interview? because usually rejections for not enough DO shadowing hours come pre-II.
if the rejection was post-interview, I strongly suspect that your interest in MD shone through.

 

[thetwinkle]

No, my school doesn't offer a committee letter.

And yes the DO rejection was post-interview. Looking back I don't think I was really prepared for 'why DO' question though.

 

[psu228]

30 shadowing hours is kind of subpar.. I think it would be wise if you shadowed a physician in a different specialty or two. Make one a DO. I get the whole DO stigma thing but a physician is a physician and a lot of the DO schools are terrific.

But basically yea, biggest thing to me seems to be your lack of shadowing experience.

Good luck! Apply more broadly, consider osteopathy, and I'm sure you could be successful this next cycle.

 

[thetwinkle]

30 shadowing hours is kind of subpar.. I think it would be wise if you shadowed a physician in a different specialty or two. Make one a DO. I get the whole DO stigma thing but a physician is a physician and a lot of the DO schools are terrific.

But basically yea, biggest thing to me seems to be your lack of shadowing experience.

Good luck! Apply more broadly, consider osteopathy, and I'm sure you could be successful this next cycle.

Thanks psu228! I was unsure if my shadowing hours were enough so thanks for pointing that out. I will definitely work on getting more hours.

 

[thetwinkle]

Anyone? @gonnif @gyngyn @Goro @LizzyM
Any opinion about shot at MD?

 

[Goro]

I agree; the essays are probably the most problematic, unless you have a red flag of a LOR.

The only red flag I can see is your statement "Nothing special in EC but I made sure I check all the boxes." This attitude may have been reflected in your personal statement, secondary essays, AMCAS essays, etc. which may have not inspired many adcoms to jump at the thought of interviewing you. Just an assumption based on what Im reading because on paper your stats are pretty solid.

 

[LizzyM]

I haven't much to say because your record would make you a non-starter at the top 20 and that's my area of expertise.

That said, I think you need to have something exciting and unusual about yourself and what you bring to the table and not just the usual cookie cutter check boxes. Go out and work/serve for 1-2 years and apply in June 2018 or 2019. I'm serious. You would bring something interesting to the table after a year or two in full-time employment or community service (e.g. City Year, Peace Corps, teaching, full-time community service, etc). Alternately, full time in a clinical service position. These are rarer but I've seen a few such as a guy who worked in a clinical lab that did genetic testing of samples flown in from across the country.

 

[thetwinkle]

but red flag LORs are not common. While many if not most LORs are fluff, etc, very few really point to some really bad negative that would flag you dead overall. Even an LOR that talks about being a poor student would just be a negative factor in the overall decision making of the process. It wouldnt be some immediate rejection

Thank you everyone for replying!

I certainly don't believe that I had the best personal statement and I will try to improve it. I did aim for a "theme" in my app. I have a sibling with a severe developmental disability and wrote about how it motivated me to pursue medicine extensively in both my personal statement and secondaries. My non-clinical volunteer is also related to this. Do you think I should keep this theme when I reapply?

As for my LOR, I think they could have been too generic but I can't think of any possible red flags... I knew 2 of my professors pretty well, but I was worried about my other 3 letters. One of the professors told me that how he usually writes letters is by picking from one of the several pre-written"templates" that fits my PS, etc. Do you think the raises concern? Should I get new letters?

 

[psu228]

Thank you everyone for replying!

I certainly don't believe that I had the best personal statement and I will try to improve it. I did aim for a "theme" in my app. I have a sibling with a severe developmental disability and wrote about how it motivated me to pursue medicine extensively in both my personal statement and secondaries. My non-clinical volunteer is also related to this. Do you think I should keep this theme when I reapply?

As for my LOR, I think they could have been too generic but I can't think of any possible red flags... I knew 2 of my professors pretty well, but I was worried about my other 3 letters. One of the professors told me that how he usually writes letters is by picking from one of the several pre-written"templates" that fits my PS, etc. Do you think the raises concern? Should I get new letters?

A buddy of mine wrote his personal statement about his dad's struggles with Alzheimer's Dementia, which he tied into research he did in UG and the interviewers loved it. I think your story is powerful, and unless you have something else in mind, I'd stick with it. It seems genuinely why you're interested in this field and that's the most important thing. I'd rewrite it a few times, play around with the structure and see if you can come up with something that reads a little more appealingly to someone who has to read hundreds of these a cycle.

That's a pretty weird thing to say, in my opinion. All my LORs (which I hope to God are good) writers' asked me specifically what kind of thing I'd like to convey, a theme etc, in order to put on top of their other comments. They all seemed to take it pretty seriously.. at least it came off that way to me. Most schools only require three academic letters right? I'd seriously consider throwing out that one if you're concerned.