Preparing for Reapp & Need advice

[dragonfly2024]

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would love some advice on how i should prepare for reapplying!! graduated may 2024 and currently in a gap year during this app cycle. No MD interviews, post ii with no answer from NYITCOM and got an ii from VCOM-Auburn. I need some help with figuring out how to spend this next year. i've been working as a derm MA for this past year and it hasn't turned out at all how i thought it would. they have me working 3 days a week at our front desk and doing gen derm the other 2. when i got hired i was told i would assist in surgery. when i asked why my manager said my hands shook once when i first started and she won't put me back in. currently applying to new jobs now.

mcat: 509 (will probably plan to retake)
GPA: 3.79 with upward trend after a car accident that caused a back injury. was a molecular biology major with a psych minor at a small private university in fl

ECs
president and managed recruitment in my sorority for 3+ years amongst other small roles 2000+
tutor for student athletes 90
peer educator for health and wellness 250+

Clinical
Nursing assistant in ortho 815
medical scribe in ortho 1400
MA in derm anticipated 1850+
health coach internship 145
*i didn't intend to work in these specialties, they just happened to be the ones hiring

Volunteer
Hospital volunteer 56 hours
Domestic violence awareness with my sorority with a local women's shelter and hosted a ton of events on campus and w the shelter. since i was prez i managed/oversaw everything. 500+
Organized fundraiser for boys and girls club in the area around our school 50

currently working on volunteering at a free clinic near me and possibly another women's shelter.

research
psych research apprentice 120 hrs
senior thesis on protein in cellular fusion -- made my mutation and studied its effects 1000 hours

FL resident
also had all my writings looked over several times, especially my ps
im thinking with mcat retake + new volunteering and job i wait out this next cycle and apply in the next one. if finding a new job doesn't work out by april im considering an emt program.

school list
UF
FSU
UCF
FIU
FAU
Nova
U MIAMI
V tech
EVMS
Duke
Wake Forest
Albany
Quinnipiac
Penn state
UVA
Emory
Pitt
boston u
tufts
alice walton
belmont
george washington
georgetown


NYITCOM
MSUCOM
rowan
vcom

 

[deleted1209789]

Without knowing much about schools, I can already see at least 5 schools that each have average mcat scores around 10 points higher than yours. I think next cycle, aside from retaking the mcat, add a lot more schools with average mcat scores around your final score for a realistic shot.

 

[sciencerules135]

Include hours too!! What’s your mission fit?

 

[dragonfly2024]

Without knowing much about schools, I can already see at least 5 schools that each have average mcat scores around 10 points higher than yours. I think next cycle, aside from retaking the mcat, add a lot more schools with average mcat scores around your final score for a realistic shot.

i think i limited myself too much by only applying along the east coast unfortunately

 

[dragonfly2024]

updated with hours!! as for mission fit, i talked a lot about wanting to help those w chronic pain (esp in underserved areas) and connected it w my personal experience with it and also my experience in ortho. overall wanting to help ppl in underserved areas. i am also interested in health policy and introduced that in secondaries where the school was focused on it (georgetown,etc)

 

[sciencerules135]

updated with hours!! as for mission fit, i talked a lot about wanting to help those w chronic pain (esp in underserved areas) and connected it w my personal experience with it and also my experience in ortho. overall wanting to help ppl in underserved areas. i am also interested in health policy and introduced that in secondaries where the school was focused on it (georgetown,etc)

You definitely have lots of clinical experience which is great, however, I don't sense through your activities that mission fit. It doesn't all align. Have you done any work with underserved? Your non-clinical also is lacking. It would be great if you did more with underserved communities such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. I think this is where your problems lye. I am also a re-applicant and found that a lot of schools didn't even consider me because 1: my non-clincial was non-existent and 2: my mission wasn't seen through my activities and writing clearly enough. If I were you, I would start now getting volunteer hours in an underserved community you see yourself working with. Start at a homeless shelter etc. You need to show you are willing to serve others. One thing I have said a few times on here is most schools screen out people with less than 150-175 hours of homeless shelter etc. I think this may be what happened. As a fellow re-applicant, I really focused on this and had a MUCH more successful cycle this second time. I went from 1 MD II to 3 MD II-1 MD A, 5 DO A's and more that were pending before I withdrew. You got this! I think you have a solid app just need to tweak some things

 

[dragonfly2024]

You definitely have lots of clinical experience which is great, however, I don't sense through your activities that mission fit. It doesn't all align. Have you done any work with underserved? Your non-clinical also is lacking. It would be great if you did more with underserved communities such as food bank, homeless shelter, etc. I think this is where your problems lye. I am also a re-applicant and found that a lot of schools didn't even consider me because 1: my non-clincial was non-existent and 2: my mission wasn't seen through my activities and writing clearly enough. If I were you, I would start now getting volunteer hours in an underserved community you see yourself working with. Start at a homeless shelter etc. You need to show you are willing to serve others. One thing I have said a few times on here is most schools screen out people with less than 150-175 hours of homeless shelter etc. I think this may be what happened. As a fellow re-applicant, I really focused on this and had a MUCH more successful cycle this second time. I went from 1 MD II to 3 MD II-1 MD A, 5 DO A's and more that were pending before I withdrew. You got this! I think you have a solid app just need to tweak some things

thanks so much!! do you think volunteering in a free clinic wouldn't help? i've wanting to do that for a while and finally got in contact w one

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi welcome to the forums. Please confirm you received no interviews from your list above except for two DO schools. If you haven't heard back from the DO schools, let's see what happens, but preparing for a reapp is prudent.

You are missing clarity between your activities and your stated purpose. I don't know why you didn't continue with your work at the domestic shelter; fundraising and running events is excellent, but it doesn't directly address service orientation, which is direct face-to-face and empathetic interactions. It's possible you wrote well, but your message/experience described lacks harmony with your purpose.

I'm not sure where your clinical experience overlaps with those in chronic pain. I would want to see something related to pain management and rehab, not necessarily ortho (which may tie better for sports-related pain). Pain is a very tricky thing, and very difficult to diagnose properly without help from neurology. Derm... doesn't fit your story. Does your research relate to pain/psychology? It doesn't appear so. Words and actions must balance, and the WAMC description (presuming you are listing what is important to you off your application) doesn't do this well.

It's hard to gauge the value of adding free clinic work. I think you should do it to better understand the needs of people who fall through the health insurance gaps in this country. It won't give you experience working with those in chronic pain, but that's not as critical. However, you must have much more hospital-based experience; you will be trained in academic medical centers, so it is to your advantage to know what that's going to be like. 50 hours in a hospital is not enough.

I'm a proponent of seeing your passion through your hours. Your sorority involvement clearly tops the list and seems greater than your involvement with healthcare or arguably underserved communities. I don't see physician shadowing explicitly mentioned... just assisting in ortho or derm, with negligible? primary care or internal medicine. Being a tutor or educator (teaching health/wellness or science) is extremely common among applicants to the point where it doesn't move the needle; you should be able to communicate information from an expert perspective.

@sciencerules135 has it right; you were likely screened out for insufficient experience (hours count of 150 minimum for most schools) with a purpose that doesn't excite faculty about why they should look forward to teaching you as a future colleague (mission fit). Sure, your MCAT could matter, but you got attention from two DO programs that think your application has enough potential to warrant a seat in medical school. Don't blow the chance you have, but keep improving until you get an offer.

 

[dragonfly2024]

Hi welcome to the forums. Please confirm you received no interviews from your list above except for two DO schools. If you haven't heard back from the DO schools, let's see what happens, but preparing for a reapp is prudent.

You are missing clarity between your activities and your stated purpose. I don't know why you didn't continue with your work at the domestic shelter; fundraising and running events is excellent, but it doesn't directly address service orientation, which is direct face-to-face and empathetic interactions. It's possible you wrote well, but your message/experience described lacks harmony with your purpose.

I'm not sure where your clinical experience overlaps with those in chronic pain. I would want to see something related to pain management and rehab, not necessarily ortho (which may tie better for sports-related pain). Pain is a very tricky thing, and very difficult to diagnose properly without help from neurology. Derm... doesn't fit your story. Does your research relate to pain/psychology? It doesn't appear so. Words and actions must balance, and the WAMC description (presuming you are listing what is important to you off your application) doesn't do this well.

It's hard to gauge the value of adding free clinic work. I think you should do it to better understand the needs of people who fall through the health insurance gaps in this country. It won't give you experience working with those in chronic pain, but that's not as critical. However, you must have much more hospital-based experience; you will be trained in academic medical centers, so it is to your advantage to know what that's going to be like. 50 hours in a hospital is not enough.

I'm a proponent of seeing your passion through your hours. Your sorority involvement clearly tops the list and seems greater than your involvement with healthcare or arguably underserved communities. I don't see physician shadowing explicitly mentioned... just assisting in ortho or derm, with negligible? primary care or internal medicine. Being a tutor or educator (teaching health/wellness or science) is extremely common among applicants to the point where it doesn't move the needle; you should be able to communicate information from an expert perspective.

@sciencerules135 has it right; you were likely screened out for insufficient experience (hours count of 150 minimum for most schools) with a purpose that doesn't excite faculty about why they should look forward to teaching you as a future colleague (mission fit). Sure, your MCAT could matter, but you got attention from two DO programs that think your application has enough potential to warrant a seat in medical school. Don't blow the chance you have, but keep improving until you get an offer.

correct, no MD II
I did actually try to continue DVA work but the shelter underwent a complete leadership and restructuring change and it's been difficult with communication.
chronic pain is huge with spinal problems and many orthopedic related problems (injuries, etc) in my experience. plus i have personal experience with myself and my mother with these same issues. i actually worked on the same unit my mom had 3 of her lumbar surgeries.
i wrote about gaps in insurance within each job i've had, with my health coach internship working directly with underinsured patients with chronic disease (i.e diabetes, epilepsy), which was another reason why i was interested in a free clinic because many of the ones i helped benefited from these. i was under the understanding that hospital volunteering wasn't all that valuable since you're not typically in direct contact with patients. at least that's how it was when i volunteered. correct me if i'm wrong please!
i know tutoring wasn't going to improve my app tbh it was a job for easy money atp in my life.
i wanted experience in another field and derm was who hired me. can't be too choosy when i also need a consistent income unfortunately. i'm working on finding another job rn though since this isn't of benefit atp.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

the understanding that hospital volunteering wasn't all that valuable since you're not typically in direct contact with patients. at least that's how it was when i volunteered. correct me if i'm wrong please!

What hospital jobs were you looking at? Sure, not all of them involve direct contact with patients, but you could find a scribe position in a hospital. (I won't say easily, but depending on the pre-AI hospital...). Other positions involve patient transport or patient navigator. Read

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