L
LoveBeingHuman:)
I see this happen very often (and, admittedly, I have fallen in this trap as well). I feel as if we always hear stories about applicants ("your mom's, friend's nephew" or "your cousin's, best friend's brother", etc) that have very high scores (3.8+, 516+), published research, excellent leadership positions, etc, but they end up getting rejected from medical school. I've heard these stories several times and let me say that there is almost always something fundamentally wrong when you dig deeper. Here are some examples:
1) Something isn't true. Sometimes the person bragging about their application just doesn't tell the truth. They conveniently leave out the fact that the 518 was on the 3rd attempt after two sub-508 scores, or the fact that the 3.8 was really the overall gpa when in fact the sGPA was sub-3.5.
2) The school list is all wrong. My research partner once told me about her sister who got a 523 and a 4.0 and ended up getting rejected. She applied to the top 5 (as expected) but the problem was....... it was only the top 5.
3) They complete late. Like...... November late.
4) They have low clinical experience. You can have a 4.0/520+, but if you have 5 publications and 40 hours of clinical experience, med schools will think you want to be a PhD rather than MD.
5) A Letter of Rec might not be good. My research partner applied to 33 schools and didn't even get an interview despite having a 3.9/517. Turns out that his ochem professor didn't write the most enthusiastic letter because of the fact that he showed up to class late too many times. He didn't find out until a year later when he was at the grocery store and he bumped into the TA who worked with the professor (apparently the TA wrote an initial, nice draft and the professor added a bit of un-flattery to it afterwards and showed the TA before submitting).
6) The person applying just has a crappy outlook/personality. The wise @gonnif wrote a post once where he explained that several, qualified applicants subconsciously don't put effort for themselves when they know deep down that they don't want to be doctors. On the other hand, some applicants are alarmingly full of themselves. I know a guy who calls himself "one of the best students on campus". That kind of arrogance is very difficult to control and contain during the application and interview process and is almost always a rejection ticket, even with a 525/4.0.
My whole point in writing this post is that, yes, there are several people who are excellent on paper but don't get into medical school. But that kind of anecdotal evidence should NOT discourage you. Have faith in yourself, improve your study skills, build strong professional relationships, find meaning in what you do, and you will be JUST FINE!!
1) Something isn't true. Sometimes the person bragging about their application just doesn't tell the truth. They conveniently leave out the fact that the 518 was on the 3rd attempt after two sub-508 scores, or the fact that the 3.8 was really the overall gpa when in fact the sGPA was sub-3.5.
2) The school list is all wrong. My research partner once told me about her sister who got a 523 and a 4.0 and ended up getting rejected. She applied to the top 5 (as expected) but the problem was....... it was only the top 5.
3) They complete late. Like...... November late.
4) They have low clinical experience. You can have a 4.0/520+, but if you have 5 publications and 40 hours of clinical experience, med schools will think you want to be a PhD rather than MD.
5) A Letter of Rec might not be good. My research partner applied to 33 schools and didn't even get an interview despite having a 3.9/517. Turns out that his ochem professor didn't write the most enthusiastic letter because of the fact that he showed up to class late too many times. He didn't find out until a year later when he was at the grocery store and he bumped into the TA who worked with the professor (apparently the TA wrote an initial, nice draft and the professor added a bit of un-flattery to it afterwards and showed the TA before submitting).
6) The person applying just has a crappy outlook/personality. The wise @gonnif wrote a post once where he explained that several, qualified applicants subconsciously don't put effort for themselves when they know deep down that they don't want to be doctors. On the other hand, some applicants are alarmingly full of themselves. I know a guy who calls himself "one of the best students on campus". That kind of arrogance is very difficult to control and contain during the application and interview process and is almost always a rejection ticket, even with a 525/4.0.
My whole point in writing this post is that, yes, there are several people who are excellent on paper but don't get into medical school. But that kind of anecdotal evidence should NOT discourage you. Have faith in yourself, improve your study skills, build strong professional relationships, find meaning in what you do, and you will be JUST FINE!!
