Question for Reapplicants

[Perseverant 1]

For all of you who have persevered through multiple application cycles, could you give me some suggestions on how to improve my chances?
I need some nontraditional suggestions because i have already completed a masters degree, many years of clinical research experience, 1 year basic research, 7 years volunteer work.
Besides repeating the MCAT, i can't figure out what to do. The LAST thing i want to do is repeat the MCAT. Each of my MCAT experiences has proven one thing: i choke under the anxiety!

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[Perseverant 1]

bump!

 

[aquaboy]

Perserverant,
It sounds like you have excellent EC's and experience. This is my 2nd time applying and thank goodness I have been accepted. The sad truth is that the medical schools place the greatest weight on MCAT scores over any single thing. The reason I didn't get in last year was because of a low verbal score. They made a 85 min. portion of my life so important. This past Aug. I retook it and improved. You need to do well on the MCAT (atleast a 27) to be considered at most allopathic schools. My suggestion would be to maybe take a review course, change studying habits for it, or consider osteopathic medicine. DO schools are more forgiving of low scores and are friendlier towards non-trads. You are still a doctor in the end with all of the rights of a MD. The second time I took the MCAT I just took a ton of practice tests and that helped. PM me if you have any more questions.

 

[sperry]

Hey there - your story sounds a bit familiar. I'm in the same boat you are - I've applied multiple times and have been on more waitlists than I can shake a stick at (and yet another one this year). As I haven't been accepted anywhere yet - I don't have the answers, so take anything I say with a saltlick. From what I can tell, with students that are "borderline" or for some reason not quite up to snuff, timing is everything. I think that has been my problem all along - I never realized how important it was to have everything in early.

I don't know the details of your stats, etc - but make sure you're still taking courses even tho' you've completed a masters. Also continue volunteering - but mix-up the experiences a bit. Make sure you're getting good patient contact and also make sure you've got a good spin on your experiences for the adcoms.

Good luck and keep trying if it's what you want to do!!

 

[wolferman]

One thing I would do is take advantage of post-rejection interviews. Some schools will conduct a phone interview with you over the summer and tell you why you weren't accepted and what you can work on. This is often a good source of ideas, plus it shows them that you are interested in their school and will continue to pursue medicine even after a setback.

 

[DarkChild]

perseverant - i have a few questions for you:
1) how many schools did you apply to?
2) were they a mix of schools?
3) was your GPA/MCAT score in the range for a significant number (>6) of the schools you applied to?
4) when were you apps complete?
after having been through this process twice, i believe that while the med school admit game is at times haphazard, a few simple strategies go a long way to increasing your odds of getting in:
apply to a lot of schools (~20)
apply across the board and include DO schools and make sure you're numbers are in the range for the majority of these schools
turn in apps early (on time isnt good enough)

 

[dr. deez]

It sounds like you have all it takes! did you interview? if so, how strong (confident) did you feel about your interviews?