Re-Applicant Advice [519 MCAT 3.93 GPA]

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spotted_drum

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Hey all,

Thank you upfront for any constructive advice. Here is my situation:
Graduated from OSU in Biomedical Engineering from the Honors College a couple weeks ago. Was offered two interviews and was wait listed at U of Pittsburgh and U of Cincinnati. Since my last application I have 2 articles submitted for publication (one 1st author one co-author) and have won a couple awards and athletic competitions. I have also tacked on 200 non clinical volunteering hours and about 50 clinical hours and will continue volunteering. Also worked in my lab year round, will continue doing that. Getting three new LORs for the cycle. Currently:
MCAT 519 GPA 3.93
350 Non-clinical volunteering
100 Clinical volunteering
80 Shadowing
400 clinical research
700 traditional lab research
I also was team captain of a pretty successful club sport team. I also founded a club at OSU and served on an honors committee.
The lab I am in offered me a full time position and I will be doing that for my gap year. I will be starting my own project on the effect of non-coding RNAs on leukemia, pretty excited about it honestly, though I would rather go to medical school (duh).
Questions:
I have no plans to retake MCAT/improve GPA, am I correct in doing this?

Is this a good way to spend my gap year?

Do I apply to any DO schools next year?

Is there obvious blanks in my application / how do I fill these holes?

Essays - last time around I felt that I emptied my life onto paper (esp. that Duke secondary) and don't know how much more meaningful content there is. I plan on writing my essays fresh again, but will no doubt use similar content (not all the same). Is this okay? I have heard schools compare apps side by side, and hate to see the same essays, but is this just if they are repeated verbatim?

Another essay question: Most schools had an optional essay on their secondary's to fill in what students did in their gap year. Does this mean I shouldn't waste time in my personal statement letting schools know what I will be doing?

Any general advice beyond this is welcome. Sorry for the long post!

@gyngyn , @Goro , @LizzyM , @gonnif

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Would you rather go to a DO school or apply a third time? Don't be that guy who says, "I have a DO offer and I'm on 4 MD waitlists... should I reapply?"
Your big holes last time where non-clinical volunteering and clinical exposure. You've filled those. You have the grades & scores and research productivity to get into a top 20. Go for it.
Your application "experience" section should show what you are doing in the coming year. Some schools will ask in the secondary as well understanding that some people don't land a job until well after the primary is submitted.
 
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With your metrics and you only got two IIs, I suspect that it might be the low clinical volunteering hours AND strongly suspect that you had lukewarm LOR(s).

You don't need to redo the MCAT or GPAs.

Doing research for your gap year is a productive use of the time. Continue to increase your clinical volunteering hours to 250+.

Was your school list top-heavy? Unfortunately, if you are reapplying to the same schools, you must somehow reword your essays. Add some mid-to-lower level schools during reapp. As for DOs, throw a few in during reapp to round out your list.

Lastly, work on your interviewing skills.
 
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Would you rather go to a DO school or apply a third time? Don't be that guy who says, "I have a DO offer and I'm on 4 MD waitlists... should I reapply?"
Your big holes last time where non-clinical volunteering and clinical exposure. You've filled those. You have the grades & scores and research productivity to get into a top 20. Go for it.
Your application "experience" section should show what you are doing in the coming year. Some schools will ask in the secondary as well understanding that some people don't land a job until well after the primary is submitted.

With your metrics and you only got two IIs, I suspect that it might be the low clinical volunteering hours AND strongly suspect that you had lukewarm LOR(s).

You don't need to redo the MCAT or GPAs.

Doing research for your gap year is a productive use of the time. Continue to increase your clinical volunteering hours to 250+.

Was your school list top-heavy? Unfortunately, if you are reapplying to the same schools, you must somehow reword your essays. Add some mid-to-lower level schools during reapp. As for DOs, throw a few in during reapp to round out your list.

Lastly, work on your interviewing skills.

Thank you both for the quick responses. I should add that I am an Ohio resident, and here are the list of schools I applied to last time around. May have been a little top heavy/ optimistic.

Albany Medical College
Creighton University School of Medicine
Duke University School of Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine
The Ohio State Univ. Coll. of Med.
The University of Toledo College of Medicine
Tulane University School of Medicine
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
University of Colorado School of Medicine
University of Michigan Medical School
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
University of Utah School of Medicine
University of Wisconsin
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine

Additional question, by the time schools are considering in January/February, I will have well over 200 clinical hours. Should I forward date my volunteering and put a higher number? Or simply note that I am continuing to volunteer. Sorry if this is nit picky, I don't know which an adcom would prefer to see.
 
What type of volunteering have you done/are you doing?

I'm going to assume the answer to this next question is "yes," but did you have people look over your PS?

Did you practice interviewing? If so, did you practice interviewing with extremely critical people?
 
If your intent is to continue to add to your clinical hours during the application process, then you can honestly forward date it to August including the estimated hours AND quickly mention the number of estimated hours you will be adding from the date of reapp submission.

@Faha is awesome with helping you with additional schools for your reapp.
 
What type of volunteering have you done/are you doing?

I'm going to assume the answer to this next question is "yes," but did you have people look over your PS?

Did you practice interviewing? If so, did you practice interviewing with extremely critical people?

I have been volunteering in a hospital for last 3 years doing various roles such as PCA aide and patient and family assistance. My other volunteering is widely dispersed from toys for tots, disabled sports clinics, volunteering at sports tournaments, and doing fundraising for sport clubs. You assumed correctly. I had a current med student, pre-med colleagues, and my former PI look it over (and parents mostly for grammar.) I did a practice interview with the pre-med adviser at our school, which I was told went well. There was only a couple of critiques. Other than that I practiced on my own, read bioethics articles, practiced responses to popular questions, etc. Probably could do more there?

If your intent is to continue to add to your clinical hours during the application process, then you can honestly forward date it to August including the estimated hours AND quickly mention the number of estimated hours you will be adding from the date of reapp submission.

@Faha is awesome with helping you with additional schools for your reapp.

Thanks!

What did you do in the past year that was not on last year's application? Tell me only what is new this year, not counting future activities.

Most of the improvement of my application came from continuation of existing roles. The research and clinical volunteer hours added are from the same roles as before. I added a new volunteering role running and judging at waterskiing (this is my club sport) tournaments, which involves a certification and is pretty time consuming. Our team won our conference and regional championships. I added my BME capstone project which was in adaptive sports. I also won a research award at a poster competition and an award for my capstone project at a poster forum. The two paper submissions were both for existing research roles. The only other thing is two more 4.0 semesters.
 
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I have been volunteering in a hospital for last 3 years doing various roles such as PCA aide and patient and family assistance. My other volunteering is widely dispersed from toys for tots, disabled sports clinics, volunteering at sports tournaments, and doing fundraising for sport clubs. You assumed correctly. I had a current med student, pre-med colleagues, and my former PI look it over (and parents mostly for grammar.) I did a practice interview with the pre-med adviser at our school, which I was told went well. There was only a couple of critiques. Other than that I practiced on my own, read bioethics articles, practiced responses to popular questions, etc. Probably could do more there?



Thanks!



Most of the improvement of my application came from continuation of existing roles. The research and clinical volunteer hours added are from the same roles as before. I added a new volunteering role running and judging at waterskiing (this is my club sport) tournaments, which involves a certification and is pretty time consuming. Our team won our conference and regional championships. I added my BME capstone project which was in adaptive sports. I also won a research award at a poster competition and an award for my capstone project at a poster forum. The two paper submissions were both for existing research roles. The only other thing is two more 4.0 semesters.
It looks like you did just about everything right. Sorry to see your unsuccessful cycle this year. Hope things work out better next cycle.
 
If you are not accepted off the wait list I suggest applying to these schools:
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Wright State
Toledo
NEOMED
Case Western
Rochester
Boston University
Tufts
Vermont
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Jefferson
West Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Duke
Miami
Tulane
St. Louis
Pittsburgh
Washington University
Wayne State
Indiana
Medical College Wisconsin
 
If you are not accepted off the wait list I suggest applying to these schools:
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Wright State
Toledo
NEOMED
Case Western
Rochester
Boston University
Tufts
Vermont
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
NYU
Jefferson
West Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Duke
Miami
Tulane
St. Louis
Pittsburgh
Washington University
Wayne State
Indiana
Medical College Wisconsin

Thank you for the suggestions Faha. Out of curiosity, what are your main criteria with a list like this? MCAT, GPA, and maybe high out of state acceptance rates?
 
All 3: MCAT medians, GPA and high OOS acceptance rates. More schools could be added but there is a limit to how many secondaries that are practical to complete adequately.
 
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