Re-Applicant AMCAS / ACCOMAS EC Questions!

[sugarx]

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I was waitlisted at two schools this past application cycle (the interviewers told me it was because my application was late) so I'm reapplying. I plan on doing a masters program with my extra year. I'm getting my application together and i'm not sure what i should change.

1. my major ECs were done already (1.5 years of research, work experience, shadowing - which i'll be doing more of - volunteering (director of blah blah blah)) do i re-mention those along with my additional shadowing? it seems like not much was really added to my application..

2. my personal statement sucked so i'll be re-writing that from scratch will they compare the two and notice such a drastic difference?

3. do engineering professors count as science LORs? last year i wasn't sure, so i went to my bio 1 teacher from 5 years ago.. i feel that a lot of my LORs were just filler letters and didn't mean anything. i plan on removing all the filler letters and putting more MD/DO letters and keeping my meaningful engineering professor letters.

4. my GPA sucks in part because i am an engineering major; where do i mention this? am i supposed to mention a class i failed and re-took in my personal statement? am i supposed to mention a class i withdrew from in my personal statement? also - with a 3.4 o / 3.3 s and with the intention to go to a one year masters program, what are my chances for getting accepted into an M.D. school?

5. another thing i was really confused about was whether i should apply BEFORE or AFTER my one year masters program. i feel that the weakest point of my application was my GPA (3.4 overall, 3.3 science). Will admins look at my undergrad GPA and wait to see my masters GPA half way through the process? should i send them screen shots of my test grades throughout the fall (joke)? or should i do the full masters program and re-apply next year?

thanks guys <3 xoxo

 

[gl0baltrader]

3. do engineering professors count as science LORs? last year i wasn't sure, so i went to my bio 1 teacher from 5 years ago.. i feel that a lot of my LORs were just filler letters and didn't mean anything. i plan on removing all the filler letters and putting more MD/DO letters and keeping my meaningful engineering professor letters.

Sadly engineering letters are not considered science letters. Has to fall within the BCPM to be considered science.
MD/DO does not add too much into your apps, unless he/she is your direct supervisor in a project that can talk about your experiences and contributions to the project.

4. my GPA sucks in part because i am an engineering major; where do i mention this? am i supposed to mention a class i failed and re-took in my personal statement? am i supposed to mention a class i withdrew from in my personal statement? also - with a 3.4 o / 3.3 s and with the intention to go to a one year masters program, what are my chances for getting accepted into an M.D. school?

Your personal statement is to talk about yourself and your desire to pursue medicine. Not provide reasons why you did poorly on a class or withdraw unless it is related to a personal event that has an impact on you.

As an engineering major myself in undergrad, i think it's hard to pass a class, let alone get an A but med schools doesn't take that into consideration when calculating the GPA. (avg GPA for engineering major is 2.8).

I would do the master program before reapplying because if you reapply right away most likely than not your grad GPA won't come into play in the AMCAS. It will be just a waste of money, unless the master is something that you would like to pursue. Make sure that the graduate degree is in BCPM an not engineering, otherwise it would not count towards your science grade.

In conclusion: Don't reapply right away. Polish up your apps before re-applying. Little improvement in your apps = same outcome. Better apps = more choice on where to go to school.

Also, not quite sure what you meant by applying late in the cycle. The earlier the better but if you apply in Aug is still fairly early...

 

[Mindscrew]

Aug is not early. June is early. Aug is late. Apply asap! Timing is half the battle!

yes polish up but also get everything in as soon as possible. In many cases you can send updates to schools if you get substantial experience or just to talk about your interest.

Also as an engineer, talk about your love of problem solving...that is key to medicine! And say how you would like to use your skills from engineering to the human body 🙂

 

[sugarx]

Aug is not early. June is early. Aug is late. Apply asap! Timing is half the battle!

yes polish up but also get everything in as soon as possible. In many cases you can send updates to schools if you get substantial experience or just to talk about your interest.

Also as an engineer, talk about your love of problem solving...that is key to medicine! And say how you would like to use your skills from engineering to the human body 🙂

thanks for the advice guys =)

i've gotten substantial shadowing in the past year - which i barely had any of the first time around. i just dont know how much a SMP would weigh in on my app.

 

[sugarx]

Sadly engineering letters are not considered science letters. Has to fall within the BCPM to be considered science.
MD/DO does not add too much into your apps, unless he/she is your direct supervisor in a project that can talk about your experiences and contributions to the project.



Your personal statement is to talk about yourself and your desire to pursue medicine. Not provide reasons why you did poorly on a class or withdraw unless it is related to a personal event that has an impact on you.

As an engineering major myself in undergrad, i think it's hard to pass a class, let alone get an A but med schools doesn't take that into consideration when calculating the GPA. (avg GPA for engineering major is 2.8).

I would do the master program before reapplying because if you reapply right away most likely than not your grad GPA won't come into play in the AMCAS. It will be just a waste of money, unless the master is something that you would like to pursue. Make sure that the graduate degree is in BCPM an not engineering, otherwise it would not count towards your science grade.

In conclusion: Don't reapply right away. Polish up your apps before re-applying. Little improvement in your apps = same outcome. Better apps = more choice on where to go to school.

Also, not quite sure what you meant by applying late in the cycle. The earlier the better but if you apply in Aug is still fairly early...

thanks for the detailed reply! my masters is in medical science. I feel that with 150+ credits in undergrad, there is absolutely no way i could improve on it. I talked to the grad school and other people who did the program and the consensus is that they applied prior to starting the program, then sent updated transcripts throughout the application process. it does seem like a gamble though.

also, i kind of thought i got my apps in on time, but according to my interviewers, they said that i got my app in late and that they loved me but at that point, the class was full 😕 (why bother interviewing me? idk)

 

[gl0baltrader]

Just a word of caution. If you are doing an SMP, you will have very little time to complete your secondary and/or go to interviews due to the rigorous nature of the program.

 

[SisterDisco08]

I was in the same position--place that interviewed me wanted me but didn't have room 🙁

Anyway just a note on letters--CALL AND ASK.

I have a degree in Neuroscience and I'm switching out one of my science letters for one of the Neurosci profs I had. The Neurosci prof I'm switching in actually teaches through the psych dept. at my old school, but every school i'm applying to said they would accept it, since my school didn't have a dept for us Neurosci kids, we were crosslisted between Bio and Psych.