Re-applicant: need some advice

[IsuckatMCAT]

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Hello all,

I will be a reapplicant for the 2012 cycle. My situation is sort of unusual i guess. I was an international student for the 2011 cycle and I applied to all MD/PhD programs. I got one interview but got rejected. However, I will most likely get my green card before the new cycle starts and so I will be able to apply to my state school University of Maryland. I was wondering what I should be focusing on to improve my application based on the following stats/info. I am planning on applying to MD only. Because I was told by my colleagues that an MD only is enough to do research as well.
cGPA = 3.7; science GPA = 3.7
MCAT = 30 (11P, 9V, 10B)

Research experience:
Undergraduate honors thesis (HHMI fellow, 3 years research in one lab)
Post bac program at FDA (in my second year. Two co-author pubs and another one on the way)

Clinical/volunteer experience:
Will have 6 months of volunteering at the hospital by May 2011
Will have 8 months of volunteering as a tutor at local highschool by May
Attending clinical rounds at nearby hospital for 1 year

I was wondering if I should re-take my MCAT or whether it will be enough to get in with my other stats. Personally I think my clinical experience is a little lacking but I focused a lot of my time doing research in undergrad.

ANY suggestions will help me a lot! THANK YOU!

 

[IsuckatMCAT]

Anyone?

 

[DrMidlife]

An MCAT retake would help, but *only* if your score goes up. This is statistically unlikely - most people get the same score or lower on a retake.

I suggest that you'll want to get a new LOR and rewrite all your essays and all your activity descriptions. Any school you applied to before will have your old stuff on file, and they won't see the point in looking at you again if nothing's changed. More to the point, they'll go field by field and see if you failed to redo anything (the majority of your entries need to be different).

Hopefully you won't have to race your greencard to apply. Maybe draw a line in the sand, say if you don't have this final by the end of July, wait another year. Applying late is a waste of time and money.

Best of luck to you.

 

[XRanger]

If you apply broadly, I think you have a decent chance. I had similar stats as you when I applied to med school.
I think the problem the first time through is you only applied to MD/PhD, md/phd programs generally are more competitive than MD program. for example at my school, the avg GPA for md program is 3.7, but for md/phd it's 3.9

 

[IsuckatMCAT]

Thanks for the feedback! Although I wish I had gotten like a 32 or something. What would be some schools I can realistically have a chance at an interview with my current stats. Is Maryland doable since I am instate?

 

[rbnsafsadgf]

Clinical/volunteer experience:
Will have 6 months of volunteering at the hospital by May 2011
...
Attending clinical rounds at nearby hospital for 1 year

How much time are YOU having with patients in these roles? These would be good to see what docs do, but admission committees want to make sure that you are OK interacting with sick people in some capacity too. The HS tutoring is good, though, too. I would focus on your clinical experience.

Keep in mind that clinical rounds may or may not be good clinical experience. Be clear on what you did or saw on these in your write-up in your application.

The green card should help a lot. Have a good explanation for why you are no longer interested in MD/PhD. Good luck.

 

[IsuckatMCAT]

Hey,

I have a lot of exposure to patients because I provide hospitality to patients, but I am also responsible for transporting contact isolation patients and patients who require a wheel chair. I am continuously interacting with people basically. I actually told the volunteer coordinator that I am looking for a volunteer position that would give me a lot of patient contact, so instead of giving me the medical records position she gave me the patient ambassador position. In terms of clinical rounds, I feel like rounds are an important part of a doctor's duties, although this is not the place to see most patient interaction, it does give me a perspective on how physicians of different specialties coordinate the treatment of patients. It also helps that most NIH clinical center patients are in some sort of research protocol so you get to see first hand research translated to the clinical sector. This was also the reason why I started volunteering because I figured I was not getting the patient interaction with rounds.

Do you think shadowing a doctor would help now or would it look like I am just trying to sugar coat my application by putting a lot activities in a very short period of time?