Re-Applicant No Interviews

[CMo12]

I am a re-applicant and am starting to stress because I have no interviews. I was wondering if anyone is or has been in this situation and could tell me about their experience. Also, any advice on things I can do would be greatly appreciated.

I applied to 20 medical schools last cycle and received 3 interviews. I got two waitlists and one rejection from those. Last year I worked at Starbucks full time and volunteered, and this year I decided to do an Americorps program to improve my application. This cycle I applied to 25 schools, submitting most in late July and some throughout August, and broadened my school range a bit.

I currently have no interviews. I have had a couple of people who have experience being on medical school admissions committees look at my application, and they said there was nothing wrong with my application and nothing specifically I needed to do.

I have a MCAT of 515, GPA 3.81, and sGPA 3.83. I also have 500 hours of research, over 500 hours of clinical experience including shadowing and clinical volunteering. I have also done a little bit of non-clincial volunteering. I have had the opportunity to shadow and volunteer clinically abroad as well and volunteered at a free clinic last year to learn more about undeserved populations. I was the treasurer of my choir in college and worked as a facilitator for an organic chemistry study group, which is where I cultivated my leadership skills.

Anyone in the same boat or have any advice?

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[SR71BLK]

Same boat, lower stats. You’ll be fine (at least based on what I’ve seen here on SDN). Your stats are good. Think optimistically!

 

[xkb89]

Which schools did you apply to? Any back ups?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Gurby]

Post your school list for this year, and from last year.

Fact that you had 3 II's last year means probably none of your LoR writers tried to sink you and your PS/secondaries must not have been too bad.

 

[CMo12]

Last year I was a CA applicant and applied to : Einstein, Baylor, BU, Case, GW, Harvard, Temple, Northwestern, Penn, Ohio State, Pritzker, Cincinnati, Colorado, Michigan, Pitt, WashU and all the University of California schools except for riverside.

This year I am a CO applicant and applied to : Einstein, Baylor, Case, Chicago, Hofstra, Drexel, Emory, GW, Georgetown, Sinai, MC Wisconsin, Temple, Northwestern, Ohio State, Pritzker, Vermont, Colorado, Tufts, Pitt, WashU, Tulane, Iowa, Wake Forest, Rochester and Wright State

 

[Gurby]

Last year I was a CA applicant and applied to : Einstein, Baylor, BU, Case, GW, Harvard, Temple, Northwestern, Penn, Ohio State, Pritzker, Cincinnati, Colorado, Michigan, Pitt, WashU and all the University of California schools except for riverside.

This year I am a CO applicant and applied to : Einstein, Baylor, Case, Chicago, Hofstra, Drexel, Emory, GW, Georgetown, Sinai, MC Wisconsin, Temple, Northwestern, Ohio State, Pritzker, Vermont, Colorado, Tufts, Pitt, WashU, Tulane, Iowa, Wake Forest, Rochester and Wright State

School list for your first cycle was really really bad IMO unless there are major things you left out of your OP. Too many reaches and low yield choices, too few schools. Go slap your advisors for not realizing this.

School list for this cycle is a bit better, but still around half of the schools seem like low yield picks. Given you have the scarlet letter as a reapplicant I would have applied to more like 30 schools, and been more conservative with choices. Shoulda woulda coulda. Hopefully this cycle will still work out for you. You have a pretty strong application and should get some love somewhere... If not, ask for help with school list early on next time, and put less faith in whoever has been giving you application advice up to this point...

 

[CMo12]

School list for your first cycle was really really bad IMO unless there are major things you left out of your OP. Too many reaches and low yield choices, too few schools. Go slap your advisors for not realizing this.

School list for this cycle is a bit better, but still around half of the schools seem like low yield picks. Given you have the scarlet letter as a reapplicant I would have applied to more like 30 schools, and been more conservative with choices. Shoulda woulda coulda. Hopefully this cycle will still work out for you. You have a pretty strong application and should get some love somewhere... If not, ask for help with school list early on next time, and put less faith in whoever has been giving you application advice up to this point...

Ok thanks! I actually paid someone to help me with stuff like my list this cycle lol

 

[Goro]

I am a re-applicant and am starting to stress because I have no interviews. I was wondering if anyone is or has been in this situation and could tell me about their experience. Also, any advice on things I can do would be greatly appreciated.

I applied to 20 medical schools last cycle and received 3 interviews. I got two waitlists and one rejection from those. Last year I worked at Starbucks full time and volunteered, and this year I decided to do an Americorps program to improve my application. This cycle I applied to 25 schools, submitting most in late July and some throughout August, and broadened my school range a bit.

I currently have no interviews. I have had a couple of people who have experience being on medical school admissions committees look at my application, and they said there was nothing wrong with my application and nothing specifically I needed to do.

I have a MCAT of 515, GPA 3.81, and sGPA 3.83. I also have 500 hours of research, over 500 hours of clinical experience including shadowing and clinical volunteering. I have also done a little bit of non-clincial volunteering. I have had the opportunity to shadow and volunteer clinically abroad as well and volunteered at a free clinic last year to learn more about undeserved populations. I was the treasurer of my choir in college and worked as a facilitator for an organic chemistry study group, which is where I cultivated my leadership skills.

Anyone in the same boat or have any advice?

School list? State of residence?

 

[OdysseanUnderdog]

@Goro, in attempt to save you time, school list and state of residence quoted below. Gurby said school lists not ideal:

Last year I was a CA applicant and applied to : Einstein, Baylor, BU, Case, GW, Harvard, Temple, Northwestern, Penn, Ohio State, Pritzker, Cincinnati, Colorado, Michigan, Pitt, WashU and all the University of California schools except for riverside.

This year I am a CO applicant and applied to : Einstein, Baylor, Case, Chicago, Hofstra, Drexel, Emory, GW, Georgetown, Sinai, MC Wisconsin, Temple, Northwestern, Ohio State, Pritzker, Vermont, Colorado, Tufts, Pitt, WashU, Tulane, Iowa, Wake Forest, Rochester and Wright State

 

[Goro]

Donations:

Baylor, ,Northwestern, Pritzker, Vermont, WashU, Wright State

Poor essays or LOrs might be a problem

 

[CMo12]

Donations:

Baylor, ,Northwestern, Pritzker, Vermont, WashU, Wright State

Poor essays or LOrs might be a problem

I think my essays are good, but I am not sure about my letters of rec because I can't see them obviously :/

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

Last year I worked at Starbucks full time and volunteered, and this year I decided to do an Americorps program to improve my application.

I had a similar experience when I was applying. (Now a 4th year medical student) I also did AmeriCorps, which was an excellent way to get experience after I didn't get in the first time. Ended up doing 2 years in AC before getting in. Also was from CO. I got a CU interview the first cycle, but none the second or third time. I also didn't get my first interview until feb of my 3rd cycle then go into 3 schools. So it might be frustrating, but you can still get in. However, make sure you are still doing things that will look good if you need to reapply.

Now to your app: is your AC position health based? No worries if not, but that's a plus. CO wants 500 hr of clinical experience min. Make sure that you update programs with your position if it wasn't in your app.

You didn't apply broadly enough at all. This is what is killing you. To not have Jefferson or Rush or NYMC or midwest schools both low and middle tier means you either didn't have enough money or you thought you were more competitive than you are.

Did you contact schools that didn't accept you last year to get application feedback?

 

[CMo12]

I had a similar experience when I was applying. (Now a 4th year medical student) I also did AmeriCorps, which was an excellent way to get experience after I didn't get in the first time. Ended up doing 2 years in AC before getting in. Also was from CO. I got a CU interview the first cycle, but none the second or third time. I also didn't get my first interview until feb of my 3rd cycle then go into 3 schools. So it might be frustrating, but you can still get in. However, make sure you are still doing things that will look good if you need to reapply.

Now to your app: is your AC position health based? No worries if not, but that's a plus. CO wants 500 hr of clinical experience min. Make sure that you update programs with your position if it wasn't in your app.

You didn't apply broadly enough at all. This is what is killing you. To not have Jefferson or Rush or NYMC or midwest schools both low and middle tier means you either didn't have enough money or you thought you were more competitive than you are.

Did you contact schools that didn't accept you last year to get application feedback?

Thank you for the reassurance! My AC position is not directly health related since I am at City Year. That being said, I am helping students in a biology classroom and made a pre-health club at the school, so I have tried to steer it in that direction.

The reason I didn't apply to a lot of schools is because of programming. I really want to do global health, so I steered away from schools that did not seem to have good global health programs/opportunities. I was also very money conscious because I spent all of my saving before I realized I needed to reapply and had to take out a loan for everything. That, compounded with the fact I'm living off of a stipend for a year, diminished the number of schools I applied to. If I have to apply again I will probably take the global health consideration out of the equation.


In regards to feedback, I did not really seek that out. In May I had two waitlist spots and one of them was at Temple which I knew usually took a lot of people off of the waitlist. I was pretty optimistic that I would get off one of them and I made the mistake of not seeking out feedback from other people. I did seek out feedback when I didn't get off the waitlists, but I never heard back. I was also in Vietnam volunteering the entire month of May so it was hard to get in contact with anyone.

 

[Osteosaur]

I applied to 20 medical schools last cycle and received 3 interviews. I got two waitlists and one rejection from those. Last year I worked at Starbucks full time and volunteered, and this year I decided to do an Americorps program to improve my application. This cycle I applied to 25 schools, submitting most in late July and some throughout August, and broadened my school range a bit.

A bad school list can be a killer. That hurt me during my first application and it hurt you. Applying to places like Drexel and GW are no-brainers because while they're low-yield... why not spend $100 and a few hours for a shot? You applied to a lot of state schools and places beyond your reach..

Another application killer can be not changing your paper application enough from year to year. This killed me during my first reapplication cycle (i got 2 interviews during cycle 1 and 2 interviews during cycle 2). I was so worried about preparing for interviews and quite simply paralyzed by the fact I did not receive interviews until December/January my first time I literally did nothing during my first year. When my wait-lists did not work out by June, and I reapplied, I had changed nothing. I assumed I was "probably good enough but had no luck" because of the wait-lists and simply went at it again. That was a huge mistake. I was told so bad adcoms.

The Americorps is a good start but its not going to help you this year very much unless you had a decent chunk of time under your belt at the time of AMCAS submission. Granted it will be good interview talking point. Whatever they print out from AMCAS might be all they see from you, and Starbucks and "plans" to do Americorps might not cut it.

I did not apply like a 3.81 like you did. You probably worked your ass for for it and should be rightly pissed you're not getting more love from schools. But I'm also guessing you don't want to live in limbo like this anymore. My advice is to work on your interview skills, SHADOW A DO, and open up an AACOMAS application in May. You will be a brand new and shiny to DO schools, rather than damaged goods. Do that if you want to move on with your life and be a doctor.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

Thank you for the reassurance! My AC position is not directly health related since I am at City Year. That being said, I am helping students in a biology classroom and made a pre-health club at the school, so I have tried to steer it in that direction.

The reason I didn't apply to a lot of schools is because of programming. I really want to do global health, so I steered away from schools that did not seem to have good global health programs/opportunities. I was also very money conscious because I spent all of my saving before I realized I needed to reapply and had to take out a loan for everything. That, compounded with the fact I'm living off of a stipend for a year, diminished the number of schools I applied to. If I have to apply again I will probably take the global health consideration out of the equation.


In regards to feedback, I did not really seek that out. In May I had two waitlist spots and one of them was at Temple which I knew usually took a lot of people off of the waitlist. I was pretty optimistic that I would get off one of them and I made the mistake of not seeking out feedback from other people. I did seek out feedback when I didn't get off the waitlists, but I never heard back. I was also in Vietnam volunteering the entire month of May so it was hard to get in contact with anyone.

I fell you. Sitting on that waitlist sucks, especially when you never get in and have to reapply. Make sure you are getting clinical experience while in AC. Do some hospice or hospital volunteering.

I'm at a school that doesn't have global health and I got a global health fellowship after my 3rd year and spent a year doing research in east africa. You can make your own opportunities, but you can't do that if you aren't in a program.

Good luck!