Introduction
Greetings fellow SDN members,
I recently completed my undergraduate degree and am reapplying to medical schools. My two goals for this post are to seek feedback on my current application and receive advice on how to improve my next application (if I need to reapply again). After being rejected from everywhere at the end of the last cycle, I foolishly reapplied immediately instead of seeking feedback from schools. As a result, I did not dedicate much time to strengthening my extracurricular activities or adjusting the written portions of my primary application.
My initial understanding of the application process was very limited, and I only recently realized some of my mistakes. I am not trying to come off as overly pessimistic, but I have low hopes for gaining acceptance during this cycle. I would greatly appreciate any feedback on my current application and advice for what I should do during the rest of my gap year. Although I tried to organize this post into multiple sections, it is still pretty lengthy. I thank everyone who takes the time to read/skim through it and respond!
*Bold text indicates changes from first application to second application
Overview
- Graduated a couple months ago
- Molecular Biology Major
- Global Health Minor
- WI resident
- ORM
- “Good” proficiency in a second language
- cGPA: 3.64 - Raised cGPA to 3.71
- Strong upward trend (had bad grades during first year of undergrad but received a ~3.9 GPA in each following year)
- Because of the trend, I don’t think my GPA played a significant role in my previous rejections
- Withdrew from a 1-credit class and a 2-credit class
- One class was online and too hard to communicate with professor (professor did not respond to emails and I had class during the one office hour available)
- As for the other class, I found it unengaging, boring, and unnecessarily time-consuming
- Neither class was required for my major or minor, and I withdrew from them in different semesters
- Earned a C+ in a gen chem class but all of my other grades were at least a B or higher
- sGPA: 3.62 - Raised sGPA to 3.68
- (Same strong trend as cGPA)
- MCAT:514 (128,128,128,130) - taken in June 2019
- My score should still be valid through the next cycle (good to know in case I need to apply for a 3rd time)
- LORs
- 2 science faculty - Switched one for a letter written by a professor in a more recent class (upper-division bio)
- 1 non-science faculty
- 1 physician who I shadowed
Extracurricular Activities
- Research: 240 hours over 1.5 years - Raised to 300 hours over 2.5 years
- Presented poster at undergraduate symposium
- Received credit for a few semesters
- Hospital Volunteering: 115 hours over 1 year - Raised to 150 hours over 2 years
- Hours were low (1-2 per week) but consistent
- Physician Shadowing:150 hours over a summer break and winter break
- Mostly shadowed one doctor, but ~15 hours were spent shadowing a few physicians in other specialties
- Tutoring in Undergraduate Student Organization: 150 hours over half a year - Raised to 350 hours over 1.5 years
- Held a good leadership position and was heavily involved with weekly activities
- Other Organizations: ~10 hours in a cultural student org - Raised to 50 hours and added a couple of new orgs
- The low hours might make these activities seem like fluff on my AMCAS application, but I still think they were fairly valuable experiences
- Hobbies:Tennis + chess
- Both were casual activities (I was not on an official team or part of a club)
- Work:none
- Plan to work as a CNA soon and continue throughout gap year
- Had to delay my CNA training class because of COVID, but I mentioned this in secondary applications
School Lists
Last Cycle: Drexel, UIC, UWSMPH, NYMC, Wright State, Rochester, Wayne State, MCW, St. Louis, Kaiser, Loyola, Colorado, RFU, Rush
- I submitted a third of these at the end of August and the rest pretty late (September to December)
- Outcomes: No interview invites, but had I holds at and MCW and Drexel (not sure if these holds meant anything special, or if my stats just reached a certain threshold for consideration)
Current Cycle: Wake Forest, Jefferson, Georgetown, St. Louis, Vermont, George Washington, Wayne, UWSMPH, Rochester, Kaiser, MCW, UIC, USC-Keck, Colorado, Rush, UPitt, Cincinnati, RFU, Drexel, Creighton, Eastern Virginia, NYMC, Brown, Loyola, UMass, Minnesota, Tulane
- I submitted half of my secondaries within 2 weeks and the other half within 3-4 weeks
- I think my school list is fine, but I am open to suggestions
- Question: will schools negatively review my application if I need to apply for a third time?
Essays and Descriptions
I rated my writing to communicate how I perceive its strength. To me, a rating of 10/10 suggests “perfect” writing that communicates ideas clearly and effectively (in content and quality). My ratings are highly subjective, but hopefully they can help you understand where my application stands.
- Personal Statement (PS)
- After re-reading my old PS, I would rate it a 5/10 at best - Raised to 6/10
- I barely adjusted my PS from my first application to my second application, which was definitely a big mistake
- Activity Descriptions (in AMCAS Primary)
- I would rate my descriptions at 6/10 - Raised to 7/10
- I only listed 10 activities, but a few could be seen as fluff - Added a new entry and rewrote my most meaningful descriptions
- Secondary Applications (Essays and Short Answer Questions)
- I would rate my secondaries at 5/10 - Raised to 8/10
- Writing these essays took me almost a month, and I definitely should have pre-written more of them
Thoughts and Reflections
First Application Cycle
- I applied to too few schools, completed my applications very late in the cycle, and wrote sloppy secondary essays.
- Although I had a strong upward trend, my GPA was also relatively low at the time.
Second Application Cycle
- I immediately reapplied after failing to gain acceptance in my first cycle. To make matters worse, I decided not to seek feedback on my application because I thought that bad timing was the only reason I failed to get accepted.
- I only increased my EC involvement by a little when I reapplied.
- I withdrew from two low-credit classes during my senior year, but I probably should not have done so because schools might think I tried to protect my GPA.
Both Cycles
- I did not understand the admissions process and thought that GPA/MCAT scores were mainly what medical schools cared about.
- I think that my low EC hours and lack of work experience weakened my applications. For some experiences on my AMCAS application, I failed to convey the insight that I gained.
- For instance, I explained my range of duties as a hospital volunteer, instead of illustrating my interactions with patients. Even though stocking gloves and cleaning equipment were part of my activities, I spent more with patients than my application suggests. This might make adcoms think I lack clinical experience.
- My personal statement did not conclusively answer the question: “why medicine?”
- I foolishly made the mistake of emphasizing how I was prepared to become a doctor rather than focusing on why I wanted to enter medicine. This was probably the most critical error of my entire application.
Moving Forward
Gap Year Activities
- My premedical advisor suggested that I gain “direct patient care” experience. I plan to work as a CNA, medical scribe, or an EMT. I want to work as a scribe, but I cannot find a job anywhere. I have already completed a CNA training program, but now I am leaning toward becoming an EMT.
- If I cannot find a scribe job or gain acceptance into the nearby EMT program that starts in September, I will work as a CNA.
- Aside from working in a direct patient care job, I will volunteer to create masks for inner city residents.
- Questions:
- Any thoughts on which clinical job I should aim for?
- How should I allocate my time between working and volunteering?
- Are there any other activities I should engage in to help strengthen my particular application?
Plans for Next Application Cycle
- LORs
- Ask writers to submit their letter by June
- Receive a strong letter from my work manager
- Question: The volunteer coordinator at the hospital I used to volunteer at moved away a few months ago, but I think she would have written me a great LOR. Should I still reach out to her next cycle for a letter?
- Language
- Practice my secondary language and try to become proficient enough to categorize myself as an “advanced” speaker
- Personal Statement
- Rewrite the entire essay and craft a clearer narrative of why I want to become a doctor
- Spend much more time refining my essay and ask others for feedback
- Extracurricular Activities
- Utilize the writing space to add anecdotes when possible
- Emphasize interaction with patients in my clinical experiences, rather than list my duties
- Communicate the lessons I learned from my experiences, instead of only describing what I did
- Schools
- Start pre-writing secondary essays even earlier than I did this year
- Possibly apply to a greater number of schools than before (maybe 35-40)
Conclusion
I apologize for the lengthy post, but I wanted you to understand my thoughts on the application process. As I mentioned earlier, my primary purpose in creating this post is to seek feedback on my current application and advice on how to improve. From the given information, do you think there are critical errors that will prevent me from getting interview invitations this cycle? Is my current application competitive? Am I missing anything in my strategy to prepare for the next cycle? Will it look bad if I reapply to schools next cycle if I ask for their feedback just a couple months before? Any input will be appreciated.
Please let me know if you have any questions or need any additional information. I will try to respond as soon as possible.
Thank you for reading this post!
