Reapplicant Guidance (3.84, 511)

[krau]

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Hi all,
I’m new here but am looking for some guidance as I prepare to reapply this upcoming cycle. I have over three years of working as a CNA and two years of hands on lab experience. I submitted my primaries the last day of June 2025 and all of my secondaries between one to two weeks of receiving them, but unfortunately did not receive any interview invites.
In the meantime I’ve completed a 4-month community health internship in the Dominican Republic. Other than that I plan to submit earlier than last time and to include DO schools (I only applied MD last time)…
My questions are:
- Is it crucial I get shadowing experience in the US before applying?
- Am I a competitive applicant for DO schools if I show an understanding of osteopathic medicine even without a specific DO shadowing experience of LOR?
- Is it better to apply early or wait until June/July to apply with additional US shadowing experiences?
Any other advice on what might have gone wrong last cycle or how to strengthen my app would be much appreciated!

 

[Faha]

Where is your state of residence? Which schools did you apply to? Do you have any clinical activities or non clinical volunteering in the USA? If so, how many hours in each activity?

 

[A224B]

There's something wrong if someone with those stats and 5000 hours of CNA gets 0 IIs. We've seen much weaker applicants get 1-3 per cycle. I'm not saying "you're a lock for admission" but that is statistical underperformance.

 

[krau]

Where is your state of residence? Which schools did you apply to? Do you have any clinical activities or non clinical volunteering in the USA? If so, how many hours in each activity?

California
- No clinical volunteering, only clinical activities were working as a CNA
- I applied to the following:
Albert Einstein
Emory
Keck USC
Loma Linda
Loyola
Medical College Wisconsin
U of Vermont
Rush
St Louis
Tufts
Tulane
U of Arizona
UC Davis
UCLA
UC Riverside
U of Colorado
U of Massachusetts
U of Miami
U of Michigan
U of Minnesota

 

[Faha]

Your complete lack of shadowing and non clinical volunteering was a factor in your poor cycle. Some schools screen at 150 hours for non clinical volunteering and Rush and Loyola expect several hundred hours of non clinical volunteering. You should accumulate 40+ hours of in person physician shadowing (including primary care) before you reapply. Also 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering in activities such as food bank or homeless shelter. When you have those hours I suggest these schools:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
New York Medical College
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Methodist
NOVA MD
Belmont
Alice Walton
TCU
Ponce (St. Louis)
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Roseman
UC Davis
UC Riverside (if you are from that region)
Kaiser
California University
California Northstate
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Brigham Young (when it opens)
For DO schools I suggest these:
TUCOM-CA
WESTERN
TUNCOM
AZCOM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
DMU-COM
CCOM
CUSOM
WVSOM
PCOM
LECOM
NYITCOM
Touro-NY

 

[krau]

Your complete lack of shadowing and non clinical volunteering was a factor in your poor cycle. Some schools screen at 150 hours for non clinical volunteering and Rush and Loyola expect several hundred hours of non clinical volunteering. You should accumulate 40+ hours of in person physician shadowing (including primary care) before you reapply. Also 150+ hours of non clinical volunteering in activities such as food bank or homeless shelter. When you have those hours I suggest these schools:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
New York Medical College
Penn State
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
Wake Forest
Methodist
NOVA MD
Belmont
Alice Walton
TCU
Ponce (St. Louis)
Creighton
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Roseman
UC Davis
UC Riverside (if you are from that region)
Kaiser
California University
California Northstate
Loma Linda (if you fit their mission)
Brigham Young (when it opens)
For DO schools I suggest these:
TUCOM-CA
WESTERN
TUNCOM
AZCOM
ATSU-KCOM
KCU-COM
DMU-COM
CCOM
CUSOM
WVSOM
PCOM
LECOM
NYITCOM
Touro-NY

Ok, thank you! Do I need to wait to accumulate US shadowing or can I still be competitive with having interned/shadowed an OBGYN in the Dominican Republic for the last 4 months? Also, is DO shadowing/ DO LOR vital for successfully applying to DO schools?

 

[Faha]

Ok, thank you! Do I need to wait to accumulate US shadowing or can I still be competitive with having interned/shadowed an OBGYN in the Dominican Republic for the last 4 months? Also, is DO shadowing/ DO LOR vital for successfully applying to DO schools?

US shadowing is preferred. There are a few DO schools that require a LOR from a DO physician. You would need to check with each DO school.