Reapplicant School List Help

[Mad_SawBones]

Hello everyone,

I am almost positive I will be a reapplicant for this upcoming cycle. I only applied to 8 schools and I was not strategic about where I should apply. I applied to 3 D.O. schools and 5 M.D. schools. I got interview invites for each D.O. school (and rejections) and 1 for the M.D. schools (I am waitlisted). So, I’ve have been reading about applications for medical school and clearly, I had a poor understanding of how I should approach the application. Therefore, I have been trying to draw up a reasonable list of schools to apply to. Yet, I definitely would like your help in this matter seeing as how I will mostly likely need it.

Here are my credentials:

GPA:

cGPA: Community College: 3.989

University: 3.90

Average: 3.94

sGPA: Community College: 3.977

University: 3.91

Average: 3.94

State of residence: Arizona

Ethnicity: White Hispanic

MCAT:

511 (128, 126, 129, 128)

Disadvantaged:

The D.O. application seemed to be more user friendly and had a drop down of choices for this. One option stated if I received federal/state aide and I said yes; because of that it automatically placed me into disadvantaged. Therefore, I did the same thing for my M.D. application. I was on Social Security and Medicaid because I am a “survivor” if you’re curious.

EC/Clinical/Non-clinical/Volunteering:

Addiction Medicine Scribe: ~1080 hours (and counting)

Chief Internal Medicine Scribe: 1000 hours

Internal Medicine Scribe: 472 hours

Medical Assistant Intern: 66 hours

University Tutor: 210 hours

University Mentor: 150 hours

Undergraduate Research: 300 hours

Community College Tutor: 420 hours

Community Service through Fraternity: 100 hours

Awards:

I mostly funded my undergraduate education with scholarships and grants. I obtained a full scholarship from my community college and transfer scholarship from my university.

LOR:
I will be applying with 5 this cycle. I have added one from another science faculty member. In total I have: 2 from science faculty, 1 from non-science faculty, 1 from research professor, and 1 from an M.D.

School List:

I’ve based this list of MSAR data keeping it within 2 points of my MCAT. I am trying to apply to 20 or so schools.

Tufts

U of Arizona -Tucson (in-state)

U of Arizona – Phoenix (in-state)

Wake Forest

U of Colorado (waitlisted this year)

George Washington

U of Maryland

U N.C.

Tulane

Quinnipiac

Drexel

Geisinger

Temple

Virginia Tech

Virginia Commonwealth

So, I’m not completely done with the list and I am not sure if this is a realistic one either. Please let me know your input! Thank you!

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[sixersfan]

Yes, more than 8 schools is necessary. But not getting accepted with your stats something must be off about your application. Are your LOR strong? Are you interview skills strong? Is your non-clinical volunteering scattered or dedicated to one cause? Did the DO schools you applied to require a DO letter? What is the full list of schools you applied to this past cycle?

 

[dillydilly2]

Were these your hours and experiences when you applied or is this since the time of application?

 

[Mad_SawBones]

Yes, more than 8 schools is necessary. But not getting accepted with your stats something must be off about your application. Are your LOR strong? Are you interview skills strong? Is your non-clinical volunteering scattered or dedicated to one cause? Did the DO schools you applied to require a DO letter? What is the full list of schools you applied to this past cycle?

Hello sixersfan,

I would say my letter are strong given I spent a lot of time with each professor and the doctor. The D.O. schools I applied to did not require D.O. letters. As far as interview, I am not sure. I would say my strongest interview was with my waitlisted school but, I definitely could improve in that area. My non-clinical volunteering is mainly dedicated to my fraternity and with this fraternity it tends to do a great number of things like a Christmas Dinner for the Mentally Handicapped, and cleaning local parks, stuff like that. As far as my applied to schools, I would say that is the main reason for not getting in as I aimed to high looking at MSAR data.

D.O.
A.T. Still (interviewed and rejected)
- I would say the interview did not go too well for the one portion but, the rest of it went well. (MMI, 1-1, Group)
Midwestern Illinois (interviewed and rejected)
Midwestern Arizona (interview and rejected)
- neither Midwestern campuses really spoke to me and I feel like that showed in my interview.

M.D.
U of A Phoenix (rejected pre-II)
U of A Tucson (rejected pre-II)
U of Colorado (waitlisted for matriculation)
Pritzker (rejected pre-II)
Mayo Clinic Arizona (rejected pre-II)

 

[Mad_SawBones]

Were these your hours and experiences when you applied or is this since the time of application?

The honors and hours are since time of application. The things that have changed are: Addiction Clinic Scribe and about 400 more hours into Chief Scribe time. The rest of the honors and hours are the same.

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

Where did you apply last year (list all schools)? By when did you have all your secondaries complete?

 

[Mad_SawBones]

Where did you apply last year (list all schools)? By when did you have all your secondaries complete?

Hello Meliodas,

I have listed the schools I applied to last year above. I finished my secondaries along a range of times but, definitely all before the end of August of last year.

 

[dillydilly2]

I believe the MD school's didn't show you love because of the lack of non clinical volunteering and volunteering with an underserved population. And you received interviews from schools so clearly the volunteering didn't hold you back... so it comes back to interview skills.

 

[Mad_SawBones]

I believe the MD school's didn't show you love because of the lack of non clinical volunteering and volunteering with an underserved population. And you received interviews from schools so clearly the volunteering didn't hold you back... so it comes back to interview skills.

Alrighty, I'll have to strengthen my interviewing skills. Looking back, that is most likely were I stumbled. The A.T. Still interview had a portion where the conversation was not flowing so well. The Midwestern schools just didn't speak to me. I felt like I would've been a faceless medical student there and there was no character and I believe that definitely showed in the interview. I can't say I am sad about not getting into Midwestern but, A.T. Still I definitely want to be more prepared for next time.

For the Colorado interview I believe things went well but, instead of getting accepted I got waitlisted. At least I got waitlisted. I am trying to remain somewhat positive.

As far as schools for this year go, is the list in the op looking good?

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

Your issue was just your school list your app is strong but applying to medical school is a numbers games. You need to apply to about 20 schools.Make sure to APPLY EARLY! Submit your app the first day. Your GPA is great. Being Disadvantaged will help. Being Hispanic (as long as your fluent in Spanish) will help in areas that have a large Latino population. In my opinion you have a decent chance for an interview for any schools where you MCAT is at or above their 25% percentile. You can throw in some reach schools (around 5) where your MCAT is at or 1 point off from the 10th percentile. The target schools would be those where you MCAT is as close as possible to their median their are a few schools off the top of my head ( you already have a couple on your list): Some you can consider:

Target:
Albany
Creighton
Drexel
Quinnipiac
Geisinger
GW
Temple
Loyola Chicago
Penn State
Tulane
Wake
Tufts
University of Miami
University of Central Florida (I know they look to have at least 25% of their class from OOS)

Less-likely but still within reach:
Emory
Dartmouth
Georgetown
Thomas Jefferson
University of Pittsburgh
University of Rochester

Reach:
Boston
Case Western
Icahn
Cornell

This gives you 24 potential schools to apply to. I would also add 5-8 DO schools.

 

[Mad_SawBones]

Your issue was just your school list your app is strong but applying to medical school is a numbers games. You need to apply to about 20 schools.Make sure to APPLY EARLY! Submit your app the first day. Your GPA is great. Being Disadvantaged will help. Being Hispanic (as long as your fluent in Spanish) will help in areas that have a large Latino population. In my opinion you have a decent chance for an interview for any schools where you MCAT is at or above their 25% percentile. You can throw in some reach schools (around 5) where your MCAT is at or 1 point off from the 10th percentile. The target schools would be those where you MCAT is as close as possible to their median their are a few schools off the top of my head ( you already have a couple on your list): Some you can consider:

Target:
Albany
Creighton
Drexel
Quinnipiac
Geisinger
GW
Temple
Loyola Chicago
Penn State
Tulane
Wake
Tufts
University of Miami
University of Central Florida (I know they look to have at least 25% of their class from OOS)

Less-likely but still within reach:
Emory
Dartmouth
Georgetown
Thomas Jefferson
University of Pittsburgh
University of Rochester

Reach:
Boston
Case Western
Icahn
Cornell

This gives you 24 potential schools to apply to. I would also add 5-8 DO schools.

Thank you Meliodas!

I would say I am intermediate level in Spanish. My grandmother is full blooded Central America and we go back every other year to visit family. So, I picked it up from there. Also, I am definitely trying to have everything done ASAP to keep me ahead. Thank you again for your suggested list!

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

Happy to help it might be good to hear from some of the adcoms here as well

@Goro @Faha @LizzyM

They would give you the best advice.

 

[Goro]

Happy to help it might be good to hear from some of the adcoms here as well

@Goro @Faha @LizzyM

They would give you the best advice.

Your weak spot is that there is no service. Get off campus and out of your comfort zone and go help out people less fortunate than yourself.
Rewrite all your assays and have multiple eyeballs look over them.
Work on your interview skills.

I suggest:
Rochester (maybe)
UCF (maybe)
Pitt (maybe)
U Toledo
U VM
Miami
Tufts
George Washington
Georgetown
SLU
Albany
Rush
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
MCW
VCU
EVMS
Wake Forest
Netter
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
Loyola
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Oakland-B
Nova MD
CUSM
Your state schools.

Any DO school. I can't recommend Touro-NY, LUCOM nor Nova. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide.

 

[sixersfan]

Get to your universities career center and do mock interviews with them. Ask a friend or family member to practice interviewing you. Think back to your interviews and what specific aspects could have been holding you back and practice improving them on a daily basis when talking people (e.g. eye contact). Also bring everything back to a positive note during an interview. If the interviewer asks about a deficient grade, explain why you got that grade (don't blame it on a professor being unreasonable even if this is the reason) but wrap your answer back into how you've improved from that and what you learned from that grade. These are all things I'm sure you've heard already, just remember to keep them in mind.

Best of luck.

 

[Mad_SawBones]

Thank you folks!