Reapplicant - what is significant improvement?

[penguinlove123]

What would adcoms see as significant improvement?

cGPA and sGPA are both ~3.73 - I don't really feel happy with spending the money on an SMP or post-bacc
MCAT is 513 - I don't feel great about retaking
Shadowing ~60 hrs
Clinical volunteering ~150 hrs
Nonclinical volunteering ~250 hrs + lots of leadership roles
Research ~3 years

My question is, are the following considered "significant" improvement?
1. Racking up more clinical volunteering and shadowing hrs
2. Holding a full-time job (research assistant) for the last 5 months since graduating
3. Submitting AMCAS on June 7th (I submitted in late August last cycle)
4. Improving personal statement (although it wasn't terrible last cycle, just average)

Any other tips on what I can improve on at this point if I plan to reapply this cycle?

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[mistafab]

GPA = fine
MCAT = great
Shadowing = decent
Clinical volunteering = good
Non clinical volunteering = good
Research = decent (since you mentioned no pubs or posters)

I don't know why you wouldn't have gotten in this cycle. Did you get any II's? It may be that you applied with poor strategy, interviewed poorly, had weak LOR's, or some other factor. Please give more info and let's hear what more qualified advisors here have to say.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Definitely submit in June, not August.

How did the cycle go? Was it a lot of interviews/waitlists? Or a lot of silence?

 

[penguinlove123]

@mistafab @ChrisMack390 I got 1 II and 1 WL. Other than that, I applied to ~15 schools and got rejected from all. I had 1 weak/generic science LOR, which may have hurt me a lot? But I'm not sure there's much I can do about that now. What other factors have I overlooked?

 

[PatchAdams25]

@mistafab @ChrisMack390 I got 1 II and 1 WL. Other than that, I applied to ~15 schools and got rejected from all. I had 1 weak/generic science LOR, which may have hurt me a lot? But I'm not sure there's much I can do about that now. What other factors have I overlooked?

Late application probably may have been the main reason. Have you reached out to all the schools for feedback?

 

[raiderette]

Did you get new letters? That can make a difference, as well as applying more broadly.

 

[ChrisMack390]

@mistafab @ChrisMack390 I got 1 II and 1 WL. Other than that, I applied to ~15 schools and got rejected from all. I had 1 weak/generic science LOR, which may have hurt me a lot? But I'm not sure there's much I can do about that now. What other factors have I overlooked?

What was your school list like? Did you apply to a lot of reaches and/or low yield OOS places?

 

[penguinlove123]

Late application probably may have been the main reason. Have you reached out to all the schools for feedback?

I did try and get in contact with some schools, but it wasn't very specific or helpful.. Very competitive this year, lots of applications and not enough seats.. that sort of thing

Did you get new letters? That can make a difference, as well as applying more broadly.

I will have 1 new letter which could help. Also, could you define what applying broadly means? Broadly as in geographically? Or broadly in terms of stats?

What was your school list like? Did you apply to a lot of reaches and/or low yield OOS places?

I did apply to some low yield OOS places, but no reaches in terms of median MCAT or GPA. I also applied to all my reachable state schools (UIC, Loyola, Rosalind, Rush) so I was hoping to get some love there, but got rejected from all

 

[Goro]

Have a strategically thought out list. Avoid reaches, and be realistic.

What would adcoms see as significant improvement?

cGPA and sGPA are both ~3.73 - I don't really feel happy with spending the money on an SMP or post-bacc
MCAT is 513 - I don't feel great about retaking
Shadowing ~60 hrs
Clinical volunteering ~150 hrs
Nonclinical volunteering ~250 hrs + lots of leadership roles
Research ~3 years

My question is, are the following considered "significant" improvement?
1. Racking up more clinical volunteering and shadowing hrs
2. Holding a full-time job (research assistant) for the last 5 months since graduating
3. Submitting AMCAS on June 7th (I submitted in late August last cycle)
4. Improving personal statement (although it wasn't terrible last cycle, just average)

Any other tips on what I can improve on at this point if I plan to reapply this cycle?

 

[MerryMaryMerry]

GPA = fine
MCAT = great
Shadowing = decent
Clinical volunteering = good
No clinical volunteering = good
Research = decent (since you mentioned no pubs or posters)

I don't know why you wouldn't have gotten in this cycle. Did you get any II's? It may be that you applied with poor strategy, interviewed poorly, had weak LOR's, or some other factor. Please give more info and let's hear what more qualified advisors here have to say.

Is the OP Asian? That could be why.

 

[mistafab]

Stats are solid for Asian descent as well. Matriculation data suggests that average for that group is 3.73gpa and 32.8 Mcat. I suspect that the school list was not as well thought out as needed to be.

OP - can you reflect on your own school list? For example, despite being a school that accepts many out of state, University of Washington will accept almost NO applicants outside of its multi-state area - leading to misleading OOS acceptance ratios for students who think they can apply there and get accepted. Do you mind posting your school list up, for everyone to scrutinize and scratch that off as a possible influencing factor? It may really be helpful for you.

Is the OP Asian? That could be why.

 

[penguinlove123]

.

 

[PatchAdams25]

Your list is much better this time. There was probably 6/7 schools on your old list you had a good shot at getting an interview. This list looks like it will be much more fruitful

 

[mvenus929]

@mistafab I am Asian! School list was definitely not well thought out.

last cycle:
Boston U
USC
Loyola (IS)
Rush (IS)
Temple
NJMS
Stony Brook
OSU
Rosalind Franklin (IS)
Tufts
UC Irvine
UFlorida
UIC (IS)
UNC
USC
Wake Forest

This cycle: (hoping to go east coast since SO is starting school at NYU)
NYMC (NY)
Albany (NY)
Albert Einstein (NY)
Penn State Hershey (PA)
Thomas Jefferson U (PA)
Drexel (PA)
Commonwealth MC (PA)
Quinnipac (CT)
Cooper MS Rowan University (NJ)
Tulane (LA)
WMich (MI)
Oakland Beaumont (MI)
WVirginia U (WV)
Virginia commonwealth (VA)
NYU (NY)
Brown (RI)
Gtown (DC)
Rosalind Franklin (IL)
UIC (IL)
Wake Forest (NC)
Loyola (IL)
Temple (PA)
NJMS (NJ)
Stony Brook (NY)

If you're applying to VCU, you might as well add EVMS unless you have a specific reason not to.