Reapplication Advice

[DrIsh]

Heya guys!

Long time lurker, first time poster

I was, unfortunately, unsuccessful in the application cycle this year. Looking ahead and preparing myself for the coming cycle, some questions came to mind. This may sound stupid but, would you guys recommend sending the same personal statement that you had sent the first cycle (save a few refinements, etc.)? How about the application itself, I'd imagine that we all have printouts of our original app, would you copy, for the most part, exactly?

If you have any tips for the reapplication process, your advice would be much appreciated!!!

Thanks a ton,
-Ish-

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[MNgrrl]

I'm sorry to hear things didn't go your way this time around - last year at this time I was in your position, and now I have an acceptance, so don't give up!

First of all, AMCAS prepopulates your new application with your answers to last years application. My #1 suggestion would be to call the schools and find out if you can how you could improve your application. I did this and got some very good (abeit difficult to hear) criticism. My second suggestion would be to look at your essay and see if it still holds true after this year of applications. I completely rewrote mine, and it was much stronger the second time, which I think helped me get noticed more by adcoms. I would give your essay to everyone you know and ask them to tell you the truth about it (we're pre-meds - we have thick skin, right?).

I don't know if you received interviews this year, but if you didn't, I would strongly suggest revising your essay to make it stand out more. If you have low stats, it might help you get noticed, and if you have high stats, but a poor essay, that probably doesn't reflect well. Alternatively, if you got a bunch of interviews, it may not be quite as important to heavily revise your essay since it must have been adequate before.

In short, I think it depends on how confident you are with your essay. I knew my first one wasn't the best it could be, but it could be completely different for you.

Also, as everyone says, apply early! For the rest of the application, I left most of my experiences the same, added a couple, and revised the old ones. PM me if you have more questions.

Good luck!

 

[camstah]

ditto everything above...good post...

 

[echostation]

MNgirl and others, sorry if this sounds really stupid. I myself am goign to be a reapplicant...I plan on phoning schools very soon (probably today or tomorrow) to see how i can improve my applicaiton...

but i'm kinda confused, imean how can they make time for you given that so many have been rejected, and so many have been accepted and they're primarily dealing with their accepted students. I mean on the phone if you just phone and ask i'd like to talk to admissions committee member to review and tell me the weaknesses of my application so i know where to improve the most... should that do the trick??

 

[MNgrrl]

echostation - it is true that some schools are reluctant to talk to you for one reason or another. I talked to 3/4 schools, and the other wouldn't give me the time of day. One had a setup for discussing applications for rejected applicants. The other two, I simply called and asked the secretary who I could speak with about ways to improve my application next year because I am really interested in the program there. One I was redirected to an admissions counselor person who was very helpful, and the other I spoke directly to the dean of admissions.

One thing is that many schools are not willing to talk to you until June when things calm down in their office. You can wait to submit your AMCAS until you talk with them and then try to shape your application to improve your weaknesses. So, don't panic if you can't get anyone to talk to you yet - just politely recognize that they are very busy, but since you are so interested, you really want to know how to improve your application.

The other thing to keep in mind is that fewer people than you might think actually call the schools to find out why they were rejected, and once people are accepted, they have less of a reason to call the admission office. So, while I'm sure their volume of calls is great, you have a good reason for wanting to talk to them, and as long as you don't whine or anything, I'm sure most would speak with you.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

 

[bornguitar]

I have a question regarding reapplyin as well,

I started doin it last year but decided to wait a year and do it this round. I did send in my AMCAS in but did not send in any of my secondaries or lor to the respective schools. I was wondering if I should just bring my personal statement and lor's up to date and ask my professors, and perhaps a few from this past year, to redo them. I was told by a former member of an adcom that my ps was pretty good last year. The main reasons I decided to take the extra year was bc i took the august mcat (got started off late) and i got a job offer for this summer that should really help this years application. Should I mention these reasons in any updates? Any advice would be appreciated. I have done research(2 semesters and prob. more), volunteered and shadowed (around 100 hrs.), have a 3.8, and 31. I'm just worried about making my application as good as it can be with my ps and lor's. Thank you