Reapplication advice

[2greeneyes]

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Hi everyone! I’m a current applicant in the 2024-2025 cycle prepping for a reapp, and was looking for some advice.

————

For a little bit of reference here are my stats:
MCAT: 522
GPA: 4.0

Research hours: ~500 with 1 pub

Clinical hours: 200 at the time of application. By the time I reapply this upcoming cycle, I’ll have an additional 1000 hours of paid clinical experience, with another 1000 anticipated for the next year working as a scribe and technician at a private clinic

Advocacy/outreach experience: 120 hours across 2 different advocacy groups

Paid non-clinical employment: 330 hours working in gyms

Volunteer experience: 50 hours at a food bank and raising awareness for a certain chronic condition (I’m looking to increase my volunteer experience significantly while reapplying)

Leadership: 100 hours as a leader of a science and research focused club on campus

Shadowing: 50 hours of e-shadowing during COVID (I now get to scribe and witness procedures at my current job, so I thought that might offset the lower shadowing hours)

————
I do know that I have to increase those volunteer experiences which I’m planning to do while reapplying and during my next gap year, but other than that, what are some suggestions for my reapplication?

Thanks in advance for all the help!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I encourage you to fill in more details as requested for a WAMC profile. But from what you have disclosed.

In general, all hours feel light.

1) Volunteer experience < 150 hours threshold, so you likely got screened out at most schools despite a 4.0/522. Boost your food bank hours. Also, if you planned on applying to a top-heavy list of brand-name schools, you should aspire for 250 hours before submitting again. Raising health awareness is great but won't move the needle.

2) Advocacy/outreach experience: I don't know how germane it is to include it, but 60 hours x 2 isn't a lot. If you have your hard into it, you need many more hours.

3) Clinical hours... if you submit with a total above 1000, okay. By the way, get in-person shadowing to replace your virtual shadowing... it's not 2021. You can move some scribing hours once you get above 500 IMO.

4) Leadership: reflects academic competency/leadership... but there's not much else that excites me about your impact on campus.

5) Research 500 hours with 1 publication. Great.

So what is it about you that would make a medical school want to interview you? I don't see anything in this description.

 

[LindaAccepted]

Hi everyone! I’m a current applicant in the 2024-2025 cycle prepping for a reapp, and was looking for some advice.

————

For a little bit of reference here are my stats:
MCAT: 522
GPA: 4.0

Research hours: ~500 with 1 pub

Clinical hours: 200 at the time of application. By the time I reapply this upcoming cycle, I’ll have an additional 1000 hours of paid clinical experience, with another 1000 anticipated for the next year working as a scribe and technician at a private clinic

Advocacy/outreach experience: 120 hours across 2 different advocacy groups

Paid non-clinical employment: 330 hours working in gyms

Volunteer experience: 50 hours at a food bank and raising awareness for a certain chronic condition (I’m looking to increase my volunteer experience significantly while reapplying)

Leadership: 100 hours as a leader of a science and research focused club on campus

Shadowing: 50 hours of e-shadowing during COVID (I now get to scribe and witness procedures at my current job, so I thought that might offset the lower shadowing hours)

————
I do know that I have to increase those volunteer experiences which I’m planning to do while reapplying and during my next gap year, but other than that, what are some suggestions for my reapplication?

Thanks in advance for all the help!

I completely agree with @Mr.Smile12 about the hours. It seems like you were relying on you outstanding GPA and MCAT to get you in. And while they are excellent, the experiential component of your qualifications is definitely on the light side. If you fill out a WAMC, we'll have this info, but please also provide a school list.

1000 additional hours of clinical work experience should help a lot. That leaves the non-clinical community service that needs to be increased, which you intend to do. Start ASAP

Also, journal about your experiences, both clinical and non-clinical so that you will have material for your essays. And use this time to research the schools so that you will be better able to select those most appropriate for you and then convince them that you are appropriate for them.

Finally when did you apply in the cycle?

 

[Faha]

Where is your state of residence ? Which schools did you apply to ? Any interviews ?

 

[2greeneyes]

I completely agree with @Mr.Smile12 about the hours. It seems like you were relying on you outstanding GPA and MCAT to get you in. And while they are excellent, the experiential component of your qualifications is definitely on the light side. If you fill out a WAMC, we'll have this info, but please also provide a school list.

1000 additional hours of clinical work experience should help a lot. That leaves the non-clinical community service that needs to be increased, which you intend to do. Start ASAP

Also, journal about your experiences, both clinical and non-clinical so that you will have material for your essays. And use this time to research the schools so that you will be better able to select those most appropriate for you and then convince them that you are appropriate for them.

Finally when did you apply in the cycle?

Thank you for your response! I submitted my primary in early June, most secondaries in late-ish July/early August, with a few schools added on and submitted in late August/early September.

I also forgot to mention that when I reapply, I will also have 200 hours of healthcare consulting from my gap year (with an additional 200 anticipated for next year) on my resume.

In terms of school list, I applied to:
RFU
UIC
Tufts
Loyola
Northwestern
UChicago
Yale
Georgetown
NYU
UPenn
Albert Einstein
Vanderbilt
George Washington
Johns Hopkins
Stanford
Mayo Clinic
Brown
Kaiser Permanente
Icahn
Case Western
WashU

A couple other questions I had were:
Do anticipated hours help my application? For example, if I add some volunteer hours in the next few months before I reapply but they possibly aren't as high as I might want them to be, does marking that I anticipate gaining even more hours (whether that's in the same or a new volunteer role) in the next year move the needle?


Since I'm reapplying and I've been out of college for a while, can I still use the same letters of recommendation? I plan on updating one with my current employer, but since I have the letters from my previous professors stored in Interfolio, can I still use those or do they have to be updated with a current date?

 

[LindaAccepted]

Anticipated hours are usually heavily discounted if counted at all.

The healthcare consulting could be a point of differentiation for you. But please in your application be much more specific about the kind of consulting you are doing. "Healthcare consulting" could mean so many different things.

I don't think timing was the issue. As was noted in the previous posts, lack of clinical and community service experience probably was a major factor. You may also want to have your applications reviewed. If you made mistakes in presenting your qualifications and experience, you don't want to make the same mistakes again. And if you don't know about them, that's possible.

 

[Faha]

Accumulate another 100 hours at the food bank before you submit your application. Otherwise, you could be screened out at some schools.
I suggest these schools when you reapply:
Vermont
Tufts
Boston University
UMass
Dartmouth
Rochester
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Pittsburgh
Jefferson
UPenn
U Virginia
Duke
USF Morsani
Vanderbilt
Emory
Washington University
St. Louis
Northwestern
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati
Ohio State
Mayo
Illinois
Iowa
Colorado
Arizona (Phoenix)

 

[AsclepiusAdvisingLLC]

Keep in mind that nearly 20% of candidates who have a gpa > 3.8 and an MCAT > 517 do not receive an acceptance in any given application cycle. Candidates with extremely high GPA and MCAT scores often face the burden of PROVING to individual top schools that you WILL matriculate there if given an acceptance, because they know your candidacy is being seriously considered at other top programs. This is compounded by the fact that other programs, like your state's public schools, might not believe that you would matriculate there because your credentials are consistent with more competitive/prestigious programs. Their goal is to fill the class, so in your re-application, you MUST carefully craft your secondaries to describe precisely WHY you are attracted to individual programs and what you will do with your time there. This is essential. In addition to padding your hours, how you craft your narrative and specifically advocate for your candidacy across application materials will be the key to your success.