Reapplication strategy

[Pico25]

I applied for the first time in the 2021-2022 cycle. Going in I was fairly optimistic, but as of now I've had only one interview invite and I need to think about a reapplication strategy.

My information: 28, CA resident, white male, no financial hardship. BS Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology (with honors) from UC Santa Cruz. cGPA 3.5, sGPA 3.6, no upward trend, no institutional actions or similar academic red flags, except a single F which I repeated for an A. MCAT 522.

Since graduating I have primarily worked in biotech companies as a senior research associate (3 companies, 5 years total, significant responsibilities). All three were developing therapeutics or diagnostics. I have my name on two papers (one biology and one chemistry). I have also worked as a substitute teacher and tutor.

I have ~150hrs volunteering at a COVID testing site, ~100hrs at a COVID vaccination site, ~35hrs at food banks.
40hrs shadowing a pediatrician in a hospital setting, I have meaningful experiences from this I can talk about.

I have a number of interesting hobbies, but no awards or formal leadership roles in organizations except professionally.

I applied to 28 schools, secondaries finished from end of June to early August.

Larner at Vermont
USF Morsani
Kimmel at Thomas Jefferson
UCLA Geffen
Zucker at Hofstra
University of Rochester
Icahn at Mount Sinai
Tufts
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine at USC
UC Davis
George Washington
New York Medical College
Tulane
Albany Medical College
Hackensack Meridian
East Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University
University of Colorado
Stony Brook
UC San Diego
UC Irvine
UCSF
Cincinnati
University Pittsburgh
NYU
Case Western
Stanford School of Medicine
Cornell
Boston University
Virginia Tech
Dartmouth
Columbia
Harvard

My thoughts on what went wrong: my GPA isn't great and my volunteering isn't stellar, but I didn't expect either to be deal breakers. My best guess is my personal statement and secondaries are what hurt me and the other factors weren't enough to compensate. I'm not a great writer and maybe I wasn't able to write a compelling story.

Current plan: continue volunteering, continue working as a research at my current job, significantly rework my PS and secondaries getting more feedback on them. Apply to some DO schools as well.

Alternative plans: get a job in medicine such as MA, EMT, respiratory therapist, scribe, get an MPH to compensate for my GPA, something else?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

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[srirachamayonnaise]

Which school gave you an II. Your MCAT will basically make you unattractive to DO schools. So I’d only focus on MD. Your stats are fine. I think your EC is quite cookie cutter, so figure out a way to spice things up.

 

[Pico25]

Which school gave you an II. Your MCAT will basically make you unattractive to DO schools. So I’d only focus on MD. Your stats are fine. I think your EC is quite cookie cutter, so figure out a way to spice things up.

University of South Florida Morsani.

I've been trying to get more volunteering, in the process of volunteering at a senior center but the approval is slow.

What are some examples of spicy ECs?

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

University of South Florida Morsani.

I've been trying to get more volunteering, in the process of volunteering at a senior center but the approval is slow.

What are some examples of spicy ECs?

Anything that is not cookie cutter. I don’t exactly know but something that can help your story to be more compelling.

 

[drross90210]

Your post is clearly written so I would expect your essays were written reasonably well but I would defer to your judgement. Agree that your volunteering and clinical experience might be a weakness so would bulk those up.

I wonder if you successfully bridged your biotech experiences with your desire to transition into medicine? Did the committee have the information needed to understand why you want to go into medicine?

I have seen where peopke speak so highly of their current work that the reader thinks: why would they leave this? Alternatively, I have seen where people speak so negatively about their current work that the reader thinks: this person is always going to be miserable.

I would definitely get feedback on the essays. My gut is that the committee didn't 'get' your desire to pursue medicine.

 

[Faha]

Your weakness was your lack of clinical volunteering with patients who are ill, injured, dying. Working at a COVID testing or vaccination site is clinical but most of those patients are otherwise healthy or asymptomatic. Accumulate 200+ hours of clinical volunteering in a nursing home, hospice, hospital wards or similar settings.
I suggest these schools if you reapply:
USF Morsani
Miami
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Central Florida
NOVA MD
TCU-UNT
Washington University (in St. Louis. They like high MCAT scores)
Rosalind Franklin
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Cincinnati
Wake Forest
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
George Washington
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Seton Hall
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
New York Medical College
Albany
Rochester
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Tufts
California University
Kaiser
UC Irvine
UC Davis
USC Keck
Also apply broadly to DO schools and I suggest these:
WESTERN
TUCOM-CA
TUNCOM
AZCOM
CCOM
DMU-COM
KCU-COM
ATSU-KCOM
MU-COM
PCOM (all schools)
LECOM (all schools)
NYITCOM
Touro-NY

 

[Goro]

I applied for the first time in the 2021-2022 cycle. Going in I was fairly optimistic, but as of now I've had only one interview invite and I need to think about a reapplication strategy.

My information: 28, CA resident, white male, no financial hardship. BS Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology (with honors) from UC Santa Cruz. cGPA 3.5, sGPA 3.6, no upward trend, no institutional actions or similar academic red flags, except a single F which I repeated for an A. MCAT 522.

Since graduating I have primarily worked in biotech companies as a senior research associate (3 companies, 5 years total, significant responsibilities). All three were developing therapeutics or diagnostics. I have my name on two papers (one biology and one chemistry). I have also worked as a substitute teacher and tutor.

I have ~150hrs volunteering at a COVID testing site, ~100hrs at a COVID vaccination site, ~35hrs at food banks.
40hrs shadowing a pediatrician in a hospital setting, I have meaningful experiences from this I can talk about.

I have a number of interesting hobbies, but no awards or formal leadership roles in organizations except professionally.

I applied to 28 schools, secondaries finished from end of June to early August.

Larner at Vermont
USF Morsani
Kimmel at Thomas Jefferson
UCLA Geffen
Zucker at Hofstra
University of Rochester
Icahn at Mount Sinai
Tufts
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Keck School of Medicine at USC
UC Davis
George Washington
New York Medical College
Tulane
Albany Medical College
Hackensack Meridian
East Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth
Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University
University of Colorado
Stony Brook
UC San Diego
UC Irvine
UCSF
Cincinnati
University Pittsburgh
NYU
Case Western
Stanford School of Medicine
Cornell
Boston University
Virginia Tech
Dartmouth
Columbia
Harvard

My thoughts on what went wrong: my GPA isn't great and my volunteering isn't stellar, but I didn't expect either to be deal breakers. My best guess is my personal statement and secondaries are what hurt me and the other factors weren't enough to compensate. I'm not a great writer and maybe I wasn't able to write a compelling story.

Current plan: continue volunteering, continue working as a research at my current job, significantly rework my PS and secondaries getting more feedback on them. Apply to some DO schools as well.

Alternative plans: get a job in medicine such as MA, EMT, respiratory therapist, scribe, get an MPH to compensate for my GPA, something else?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

It seems like you have a plan!!!

 

[Pico25]

Your post is clearly written so I would expect your essays were written reasonably well but I would defer to your judgement. Agree that your volunteering and clinical experience might be a weakness so would bulk those up.

I wonder if you successfully bridged your biotech experiences with your desire to transition into medicine? Did the committee have the information needed to understand why you want to go into medicine?

I have seen where peopke speak so highly of their current work that the reader thinks: why would they leave this? Alternatively, I have seen where people speak so negatively about their current work that the reader thinks: this person is always going to be miserable.

I would definitely get feedback on the essays. My gut is that the committee didn't 'get' your desire to pursue medicine.

That makes sense, I did talk a lot about my work in research since it has been a significant part of my life and accomplishments for the last few years. I could talk at length about the things I don't like about research, but I tried to frame it by saying it lacked the tangible impact on patients that I experienced shadowing. However, I could see how an admissions officer could think that my passion really lies in research which is not the case.

Your weakness was your lack of clinical volunteering with patients who are ill, injured, dying. Working at a COVID testing or vaccination site is clinical but most of those patients are otherwise healthy or asymptomatic. Accumulate 200+ hours of clinical volunteering in a nursing home, hospice, hospital wards or similar settings.

Understood. I looked into volunteering at hospitals before but most seemed clerical or otherwise not direct patient care. I had not considered hospice volunteering, I have reached out to a few nearby.

 

[candbgirl]

You need direct patient contact. Not care. I think you were looking for the wrong thing. I see volunteers bringing books, blankets , Kleenex etc to patients. They stop,and talk for a few minutes or longer. I see other volunteers working in the clinics in the Children’s hospitals playing with kids waiting for their appointments. You could also volunteer at free clinics. You aren’t going to get a job /volunteering doing medical care. I think you also need more hours in nonclinical volunteering. This should focus on the unserved/underserved in the community. So look for homeless shelters, additional food banks, soup kitchens, coach a team of underprivileged kids in a sport, volunteer at a camp for disabled kids. You need way more than your current 35 hours. Shoot for 150+ more hours. You have enough shadowing hours.
You most likely need a gap year. I think part of your problem was poor/ mediocre ECs . ADCOMS will be looking for significant improvement with a reapplication. So beef up your activities. Oh and a MPH will not help your application to MD schools. Your MPH grades will not be calculated into your uGPA. On the other hand, it will count towards DO . But don’t do it unless you plan to use it.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

Your excellent MCAT unfortunately makes the rest of your app look perfunctory. What's your passion project out of your activities? It doesn't come across like there is one, to be totally frank. Volunteering and ECs also do nothing to demonstrate that you know how to work with "average" people outside of an academic setting, let alone patients from a variety of backgrounds. Thankfully all are easy fixes.

 

[Pico25]

Ok, understood that I need more volunteering, both with patient contact and otherwise.

As far as passion projects, I can't exactly say. I enjoyed volunteering at the vaccination site the most, because it felt like I was doing something more important and useful than other volunteering.

I was a substitute teacher and also para-aid for elementary through high school. Often I was assigned a disabled kid to help through class and assignments. I did private tutoring with the same age group including several ESL students with learning disabilities. The subbing and para aid work ended when the lockdown started. I continued the tutoring online for some time. I can talk about how that was meaningful and I expect it shows I can interact with people outside academia. I did try to convey that in my activities section.

 

[Dr Meow]

Also apply to >40 schools. 28 isn't much.
And add a lot more low tier MD

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

Ok, understood that I need more volunteering, both with patient contact and otherwise.

As far as passion projects, I can't exactly say. I enjoyed volunteering at the vaccination site the most, because it felt like I was doing something more important and useful than other volunteering.

I was a substitute teacher and also para-aid for elementary through high school. Often I was assigned a disabled kid to help through class and assignments. I did private tutoring with the same age group including several ESL students with learning disabilities. The subbing and para aid work ended when the lockdown started. I continued the tutoring online for some time. I can talk about how that was meaningful and I expect it shows I can interact with people outside academia. I did try to convey that in my activities section.

This still comes across like you did it because you knew you were supposed to and then you happened to like it! Passion project is something you do organically because you like it and it supplements your application.

For me, it was a lot of things. For example, I was curious about addiction medicine so I volunteered at an inpatient alcohol and drug rehab. That forms a more cohesive narrative, although maybe doesn't qualify as a passion. Maybe my real passion through the application process was the handful of years I spent working in the specialty coffee industry. I learned about sourcing and processing beans as well as the intricacies of brewing - different methods, grind size, temperature, pressure, extraction percentages... the list goes on. Latte art is just the cherry on top. I also enjoy teaching people how to make their favorite drinks at home to their preference and taste. The work I did was also very social which suited me. I was able to connect with customers all day over coffee or their other assorted interests. Perhaps does not appear superficially relevant for medical school but I'm certain my ability to connect with people, combine my knowledge with customer requests/needs and communicate how I'm going to do so will take me far with patients. The process of brewing coffee is also rather exacting and requires both qualitative sensory observations and hard data collection so there was a scientific aspect as well.

Is coffee my forever passion? No. But it is something I really love that helped me pay the bills and meet interesting folks. Do you see how this all comes across a bit differently than talking about scribing or ED volunteering and trying to convince myself and others that it was a fun and interesting experience?

Again hopefully not coming across as harsh, just want to point out that your app as described here doesn't have much of a narrative besides you wanted to be a doctor so you did the requirements.

Working with kids with disabilities - now that's interesting! If I were you I would take that and run with it. Make it your "hook" if you have enough hours to do so convincingly.

 

[Pico25]

Again hopefully not coming across as harsh, just want to point out that your app as described here doesn't have much of a narrative besides you wanted to be a doctor so you did the requirements.

Working with kids with disabilities - now that's interesting! If I were you I would take that and run with it. Make it your "hook" if you have enough hours to do so convincingly.

Most of the volunteering was box ticking, so it's not be surprising it comes off that way.

Yes, teaching has been a passion/throughline for me. Like I said I did tutoring, para-aid work, and substitute teaching, and before the pandemic had a small business/side hustle doing outdoor education classes about mushroom hunting and foraging.

I understand my narrative seems a bit flat. in fact there were years of internal conflict and indecision because I knew I didn't want to pursue research but didn't know what else to do. I tried to convince myself I just needed a different angle (a different company, more data analysis work, a role with more responsibility). I considered medicine twice before I committed, each time I was dissuaded by so many negative accounts I found from my extensive research of people who regretted their decision, and said it was horrible/life draining etc. It took me a while to realize I wasn't like them, and that the internet isn't reflective of reality.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

Most of the volunteering was box ticking, so it's not be surprising it comes off that way.

Yes, teaching has been a passion/throughline for me. Like I said I did tutoring, para-aid work, and substitute teaching, and before the pandemic had a small business/side hustle doing outdoor education classes about mushroom hunting and foraging.

I understand my narrative seems a bit flat. in fact there were years of internal conflict and indecision because I knew I didn't want to pursue research but didn't know what else to do. I tried to convince myself I just needed a different angle (a different company, more data analysis work, a role with more responsibility). I considered medicine twice before I committed, each time I was dissuaded by so many negative accounts I found from my extensive research of people who regretted their decision, and said it was horrible/life draining etc. It took me a while to realize I wasn't like them, and that the internet isn't reflective of reality.

That sounds really interesting! I know you brought it up before but adding detail about this topic I think will serve your app well. Some people believe that a doctor's primary role is a teacher - they filter through their vast accumulated knowledge to teach pts how to keep themselves healthy. In the initial post, I only saw hours on the generic med school stuff so it seemed those were the only things you had done "seriously". A mentor once told me you need to make things quantitive on an application to give interviews a sense of scale; I think this is a good example of that. If you can demonstrate sustained dedication (quantitive: how many years, how many hours?) to teaching diverse or high level subjects (quantitive: how many subjects, in what depth?) with diverse populations (quantitive: how many people did you teach, how many hours did you work with the same people, demonstrate breadth of diverse backgrounds of population you worked with), then I 100% take back what I said about your EC's seeming perfunctory.

 

[Pico25]

OK reworking my school list. Didn't add NOVA or Kaiser based on very low admissions rate on MSAR. Removed Stanford, NYU, Virginia Tech, Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell, and Harvard for also being unreasonable reaches.

Any other feedback? Any schools I shouldn't bother applying to due to volunteer focus, high GPA focus, local tie preferences, etc. Or any I missed?

Name	State	Previously applied	Median MCAT	Median GPA	Overall matriculant percent
Albany Medical College	NY	Yes	510	3.73	1.0
Albert Einstein College of Medicine	NY	Yes	516	3.82	1.9
Boston University	MA	Yes	519	3.86	1.2
Case Western	OH	Yes	518	3.86	2.4
Cincinnati	OH	Yes	517	3.83	2.9
East Virginia	VA	Yes	513	3.72	1.7
Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University	CT	Yes	513	3.76	1.0
George Washington	DC	Yes	512	3.74	1.1
Hackensack Meridian	NJ	Yes	513	3.71	2.6
Icahn at Mount Sinai	NY	Yes	519	3.86	1.3
Keck School of Medicine at USC	CA	Yes	517	3.79	1.9
Kimmel at Thomas Jefferson	PA	Yes	514	3.82	2.2
Larner at Vermont	VT	Yes	513	3.76	1.4
New York Medical College	NY	Yes	514	3.7	1.3
Stony Brook	NY	Yes	517	3.86	2.1
Tufts	MA	Yes	515	3.8	1.3
Tulane	LA	Yes	510	3.65	1.0
UC Davis	CA	Yes	511	3.63	1.3
UC Irvine	CA	Yes	515	3.84	1.4
UC San Diego	CA	Yes	516	3.83	1.5
UCLA Geffen	CA	Yes	516	3.81	1.2
UCSF	CA	Yes	517	3.88	1.8
University of Rochester	NY	Yes	517	3.86	1.5
University Pittsburgh	PA	Yes	517	3.86	1.8
USF Morsani	FL	Yes	518	3.89	2.8
Virginia Commonwealth	VA	Yes	514	3.83	2.2
Zucker at Hofstra	NY	Yes	519	3.84	1.6
Carle Illinois College of Medicine	IL	No	513	3.73	1.9
Central Florida	FL	No	515	3.9	2.0
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University	NJ	No	513	3.84	1.8
Creighton	NE	No	514	3.85	3.2
Drexel	PA	No	512	3.79	1.8
Florida Atlantic	FL	No	513	3.8	1.1
Florida International	FL	No	511	3.81	1.8
Georgetown	DC	No	513	3.78	1.1
Indiana University	IN	No	513	3.87	5.1
Loyola	IL	No	512	3.78	1.0
Medical College Wisconsin	WI	No	511	3.75	2.3
Miller at Miami	FL	No	514	3.81	1.8
Northeast Ohio Medical University	OH	No	509	3.78	3.4
Oakland Beaumont	MI	No	510	3.86	1.5
Ohio State	OH	No	516	3.89	2.5
Penn State	PA	No	512	3.82	1.2
Rosalind Franklin	IL	No	514	3.78	1.3
Rush	IL	No	511	3.7	1.3
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School	NJ	No	516	3.82	2.9
Temple	PA	No	512	3.74	1.5
University of Illinois	IL	No	511	3.7	3.9
Wake Forest	NC	No	512	3.75	1.3
Washington University in St. Louis.	MO	No	521	3.93	2.0
Wayne State	MI	No	513	3.81	2.8

 

[chilly_md]

Follow Faha’s list. Did you make progress on gaining clinical experience?

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I would look at writing and make sure LORs are okay (not really sure how you would do this but some committees will you give you advice on whether to remove one).

My reasoning is that with your stats, I would expect more than a 1/28 II/application ratio

 

[Pico25]

Follow Faha’s list. Did you make progress on gaining clinical experience?

I added most of the schools in that list, but most were schools I already applied to. I didn't add Kaiser and NOVA because they both had such low acceptance rates. NOVA 23 OOS matriculants out of 6197 apps, Kaiser 26 CA matriculates out of 11583 apps both seemed very slim odds compared to other schools. Maybe I'm missing something?

Pretty much immediately after I made the original post I reached out to some places. Just this month I started volunteering with a hospice, providing companionship/conversation/light errands for hospice patients.

I would look at writing and make sure LORs are okay (not really sure how you would do this but some committees will you give you advice on whether to remove one).

My reasoning is that with your stats, I would expect more than a 1/28 II/application ratio

I agree my LORs may not be ideal. What I have:

1. Letter from biomolecular engineering professor, who remembered me and was happy to write it. I did not see the letter.

2. Letter from my current supervisor (written a year ago) about 2 pages saying: I recommend him, very impressed by knowledge, intelligence and motivation, described a project I worked on and said I was an asset to the project and I excelled in the team etc. Demonstrated outstanding capabilities and motivation etc. This letter I could request updates and modifications to.

3. Letter from former supervisor, it's brief, about 1 page, saying I am one of the most talented researchers she worked with, driven, helped overcome some key roadblocks, great team member, passionate. Overall not very specific but definitely positive. I could probably request modifications if I didn't ask her to do too much.

4. Letter from a physician I shadowed. He is a friend of my dad and seemed impressed with my experience, overall I felt he was encouraging, though we didn't know each other well. I did not see the letter.

5. Letter from another professor, this one he said he could only write "a general letter of recommendation" simply because it had been so long since I took his class. I only used this letter if the school required 2 letters from professors. Maybe it would be better not to have sent it at all? But I figured better a general recommendation than complete disqualification.

 

[chilly_md]

I added most of the schools in that list, but most were schools I already applied to. I didn't add Kaiser and NOVA because they both had such low acceptance rates. NOVA 23 OOS matriculants out of 6197 apps, Kaiser 26 CA matriculates out of 11583 apps both seemed very slim odds compared to other schools. Maybe I'm missing something?

Pretty much immediately after I made the original post I reached out to some places. Just this month I started volunteering with a hospice, providing companionship/conversation/light errands for hospice patients.

You can skip Kaiser then, but Nova MD may show more lenience as they are a newer school. Many of the schools you added will be donations such as Case, UCLA, UCSF, Neomed.

The hospice volunteering is a good step, but you won’t have anything significant to add to your application that is different from last cycle. Chances good at DO. You might get interest from an MD school. Add Western Michigan.

 

[Pico25]

You can skip Kaiser then, but Nova MD may show more lenience as they are a newer school. Many of the schools you added will be donations such as Case, UCLA, UCSF, Neomed.

The hospice volunteering is a good step, but you won’t have anything significant to add to your application that is different from last cycle. Chances good at DO. You might get interest from an MD school. Add Western Michigan.

OK, thanks. Regarding Case, UCLA, and UCSF: I'm not that attached to them, but why those schools? They have lower MCAT/GPA than Morsani and some other schools on the list. I put Neomed because they accept a lot of OOS, again I don't have a strong attachment to it. Just trying to figure out deciding factors.

Yes I realize that, unfortunately I realized that too late. I've added Western Michigan.

 

[chilly_md]

OK, thanks. Regarding Case, UCLA, and UCSF: I'm not that attached to them, but why those schools? They have lower MCAT/GPA than Morsani and some other schools on the list. I put Neomed because they accept a lot of OOS, again I don't have a strong attachment to it. Just trying to figure out deciding factors.

Yes I realize that, unfortunately I realized that too late. I've added Western Michigan.

Do not look at single metrics. USF has been trying to target higher MCAT scorers and gain those who may not get attention from the top schools. Accepted students had lower GPAs in past years.

Schools like Case and UCLA have high expectations both from a stats perspective and ECs of their applicants. WUSTL has shown a tendency to look more at the MCAT, hence why that is a research powerhouse you should apply to. Neomed is a rural school, I don’t think you fit their mission. OOS students likely had a tie to the state or are in a neighboring state. You had several other schools like this.