Reapply/

[sparklergurlie4]

This whole medical school process has been absolutely crazy but here's my story (I've done well and am still an undergrad.):

I applied later in the process than I would have hoped to, but wound up with interviews at Harvard, Stanford, Mayo, BU, SLU, Loyola, UIC, Pitt and NW. However, I was only accepted into BU and SLU while being rejected from Harvard and Mayo and waitlisted at the others.

I've always been involved in service and also applied for AmeriCorps....and am thinking of reapplying?

I feel like I'm so close to a top tier school I can taste it... And I'm not sure if I'd be bitter or not going to a school that didn't feel like a good fit....

Please just give any insight/feedback you can. I'm really confused right now.

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[sparklergurlie4]

This whole medical school process has been absolutely crazy but here's my story (I've done well and am still an undergrad.):

I applied later in the process than I would have hoped to, but wound up with interviews at Harvard, Stanford, Mayo, BU, SLU, Loyola, UIC, Pitt and NW. However, I was only accepted into BU and SLU while being rejected from Harvard and Mayo and waitlisted at the others.

I've always been involved in service and also applied for AmeriCorps....and am thinking of reapplying?

I feel like I'm so close to a top tier school I can taste it... And I'm not sure if I'd be bitter or not going to a school that didn't feel like a good fit....

Please just give any insight/feedback you can. I'm really confused right now.

 

[coffeebythelake]

You might be blacklisted at schools if you turn down acceptances to reapply.

 

[babel]

Yeah, get ready for some potentially harsh responses. Few are going to take pity on your situation - just want to forewarn you.

From everything I've read on SDN, you will have a very tough time reapplying when you had two perfectly good MD acceptances in hand (and maybe more to come). The consensus is that they will question your desire to pursue medicine, accuse you of being more concerned with prestige than being a doctor etc. So, think about it seriously. I know where you're coming from though - I got lots of interviews, but all of the "top 10" ones have pretty much waitlisted me. Kinda sucks, but I am personally very happy with the options that I have, and could not even think about going through this hellish process again.

That being said, I do remember reading about a few people who successfully reapplied..... perhaps if you do more of a search you can find their stories.

Good luck!

 

[postbacker]

This whole medical school process has been absolutely crazy but here's my story (I've done well and am still an undergrad.):

I applied later in the process than I would have hoped to, but wound up with interviews at Harvard, Stanford, Mayo, BU, SLU, Loyola, UIC, Pitt and NW. However, I was only accepted into BU and SLU while being rejected from Harvard and Mayo and waitlisted at the others.

I've always been involved in service and also applied for AmeriCorps....and am thinking of reapplying?

I feel like I'm so close to a top tier school I can taste it... And I'm not sure if I'd be bitter or not going to a school that didn't feel like a good fit....

Please just give any insight/feedback you can. I'm really confused right now.

There are lots of good reasons to turn down multiple acceptances to medical school, but I don't think your stated reasons (about being so close to a top tier, worried about bitterness, etc) are really a good basis for taking such a decision.

Do AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps or work in a soup kitchen because you want to, and because you are not ready for medical school. You are very young...

Med school admissions is such a crap shoot - you have done very well for yourself - but if you decline your acceptances, do it for the right reasons, and live with the prospect that if you reapply for next year, you may have even fewer options than you have now.

 

[kaudung]

I'm in the same sinking boat. Call the schools you were rejected or waitlisted at and ask them how they feel about you reapplying. Make sure to mention that you were accepted at schools you aren't interested in anymore (have a compelling reason). If you like, post what you find out here.

 

[HumbleMD]

Things to remember about a possible re-application:

There's absolutely no gurantee you would do better next time around (especially if you are shooting for Harvard or Mayo - seems awfully cocky).
Your MCAT score will be up in a year.
Would you really want to go through another application process?
The blacklisting could be very real; a Texas poster was told to his face he was blacklisted because he had turned town a DO school acceptance and reapplied.
Most people are pretty thankful for any MD acceptance.
What would you do to improve your application? A year in Americorp alone probably won't cut it.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

Please tell us this is just a hypothetical/exploring-ideas/premed freakout-type question. You've been accepted; celebrate, coast into graduation, find seaside beach hotel with one of those in-pool bars, and book a room for the summer.

 

[Gut Shot]

I feel like I'm so close to a top tier school I can taste it...

It's not worth a year or two of your life, much less the risk of being blacklisted. Hate to break it to you, sister, but med school is med school is med school. Time to swallow that bolus of pride that's lodged in your gullet, suck it up and just get your MD. In six years where you went to med school a helluva lot less meaningful than you think.

Good luck with the waitlists.

 

[premeddick]

Your MCAT score will be up in a year.

I think the OP could apply in 2008 for 2009 and still use the same MCAT score. Its typically good at most schools for three years. However, this is no reason to turn down acceptances.

 

[gotmeds?]

I think the consensus is that turning down a previous med school acceptance and reapplying just to get into a better school, looks very bad to the adcomms. No one is going to buy that your commitment to helping the needy is so overwhelming that you put off med school so you could work in a soup kitchen.

 

[PickleLuvrrr]

i don't think turning down your two acceptances would be a good idea, but you could still try to get in off of one of those waitlists - aren't you on five of them? focus your attention on the school(s) where you think you would be really happy and let them know.

 

[BigRedPremed]

You will do worse the second time around. Take your acceptances and go to med school.

 

[blargh]

if you're so concerned with the prestige of the med school you attend, why did you add BU and SLU in the first place? if i were you, i'd move on and take one of your acceptances. i wouldn't want to be blacklisted next year. who knows, you might end up 1000x happier there than at harvard.

 

[Janny]

This whole medical school process has been absolutely crazy but here's my story (I've done well and am still an undergrad.):

I applied later in the process than I would have hoped to, but wound up with interviews at Harvard, Stanford, Mayo, BU, SLU, Loyola, UIC, Pitt and NW. However, I was only accepted into BU and SLU while being rejected from Harvard and Mayo and waitlisted at the others.

I've always been involved in service and also applied for AmeriCorps....and am thinking of reapplying?

I feel like I'm so close to a top tier school I can taste it... And I'm not sure if I'd be bitter or not going to a school that didn't feel like a good fit....

Please just give any insight/feedback you can. I'm really confused right now.

Okay.. In many ways I hope OP's post is a joke thread. If not, saying you would turn down terrific acceptances to go "top tier" shows how immature and potentially shallow you are. I am not trying to offend you, but c'mon. Getting into medschool period is an arduous and extremely competitive process. FYI not everyone with a 4.0 and 36+ MCAT gets into a top ten school! Obviously the schools you interviewed at thought others were a better "fit" than you, so get over it and be happy you are going to medical school at all. Although, due to the nature of your post you may want to consider (seriously) your reasons for wanting to go to med school. prestige? Bottem Line, It doen't matter where you go, you will end up w/an MD.
If you do well, you will get a terrific residency. Also, before turning down a bonafide acceptance, consider the very real possibility that you will be blacklisted in future application cycles and may not end up going to medical school at all.

 

[foofish]

This whole medical school process has been absolutely crazy but here's my story (I've done well and am still an undergrad.):

I applied later in the process than I would have hoped to, but wound up with interviews at Harvard, Stanford, Mayo, BU, SLU, Loyola, UIC, Pitt and NW. However, I was only accepted into BU and SLU while being rejected from Harvard and Mayo and waitlisted at the others.

I've always been involved in service and also applied for AmeriCorps....and am thinking of reapplying?

I feel like I'm so close to a top tier school I can taste it... And I'm not sure if I'd be bitter or not going to a school that didn't feel like a good fit....

Please just give any insight/feedback you can. I'm really confused right now.

Don't do it....people do get blacklisted, or simply do worse the second time around, and that's far more common than the few people who do "improve" the second time around. To be honest, if you were a slam-dunk for a "tier 1" school, you would have gotten into one....and that was without the "stigma" that some schools assign to reapplicants in general (and it's even worse for reapplicants who need not be reapplicants, i.e. you)

Plus, if you were determined to get into a tier 1 school....why did you only apply to 1 or 2 of those schools? (And why did you apply to, and then not withdraw from, schools you knew you didn't want to attend?)

 

[kaudung]

I feel like I'm so close to a top tier school I can taste it... And I'm not sure if I'd be bitter or not going to a school that didn't feel like a good fit....

Please just give any insight/feedback you can. I'm really confused right now.

While I can empathize, sometimes it's just about coming to terms with your rejections or waitlists. Schools considered you and didn't want you. Accept that this may not change next year. The easy option is to take what you been given and shoot for matching into a top residency program.

 

[etf]

i say do it. high risk, high reward!

(i wouldn't do it though)

 

[diosa428]

This whole medical school process has been absolutely crazy but here's my story (I've done well and am still an undergrad.):

I applied later in the process than I would have hoped to, but wound up with interviews at Harvard, Stanford, Mayo, BU, SLU, Loyola, UIC, Pitt and NW. However, I was only accepted into BU and SLU while being rejected from Harvard and Mayo and waitlisted at the others.

I've always been involved in service and also applied for AmeriCorps....and am thinking of reapplying?

I feel like I'm so close to a top tier school I can taste it... And I'm not sure if I'd be bitter or not going to a school that didn't feel like a good fit....

Please just give any insight/feedback you can. I'm really confused right now.

I wouldn't reapply. Also, consider the fact that Harvard is non-rolling, so your late app didn't hurt you there. If you really don't want to go to BU or SLU, be proactive about getting off the waitlist at one of the other schools.

 

[Vano]

I suspect that's a troll since the question has been reposted a few times and does seem to be joke-like. If you're serious--don't reapply, and do us a favor go to BU we don't need that unsubstantiated cockiness at SLU

 

[sparklergurlie4]

so it did come out sounding way cockier than intended--i've been couped up studying for 4 exams this week and am lacking social skills...

i'm from chicago and my hope was to always stay there and go to u of c, nw, loyola, rush or uic. I only got an waitlisted at NW...until I got calls last week from uic and rush to interview there. i'm doubting there are still spots in the class.

i took the mcat in april very sick and got a 28, but I still had a 4.0 GPA and a lot of research and activities. I hesitated to apply because I wasn't sure if I'd have a shot at getting in.

I started the largest volunteer event on my campus (1250 people), ran a week's worth of events and received two publications as well as 5 senior university level scholarships since i applied. i might be stronger now...and i've always seriously been interested in americorps since i'm interested in health policy and education....

so no, sorry, it's not a joke. i'm not actually cocky...this whole thing has just been a huge rollercoaster...

 

[Instatewaiter]

Dont listen to these people OP. You will have much better luck next year. The other posters are just jealous of your situation. Screw BU, you can do better. I think you should re-apply next year.

 

[Falco2525]

reapplying will cost you a minimum of 150k salary in the long run...you have a good acceptance...do great at BU and you can get any residency...theres no point in reapplying...its a waste of time and money...if you do it you are essentially saying that you do not care enough about people to get to the point of caring for them quicker...instead you are all about prestige...best have a better reason than that if you are going to reapply...also work hard on getting of Northwestern or getting into the other chicago schools...PS with an MCAT of a 28 its not surprising you did not get into Harvard and Mayo even if you were really sick

 

[roverdoggy]

Wow some of these responses are kind of mean.

Anyway, I'm in sort of the same boat as you. My stats correspond to above the averages for most tier 1 schools but I've only been waitlisted at the 3 I've interviewed at. I also applied late for various reasons. I even get anonymous mdapps comments asking me why I haven't gotten into a better school. Sometimes I think about reapplying.

However, if you think about it, it doesn't matter you go for med school. If you're good, you'll be good anywhere. Schools can't change who you are.

Something that made me feel better was to look at the match list of the school I got accepted at. The top people from even some of the 'lower tier' schools still get into some pretty awesome residencies. Just work hard and be the top of your class wherever you end up. Best of luck.

 

[NN11]

so it did come out sounding way cockier than intended--i've been couped up studying for 4 exams this week and am lacking social skills...

i'm from chicago and my hope was to always stay there and go to u of c, nw, loyola, rush or uic. I only got an waitlisted at NW...until I got calls last week from uic and rush to interview there. i'm doubting there are still spots in the class.

i took the mcat in april very sick and got a 28, but I still had a 4.0 GPA and a lot of research and activities. I hesitated to apply because I wasn't sure if I'd have a shot at getting in.

I started the largest volunteer event on my campus (1250 people), ran a week's worth of events and received two publications as well as 5 senior university level scholarships since i applied. i might be stronger now...and i've always seriously been interested in americorps since i'm interested in health policy and education....

so no, sorry, it's not a joke. i'm not actually cocky...this whole thing has just been a huge rollercoaster...

when you said that you had interviewed at Harvard, Mayo, NW, etc. but waitlisted or rejected thereafter, my first thought was that you must have had some great experiences but your stats didn't make you competitive enough for the schools that you interviewed at.

In all honesty, reapplying wouldn't be such a great idea for you. here's my reasoning: you don't need to gain more experience like joining Americorps, clearly your experiences were good enough to get you to the interview step, you need to raise your MCAT to a 34-36 range (as a re-applicant this is the range you should be hitting).

How likely is it for you to get that score? it's definitely possible but it takes a lot of work. and what if you get a 30 next time, will you invest more time and retake the MCAT to try to wow them with a great score or will you apply and just take your chances with a 30?

You're going to deal with two stigmas:
1) you're a re-applicant (Harvard tells you not to apply more than three times, clearly, they prefer first time applicants)

2) they'll probably know that you turned down a med school acceptance for NO GOOD REASON. It makes you look like you're shopping for med schools

In the end, you'e taking a huge gamble, one that in my opinion isn't worth giving up what you already have.

 

[foofish]

You're going to deal with two stigma's:
1) you're a re-applicant (Harvard tells you not to apply more than three times, clearly, they prefer first time applicants)

2) they'll probably know that you turned down a med school acceptance for NO GOOD REASON. It makes you look like you're shopping for med schools

In the end, you'e taking a huge gamble, one that in my opinion isn't worth giving up what you already have.

I agree....and also, when you retake the MCAT, the old "bad" score doesn't go away, it's still there for the adcoms to see. So think about your chances of bumping that MCAT score by 6-8 points (and keep in mind that the higher you go, the harder it is to increase the score).....maybe you were sick, but most people score about the same or worse when retaking.

And just to make the picture a little more dismal, schools like Harvard etc. have recently changed the rules so you can only apply twice....

 

[Sarg's kid]

Things to remember about a possible re-application:

There's absolutely no gurantee you would do better next time around (especially if you are shooting for Harvard or Mayo - seems awfully cocky).
Your MCAT score will be up in a year.
Would you really want to go through another application process?
The blacklisting could be very real; a Texas poster was told to his face he was blacklisted because he had turned town a DO school acceptance and reapplied.
Most people are pretty thankful for any MD acceptance.
What would you do to improve your application? A year in Americorp alone probably won't cut it.

Exactly, you pompous ass!
"Ohhhh, wah, I didn't get in to Harvard or Hopkins, whatever shall I tell Buffy and Tiffy at the country club. I don't think I can bare the shame of it all."

In all honesty, withdraw from all of the other schools, reapply just to Mayo and Harvard, and keep taking the MCAT and reapplying until you get in. You owe it to yourself, and to the medical establishment to not rob such fine institutions of your vastly superior brain. Just because they don't recognize it yet is no reason to give up. I would suggest never applying to any other school. Just keep applying to those two. They'll come around.

 

[3rdDoc]

If it makes you feel any better I interviewed at Harvard, Hopkins, Penn, Michigan, Columbia, and Northwestern and guess what? I didn't get into any of them. I had a 38, a 3.8 from an ivy league school and I did a million activities in college. I didn't really consider reapplying, but multiple people asked me if I would. I thought there were all crazy. I have already interviewed at many top schools, and there is no compelling reason for me to think they will like me better next year just because I spent a year volunteering abroad or something (anyway I already did that). I know how hard it is to get rejected/waitlisted especially when you felt you had worked really hard in college and "deserved" to get in somewhere, so I think it's a bit harsh to call you cocky. On the other hand, it's time to grow up and realize that medicine is a career you want and you will be trained well in the US. On a side note, if you had only gotten into your least favorite college you had applied to, would you have taken a year off and reapplied to college? My guess is probably not. And the reason is because ultimately, that is crazy. You have to take the parts of life you can't control with stride and just try to make the best of the parts you can control.

 

[KCT15]

i'm from chicago and my hope was to always stay there and go to u of c, nw, loyola, rush or uic. I only got an waitlisted at NW...until I got calls last week from uic and rush to interview there. i'm doubting there are still spots in the class....

I'm confused...Rush's last interview day was 3/26. I was there and that's what they said. When are you interviewing?

 

[blargh]

if the top medical schools wanted to fill their classes with kids with 40 MCATs and 3.9 GPAs, they probably could. but they don't. so obviously, they're looking for something else.

 

[moomix906]

don't mean to be offensive, or single you out, but what is WITH all these recent posts about going to a top _____ school or whatnot? Do you pass go and collect $200 if you go to no. 10 instead of no. 11??? Please prestige people, read those posts on usnews, and for once ask about curriculum, teaching, student life. BU I've heard from numerous people is a terrific place to be at...please, just give it a real, serious look and consider being excited about being in medical school?

Btw, hate to be the party pooper, but you interviewed at only 2 top 10 schools, and you only made one waitlist. I wouldn't call that close enough to taste...close enough to peek but no touching