Reapplying

[6'0 OGFLYERCI]

Reapplying and the only difference is volunteering at a free clinic, a year more of emt experience, and two first author publications regarding surgical management of melanoma patients. Would these be big enough improvement to justify reapplying? Not sure how substantial pubs are to medschools. Also, 520 mcat 3.89 gpa

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[chilly_md]

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Hello, and welcome to the What Are My Chances (WAMC) forum. The purpose of this forum is to Post threads about your chances of acceptance to MD and/or DO schools Have your school list critiqued and modified by other members of SDN Determine how to strengthen your current application General...

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Include a detailed breakdown of hours as well as your school list. Did you receive any interviews?

 

[6'0 OGFLYERCI]

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[chilly_md]

I remember your profile once I read about the surfing again. Work on interview skills, but hopefully CUSM or Jefferson provide you good news.

How many hours will you get at the free clinic by June? I do agree you should have someone read over your writing. Some of the schools on your list will have to be replaced (UCR, NYMC, Hawaii). I am surprised Miami did not show interest, but they do have a long secondary and likely rely heavily on that when reviewing apps.

 

[6'0 OGFLYERCI]

I remember your profile once I read about the surfing again. Work on interview skills, but hopefully CUSM or Jefferson provide you good news.

How many hours will you get at the free clinic by June? I do agree you should have someone read over your writing. Some of the schools on your list will have to be replaced (UCR, NYMC, Hawaii). I am surprised Miami did not show interest, but they do have a long secondary and likely rely heavily on that when reviewing apps.

I hope to have about 150? I think what hurt me was not having a good narrative and submitting secondaries late. Ironically most of my interviews came from later secondaries as I believe my quality of writing improved greatly.

 

[6'0 OGFLYERCI]

@chilly_md do you think improved writing/narrative, research productivity, and continued emt/volunteering could make a big difference? I got very humbled lol

 

[chilly_md]

I hope to have about 150? I think what hurt me was not having a good narrative and submitting secondaries late. Ironically most of my interviews came from later secondaries as I believe my quality of writing improved greatly.

150 would be good. You may receive interest from Boston then since they pride themselves on being a safety net hospital and that activity would better match that. You will have time then to work on secondaries in advance now and that should make a difference along with the continued emt/volunteering. Do mock interviews as well since you did receive 3 interviews this past cycle. I suggest:

Albert Einstein
Boston University
California University of Science and Medicine
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Hofstra
Kaiser
Keck
Jefferson
UCD
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
University of Iowa
University of Miami
University of Pittsburgh
Stony Brook
Vermont
Colorado
Rochester
Dartmouth
USF
Western Michigan
UVA
Saint Louis
WUSTL
Vanderbilt
Mayo
Brown
Emory

Beyond your activities section, you may not want to mention surfing too much since you need to expand the list to schools not near the coast.

 

[6'0 OGFLYERCI]

150 would be good. You may receive interest from Boston then since they pride themselves on being a safety net hospital and that activity would better match that. You will have time then to work on secondaries in advance now and that should make a difference along with the continued emt/volunteering. Do mock interviews as well since you did receive 3 interviews this past cycle. I suggest:

Albert Einstein
Boston University
California University of Science and Medicine
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Hofstra
Kaiser
Keck
Jefferson
UCD
UCLA
UCSD
UCI
University of Iowa
University of Miami
University of Pittsburgh
Stony Brook
Vermont
Colorado
Rochester
Dartmouth
USF
Western Michigan
UVA
Saint Louis
WUSTL
Vanderbilt
Mayo
Brown
Emory

Beyond your activities section, you may not want to mention surfing too much since you need to expand the list to schools not near the coast.

Yes was definitely thinking about discussing surfing less this run around. Should I avoid all the top 10 schools?

 

[chilly_md]

Yes was definitely thinking about discussing surfing less this run around. Should I avoid all the top 10 schools?

I do not know who is in there, but I would avoid applying to Harvard, Yale, Stanford and so forth again. I left UCLA, UCSD and added some schools that prefer high MCAT scorers in Vandy and WUSTL and added other schools that broaden your list.

 

[6'0 OGFLYERCI]

I do not know who is in there, but I would avoid applying to Harvard, Yale, Stanford and so forth again. I left UCLA, UCSD and added some schools that prefer high MCAT scorers in Vandy and WUSTL and added other schools that broaden your list.

Fantastic. Thank you so much for the advice. So so very appreciated!

 

[gyngyn]

With your stats, accomplishments and school list, I'm willing to suggest that it could have been a combination of "small" things that led to this result. I happen to know that all the CA schools (especially the public schools) are motivated to admit CSU grads.
You mentioned essays. Sometimes, it's the optional essays that can sink an otherwise strong application: things like applying as disadvantaged when it might appear otherwise to some evaluators, photos (or interview attire) that are too casual or not following recommended number or type of LoR's. It doesn't sound like you wrote an "ortho or nothing" application, but those with a strong interest in a sport need to be careful of avoiding that appearance.

Re-write everything if you don't get off a waitlist. ...and work on interview technique.

 

[6'0 OGFLYERCI]

With your stats, accomplishments and school list, I'm willing to suggest that it could have been a combination of "small" things that led to this result. I happen to know that all the CA schools (especially the public schools) are motivated to admit CSU grads.
You mentioned essays. Sometimes, it's the optional essays that can sink an otherwise strong application: things like applying as disadvantaged when it might appear otherwise to some evaluators, photos (or interview attire) that are too casual or not following recommended number or type of LoR's. It doesn't sound like you wrote an "ortho or nothing" application, but those with a strong interest in a sport need to be careful of avoiding that appearance.

Re-write everything if you don't get off a waitlist. ...and work on interview technique.

I think I came off as giving the ortho and surfing desire off way too strong. I didn't take advantage of all the work I've done for people with disabilities and didn't emphasize my desire to promote ability and opportunities for the disabled. This next cycle I will be focusing much less on ortho, my interests very much could change, and less surfing. Before medschool I had a dream of being a professional surfer. Now I have a dream of being a doctor. Grown a lot this last cycle.