Reapplying

[dcowboys22]

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I couldn't find this info in another thread so I started a new one.. For those of you who are reapplying, What did you do to strengthen your application? Revise Personal Statement, new LORS etc.. Is it necessary to change the personal statement?

 

[ncbabyblue717]

Per my pre-med advisor's suggestion, I'm including a LOR from my current employer and completely rewriting my PS. He didn't say it directly, but he hinted that the main reason I didn't get in anywhere last time was because my PS was a bit on a cliche side and not really unique in any way. Even if your PS was well-written last time, it's a good idea to rewrite it a bit particularly if you plan on applying to some of the same schools. This shows effort on your part.

 

[kateycat]

i'm also reapplying, and while at first i resisted it, i finally decided to write a completely new PS. here's how i looked at it:

-no one's going to think negatively if you have a different one (unless of course it is of much lower caliber than the first) but some of the schools you're reapplying MAY think "well why didn't this person redo his/her PS?" it could come across as lazy using the same one... plus, you don't even know for sure if your PS was part of the problem in your previous app

-how bad do you want this? as reapplicants i think we will be under more pressure to prove we have strengthened our apps. this includes the PS. plus, redoing it shows you are still serious and still passionate about medicine because you're putting the effort in to write a new and stronger one. let your determination and commitment to this shine through.

-you may find (as i did) that you know yourself and your motivations for medicine better than you did a year ago, especially if you've continued getting clinical experiences, and this should help you write a more personal and insightful PS.

really, overall, i think you have a lot more to gain in writing a new one, and not much to lose, compared to using the same one from last year w/the real potential of turning some adcoms off automatically. just think of it as something you have to do as opposed to something optional, and i think you may find it easier to write the new one. also, there's been other threads discussing it, i'd search the "reapplicants" forum if you want to get more feedback.

well that's my opinion, hope it helps. best of luck

 

[kateycat]

I couldn't find this info in another thread so I started a new one.. For those of you who are reapplying, What did you do to strengthen your application? Revise Personal Statement, new LORS etc.. Is it necessary to change the personal statement?

in regards to your other questions:

i am getting an updated LOR, and 1-2 completely new ones (though I'm still planning on using at least 1 old one, probably 2). don't sacrifice quality for the sake of newness though.

i also retook the mcat since i got a 29, for reasons along the same lines as why i redid my PS (show my passion for medicine + i think i made substantial improvements to both) and kept a 4.0 for senior year.

ECs:got involved with some research (nothing huge though, but i didn't have any research on my app before), a volunteer project through the honors college, continued volunteering, and some shadowing

also important though, my app will be verified way before september!

 

[st0w]

Although I would personally feel nervous about reusing the same PS, I do recall LizzyM in another thread stating that she didn't see a problem with it. Her stance was that as an adcom member, she felt the committee had so much to handle that pulling an applicant's previous PS to see if it had changed wasn't something they regularly (if ever) did.

Search for her posting to see exactly what she said. It might have been in the adcom advice thread...

But yeah, I do agree with those who say to write a new one. 🙂 Hopefully you've done something in the past year which further strengthens your candidacy, so you should have lots more to talk about.

 

[DrMidlife]

There's a whole forum for reapplicants: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=95

 

[hj7korp]

I couldn't find this info in another thread so I started a new one.. For those of you who are reapplying, What did you do to strengthen your application? Revise Personal Statement, new LORS etc.. Is it necessary to change the personal statement?

I talked with a director of admissions and got advices from him. It was really helpful. You should visit a dean or two and hear what he/she thinks about your whole application. He suggested several things for me, and I took them seriously. I took the MCAT again and raised score from 27 to 31. I've never shadowed a doctor before and thus I'm doing so right now. I plan to improve my interview skill over the summer, and apply early. I'm doing research as an IRTA at the NIH for the upcoming year. I believe there's a lot of things that you can do to improve an application.

 

[Tropicana100]

Is it true that adcoms tend to look at old applications more for people who interviewed in the past compared to non-interviewed applicants?