Reapplying

[hopefulstudent1]

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What is the reapplication process like? Should the new application be completely different or is it okay to keep most things like letters of recommendation and the work/activities section generally the same?

 

[red doctober]

What is the reapplication process like? Should the new application be completely different or is it okay to keep most things like letters of recommendation and the work/activities section generally the same?

Well here's the thing, what were the weaknesses with your first app that might have been contributing factors to you not getting in? You really should not copy everything verbatim. Schools to which you are reapplying could very well pull up your previous app and compare the two. Schools to which you will be applying for the first time will not know you are a re-applicant unless you say so. If you work at rewriting things, chances are it will improve how they sound. Unless you suspect one of your letters to be negative or weak and/or have an appropriate substitute, leave those as is.

 

[Tulkas]

As the previous poster mentioned, I would suggest looking at your current application for things you could improve upon. Was your PS the best you could have made it? Same goes for what you wrote for the work/activities section.

Also, have you done anything after you submitted your application that you can add to your application the second time around? Research? Volunteering/shadowing experiences or whatnot? You definitely don't want to reapply with the same application because obviously it was not a successful application.

You can send me a PM if you want more specific advice.

 

[VictorAlpha]

I would keep the best activities/letters but you really should add more, newer things to demonstrate growth. If they didn't like your application before give them a reason not to just have the exact same response this time.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

What is the reapplication process like? Should the new application be completely different or is it okay to keep most things like letters of recommendation and the work/activities section generally the same?

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting a different result. I was a re-applicant. I completely gave up on medicine for a few years and just went and experienced life, and then life is what brought me back. Everything in my application was different the second time around, and many of my interviewers commented on how they saw how I waited until I had really improved my application before re-applying. They said they couldn't keep track of how many people they see reapply unsuccessfully with the same application.

 

[kthon9]

Thanks for this post! I had a lot of the same questions, and I thought I'd intrude and ask a couple of my own.

First, is it necessary to retake the MCAT? Will schools expect that you retake it and get a better score?

Second, I am in this year's application cycle. I am on two waitlists and both schools said I won't hear until May. Should I begin preparing to reapply right away this spring, even if I am still waiting to hear back, or is it more typical to wait a year to apply again (meaning I'd be out of undergrad for two years before starting med school)? I feel like it would be difficult to apply again immediately, especially if I would need to retake the MCAT.

Any advice would be great! Thanks!

 

[Arbor Vitae]

First, is it necessary to retake the MCAT? Will schools expect that you retake it and get a better score?

Not necessarily. If you have a decent score then there's no need to retake. If it's sub 30 I would retake. The main thing is if you struggled to get say a 31, you don't want to risk retaking and lower your score.

Second, I am in this year's application cycle. I am on two waitlists and both schools said I won't hear until May. Should I begin preparing to reapply right away this spring, even if I am still waiting to hear back, or is it more typical to wait a year to apply again (meaning I'd be out of undergrad for two years before starting med school)? I feel like it would be difficult to apply again immediately, especially if I would need to retake the MCAT.

It would be unwise to reapply right away since nothing has really changed. At least give yourself a chance to improve your application in some way. You mature so much in those first few years out of college and that alone helps a ton during interviews.

 

[mvenus929]

In general, you should change your application. There are a variety of ways to do that, but your application should absolutely not be the same. You've changed in the past year, and your new application should reflect that. Get new letters if you can (3 of my letters were new, one was reused because I couldn't get in touch with the professor that wrote it initially). Put new activities, or at least update your activities with what you've done the past year.

If your application hasn't changed, you should strongly consider taking a year before reapplying.

First, is it necessary to retake the MCAT? Will schools expect that you retake it and get a better score?

Depends on what you got the first time. If you got a 25, then yeah, you should retake. If you got a 35, your chances of doing better are slim and you should focus on other aspect of your application.

Second, I am in this year's application cycle. I am on two waitlists and both schools said I won't hear until May. Should I begin preparing to reapply right away this spring, even if I am still waiting to hear back, or is it more typical to wait a year to apply again (meaning I'd be out of undergrad for two years before starting med school)? I feel like it would be difficult to apply again immediately, especially if I would need to retake the MCAT.

It depends. I decided to take a year off, because I felt that my application had not changed substantially the year I was applying. A friend of mine in a similar situation decided to take a year off to pursue a masters degree. I went and got job experience, and she got another degree, and we both ended up getting in the second time we applied.

If you can correct the weaknesses in your application by May, then it wouldn't be a bad idea to start getting things together. Or, you can elect to take that extra year off. People doing both have been successful.

 

[AMR1]

I am in the same boat. I am wait listed to several schools with no acceptances so far. I know that my activities and clinical experiences are bringing me down but I think my reference letters are OK. Does AMCAS keep those letters to reuse or will I need to contact everyone to send them in again?

 

[hopefulstudent1]

I have the same question as AMR. Do we need to contact our previous letter writers to get new letters? Or does AMCAS keep the old ones?

 

[DAPI]

AMCAS does not keep letters and therefore you have to contact letter writers again unless you used something like Interfolio.

When you contact them, I would suggest you tell them anything new you may want to them to include and tell them to update the date on the letter so new schools will have no idea you are a reapplicant.