- Joined
- Sep 28, 2015
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Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you got picked up by a school by the time the cycle is over. Your application is fairly well rounded, though you are correct that your stats are relatively average for MD schools. Unless you feel confident that you can significantly boost your MCAT, I don't think I would chance a retake since a similar or lower score would validate that a 511 is probably your peak. If, however, this was a significant (ie 4+ pts) drop from your practice tests average, then it might be a viable risk.Hi,
I am preparing for a reapplication for next cycle in case it doesn't work out this year and would like a review of my application. Specifically looking to see if I have any deficits I can improve. I applied MD this cycle to 39 schools and have been extremely fortunate to receive 7 II's. However, I have only been rejected and waitlisted after what I felt were strong interviews and want to prepare for the worst.
I would appreciate if all information regarding my school and state of residence could be removed before posting. Thank you so much in advance!
Background:
Stats: 3.73 sGPA, 3.82 cGPA, 511 MCAT
- IL resident
- Asian female
- Graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Have a physician parent
Clinical experience
General Healthcare experience
- 100 hours hospital volunteering
- 200 hours hospice care volunteering (continuing in gap year)
- 100 hours shadowing (internal med, cardiology, derm, radiology, orthopedics, emergency med)
Non-clinical volunteering
- 300 hours paid employment as an administrative assistant in a private medical practice. Worked on billing, etc.
- 100 hours working with the Chief Medical Officer and staff of a hospital in an administrative role. Became interested in healthcare administration and process improvement from this
- Have worked 1000+ hours in my gap year so far in the corporate healthcare world (analyst job). Has been an extremely valuable experience and something I thought made my application unique. I plan to stay at the company for the stable job if I have to reapply
Other experience
- 200 hours Crisis Text Line counselor
- ~100 hours tutoring economically disadvantaged students grades 1-6. The program offers one-on-one tutoring and I've been working with the same student all year. Just started this in my gap year and sent as an update to schools
- 50 hours cooking and providing meals for a local domestic violence shelter
Other notes/my thoughts
- 400 hours as a General Chemistry TA in undergrad
- 300 hours of research. 100 hours in Psych lab, 200 hours in a Neuroscience. Worked on a clinical project in the Neuroscience lab and presented a poster senior year
- ~2000 hours intercollegiate athletics. Played club as there was no varsity program for my sport. I was voted All-Big Ten sophomore and junior year (First Team and Second Team). Captain senior year, minor leadership position junior year
- 400 hours as a restaurant hostess
- No red flags on application
- Got feedback from the one school that rejected me post II and was told my personal statement was good, interview communication and body language all fine
- I am thinking about retaking the MCAT in May. I'm worried my average stats might be preventing me from getting the outright acceptance and my score did drop from my practice scores
Thank you again!
Otherwise, the only thing that really pops out is that your community service is fairly underwhelming, especially given that the tutoring only started recently. It looks like you tried to check the box instead of possessing a sustained commitment to the community. I imagine that the text crisis line doesn't involve any face-to-face human interaction? Your community service section overall leans toward a picture of someone who is not all that interested in being physically present with underserved populations. Removing the recent tutoring and the text line leaves you with only 50 hrs of face-to-face time with the less fortunate. Coupled with your background of having a physician parent, you can imagine how this might appear to an adcom.
Again, I wouldn't be surprised if you still got in this cycle, but if I had to give my best advice for a second cycle, I would highly recommend beefing up the community service (and adding in some family med shadowing). You've technically checked all of the boxes but none of them particularly jump off the page and you really want the adcom to know you have a passion for helping people.
Best of luck with this cycle!