Medical Received final rejection this cycle (high GPA, 514 MCAT) - how do I move forward with reapplication?

[Mr.Smile12]

I was just rejected by the last school that was still considering me post-interview. I interviewed at UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, and Ohio State, but all 4 rejected me. I had a 3.90/3.99 cumulative/BCPM, 514 MCAT, strong letters and clinical experiences (interviewers from 2 schools told me that), 3 co-author papers, 1 first-author paper, 500 clinical hours, shadowing, TA, and some community service. I applied broadly and taking into account in-state preferences of certain schools.

I feel absolutely shocked and devastated that not a single school (out of 35) was willing to take me. I have no backup plan... and I feel scared. My advisors and friends in medical school who read my application and did mock interviews with me are also surprised at this outcome. I reached out to some of the schools who interviewed me, but did not receive any response. My PI said I'm welcome to continue in his lab on a volunteer basis but that he cannot guarantee funding for me at this moment. I'm a co-author on another 3 papers in peer review right now, but that's about it. Please help...

Update: I applied MD not MD/PhD

Damn. It does happen and that's why we always tell people to plan for a backup. Where is your WAMC post if you did one?

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[Goro]

Out of curiosity, what do you think your hook was for Stanford?

I suggest that you work on interview skills. Rewrite all essays and have multiple eyeballs vet them.

Do NOT use your friends for vetting or practice interviews either. They don't know what to look for.

60% of all applicants get rejected. Of the remainder, ~20% only get a single accept. This is an Olympic caliber event after all.

Suggest getting in more service to others less fortunate than yourself.

And because you're going to be in a second app cycle, have some DO schools on your list as insurance.

 

[lord999]

For MD/PhD admissions, the process will not be easier at the schools you are applying to. And please do not consider an MD/PhD unless you really do want to research. I would also suspect interviewing as your stats are more than sufficient. I echo @Goro's advice that familiarity is not a good trait in a mock interviewer.

I am not shocked at the outcome. There have been times when a school assumes that the candidate will be get a better acceptance and will not bother to give acceptance to someone that is out of their league. I have seen perfectly good candidates who did not get acceptances as their high-tier schools rejected them but the normal schools that they were outperforming in did a strategic rejection on fit grounds rather than on stats.

Out of curiosity, why not UCSF if CA in-state? If UCSF rejected you on paper for an interview if you are in-state (which should not be based on stats and recommendations unless your essays were atrocious or you had a sabotaged recommendation), I would go over the application again to see if you messed up a section or accidentally answered to UCSF when you meant another university.

 

[lord999]

Yes, I am CA- in state. I got rejected from UCI and UCSF post secondary and UC Davis didn't give me a secondary. UCSF has no essays for their secondary, you just have to pay up. I am positive I didn't mess up on any section of the primary. Multiple residents, med students (former ADCOM), and an attending read it and said it was good. Besides, if there was something wrong with my primary or letters, I wouldn't have gotten the interviews I got, right?

Also, if I'm not good enough for the top schools but "out-of-league" for normal schools, what can I possibly do? Although it would be nice to go to a top school, at the end of the day, I just want to be a doctor and don't care that much about a school's prestige.

Cut and paste mistakes are more common than people think. The ones I have read literally have gaffes where they mention faculty at a different university that they want to work with, which that sort of carelessness puts it in the autoreject pile for me. The second is a hard one, not too hot or cold, but just right is tricky. The strategic non-interview and rejection of an otherwise good candidate because the admissions staff are "certain" that the candidate will get a better acceptance happens every year too.

Possibly consider a Post-Masters (though your statistics do not need reinvention), definitely consider reexamining how you interview with non-friendly judges, but also, consider this a gap year to do more patient care volunteering and possibly shoot for a 520 (but even then that is risky as your score is already above average for accepted). If you really want to take that final statement seriously, why not DO?

 

[Goro]

I will apply to 5-10 D.O. schools, as I previously mentioned. But if I'm overqualified for some M.D. schools, then wouldn't D.O. be even worse for me? Also, since I am taking the MCAT again in August, and won't get my score until September, I believe would have to wait until the next cycle... which is 2 gap years. If I applied this cycle (2 months from now), I really wouldn't have anything to add besides 1-2 more publications depending on how fast peer-review goes (no new clinical experiences). My plan is to scribe for a year and use the money to apply to 90+ MD schools and 10 DO schools. Thats what one of my friends did. He's a surgeon in residency now and that was his advice

Also: I did not complete a masters. I am graduating from undergrad this quarter.

DO schools like mine will gladly take you!

 

[Goro]

Will send school list soon

 

[Goro]

You wrote "some community service". How much is "some"? UCSF is a service loving school. I suggest that if you have < 150 hours of service to toehrs less fortunate than yourself, bulk up on that.

I suggest:
ALL UCs, but UCR ONLY IF you're from the Inland Empire
Case (maybe)
U VM
U IA
U Toledo
USF Morsani
OH State
UCF
U Cincy
Miami
St. Louis
Albany
Albert Einstein
Rochester
Rosy Franklin
NYMC
EVMS
Wake Forest
Jefferson
Temple
Drexel
Creighton
Tulane
USC/Keck
Dartmouth
Seton Hall
MCW
Loyola
Emory
BU
Duke
Pitt
Hofstra
Tufts
Oakland-B
Western MI
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Nova MD
CUSM
Kaiser

Any DO program. I can't recommend Nova, Wm Carey, BCOM, ICOM and LUCOM, for different reasons. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide. LMU has an accreditation warning, which concerns me. CalHS is too new and appears to be too limited in rotations sites. UIW refuses to post their Boards scores, which is fishy.

 

[Goro]

100-150 hours of community service. Thank you so much @Goro, @lord999, @Mr.Smile12!

Yup, bulk up on that

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I will also put in a word that as a stellar student, you are also compared against other stellar students. On SDN, I know we state minimums of 50 shadowing hours and 100 clinical volunteering/exposure hours. But for really strong applicants trying for top tier schools, these minimums are not likely to cut the mustard. I'll let my colleagues correct me, but I think we generally suggest upping the "minimums" to recommend 100+ shadowing and 200+ volunteering hours as minimums for those schools. These schools like to develop "leaders" in academic medicine and with that comes evidence of increased commitment and understanding of the health care system. It does sound like you have some solid supporters for your application, and unless something really bizarre is a red flag that none of us can see, I will doubt that with a strong, early application that you will be so overlooked again. Just keep persisting with your exposure hours and work with vulnerable populations unlike yourself.

 

[Goro]

This.

This is not fair. The amount of pain this has caused me is hard to describe in words. I'm not usually the one to complain, and I consider myself to be fairly resilient, but this experience has really challenged my self-efficacy, optimism and ability to trust... Everyday I wake up and hope that I'll be able to get over this, but part of me feels like I will be scarred for life. I'm hurting really badly right now. Besides your academic advice and expert insight into the admission process, do you have any advice for how to cope?

Very, very sorry to hear of this.

I think that you need to reassess why you are in this process. It's one that requires a good deal of resiliency, and what our wise colleague Angus calls grit.

If you are seeking affirmation of your self worth or value as a person, you should reconsider this path.

This is an Olympic caliber event. Not even the Williams sisters can will every match they enter.

With so many applications and so few seats, it's a seller's market.

You cope by talking things over with friends and trusted advisers. And staying busy.

We have pointed out areas where you app needs improving. Start making plans for that . Also, work on interview skills