Rejected 2017 cycle, what to do next?

[solarwinggx]

Hey guys, I got rejected from all 24 schools i applied for in the 2017 cycle. Im planning on applying in the 2019 cycle and would like some advice since I have about 1 year to beef up my application.

I got secondaries from all the schools i applied for except for UCLA

I'm a CA resident who submitted June 17th and finished all my secondaries within 2 weeks, I didn't get any interviews,

I've attached my school list

old mcat: 30

cGPA: 3.7, not many non-science classes. i was a transfer student, graduated in MCB with honors from Berkeley (with honors thesis)

Research:
~1 year in evolutionary biology lab with PI (studying beetles) w/ paper published this year
~1.5 years in a cancer biology lab with Post-doc (did my honors thesis in this lab).

ECs:
~600+ hours in ED (but no LoR due to hospital policy) EDIT: my main job was to interact with patients (relay messages, make food for them, help them to the restroom, talk to them, etc) and clean gurneys and prepare rooms. but it was also informal shadowing, I could follow doctors and nurses whenever it was appropriate.
~120 hours doing medical outreach
~100 hours doing science education outreach for minorities (SACNAS)

Job(s):
~240 hours working as a math tutor in community college
~1 year as a cashier while going to school to support myself
~6 months in biotech for a company - decided to leave to do terrible commute conditions

LoR:
1 LoR from CC professor (taught biology, got an A)
1 joint LoR from Berkeley professor and grad student (taught immunology, got an A in 2 classes)
1 joint LoR from cancer bio PI and Postdoc (i dont have much faith in this letter since the lab was falling apart)
1 LoR from evolutionary biology PI (im confident about this letter)
1 LoR from medical outreach supervisor

currently working as a lab manager for a lab - PI likes me a lot, so I'm 90% sure he'll write a decent letter. He was on a medical school admissions committee for Stanford before this and the advice he gave me was to...

• get into scribing or get EMT training
  
  
• do better on MCAT
  
  
• get a letter from a clinical source
  
  
• get a letter NOT from a CC professor (he was really big on this one, he said in his experience, admissions committee people completely **** on CC letters.... This was super disheartening to me)

I previously posted this on reddit, and the consensus was that my school list was crap...
Any who, What do you guys think?

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[AttemptingScholar]

I'm sorry, that sucks so hard.
I am having trouble reading your list of schools. It's a big black rectangle.
Since I can't comment on that, I'm definitely seeing a relatively low MCAT that sticks out to me. How are you planning to study differently this time?

Edit: Also, how many interviews, how many waitlists?

 

[TheBiologist]

are you talking about UC Berkeley? what was your science GPA? did you fail/repeat any class?

do NOT reapply to CNU

Your LizzyM is a 67; in previous years about 61% of people with your stats were accepted, which is prettygood/above average. Look for schools with a LizzyM around 67 to add to your next list. Your EC's look good. School list seems to have some good choices in general

Edit: Are you Canadian?

 

[COMMANDER CLOWN]

Are you ORM?

 

[gyngyn]

Was that your only MCAT?

 

[Lucca]

When did u take the MCAT? it might be expired for next cycle

 

[COMMANDER CLOWN]

Wait, I saw from your past posts that you're a Canadian citizen. Doesn't this put you at a massive disadvantage?

 

[Streetmath]

Ouch, that sucks man! Your stats are pretty good, in my opinion. I have seen people get into Med school with horrible stats. Congratulations on publishing the paper!

 

[AttemptingScholar]

Wait, I saw from your past posts that you're a Canadian citizen. Doesn't this put you at a massive disadvantage?

!!!! Are you a US citizen (do you have dual citizenship?) When you said "CA resident" I assumed you were. Please answer.

 

[Faha]

You will need to retake the MCAT for the 2019 cycle. You could apply more broadly and include any new private schools that open by 2019 (there will be several). Also apply to at least 8 DO schools and you are competitive for all DO schools.

 

[boogiecousins94]

you seemed to apply to a lot of random state public schools (excluding cali), do you have connections to these places?

I count 11 non cali public schools- If i were you I would've applied to a lot more private schools

 

[solarwinggx]

Are you ORM?

yes, i'm asian

When did u take the MCAT? it might be expired for next cycle

took it jan 2015, so yes im definitely going to retake it.

Was that your only MCAT?

yes, first mcat.

are you talking about UC Berkeley? what was your science GPA? did you fail/repeat any class?
Edit: Are you CAnadian?

Yes at UC berkeley, sGPA: 3.75, no fails or repeats. I'm a greencard holder in the US, but I only have a Canadian citizenship, why??

you seemed to apply to a lot of random state public schools (excluding cali), do you have connections to these places?

no connections, I just applied to these since Im a resident of California.

Also, how many interviews, how many waitlists?

0 for both T_T

 

[gyngyn]

I see 5 schools on your list where you had a fair shot at an interview.
That's not usually enough for a good CA applicant.

If you are international (without permanent resident status), there were no schools on your list where you had a fair shot at an interview.

 

[solarwinggx]

I see 5 schools on your list where you had a fair shot at an interview.
That's not usually enough for a good CA applicant.

If you are international, there were no schools on your list where you had a fair shot at an interview.

I'm a greencard holder (legal resident), doesnt that count for anything?

 

[gyngyn]

I'm a greencard holder (legal resident), doesnt that count for anything?

Yes. You had a fair shot at 5 schools on your list.
That's too scanty for success.

 

[solarwinggx]

Yes. You had a fair shot at 5 schools on your list.
That's too scanty for success.

Which 5 schools did you think I had a shot at? What criteria are you using for "good school"?

 

[gyngyn]

Which 5 schools did you think I had a shot at? What criteria are you using for "good school"?

If you looked at the MSAR, I'm pretty sure you could guess!

 

[solarwinggx]

If you looked at the MSAR, I'm pretty sure you could guess!

I used the MSAR to filter out schools in my GPA and MCAT range (I also applied to schools way out side of my range obviously). I dont have access to it anymore, can you tell me which 5 you were specifically thinking of?

 

[NeuroSoph75]

I think schools such as Temple, Drexel, Loyola, OUWB were reasonable for your stats. The average Rush student has ~1500 clinical hours and ~500 service hours. You should do some formal shadowing, preferably in primary care, ~50 hours. I also notice a lack of community service, you should volunteer to help people who are less fortunate than yourself (soup kitchens, free clinics, Habitat for Humanity, etc.) Your research and clinical hours are fine especially with the potential for a scribe/EMT position. If you retake the MCAT aim for a 508+

Good luck!

 

[Goro]

This is what your list should have looked like:
U VM
Rush
NYMC
Creighton
Albany
Rosy Franklin
Drexel
Temple
MCW
SLU
WVU
Jefferson
Tulane
Loyola
Wake Forest
VCU
Netter
EVMS
Oakland-B
Uniformed Services University/Hebert (just be aware of the military service commitment)
Any DO program. I can't recommend Touro-NY, or LUCOM, for different reasons
UCD
UCI

Have multiple eyeballs go over all your essays.
Have DO schools on the next list.
Listen to the guy from Stanford who advised you,. It is very possible that he was hinting that you had a bad LOR.
Whatever EC you pick to fill in your gap year, make it one of quality.