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deleted972488
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Its only July.
Plus its been said many times on here, interview invites and/or acceptances are not chronological.
It helps to be early but it doesn't guarantee a positive outcome.
Plus its been said many times on here, interview invites and/or acceptances are not chronological.
It helps to be early but it doesn't guarantee a positive outcome.
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deleted972488
Tulane may have been a poor target for you based on your stats.
I'm assuming you applied to more programs than just Tulane and UCSF (also, I haven't gotten a secondary there yet either and I was verified day 1; I'm sure many others are in the same boat).
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Chilllll, it's still too early to say anything. Schools don't send out interviews based on who got back to them first, and from the forums it sounds like many others are also waiting on the UCSF secondary.
Tulane might be prioritizing certain applications based on some other criteria (IS first then URM then OOS, etc. or something like that), so stats + early does not always guarantee an instant interview. Your stats are pretty high for Tulane, and there might be some yield protection going on because they're probably assuming you're gonna end up getting acceptances from other more prestigious schools. They'd rather give it to a more average stat applicant because they'd be more likely to attend, and tulane might be their only acceptance.
Tulane might be prioritizing certain applications based on some other criteria (IS first then URM then OOS, etc. or something like that), so stats + early does not always guarantee an instant interview. Your stats are pretty high for Tulane, and there might be some yield protection going on because they're probably assuming you're gonna end up getting acceptances from other more prestigious schools. They'd rather give it to a more average stat applicant because they'd be more likely to attend, and tulane might be their only acceptance.
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deleted972488
Your GPA and MCAT are both well above median for Tulane. You may face "yield protection" as they may assume, based on previous applicants with your stats, that you'd prefer to go to another program.
Several T20s have median MCATs around 518...
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As a caveat, you're playing in a league to which I do not belong.
50% of students who matriculate at schools will have an MCAT score below the median. The average Harvard matriculant has an MCAT of 519. It's safe to say that, for most of the top schools, 40%ish of matriculants will have your MCAT score or lower. I strongly disagree with your reasoning.
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deleted972488
Your MCAT is not too low for any school, as far as I know... Isn't 519 the median for Harvard?
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deleted972488
Use MSAR. Any school where your MCAT is greater than the 25th percentile is within reach for you. Most applicants do not have publications.
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Median for acceptances offered is 520. Median for matriculants is 519. It doesn't matter - you are academically competitive for every school. Why do you think that you have to be above the median to be competitive or receive an acceptance?
OP please go make an WAMC thread. I think you'll be enlightened seeing how strong an applicant you really are.
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920820
IT’S ONLY MID-JULY.
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You don't necessarily have to be above median, or well above the 90th percentile for a school. As it has been mentioned several times on this forum, a good stat match is when you fall within the 25th to 75th range for both gpa/mcat at a school.
At lower ranked/mid-tier schools, you may face yield protection being well above the 75th percentile for mcat/gpa. At T20 schools, I feel as long as you're within that 25th-to-75th range, you'll make the stat cut. Everything else after that will be more focused on the rest of your application.
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deleted972488
You're fine. You are worrying about nothing.
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Does your school use all 9 LORs for the committee letter?? At mine the committee picks the best 3-4 out of 7, and writes the committee letter based on that but they also attach all copies of the LORs to the packet sent. Idk if adcoms just only read the committee letter or if they review the whole packet.
LOR writer being negative or overly critical is just the nature of the confidential LOR. That's the point of confidentiality, so that the writer can truly express their unfiltered thoughts/feelings about you without the worry that you're gonna read it and be hurt. Otherwise all the LORs you get will be the same generic hyperboles of praise. Sucks that some professors write bad things about students, but often times than not most writers don't do this unless they're really an ass-hole.
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Where did you apply? And how do your ECs look?
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A former lab mate of mine was 4.0/525 barely managed to get 5 interviews, and had to reapply. Following cycle she had 13 interviews. What changed? How she wrote and articulated herself.
Getting 10+ interviews is a tall order and getting them is a lot harder than youd think. Stats get your app looked at, but what determines if you get an interview or not depends on the strength of your writing and the rest of your app.
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Of course it matters somewhat due to the halo effect but I don’t know if it matters beyond that.
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deleted972488
Your list is pretty bad for your stats. Have you already submitted most of these secondaries? Why no UCSD?
You should be applying to places like Duke, Columbia, UChicago, Northwestern, Emory, Pitt, Hopkins, Stanford, etc.
You also have some OOS-unfriendly schools. Nebraska? Accepts <1% of OOS applicants. I'm assuming it's similar for UConn and Utah.
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Did you use the MSAR to help choose your schools? You have many schools that do not take many OOS and you have many schools well below your stats where you will be yield protected. What do your ECs look like? Do you have a lot of volunteer hours? Some of your schools expect very high hours (like Rush).
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I used MSAR but aimed for schools where my stats were high because I didn’t know “yield protection” was a thing. Thought that was for undergrad admissions. I hoped high stats would make up for bad interview. I have 3000 volunteer hours but nothing extraordinary.
You should apply to schools in the T5-T35 range. Emory, Boston U, Cornell, Case Western, etc.
Your school list is off - too many publics and too many low tiered.
Also watch out for so called mission oriented schools like Georgetown and Rush.
Yield protection is a thing. So are schools that are focused on admitting in state applicants and/or applicants who fit their "mission."
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Agreed with the above, I have nearly identical stats and my school list is about 80% T30 schools, most of the other schools outside of the T30 range being my state school. It's still early, don't begin to worry, confidence is key!
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deleted972488
You’re already verified... you will not be late at all.
Go to the subforum on SDN for each T30 school you're applying to. People have already posted the secondaries for this cycle.
Prewrite all those secondaries starting right about now. You can submit as soon as you receive your secondary from those schools.
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When I clicked on this thread I thought I would maybe write a sassy comment because this is SO early to start worrying about not having received a secondary, let alone at II
But after reading your comments, I realize you actually need help. I advise you go to the WAMC forum and post your stats (sGPA, cGPA, MCAT) and ECs in more detail. Then try to get more target schools.
As others are saying, private schools with kinda middling stats (like Tulane) will often choose not to interview you unless you make a compelling case for yourself/have connections to the region in which its in— this is because they think you’ll go elsewhere
Many out of state schools have a similar trap. They often have regional preference. Sometimes these preferences are very explicit. But even schools that don’t make their preference explicit (i.e. Colorado) are very tough for OOS applicants to get into. OOS schools should never be treated like a safety or target school, simply because your stats line up. Often, getting into an OOS school is harder than getting into a T20, particularly for applicants like you
T20 schools, by comparison, will believe you’re really interested, so you won’t run into the above problems.
The last thing I’ll say, is that the good news is that many T20 schools (Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Penn, for example) do not do rolling admissions. So you’re not too late to the game, unlike schools like Keck (which would also actually be a good place for you to apply)
Good luck! The cycle is long and just starting.
But after reading your comments, I realize you actually need help. I advise you go to the WAMC forum and post your stats (sGPA, cGPA, MCAT) and ECs in more detail. Then try to get more target schools.
As others are saying, private schools with kinda middling stats (like Tulane) will often choose not to interview you unless you make a compelling case for yourself/have connections to the region in which its in— this is because they think you’ll go elsewhere
Many out of state schools have a similar trap. They often have regional preference. Sometimes these preferences are very explicit. But even schools that don’t make their preference explicit (i.e. Colorado) are very tough for OOS applicants to get into. OOS schools should never be treated like a safety or target school, simply because your stats line up. Often, getting into an OOS school is harder than getting into a T20, particularly for applicants like you
T20 schools, by comparison, will believe you’re really interested, so you won’t run into the above problems.
The last thing I’ll say, is that the good news is that many T20 schools (Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Penn, for example) do not do rolling admissions. So you’re not too late to the game, unlike schools like Keck (which would also actually be a good place for you to apply)
Good luck! The cycle is long and just starting.
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Agree with the above, USC Keck would be a great place to apply with your stats. And, considering your name and the number of California school in your list, I assume you are from Cali. You have Northstate on there...so why not UCR? Kaiser? CalMed?
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How many schools did you apply to? Where did you apply and where did you get secondaries?
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Not competitive enough for Kaiser and yet you have UCLA and UCSF on your list? smh...
You need to seriously sit down and go through the MSAR in detail to find an appropriate school list. I would also highly recommend you post your stats and detail your ECs (and current school list) on the WAMC forum and get some advice from @Faha and @Goro there. You need some serious help. And you need to address your interview problems ASAP.
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No, it's not.
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deleted972488
This is just wrong... their MCAT median was 522 for cycles from before they announced free tuition. So it did not jump 8 points to a median of 530.
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deleted804295
Can I call troll yet or is it too soon? 
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I suggest adding these schools to your application
California University
Kaiser
Rochester
Pittsburgh
Case Western
Washington University
Cincinnati
Einstein
Boston University
Tufts
Western Michigan
Duke
St. Louis
II can go out as late as January to February.
himalayansaltlamp
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I think you might want to add some slightly higher reaching schools, because a good portion of these might yield protect against you. There's a few schools with median mcats around 518 and you can also aim a bit higher if you'd like.
Check out MSAR to see median MCAT/GPA!
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I've heard 530 is the new 510
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Patience is a virtue, the need for instant gratification is not.
Schools stratify the apps as they come in and don't send out secondaries or IIs merely in chronological order.
Secondaries are often a tax on the hopelessly naïve, if not pathologically optimistic.
I strongly encourage SDNers to not think that they are God's gift to Medicine and to drop the "where are all my secondaries????' mindset.
Cut the admissions people some slack..it's still summer vacation!
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Hell, I got a March II to Albert Einstein.
As for your concern: many people here have advised you to apply to some higher-ranked schools, and I'd agree with them; if you can afford it, it's probably a good idea to apply to about ten more top-20 schools. Three thousand hours of volunteering is pretty exceptional. Yield protection is also a thing, and if you're lucky you might even get merit aid from a place like Vanderbilt...or free tuition at NYU.
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deleted962973
This thread is a roller coaster... where did the 8 points thing come from? As far as I can tell OP doesn’t even have MSAR, judging by the number of low yield OOS schoolsCan I call troll yet or is it too soon?
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Yeah, OP should really invest in MSAR; his stats will not be a problem anywhere. I smell a lot of neuroticism, with a hint of low self-esteem. That will be a bigger hindrance to him than the stats he's so concerned about.
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Nope, OP used MSAR. You never really know, but it's either a troll or the highest stat, most uninformed applicant ever!
"3,000 volunteer hours; nothing extraordinary"! -- that's only 20 hours per week, 50 weeks per year, for 3 straight years -- who doesn't have at least that much???
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3,000 hrs shows a lot of commitment imo. Looking at the rising divorce rates in the US, it seems like commitment is pretty extraordinary nowadays.
You don’t need to be a football-playing king in space to be competitive at top programs. Although I’m sure Walter has other opinions on this matter tho
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907914
We don't even know their post-free tuition stats yet. Free tuition was just announced in August 2018. Those stats won't likely be published on their website until between September and December. Won't even be on MSAR until March 2020.
My guess is that their stats may go up a tad, but the applicant pool above 522 is so small, and the number of people willing to pay full price at Harvard/Yale/Stanford types is so high among them, that free-tuition will not be as big of a factor as you are anticipating.
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907914
No. State schools will always look at IS regardless of stats.
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Jesus Christ, man, you have multiple people here, including admissions committee members, telling you that you are competitive for top-20 schools; you are shortchanging yourself by not adding another ten or so to your list, assuming you have the funds to do so. If I was you, I wouldn't spend the time and money on secondaries for schools like the University of Colorado; I would instead send secondaries to places like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. You should really post a WAMC, man.
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You go to Western or Touro-CA
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The bolded above are likely donations.
Really, it's like you don't want to go to med school, and are purposely sabotaging yourself.
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