Should I re-apply, or go with my acceptance?

[NCstudent72]

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I finally heard back from all 5 medical schools that I applied to this cycle. I was rejected by my top 4 schools (most were pretty competitive), receiving interviews to 2. I was accepted to the last school on my list (much less competitive). When I went to my interview my interest in the school dropped significantly, whereas I fell in love with the other school I interviewed at. I really don't want to go to the school that I was accepted to and I am highly considering turning down my acceptance and re-applying next year. The biggest problem is that I think I had, is that I applied late. Most of my secondary applications were submitted in October, due to travel outside the US and taking my MCAT late July.

Here are some of my stats:
Major: Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Biology
4.0 GPA, 34Q MCAT

Service: -I am extremely involved in the campus ministry at my school. I lead small group studies and sports programs with this group. In addition, I lead a service team at my church. I also regularly do Habitat for Humanity, food kitchens and other service.
Research: I had a summer of full-time undergraduate research experience, but no publications as of yet.
Clinical
-20 hours shadowing a Cardiologist, Volunteer internship at a free-clinic
-A 3 week medical mission trip to African working with children and pregnant mothers. Assisted the physician and worked in their lab diagnosing malaria and HIV.
-During our senior design for BME, I have had hundreds of hours of interaction, shadowing, etc. with medical professionals.
-I am also the club Triathlon team at my school.

I feel like I would have gotten into some of my more preferred schools if I applied earlier. Hopefully I would be able to find a job with my major during this gap year as I re-apply during this next cycle. Please let me know what you all think I should do, and how I may be able to improve my application.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

Out of curiosity, what are the schools you are looking at, and where do you have an acceptance?

Take the acceptance. 👍

 

[WillburCobb]

General consensus on SDN (which I tend to agree with) is don't turn down an acceptance. Given your stats though, you may see different results with an early application so long as your PS and interviewing skills are in good shape. Regardless, I still say take the acceptance.

 

[QofQuimica]

NC, take your acceptance and start med school this fall.

Yes, maybe you would have had different choices if you had applied earlier in the cycle. But this business of wanting a "do-over" so that things can turn out exactly to your liking is how little kids think. You're not a kid any more. Be mature enough to make peace with the fact that traveling abroad last summer was more important to you than applying early to medical school was. It's ok that something besides medical school apps was your top priority. And if anything, you can chuckle to yourself about kicking fate in the teeth, because you applied way too late to way too few schools, and you *still* beat the odds and got accepted to medical school. Congrats, and best of luck. 🙂

 

[cabinbuilder]

Don't be silly. You got an acceptance when most don't. Be happy and grateful and go to medical school and you will be a doctor in 4 years. No one will ever ask you in 7 years where you went to medical school. Work hard to get the residency you want and be done with it. You will be a US graduate and you will have many options.

 

[gyngyn]

Take your acceptance and distinguish yourself. That will be worth so much more than a re-application with no guarantee of acceptance (go look at the excellent stats in the panic thread). Your real training starts in residency.

 

[NCstudent72]

Thank you all for the response. I wasn't sure if I should put the school names at first. I was accepted to East Carolina University. My top preferred schools would be UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, or Wake Forest. One of the things that I really want to do is research, and ECU does not have opportunities that I would be interested in compared to the other schools I applied to. I almost did MD/PhD, but I don't want to do research my whole life so I decided not to. ECU is heavily focused on primary care and I don't see myself as a primary care physician. On top of all of this, I do not want to live in Greenville, NC. The up side to ECU is that it's really cheap compared to everything else. How would going to ECU affect my competitiveness for top residencies and fellowships? I'm very interested in surgery and I know some of those residencies are very hard to get.

 

[rodmichael82]

Thank you all for the response. I wasn't sure if I should put the school names at first. I was accepted to East Carolina University. My top preferred schools would be UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, or Wake Forest. One of the things that I really want to do is research, and ECU does not have opportunities that I would be interested in compared to the other schools I applied to. I almost did MD/PhD, but I don't want to do research my whole life so I decided not to. ECU is heavily focused on primary care and I don't see myself as a primary care physician. On top of all of this, I do not want to live in Greenville, NC. The up side to ECU is that it's really cheap compared to everything else. How would going to ECU affect my competitiveness for top residencies and fellowships? I'm very interested in surgery and I know some of those residencies are very hard to get.

Going to ECU will not affect your competitiveness to residencies but what will is what you make out of your experience. Your Step 1, clinical grades, LORs and research experience will make a difference with step 1 being the most significant. Take your acceptance and don't look back.

 

[HankReardon]

Thank you all for the response. I wasn't sure if I should put the school names at first. I was accepted to East Carolina University. My top preferred schools would be UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, or Wake Forest. One of the things that I really want to do is research, and ECU does not have opportunities that I would be interested in compared to the other schools I applied to. I almost did MD/PhD, but I don't want to do research my whole life so I decided not to. ECU is heavily focused on primary care and I don't see myself as a primary care physician. On top of all of this, I do not want to live in Greenville, NC. The up side to ECU is that it's really cheap compared to everything else. How would going to ECU affect my competitiveness for top residencies and fellowships? I'm very interested in surgery and I know some of those residencies are very hard to get.

It's easier to look like a big fish when you are in a small pond.

 

[cabinbuilder]

Thank you all for the response. I wasn't sure if I should put the school names at first. I was accepted to East Carolina University. My top preferred schools would be UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, or Wake Forest. One of the things that I really want to do is research, and ECU does not have opportunities that I would be interested in compared to the other schools I applied to. I almost did MD/PhD, but I don't want to do research my whole life so I decided not to. ECU is heavily focused on primary care and I don't see myself as a primary care physician. On top of all of this, I do not want to live in Greenville, NC. The up side to ECU is that it's really cheap compared to everything else. How would going to ECU affect my competitiveness for top residencies and fellowships? I'm very interested in surgery and I know some of those residencies are very hard to get.

A school's focus is not your focus. No one can force you into primary care and don't ever let anyone else tell you otherwise. If it is cheap to live there then you go. If you are accepted somewhere, you go. 4 years in NC is not going to kill you.

Your competitiveness for residency is on your own shoulders - no one else and definitely not the schools. The school provides you the tools to become a doctor but you have to distinguish yourself through your test scores and rotations to be deemed worthy by a residency program director to select you.

How do you expect to be a researcher AND a surgeon??? Two different worlds, two different paths. You will likely need to choose.

 

[QofQuimica]

Thank you all for the response. I wasn't sure if I should put the school names at first. I was accepted to East Carolina University. My top preferred schools would be UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, or Wake Forest. One of the things that I really want to do is research, and ECU does not have opportunities that I would be interested in compared to the other schools I applied to. I almost did MD/PhD, but I don't want to do research my whole life so I decided not to. ECU is heavily focused on primary care and I don't see myself as a primary care physician. On top of all of this, I do not want to live in Greenville, NC. The up side to ECU is that it's really cheap compared to everything else. How would going to ECU affect my competitiveness for top residencies and fellowships? I'm very interested in surgery and I know some of those residencies are very hard to get.

Actually, general surgery is not especially competitive, although many of the surgical subspecialties are. That being said, it's a bit premature for you to be worrying about residency now when you've yet to even start med school. Take things one step at a time.

Here are the things that really matter most when getting a residency:
1) Step 1 score (totally based on your personal effort and not on your school at all)
2) MS3 clerkship grades (largely based on your effort, although it behooves you to look into how your school grades third year so that you can direct your efforts accordingly)
3) AOA (again, significantly based on your own effort at many schools)
4) other things like research (easy to do from any school if you go somewhere with appropriate resources during the summer after MS1 and/or during MS4 elective time)

Point being, if you make up your mind to do well, then you will. The fact that ECU is cheap only seals the deal. Are you really crazy enough to want to pay double or triple to go to a private school? Do you really think you'll get double or triple the education and/or opportunities there? What a waste of an opportunity it would be in your case. Five to ten years from now when your colleagues from private schools are being crushed by debt, you will look back and laugh like heck at these things you thought were oh so important as a premed.

 

[puppylove89]

I agree with everyone else. I think it is quite immature to turn down an acceptance, especially since Brody/ECU is a great school and you will get really good training there. Having met with the Dean this month in regards to my personal application, ECU's current entering class has an average GPA of a 3.7 and MCAT only barely below yours. As far as research is concerned, your research experience and exposure is what you make of it. You will be able to find summer opportunities outside of Greenville, NC in a research position as a medical student, period.

I say take the acceptance to the top 20 primary care school if you want to be a doctor and don't want to be in a lot of debt. ECU's match list this year was actually pretty impressive so I would really consider re-evaluating how you view a school.

 

[nysegop]

Take the acceptance.

 

[ruvuitton]

Hi, I know people with 4.0 GPA and great MCAT scores and a lot of EC's who have gotten rejection from every single top schools and have gotten into okay ones. In order to get into those top schools, you need a special life experience, something unique about yourself, or have done something outstanding, which comes by chance and isn't something you can always take control in... I would just take the acceptance if I were you because residency depends more on your performance in medschools rather than the prestige of the school, although it may help a bit.

 

[normtheniner]

Thank you all for the response. I wasn't sure if I should put the school names at first. I was accepted to East Carolina University. My top preferred schools would be UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, or Wake Forest. One of the things that I really want to do is research, and ECU does not have opportunities that I would be interested in compared to the other schools I applied to. I almost did MD/PhD, but I don't want to do research my whole life so I decided not to. ECU is heavily focused on primary care and I don't see myself as a primary care physician. On top of all of this, I do not want to live in Greenville, NC. The up side to ECU is that it's really cheap compared to everything else. How would going to ECU affect my competitiveness for top residencies and fellowships? I'm very interested in surgery and I know some of those residencies are very hard to get.

Did you really look into our school that much? I would say most of my class that wants to is doing research. They pay you a stipend to stay here with a PI that is willing to have you in their lab over the summer between M1 and M2 year. On top of that everyone I know that wants to do research is doing it.

Also, please explain to me how going to a school that is enthusiastic about primary care is going to affect what you go into? UNC is actually ranked number 2 (I believe) in primary care this year by US news (this means nothing but I'm using it to prove my point).


This is our match list that is on the student affairs website:

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/bsomstudentaffairs/upload/2013-Match-List-for-Web-alpha-order-2.pdf

 

[Panthers89]

Firstly, we don't want people like you at our medical school who aren't ecstatic about being in medical school - too many other people want your seat.

If you would have done your homework and you would have realized research is plentiful at ECU. Less medical students and plenty of faculty = ample opportunity to do any projects you like. Also, summer research after your first year has a stipend if you stay here and do research. Most people at our medical school do research, both over the summer and during the year. Getting involved in research is on you, not from lack of opportunities.

Also, the emphasis here is on primary care, but the essence of primary care is to focus on patient care. How is focusing on taking care of patients a bad thing? Program directors know Brody medical students have a reputation of being the among the best in terms of bedside manner and clinical skills. Having a school with a primary focus only strengthens your clinical skills because they focus on clinical skills early on in your training. When you do away rotation to interview for residencies clinical skills is what can help separate you. Our classes are not pass/fail, therefore if you want to do anything competitive you have to study extremely hard to make the grades you need. There is a difference between studying for an A/Honors and studying to pass (although passing in medical school is admirable).

Our students go into whatever field they want to and where ever they want to. The only thing that holds you back is yourself, not the school you're at. I have never meet a more caring faculty. Most have an open door policy that you can come by anytime to talk to them. On the second day of orientation the Dean of the school had already memorized my name and greeted me in the hall using my name. The anatomy lab has 4 students per body. Where else will you have that same exposure in anatomy lab?

The best part of all about Brody is that it typically is void of arrogant students like yourself. Perhaps you should think twice about posting about a school before you go there?

 

[Mako555]

..................Perhaps you should think twice about posting about a school before you go there?

he has every right to ask these questions. it's not like ECU is Harvard. Don't be so upset that this person doesn't consider your school a top school. I don't think anyone does. Of course there's nothing wrong with ECU, but he is allowed to wonder if it's right for him.

 

[QofQuimica]

The best part of all about Brody is that it typically is void of arrogant students like yourself. Perhaps you should think twice about posting about a school before you go there?

Dude, chill. Being this judgmental and joining SDN just to blast the OP is just as arrogant as what you're accusing him of.

 

[normtheniner]

Dude, chill. Being this judgmental and joining SDN just to blast the OP is just as arrogant as what you're accusing him of.

While i understand the OP is questioning their decision. Whoever it was that replied to him probably feels strongly about their school.

I do feel that the OP's wording did sound conceited and I can understand why the person who replied would get upset enough to join. Obviously whoever the OP is will do whatever they want, but it gets somewhat personal when they say things about a school (particularly the one I go to haha) that are either exaggerated or simply not true. I don't think that panther's reply was arrogant, but probably driven by a strong enough feeling to join. How you got arrogant out of that I have no idea.

 

[QofQuimica]

While i understand the OP is questioning their decision. Whoever it was that replied to him probably feels strongly about their school.

I do feel that the OP's wording did sound conceited and I can understand why the person who replied would get upset enough to join. Obviously whoever the OP is will do whatever they want, but it gets somewhat personal when they say things about a school (particularly the one I go to haha) that are either exaggerated or simply not true. I don't think that panther's reply was arrogant, but probably driven by a strong enough feeling to join. How you got arrogant out of that I have no idea.

I got arrogant out of that because it's arrogant to read a couple of paragraphs posted anonymously on a message board and jump to firm conclusions about a complete stranger's psyche. Sure, the OP might be guilty of a little hubris, but that just makes him a normal 21st century American adolescent. He's probably going to go to Brody, and he's probably going to fit in just fine, and he's probably going to like it just fine, although hopefully not quite as rabidly as Panthers does. And even if he doesn't absolutely love it there, so what? Someone not being as gaga over your medical school as you are and daring to post that on SDN is not equivalent to them saying that your momma wears army boots, so there's no need to take it as a personal insult requiring a personal insult in return. (For the record, it is against the SDN TOS to insult other users personally.)

I'd also humbly suggest that if you see someone like the OP struggling to accept that their app season hasn't gone quite as they expected, it might be a tad more helpful (and kind, and well, behooving of a future physician), to engage the person respectfully and educate them instead of calling them names. And if you're going to go on SDN and represent your medical school, you may not want that representation to consist of telling a premed off. Of course, you and Panthers are certainly welcome to show this thread to the Brody admissions dean and get their take about the appropriateness of that post as a tool to recruit potential future students to the school. 😉

 

[volcomx]

Of course, you and Panthers are certainly welcome to show this thread to the Brody admissions dean and get their take about the appropriateness of that post as a tool to recruit potential future students to the school. 😉

burned!

 

[survivordo]

A bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush. Go to East Carolina and rock it!

Survivor DO

 

[Goro]

I'm going to be blunt: your rationale is foolish and you're going to get a fine education at this school. If you do well, you can do a residency pretty much anywhere. If my students can get into surgical residencies at decent places, so can you.

A bird in the hand....

Thank you all for the response. I wasn't sure if I should put the school names at first. I was accepted to East Carolina University. My top preferred schools would be UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, or Wake Forest. One of the things that I really want to do is research, and ECU does not have opportunities that I would be interested in compared to the other schools I applied to. I almost did MD/PhD, but I don't want to do research my whole life so I decided not to. ECU is heavily focused on primary care and I don't see myself as a primary care physician. On top of all of this, I do not want to live in Greenville, NC. The up side to ECU is that it's really cheap compared to everything else. How would going to ECU affect my competitiveness for top residencies and fellowships? I'm very interested in surgery and I know some of those residencies are very hard to get.