Starting to Question my Application

[coolbird]

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Just received a R today less than one month after secondary submission. Starting to question my primary and secondary application. Non-trad student with 3.96 post-bacc gpa, 516 mcat, and 3.86sGPA/3.71 cGPA. Anyone feel like they didn't convey their story well enough on the secondaries or activities section of the primary?

 

[Goro]

Just received a R today less than one month after secondary submission. Starting to question my primary and secondary application. Non-trad student with 3.96 post-bacc gpa, 516 mcat, and 3.86sGPA/3.71 cGPA. Anyone feel like they didn't convey their story well enough on the secondaries or activities section of the primary?

What was your school list?

 

[coolbird]

What was your school list?

Still working on the last 10 secondaries. I know I'm a little late in the game but 50 secondaries were hard to do.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Boston University School of Medicine

California University of Science and Medicine

Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science (Short Essays)

Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell

Drexel University College of Medicine

Emory University School of Medicine

Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine

Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine

New York University Long Island School of Medicine

Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine

Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center

Stanford University School of Medicine

State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine

State University of New York Upstate Medical University

Tufts University School of Medicine

Tulane University School of Medicine

University of California, Davis, School of Medicine

University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine

University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine

University of California, Riverside School of Medicine

University of California, San Diego School of Medicine

University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine

University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine

University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine

Weill Cornell Medicine

University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix

Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine

Albany Medical College

California Northstate University College of Medicine

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (very long)

Duke University School of Medicine

Georgetown University School of Medicine

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine (pretty long)

Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine

University of Colorado School of Medicine

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

USF Health Morsani College of Medicine

Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine

 

[coolbird]

-This cycle there will be about a 1,000,000 individual applications for about 175,000 total interview slots
-At any individual school there will be very roughly 5,000 applications for about 1,000 interview slots
-Every school must reject at least 80% of applicants pre-interview invite simply due to numbers
-Even if roughly the bottom half of applications are thrown out at each school (roughly 2500) another 1500 must be eliminated before the "top" 1000 are left to II.
-Applying to medical school is an olympic class event where you may have 20 great athletes in the final round, but only the top 3 will get medals.

Thank you for putting things into perspective for me!

 

[coolbird]

Don’t worry yet; you’ve not even been complete for a month. I doubt many schools have even looked at your application yet. I’ve been complete since late July/early August, and I’ve received only a single II (that turned into a WL).

Thanks for the perspective! I think I also just worry that my late application will ruin my chances.

 

[DNAJB6]

Still working on the last 10 secondaries. I know I'm a little late in the game but 50 secondaries were hard to do.

Here's the answer in bold. If you're doing 50 secondaries on a compressed schedule, your secondaries are likely half a**ed.

 

[PigsHaveWings]

Here's the answer in bold. If you're doing 50 secondaries on a compressed schedule, your secondaries are likely half a**ed.

I agree, 50 secondaries in a short time can lead to mistakes.

Which state are you resident of ?

 

[coolbird]

Here's the answer in bold. If you're doing 50 secondaries on a compressed schedule, your secondaries are likely half a**ed.

That's my fear...haha fingers crossed!!

 

[coolbird]

I agree, 50 secondaries in a short time can lead to mistakes.

Which state are you resident of ?

I have my sister read over all of them for grammar/content mistakes so I hope that helps. CA ORM.

 

[KnightDoc]

I agree, 50 secondaries in a short time can lead to mistakes.

Which state are you resident of ?

Not just mistakes, but also an inevitable generic quality, which reviewers spot from a mile away, given how many apps they see every year.

I don't want to spook OP because, seriously, a single R at this point in the cycle means NOTHING. I'd be much more concerned about 40 apps with 10 to go.

And although he didn't ask, he might want to rethink submitting the final 10 in the middle of October. COVID notwithstanding, based on the activity in all of the school specific threads, now is not nearly as "on time" as the more optimistic among us would like to believe.

OP's stats are extremely solid, but, especially because the GPA was pulled up by a great post-bacc, they are not so spectacular that adcoms are going to drop what they are doing and focus on those secondaries to the exclusion of the thousands they received from July through yesterday. Yes, it is late. No one here can know whether that will "ruin" his chances, but it sure isn't going to help them. If the first 40 don't yield positive results, what are the odds that the final 10 submitted after 10/15 are going to be any different????

 

[coolbird]

Not just mistakes, but also an inevitable generic quality, which reviewers spot from a mile away, given how many apps they see every year.

I don't want to spook OP because, seriously, a single R at this point in the cycle means NOTHING. I'd be much more concerned about 40 apps with 10 to go.

And although he didn't ask, he might want to rethink submitting the final 10 in the middle of October. COVID notwithstanding, based on the activity in all of the school specific threads, now is not nearly as "on time" as the more optimistic among us would like to believe.

OP's stats are extremely solid, but, especially because the GPA was pulled up by a great post-bacc, they are not so spectacular that adcoms are going to drop what they are doing and focus on those secondaries to the exclusion of the thousands they received from July through yesterday. Yes, it is late. No one here can know whether that will "ruin" his chances, but it sure isn't going to help them. If the first 40 don't yield positive results, what are the odds that the final 10 submitted after 10/15 are going to be any different????

Thanks for your input! I think b/c I get FAP, I just see it as why not. The last 10 I'm doing are reach/OOS schools so I'm just shooting my shot since I have the time in the next few days.

 

[PigsHaveWings]

if you are ORM/california, you are better off applying to mid tier schools in target at this point, rather than aiming for reach schools.

 

[KnightDoc]

Thanks for your input! I think b/c I get FAP, I just see it as why not. The last 10 I'm doing are reach/OOS schools so I'm just shooting my shot since I have the time in the next few days.

I thought FAP only applied to 20 schools? I guess once you have it, it applies to all secondaries, even if you had to pay the primary fee? While that certainly takes the monetary sting out of it and makes it feasible, you might still be seeing why it's not a good idea to stretch yourself so thin. I guess, if you already submitted the primaries and would be a reapplicant anyway, there is no reason not to take your shot. Good luck!!

 

[KnightDoc]

if you are ORM/california, you are better off applying to mid tier schools in target at this point, rather than aiming for reach schools.

Maybe back in August. On 10/16, do you really think it's going to make a difference? On the other hand, given that there are only 150 schools in the country, don't you think he already hit those schools, since he already applied to 40 and still hasn't hit the reaches?

 

[DNAJB6]

I thought FAP only applied to 20 schools? I guess once you have it, it applies to all secondaries, even if you had to pay the primary fee? While that certainly takes the monetary sting out of it and makes it feasible, you might still be seeing why it's not a good idea to stretch yourself so thin. I guess, if you already submitted the primaries and would be a reapplicant anyway, there is no reason not to take your shot. Good luck!!

Most schools will waive secondary fees if you qualified for FAP. FAP covers the base AMCAS primary fee + $40/school for each additional school. For schools, 21-50 he'd likely pay $40/school or an extra $2k. Ouch!

 

[deleted314957]

Here's the answer in bold. If you're doing 50 secondaries on a compressed schedule, your secondaries are likely half a**ed.

For the benefit of a dinosaur like me, could someone clarify, in a bit of detail, just what a secondary is? I think I have a general idea but things were very, very different in 1973 when I applied. I think such clarification would help me understand some of the posts better.
Thank you in advance for your kind consideration to an old timer. I hate to waste your time.

 

[deleted314957]

A secondary, or supplementary, application is the next step in the application process following primary, or AMCAS, application submission, and it is something which schools send to applicants from whom they've received a primary application. Some medical schools send secondary application invitations to every applicant, while others screen applicants' primary applications before making a decision to send a secondary application invitation. While the primary is a universal application that is sent to every school to which one applies, each secondary application is unique to each medical school. Secondary applications often contain essay questions specific to a given school. Secondary applications are also often very expensive. I paid an average fee of ~$100 per school to have my secondary applications reviewed.

Thank you.