Steps between now and June 1st

[bananafish94]

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So glad to have found this forum! I'm hoping you guys can help me.

About me: 3.8 GPA, 31 MCAT, IL resident, double major in molecular biology and chemistry (declared double major this year)

I received four interviews, two have already resulted in WL. Looking at trends from past years and data from MSAR, it is likely that the other two will also result in WLs. It may be of interest to you that all of these interviews have been in the new year.

This is what my 2016 application will look like as of now. Everything that is new is in bold.

~400 hospital volunteering hours (~100 more since 2015)
~200 hours volunteering with a group that does health screenings (continued since 2015)
~200 hours volunteering with a mentoring organization (~120 more since 2015)
-1.5 years of research that led to publications
~1 year of research that I had just started at time of last application
~600 hours of TAing organic chemistry (300 more since 2015)
~300 hours of TAing general chemistry
~20 hours of shadowing
-Student Ambassador Group
~100 hours of Student Senate (elected in March 2015 so not that significant for last application)
-Responsible for planning large scale fundraising event that involved 200+ people and got media attention
-Beginning ER scribe job in early April.

So, why didn't I get accepted this round?
Possible answers and possible solutions.
-Poor MCAT: Obviously, my MCAT isn't doing me any favors. I am electing not to retake the MCAT for now and ameliorate this by applying to about 10 DO schools where I am more competitive MCAT-wise.
-Poor essays: Everything will be re-written, even if I think it is good. I don't want to project the appearance of laziness. A professor who wrote an LOR for me and who is on the admission committee for my school's MD/PhD program has agreed to look over my primary, for starters. I will try to get my secondaries to be looked over by at least two people who know what they are talking about.
-Poor interviews: Extensive practice in the form of mock interviews, talking to doctors, etc.
-Poor LORs: This has been suggested to me as an issue, but I personally don't think that's the case, seeing as I got four interviews. That being said, I can add LORs from professors that I have this semester.
-Poor shadowing: I am going to try to get my shadowing up to about 50 hours by cold-calling doctors in the local hospital, and of course I will also be a scribe, which should help.
-Too boring: Much of my application is indistinguishable from the other thousands of applications. Would it help if I played up my teaching experience? Between being a TA in two classes and mentoring for two years, I feel like this is one category where I set myself apart from the crowd.

Other general components of this year's plan:
-Try and talk to admissions people at all of the schools that rejected or waitlisted me.
-Apply extremely broadly. I am going to aim for about 35-40 schools in total, including about 10 DO schools as I mentioned earlier.
-Apply as early as humanly possible. This year there were some schools where I wasn't complete until August. That won't happen again.

So, my questions for you good people are as follows:

1. Am I competitive for 2016? If not, what should I improve?
2. Are there other glaring issues that led to the failure of my 2015 application?
3. Is there anything else I should do between now and June 1, 2016 to improve my chances?

 

[italiancowgirl]

I think you really need to get feedback. I don't feel like you have any glaring issues, but it very well might be about your middle of the road feel (especially if you feel like that is an issue to address). When you rewrite your PS and other essays you sshould spend extra time addressing this and helping the readers to feel the weight of what you have learned and how that will bring meaning to you and the class. That is the best I have for you, but that advice from adcoms will be golden. GL!

 

[Brancer]

Your stats should absolutely have gotten you an interview at each of the 10 DO schools you applied to, as well as many MD schools. The 31 MCAT isn't special, but it isn't particularly damning either. Feedback would be good.

That being said, scribing is nice and all, but it also is pretty easy and very common. I'd suggest perhaps more actual patient experience where you're directly involved in the treatment and quality of care of patients, such as CNA, LVN, or even EMT.

That being said, take that with a grain of salt, as I've even heard adcoms dismiss EMT as being nothing more than an ambulance driver and not the kind of care their looking for. So its really going to be up to the school on that one.

Additionally, you didn't really talk about how your interviews went. Don't neglect them, but don't stress about it. They're already curious about you if you get an II so be confident when you go in. The best way I can describe this, is to "be the person you want to work with, and possibly have a beer with." Don't be afraid to be yourself. In this regard, I feel that mock interviews will only go so far, and as all of my interviews were with people who were not doctors (or not doctors yet, in the case of medical students,) I feel that there may not be as much value in talking to physicians for anything other than for a baseline understanding of the profession. You may be better off going to mock interviews for a job, etc.

I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. The first question I was asked in one interview was, "Give us a reason to not accept you."

I grinned, and told them this, "I'm an institutionalized military hard ass who doesn't always think outside of the box because I like to use brute force to solve my academic problems, rather than necessarily touchy-feely solutions. Its a recognized weakness and I'm working on it. But to be honest, if you want a guy to drink fine wine and read poetry with, I'm not your guy."

They laughed, and one of the interviewers leaned forward and said, "What about fine beer?"

Me: "Only if its Belgian. I have standards."

They all started busting up and started writing.

I'm sharing with you the above example, because it worked for ME. Someone else saying the exact same things may be thought of as an insufferable prick, and it may backfire. But I do recommend being yourself in every way. I know you're an interesting person. Demonstrate it.

 

[bananafish94]

Your stats should absolutely have gotten you an interview at each of the 10 DO schools you applied to, as well as many MD schools. The 31 MCAT isn't special, but it isn't particularly damning either. Feedback would be good.

That being said, scribing is nice and all, but it also is pretty easy and very common. I'd suggest perhaps more actual patient experience where you're directly involved in the treatment and quality of care of patients, such as CNA, LVN, or even EMT.

That being said, take that with a grain of salt, as I've even heard adcoms dismiss EMT as being nothing more than an ambulance driver and not the kind of care their looking for. So its really going to be up to the school on that one.

Additionally, you didn't really talk about how your interviews went. Don't neglect them, but don't stress about it. They're already curious about you if you get an II so be confident when you go in. The best way I can describe this, is to "be the person you want to work with, and possibly have a beer with." Don't be afraid to be yourself. In this regard, I feel that mock interviews will only go so far, and as all of my interviews were with people who were not doctors (or not doctors yet, in the case of medical students,) I feel that there may not be as much value in talking to physicians for anything other than for a baseline understanding of the profession. You may be better off going to mock interviews for a job, etc.

I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. The first question I was asked in one interview was, "Give us a reason to not accept you."

I grinned, and told them this, "I'm an institutionalized military hard ass who doesn't always think outside of the box because I like to use brute force to solve my academic problems, rather than necessarily touchy-feely solutions. Its a recognized weakness and I'm working on it. But to be honest, if you want a guy to drink fine wine and read poetry with, I'm not your guy."

They laughed, and one of the interviewers leaned forward and said, "What about fine beer?"

Me: "Only if its Belgian. I have standards."

They all started busting up and started writing.

I'm sharing with you the above example, because it worked for ME. Someone else saying the exact same things may be thought of as an insufferable prick, and it may backfire. But I do recommend being yourself in every way. I know you're an interesting person. Demonstrate it.

Perhaps I wasn't clear...I didn't apply DO this cycle, I intend to next cycle in order to get more schools in line with my stats. My interviews, by and large, went well in my opinion. There were no answers that caught me off guard or anything. I do think I need to come off as more interesting, and your interview sounds awesome. Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[Brancer]

Sorry I misread.

You should still be MD competitive. Not for the top schools, but there's plenty that you fall well within the LizzyM "Good shot" category. Do apply broadly, and look at lower tier USMD schools.

I have a friend who has a 3.65 GPA with a 507 MCAT who got into Rosalind Franklin and Albany. Sure, it isn't Harvard, but at the end of the day he's still gonna be an MD. I know you can absolutely qualify for US MD schools with your stats. Good luck.

 

[keep_it_together]

Out of curiosity, when did you have your applications in by? I don't see any glaring holes in your resume, but if you submitted on the later side it could be the reason you didn't get interviews until the new year. I also agree that getting feedback would be really helpful in your case.

That all being said, have faith 🙂 Waitlists do tend to move in May and you never know what will happen in a couple of months.

 

[bananafish94]

Out of curiosity, when did you have your applications in by? I don't see any glaring holes in your resume, but if you submitted on the later side it could be the reason you didn't get interviews until the new year. I also agree that getting feedback would be really helpful in your case.

That all being said, have faith 🙂 Waitlists do tend to move in May and you never know what will happen in a couple of months.

I submitted all of them in mid-late July, was complete in July and August.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

Take @Brancer 's anecdote with enough grains of salt to kill a slug.

To you question, I agree with @italiancowgirl. It's really about feedback. Each school is different. When I was waitlisted last year at 3 schools, each gave a different area they wanted to see improved, and none felt the other areas were of concern. Your MCAT is vanilla. Yeah a 32+ would be better, but since you got 4 II's, I wouldn't be concerned. Your interview skills may be a factor if you strike out on all 4.

Finally, how many programs did you apply to this year? Did you apply/get an II from UIC? With your stats, I would stick to only private colleges (excluding IL programs). And when you look at them, try to figure out what type of student they're looking for. But to start, I would make sure you include:
Quinnipiac
GWU
Georgetown
Loyola
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Tulane
Tufts
Wayne State
Creighton
Albany
Einstein
NYMC
Buffalo
Wake Forest
Drexel
Jefferson
Temple
MCW

 

[bananafish94]

Take @Brancer 's anecdote with enough grains of salt to kill a slug.

To you question, I agree with @italiancowgirl. It's really about feedback. Each school is different. When I was waitlisted last year at 3 schools, each gave a different area they wanted to see improved, and none felt the other areas were of concern. Your MCAT is vanilla. Yeah a 32+ would be better, but since you got 4 II's, I wouldn't be concerned. Your interview skills may be a factor if you strike out on all 4.

Finally, how many programs did you apply to this year? Did you apply/get an II from UIC? With your stats, I would stick to only private colleges (excluding IL programs). And when you look at them, try to figure out what type of student they're looking for. But to start, I would make sure you include:
Quinnipiac
GWU
Georgetown
Loyola
Rush
Rosalind Franklin
Tulane
Tufts
Wayne State
Creighton
Albany
Einstein
NYMC
Buffalo
Wake Forest
Drexel
Jefferson
Temple
MCW

Yes, I interviewed at UIC and I'm waiting to hear back from them. If I get in there it would be the greatest day of my life. Your list is very similar to the one I made already! I'll definitely add Buffalo and Wake. And I know that my interview skills will need work if I don't get in this time, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it...right now my top priority is getting my application to the point where I can receive some higher yield interviews earlier in the season. Thank you!