Still no interviews...

[slowbutsteady]

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Reading your posts, the only explanation I can give is too few schools?

I had slightly lower GPA and slightly higher MCAT, and great ECs like you. I got 10 interviews (in 2008).

But I applied to 25 schools. What if I had applied to 15 and the 10 schools that interviewed me had been off the list?

 

[TurkCowan]

Agreed. I feel like my essay was the reason I got interviewed at a lot of places. Literally every interviewer started our conversation with "I loved your PS, you have a real talent for writing and an interesting style."

Make sure that your essay isn't just proficient. It's a minimum that you answer the prompt with appropriate grammar, spelling and syntax. If you've done that you have an essay, not necessarily a good essay.

Agree. Not sure if it helps at this point but nearly every interviewer mentioned that they love when an essay tells a story and isn't just a re-hashing of what's in other parts of the application. Even if the scope is relatively small, an engaging, interesting story makes you stand out.

 

[meanderthal]

OP, I dunno if those are really "middle of the road" schools. What I see are reach schools and then schools that while they have attainable stats, also have a huge number of applicants. If it comes to applying next year, apply to your state schools as well.

 

[Ursa]

this

OP, I dunno if those are really "middle of the road" schools. What I see are reach schools and then schools that while they have attainable stats, also have a huge number of applicants. If it comes to applying next year, apply to your state schools as well.

and this

Well...I guess I left out that I did apply to my state school...everyone I work with is always on SDN (since literally everyone my age here is applying to medical school or else we wouldn't be working these hours for pennies) and I was afraid they would know it was me...

 

[Huskie99]

I Just wish there was something I could do now to peak their interest and get them to invite me to an interview...but it seems like by these responses their really is nothing...😕

 

[wanderer]

I Just wish there was something I could do now to peak their interest and get them to invite me to an interview...but it seems like by these responses their really is nothing...😕

Don't take this personally, but I sure hope you didn't write like this in your essays. Never use a word in writing if you haven't seen it in writing. You don't "peak someone's interest." Your prior posts also have some glaring errors that don't seem to be typos.

 

[eagles22]

Don't take this personally, but I sure hope you didn't write like this in your essays. Never use a word in writing if you haven't seen it in writing. You don't "peak someone's interest." Your prior posts also have some glaring errors that don't seem to be typos.

Are smileys ok for a personal statement?

 

[Ursa]

Are smileys ok for a personal statement?

 

[hopki099]

Finally got my first interview invite! Good luck to the rest of those still waiting

 

[4ksibe]

Finally got my first interview invite! Good luck to the rest of those still waiting

Good luck to u on that interview

 

[denco88]

I have a friend in a very similar situation... It seriously is a crapshoot. You never know what they will be looking for. She has the same MCAT and a higher GPA and it is her 3rd time applying... Makes no sense at all 🙁

 

[jvesco22]

Finally got my first interview invite! Good luck to the rest of those still waiting

Hmmm. So you and the OP, Huskie99, are the same person?

Congrats man.

 

[hopki099]

Hmmm. So you and the OP, Huskie99, are the same person?



Congrats man.

Not quite, but same situation ha 👍
sorry for the

 

[HK35]

AND try to get in some more clinical experience (i.e. shadowing).

+1, you have a volunteering and food drives that show that you want to do good for your community, but you don't have clinical experience EC's. Volunteering in the hospital is not counted as clinical experience, try to find a scribe program or something active in the hospital that is not just labeled volunteer. Your app looks real good i think that you need better EC's

 

[curlytop]

I would advise not to send "letters of interest" until you actually interviewed at the school. The schools you applied to already know you're interested, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered with the secondary and spend lots of $$$ submitting the primary and secondary.

I think it'll be helpful if you sent an update instead. Those are my two cents. Let me know if others beg to differ.

I disagree. I sent a letter of interest to 3 schools a few days ago where I'm still under review. The dean of one wrote me back personally, and then I got an invite from that school just the other day. From the wording of the dean's email, I don't think it was a coincidence.

That said, an LOI could still do nothing. I say go for it, ESPECIALLY because you're a good candidate and it is getting later into the season. If there's a bunch of applicants similar to you, and some of them send LOIs...it's not hard to think those applicants are more interested and thus worthy of an invite.

 

[4ksibe]

+1, you have a volunteering and food drives that show that you want to do good for your community, but you don't have clinical experience EC's. Volunteering in the hospital is not counted as clinical experience, try to find a scribe program or something active in the hospital that is not just labeled volunteer. Your app looks real good i think that you need better EC's

I have no shadowing and the only clinical experience I have is volunteering in the shock trauma for a couple of months. When asked about clinical experience at interviews I told the bout my volunteering and noone had a problem with that. In fact I believe I got more raw clinical exposure than those who shadow physicians in their clinics.

 

[235009]

OP: when did your second MCAT score come out? if you sent your primary in with a 27 and your second score didn't come out until much later they might have looked at the 27, put u in the "meh" pile and then by the time your other score came out they had tons of applications with people who got 32s (on their first attempt) and you got lost in the crowd.

sorry to say but this is a good time to start planning for a reapplication. you also shouldn't have applied to a DO school you had no interest in going to. if you don't want to go DO don't apply to DO schools but remember that you should definitely go DO before you go to the caribbean (just saying, in case it comes to that)

As for your reapplication...you seem to have missed out on a bunch of schools where your scores would have been competitive. Why didn't you apply to any of the SUNYs? You should've at least applied to upstate and buffalo ...and applications to downstate and stony brook wouldn't hurt. You should have combed through the MSAR and given every school whose MCAT median is ~ the same as your score an honest look considering whether they are OOS friendly and how many applications they get.

Finally as someone else mentioned you've made TONS of errors with homonyms and figures of speech in your posts. given the fact you applied to schools that get a ton of applications they'll take that as an excuse to reject you since there are 4 other people with equally strong apps who applied. next time make sure someone goes through your application with a fine toothed comb to make sure you didn't make any of those errors.

I definitely agree with the crapshoot thing. My roommate and I have basically the same EC's ... shes got a better MCAT than me and I have a better GPA than her. Literally every school she's gotten an interview from I've gotten rejected from and visa versa.

this isn't surprising at all ....MCAT >>> GPA

 

[Huskie99]

I did have interest in the DO school before I went. My experiance their on interview day is what caused me to have the lack of interest. Although I am happy to have been accepted there, my experiance at the school caused me to believe that the DO program was not for me. On a positive note, I just recieved me first interview from my state school (not listed). I am still fustrated with the lack of interest in my application from the other schools which I applied to, but I guess all I can really do now is wait.

 

[dragon529]

Congratz! Brush up on your interview skills, re-read your primary and secondary app, relax and enjoy the visit 😀

 

[HK35]

I have no shadowing and the only clinical experience I have is volunteering in the shock trauma for a couple of months. When asked about clinical experience at interviews I told the bout my volunteering and noone had a problem with that. In fact I believe I got more raw clinical exposure than those who shadow physicians in their clinics.

I was responding to the OP and i do not believe he had mentioned anything about shock trauma volunteering but other than that....

 

[Longshanks]

I did have interest in the DO school before I went. My experiance their on interview day is what caused me to have the lack of interest. Although I am happy to have been accepted there, my experiance at the school caused me to believe that the DO program was not for me. On a positive note, I just recieved me first interview from my state school (not listed). I am still fustrated with the lack of interest in my application from the other schools which I applied to, but I guess all I can really do now is wait.

So then apply to a different osteopathic medical school... I would suggest the same to someone who went to any other medical school interview and couldn't imagine themselves being happy there. The extra $100 or so and the anxiety of applying is well worth the investment rather than being miserable for four or more years.

 

[4ksibe]

I was responding to the OP and i do not believe he had mentioned anything about shock trauma volunteering but other than that....

I know Im just saying ppl always say "volunteering" is not enough and I think it depends. Shadowing a physician is great depending on what your physician day is like. To me the ultimate goal of shadowing/volunteering is knowing what a doctor does AND MOST IMPORTANTLY know that you can deal with aweful stuff like a pool of blood or a huge open wound etc

 

[Kaustikos]

I know Im just saying ppl always say "volunteering" is not enough and I think it depends. Shadowing a physician is great depending on what your physician day is like. To me the ultimate goal of shadowing/volunteering is knowing what a doctor does AND MOST IMPORTANTLY know that you can deal with aweful stuff like a pool of blood or a huge open wound etc

I wouldn't say dealing with that, but dealing with the boring stuff and more extreme things - disimpacting bowels/dodging **** being thrown at you/patients throwing up on you. I'm glad I shadowed residents...

 

[Huskie99]

Due to the advice you all have given me on clilnical experiance, I will play up the amount of patient contact I have had while volunteering. This is especially true in my current position volunteering in a chemo-infusion unit, all I do is deal with patients. I have had to deal with bed pans and such and I have been thrown up on more than once...so I will make sure not to leave this out on interview day. Thanks for all your help!

 

[4ksibe]

Due to the advice you all have given me on clilnical experiance, I will play up the amount of patient contact I have had while volunteering. This is especially true in my current position volunteering in a chemo-infusion unit, all I do is deal with patients. I have had to deal with bed pans and such and I have been thrown up on more than once...so I will make sure not to leave this out on interview day. Thanks for all your help!

dont exaggerate though cuz they know what a volunteer is allowed to do in a hospital especially... volunteers are not covered under the insurance so minimum patient CONTACT IF ANY is usually allowed. So make sure you clearly state what you were allowed to do. I did not touch anyone, and was not even allowed to accompany any patient to/fro the restroom or etc without authorization, sometimes written so be careful

 

[Huskie99]

Really?
It most differ from hospital to hospital because when I volunteer I am the one in charge of taking the patients from the waiting room to their chemo units and getting them seated/lying down in the bead or chair. I also am in charge of covering them with heated blankets and getting them whatever food or drinks the may need. I think my unit is under staffed because the nurses are always asking for the volunteers help (not with anything major but still). I also volunteer after normal work hours so this also may be the cause of this. In any case I will make sure not to exaggerate but also stress to them how much I do love the patient contact I am able to get. My interview is next week and I am starting to get pretty nervous because it is my only one (so far...I am still hoping). If you guys could give one piece of advice what would it be? You all have been so helpful already and I am very grateful! 🙂 THANKS!