Strategies

[MedGrl@2022]

I have applied to 10 MD/DO schools. Completions range from August to yesterday. I am thinking of applying to 2-4 more (2 MD/2 DO).

I have 3 II's (1 MD/2 DO). One already happened and two coming up in early November.

3.78 cGPA, 3.78 sGPA
27 MCAT (10BS, 8VR, 9PS)
URM, non-trad (6 years since undergrad)
5 years of research experience (only published abstracts and presented at national conferences, currently working on a journal publication but it is in the early stages)
Lots of health outreach experience

What should I do at this point to increase my chances of gaining admission this year? Apply to more schools, send out letters of intents/letter updates?

I appreciate all your advice.

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[Lya]

Ace your upcoming interviews. Find out what went wrong in your first interview, and see if you can improve.

Letters for updates may or may not help, but you could give it a try.

 

[SpartanWolverine]

I have applied to 10 MD/DO schools. Completions range from August to yesterday. I am thinking of applying to 2-4 more (2 MD/2 DO).

I have 3 II's (1 MD/2 DO). One already happened and two coming up in early November.

3.78 cGPA, 3.78 sGPA
27 MCAT (10BS, 8VR, 9PS)
URM, non-trad (6 years since undergrad)
5 years of research experience (only published abstracts and presented at national conferences, currently working on a journal publication but it is in the early stages)
Lots of health outreach experience

What should I do at this point to increase my chances of gaining admission this year? Apply to more schools, send out letters of intents/letter updates?

I appreciate all your advice.

You have a great GPA for both MD and DO, but the MCAT is a bit low for MD (fine for DO -- especially with that GPA!). If you had asked a few months ago, I would have suggested a MCAT retake... However, I suppose you're not asking for advice on that

10 seems a bit low as far as # schools, and I would say that 15-20 would be more in the range you should be shooting for. However, you're getting a bit late in the process to add more MD schools. Since you mentioned adding 2 MD/2 DO, you must have them picked out already... so just do it ASAP! Make sure to knock your current interviews out of the park.

I have found that, personally, update letters haven't seemed to have affected my cycle so far. However, I also think that they don't hurt. Just make sure that the schools are receptive to letters before you send them out... because I know some schools put them straight in the trash without even looking at them.

Edit: So, yes. I think that adding a few schools and sending out update letters is a fine way to proceed. Hopefully you have some interesting things to update the schools on, since it sounds like most of your schools haven't been complete for all that long. I don't think letters of intent are useful pre-interview per-se... so I would keep the update to a few paragraphs detailing your recent accomplishments while also including why you think your accomplishments make you a better candidate for their school.

 

[MedGrl@2022]

You have a great GPA for both MD and DO, but the MCAT is a bit low for MD (fine for DO -- especially with that GPA!). If you had asked a few months ago, I would have suggested a MCAT retake... However, I suppose you're not asking for advice on that

10 seems a bit low as far as # schools, and I would say that 15-20 would be more in the range you should be shooting for. However, you're getting a bit late in the process to add more MD schools. Since you mentioned adding 2 MD/2 DO, you must have them picked out already... so just do it ASAP! Make sure to knock your current interviews out of the park.

I have found that, personally, update letters haven't seemed to have affected my cycle so far. However, I also think that they don't hurt. Just make sure that the schools are receptive to letters before you send them out... because I know some schools put them straight in the trash without even looking at them.

Edit: So, yes. I think that adding a few schools and sending out update letters is a fine way to proceed. Hopefully you have some interesting things to update the schools on, since it sounds like most of your schools haven't been complete for all that long. I don't think letters of intent are useful pre-interview per-se... so I would keep the update to a few paragraphs detailing your recent accomplishments while also including why you think your accomplishments make you a better candidate for their school.

Thank you for your advice. I wish I had the time to re-take the MCAT. I took it in the end of April and I got swamped at work and with medical school applications. I used up all/most of my leave to study for the April MCAT. I independently studied from August 2012 to April 2013. It took a long time because I needed to relearn all the content as I graduated in 2007. I am hoping that my other accomplishments will make up for a low MCAT score. I did not want to risk retaking to get the same or less score, I was told that that would look worse. The high on my practice MCAT tests was a 31 (11BS, 9VR, 11PS) but they ranged from 26-31... :-/. (Verbal seemed all over the place for me. Even though there was an improvement my scores ranged from 6-9.)

The only new thing that I have started doing that is not listed on my AMCAS/ACOMAS is I recently taking a Neuroanatomy course at a graduate school. My current volunteer and research positions are listed on my AMCAS/ACOMAS and I have not published anything yet (although I am working on something).

I really hope to get more interviews soon. I know that I am applying kinda late to these other schools, but like my friends said... you never know unless you try so it may be worth a shot. My friend applied late a few years ago with an MCAT score 1 point higher than mine and got into Cornell and says she had a great application cycle. My other friend who has an MCAT 1 point less than me has 4 MD school interviews this year already. So you never know, I guess.

***On a similar note, I am preparing for my upcoming interviews and I got this book called "The Medical School Interview" by Dr. Jessica Freedman. She says that I should bring up "red flags" during my interview. I think my red flags are my low MCAT score and 6 years between undergrad and medical school. I am also a re-applicant because I applied once in 2006 and was very unsuccessful and became discouraged. I started working in research and really took the time to evaluate myself and grow and re-discover that becoming a physician was actually what I wanted to do. I work with a certain physician who tells me that this along with my low MCAT score is going to look very bad. If so, should I bring them up during my interview? How should I explain them? I don't want to look like I am making excuses. If anything, I would like to be seen as the come back kid. The girl who is determined, resilient and has spent the last few years working to get into medical school so she can become a community physician and serve others.

I am VERY interested in the schools at which I will be having my upcoming interviews. One of them is currently my #1 choice. Any advice would greatly be appreciated!!!

Thank you once again for all your advice!

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Thank you for your advice. I wish I had the time to re-take the MCAT. I took it in the end of April and I got swamped at work and with medical school applications. I used up all/most of my leave to study for the April MCAT. I independently studied from August 2012 to April 2013. It took a long time because I needed to relearn all the content as I graduated in 2007. I am hoping that my other accomplishments will make up for a low MCAT score. I did not want to risk retaking to get the same or less score, I was told that that would look worse. The high on my practice MCAT tests was a 31 (11BS, 9VR, 11PS) but they ranged from 26-31... :-/. (Verbal seemed all over the place for me. Even though there was an improvement my scores ranged from 6-9.)

The only new thing that I have started doing that is not listed on my AMCAS/ACOMAS is I recently taking a Neuroanatomy course at a graduate school. My current volunteer and research positions are listed on my AMCAS/ACOMAS and I have not published anything yet (although I am working on something).

I really hope to get more interviews soon. I know that I am applying kinda late to these other schools, but like my friends said... you never know unless you try so it may be worth a shot. My friend applied late a few years ago with an MCAT score 1 point higher than mine and got into Cornell and says she had a great application cycle. My other friend who has an MCAT 1 point less than me has 4 MD school interviews this year already. So you never know, I guess.

***On a similar note, I am preparing for my upcoming interviews and I got this book called "The Medical School Interview" by Dr. Jessica Freedman. She says that I should bring up "red flags" during my interview. I think my red flags are my low MCAT score and 6 years between undergrad and medical school. I am also a re-applicant because I applied once in 2006 and was very unsuccessful and became discouraged. I started working in research and really took the time to evaluate myself and grow and re-discover that becoming a physician was actually what I wanted to do. I work with a certain physician who tells me that this along with my low MCAT score is going to look very bad. If so, should I bring them up during my interview? How should I explain them? I don't want to look like I am making excuses. If anything, I would like to be seen as the come back kid. The girl who is determined, resilient and has spent the last few years working to get into medical school so she can become a community physician and serve others.

I am VERY interested in the schools at which I will be having my upcoming interviews. One of them is currently my #1 choice. Any advice would greatly be appreciated!!!

Thank you once again for all your advice!

You're welcome! Take it with a grain of salt (since I'm also a current applicant). Your MCAT score is nicely balanced, so you should get some credit for that. Additionally, I think schools are a bit more understanding for people who take the MCAT a number of years out of undergrad. At the very least, your good life experiences will count for something!

The "red flags" during an interview is an interesting point. I have had two interviews so far, and both were MMI... so I'm not sure about whether it's an appropriate thing to do in a traditional interview. I don't think, however, that six years of work is a red flag. I took three years to do exactly the same thing (research while volunteering and making sure medical school was the right choice). I have used my post-graduate time period as a good example of overcoming an obstacle (i.e., not being a competitive applicant straight out of undergrad, so working, learning from my mistakes, and finding out that medicine is really for me while strengthening my application). I think that is a better way to phrase and explain your time off as opposed to making them think it's somehow a problem. I'm sure you've learned a whole lot in those six years that make you a much better applicant (both a better applicant than you were previously and a better applicant than much of the rest of the pool).

If they bring up your MCAT, I think you have a decent explanation for why you got a mediocre score. You were working, had to take off a lot of time, were a lot of years out of UG, etc. I don't think the score is bad enough for you to preemptively bring up -- since not everyone may think it's bad. I mean, hey, a 27 is still ~ 60th percentile.

Again, good luck! I'm almost convinced you will get an acceptance this cycle. That's great your #1 school gave you an interview -- convince them that you will thrive there and that they will benefit from having you there.