There's hope! Story of a 3x applicant

[lalalaaaaaa]

Hey everyone! So I applied to med school the first time way back in 2011/12. Thought I had a great application, was ready to take the next step after college... but didn't get in. Re-applied in 2012/13... and didn't get in again. Re-applied in 2012/14, and finally got into a mid-tier MD program. Did ok in med school, took a year off to do a research fellowship abroad, and applied into surgery this year. Today I matched into General Surgery!

Just wanted to let you all know there is hope for all of you facing the prospect of reapplying! I know a bunch of people in medical school who went through a few application cycles and made it. No one will ever care or ask you about it again once you get in. Keep working towards your goal, and don't give up! I look back on those application years as some of the best of my life because I traveled, worked a real job, had free time, made great friends, and had a lot of fun. But at the time it was stressful, depressing, made me feel like crap, and overall was the worst. I know it sucks and feels like the end of the world, but you got this!

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[SR71BLK]

Congrats on matching!

 

[Lardy Boy]

Thanks for this. Probably will be my third time applying and this made me less depressed. Glad it worked out .

Did any schools ask you why did it take you multiple times to get in an II. Should you even mention this is your third time applying in interviews?

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

Thanks for this. Probably will be my third time applying and this made me less depressed. Glad it worked out .

Did any schools ask you why did it take you multiple times to get in an II. Should you even mention this is your third time applying in interviews?

Totally sucked to be a third time applicant, but as long as you've been working hard to improve your application weaknesses you'll be fine! The best part is, once you get in no one cares. Literally no one. It will never come up again for the rest of your career.

One interviewer at the school I'm at asked me why I applied multiple times. It wasn't meant to be accusatory, but rather asking for what I've done to improve. I was just really honest and said I needed more clinical experience and worked hard to strengthen my application (which I did). Came up in one other interview, and I remember that interviewer saying I gave a good answer and that it's fine to be a reapp because I've matured and fixed my application's weakness (got into that program too).

One thing that I think was helpful was adding several new activities and totally revamping my PS the third time. It made me look like I grew a lot (which I did) and that I was sort of a new version of myself that they should consider.