To all you alternates out there!

[Toasts]

As the end of the application process for Fall of 2010 is approaching, I find myself as an alternate at the two schools I have interviewed at. I have one more interview at the end of the month and am hoping to be straight up accepted!

The problem is, I may not know if I am matriculating at a medical school until late summer, and I am wondering if I should start on my primaries when they become available again.

If anyone is in the same boat, what are you doing to strengthen your application? I feel like it is hard to gauge where the weakness is when you are not being rejected, yet not being accepted!?

 

[ABRuniverse]

As the end of the application process for Fall of 2010 is approaching, I find myself as an alternate at the two schools I have interviewed at. I have one more interview at the end of the month and am hoping to be straight up accepted!

The problem is, I may not know if I am matriculating at a medical school until late summer, and I am wondering if I should start on my primaries when they become available again.

If anyone is in the same boat, what are you doing to strengthen your application? I feel like it is hard to gauge where the weakness is when you are not being rejected, yet not being accepted!?

This was me last cycle. I ended up on 3 waitlists (so all my interviews) and did not end up getting in. You should call the schools that waitlisted you and find out why. Some schools are very helpful and will actually tell you what they saw as a weakness. Hopefully it's something you can improve quickly (e.g. lack of community service, more clinical experience, etc.) and not something like GPA. If you are going to reapply, make sure that your application shows significant improvement. Between my two application cycles, I retook the mcat (5 points up), improved my GPA (my last semester of senior year boosted me up 2/10s), completely rewrote my PS, did some more shadowing, and boosted my community service. I also got a full-time job in a prestigious lab.

I remember how much it hurt last summer to have to face the fact that I would have to re-apply. But, it was all worth it in the end as I have had much success this cycle. Before you rush to start on the primary again, step back and reevaluate your application as a whole. If you have any doubts or if the feedback you get from schools makes you think you need to take more classes or take another year to boost your ECs, do it. The only thing worse than having to apply twice is having to apply three times!