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- Mar 24, 2011
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Hi all,
This is a crosspost from the reapplicants thread. I wasn't sure whether I'd get more help from here or there. Hopefully this may help similar applicants to myself as well!
Warning, wall of text ahead!
I'm currently preparing to reapply for the 2012-2013 after a disappoint 2011-2012 application cycle. I applied to over 30 schools last year, received 2 interviews (UCSF JMP and UCF), a rejection, and a wait list at UCF which I've got my fingers crossed for! I have an MDApps profile you can view but here's a quick summary of my application:
-3.18 cGPA (Freshman->Senior year; 2.90-2.81-3.44,-3.74)
-3.30 sGPA (Freshman->Senior year; 3.09-2.98-3.17-3.74)
-36S MCAT (12P,10V,14B)
-2 undergraduate internships in biotech industry (R&D scientist)
-2 years working with biotech company since graduation (R&D scientist)
-300 hours with AmeriCorps education program
-60+ hours in other education-related positions
-100+ hours hospital volunteer
-40+ hours Alzheimer's assisted-living center volunteer
-40+ hours physician shadowing
Letters of Recommendation:
1. R&D senior scientist/supervisor (Should be good, she's been my mentor in the lab)
2. R&D director (Should be good, she hired me as an intern and saw me grow over the last 4 years)
3. AmeriCorps supervisor (Should be good, saw me interact with parents and students from local, Latino community)
4. Bio Professor (Unsure, was my supervisor when I was a department tutor)
5. Bio Professor (Unsure, did well in his class and he seemed really eager to write for me but I'll admit that we had a positive but not a very strong relationship)
6. Bio Professor (Unsure, did well in her class but we weren't particularly close)
Interviews:
UCSF JMP-Rejected; feedback was that I didn't do a great job explaining my extracurricular activities to my interviewers, this was my first interview and I may have spent too much time trying to be personable. I felt like I got along with one of my interviewers very well but maybe not well enough.
UCF-Waitlisted; one interviewer told me I interviewed very well but I can't be sure if he said that to be nice or was being truthful haha
I think that last year I really came in way too confident and applied for a ton of reach schools. I was hoping I'd be approached by at least one of them. While UCSF's JMP interviewed me, I was ultimately rejected from there. I want to avoid making the same mistake by applying more broadly and having a list of schools that may be more understanding of my early undergraduate performance. I don't think my MCAT weighs nearly as strong as I'd like it too because my GPA really pulls it down.
I've since revised a list of schools I'm applying to and was wondering if I could get your feedback.
I'm a CA resident and will be applying to ALL California schools. My current list of schools is 40 schools long, can I get your feedback on shortening this somehow? I'd like to cut at least 4 schools from this list. Schools in italics are schools I DID NOT apply to last year.
CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS:
UC Davis
UC San Francisco (and JMP)
UC Los Angeles
UC Irvine
UC San Diego
Keck USC
Loma Linda
Stanford
OUT-OF-STATE SCHOOLS:
Albany Medical College
Boston University
Case Western Reserve
Chicago Medical School (Rosalind Franklin)
Drexel University
Georgetown University
Hofstra North Shore
Loyola University
Medical College of Wisconsin
New York Medical College
Ohio State University
Oregon Health and Science
Rush Medical College
Temple University
The Commonwealth Medical College
The University of Toledo
The Warren Alpert Medical School
Tufts
Tulane
University of Central Florida
University of Cincinnatti
University of Illinois
University of Iowa
University of Louisville
University of Miami
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin
University of South Florida
Virginia Commonwealth
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
Wright State
I went about choosing this list by making a spreadsheet using MSAR data compiling GPA (10%, 90%, median), MCAT (10%, 90%, median), % out-of-state accepted, % acceptance, tuition, and average indebtedness. Last year I made something similar but just tallied up the LizzyM score based on median GPA and MCAT. This year I saw that some schools I had applied to seemed to favor a stronger GPA (higher 10% and median GPA than national) but were more lenient to lower MCAT scores (lower 10% and median MCAT than national). I removed most of these schools from my list and looked for schools that seemed to favor a high MCAT while being more lenient towards GPA issues. I'm not sure if one years' worth of data accurately portrays the recruiting methods of these schools but I figured it was a start. I also removed a lot of schools that accepted insanely low amounts of applicants (1% acceptance rates) or very low rates of out-of-state applicants. After sifting through these, adding some schools I'd removed, and removing one or two schools from the list I was left with this.
I'll also be applying to a handful of DO schools but haven't started preparing for that yet. Any help for that would be appreciated too!
Do you have any suggestions for revising my list? Any schools you think I should remove? Any schools I should add?
Also, do you have any suggestions on getting feedback on my application from schools I applied to last year? I called a handful so far and they were all pretty unhelpful and refused to offer individual feedback.
My 2012-2013 app is pretty much all completed and ready to go. I was planning to submit this week to ONE school while my application gets verified. This will give me more time while I'm wait listed for UCF. If, by 6/29 I haven't heard anything from UCF then I'll add the remaining 30+ schools on my revised list and start on secondaries. Is this the right way to go about reapplying? I really really really want to get in this time around and want to make sure I'm doing everything right! Thanks for all your help!
This is a crosspost from the reapplicants thread. I wasn't sure whether I'd get more help from here or there. Hopefully this may help similar applicants to myself as well!
Warning, wall of text ahead!
I'm currently preparing to reapply for the 2012-2013 after a disappoint 2011-2012 application cycle. I applied to over 30 schools last year, received 2 interviews (UCSF JMP and UCF), a rejection, and a wait list at UCF which I've got my fingers crossed for! I have an MDApps profile you can view but here's a quick summary of my application:
-3.18 cGPA (Freshman->Senior year; 2.90-2.81-3.44,-3.74)
-3.30 sGPA (Freshman->Senior year; 3.09-2.98-3.17-3.74)
-36S MCAT (12P,10V,14B)
-2 undergraduate internships in biotech industry (R&D scientist)
-2 years working with biotech company since graduation (R&D scientist)
-300 hours with AmeriCorps education program
-60+ hours in other education-related positions
-100+ hours hospital volunteer
-40+ hours Alzheimer's assisted-living center volunteer
-40+ hours physician shadowing
Letters of Recommendation:
1. R&D senior scientist/supervisor (Should be good, she's been my mentor in the lab)
2. R&D director (Should be good, she hired me as an intern and saw me grow over the last 4 years)
3. AmeriCorps supervisor (Should be good, saw me interact with parents and students from local, Latino community)
4. Bio Professor (Unsure, was my supervisor when I was a department tutor)
5. Bio Professor (Unsure, did well in his class and he seemed really eager to write for me but I'll admit that we had a positive but not a very strong relationship)
6. Bio Professor (Unsure, did well in her class but we weren't particularly close)
Interviews:
UCSF JMP-Rejected; feedback was that I didn't do a great job explaining my extracurricular activities to my interviewers, this was my first interview and I may have spent too much time trying to be personable. I felt like I got along with one of my interviewers very well but maybe not well enough.
UCF-Waitlisted; one interviewer told me I interviewed very well but I can't be sure if he said that to be nice or was being truthful haha
I think that last year I really came in way too confident and applied for a ton of reach schools. I was hoping I'd be approached by at least one of them. While UCSF's JMP interviewed me, I was ultimately rejected from there. I want to avoid making the same mistake by applying more broadly and having a list of schools that may be more understanding of my early undergraduate performance. I don't think my MCAT weighs nearly as strong as I'd like it too because my GPA really pulls it down.
I've since revised a list of schools I'm applying to and was wondering if I could get your feedback.
I'm a CA resident and will be applying to ALL California schools. My current list of schools is 40 schools long, can I get your feedback on shortening this somehow? I'd like to cut at least 4 schools from this list. Schools in italics are schools I DID NOT apply to last year.
CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS:
UC Davis
UC San Francisco (and JMP)
UC Los Angeles
UC Irvine
UC San Diego
Keck USC
Loma Linda
Stanford
OUT-OF-STATE SCHOOLS:
Albany Medical College
Boston University
Case Western Reserve
Chicago Medical School (Rosalind Franklin)
Drexel University
Georgetown University
Hofstra North Shore
Loyola University
Medical College of Wisconsin
New York Medical College
Ohio State University
Oregon Health and Science
Rush Medical College
Temple University
The Commonwealth Medical College
The University of Toledo
The Warren Alpert Medical School
Tufts
Tulane
University of Central Florida
University of Cincinnatti
University of Illinois
University of Iowa
University of Louisville
University of Miami
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin
University of South Florida
Virginia Commonwealth
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
Wright State
I went about choosing this list by making a spreadsheet using MSAR data compiling GPA (10%, 90%, median), MCAT (10%, 90%, median), % out-of-state accepted, % acceptance, tuition, and average indebtedness. Last year I made something similar but just tallied up the LizzyM score based on median GPA and MCAT. This year I saw that some schools I had applied to seemed to favor a stronger GPA (higher 10% and median GPA than national) but were more lenient to lower MCAT scores (lower 10% and median MCAT than national). I removed most of these schools from my list and looked for schools that seemed to favor a high MCAT while being more lenient towards GPA issues. I'm not sure if one years' worth of data accurately portrays the recruiting methods of these schools but I figured it was a start. I also removed a lot of schools that accepted insanely low amounts of applicants (1% acceptance rates) or very low rates of out-of-state applicants. After sifting through these, adding some schools I'd removed, and removing one or two schools from the list I was left with this.
I'll also be applying to a handful of DO schools but haven't started preparing for that yet. Any help for that would be appreciated too!
Do you have any suggestions for revising my list? Any schools you think I should remove? Any schools I should add?
Also, do you have any suggestions on getting feedback on my application from schools I applied to last year? I called a handful so far and they were all pretty unhelpful and refused to offer individual feedback.
My 2012-2013 app is pretty much all completed and ready to go. I was planning to submit this week to ONE school while my application gets verified. This will give me more time while I'm wait listed for UCF. If, by 6/29 I haven't heard anything from UCF then I'll add the remaining 30+ schools on my revised list and start on secondaries. Is this the right way to go about reapplying? I really really really want to get in this time around and want to make sure I'm doing everything right! Thanks for all your help!
