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Honestly all of that holistic talk is crap. Numbers and research are king, queen, and god.
Unfair practices
- Thread starter mrh123
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I worked hard for those numbers and they got me exactly nowhere.
My clean water research was significant...
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How hard you worked is irrelevant.
Any posters/presentations/pubs from your research? 150 hours isn't that much
Bottom line: 3.5X & two sub-30's MCAT scores are not competitive, and your ECs are not terrible, but not good enough to make up for your stats
Any posters/presentations/pubs from your research? 150 hours isn't that much
Bottom line: 3.5X & two sub-30's MCAT scores are not competitive, and your ECs are not terrible, but not good enough to make up for your stats
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OK, this is a teaching moment, and I won't go full Goro on you if you can restrain going full loose cannon on the rest of us.
I can understand frustration. But you bitterness and envy is bleeding through in every post in this thread. So I honestly if you projected that in some of your essays.
Clearly, being a 2x MCAT taker, who did not improve, and still ended up < median for acceptees, especially in the uber-competitive CA schools, has a red flag. Your performance on the MCAT says that you can only excel in some, but not all of the categories.
Discovering that you are a Native American will mean nothing without both a tribal card and evidence of commitment to the NA community. You'd be surprised how many people "discover" their NA ancestry upon applying to med school. And a fraction ancestry (like 1/8th) doesn't count in my book.
Your lack of success overall suggests
A) poor target schools
B) failing to fix your deficits and reapplying too soon, a very common mistake
C) poor essays
D) a red flag, like a bad LOR
And no, we're not looking for ass kissers. We're looking for people who will make good doctors, not merely good medical students. This is a reality often lost on the stat-obsessed.
There are no fluke MCAT takers. You're either prepared, or your not. Even if there are, with many who can do well, why should you get cut some slack?
I can understand frustration. But you bitterness and envy is bleeding through in every post in this thread. So I honestly if you projected that in some of your essays.
Clearly, being a 2x MCAT taker, who did not improve, and still ended up < median for acceptees, especially in the uber-competitive CA schools, has a red flag. Your performance on the MCAT says that you can only excel in some, but not all of the categories.
Discovering that you are a Native American will mean nothing without both a tribal card and evidence of commitment to the NA community. You'd be surprised how many people "discover" their NA ancestry upon applying to med school. And a fraction ancestry (like 1/8th) doesn't count in my book.
Your lack of success overall suggests
A) poor target schools
B) failing to fix your deficits and reapplying too soon, a very common mistake
C) poor essays
D) a red flag, like a bad LOR
And no, we're not looking for ass kissers. We're looking for people who will make good doctors, not merely good medical students. This is a reality often lost on the stat-obsessed.
There are no fluke MCAT takers. You're either prepared, or your not. Even if there are, with many who can do well, why should you get cut some slack?
Hi guys!
I'm a CA re-applicant. I don't know how the rest of you feel, but I've really had it with the pompous behavior of medical school admissions practices.
I had my ups and downs but these last three admissions cycles have convinced me that these guys are just looking for a bunch of perfectionistic a** kissers.
My first cycle was marred by my MCAT. I had a 9/11/9. I knew I could do better so I started studying right after I got my results and took it again a month later (I'm already a non-trad after all). I was really proud of my first verbal score and all my teachers and professors have always praised my writing prowess so I focussed on the other two sections. I got a 10/7 /11.. I figured anyone with an ounce of logic would know that the 7 was a fluke. Right? But noooooo. No luck for me. I have every other quality anyone would want in a physician and one simple error shoots me down. Who do these people think they are anyway?
My PI was a selfish jerk. He never gave me credit for the work I did.
The AAMC said that any score over the median was consistent with success. So much for holistic evaluation!
Do you think my 23 and me results would help?
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Try 500 hours of service to those less fortunate than you. And 100 hrs of hospice care. Have as many eyeballs on your essays next time. And always have Plan B.
I've had a very hard time finding anyone less fortunate than me.
D
deleted781806
*Citation needed*
Research isn't that important for admission, and those numbers weren't great to begin with.
Also, my God... they're multiplying within the thread now...
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It was probably because you didn't research anything clinically relevant. All of these adcoms want so hard to believe you want to help people, just get some papers in like some disease and they will buy it
D
deleted781806
Please direct all further inquiries to @gonnif if we are going to just name-drop. Research is generally not listed as one of the highest priorities for med school admission decisions, sure it helps, but it isn't the most important aspect of an application.
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I didn't say it was the most important did I? (With that I think we should address reading comprehension as being important to admissions as well...).
@mrh123 failed to get any publications, posters, anything from research which is a HUGE red flag, even at DO schools because of the MD/DO merger.
Also, what's wrong with name dropping @gyngyn ? She's a wise one.
That old geezer was never any use to anyone.
He's the one who told me my good verbal score was likely to be a fluke!
Honestly, how could an 11 be a fluke.
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I am sure @Goro @Catalystik @LizzyM @WedgeDawg @Crayola227 would agree with me, but I wouldnt want to be just dropping names.
In a 2013 AAMC survey* where 127 medical admissions offices responded, found research experience is only of medium importance at private schools and of low importance to public schools as an experiential factor in offering both interview invitations and acceptance. Healthcare experience, community service/volunteer experience, experience with underserved populations, navigated through cultural barriers or challenges, leadership experience were considered of higher importance in factors for interview invites and offers of acceptances. This was further borne out in the 2015 AAMC Survey** where 130 medical school admissions found that both community service or volunteer in both medical and non-medical settings ranked higher in importance than physician shadowing
*https://www.aamc.org/download/434596/data/usingmcatdata2016.pdf#page=7
see page 3 (pdf p7) Table 1. Mean Importance Ratings of Academic, Experiential, and Demographic Application Data Used by Admissions Committees for Making Decisions about Which Applicants to Receive an Interview Invitation and Offer Acceptance (N=127)
** https://www.aamc.org/download/462316/data/2017mcatguide.pdf#page=9
See page 4 (pdf page 9) Table 1. Mean Importance Ratings of Academic, Experiential, Demographic, and Interview Data Used by Admissions Committees for Making Decisions about Which Applicants Receive Interview Invitations and Acceptance Offers (N=130)
D
deleted781806
"Publish or perish" seems fairly superlative to me. I also sincerely doubt no presentations/publications for research involvement is a red flag, undergraduate students generally do not get these because they are more likely to be given to graduate students/postdocs (etc. and so on). I'm not saying gyngyn isn't great, because I really like their posts and they are very helpful, but the tag was a little unnecessary. But then again, with everything going on today I can't take anyone who has joined in the past day or two's word in good faith.
Also, thanks gonnif for the statistics. Do you just have a bunch of textboxes saved somewhere that you can pull out for SDN purposes?
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PI's are annoying. Can't stand them. That's why I went to a DO school because there is no such thing as a PI unless it's a PI of OMM.
Well I tagged gyn because she's helped me with my application when no one else would. That is all. But thanks for the correction? I'll be sure to watch my tagging skills. The matter at hand is picking apart the application and find the weakness.
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lol. golden
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The adcoms are the ones dealing in fantasy. They expect too much and wonder why they get a class full of box-checkers.
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The box checkers are pretty easy to spothet. No passion , and the bare minimum.
The supply of people who can handle med school is in abundance....a glut, actually.
The supply of people who can handle med school is in abundance....a glut, actually.
I can handle it! I've done way more than the bare minimum. I have passion!
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OP appears to have gotten plenty of good advice.
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