Unlikely success stories, anyone?

[ahhhsomanyquestions]

Hello All,

Just wondering if there is anyone on here who thought they had slim chances for an MD program and ended up succeeding in the end. I could use an uplifting story or two at this current juncture, feeling a little discouraged atm.

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[croez]

ORM, applied to MD schools going into my senior year in college with a 3.27/3.24 GPA/sGPA + a 517 (130/125/131/131) MCAT. Got two IIs, didn't get an A.

After senior year, my GPA went up a little bit to a 3.31/3.34. I did a formal post-bac program after graduating and applied again (which most people advised against, they said I should wait until I finished the post-bac until I reapply) but I thought it would be worthwhile to apply to 10 of my top choice (MD) schools. Well, I got two interviews that led to two WLs which led to one acceptance (withdrew from the other) and now I'm starting medical school in a week at one of my top choices with a GPA more than two standard deviations below the average.

The rest of my app was incredibly average (above average rec letters, zero community service, 3 yrs research but no publications, ~50 shadowing hours, ~150 clinical volunteering).

I don't have some insightful advice I can give, but many people, including people on SDN, told me that I should just apply DO or wait another year to reapply. It ended up working out.

All I can say is find what's wrong with your app and improve on it. If it's your GPA, do a post-bac or SMP. If it's your MCAT, retake your MCAT.

 

[ahhhsomanyquestions]

ORM, applied to MD schools going into my senior year in college with a 3.27/3.24 GPA/sGPA + a 517 (130/125/131/131) MCAT. Got two IIs, didn't get an A.

After senior year, my GPA went up a little bit to a 3.31/3.34. I did a formal post-bac program after graduating and applied again (which most people advised against, they said I should wait until I finished the post-bac until I reapply) but I thought it would be worthwhile to apply to 10 of my top choice (MD) schools. Well, I got two interviews that led to two WLs which led to one acceptance (withdrew from the other) and now I'm starting medical school in a week at one of my top choices with a GPA more than two standard deviations below the average.

The rest of my app was incredibly average (above average rec letters, zero community service, 3 yrs research but no publications, ~50 shadowing hours, ~150 clinical volunteering).

I don't have some insightful advice I can give, but many people, including people on SDN, told me that I should just apply DO or wait another year to reapply. It ended up working out.

All I can say is find what's wrong with your app and improve on it. If it's your GPA, do a post-bac or SMP. If it's your MCAT, retake your MCAT.

Congrats, that's amazing! Best of luck next week!

 

[MyOdyssey]

ORM, applied to MD schools going into my senior year in college with a 3.27/3.24 GPA/sGPA + a 517 (130/125/131/131) MCAT. Got two IIs, didn't get an A.

After senior year, my GPA went up a little bit to a 3.31/3.34. I did a formal post-bac program after graduating and applied again (which most people advised against, they said I should wait until I finished the post-bac until I reapply) but I thought it would be worthwhile to apply to 10 of my top choice (MD) schools. Well, I got two interviews that led to two WLs which led to one acceptance (withdrew from the other) and now I'm starting medical school in a week at one of my top choices with a GPA more than two standard deviations below the average.

The rest of my app was incredibly average (above average rec letters, zero community service, 3 yrs research but no publications, ~50 shadowing hours, ~150 clinical volunteering).

I don't have some insightful advice I can give, but many people, including people on SDN, told me that I should just apply DO or wait another year to reapply. It ended up working out.

All I can say is find what's wrong with your app and improve on it. If it's your GPA, do a post-bac or SMP. If it's your MCAT, retake your MCAT.

Congrats! Was a “fit thing” where your background fit the school’s mission perfectly?

 

[croez]

Congrats! Was a “fit thing” where your background fit the school’s mission perfectly?

Honestly, it's really hard for me to say. I've noticed that a lot of the mid/low-tier MD schools have similar goals of creating great clinicians (with sprinkles of research, leadership, etc.) so in this aspect, I think I matched, but not moreso than any of my other top choices. I chose the 10 schools to apply to based on location, cost of attendance, and how happy the students seem.

I think one of the big things I did that may have swung the adcom's decision in my favor was just staying in touch with them. I sent frequent grade updates, and received the II to the school I'll be matriculating to about 3 days after I sent my Fall semester grades in (which was luckily a 4.0). I sent a letter of intent and stayed in constant communication with the admissions office via phone. I was probably just walking the line between dedicated/annoying.