Update Letter?

[DemonDeacon16]

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Hey guys,

I am currently a senior at Wake Forest University with a 3.4 cGPA, 3.5 sGPA, and 512 MCAT. I was a little late getting my secondaries submitted so I'm still waiting to hear back from most of my schools about interview invites. Of the schools I applied to, I have been rejected pre-interview by Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, and Maryland. I am still waiting to hear from Baylor, Drexel, Emory, MUSC, Temple, Tulane, Louisville, UNC, UVA, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, University of Alabama-Birmingham, South Alabama, Kentucky, and VCU.

The biggest weakness of my application is definitely my lack of clinical experience / shadowing. I have tons of leadership positions on campus, lots of volunteer hours, hundreds of hours of research on my own independent project, and, from what I can presume, strong letters of recommendation. I am originally from Birmingham, Alabama and I have spent this winter break shadowing one of the top doctors at the nationally renowned James Andrews OrthoSports Center here in Birmingham. Of the schools I am still waiting to hear back from, Emory, Temple, and Tulane are the only schools that have a way for me to submit updates via their application portals.

I'm assuming it would be a good idea for me to submit an update detailing my shadowing experience at those three schools? What about the schools that don't have a way for me to do that on their application portal? Should I still try and find a way to send those schools something? I want to show schools that I am aware of the weaknesses in my profile and that I am trying to fix those.

I also just received my grades for this fall semester and I kinda had the same questions about that. I did well, including an A- in my only science class (neurobiology), but my overall GPA wasn't really affected. Should I send my grades to those three schools as well as the ones that don't have a way for me to do it through their application? What is the best way to go about that?

Thanks guys, I really appreciate any advice.

 

[Krupke]

Just to clarify: Did you have absolutely no clinical exposure before submitting your app? Was your volunteering health related?

Edit: My advice would be to beef up your clinical experience during a gap year. I know a good handful of students who got into med school (mostly top 20s) without much clinical experience, but they had very high gpas and MCATs along with a lot of high quality research. The combo of meh GPA, meh MCAT, and no clinical experience will make it difficult to be accepted.

Send the update because you never know what will happen and you might as well try your best to get in this year.

 

[DemonDeacon16]

Before submitting my app, I had some health related volunteering at an adult day care center for senior citizens with Alzheimers (about 25 hours). I had also shadowed doctors in high school but I did not include that on my application. This winter break at the orthosports center I have watched 12 hours of surgeries from an observation room with four viewable surgeries going on at a time and shadowed on clinic days for about 25 hours. I'm planning on getting about 10-15 hours of shadowing on clinic days before I head back to school. And if I have to take a gap year I will absolutely beef up my clinical experience, but right now I'm focused on doing what I can for this application cycle.

What is the best way to communicate these updates to schools that don't have a way for me to do it through their application online? Just email the admissions office?

Thanks

 

[Krupke]

Before submitting my app, I had some health related volunteering at an adult day care center for senior citizens with Alzheimers (about 25 hours). I had also shadowed doctors in high school but I did not include that on my application. This winter break at the orthosports center I have watched 12 hours of surgeries from an observation room with four viewable surgeries going on at a time and shadowed on clinic days for about 25 hours. I'm planning on getting about 10-15 hours of shadowing on clinic days before I head back to school. And if I have to take a gap year I will absolutely beef up my clinical experience, but right now I'm focused on doing what I can for this application cycle.

What is the best way to communicate these updates to schools that don't have a way for me to do it through their application online? Just email the admissions office?

Thanks

Yeah, I would just email your updates directly to the admissions offices.