To anyone thinking about turning down an acceptance to reapply to UW, DON'T DO IT!!
Last year I only applied to a few schools, figuring I'd get some love from UW, and didn't get in anywhere, waitlisted at one. So I asked Dr. Samson to write me a letter on how to improve my application and it proved to be completely useless. At least I figure it was completely useless because I did exactly what he said and I was still flat out rejected this year. He said that all of my scores were more than adequate (3.95 GPA, 31 MCAT) and that I had a lot of service (2 yr LDS mission to Chile, thus being fluent in Spanish, 1 1/2 years interpreting in a free clinic for migrant workers, and various other leadership positions).
Then he continued to say that "other than [my] father being a physician my medical experience is rather superficial and don't have a good understanding of the medical field." I guess the year and a half I spent at the free clinic didn't count for anything, because not only was I directly involved in the doctor-patient relationship, thus shadowing numerous primary care docs by virtue of interpreting, it was also time spent serving an "underserved population." On top of this I had shadowed other physicians and attended a number of surgeries. But I guess that wasn't enough somehow.
So this year I got a job as a research technician at a private lab doing preclinical research on medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Preclinical research = animal testing, so I haven't been practicing medicine on humans but I do care for the animals, draw bloods, am the anesthetist during surgeries as well as functioning as the OR tech during surgery, take x-rays and lots of other stuff I wouldn't be able to do on humans without certifications. I have learned a huge amount about the science of medicine from this job, but since there's no patient interaction I figured I'd better do something else. So I've been volunteering at a hospice since September, visiting patients and just chatting with them is about all I can do since I don't have any certifications. Nevertheless, it's still serving another underserved population, the elderly. So I figured this along with discussing and reading up on the field everyday here at work would be more than enough to get me over the hump. I felt my interview went fairly well, I had thought a lot about the types of questions I knew they would be asking so I was well prepared. I knew my answers most likely wouldn't be in line with their own personal views, as I am conservative and most academics, especially on the Left Coast, are not, but I had well constructed arguments and stuck to the facts and issues.
Then I called yesterday only to find out that I was flat-out rejected. This, obviously, pissed me off a whole lot and I cannot understand it. Now I truly believe the most important words in Dr. Samson's letter to me last year were "other than your father being a physician." It could be coincidence but my father has been unable to find a physician in his large Spokane clinic who has had a child accepted to UW. There are plenty who have been rejected, but none accepted. And it's even more ridiculous that this guy discounts my exposure to medicine via my father because UW has asked him to be part of their clinical faculty and to have residents rotate with him. So it's okay for others to learn medicine from him, but not his own son apparently.
Luckily this year a number of other schools have deemed me fit to be a part of their class and I'm still hoping to get in the school that I actually liked the best, even over UW other than price and location.
I'd be interested to know how many of those reading this board have a parent who is a physician and what your fate was.
I'm sorry for the long post, but as you can tell I'm very frustrated. And again, if you've been accepted elsewhere, don't turn it down just to reapply to UW.
