- Joined
- Apr 15, 2013
- Messages
- 483
- Reaction score
- 417
EDIT: Will be matriculating at UVA.
Disclaimer: this will be a long post. I'm asking for help, I want to make sure everything is open for straightforward evaluation.
My school list can be found on my MDapps including the general timeline of submitting materials (all but 2 secondaries submitted mid-late Aug).
I applied to a variety (caliber and mission) of schools, received 5 IIs which netted 4 waitlists and 1 High priority waitlist. Two of those waitlists (JHU and UVA) have very little movement, so it looks like the Philly schools are my best chance of getting in off the waitlist. I know there's still a chance this cycle, but, despite it being a "wait"-list, I'm not just gonna sit around and wait. I plan on preparing my re-app and submitting on June 3rd without spring grades (stupid quarter system). In red are my current thoughts on changes to my app.
Stats: 3.8+/3.8+ c/sGPA, (14PS/10VR/11BS) 35 MCAT, Double majors: Bio and Chem, ORM, traditional (maybe not anymore)
LORs: Committee Packet "Highly recommend" (scale is "do not rcmd", "rcmd", "highly rcmd", "highest rcmd") including 1 Lab PI (very strong), 1 Non-science prof (strong), 1 science prof (mediocre)
ECs:
Volunteer at hospital in PM&R primarily doing transport and helping physical therapy + prosthetics patients with workout maneuvers. Patient population has strong connection to my background. 1.5 yrs + 1 future (150+100 hrs)
Employment:
Intern/research assistant - chemical equipment manufacturer - 1 summer (480hrs)
Cashier/Food prep - high school + 1st summer of college (3100+400 hrs) Removing HS hours
Research: Analytical Chemistry lab - 1 year (500 hrs) *most meaningful* - Small lab, no pubs, no presentations Now 2 yrs (1000 total), maybe (still low likelihood) presentation by reapp
Athletics: Club ultimate frisbee (play for a national collegiate league) - 2 years + 1 future listed (650+300 hrs). Summer league frisbee - 4 years (140 hrs).
Leadership:
Was volunteer at soup kitchen, became student leader to help organize other student volunteers while I volunteered - 2 yrs (240 hrs) *most meaningful*
Founded in-team tutoring program for ultimate frisbee team and chemistry tutor - 1yr +1 future (100+100 hrs)
Shadowing: ENT (OR + office) and Academic radiologist - 24 hrs A clear weakness that I'm still working on improving. I exhausted all my connections to even get this much, but I'll find more for next app. Despite an apparent "lack" of shadowing, I feel that I can thoroughly describe my reasons for pursuing medicine as both a passion and a profession.
Honorable Mention - STEM writing award with publication in university anthology.
New: American Chemical Society member - give tours to accepted chemistry students and am a demonstrator for exhibits at events - 9mos (50hrs)
Note: had 1 Incomplete for upper-level analytical chemistry because of a broken instrument. Resolved before fall term and updated all schools post-interview with fall grades (4.0) including the completed grade.
PS: Reviewed by 4 people. Creative writing is not my strong suit, but objectively I'd rank it at about average to very slightly above-average (1 stellar paragraph). Plan on re-writing and asking for more sources to read. Likely submitting to SDN review as well.
Secondaries: I was feeling the burnout near the end, especially working full time and finishing my incomplete labwork/write-up. However, most of my interviews came from my later secondaries. I think my themes: diversity, greatest challenge/adversity, failure, etc. are good, but could use some buffing. Character limits were my greatest enemy the first time around.
Mock interviews: part of the committee packet recommendation involved two 30-min interviews. The advice given to me for straightforward "tell me about X" questions was to rehearse more (you read that correctly) and distill my feelings into specific examples to convey my message. For the "think on your feet"/"ethical" questions I was told I nailed it. As objectively as I can analyze it, I had a mediocre 1st interview and a rock solid 2nd one - leading to "highly recommend".
Real interviews: All of my school interviews were 1 student + 1 faculty interviews. My fairest assessment of these interviews was that I always "clicked" with 1 interviewer and rocked it, but then had a hard time with the other. Consequently, I'd say that all of my interviews were average to good, but only some were great and only 1 I would call excellent. Never 2 greats at the same school. I think this might be where I can significantly improve as well. More mock interviews with different people to help me prepare for the ones that don't "click" as easily. I was able to get some II's the first time around, I just need to capitalize. I also know I could be more knowledgable on the Affordable Care Act, but this only came up in 1 interview and may be low-yield.
I know there's still a chance this cycle, but a lot of movement happens in June which will be too late to apply at the absolute earliest for the worst-case scenario. Aside from finding the money to fund a re-app, my next biggest concern is what schools do I apply to? I guess I have some digging to do to figure out which schools look kindly on re-apps. (May edit to include said list in the future).
Any other thoughts on where I went wrong?
Disclaimer: this will be a long post. I'm asking for help, I want to make sure everything is open for straightforward evaluation.
My school list can be found on my MDapps including the general timeline of submitting materials (all but 2 secondaries submitted mid-late Aug).
I applied to a variety (caliber and mission) of schools, received 5 IIs which netted 4 waitlists and 1 High priority waitlist. Two of those waitlists (JHU and UVA) have very little movement, so it looks like the Philly schools are my best chance of getting in off the waitlist. I know there's still a chance this cycle, but, despite it being a "wait"-list, I'm not just gonna sit around and wait. I plan on preparing my re-app and submitting on June 3rd without spring grades (stupid quarter system). In red are my current thoughts on changes to my app.
Stats: 3.8+/3.8+ c/sGPA, (14PS/10VR/11BS) 35 MCAT, Double majors: Bio and Chem, ORM, traditional (maybe not anymore)
LORs: Committee Packet "Highly recommend" (scale is "do not rcmd", "rcmd", "highly rcmd", "highest rcmd") including 1 Lab PI (very strong), 1 Non-science prof (strong), 1 science prof (mediocre)
ECs:
Volunteer at hospital in PM&R primarily doing transport and helping physical therapy + prosthetics patients with workout maneuvers. Patient population has strong connection to my background. 1.5 yrs + 1 future (150+100 hrs)
Employment:
Intern/research assistant - chemical equipment manufacturer - 1 summer (480hrs)
Cashier/Food prep - high school + 1st summer of college (3100+400 hrs) Removing HS hours
Research: Analytical Chemistry lab - 1 year (500 hrs) *most meaningful* - Small lab, no pubs, no presentations Now 2 yrs (1000 total), maybe (still low likelihood) presentation by reapp
Athletics: Club ultimate frisbee (play for a national collegiate league) - 2 years + 1 future listed (650+300 hrs). Summer league frisbee - 4 years (140 hrs).
Leadership:
Was volunteer at soup kitchen, became student leader to help organize other student volunteers while I volunteered - 2 yrs (240 hrs) *most meaningful*
Founded in-team tutoring program for ultimate frisbee team and chemistry tutor - 1yr +1 future (100+100 hrs)
Shadowing: ENT (OR + office) and Academic radiologist - 24 hrs A clear weakness that I'm still working on improving. I exhausted all my connections to even get this much, but I'll find more for next app. Despite an apparent "lack" of shadowing, I feel that I can thoroughly describe my reasons for pursuing medicine as both a passion and a profession.
Honorable Mention - STEM writing award with publication in university anthology.
New: American Chemical Society member - give tours to accepted chemistry students and am a demonstrator for exhibits at events - 9mos (50hrs)
Note: had 1 Incomplete for upper-level analytical chemistry because of a broken instrument. Resolved before fall term and updated all schools post-interview with fall grades (4.0) including the completed grade.
PS: Reviewed by 4 people. Creative writing is not my strong suit, but objectively I'd rank it at about average to very slightly above-average (1 stellar paragraph). Plan on re-writing and asking for more sources to read. Likely submitting to SDN review as well.
Secondaries: I was feeling the burnout near the end, especially working full time and finishing my incomplete labwork/write-up. However, most of my interviews came from my later secondaries. I think my themes: diversity, greatest challenge/adversity, failure, etc. are good, but could use some buffing. Character limits were my greatest enemy the first time around.
Mock interviews: part of the committee packet recommendation involved two 30-min interviews. The advice given to me for straightforward "tell me about X" questions was to rehearse more (you read that correctly) and distill my feelings into specific examples to convey my message. For the "think on your feet"/"ethical" questions I was told I nailed it. As objectively as I can analyze it, I had a mediocre 1st interview and a rock solid 2nd one - leading to "highly recommend".
Real interviews: All of my school interviews were 1 student + 1 faculty interviews. My fairest assessment of these interviews was that I always "clicked" with 1 interviewer and rocked it, but then had a hard time with the other. Consequently, I'd say that all of my interviews were average to good, but only some were great and only 1 I would call excellent. Never 2 greats at the same school. I think this might be where I can significantly improve as well. More mock interviews with different people to help me prepare for the ones that don't "click" as easily. I was able to get some II's the first time around, I just need to capitalize. I also know I could be more knowledgable on the Affordable Care Act, but this only came up in 1 interview and may be low-yield.
I know there's still a chance this cycle, but a lot of movement happens in June which will be too late to apply at the absolute earliest for the worst-case scenario. Aside from finding the money to fund a re-app, my next biggest concern is what schools do I apply to? I guess I have some digging to do to figure out which schools look kindly on re-apps. (May edit to include said list in the future).
Any other thoughts on where I went wrong?
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