Waitlisted this cycle, what next?

[wheretonow]

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Hi guys,

As you guys may know, it's been a long year. But now comes the time to make some decisions about my next year.

I applied broadly to around 30 MD schools last August, and was complete at most in September. I've gotten 4 interviews from a range of school, all of which waitlisted me. I know 2 of those waitlists have very little chance. My GPA is 3.4 (upward trend), and my MCAT is a 35.

While I'm optimistic, I'm not gonna bank on an acceptance.

Now comes the question: what should I do?

When should I reapply? I would want to reapply this coming cycle spot on June 4th. This would be the last year my MCAT would work for all schools. At the same time, my application hasn't gotten much better. I worked the same job for another year.

Also, what to do for the next year? I'm thinking doing a one-year masters program. It would diversify my application and going back to school sounds nice. The question is which one? Frankly, a true SMP isn't too appealing to me and I'm not sure if I even fit (?). I'm thinking of the "helper" masters listed here, like Nutrition at Columbia, and so on. Another appeal is that I could update the schools with my grades and get some new LoRs, tho it would have to be an "update" and not part of the initial application.

Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[SilverCat]

Hi guys,

As you guys may know, it's been a long year. But now comes the time to make some decisions about my next year.

I applied broadly to around 30 MD schools last August, and was complete at most in September. I've gotten 4 interviews from a range of school, all of which waitlisted me. I know 2 of those waitlists have very little chance. My GPA is 3.4, and my MCAT is a 35.

While I'm optimistic, I'm not gonna bank on an acceptance.

Now comes the question: what should I do?

When should I reapply? I would want to reapply this coming cycle spot on June 4th. This would be the last year my MCAT would work for all schools. At the same time, my application hasn't gotten much better. I worked the same job for another year.

Also, what to do for the next year? I'm thinking doing a one-year masters program. It would diversify my application and going back to school sounds nice. The question is which one? Frankly, a true SMP isn't too appealing to me and I'm not sure if I even fit (?). I'm thinking of the "helper" masters listed here, like Nutrition at Columbia, and so on. Another appeal is that I could update the schools with my grades and get some new LoRs, albeit it would have to be an "update" and not part of the initial application.

Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

The only problem with your app looks like your GPA. If you want to do a master's to improve, be careful which one you pick; some (most, probably) are notoriously easy, and won't really help your app too much. SMPs are pretty well respected.

Still, the idea of losing that 35 MCAT is troublesome.

 

[chemsmith]

I do not think you should consider doing a masters. I assume that you have been continuing/ boosting EC's during this past app cycle? I think that if you apply as early as possible this cycle there is no reason you can't get in. I think that your problems last cycle came from the late app.