Waitlisted this year - how to improve

[PNPCook]

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Hi all,
I'm a Canadian student, and I applied to US medical schools this year (Nov 5th, 2010... sort of late). And I have been on the waiting list for most schools I have applied to. My undergraduate GPA is 3.31 and my science GPA is 3.9. I have done a masters in Computer science (GPA 4.00) and I have also done 6 months volunteer work in a hospital abroad (3rd world country). I have a year worth of research experience in clinical anatomy, in addition to the research I have done in computer science. My MCAT is 32S (9 V, 12 P, 11 B). I was wait-listed on many schools and didn't get accepted this year. I want to apply this year again, but I need some advice.

1. How can I make my application better this time around? Should I do the MCAT again? I was accepted to a post bacc where I can do first year medical school courses. Should I do that? I have nothing to do this year. What is the best thing to do? look for a job? Work in research?

2. If you go to a Caribbean school this year, do they look at this unfavorably when I'm applying to their med schools? My fear is that I will waste another year applying and don't get in anywhere. I want to do medicine, even if it is from Caribbean. This is really important because I don't want to waste another year if I don't have a good shot and waster another year.

Thanks for the advice in advance

 

[lftbndlbrnchblk]

Did you apply to DO schools, too?

 

[cabinbuilder]

(Nov 5th, 2010... sort of late).

Er, Sort of late? Talk about way too late!!! You should not have bothered. Reapply on the day of opening, June 1st. You don't need to change anything. Get it all in, get the secondaries done. Just because you didn't get in doesn't mean you have anything to fix. Your timing was bad. It may take a few cycles to get there.

 

[deathvvv]

For Canadian applicants, that GPA is really low, according to AMCAS, the average GPA for Canadians is about 3.7. You need to pull up that GPA and also get more clinical exp (assuming you only have the 6 months of hospital exp)

 

[lpmarcus010]

I say go for the special master's program. My experience was similar to yours in that I got waitlisted at 2 schools last year. I did the Georgetown SMP and got into UCSD which is my absolute top choice of schools for this coming fall. Being able to show admission committees that you were able to succeed in medical school courses while being graded against actual M1's is a huge benefit!

 

[flyingdjs]

I say go for the special master's program. My experience was similar to yours in that I got waitlisted at 2 schools last year. I did the Georgetown SMP and got into UCSD which is my absolute top choice of schools for this coming fall. Being able to show admission committees that you were able to succeed in medical school courses while being graded against actual M1's is a huge benefit!

grats man! i did my SMP 2008-2009 but went back to Canada to work and do my own stuff for 2 years. Then I reapplied after taking 2 years off, and got in! so... ya, Gtown's SMP definitely helped! My undergrad grades were poor (cGPA 3.33, sGPA 3.33), MCAT 34 (on my second try). Don't think of time as being so valuable... if medicine is what you want and you don't want to go outside of N.America, then just do something really productive in the time off, improve your numbers and reapply EARLY!
goodluck!

 

[lpmarcus010]

grats man! i did my SMP 2008-2009 but went back to Canada to work and do my own stuff for 2 years. Then I reapplied after taking 2 years off, and got in! so... ya, Gtown's SMP definitely helped! My undergrad grades were poor (cGPA 3.33, sGPA 3.33), MCAT 34 (on my second try). Don't think of time as being so valuable... if medicine is what you want and you don't want to go outside of N.America, then just do something really productive in the time off, improve your numbers and reapply EARLY!
goodluck!

Hey, Hey another Georgetown SMPer. It is crazy how many Georgetown SMP's I have met on the interview trail, some in med school and some as interviewees.

Doing the SMP was a great decision for me. When I applied to UCSD this past summer, they sent me a rejection prior to secondary in August. We had already finished our first med school class in the SMP and I received an A which meant I scored in the top 10% of the med school class. I sent the UCSD admissions folks an update post-rejection letting them know how well I had done in the first medical school class, and they actually reversed my rejection and sent me a secondary. Six months later I was interviewing, and seven months later I was accepted.

Where are you going this fall? Congrats by the way!