WAMC 3.95/512 2022/2023

[tinyscientist]

This cycle is really starting to wear me down and I'm considering reapplying next year. I applied to 20 MD programs and have 5R, and only 2 II. One II turned into a WL and the other an R. I had a good mix of target, reach and safety schools that I made with MSAR. As you can see by the thread title my GPA is fine, but my MCAT score leaves some to be desired.
I have 10,000+ research hours (three 1st author pubs), 6000 paid clinical hours, 300 clinical volunteer hours, held several leadership positions including TAing, and have some very strong ECs (I'm a private pilot). Due to covid my shadowing experience was cut short which only left me with about 20 hours, which I can definitely improve upon

The only thing I can think of to improve is my MCAT and writing?? I'm not sure where I went wrong so I'm open to any and all advice )

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[wysdoc]

This cycle is really starting to wear me down and I'm considering reapplying next year. I applied to 20 MD programs and have 5R, and only 2 II. One II turned into a WL and the other an R. I had a good mix of target, reach and safety schools that I made with MSAR. As you can see by the thread title my GPA is fine, but my MCAT score leaves some to be desired.
I have 10,000+ research hours (three 1st author pubs), 6000 paid clinical hours, 300 clinical volunteer hours, held several leadership positions including TAing, and have some very strong ECs (I'm a private pilot). Due to covid my shadowing experience was cut short which only left me with about 20 hours, which I can definitely improve upon

The only thing I can think of to improve is my MCAT and writing?? I'm not sure where I went wrong so I'm open to any and all advice )

If you share your state of residence and the list of schools you applied to this year, you will get some better suggestions about what do change if you need to reapply. It's hard to come up with that perfect list, and unlike applying to college I don't think there are any "safe" schools, only likely schools.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You had 2 Interviews so I don't think you could do much improving except for mission fit (1 post interview R). You have a good MCAT so it sounds like you just didn't close the deal with interviews. We will see with the one WL you have left.

 

[tinyscientist]

If you share your state of residence and the list of schools you applied to this year, you will get some better suggestions about what do change if you need to reapply. It's hard to come up with that perfect list, and unlike applying to college I don't think there are any "safe" schools, only likely schools

I'm currently a resident of California.. here is my list of schools I applied to

UCLA
Keck
Stanford
UCSD
Colorado
UCSF
UC Irvine
UC Davis
U Washington
Oregon H&S
Columbia
Cornell
Northwestern
Emory
Wake Forest
Albert Einstein
Duke
Harvard
Georgetown
UNC Chapel Hill
U of Arizona - Phoenix

 

[Aksea23]

I'm currently a resident of California.. here is my list of schools I applied to

UCLA
Keck
Stanford
UCSD
Colorado
UCSF
UC Irvine
UC Davis
U Washington
Oregon H&S
Columbia
Cornell
Northwestern
Emory
Wake Forest
Albert Einstein
Duke
Harvard
Georgetown
UNC Chapel Hill
U of Arizona - Phoenix

I'll respond here because I am fairly certain on what the sage advice would be from the more experienced members of this thread.

The following schools either don't accept OOS students or you must have STRONG ties to the state:
Oregon HSU
University of Washington
UNC
U Arizona

Your research hours were great for the following schools, but your MCAT may have been too low. That, or they wanted to see something more compelling from your writing...
Stanford
Columbia
Cornell
Northwestern
Duke
Harvard

Unfortunately, with all of those schools where you were OOS, you eliminated nearly half of the schools where your stats were a match.

I'll let the experts weigh in on what schools you should apply to if you need to reapply. You have some awesome research hours, but perhaps you were aiming a little high? That or I might invest in an application review service, such as med mentors.

 

[tinyscientist]

I'll respond here because I am fairly certain on what the sage advice would be from the more experienced members of this thread.

The following schools either don't accept OOS students or you must have STRONG ties to the state:
Oregon HSU
University of Washington
UNC
U Arizona

Your research hours were great for the following schools, but your MCAT may have been too low. That, or they wanted to see something more compelling from your writing...
Stanford
Columbia
Cornell
Northwestern
Duke
Harvard

Unfortunately, with all of those schools where you were OOS, you eliminated nearly half of the schools where your stats were a match.

I'll let the experts weigh in on what schools you should apply to if you need to reapply. You have some awesome research hours, but perhaps you were aiming a little high? That or I might invest in an application review service, such as med mentors.

Thank you so much for the feedback. I am of course so open to any list of schools which I would be better off adding to my list. Thats also great to know about the low OOS acceptance for the 4 schools you listed.
Do you think it would be worth a retake of the MCAT? I've already started restudying and think I have a fair chance at improvement.

 

[Aksea23]

Thank you so much for the feedback. I am of course so open to any list of schools which I would be better off adding to my list. Thats also great to know about the low OOS acceptance for the 4 schools you listed.
Do you think it would be worth a retake of the MCAT? I've already started restudying and think I have a fair chance at improvement.

If it were me, my priority would be on crafting a more targeted list of schools and preparing an excellent personal statement, activities section, and set of pre-written secondaries. You already wrote many of the secondaries, so maybe see how you can edit them for other schools on your new list. I highly recommend investing in MSAR, but some of the other users on here may provide additional help with school lists as well!

I don't know a lot about your application or your priorities, but here are some schools to consider if you end up re-applying:
Medical College of Wisconsin
University of Vermont
Thomas Jefferson
Temple
New York Medical College
Albany
George Washington
Quinnipiac
Rosalind Franklin
Tulane
U Miami
USF Morsani
Loyola Chicago
Oakland Beaumont
Hofstra
Penn State
Dartmouth

From your original list:
Colorado
Albert Einstein
Wake Forest
All the UC's

 

[chilly_md]

What was your non-clinical volunteering like (both hours and specific details)? Being a private pilot is a nice talking point but does not fit the mission of many medical schools, which is to help those who are underserved. I agree that your school list restricted how many interviews you could have gotten.

I would not recommend the UCs again except for UC Davis and UCI.