WAMC - Potential Reapplicant Advice (3.9/524)

[thestry4]

Hi SDN!

I applied for the 2024-2025 cycle, received 2 interviews, was waitlisted at one school (WUSTL) and am still waiting to hear back from the second (Kaiser, interviewed in September). I am preparing for the event that I need to reapply, and am looking for advice on a good school list and ways to bolster my application. Any and all advice is more than welcome!

1. cGPA: 3.996 - sGPA: 4.0 (got an A- in a coding class, which does not fall under sGPA, from my understanding)
2. MCAT: 524 (131/132/131/130)
3. Sate: CA
4. Ethnicity and/or race: Mixed/Other
5. Undergraduate institution: UCLA (Biochemistry/Bioinformatics Minor)
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer): (2,200 hours)
   1. Volunteer at Cedars-Sinai Hospital (120 hours): Providing company for in-patients at the hospital in the neurology and oncology departments, providing patients and their families with goods, assisting nurses with daily tasks
   2. Full-time Dermatology Medical Assistant (2080 hours): I had included anticipated hours when I last applied, but have only been working for the past year. I room patients, scribe, assist in minor medical procedures and surgeries, answer patient phone calls, and advise patients on using medication and postcare after their visits. I also heavily facilitated our practice's transition to EMR from paper charts, and do all medical supply ordering for the practice.
7. Research experience and productivity:(~1,200 Hours)
   1. Bioinformatics Research (x2.5 years): Worked on several projects and received a place on a publication list for one (non-first author), some using text-mining to located gene-protein-disease connections and others analyzing genomic data to evaluate cardiovascular disease risk factors. Some projects were cut short due to my mentors leaving the lab, among other things. I was not independent until the very end of my time with the lab.
   2. Pharmaceutical Research (x2 Years, about x10 hours a week): analyzing breast milk samples to find drugs, common substances, personal care products, etc. that alter the composition of breast milk (currently analyzing the effects of antidepressants and antibiotics). I have been independent, and driving most of the project work with guidance from my post-doc. Unlikely to have a publication prior to my graduation.
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented: (60 hours)
   1. Vascular Surgery - 45 hours
   2. Dermatology - 15 hours
9. Non-clinical volunteering: (510 hours)
   1. Brain exercises with older adults (450 hours): ran brain exercise sessions with older adults at least once a week since my freshman year of college, becoming outreach director in my second year, and then chapter president for the last 2 years of college. I made session content, distributed it to volunteers, connected volunteers with session participants, and then eventually developed executive board roles to take on these roles once our reach expanded to over 70 volunteers and 10 individuals or senior homes participating in several sessions a week. Sessions were held via phone call, zoom, and in person. I joined the executive committee of the global non-profit upon graduation (see below).
   2. alumni scholarship club (60 hours): volunteered to make resource bags and blankets for the underserved in the LA community at 2-3 events per year
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc): (820 hours)
    1. Biochemistry Lab TA (120 Hours): for 2 quarters, I took a course on teaching peers and aided lab sections with practical skills and background knowledge for a major biochemistry class
    2. National Executive Committee member of a non-profit (200 hours): the non-profit connects college students to older adults, helping them to form intergenerational connections and preventing cognitive decline in elders by running brain exercises. I interview potential chapter presidents, assist chapter presidents, run monthly office hours for chapter presidents, and run our social media with posts highlighting our chapter and raising awareness about dementia and it's effects on elders and their caretakers. I also prepare, host guests speakers at, and present at our annual leadership conference (virtual) for chapter presidents across the globe.
    3. Biochemistry Club Treasurer -> President (170 hours): participated in a social and academic/professional development club for biochemistry students. I was treasurer in my third year, funding our events, experiments, and snacks for club events. In my senior year I was co-president, preparing meeting activities and presentations on getting into research, pathways post-graduation, course planning, etc.
    4. Finance Committee and Director for Alumni Club (170 Hours): Applied to various sources of funding to raise money for Alumni club events, including volunteering, service, professional development, member bonding, and alumni relations events. Became director of the committee in my senior year of college.
    5. Retail Work (160 hours): Worked part-time in clothing retail for the first two summers of college, picking up skills and learning the system without training and developing customer service skills.
11. Relevant honors or awards:
    1. Alumni Scholarship: Awarded after applying prior to acceptance to my undergraduate institution
    2. College Honors: Completed the courses and research credits for the College Honors program
    3. Ethel Terry McCoy Award: recognizes outstanding female chemistry and biochemistry students for their merit based accomplishments, awarded for achieving a perfect GPA, included a $500 award
    4. Last LOR's:2 Science Profs, 1 Writing Prof, 1 PI/Assistant Dean of School of Pharmacy
       1. I am planning to add two LOR's from doctors that I currently work for
    5. Things not included on my last application:
       1. Sorority: Included raising money for survivors of domestic violence and abuse
       2. Study Abroad: studied in France for a summer immerse in the culture to receive my foreign language requirement
    6. Preview Score: 7
    7. I am looking to get involved with clinical research on diseases of aging (specifically Alzheimer's and dementia).
    8. I am planning to enroll in a course for a medical Spanish certification.
    9. I am also interested in medical public science writing. I mostly just read books on the topic but would like to get involved with writing myself at some point.

Current School List: (Removed a couple of schools from last cycle, adding a lot of CASPER schools, which I did not take last cycle)
*Albany
Albert Einstein
*Boston University
California Northstate
Case Western
Columbia
*Creighton
*Hofstra/Northwell
*Drexel
Duke
*Eastern Virginia
Emory
*Georgetown
*George Washington
Harvard
Icahn
*Indiana University
Kaiser
Keck (USC)
*Loyola Chicago
*Mayo Clinic
*Medical College of Wisconsin
*Michigan State
Northwestern
NYU
*Ohio State
*Oregon Health & Science University
Perelman (UPenn)
*Rush
*Rutgers RWJ
*University of Utah
Stanford
Tufts
*Tulane
*University of Arizona
UCI
UCLA
UCR
UCSD
UCSF
*University of Central Florida
University of Chicago (Pritzker)
*University of Colorado
*UConn
*University of Florida
*University of Hawaii
*University of Illinois
University of Maryland
*UMass
*UMiami
University of Michigan
*University of Nevada, Reno
*University of Washington
UNC, Chapel Hill
University of Pittsburg
Rochester
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt
*Virginia Commonwealth
*Virginia Tech
*Wake Forest
WashU St. Louis
Weill Cornell
*West Virginia University
Yale

* = schools added since the previous cycle

Any advice on a school list or ways that I can improve my application the second time around would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time!

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[Mr.Smile12]

Why do you think you got radio silence from so many schools? WashU obviously couldn't resist your stats, and Kaiser was a nice pickup (maybe you are local to that part of SoCal?).

Where are your service orientation activities: food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation? The brain games for seniors is curious but doesn't really address social needs of a community; it's health-adjacent (important of course).

Are you interested in the senior population? You said you were, so any hospice or assisted living volunteering/employment? You have some neurology exposure, but then there's that significant derm experience...

 

[thestry4]

Why do you think you got radio silence from so many schools? WashU obviously couldn't resist your stats, and Kaiser was a nice pickup (maybe you are local to that part of SoCal?).

Where are your service orientation activities: food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation? The brain games for seniors is curious but doesn't really address social needs of a community; it's health-adjacent (important of course).

Are you interested in the senior population? You said you were, so any hospice or assisted living volunteering/employment? You have some neurology exposure, but then there's that significant derm experience...

I wonder if the radio silence came from secondaries, I didn't always get them in within 2 weeks while working full-time and almost never within 1 week... but other than this there is nothing else that I can think of.

Further, thank you for your directing towards more need-based volunteer work! It also seems to me that hospice or assisted living volunteering would also fall under that umbrella, and I know of some nearby. Maybe I'll start looking for something that serves the needs of older adults in transportation, food, or shelter.

Thank you again!

 

[PLsPLsPLs]

We have very similar backgrounds, and I was accepted/WL'd at many of the schools on your list. Your app looks great so ill try to scrutinize it a bit:

The things coming to mind are 1. Lack of work with underserved, 2. potential lack of a theme, 3. hobbies, 4. light(er) research, and 5. school list.

1. sososo many schools value working with underserved communities and ask about it on secondary applications. You could likely have more experience in this area
2. You have BEI (neuro volunteering), dermatology work, cardiovascular disease research, etc. These seem to not be super related, but it depends how you write about everything
3. At some of the "unique collector" schools, I think having a hobby is super essential. Did you list any on your app?
4. Your stats are effectively perfect, but the schools that heavily select for your stats also select for research. If you apply to top schools, you're competing with people who have thousands and thousand of research hours (for instance, I will have ~6k upon matriculation). Good news is your app is surely stronger than others in many domains, so you don't need to necessarily match research hours or productivity. This is not a major concern but something to consider.
5. How many schools did you apply to? I'd recommend at least 30 next cycle, preferably more

Overall, this process is a crapshoot. Happy to chat more in PMs if you want

 

[thestry4]

We have very similar backgrounds, and I was accepted/WL'd at many of the schools on your list. Your app looks great so ill try to scrutinize it a bit:

The things coming to mind are 1. Lack of work with underserved, 2. potential lack of a theme, 3. hobbies, 4. light(er) research, and 5. school list.

1. sososo many schools value working with underserved communities and ask about it on secondary applications. You could likely have more experience in this area
2. You have BEI (neuro volunteering), dermatology work, cardiovascular disease research, etc. These seem to not be super related, but it depends how you write about everything
3. At some of the "unique collector" schools, I think having a hobby is super essential. Did you list any on your app?
4. Your stats are effectively perfect, but the schools that heavily select for your stats also select for research. If you apply to top schools, you're competing with people who have thousands and thousand of research hours (for instance, I will have ~6k upon matriculation). Good news is your app is surely stronger than others in many domains, so you don't need to necessarily match research hours or productivity. This is not a major concern but something to consider.
5. How many schools did you apply to? I'd recommend at least 30 next cycle, preferably more

Overall, this process is a crapshoot. Happy to chat more in PMs if you want

Hi! thank you for your advice! I approached my last application from the point of view that everything was geared towards focusing on the older generation of older adults, who tend to be underserved. Maybe I should look deeper within that group for elders who face challenges to receiving healthcare?

Also, I did not put any hobbies on my last application. I have a few in mind but I was not sure what level of dedication is required to include a hobby on an application, or if it needed to have some kind or greater impact/success tied to it, or if it needed to tie in to my theme. Do you have any examples that you can provide for these?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi! thank you for your advice! I approached my last application from the point of view that everything was geared towards focusing on the older generation of older adults, who tend to be underserved. Maybe I should look deeper within that group for elders who face challenges to receiving healthcare?

Also, I did not put any hobbies on my last application. I have a few in mind but I was not sure what level of dedication is required to include a hobby on an application, or if it needed to have some kind or greater impact/success tied to it, or if it needed to tie in to my theme. Do you have any examples that you can provide for these?

Not everything needs to be connected coherently. Without knowing more about what you did disclose on your applications, there's more need for the older population than just their challenges to receiving healthcare, which you should look into. I am also unsure if you shadowed physicians working in geriatrics or rehabilitation with the same exposure as neurology. Granted, you also have 2000+ hours in dermatology.

 

[ophthoaspirant]

We have very similar backgrounds, and I was accepted/WL'd at many of the schools on your list. Your app looks great so ill try to scrutinize it a bit:

The things coming to mind are 1. Lack of work with underserved, 2. potential lack of a theme, 3. hobbies, 4. light(er) research, and 5. school list.

1. sososo many schools value working with underserved communities and ask about it on secondary applications. You could likely have more experience in this area
2. You have BEI (neuro volunteering), dermatology work, cardiovascular disease research, etc. These seem to not be super related, but it depends how you write about everything
3. At some of the "unique collector" schools, I think having a hobby is super essential. Did you list any on your app?
4. Your stats are effectively perfect, but the schools that heavily select for your stats also select for research. If you apply to top schools, you're competing with people who have thousands and thousand of research hours (for instance, I will have ~6k upon matriculation). Good news is your app is surely stronger than others in many domains, so you don't need to necessarily match research hours or productivity. This is not a major concern but something to consider.
5. How many schools did you apply to? I'd recommend at least 30 next cycle, preferably more

Overall, this process is a crapshoot. Happy to chat more in PMs if you want

Maybe the difference in results has got to do with taking/not taking a gap year after graduation.

 

[PLsPLsPLs]

Hi! thank you for your advice! I approached my last application from the point of view that everything was geared towards focusing on the older generation of older adults, who tend to be underserved. Maybe I should look deeper within that group for elders who face challenges to receiving healthcare?

Also, I did not put any hobbies on my last application. I have a few in mind but I was not sure what level of dedication is required to include a hobby on an application, or if it needed to have some kind or greater impact/success tied to it, or if it needed to tie in to my theme. Do you have any examples that you can provide for these?

If there's an older adult theme to your activities that sounds great! With my first bullet point, I was mainly referring to schools like UChicago, Pitt, BU, etc etc which have secondaries that are very much asking if you have experiences working with people from different socioeconomic / racial backgrounds. If you can find some sort of service with an older, disadvantaged population that's great but if not you can also just have more generic work with these underserved populations and tie it in another way.

For hobbies, there's no real requirements. I think what matters is that it is something you genuinely enjoy and can speak to. I listed an exercise hobby that I've done for a few years and I don't have any accomplishments in it. Keep in mind adcoms are not just selecting great students but people they want to hang out with for the next 4 years, so having hobbies makes you look more "human"

 

[PLsPLsPLs]

Maybe the difference in results has got to do with taking/not taking a gap year after graduation.

I don't think taking a gap year is an instant plus on the scale, but rather if you have a weakness in your app (eg low volunteer / clinical / research hours) a gap year allows you to address this. From what they've posted, I think OP would have more success with more experience with diverse populations, a hobby, and maybe a bit more research (or productivity, IDK if they have presentations and the wording made it unclear if the project they are listed on already published). also larger school list with more non-t20 schools

 

[thestry4]

If there's an older adult theme to your activities that sounds great! With my first bullet point, I was mainly referring to schools like UChicago, Pitt, BU, etc etc which have secondaries that are very much asking if you have experiences working with people from different socioeconomic / racial backgrounds. If you can find some sort of service with an older, disadvantaged population that's great but if not you can also just have more generic work with these underserved populations and tie it in another way.

For hobbies, there's no real requirements. I think what matters is that it is something you genuinely enjoy and can speak to. I listed an exercise hobby that I've done for a few years and I don't have any accomplishments in it. Keep in mind adcoms are not just selecting great students but people they want to hang out with for the next 4 years, so having hobbies makes you look more "human"

Hi, thank you again for your input and advice! I think that it's really helpful in guiding my next steps. For whatever it's worth, it sounds like your future admin and classmates are going to enjoy hanging out with you. Thank you again!

 

[thestry4]

As an update, I was also waitlisted at Kaiser recently.

 

[thestry4]

Why do you think you got radio silence from so many schools? WashU obviously couldn't resist your stats, and Kaiser was a nice pickup (maybe you are local to that part of SoCal?).

Where are your service orientation activities: food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation? The brain games for seniors is curious but doesn't really address social needs of a community; it's health-adjacent (important of course).

Are you interested in the senior population? You said you were, so any hospice or assisted living volunteering/employment? You have some neurology exposure, but then there's that significant derm experience...

Hi! Following up on this from a few months ago—

After recieving your feeedback, I started volunteering regularly with Meals on Wheels in my community. It allowed me to serve older adults in need which I really wanted to focus on, and was also one of the only volunteer opportunities in my area that allowed weekend volunteering. I’ve really enjoyed it so far and feel like I am helping my community with a an important need, but I am self-conscious that medical schools might not see it that way. Was this a good choice in service based volunteering to uptake?

 

[Faha]

Hi! Following up on this from a few months ago—

After recieving your feeedback, I started volunteering regularly with Meals on Wheels in my community. It allowed me to serve older adults in need which I really wanted to focus on, but was also one of the only volunteer opportunities in my area that allowed weekend volunteering. I’ve really enjoyed it so far and feel like I am helping my community with a an important need, but I am self-conscious that medical schools might not see it that way. Was this a good choice in service based volunteering to uptake?

Meals on Wheels is a good choice. However, the main problem with your reapplication is your school list. You have many state public schools that admit few non residents with no connection to the state ( U Washington admits less than 1% of applicants who are not from states in the Northwest). You also have several schools that will "yield protect" with your stats. I suggest these schools:
Harvard
Dartmouth
Brown
UMass
Tufts
Boston University
Yale
Hofstra
Einstein (free tuition)
Mount Sinai
NYU (free tuition)
Columbia
Cornell
Pittsburgh
Rochester
Jefferson
Georgetown
U Virginia
Duke
Emory
USF Morsani
Vanderbilt
Washington University
Northwestern
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati
Mayo
Iowa
The UCS (except Riverside unless you are from that region)
USC Keck
Kaiser
Arizona (Phoenix)
Colorado

 

[thestry4]

Meals on Wheels is a good choice. However, the main problem with your reapplication is your school list. You have many state public schools that admit few non residents with no connection to the state ( U Washington admits less than 1% of applicants who are not from states in the Northwest). You also have several schools that will "yield protect" with your stats. I suggest these schools:
Harvard
Dartmouth
Brown
UMass
Tufts
Boston University
Yale
Hofstra
Einstein (free tuition)
Mount Sinai
NYU (free tuition)
Columbia
Cornell
Pittsburgh
Rochester
Jefferson
Georgetown
U Virginia
Duke
Emory
USF Morsani
Vanderbilt
Washington University
Northwestern
U Michigan
Case Western
Cincinnati
Mayo
Iowa
The UCS (except Riverside unless you are from that region)
USC Keck
Kaiser
Arizona (Phoenix)
Colorado

Hi! Thank you for the reassuring follow up, as well as this school list. I appreciate it!

Do you have any tips on figuring out which schools ‘yield protect’ or are not fond of out of state students?

 

[Faha]

Hi! Thank you for the reassuring follow up, as well as this school list. I appreciate it!

Do you have any tips on figuring out which schools ‘yield protect’ or are not fond of out of state students?

Most of the state public schools on your list that I did not include in my list would be unlikely to consider you. Schools such as Wake Forest, Albany, Creighton, Drexel, Rush, Loyola, Eastern Virginia will "yield protect" (they assume you will go to a high tier school instead with your stats)

 

[YodaPineapple]

I agree with the feedback of all others, however it is very hindsight nit-picky. You shouldn’t be in this position where you only have waitlists. The system failed on this one, and it’s quite shameful.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I agree with the feedback of all others, however it is very hindsight nit-picky. You shouldn’t be in this position where you only have waitlists. The system failed on this one, and it’s quite shameful.

We don't have the entire application. As far as we know, the output is as "the process" was designed. High metrics are never a guarantee to an offer. We only deal in probabilities, and we cannot underestimate how strong applicants' profiles are. Maybe the next group of faculty rotating into adcom service will make a difference.

 

[ophthoaspirant]

I agree with the feedback of all others, however it is very hindsight nit-picky. You shouldn’t be in this position where you only have waitlists. The system failed on this one, and it’s quite shameful.

You can’t say the system failed. The stats are great but LORs may not have been good?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I will also note: OP's list has over 60 schools (up from mid-30's), and Faha notes many of them are clearly donations. The candidate should be able to pick the 25-35 schools that they feel will best prepare them for the foundation of their medical career.

The OP notes not turning around secondaries within 2 weeks and only getting 2 WL's. Not sure whether that is a factor, but it's possible. It's more likely that the OP's low return is due to writing responses so that adcoms can say, "thank you, next."

Maybe it's just my social media feed, but this is the profile so many internet influencers feast on. 99.5%ile metrics who failed to secure an offer (even though it's not over yet). Their messages harp on many stories about super-smart medical students and residents with similar metrics wind up being much less than elite performers in the wards. I mean like "unreliable" performers. The power/soft skillset is just as important; adcoms choose candidates for interview they want to see in their medical schools. And they know the patterns of many high-score candidates they have previously accepted.

The system is not meant to reward high-metrics applicants, even though metrics remains the center of the EAM contact lens model. The real holistic review model is the EAMM: the focus is on mission fit, surrounded by metrics, then attributes, then experiences. Seems like there's a cataract in the mission fit here.

 

[YodaPineapple]

You can’t say the system failed. The stats are great but LORs may not have been good?

I would venture to guess that their LOR's were satisfactory enough(no red flags in them) to secure interviews at very good schools such as washU and Kaiser. Perhaps OP can comment on their perception of their LOR strength and interview skills/performances? It is possible the writing wasn't GREAT, but I am assuming it was good enough based on OP's writing background(again, maybe she could weigh in a little on her thoughts on the writing). The notion of lack of mission fit also slightly irks me in this case, as the applicant strikes me as just about as well-rounded as you can be(with perhaps the only visible weakness being service orientation to the underserved), and I think the concept of mission fit(outside of schools that really love lots of service or want to train primary care doctors) is overblown. Most schools, I think, are comfortable accepting students who showed them a compelling enough story as to why they want to be a doctor. Again, perhaps this is an area where OP fell short, we can't know for sure, but the hours in her activities and discipline to jump through all the academic and non-academic hoops that she did would sure be enough for me, barring any crazy why medicine essay. What about the supposed mission fit of her California state schools to train docs who are more likely to practice in California? Yet, hundreds of OOS students will attend those schools over her. Another concept that I feel shouldn't be the case is the idea that a 515 scorer has 2-3x the available pool of medical schools that will give their application a chance as compared to the 522+ scorer(yield protection) who really only get looks at elite, highly competitive schools. And in this elite 522+ score range, what I'm reading on some of the recent posts in this thread is that there is almost an additional stigma of being a robot/not having soft skills that has to be overcome/is scrutinized more heavily than usual. Without rambling on too much, all I know is that I'm a rising M2, and OP's application is much better than mine was, and I know many sub 507-508 and even multiple 503 scoring applicants with sub-par EC's in the same demographic as OP who will be attending US MD schools in August, and I'm just trying to make it make sense.
This is the kind of application where we(not me, but an application service) need to see word for word what was written and identify the presence or absence of a red-flag.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I would venture to guess that their LOR's were satisfactory enough(no red flags in them) to secure interviews at very good schools such as washU and Kaiser. Perhaps OP can comment on their perception of their LOR strength and interview skills/performances? It is possible the writing wasn't GREAT, but I am assuming it was good enough based on OP's writing background(again, maybe she could weigh in a little on her thoughts on the writing). The notion of lack of mission fit also slightly irks me in this case, as the applicant strikes me as just about as well-rounded as you can be(with perhaps the only visible weakness being service orientation to the underserved), and I think the concept of mission fit(outside of schools that really love lots of service or want to train primary care doctors) is overblown. Most schools, I think, are comfortable accepting students who showed them a compelling enough story as to why they want to be a doctor. Again, perhaps this is an area where OP fell short, we can't know for sure, but the hours in her activities and discipline to jump through all the academic and non-academic hoops that she did would sure be enough for me, barring any crazy why medicine essay. What about the supposed mission fit of her California state schools to train docs who are more likely to practice in California? Yet, hundreds of OOS students will attend those schools over her. Another concept that I feel shouldn't be the case is the idea that a 515 scorer has 2-3x the available pool of medical schools that will give their application a chance as compared to the 522+ scorer(yield protection) who really only get looks at elite, highly competitive schools. And in this elite 522+ score range, what I'm reading on some of the recent posts in this thread is that there is almost an additional stigma of being a robot/not having soft skills that has to be overcome/is scrutinized more heavily than usual. Without rambling on too much, all I know is that I'm a rising M2, and OP's application is much better than mine was, and I know many sub 507-508 and even multiple 503 scoring applicants with sub-par EC's in the same demographic as OP who will be attending US MD schools in August, and I'm just trying to make it make sense.
This is the kind of application where we(not me, but an application service) need to see word for word what was written and identify the presence or absence of a red-flag.

I like to tell people that admissions is more like Shark Tank than it is a meritocratic process. However imperfect the analogy is, I still emphasize you have to appeal to others to want to interview you. I'm fairly sure there are plenty of people who didn't get picked up by any of those investors who found a different way and succeeded with a thriving business. Building a class is all about finesse and luck (the waitlist shuffle).

I don't sense any entitlement by the OP, but many others will be surprised that someone with those metrics only got picked up by two schools. Until we hear further, the OP is still on waitlists. But we need to be practical and help with a reapp. Again, fewer than 50% of all applicants got into medical school every cycle, including all reapplicants.

The UC schools love people with service, and I pointed out earlier that service orientation activities (and perhaps highlighting work with underserved communities) are missing in the WAMC. The activities listed show a lot of talent and accomplishment, but it's not clear the OP would love being part of any PRIME programs. UC Davis thrives on the attention they have gotten with their mission-focused selection process; they have a good idea what students they want, and it might not be the high-metrics candidate. You can argue yield protection or mission fit, but it works for them. Riverside is very clear what they want from their data and in their marketing statements.

Don't worry; as much as I tout "mission fit" as the key to success with a strong school list and purpose, I am fully aware how "mission fit" can be a convenient way to cover up for other issues, whether they are about the OP or the luck of the process. Once you start reviewing thousands of applications, you know everyone you are reading wants to be a doctor, everyone wants to express their empathy and compassion for others, everyone is excited about the science, and everyone wants to help underserved populations. Why is our school the right one to teach you to become a doctor? That's the question one must be able to answer consistently. It doesn't need to be perfect; it just needs to be persuasive, and it's that difference that makes this process hard.

Good luck on submission day 1 (please don't rush to submit on submission day 1).

 

[ophthoaspirant]

I would venture to guess that their LOR's were satisfactory enough(no red flags in them) to secure interviews at very good schools such as washU and Kaiser. Perhaps OP can comment on their perception of their LOR strength and interview skills/performances? It is possible the writing wasn't GREAT, but I am assuming it was good enough based on OP's writing background(again, maybe she could weigh in a little on her thoughts on the writing). The notion of lack of mission fit also slightly irks me in this case, as the applicant strikes me as just about as well-rounded as you can be(with perhaps the only visible weakness being service orientation to the underserved), and I think the concept of mission fit(outside of schools that really love lots of service or want to train primary care doctors) is overblown. Most schools, I think, are comfortable accepting students who showed them a compelling enough story as to why they want to be a doctor. Again, perhaps this is an area where OP fell short, we can't know for sure, but the hours in her activities and discipline to jump through all the academic and non-academic hoops that she did would sure be enough for me, barring any crazy why medicine essay. What about the supposed mission fit of her California state schools to train docs who are more likely to practice in California? Yet, hundreds of OOS students will attend those schools over her. Another concept that I feel shouldn't be the case is the idea that a 515 scorer has 2-3x the available pool of medical schools that will give their application a chance as compared to the 522+ scorer(yield protection) who really only get looks at elite, highly competitive schools. And in this elite 522+ score range, what I'm reading on some of the recent posts in this thread is that there is almost an additional stigma of being a robot/not having soft skills that has to be overcome/is scrutinized more heavily than usual. Without rambling on too much, all I know is that I'm a rising M2, and OP's application is much better than mine was, and I know many sub 507-508 and even multiple 503 scoring applicants with sub-par EC's in the same demographic as OP who will be attending US MD schools in August, and I'm just trying to make it make sense.
This is the kind of application where we(not me, but an application service) need to see word for word what was written and identify the presence or absence of a red-flag.

Only 20-30% of interviewees get an A at good programs. Be it LOR strength or stats or research hours & pubs, there is a significant difference between being good enough to get interviews versus getting As. Not to mention, interview performance matters too. Most programs follow the "staircase" model where if you were on the lower stairs amongst those invited to interview, your interview performance has to be astounding to jump up several stairs to get on the top stairs that get the As. You have to keep in mind that most interviewees on stairs higher than you are also going to perform above-average in the interview.

 

[YodaPineapple]

Only 20-30% of interviewees get an A at good programs. Be it LOR strength or stats or research hours & pubs, there is a significant difference between being good enough to get interviews versus getting As. Not to mention, interview performance matters too. Most programs follow the "staircase" model where if you were on the lower stairs amongst those invited to interview, your interview performance has to be astounding to jump up several stairs to get on the top stairs that get the As. You have to keep in mind that most interviewees on stairs higher than you are also going to perform above-average in the interview.

Fully agree with all of this. I think this applicant’s issue was just not getting enough interviews to secure an A. But that’s what I’m struggling to comprehend. Outside of being an athlete, I was objectively worse than this applicant in nearly every way. Sure maybe I had a great narrative but for me to get 8ii’s(couple at T30, the rest mid tier and state schools), and this applicant to get two top 10s and nothing else is just unfortunate. Not sure if it’s just the California curse or something else but I’m sure we all want to see them get an A next cycle.