MD WAMC reapplicant, no interviews this year 3.6/3.5/510 ORM school list help!

[notrebecca]

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My first time applying I believed I applied too late, so I applied earlier for my second cycle, but still did not get any interviews. My school list is limited but I am reluctant to go to schools in small cities or in the South. [i've applied twice]

Demographic: Asian American woman from/in California, competitive liberal arts alum
Stats: cGPA 3.6, sGPA 3.5, MCAT 510 (126/127/129/128)

Should I retake my MCAT?

Extracurriculars:

• 2000 hours as a tutor/teacher of college/high school level chemistry, biology, physics (organization about to receive accreditation, am leading the project)
• 1600 worked in MoBio as research associate, published in Journal of Immunology
• 1000 hours undergraduate research in MoBio/neuroscience, several presentations
• 200 hours volunteering at a hospital in various areas (NICU/GI/General)
• 30 hours shadowing (oncology, cardiology)
• 180 hours shadowing after graduating high school/before college (pediatrics)
• 200 hours volunteering (immigrants on naturalization exam/ tutoring elementary students /mentoring first year Asian American college students)
• 400 hours leadership position in an Asian American organization (organizing events for underserved Asian American groups [SEA, low income, first gen], working with Pacific Islander communities)
• 30 hours at women's homeless shelter

School List:
MD schools: all UCs, Keck, Kaiser Permanente, Albert Einstein, SUNY Stony Brook, Sidney Kimmel, Tufts, St. Louis, Georgetown, Jacobs, Temple, University of Illinois, Drexel, George Washington, Rush, Rosalind Franklin, SUNY Downstate, Loyola

Should I consider doing postbacc or are there other schools in major cities I missed? / Are small cities not bad and I should let go of that bias?

 

[SweetBurger]

keck, kaiser, einstein all pretty much seem like donations js

 

[candbgirl]

So this will be your third cycle applying? Have you applied DO? Your GPAs are below average and your MCAT is average. Have you tried to talk to admissions people about your application? Any IAs, how are your letters? Did you apply to all of the listed schools twice? You have to make the choice if you want to go to med school in a major city or if you want to go to med school period. You have thousands of hours in research and thousands in tutoring and teaching . People might wonder why med school? Why not a PhD and be a researcher/ teacher. You have gone way overboard on shadowing. So stop that. You also need to get off campus and out of your comfort zone. Find people unlike you that need help-the homeless, veterans, disabled kids, etc.

 

[notrebecca]

keck, kaiser, einstein all pretty much seem like donations js

what are donations js?

 

[SweetBurger]

what are donations js?

the application fees were donations to those schools

 

[notrebecca]

So this will be your third cycle applying? Have you applied DO? Your GPAs are below average and your MCAT is average. Have you tried to talk to admissions people about your application? Any IAs, how are your letters? Did you apply to all of the listed schools twice? You have to make the choice if you want to go to med school in a major city or if you want to go to med school period. You have thousands of hours in research and thousands in tutoring and teaching . People might wonder why med school? Why not a PhD and be a researcher/ teacher. You have gone way overboard on shadowing. So stop that. You also need to get off campus and out of your comfort zone. Find people unlike you that need help-the homeless, veterans, disabled kids, etc.

Most of the shadowing was done the year before I went to college, my recent shadowing in undergraduate years was only 30 hours.
After graduating, I have also started volunteering at a women's homeless shelter, but I thought my ECs were strong enough so I just didn't include them.
Are there small city schools you recommend then?

 

[candbgirl]

Was your shadowing while you were a senior in high school? If so it stays in hs. But your 30 hours of recent shadowing is okay. Get about 20 more including some with a primary care doc for a total of 50. That’s all you need. Your ECs are okay they aren’t strong. Most of those numbers are teaching, tutoring and research. You absolutely need to expand on your work with the women’s homeless shelter. This might push you out of your comfort zone. A physician works with lots of different types of people- people unlike themselves. You should get off campus and stretch your wings.

What you have done in the past hasn’t been successful . Here you are applying for your third time and you haven’t had an interview. You really need to take a step back and redo your whole application. Start fresh and figure things out.

As for schools, I don’t know enough about schools to have or to share an opinion. Big city or small city you have to choose. You need to do some soul searching and decide what’s important. Do you want to be a doctor? If so you have to be open to going out of your comfort zone. I’m from Chicago. I love big cities so I understand what you are saying about big cities but you have applied before and had no interviews . You also need to look at DO schools.

It always goes back to the question- do you want to be a doctor? Or do you just want to keep applying? Think hard about what you want and how much you want it. Take time and decide. If I were you I don’t think I would apply this upcoming cycle. Spend time building your volunteering to the unserved and underserved. Rework your whole application and develop a list of schools that fit your goals. Look seriously at DO schools too.

 

[notrebecca]

Was your shadowing while you were a senior in high school? If so it stays in hs. But your 30 hours of recent shadowing is okay. Get about 20 more including some with a primary care doc for a total of 50. That’s all you need. Your ECs are okay they aren’t strong. Most of those numbers are teaching, tutoring and research. You absolutely need to expand on your work with the women’s homeless shelter. This might push you out of your comfort zone. A physician works with lots of different types of people- people unlike themselves. You should get off campus and stretch your wings.

What you have done in the past hasn’t been successful . Here you are applying for your third time and you haven’t had an interview. You really need to take a step back and redo your whole application. Start fresh and figure things out.

As for schools, I don’t know enough about schools to have or to share an opinion. Big city or small city you have to choose. You need to do some soul searching and decide what’s important. Do you want to be a doctor? If so you have to be open to going out of your comfort zone. I’m from Chicago. I love big cities so I understand what you are saying about big cities but you have applied before and had no interviews . You also need to look at DO schools.

It always goes back to the question- do you want to be a doctor? Or do you just want to keep applying? Think hard about what you want and how much you want it. Take time and decide. If I were you I don’t think I would apply this upcoming cycle. Spend time building your volunteering to the unserved and underserved. Rework your whole application and develop a list of schools that fit your goals. Look seriously at DO schools too.

The shadowing was right after I graduated high school, so others have said to include it in the application.

As for ECs, I'm going to disagree with you that they aren't strong. The people I worked with were unlike me in every way. The leadership position in the Asian American organization was organizing for Pacific Islander communities, undocumented students, and other underserved groups within the Asian American community (SEA, low income, first gen). My teaching and tutoring were also for underserved students within that community. Asian America is not a monolith, and there are many underserved groups within the community.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm agreeing with @candbgirl : you've applied three times with absolutely no successes when it comes to even getting interviews. Your essential metrics should at least get you some feedback, so something is absolutely wrong with your application strategy, essays, recommendations, and perspective when it comes to becoming a physician. The opinion that you don't believe your EC's aren't strong is not supported by getting interview invitations, or the way you are presenting them as an essential insight to your dedication to medicine is not effective.

To what extent have you done any networking with current medical students, recent graduates doing residency, medical school admissions staff and student services administrators? You can argue points with us, but you are obviously losing arguments with the decision-makers who determine your preparation or fitness for medicine. The fact you have no responses is not only disappointing, but is a very sharp message that you need a completely different approach or a completely new assessment on why you want to be a physician. You must apply to DO schools whatever you do, and you should no longer consider any of the schools that have rejected you twice already.

Retaking the MCAT I'm not even sure that's going to really help you improve your situation. Retake it only if you have to (too old to be considered current for entry). But you've already spent thousands on the application process... don't be too stubborn in your willingness to throw more bad money after good. At minimum you need completely new essays and letters of recommendation from people who will champion you. But you need to think about a complete reset of your application strategy.

 

[notrebecca]

I'm agreeing with @candbgirl : you've applied three times with absolutely no successes when it comes to even getting interviews. Your essential metrics should at least get you some feedback, so something is absolutely wrong with your application strategy, essays, recommendations, and perspective when it comes to becoming a physician. The opinion that you don't believe your EC's aren't strong is not supported by getting interview invitations, or the way you are presenting them as an essential insight to your dedication to medicine is not effective.

To what extent have you done any networking with current medical students, recent graduates doing residency, medical school admissions staff and student services administrators? You can argue points with us, but you are obviously losing arguments with the decision-makers who determine your preparation or fitness for medicine. The fact you have no responses is not only disappointing, but is a very sharp message that you need a completely different approach or a completely new assessment on why you want to be a physician. You must apply to DO schools whatever you do, and you should no longer consider any of the schools that have rejected you twice already.

Retaking the MCAT I'm not even sure that's going to really help you improve your situation. Retake it only if you have to (too old to be considered current for entry). But you've already spent thousands on the application process... don't be too stubborn in your willingness to throw more bad money after good.

so you're saying my school list is ok? numbers are fine? just need to adjust how i word my ECs?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

so you're saying my school list is ok? numbers are fine? just need to adjust how i word my ECs?

I said, "You must apply to DO schools whatever you do, and you should no longer consider any of the schools that have rejected you twice already." And you need to completely rethink your application, about why with your numbers you aren't getting ANY interviews.

 

[Faha]

You should definitely apply to at least 8 DO schools. I suggest these MD schools:
Vermont
Quinnipiac
Albany
New York Medical College
Seton Hall
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Penn State
George Washington
Georgetown
Virginia Commonwealth
Eastern Virginia
NOVA MD
Oakland Beaumont
Wayne State
Medical College Wisconsin
Loyola
Rosalind Franklin
Creighton
TCU-UNT
California Northstate
California University
Loma Linda
UC Davis
UC Irvine
Apply in June and submit all your secondaries by July.

 

[candbgirl]

so you're saying my school list is ok? numbers are fine? just need to adjust how i word my ECs?

No that’s not what he said.
#1 He said apply to DO schools. Do not reapply to any schools you have already applied to twice.
#2 He said with your numbers you should have had at least one interview over the course of two complete cycles. Something else is wrong.
#3 He said your whole application needs to be be refocused and rewritten. There is something intrinsically wrong with your current application. After two full cycles you should have had at least one interview. You have had none.

You really need to start from scratch on your PS, essays, ECs, everything in your primary and your secondaries, including your school list.