WAMC/Schol List 3.96 GPA / 521 MCAT (Re-Applicant)

[Kumakama]

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Hey everyone!

With the 2023-2024 application cycle coming up, I thought I'd make a post about what my chances are and if there's anything I can do to improve my application. As you can probably tell from the thread title, I applied during the 2022-2023 cycle but got accepted into 1 school that I was not able to accept (personal issues) and waitlisted at another. I believe the largest issue with my application was my late secondary submission date (October 31st) and maybe poor clinical hours/choice of school? I'm about to start my gap year and hopefully find a position that will get me some more clinical experience! Any advice would be great 🙂

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
   1. 3.96/3.95
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown
   1. 521 (130/130/129/132)
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)
   1. Florida
4. Ethnicity and/or race
   1. South Asian
5. Undergraduate institution or category
   1. University of Florida
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
   1. Volunteer Nurse's Assistant: 80 hours
7. Research experience and productivity
   1. Neuroscience researcher: 1000+ hours
      1. 1st author literature review publication
      2. Poster presentations at 5 events
      3. Another lit review publication soon
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
   1. Orthopedic surgeon: 160 hours
   2. Interventional Radiologist: 40 hours
9. Non-clinical volunteering
   1. Animal Shelter volunteer: 30 hours
   2. COVID response team volunteer: 40 hours
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
    1. Biochemistry Learning Assistant: 120 hours
    2. Paid tutor for STEM topics: 10 hours
    3. Officer of two student orgs
    4. Powerlifting/Esports/Music
11. Relevant honors or awards
    1. Dean's list each semester
    2. Not really sure what else qualifies here
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important
    1. I got secondaries from all the schools I had applied to but only interviewed at two

Schools that I applied to the last cycle (definitely needed to change some of these):

1. State schools (UF/USF/UM/FSU)
2. Mayo
3. Johns Hopkins
4. Emory
5. Duke
6. NYU
7. Stanford
8. Nova
9. Vanderbilt
10. UW
11. UC Davis
12. Yale
13. UAMS
14. Sinai

Let me know if any other information might help!! Thank you 🙂

 

[chilly_md]

I applied during the 2022-2023 cycle but got accepted into 1 school that I was not able to accept (personal issues) and waitlisted at another.

This is a bit of a red flag. If you had issues with health or a family emergency, schools will wonder why you didn’t just defer for a year. And you definitely will not be able to apply to the school you turned down.

UW and UC Davis do not take OOS students. Do not apply until you gain significantly more clinical experience. Trying again with only 80 hours is not a good idea.

 

[Faha]

You need more clinical volunteering hours with patient contact before you reapply. If you can accumulate another 100+ hours before the end of June you could reapply in early July. You also need another 100+ hours of non clinical volunteering (homeless shelter, food bank). If you cannot obtain those hours by late June then you should postpone your application until June 2024. You also need to submit all secondaries by August.
where were your 2 interviews ?

 

[Kumakama]

You need more clinical volunteering hours with patient contact before you reapply. If you can accumulate another 100+ hours before the end of June you could reapply in early July. You also need another 100+ hours of non clinical volunteering (homeless shelter, food bank). If you cannot obtain those hours by late June then you should postpone your application until June 2024. You also need to submit all secondaries by August.
where were your 2 interviews ?

Interviewed and was accepted at UAMS which would not offer deferral for OOS applications. Interviewed and currently waitlisted as USF.

 

[Faha]

Interviewed and was accepted at UAMS which would not offer deferral for OOS applications. Interviewed and currently waitlisted as USF.

If not accepted to USF, I suggest these schools when you reapply a year from now with more clinical and non clinical volunteering:
USF
Miami
Florida State
U Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Central Florida
Duke
U Virginia
Vanderbilt
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Northwestern
Western Michigan
U Michigan
Cincinnati
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
U Penn
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Rochester
Tufts
Brown
Yale
Kaiser

 

[Kumakama]

Thank you for the responses, everyone! Given that I'm reapplying, would it be beneficial to mention the reasons for not accepting during the last cycle somewhere in my application? If so, where would I write that?

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

Thank you for the responses, everyone! Given that I'm reapplying, would it be beneficial to mention the reasons for not accepting during the last cycle somewhere in my application? If so, where would I write that?

You might want to seek advice from someone like @Goro here. However, if you got hit by a bus and had to recuperate just before you were due to enter medical school...you'd talk about that if you were ever asked if you had been accepted to another medical school, or in the part of the secondary application that asks if you had anything else you wanted to say. Turning down an MD acceptance is a pretty big red flag; hopefully, you had a good reason to do so.

 

[Goro]

If not accepted to USF, I suggest these schools when you reapply a year from now with more clinical and non clinical volunteering:
USF
Miami
Florida State
U Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Central Florida
Duke
U Virginia
Vanderbilt
Washington University (in St. Louis-almost a guaranteed interview with your stats)
Northwestern
Western Michigan
U Michigan
Cincinnati
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
U Penn
Hofstra
Einstein
Mount Sinai
Rochester
Tufts
Brown
Yale
Kaiser

I agree with the wise Faha.

Do NOT apply to schools that you would not attend

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

I understand if your reason for turning down the acceptance is not something you would want to discuss here; however, MD schools are going to be able to find out and it is very likely that they will ask questions about it. You might be anywhere from OK to DOA, depending on what your true reason was.

Good luck.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Again, I will affirm, you can just tell the truth that you were given an offer but your request for a deferral (explain reason) was not approved. You technically did not matriculate, so it's not that big a red flag IMO.