Was last year's cycle exceptionally hard?

[memedimonkey]

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Did he know how difficult CA MD app competition is?
Did he apply in June?
When you say broadly was it public & private, east & west, high & low stat? You cannot apply to the top 30 schools or only schools west of the Mississippi and call it broadly.
Did he turn around all the secondaries in a few days or at most 2 weeks?

If he did all of the above, then perhaps it is ECs or LORs or medical experience (shadow, volunteer, etc) lacking.

I applied to over 30 schools, had a lower GPA & MCAT but got 10 interviews. I would think that my numbers had to be made up for by early applications and great LORs/ECs.

Every year seems to be a tough year and he could have a great application packet and simply made the error of applying by the final deadline instead of June or he could have a kiss of death LOR or he could have focused so much on his numbers that he did not make time for ECs

 

[LizzyM]

I've been doing this for more than 10 years and it didn't feel like there were more or better applicants (although I did feel we were seeing more 40/4.0s than ever-- and we didn't interview all of them and we didn't accept all that we interviewed).

Not getting interviews and not getting offers??

Most likely reasons not to get an interview (other than grades/scores): applying late, poorly written or poorly thought-out personal statement, negative letters, few/poor/poorly described experiences, mismatch with school (e.g. avid Alpine skier in Florida).

Most likely reasons not to get an offer after interview: poorly prepared for interview, insincere responses to questions, arrogance, flat affect (no personality), rude or otherwise badly behaved (not common but the kiss of death, particularly if directed to low level staff members).

 

[FutureScaresMe]

Snip

Most likely reasons not to get an offer after interview: poorly prepared for interview, insincere responses to questions, arrogance, flat affect (no personality), rude or otherwise badly behaved (not common but the kiss of death, particularly if directed to low level staff members).

Any other possible reasons? I interviewed at some pretty damn competitive schools with stats that are below their averages. Could stats have simply just come back to kick me come final committee review time? I never got rejected from a school post-interview, and had on more than a few occasions interviewers tell me, "I think this school would be a good fit for you" or "I hope to see you next year." My theory was that schools would accept applicants that they really wanted with stats more in line with or above their average, hope for the best, and then come may 15th after their "all stars" make their decisions, go for those of us who fall below their averages, yet still had something they were interested in.

 

[LizzyM]

Any other possible reasons? I interviewed at some pretty damn competitive schools with stats that are below their averages. Could stats have simply just come back to kick me come final committee review time? I never got rejected from a school post-interview, and had on more than a few occasions interviewers tell me, "I think this school would be a good fit for you" or "I hope to see you next year." My theory was that schools would accept applicants that they really wanted with stats more in line with or above their average, hope for the best, and then come may 15th after their "all stars" make their decisions, go for those of us who fall below their averages, yet still had something they were interested in.

You are right.. I was thinking about rejection rather than waitlist. Yes, you do have to wait for the superstars to make their choices before you get a shot given the lower stats.

 

[FirefighterDoc]

wow it does sound like it became a little more difficult.
i am glad i applied last year (32, 3.8)...i had great "luck" offered 9 interviews...turned down 3 interviews, got accepted to 5 of 6 schools i interviewed at.


and... I am a complete ******* with very little personality or motivation

i love your md apps

+1

 

[PCxX]

So, were the higher numbers this year caused by more people having outstanding stats, or by the people with outstanding stats simply applying to more schools?

Were the stats of matriculants relatively consistent with past years, or did they go up significantly as well?

 

[mipp0]

you can't be serious

do you really think that people studying longer for the mcat is keeping qualified applicants out of med school?

No one takes responsibility for their own actions, ever. I am just shocked you who you managed to blame it on this time.

edit: on second thought, I just don't understand what you're trying to say. mcat scores are inflated by people that do well? This is all just reality. People who are going to score high score high. People that take it 3 times most often aren't the ones getting 39's, composite or not, you clearly should know that.

Buddy, cool it, I think you're missing his point. There are people with the time and resources to take months off to study for the MCAT, while others work full time and might not have such luxuries.

Some people (yes bro, some people in the real world) can't afford to take the MCAT multiple times. They've got one shot to make it. And then there are people who can, and do, inflate their scores to a degree because of money, time, and a schedule where they don't have to work to get by. A significant degree I daresay.

Sucks huh? I know a buddy of mine who took the MCAT 3x. First was a 31. Second was a 35. Third time was a 38.

Inflation, no?

It's another sad example of a world with haves and have nots.