What are my chances at KU med?!...

[Linsanity]

I have a cumulative MCAT score of 29Q (10PS/8VR/11BS). I got rejected from the EDP last cycle from the University of Kansas School of Medicine. I will apply early decision to KU med as my first choice next cycle, but will try to apply broadly if rejected.

My cGPA is ~3.7 cum and ~3.6 sGPA.

Extracurriculars
-I have volunteer experience at a non-profit clinic where I got plenty of patient contact (took vitals, ran a few lab tests, phlebotomy etc.) for approx 2 years and I also was a hospice volunteer for about a year.
-I work at a biotech/pharmacy company and have been there for 2 years doing research (running kinase assays like ELISAs and Western Blots on cancer cells mainly).
-I have other research experience at KU in a cancer lab and at the KU med center in a neurophysiology lab - for 1 semester and 1 summer, respectively.
-Got some church volunteering and was youth group leader for a year.
-I have shadowed one Orthopedic Surgeon.
-I will have decent LOR from work, professors, and a doctor I am shadowing
-I am a Kansas Resident.

What I am particularly worried about is though I receieved interviews for both early decision and regular decision, I was flat out rejected without even being wait-listed. I will be spending the off time by volunteering at two different places to increase my clinical exposure in the short time I have (applied for JayDoc too), as that was the biggest criticism on my application according to the Dean of Admissions. I have also set up and applied for a couple more Shadowing positions: one with a pathologist and one with a family practice doc. I am also trying to decide if I should retake the MCAT or not... The dean told me I shouldnt have to worry about my MCAT score, but I am still worried that its not a 30.

I would love to hear what you guys have to say! Thanks for reading this!

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[Catalystik]

I have a cumulative MCAT score of 29Q (10PS/8VR/11BS). I got rejected from the EDP last cycle from the University of Kansas School of Medicine. I will apply early decision to KU med as my first choice next cycle, but will try to apply broadly if rejected.

My cGPA is ~3.7 cum and ~3.6 sGPA.

Extracurriculars
-I have volunteer experience at a non-profit clinic where I got plenty of patient contact (took vitals, ran a few lab tests, phlebotomy etc.) for approx 2 years and I also was a hospice volunteer for about a year.
-I work at a biotech/pharmacy company and have been there for 2 years doing research (running kinase assays like ELISAs and Western Blots on cancer cells mainly).
-I have other research experience at KU in a cancer lab and at the KU med center in a neurophysiology lab - for 1 semester and 1 summer, respectively.
-Got some church volunteering and was youth group leader for a year.
-I have shadowed one Orthopedic Surgeon.
-I will have decent LOR from work, professors, and a doctor I am shadowing
-I am a Kansas Resident.

What I am particularly worried about is though I receieved interviews for both early decision and regular decision, I was flat out rejected without even being wait-listed. I will be spending the off time by volunteering at two different places to increase my clinical exposure in the short time I have (applied for JayDoc too), as that was the biggest criticism on my application according to the Dean of Admissions. I have also set up and applied for a couple more Shadowing positions: one with a pathologist and one with a family practice doc. I am also trying to decide if I should retake the MCAT or not... The dean told me I shouldnt have to worry about my MCAT score, but I am still worried that its not a 30.

I would love to hear what you guys have to say! Thanks for reading this!

I doubt that your stats are the reason you were rejected in the regular decision process, though for most schools, to have a shot at EDP, one's stats need to exceed the average acceptee stats for a school by a bit. I don't know that UK does it differently, but some do. The disadvantage of EDP is that you don't enter the regular decision process until late in the cycle, well after the majority of other appplicants, putting you at a disadvantage statistically fior getting accepted to all the schools you might add.

Your ECs, with the planned improvements, look fine to me. If you could continue with the nonmedical community service you mentioned, that would be nice to see, too. If you could take on a peer leadership role, that would be better.

I am suspiciouus that you may not be a good interviewer. Did you practice ahead of time and prepare for common questions? How did you think things went? Presumably, your LORs didn't raise red flags and you have no Institutional Actions or legal trouble?

 

[dreamweaver1988]

I doubt that your stats are the reason you were rejected in the regular decision process, though for most schools, to have a shot at EDP, one's stats need to exceed the average acceptee stats for a school by a bit. I don't know that UK does it differently, but some do. The disadvantage of EDP is that you don't enter the regular decision process until late in the cycle, well after the majority of other appplicants, putting you at a disadvantage statistically fior getting accepted to all the schools you might add.

Your ECs, with the planned improvements, look fine to me. If you could continue with the nonmedical community service you mentioned, that would be nice to see, too. If you could take on a peer leadership role, that would be better.

I am suspiciouus that you may not be a good interviewer. Did you practice ahead of time and prepare for common questions? How did you think things went? Presumably, your LORs didn't raise red flags and you have no Institutional Actions or legal trouble?

I agree with Cat on this one. Your stats are fine and right at KU's level. Your research is well above average, I would say. Your clinical experience is well above average. Your volunteering is above average. Your potential problems would be a relative dearth of shadowing (especially no primary care doc), bad interviewing, an IA, and/or a bum LOR. Honestly, it sounds like you're getting B.S. from the dean, because few people have what you bring to the table in terms of clinical, research, and volunteer work. Good luck.

 

[MMPman]

I have a cumulative MCAT score of 29Q (10PS/8VR/11BS). I got rejected from the EDP last cycle from the University of Kansas School of Medicine. I will apply early decision to KU med as my first choice next cycle, but will try to apply broadly if rejected.

My cGPA is ~3.7 cum and ~3.6 sGPA.

Extracurriculars
-I have volunteer experience at a non-profit clinic where I got plenty of patient contact (took vitals, ran a few lab tests, phlebotomy etc.) for approx 2 years and I also was a hospice volunteer for about a year.
-I work at a biotech/pharmacy company and have been there for 2 years doing research (running kinase assays like ELISAs and Western Blots on cancer cells mainly).
-I have other research experience at KU in a cancer lab and at the KU med center in a neurophysiology lab - for 1 semester and 1 summer, respectively.
-Got some church volunteering and was youth group leader for a year.
-I have shadowed one Orthopedic Surgeon.
-I will have decent LOR from work, professors, and a doctor I am shadowing
-I am a Kansas Resident.

What I am particularly worried about is though I receieved interviews for both early decision and regular decision, I was flat out rejected without even being wait-listed. I will be spending the off time by volunteering at two different places to increase my clinical exposure in the short time I have (applied for JayDoc too), as that was the biggest criticism on my application according to the Dean of Admissions. I have also set up and applied for a couple more Shadowing positions: one with a pathologist and one with a family practice doc. I am also trying to decide if I should retake the MCAT or not... The dean told me I shouldnt have to worry about my MCAT score, but I am still worried that its not a 30.

I would love to hear what you guys have to say! Thanks for reading this!

As a Kansas resident and seeing many people go to KU Med, I do not think your rejection was due to your stats. From what I have heard, the Kansas legislature puts a ton of pressure on KU Med to produce lots of primary care docs. Therefore, shadow a family physician and if you can, a PCP in a rural community.

Also, you should think seriously before applying early decision again. Your stats are good enough to get accepted at some other schools, but applying after October will put you at a considerable disadvantage. Plus, I am not convinced applying ED at KU will help out that much, though people may disagree. My advice would be to call the admissions office, set up an appointment with Ms. McCurdy, and find out why you were rejected and how you can improve.


Best of luck!

 

[Linsanity]

Thank you all for the advice. I just had a talk with my university's premedical advisor and he had very similar things to say.

Cat: I strongly doubt that it was due to LORs but the Dean of Admissions basically told me that it was my interview... the interviewer didn't quite understand my answer to "why do you want to be a doctor" and also didn't understand why I had taken a break from my volunteering at the clinic the semester before (I was taking 19 credit hours that I needed to ace in order to establish a strong upward trend and working 25+ hours a week - I explained to him that I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew). I understand that my EDP interviewer was worried that I didn't know what I was getting into, presumably from the lack of shadowing experience.
I think that I will continue searching for more diverse volunteer experiences (continue with church volunteering) as well as work on my interviewing skills, my PS, secondaries etc. I may also apply for an Americorps position at my Community Health Center. Would you recommend me to retake the MCAT if I am confident that I can get a 31+ while doing all this as well? Again, thanks for your advice!

Dreamweaver: I am also uncertain of the Dean's advice... but I know she didn't make up the Interviewers notes, and so I am pretty certain that my rejection had a lot to do with my poor explanation of why I wanted to become a doctor and why I took a hiatus from my volunteering. Thank you for your advice!

MMPman: Yeah, I agree. I am definitely going to shadow a primary care doc ASAP. Thank you for your advice!

 

[Catalystik]

Would you recommend me to retake the MCAT if I am confident that I can get a 31+ while doing all this as well?

The issue that it might be too low has not been raised. Don't fix what isn't broken.