What are my Chances/What went wrong?

[chutermcgavin]

So I am in the later stages of my application season and still alive (to some extent). I applied to a number of schools and was denied w/o II at Pitt, Mayo Clinic, Washington, MUSC, UCSF, Vanderbilt, UC Davis, Duke, UVA and Columbia. I never received an answer from Harvard, Stanford, Yale or UCLA. I interviewed at:

Washington St Louis - 10/16/14, no update
UNC Chapel Hill - 11/3/14 in state, no update
UPenn - 1/7/15, decisions announced in March
Mount Sinai - 2/4/15, denied on 2/18/15

I thought my interviews at Mount Sinai went about as well as they possibly could have, and I was more than a little surprised by how few interviews I got and the length of waiting periods. Today's denial from MSSM kinda crushed me. So, I was hoping some of y'all had insight into what went wrong for me. Here are my relevant stats:

42 MCAT
3.7 GPA (3.85 science/math, with 3.95 Bio), with a sharp upward trajectory that I explain in my PS. My GPA in my first 2 years was ~3.4, and in the second half about 3.8
My LoRs were of sufficient quality that interviewers mentioned them as very helpful.
200 hours nonmedical volunteering
300 hours medical volunteering with patients
50 hours shadowing
400 hours undergrad research, and full time research position for gap year (which is spent mostly in the OR performing complex full sterile procedures, with a total of ~2000 hours by estimated end date)
100 hours teaching courses for a test prep company

I am published via my current research job and presenting at a national conference later this year. I have always been a good writer and interviewer, so I think my essays and interviews were very, very good. I realize that I could improve on my shadowing and some ECs, but... I didn't think I was horribly behind on any category. I thought I had an extremely competitive application, and I don't really know why I didn't get more II's or any acceptances. Is there something y'all can see that I can't? Also, has any applicant ever gotten an Ivy as their only acceptance?

The worst part is that if I apply next year (this year was my first application cycle) I will have to retake the MCAT after I worked so damn hard for my score. So, any tips on what to do in the coming year would be greatly appreciated.

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[seizurecrow]

How old is your mcat score?

I hate to say this, but you might be overestimating your ability to interview well. You're getting II love, but no post-II love. Then again, you still have some schools to hear back from.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Wait until you hear back from WashU, Penn, and UNC before you start freaking out.

 

[chutermcgavin]

Wait until you hear back from WashU, Penn, and UNC before you start freaking out.

I know, but it's difficult when I considered Mt Sinai my best bet (based on interviews there). And from the school specific forums, it seems my chances at UNC and Wash U are close to none since adcoms are pretty much done meeting. The med school application process is too long.

Also, my MCAT score is about a year and a half old (mid-late 2013).

 

[seizurecrow]

Why would you have to retake your mcat? Assuming you apply this upcoming cycle, it'd only be 2 years old...

 

[chutermcgavin]

I was under the impression that schools would not accept that MCAT date for the upcoming admissions cycle (2015-2016), but I guess I was wrong.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I know, but it's difficult when I considered Mt Sinai my best bet (based on interviews there). And from the school specific forums, it seems my chances at UNC and Wash U are close to none since adcoms are pretty much done meeting. The med school application process is too long.

Also, my MCAT score is about a year and a half old (mid-late 2013).

There are still people who haven't even gone to WashU to interview and you probably don't have a perfect sense of how your interviews went (given your impression of your Sinai interview and the result). Just wait until you hear back and then decide what to do.

 

[Pluto2]

It only takes one -- That LizzyM is out of this world, but if the adcom knew about the test prep instruction gig that 42 might get discounted a touch. If you are Over Represented in Medicine, that went wrong for you and is out of your control. If this is your second attempt, that is not helpful and also out of your control now.

As WedgeDawg said above, at this point your recourse for sanity is to hold fast, even though that is hard. You made your choices for the number of schools and the mix for this round and the round is not over yet. You interviewed with incredible schools and a rejection from school A has little to nothing to do with school B, as much as our fear and angst drives us to read tea leaves and to think there is.

So Good luck.. even in the closing seconds of this process, if there is a one in a million chance, somebody has to be the one. One last UPenn 2015 decision for example.

 

[gyngyn]

You have an interview problem.
I have seen some candidates with seriously bad interview skills accepted at schools where you interviewed.
If you don't get in this cycle, get some help with this (maybe even if you do!).

 

[musicswimlife]

I am as stunned as you are that you haven't received more II's. How late/early did you apply? Submitting the primary and secondaries late can have more of an impact on chances than some students think. If you submitted in June or July, or even August then it probably isn't the issue, but if you didn't submit secondaries(or worse, primary) until late september, then this may have been the culprit. If you don't get accepted this year, just apply more broadly next year and you should not have to worry at all. And yes, they WILL accept your 42 mcat score next year, so you are fine!