What are my wife's chances?

[Sarge]

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You all will have to forgive me if I am posting this in the wrong place or if I use incorrect terminology. I know nothing about this forum because I’m not applying to Medical School. However, my wife is.

And, she is freaking out that she won’t get accepted anywhere. I am trying to reassure her, but wanted to see if any of you can tell me if I should be preparing her to deal with rejection or if I should be telling her that she will get in everywhere. (Full disclosure: I think she is AMAZING and SHOULD get in everywhere, but I guess I’m not on an admissions committee. 😛 )

So, here’s her story:

She is a non-traditional student. She graduated from a good college – University of Virginia – with a 3.68 GPA and a degree in History. She then decided to go to Med School, so did a post-bacc and got a 3.88 science GPA (4.0 in the post-bacc program). She earned a 36 on the MCAT – 12 on each section - (which I hear is really great!).

She has been working at a restaurant while in her post-bacc, but has also done research at a hospital for about a year (about 8 hrs/week) and worked at a free medical clinic for about 2 years (also about 8 hrs/week).

She’s half Hispanic; I don’t know if that really has any effect on admissions.

Also she’s has most of her “secondaries” in. But, she is worried because she didn’t submit them early and thought that would hurt her chances. Is this true?

Here’s the problem: my job limits the cities that we can consider. So, she is applying to a lot of highly-competitive schools. Here is her list:

U. Penn
U. of Chicago
Stanford
UC San Diego
US San Francisco
Dartmouth
Case Western
Northwestern
Boston University
Tufts
Mayo
UCLA
UNC – Chapel Hill
Tulane
University of Connecticut
University of Texas – Galveston
UC Irving
UC Davis
Penn State
University of Miami
University of Buffalo
Albany Medical College
Florida International University
Medical College of Georgia
Texas Tech
Drexel University

I really appreciate any feedback on this! I am trying to be as good of a husband as I can but I know NOTHING about this process. All the information that I get is through my wife and she is the eternal pessimist. Most days she is convinced that she should just give up and I try to encourage her, but don’t really know what her chances look like! I am just looking for some good, honest feedback. Thank you so much!

 

[Freesia88]

TBH I think her chances are pretty good, given the cases I have seen on this forum. Did she get any interview invites yet?

 

[MedPR]

You all will have to forgive me if I am posting this in the wrong place or if I use incorrect terminology. I know nothing about this forum because I’m not applying to Medical School. However, my wife is.

And, she is freaking out that she won’t get accepted anywhere. I am trying to reassure her, but wanted to see if any of you can tell me if I should be preparing her to deal with rejection or if I should be telling her that she will get in everywhere. (Full disclosure: I think she is AMAZING and SHOULD get in everywhere, but I guess I’m not on an admissions committee. 😛 )

So, here’s her story:

She is a non-traditional student. She graduated from a good college – University of Virginia – with a 3.68 GPA and a degree in History. She then decided to go to Med School, so did a post-bacc and got a 3.88 science GPA (4.0 in the post-bacc program). She earned a 36 on the MCAT – 12 on each section - (which I hear is really great!).

She has been working at a restaurant while in her post-bacc, but has also done research at a hospital for about a year (about 8 hrs/week) and worked at a free medical clinic for about 2 years (also about 8 hrs/week).

She’s half Hispanic; I don’t know if that really has any effect on admissions.

Also she’s has most of her “secondaries” in. But, she is worried because she didn’t submit them early and thought that would hurt her chances. Is this true?

Here’s the problem: my job limits the cities that we can consider. So, she is applying to a lot of highly-competitive schools. Here is her list:

U. Penn
U. of Chicago
Stanford
UC San Diego
US San Francisco
Dartmouth
Case Western
Northwestern
Boston University
Tufts
Mayo
UCLA
UNC – Chapel Hill
Tulane
University of Connecticut
University of Texas – Galveston
UC Irving
UC Davis
Penn State
University of Miami
University of Buffalo
Albany Medical College
Florida International University
Medical College of Georgia
Texas Tech
Drexel University

I really appreciate any feedback on this! I am trying to be as good of a husband as I can but I know NOTHING about this process. All the information that I get is through my wife and she is the eternal pessimist. Most days she is convinced that she should just give up and I try to encourage her, but don’t really know what her chances look like! I am just looking for some good, honest feedback. Thank you so much!

Should be fine provided she has volunteered and shadowed.

 

[Freesia88]

Should be fine provided she has volunteered and shadowed.

Oh yeah...there are those 🙂

 

[typicalindian]

Her numbers look great. I don't think she'll have a problem as long as she has clinical experience and volunteering.

 

[Sarge]

Yeah, she's been volunteering at a medical clinic about 8 hrs/week for 2 years.

She's only shadowed 5 or 6 doctors - probably 15 hours per doctor. Should she do more of that before the interviews?

She has just been submitting her secondaries in the past 2 weeks, so hasn't heard about any interviews yet (and she still has some more secondaries to submit).

 

[Sarge]

Her numbers look great. I don't think she'll have a problem as long as she has clinical experience and volunteering.

Does that mean she might get accepted to 1 or 2 med schools? Or 8 or 10? Or what?

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but I have no idea what this process is like. Thanks again!

 

[sector9]

Moving thread to "What are my chances"

I would say she has an excellent chance, but the only uncertainty I have is about her application being pretty late. Med school admissions is rolling so the earlier, the better, and she's definitely on the late end IMO. I've heard that some schools reserve some interview slots for later non-traditional applicants who might not be as familiar with the process.

Her list is pretty top heavy though. Any leadership or research on her application?

 

[Freesia88]

You all will have to forgive me if I am posting this in the wrong place or if I use incorrect terminology. I know nothing about this forum because I'm not applying to Medical School. However, my wife is.

And, she is freaking out that she won't get accepted anywhere. I am trying to reassure her, but wanted to see if any of you can tell me if I should be preparing her to deal with rejection or if I should be telling her that she will get in everywhere. (Full disclosure: I think she is AMAZING and SHOULD get in everywhere, but I guess I'm not on an admissions committee. 😛 )

So, here's her story:

She is a non-traditional student. She graduated from a good college – University of Virginia – with a 3.68 GPA and a degree in History. She then decided to go to Med School, so did a post-bacc and got a 3.88 science GPA (4.0 in the post-bacc program). She earned a 36 on the MCAT – 12 on each section - (which I hear is really great!).

She has been working at a restaurant while in her post-bacc, but has also done research at a hospital for about a year (about 8 hrs/week) and worked at a free medical clinic for about 2 years (also about 8 hrs/week).

She's half Hispanic; I don't know if that really has any effect on admissions.

Also she's has most of her "secondaries" in. But, she is worried because she didn't submit them early and thought that would hurt her chances. Is this true?

Here's the problem: my job limits the cities that we can consider. So, she is applying to a lot of highly-competitive schools. Here is her list:

U. Penn
U. of Chicago
Stanford
UC San Diego
US San Francisco
Dartmouth
Case Western
Northwestern
Boston University
Tufts
Mayo
UCLA
UNC – Chapel Hill
Tulane
University of Connecticut
University of Texas – Galveston
UC Irving
UC Davis
Penn State
University of Miami
University of Buffalo
Albany Medical College
Florida International University
Medical College of Georgia
Texas Tech
Drexel University

I really appreciate any feedback on this! I am trying to be as good of a husband as I can but I know NOTHING about this process. All the information that I get is through my wife and she is the eternal pessimist. Most days she is convinced that she should just give up and I try to encourage her, but don't really know what her chances look like! I am just looking for some good, honest feedback. Thank you so much!

Yeah, she's been volunteering at a medical clinic about 8 hrs/week for 2 years.

She's only shadowed 5 or 6 doctors - probably 15 hours per doctor. Should she do more of that before the interviews?

She has just been submitting her secondaries in the past 2 weeks, so hasn't heard about any interviews yet (and she still has some more secondaries to submit).

I'd say she's good to go. If she just recently submitted secondaries, it might be a while before she hears anything. But from the "average applicant by SDN standards" stand point , she is looking pretty good, I think.

I hope it all works out for her.

 

[Sarge]

Moving thread to "What are my chances"

Any leadership or research on her application?

She has been doing research at a hospital for about a year and just had an article published in a medical journal with her listed as one of the authors.

 

[Moosepig]

If she doesn't get in this cycle its from being late. Reapply early next cycle if y'all don't get in this cycle and you'll be a sure bet. But I think you'll be okay this cycle.

 

[sector9]

She has been doing research at a hospital for about a year and just had an article published in a medical journal with her listed as one of the authors.

👍 It sounds like she's been pretty involved in the normal premed activities.

BTW, to answer a previous question about shadowing. 15 hours per doctor for 5-6 doctors is plenty of shadowing. More than most premeds manage to get

 

[Sarge]

Hey everyone! Thanks for your perspectives!

It sounds like my wife's chances are really good, but not guaranteed. The feedback from you all is not as positive as I had hoped. It seems strange that someone with such good grades and a solid MCAT score might not get into a medical school. I guess she is applying to really competitive schools.

I really appreciate your thoughts, but am feeling a bit dejected now. Thanks again!

 

[Moosepig]

Hey everyone! Thanks for your perspectives!

It sounds like my wife's chances are really good, but not guaranteed. The feedback from you all is not as positive as I had hoped. It seems strange that someone with such good grades and a solid MCAT score might not get into a medical school. I guess she is applying to really competitive schools.

I really appreciate your thoughts, but am feeling a bit dejected now. Thanks again!

The reason for our tempered response is how late she applied and the top heaviness of her app. She will still probably get in, and will for sure next cycle for sure if she applies broadly and early. Best of luck!