What the %&#* are you gonna do if you don't get in?

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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i'm retaking the mcat on the 20th to see what happens...

ideally, i'm hoping for a better score so i can submit them to schools i'm waitlisted at.

however, with only 2 weeks of prep time so far, i have no idea what to expect. at the very least, it's getting my mind off this limbo of waiting.

if i void the test, i'll take it in august.

after that, i plan to either take 4 additional science classes during the summer (can apply right again right away, which is a plus) or attend the 1 yr masters program at G-town (still torn on this issue).
 
Don't do the G'town master's program. I know a guy that did that. He said you're essentially just buying yourself an interview at G'town. Not many get in. The school that takes the most of its students from those master's programs is Finch/CMS. Downside is of course that Finch is mad expensive, like $51K!!! Personally, I think that's an insane amount of money, but if you want to matriculate into a med school, that's prolly your best bet. Nothing is guaranteed of course though. I think MCP has a decent program too. I'm not gonna do postbacc cause grades aren't really my problem. Then again, neither is the MCAT. Hell, I don't even know what my problem is.
 
A little note about the Finch master's program: I met two of these kids while I was there and they are now MS1's. They don't have to go to class that much because their masters classes counted towards their first year credits. This is pretty cool because you would have time as an MS1 to kick a$$ on the few classes you have and do some community service. It would give you an edge come residency application time, IMHO.

Everyone knows my plans, but I'll post 'em again anyway.
--If I'm not in by May 10th, the day of my last final exam, I will start studying for the MCATS.
--Over the summer I'll continue volunteering in my old clinic and start a new EC (I think there is a planned parenthood program nearby that I could help out in). The new EC would start immediately.
--I would also get a new LOR (possibly more than one).
-- I would then rewrite my personal statement and my EC descriptions (if I only knew then what I know now!!).

--I will apply early (even though I'll be an August MCATer), so they will have everything and I will be complete in October when they get my scores. That will still be earlier than this year, since I was complete in Oct/Nov/Dec.

From Aug __(test date) until November 8th I will study. In November I would take a certification test for personal training and then start working.

What fun reapplying will be! 🙄
 
I would also really like to know about previous applicants who had to reapply. How many interviews did you get the first time around? Waitlists? What were your stats if you'd care to share? How much did you add to your app when reapplying the immediate year after?
 
Ok, I'm taking a break from my studies.

A little story: I used to be a hurdler. I was competing in the 110 meter race and my left foot (I used to lead with my right) caught the hurdle. To break my fall, I turned my torso so that my back would hit the pavement. Chunks of flesh were missing from my back, holes were in my jersy, gravel covered my bloody scratches, and my head pounded the ground. Well, my coach was this mean ol' military b!tch (I love the woman. B!tch is used with the upmost affection in this instance.). I made the mistake of walking in shame toward the center of the field...the grassy area. There was, after all, very little room to gather speed to continue the race. It's a tight squeeze between hurdles in a 110 meter race. Well, the pain and humiliation of falling was nothing in comparison to what I suffered at the hands of this woman for not finishing my race.

Moral of the story: If you get knocked on your ass, get the hell up and finish the race!!! You'll suffer more in the end if you don't. 😀
 
Doctora Foxy (or anyone)....if you get your AMCAS application in early and they notify the schools you'll be applying to, how do the schools know that they should wait for your new August scores before deciding on whether to give you a secondary? My plans are basically just like yours...except for that last part about getting certified.
 
put that story on your Personal Statement Foxy. you can be a hurdler too!!

as for me..what the $%#@!% i'm gonna do is to have my floating ribs removed so i can pleasure myself to the sounds of Moby. Whence i have finished myself, myself, I will pull my father's Berretta out of his closet, and put one round into the roof of my mouth. <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> as if it's gonna even BE that easy...i'm gonna just either apply to St. George's (deadline is June 15 right?) and either go there, or decide if it's worth it to teach high school bio for a year and have to face my parents everyday, while reapplying to medical schools with a record that will surely get me in. although if i can't get in with 6 interviews--what tells me i can get in next year with a better record??!! Papa..might I be seeing you at Grenada?
 
I was just wondering... If you aren't accepted and want to reapply the next year, does it matter what job you take during that year? I've been accepted (whew), but before I was, I was thinking about doing an internship at a social science thinktank so that I could perform health policy research. But then I thought that perhaps schools would prefer to see something that is medical. (Not that I would have let that change my plans, but it did occur to me.) While I'm pretty sure that it probably won't look great if you work at Burger King all year, would a respectable job that is not medically related be viewed favorably by the admissions committees, or do they prefer to see medically related jobs?
 
Hey there are two (2) Papi Smurfs!!

:clap: :clap: :clap:
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by efjayen:
•Doctora Foxy (or anyone)....if you get your AMCAS application in early and they notify the schools you'll be applying to, how do the schools know that they should wait for your new August scores before deciding on whether to give you a secondary? My plans are basically just like yours...except for that last part about getting certified.•••••If you designate on your amcas application that you plan to take the August 2002 MCAT, I think schools will know this. Most will send you secondaries anyway. This cycle I got all the secondaries, but that's because most of the schools I applied to don't prescreen.

I assume that it could even be possible to get an interview before they receive my new MCAT scores, but I have never heard of it happening. Since I got 6 interviews this cycle, I don't see why I couldn't get more w/o them having my august scores if I apply early. What do you think about that people?

And I can't believe there are 2 Papi Smurfs! That should be illegal! (But I know which is which :wink: )
 
What am I gonna do... I have a plan of some sort. But my story is long and pitiful, mainly due to my stupidity and lack of foresight. Perhaps when the end of May rolls along I will share it with you and you can help me incorporate it into my Personal statement?

However I fear med schools will look down on me.

Members of the Waitlist Club will ascend to Members of the Rejected Club. By default I will be president :wink: (You sure u don't want to join the Waitlist Club Dr. Foxy? You'd get seniority 😛 )

Hopefully none of us will have to go through the nightmare of reapplying. But if the worst happens, at least we'd be there for each other. With new resources and support, we'd get in next year, no matter what!
 
What would I do???
That's simple...I'm gonna matriculate at Scooby's School of Pleasure. :wink:
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by A. Caveman:
•Papa..might I be seeing you at Grenada?•••••Bro, if you knew my family, you'd know that I just couldn't do it. Every other cat is at a top 20, and I'd get teased mercilessly if I had to go to the islands. I know I shouldn't care, but for some stupid reason I do.

It's sort of like you not wanting to go to UM b/c you know a lot of the first years there, and you'll be a year behind. I know it's a dumb reason, but that's one of the main reasons. Also, I'm dead set on specializing, and it'll be damn tough w/ a foreign MD, so that's another reason I wouldn't wanna deal with it. Somebody accept me already!!! Please.

BTW, Afrodite, Scooby's School of Pleasure was shut down due to illegal recruitment practices. Now the only other really easy school to get into that's left is Trek's School of the Up and Coming Hermaphrodites. G'luck! 🙂
 
Foxy, since you have had 6 interviews, you will almost certainly get in this year. Maybe not immedicately, since you interviewed pretty late, but I'd be pretty surprised if you didn't get in at all.

I'm a reapplicant and I think that I had a pretty similar situation to you (applying late) but worse, my apps weren't complete until ~december. I only got one interview (at NYMC) and never got off the waitlist. My grades/MCATs were exactly the same this year, but applying early got a lot better results. 🙂 So if by some chance you don't get in, don't worry about it, you will next year. Just apply early.
 
Well I just got an E on my midterm. I thought it was the test code like on the mcats or something, but that's just my school's way of failing students <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> . A freaking 22% on my Politics of Latin America midterm. Ridiculous. I have gotten As in every other class and on every other midterm ever in the humanities. I cannot reapply next year with a 1.0 gpa; I have to get in now. I'm sending off my Grenada application. I want to do IM in Miami, and I think it's feasible coming from St Georges.

Senioritis sucks!

p.s. Don't worry about lil old me, if I study hard and get an A on the final, the midterm won't count. But now I actually have to study! 😡 😛 <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />
 
Foxy, I am curious why you wrote "If I only knew then what I know now" next to the line where you talk about re-doing your EC description and Personal Statement. I am actually haviing a tough time figuring out what exactly to change on my personal statement and EC description, so I would apprecite insight into your revelation regarding your new App. and what you would write differntly?
 
sng33: it's mostly just little things that I would change. For example, I had never heard of the term "shadowing" before (I'm such a sheltered premed ;-)), so I didn't word it correctly on my ECs. After interviewing and thinking about my reasons for wanting to be a doctor, everything is much more clear, and it would come across better if I reworded my activities (what I learned from them, etc). Also, I'm more interested in primary care now and I would let that come across on my application--I'm sure writing a practice vision about becoming a dermatologist with less than good mcat scores looked funny this year. I didn't know how competitive it was when I submitted my application (although I did have good reasons to pick it since I shadowed them). I know the practice vision is not on next year's amcas, but it would make a lot of sense to write about my goals on my PS b/c I have volunteered so much with primary care doctors and underserved patients.

Hopefully, when all of this came across on my interviews, the schools were happy and they'll let me in! But I have to worry until then.

If only had I known about SDN sooner! I think I have learned a lot from reading this site. Being a non-science major, I couldn't ask my little questions to anyone, since I don't really have a lot of premed friends. I coiuld have used all the advice on here a long time ago!

best of luck to all of you 🙂
 
there's no practice vision statement on next year's appl??!! Oh my god, I'm so jealous, I hated that stupid question! I remember sitting around screaming last summer "I don't even know where I'll be next year, much less in 10 year's you freakin a$$wipes!" 😡 😛
 
I spoke with my new best friend Dr. Larkin at USF about how I could improve my application. He said I should have applied earlier and probably would have been interviewed 😛 . Haha, then he went on to say I should do a post bac to bring up my science gpa and retake the MCATS. Their overall gpas are 3.7 science and regular, and a 30 on the mcat.

*****Now on to the good stuff:*****
I asked him if it is possible to be considered for an interview while they are waiting for my August MCAT scores and he said YES (as a reapplicant next cycle of course). Your application is complete with any mcat scores, so if you apply early you could get an interview before you even take the August mcats (or before you get the scores). However, although this is possible, I can't really see it happening unless your first mcat attempt is better than all the other June/July applicants.

Next interesting piece of data: I asked, hypothetically, if one takes the mcats this April and submits their scores to schools they are wait listed at (to get in for 2002 matriculation), do schools look at that? He said NO . He said it is done through amcas only, and amcas is closed for this application cycle.

Now I suppose you could photocopy your score report, or maybe there's a way to officially send a score report to your school by the mcat people. But even then, they might not look at it.

I would say it could be risky to call schools and tell them about your plans to do this, b/c they could wait for the scores to accept you. But calling anonymously before planning on doing this is a good idea. 😀
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Doctora Foxy:
•*****Now on to the good stuff:*****
I asked him if it is possible to be considered for an interview while they are waiting for my August MCAT scores and he said YES (as a reapplicant next cycle of course). Your application is complete with any mcat scores, so if you apply early you could get an interview before you even take the August mcats (or before you get the scores). However, although this is possible, I can't really see it happening unless your first mcat attempt is better than all the other June/July applicants.
•••••I wonder if this is just USF's policy, and I certainly wouldn't count on it as a general rule. Remember that there was a place on the AMCAS to note whether or not you would be taking the August MCAT, so the schools definitely know whether to expect scores from you. I would imagine that many schools would not look at your app until after they got the scores.
 
Doctora Foxy,

Looks like I'm pretty much in the same boat as you are. Everything you listed you would do for reapplication is exactly what I will be doing if I don't get in this cycle. But with the amount of interviews you had this cycle, you have a good chance of matriculating, (a better one than me).

I do wish I would have found out about SDN sooner myself. I think it would have saved a lot of pain and suffering. I've learned so much about the process that will no doubt help me the next time.
 
I agree JohnM, and I have never heard of it happening. Just thought it was a nice possibility. And I asked him about med schools in general (since I might never get the chance to speak with a dean personally again!) and he said, well USF could do this. So you're right, this means nothing for other schools.
 
bump because I like this thread 😀
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by Doctora Foxy:
•bump because I like this thread 😀 •••••I got out of this boat about a month ago, but this was something I had been thinking about. When schools reject you post-interview, don't they tell you WHY they didn't accept you? If they say that they don't think you had enough clinical experience, I'd say that you spend a year in a free clinic or something.
 
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