What to do with no offers?

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littlebearfanpage

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Hello! I’m a current applicant and have had 3 interviews and no offers (deferred by 2 interviews in Sept, silence from 1 in Nov). I’m wondering if I should be doing anything right now since I’ve been doing a lot of waiting…

Is a letter of continued interest worth anything? I don’t have any substantial updates so I haven’t sent any in. I do have another II in early March, but I’m not going to get my hopes up since it’s a late interview. Should I be thinking about a reapp soon? What would a reapp look like if it’s back-to-back cycles? I’m not sure if I sound insane but the waiting is just killing me since I’d have to figure out post-grad plans

for ref i applied with a 3.99 gpa and 516 mcat as an ORM. I don’t mean to sound out of touch either, I just need some perspective on what to expect or how to come to terms with how my cycle might pan out
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Do more interview prep to really knock this last one out of the park, make sure to emphasize how you fit the mission of the school. You can send a letter if they allow it, might help, probably won't but maybe you get lucky. Attend any second look/campus visits at the schools if they are nearby (probably won't help but maybe). I think the general consensus is to maintain your EC's/build up your portfolio for another application until you firmly have an A in your hand. You may want to take some steps to prepare for that through volunteering/shadowing/clinical job/research etc. You've received 3 interviews so hopefully that prep will just end up being personal enrichment, wishing you the best of the luck in the last few months of the cycle!

Edit: If the updates aren't substantial, may be better to leave them out of your plan. I defer to adcom members who can point out schools that enjoy continued communication/groveling.
 
What you wrote. Let us know if there are any changes.
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School List Help!

Hi! I know this is really late but I'm just looking for any last minute feedback on my school list! I just want to make sure that I'm applying broadly enough but not including too many low-yield schools. I'm also not sure if I have a good balance of public vs private schools. Any other...
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I concur: what improvements have you worked on during the cycle? What mission fit did you have with those schools?

You can do a check-in mentioning your continued interest that highlights both of the questions I posed. At this point you might as well.

And prepare for your latest interview with those questions in mind.
 
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Just relax. It sounds like you haven't heard back from your schools yet, and you have another interview lined up. There is plenty of time left in the cycle to receive an acceptance.

If you need to reapply, it's usually advised to wait a year and strengthen some aspects of your application rather than submit again the next cycle. Your academic benchmarks are good, and you received interviews so you have good letters. If this cycle doesn't pan out, it is likely a soft metric.

Keep yourself busy with things you enjoy to quell the neuroticism. You will be fine.
 
littlebearfanpage said:
Hello! I’m a current applicant and have had 3 interviews and no offers (deferred by 2 interviews in Sept, silence from 1 in Nov). I’m wondering if I should be doing anything right now since I’ve been doing a lot of waiting…

Is a letter of continued interest worth anything? I don’t have any substantial updates so I haven’t sent any in. I do have another II in early March, but I’m not going to get my hopes up since it’s a late interview. Should I be thinking about a reapp soon? What would a reapp look like if it’s back-to-back cycles? I’m not sure if I sound insane but the waiting is just killing me since I’d have to figure out post-grad plans

for ref i applied with a 3.99 gpa and 516 mcat as an ORM. I don’t mean to sound out of touch either, I just need some perspective on what to expect or how to come to terms with how my cycle might pan out
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This may upset some tender snowflakes, but as of right now, you're rejected, and so you should be working on Plan B.

Work on interview skills, stay busy and remember that many med schools throw their interviewees into a vast wait list hell, and then accept many at the last minute.

Unless they're needy schools, like Mayo or Jefferson, an LOI isn't going to move the needle now. Wait until May.
 
You are still probably more likely than not to get in somewhere. However, you do need to start coming up with a post-grad plan NOW in case you don't get in.

Whether you should immediately reapply or not depends on whether you thought there was some obvious flaw in your application that you now believe you should spend time fixing with a gap year before launching into a re-app. If you re-apply with no substantial improvements, then you will likely have the same result unless you significantly expand your school list or fix a problem in HOW you applied (ie you applied to late last year).
 
Plan to take a gap-year to address shortcomings. Common shortcomings include lack of community service, mission-fit, tailoring your application to a specific idea/purpose/theme/interest, lack of clinical experience, or overall mediocre writing on primary and secondary applications.

This is not a guarantee that you will not get in anywhere, but at this point, be prepared for the worst possible outcome. If you have any questions, feel free to message me for feedback (all feedback is subjective and my own, nothing is guaranteed other than a third party perspective on the application and the potential shortcomings).
 
I generally invoke my Mardi Gras rule: don't fret not having an offer until after Mardi Gras. Given that it is so early this year (Feb 13th), I've extended the fret-free period to Leap Year Day, February 29th.

While you should not fret, it is always wise to be continuously self-assessing, considering what could be done differently next time, and what needs to be remediated or strengthened before you reapply. As mentioned above, sometime things can be fixed easily like an earlier submission or a slightly more targeted application list and others may need so much time to repair that you'd be better off skipping a cycle and reapplying in 2025.

So, hope for the best and prepare for the worse. This goes double if you end up on waitlists where it is easy to be frozen in place waiting for a call that may never come but not concurrently improving your application looking toward a subsequent cycle.
 
littlebearfanpage said:
Hello! I’m a current applicant and have had 3 interviews and no offers (deferred by 2 interviews in Sept, silence from 1 in Nov). I’m wondering if I should be doing anything right now since I’ve been doing a lot of waiting…

Is a letter of continued interest worth anything? I don’t have any substantial updates so I haven’t sent any in. I do have another II in early March, but I’m not going to get my hopes up since it’s a late interview. Should I be thinking about a reapp soon? What would a reapp look like if it’s back-to-back cycles? I’m not sure if I sound insane but the waiting is just killing me since I’d have to figure out post-grad plans

for ref i applied with a 3.99 gpa and 516 mcat as an ORM. I don’t mean to sound out of touch either, I just need some perspective on what to expect or how to come to terms with how my cycle might pan out
Click to expand...
Until you get an acceptance you have to assume you will need to reapply and start preparing for that eventuality. The first step is to evaluate your qualifications for weaknesses. And then work to eliminate them. Whether you wait a year or reapply immediately depends on how well you have improved your profile and qualifications.

For now pursue parallel tracks.
Track 1 -- Try to get in this cycle by:
* Acing your next interview
* Sending update letters to schools that accept them provided you have something meaningful to tell them. Some schools value them and some schools don't.
* Improving upon any weaknesses, which will also help with track 2 and provide something meaningful to tell this year's schools about. Again the fact that you have 4 IIs probably means there is not something glaringly wrong with your app.

Track 2 -- Prepare to reapply by:
* Evaluating any weakness in your qualifications and your presentation of those qualifications via your primary and secondary applications.
* Eliminating the weaknesses.
* Perhaps applying to more "safety" programs.
* If you don't get any A's, consider getting mock interview before interviews next cycle.

Don't discount the later IV. Schools don't give interviews just to tease or torment you. They're also investing their time. If nothing significant has happened since you applied, consider having a meeting or coffee chat with current med students at the schools that interviewed you. You might find that you learn something about the school that will enhance your interest and also allow you to better show fit with the school.

The waiting is very hard. No question. But a lot of A's go out later in the cycle.

If with 4 IIs you don't get any As I would strongly recommend a lot of interview prep next time around.

Good luck!
 
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