Where did you get rejected with a MCAT 37+ / GPA 3.8+ & your impression of why?

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saoj said:
I am trying to have a feeling of how important those numbers are for each school.
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quit being a troll. buy the MSAR along with the AAMC application guide, if you did you would know unless you have aspergers and freaked out at your interviewer you wouldn't get rejected. Finally if your not even getting an interview well then you should check your criminal record and make sure you actually have decent EC's
 
Hemorrage said:
quit being a troll. buy the MSAR along with the AAMC application guide, if you did you would know unless you have aspergers and freaked out at your interviewer you wouldn't get rejected. Finally if your not even getting an interview well then you should check your criminal record and make sure you actually have decent EC's
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I think you're underestimating how big a crapshoot admissions are. I have those stats and I don't think that it will guarantee me a spot at a mid tier school.
 
If you have a 3.8+/37+, take a deep breath and relax. You will most likely get in somewhere provided your application doesn't have a glaring weakness elsewhere. Don't let the SDN neuroticism get to you.

Of the places that I've been rejected/'waitlisted' at pre-interview: all of them were either in the South (e.g. Baylor, Emory, etc.) or were very mission focused (e.g. Georgetown, GWU etc.). I'm from the Midwest/East Coast and the schools in the South probably didn't think I would go there even if accepted. I was rejected from the more mission-focused schools most likely because the schools didn't think I'd be a good fit.

Of the places that I've been waitlisted at post-interview: the biggest reason was a poor interview impression. I just wasn't being myself (gave canned responses, etc.) in those interviews and thus never established a meaningful connection with the interviewer. The interviewers probably didn't think I was being genuine either. In some of them, the interviewer and I just had nothing in common so there were some awkward silences 😀. I agree with Hemorrage about the interviews. I get very nervous during interviews and am usually pretty shy as well, yet that didn't hold me back too much. I feel that if I'm able to get past the interview stage, almost anyone else can too :laugh:. Having solid numbers help even post-interview.

sliceofbread136 said:
I think you're underestimating how big a crapshoot admissions are. I have those stats and I don't think that it will guarantee me a spot at a mid tier school.
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I think people overestimate how big of a crapshoot the admissions process is. From my observations at least, my friends who have very competitive applications (great grades, MCAT, LORs, ECs and personality) have not had any trouble getting interviews and at least one acceptance. I do agree that some people do fall through the cracks, as sometimes you just get an interviewer who has nothing in common with you. But I don't think the number is as high as some people would like to believe (how likely is it that you just happened to get a 'bad interviewer' for every single interview?).

Imo, people often overestimate the competitiveness of their application. It's also easy to fall into the trap of making excuses to rationalize a waitlist or rejection. An interviewee might think their interview went great because they were able to say all of their talking points etc, but in reality the interviewer may have gotten the impression that the applicant was too aggressive/arrogant and/or wasn't a good listener or conversationalist, etc. Similarly, someone might think they have awesome LORs when in reality their recommenders did not give their highest recommendations to the student.

My thoughts at least.
 
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I applied with a 37Q, a 3.9+ GPA, worked in a hospital for a year, and had 1.5 years of research under my belt. I however, was flat out rejected at Johns Hopkins. For a detailed explanation, check my blog here and part II here.

The TL/DR version? I didn't have a great interview with the student on the admission board, and also my undergraduate school is not exactly Harvard (who didn't even offer me an interview!). I honestly probably just didn't stand out in a group of elite applicants. In the end though, I got into 4 pretty great schools. It is a crap-shoot for sure but with great stats, as long as you aren't an ex-con or have the social skills of some SDNers, you will get a chance somewhere.
 
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I have those stats from a top 5 school and was Waitlisted/Rejected by every school except for one state one.
 
Napaholic said:
If you have a 3.8+/37+, take a deep breath and relax. You will most likely get in somewhere provided your application doesn't have a glaring weakness elsewhere. Don't let the SDN neuroticism get to you.

Of the places that I've been rejected/'waitlisted' at pre-interview: all of them were either in the South (e.g. Baylor, Emory, etc.) or were very mission focused (e.g. Georgetown, GWU etc.). I'm from the Midwest/East Coast and the schools in the South probably didn't think I would go there even if accepted. I was rejected from the more mission-focused schools most likely because the schools didn't think I'd be a good fit.

Of the places that I've been waitlisted at post-interview: the biggest reason was a poor interview impression. I just wasn't being myself (gave canned responses, etc.) in those interviews and thus never established a meaningful connection with the interviewer. The interviewers probably didn't think I was being genuine either. In some of them, the interviewer and I just had nothing in common so there were some awkward silences 😀. I agree with Hemorrage about the interviews. I get very nervous during interviews and am usually pretty shy as well, yet that didn't hold me back too much. I feel that if I'm able to get past the interview stage, almost anyone else can too :laugh:. Having solid numbers help even post-interview.



I think people overestimate how big of a crapshoot the admissions process is. From my observations at least, my friends who have very competitive applications (great grades, MCAT, LORs, ECs and personality) have not had any trouble getting interviews and at least one acceptance. I do agree that some people do fall through the cracks, as sometimes you just get an interviewer who has nothing in common with you. But I don't think the number is as high as some people would like to believe (how likely is it that you just happened to get a 'bad interviewer' for every single interview?).

Imo, people often overestimate the competitiveness of their application. It's also easy to fall into the trap of making excuses to rationalize a waitlist or rejection. An interviewee might think their interview went great because they were able to say all of their talking points etc, but in reality the interviewer may have gotten the impression that the applicant was too aggressive/arrogant and/or wasn't a good listener or conversationalist, etc. Similarly, someone might think they have awesome LORs when in reality their recommenders did not give their highest recommendations to the student.

My thoughts at least.
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joker.gif


Thank you.
 
I had stats in this range and I got rejected from all but one of the places I applied, including not-very-competitive in-state state schools and many schools that I thought were safeties. I was annoyed at the time, but I got in somewhere and love where I am, but I can trace my failure to a few things:

-Very late application.
-Bad reasons for applying to med school, I knew this is what I wanted to do but until I got here I didn't really understand why.
-Because of this and a healthy dose of anxiety I had some pretty awful interviews.

Avoid my mistakes, don't be complacent. Do whatever you can to improve your odds, but you should know that when it comes down to it a lot of the process comes down to luck.
 
My stats aren't as good as those posted yet I got in to some great schools. It really does come down to ECs to make you stand apart and connecting with your interviewers on a real level.
 
rxnfiend said:
My stats aren't as good as those posted yet I got in to some great schools. It really does come down to ECs to make you stand apart and connecting with your interviewers on a real level.
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What were your ECs if you don't mind me asking?
 
rxnfiend said:
My stats aren't as good as those posted yet I got in to some great schools. It really does come down to ECs to make you stand apart and connecting with your interviewers on a real level.
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well you got into Mayo lol. You did something right that's for sure. Share us your secret if you don't mind 😀
 
Napaholic said:
If you have a 3.8+/37+, take a deep breath and relax. You will most likely get in somewhere provided your application doesn't have a glaring weakness elsewhere. Don't let the SDN neuroticism get to you.

Of the places that I've been rejected/'waitlisted' at pre-interview: all of them were either in the South (e.g. Baylor, Emory, etc.) or were very mission focused (e.g. Georgetown, GWU etc.). I'm from the Midwest/East Coast and the schools in the South probably didn't think I would go there even if accepted. I was rejected from the more mission-focused schools most likely because the schools didn't think I'd be a good fit.

Of the places that I've been waitlisted at post-interview: the biggest reason was a poor interview impression. I just wasn't being myself (gave canned responses, etc.) in those interviews and thus never established a meaningful connection with the interviewer. The interviewers probably didn't think I was being genuine either. In some of them, the interviewer and I just had nothing in common so there were some awkward silences 😀. I agree with Hemorrage about the interviews. I get very nervous during interviews and am usually pretty shy as well, yet that didn't hold me back too much. I feel that if I'm able to get past the interview stage, almost anyone else can too :laugh:. Having solid numbers help even post-interview.



I think people overestimate how big of a crapshoot the admissions process is. From my observations at least, my friends who have very competitive applications (great grades, MCAT, LORs, ECs and personality) have not had any trouble getting interviews and at least one acceptance. I do agree that some people do fall through the cracks, as sometimes you just get an interviewer who has nothing in common with you. But I don't think the number is as high as some people would like to believe (how likely is it that you just happened to get a 'bad interviewer' for every single interview?).

Imo, people often overestimate the competitiveness of their application. It's also easy to fall into the trap of making excuses to rationalize a waitlist or rejection. An interviewee might think their interview went great because they were able to say all of their talking points etc, but in reality the interviewer may have gotten the impression that the applicant was too aggressive/arrogant and/or wasn't a good listener or conversationalist, etc. Similarly, someone might think they have awesome LORs when in reality their recommenders did not give their highest recommendations to the student.

My thoughts at least.
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👍👍👍
 
nmed20 said:
Me thinks saoj = pritzker, given soaj's obsession with the school Pritzker in his/her post history (from my one cursory glance earlier).
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I don't think so.

Based on his history I'm guessing the op is a 30 something former computer engineer looking to start a new career as a surgeon because he's either been laid off or sees his job moving elsewhere before he can retire.

Most likely the nocturnal computer type, with a sense of confidence that might lead him off a cliff when confronted with the fact that chemistry is harder than he thought. Extremely confident that he'll smoke the mcat with a high 30's or low 40's score. Based on the way he writes he reminds me of some of my family members, who are first and second generation Indian. I'll go out on a limb and say English isn't his native language, though he's probably quite proficient at it.

Ultimately I think the op will do OK on the mcat but his downfall will be ecs and poor interviewing skills. This will be a surprise for him since he doesn't seem to realize it's not a numbers only game, with a magic formula to get in.

Just my take 🙂
 
saoj said:
I am trying to have a feeling of how important those numbers are for each school.
Click to expand...

I had a 37 with a 3.81 and a PhD. I interviewed at WashU and Northwestern but wasn't accepted. Rejected outright at Stanford. This was 5 years ago.
 
dmf2682 said:
I don't think so.

Based on his history I'm guessing the op is a 30 something former computer engineer looking to start a new career as a surgeon because he's either been laid off or sees his job moving elsewhere before he can retire.

Most likely the nocturnal computer type, with a sense of confidence that might lead him off a cliff when confronted with the fact that chemistry is harder than he thought. Extremely confident that he'll smoke the mcat with a high 30's or low 40's score. Based on the way he writes he reminds me of some of my family members, who are first and second generation Indian. I'll go out on a limb and say English isn't his native language, though he's probably quite proficient at it.

Ultimately I think the op will do OK on the mcat but his downfall will be ecs and poor interviewing skills. This will be a surprise for him since he doesn't seem to realize it's not a numbers only game, with a magic formula to get in.

Just my take 🙂
Click to expand...

You were close but that really does not matter. Nobody cares if I will succeed or not besides myself. I am taking my best shot and keeping myself motivated. Sorry if I ask too many questions sometimes. Feel free to ignore them if you don't like them. Sometimes, If you don't have something good or nice to say, it is just better not to say anything. Thanks for your feedback and it looks many people got interested in this thread.

PS: And yes, Chemistry is much harder than I thought. I remember it being easy in college. But I am working on it with the help of some fellows here.
 
My "official" rejections so far have come from a couple of mid-ranges, but I also withdrew from a bunch of others (not all listed on my MDApps, but you'll get the gist) before they could reject me. Felt just like taking those W's in college. Crapshoot or best fit, I'm not sure. 😛
 
Lots of places, because stats aren't everything.
 
those are solid numbers. the only downfalls for someone with those numbers could be:

1. lack of clinical exposure
2. inability to craft a coherent personal statement
3. interviews poorly due to being as personally compelling as a lump of damp sod
4. applying too narrowly and too specifically toward big-name research schools, which renders one much more subject to luck of the draw/high competition
5. applying far too late

so -

get clinical experience, apply early, apply broadly, have a justifiable reason to apply to each school you apply to so you're ready with it if asked during the interview ("good reputation for clinicals, I like this city, I have friends here, I have family here, interested in research here, your incoming classes are always really hot and I need to get me some of that, etc.), get help with your personal statement if writing makes you uncomfortable, and be sure to find a way to be comfortable and personable on interviews

having read that paragraph you are now a doctor

congratulations
 
I have a 3.8 and 37 MCAT, and I got rejected by Yale, Stanford, Mayo, Northwestern and I think one other. I was waitlisted by Case Western. I declined a lot of interviews, so I don't know where else would have rejected me in the end.

I am not sure why these schools rejected me, but I can list a few possible things - I completed my pre-reqs at a community college and went to an unknown state school; I did not have as much clinical experience as some other applicants; I applied late to Stanford and Northwestern; Mayo/Stanford have smaller class sizes; I did not interview well at Case Western as I did not like Cleveland at all; etc.

The real reason - ultimately, these schools are just looking for whatever specific things they're looking for.
 
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