Might be reapplying, what next?

[deleted903198]

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[Faha]

You do not need to retake a MCAT of 512. Your ECs are good and you could still receive an acceptance at UA Tucson. You had over a dozen reaches that you applied to. If no acceptance by late May let us know and we can suggest a more extensive and realistic school list.

 

[Faha]

Thanks for your input What can I do to bolster my application in case I need to reapply? I feel that I have enough research and clinical experience, so would applying to another research/clinical job be diminishing returns?

You have enough research hours. More clinical and non clinical volunteering hours are always helpful.

 

[chilly_md]

- Student Organization for underserved/houseless (600 hours)

What did you do exactly for this?

For the reapp, I would eliminate any activities with below 50 hours (besides shadowing). If you can get the food pantry over 50, then keep that.

 

[chilly_md]

Do you mean also eliminate the ED volunteering x2 that I did as well?

It was a student led org providing free food and social services to houseless clients. I was an officer for hygiene services like foot-washing and hair-cutting, which was meaningful to me since we could develop a deeper relationship with clients due to its 1 on 1 nature. During the pandemic, I transitioned to committee lead with a couple others to launch wellness kits and flyers.

The 30 hour and 25 hour yes. You could perhaps combine them in a single slot.

You have significant hands-on volunteering then based on your description. I am surprised you didn’t hear back from Rush or Oakland but there are several service-oriented schools we can add like Loyola.

You can DM your PS, but it seems you have a lot of clinical experience as an MA that you can weave in with your parents diagnosis to answer why medicine.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What I'm missing is your actual timeline of experiences. What have you done lately?

You did get two interviews including one WL from UCSD. A waitlist is not a rejection. If this interview happened before Christmas, I presume you have sent a follow-up (it's okay if you haven't).

While I don't think you have a ton of schools that look at your SJT scores, they do point that you may need more practice with interviews and situational questions. This may also show up in your secondary essays to some of the programs where you may have had to demonstrate your mission fit.

I think one area of significant improvement will be to find a service orientation activity off-campus. You have done a lot with your student org, but can you find a similar opportunity on your own for a similar commitment? Getting into Americorps (or similar program) will be one great way of doing this. I'm a little surprised Rush didn't send you an invitation, but I would also wonder if you want to move to Chicago from years in Arizona. Mission fit matters.

You will also have the challenge of writing a completely new personal statement. Now, UCSD asks you to write a completely new personal statement in their secondary essay (I think), so you actually may have to write TWO new personal statements. IMO, very strong applicants can write three different PS.

If you wind up reapplying, you must add DO schools unless you want to face the prospect of being without an A again next year. Granted, there are no guarantees you would get an A from a DO school either, but chances are better that they might take you if you fit their mission.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Just to clarify, my SJT is 1st/top quartile… Preview scores are a new thing and I am not sure how much value they hold, however I will prep more extensively the next time around.

Your DO submissions came before Thanksgiving so they aren't late.

Test-takers will identify 4th quartile as top quartile. Yeah, it's a confusing.

We will be releasing our 2023 SJT Experience Survey Report soon to show how much value SJTs seem to hold to secure early interviews.