No interviews yet....anyone in the same boat?

[minkshag]

Also, this makes it official. I spend way too much time on SDN.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[daemon14]

This is clearly a joke synthesizing all the "man up" suggestions from the "Are Asian Indians at a disadvantage?" thread.

Also, this makes it official. I spend way too much time on SDN.

Didn't see that. I took a hiatus from SDN for my own sanity, plus try to stay out of threads that might seem like a bad idea ...

 

[kautionwirez]

what's up with all these schools that want to reject me last and leave me hanging on hold. almost every single schools I have seen rejections months before me...

 

[octupus]

what's up with all these schools that want to reject me last and leave me hanging on hold. almost every single schools I have seen rejections months before me...

Vermont rejects via portal- no e-mail or anything. I think Downstate recently started sending out rejections via snail mail. Closure is nice, but of course, I hope you didn't get rejections from either!

 

[SilentSoldier]

what's up with all these schools that want to reject me last and leave me hanging on hold. almost every single schools I have seen rejections months before me...

This

USC apparently had its last day of interviews today, but still hasn't rejected me. What gives?

 

[GimpGenius]

They probably want to make sure they have some people in the queue. You know, just in case their entire waitlist evaporates and they have to do mid-June interviews.

Or they could just not have their act together/not care because they're not going to interview you. For all the kowtowing and all the hoops, you'd think ADCOMs would have a little more courtesy.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

They probably want to make sure they have some people in the queue. You know, just in case their entire waitlist evaporates and they have to do mid-June interviews.

Or they could just not have their act together/not care because they're not going to interview you. For all the kowtowing and all the hoops, you'd think ADCOMs would have a little more courtesy.

This.

 

[wololololololo]

For $100 secondaries, I expect to at least get nicely scented rejection letters on quality stationary. Not this: "o hey i forgot to tell you you're rejected make sure to check your status page gg".

 

[ppfizenm]

They probably want to make sure they have some people in the queue. You know, just in case their entire waitlist evaporates and they have to do mid-June interviews.

Or they could just not have their act together/not care because they're not going to interview you. For all the kowtowing and all the hoops, you'd think ADCOMs would have a little more courtesy.

That's like assuming the zombie hoards that will eventually come to eat us all will be moved by our pleas for mercy.

 

[North12]

For $100 secondaries, I expect to at least get nicely scented rejection letters on quality stationary. Not this: "o hey i forgot to tell you you're rejected make sure to check your status page gg".

No, trust me, you don't want your rejection too fancy. Yesterday a school sent me my rejection via registered mail. I wasn't home, so now I drive to the post office to pick up my rejection. How depressing.

 

[Guero]

No, trust me, you don't want your rejection too fancy. Yesterday a school sent me my rejection via registered mail. I wasn't home, so now I drive to the post office to pick up my rejection. How depressing.

Who on earth would do that to you!? That is simply uncouth; I'm sorry.

 

[North12]

Who on earth would do that to you!? That is simply uncouth; I'm sorry.

Got to love Canadian schools!

 

[LoveBuffer]

Congrats!!! That's stupendous news!!

 

[235788]

AT least its a mighty fine vessel

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

bump....just wondering how everyone ended up doing.

 

[MiracleforMD]

.

 

[SilentSoldier]

1 rejection 1 waitlist 1 post interview silence (aggravating beyond anything ever)

 

[SeminoleVesicle]

1 interview, 1 acceptance, 1 name-change since said acceptance.

Pulling for you guys!

 

[Guero]

I've had 10 rejections (read 20 since they were all MD/PhD at first and switched to MD later on), 2 interviews (1 of which takes place this Monday), and thus far have landed 1 spot on a WL, probably 2 after this ensuing interview.

bump....just wondering how everyone ended up doing.

I'm sincerely rooting for everyone in this thread. The fact that 40k applicants apply for 20k spots annually innately makes this process far from palatable. My post in particular should be an encouragement to those of you with no interviews or those of you waiting to apply for your first time: I have a 23O MCAT and was fortunate enough to land an interview at each of my 2 state schools. Most of the time people with such a score are limited to DO/Caribbean schools and even then don't always land an interview or an acceptance. I did, however, have many compensating factors (i.e., click on my MDApps profile) that several of you can learn from and emulate in your own applications next cycle, whether you're subscribed to this thread as a student without interviews this cycle or as a student planning to learn from others' mistakes in anticipation of applying this coming cycle.

While I'm no superstar this cycle, it didn't start that way. I was scoring very well on my practice MCATs and was headed for a 30+ per my trend, and scored so low due to extenuating circumstances. This whole process was very humbling. I went from dreaming about going to a top 30 school and matriculating at an NIH funded and stipend provided Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) to being content to interview at all, let alone where or how it ranks.

My MCAT was legitimately the only thing that held me down (verified by several clinician scientists at my own institution and at others). Sure, I could've withdrawn all of my applications, retook my MCAT and blown it out of the water, and reapplied the following cycle. But I had submitted for verification so that my MCAT and verification would end on the same week.

However, I still could've withdrawn the applications after I saw my scores. Why not? Because I had schools that looked at my entire application and saw the humanity in my situation, giving me a chance. If those schools decide to admit me, I'll go in a heartbeat.

When it comes down to it, medical school is medical school. You can match into any specialty so long as you meet the expectations of that program (e.g., USMLE Step scores, clerkship grades, basic science grades, exceptional letters of recommendation, et cetera). The school ranks are so very low in the equation that you can easily compensate for it by your performance, which I might add, will likely exceed your performance in classes at a higher ranked school, where you're competing with a cohort of gunners as evidenced by those schools' admissions profiles.

The moral of the story is to avoid focusing and relying so heavily on these high expectations that so many of us pre-meds tend to exalt. In the end, if your motivations are sincere, you'll be the same physician regardless of your Osteopathic or Allopathic medical education. To succeed, just do as much investigation into what worked and didn't work for others with similar goals and learn from their mistakes.

I hope this helps at least one of you. It'd make this entire post well worth the procrastination. If it does work for you, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'll be around.

 

[ananursing]

You will be excellent All of us go through the pre-interview encourage worry/panic-fest. I sure as terrible did too. You never know when you'll get an encourage. Just try to rest, do elements you appreciate to keep your thoughts off it and no quantity of stressing you do will create this go any faster.

 

[Gambler 101]

I ended up with 4 interviews. I'm still waiting to see what will come of them, but I don't think I did too bad considering I applied so late.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

How much trouble would I be in now that it's almost April and I haven't had any interviews yet? I'm starting to freak out.

Prob not a great place to be. Lots of schools have stopped interviewing. I have given up on the three schools I haven't heard back from.

I just got waitlisted at my only interview so it looks like I'll be reapplying too.

 

[Jamie561]

Well, then I'm really depressed now.

I only know of a handful of schools still interviewing, and the interviews are essentially for WL spots.

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

I just don't know what went wrong and some of the schools I've called said they don't reveal why students are rejected unless it happened to be after an interview.

Did you apply late? Minus one interview, I'm basically in the same position as you (17 rejections one interview). I really thought I would get a couple, and definitely get an acceptance somewhere. I'm not quite sure what I did, now I don't even know if I should apply for the coming cycle or not. Huge disappointment to say the least.

On some level you have to stay strong and slightly optimistic though. Find your weaknesses and improve them, then back at it! Good luck!

 

[235788]

I've had 10 rejections (read 20 since they were all MD/PhD at first and switched to MD later on), 2 interviews (1 of which takes place this Monday), and thus far have landed 1 spot on a WL, probably 2 after this ensuing interview.




I'm sincerely rooting for everyone in this thread. The fact that 40k applicants apply for 20k spots annually innately makes this process far from palatable. My post in particular should be an encouragement to those of you with no interviews or those of you waiting to apply for your first time: I have a 23O MCAT and was fortunate enough to land an interview at each of my 2 state schools. Most of the time people with such a score are limited to DO/Caribbean schools and even then don't always land an interview or an acceptance. I did, however, have many compensating factors (i.e., click on my MDApps profile) that several of you can learn from and emulate in your own applications next cycle, whether you're subscribed to this thread as a student without interviews this cycle or as a student planning to learn from others' mistakes in anticipation of applying this coming cycle.

While I'm no superstar this cycle, it didn't start that way. I was scoring very well on my practice MCATs and was headed for a 30+ per my trend, and scored so low due to extenuating circumstances. This whole process was very humbling. I went from dreaming about going to a top 30 school and matriculating at an NIH funded and stipend provided Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) to being content to interview at all, let alone where or how it ranks.

My MCAT was legitimately the only thing that held me down (verified by several clinician scientists at my own institution and at others). Sure, I could've withdrawn all of my applications, retook my MCAT and blown it out of the water, and reapplied the following cycle. But I had submitted for verification so that my MCAT and verification would end on the same week.

However, I still could've withdrawn the applications after I saw my scores. Why not? Because I had schools that looked at my entire application and saw the humanity in my situation, giving me a chance. If those schools decide to admit me, I'll go in a heartbeat.

When it comes down to it, medical school is medical school. You can match into any specialty so long as you meet the expectations of that program (e.g., USMLE Step scores, clerkship grades, basic science grades, exceptional letters of recommendation, et cetera). The school ranks are so very low in the equation that you can easily compensate for it by your performance, which I might add, will likely exceed your performance in classes at a higher ranked school, where you're competing with a cohort of gunners as evidenced by those schools' admissions profiles.

The moral of the story is to avoid focusing and relying so heavily on these high expectations that so many of us pre-meds tend to exalt. In the end, if your motivations are sincere, you'll be the same physician regardless of your Osteopathic or Allopathic medical education. To succeed, just do as much investigation into what worked and didn't work for others with similar goals and learn from their mistakes.

I hope this helps at least one of you. It'd make this entire post well worth the procrastination. If it does work for you, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'll be around.

dude... why did you even send your application with a 23 (ESPECIALLY as a white person)? You were just throwing money away. Why not just retake and wait a year?

I would never recommend any applicant do what this poster did.... Its just silly.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

dude... why did you even send your application with a 23 (ESPECIALLY as a white person)? You were just throwing money away. Why not just retake and wait a year?

I would never recommend any applicant do what this poster did.... Its just silly.

Even without a good MCAT, he got 2 interviews. If he happens to get in, you are very wrong, and your advice would have held him back from an acceptance. He has more interviews than me, and I got a 32.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

I'm just really upset because I've been following this thread and lurking around this forum for almost a year now and even the most mediocre of candidates (in regard to their stats, not overall character of course) seem to at least get 1 interview. I've done what people suggest to others and now I don't know what to do. Is it really too late to expect an interview invite this cycle?

What are your stats, ec's, etc.... Maybe post your situation in the "What are my chances" thread to see if anyone else can help you out. Even though it sounds like you did everything right, I wouldn't expect an interview at this point. It's a tough spot to be in, but unfortunately, it's how this game is played.

Even with one interview at my state school, I'm incredibly disappointed to not have fared well. When I consider my friends and other people I know who are accepted this cycle with lower stats and an overall less competitive application (or so we all thought lol), it's hard to determine exactly what went wrong.

 

[robertch8]

I've had 10 rejections (read 20 since they were all MD/PhD at first and switched to MD later on), 2 interviews (1 of which takes place this Monday), and thus far have landed 1 spot on a WL, probably 2 after this ensuing interview.




I'm sincerely rooting for everyone in this thread. The fact that 40k applicants apply for 20k spots annually innately makes this process far from palatable. My post in particular should be an encouragement to those of you with no interviews or those of you waiting to apply for your first time: I have a 23O MCAT and was fortunate enough to land an interview at each of my 2 state schools. Most of the time people with such a score are limited to DO/Caribbean schools and even then don't always land an interview or an acceptance. I did, however, have many compensating factors (i.e., click on my MDApps profile) that several of you can learn from and emulate in your own applications next cycle, whether you're subscribed to this thread as a student without interviews this cycle or as a student planning to learn from others' mistakes in anticipation of applying this coming cycle.

While I'm no superstar this cycle, it didn't start that way. I was scoring very well on my practice MCATs and was headed for a 30+ per my trend, and scored so low due to extenuating circumstances. This whole process was very humbling. I went from dreaming about going to a top 30 school and matriculating at an NIH funded and stipend provided Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) to being content to interview at all, let alone where or how it ranks.

My MCAT was legitimately the only thing that held me down (verified by several clinician scientists at my own institution and at others). Sure, I could've withdrawn all of my applications, retook my MCAT and blown it out of the water, and reapplied the following cycle. But I had submitted for verification so that my MCAT and verification would end on the same week.

However, I still could've withdrawn the applications after I saw my scores. Why not? Because I had schools that looked at my entire application and saw the humanity in my situation, giving me a chance. If those schools decide to admit me, I'll go in a heartbeat.

When it comes down to it, medical school is medical school. You can match into any specialty so long as you meet the expectations of that program (e.g., USMLE Step scores, clerkship grades, basic science grades, exceptional letters of recommendation, et cetera). The school ranks are so very low in the equation that you can easily compensate for it by your performance, which I might add, will likely exceed your performance in classes at a higher ranked school, where you're competing with a cohort of gunners as evidenced by those schools' admissions profiles.

The moral of the story is to avoid focusing and relying so heavily on these high expectations that so many of us pre-meds tend to exalt. In the end, if your motivations are sincere, you'll be the same physician regardless of your Osteopathic or Allopathic medical education. To succeed, just do as much investigation into what worked and didn't work for others with similar goals and learn from their mistakes.

I hope this helps at least one of you. It'd make this entire post well worth the procrastination. If it does work for you, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'll be around.

I really really hope you can pull it off! Screw the poster who said it's stupid to apply...I mean you got 2 interviews out of it and "every shot not taken is a shot missed."

But I do hope that you are in the middle of preparing to retake the MCAT in the event that you do not get in because I'm almost certain that they will want to see that real improvement if you reapply.

 

[kpcrew]

Overall gpa: 3.64
Sci gpa: 3.5
MCAT: 36 (14P 11B 11 V)

Physicians shadowing ~60 hrs
Hospital volunteering ~300 hrs
Research 2 years (no pubs)
President of a nutrition and wellness club for 1 year
Dance choreographer at university 3 years
Worked as EMT-B 1 year (gap year)
3 letters of rec ( I assume they're all good. No reason for me to think otherwise)

I thought I'd get at least 1 interview, you know? I only applied to lower tier MD schools (NYMC, Albany, Temple, etc) with the only mid to top tier ones being the California MD schools.

holy **** no way...
i'm finding it hard to believe that no school was interested in you with those numbers

 

[SeminoleVesicle]

me too, man.

Sorry to hear that. People like you scare the thousands of pre-meds that use this site.

Hopefully next cycle brings you more success.

 

[octupus]

Overall gpa: 3.64
Sci gpa: 3.5
MCAT: 36 (14P 11B 11 V)

Physicians shadowing ~60 hrs
Hospital volunteering ~300 hrs
Research 2 years (no pubs)
President of a nutrition and wellness club for 1 year
Dance choreographer at university 3 years
Worked as EMT-B 1 year (gap year)
3 letters of rec ( I assume they're all good. No reason for me to think otherwise)

I thought I'd get at least 1 interview, you know? I only applied to lower tier MD schools (NYMC, Albany, Temple, etc) with the only mid to top tier ones being the California MD schools.

I really can't imagine it being your stats holding you back. You also applied early and to lower tier schools... something doesn't seem right. Hope you can figure out what's wrong before reapplying.

 

[spike55]

I ended up with 3 interviews. 1 post-interview rejection and still waiting to hear from the other 2. I almost felt less stressed out at the end of January, before I'd gotten any interview invitations, when I was assuming I would have to reapply. Not knowing what's next is so stressful!

 

[octupus]

bump....just wondering how everyone ended up doing.

On a brighter note.
average applicant, with below average GPA
2 DO and 1 MD interview, 3 acceptances.

 

[ppfizenm]

Overall gpa: 3.64
Sci gpa: 3.5
MCAT: 36 (14P 11B 11 V)

Physicians shadowing ~60 hrs
Hospital volunteering ~300 hrs
Research 2 years (no pubs)
President of a nutrition and wellness club for 1 year
Dance choreographer at university 3 years
Worked as EMT-B 1 year (gap year)
3 letters of rec ( I assume they're all good. No reason for me to think otherwise)

I thought I'd get at least 1 interview, you know? I only applied to lower tier MD schools (NYMC, Albany, Temple, etc) with the only mid to top tier ones being the California MD schools.

What is your state of residence? I'm guessing Cali but Idk. Part of your problem is that your "mid to upper tier schools" are the Californias which are not easy to get into in the first place and almost impossible if you aren't a resident. Another problem you have is not accurately gauging the "tiers" of the respective schools you have applied to. I am less familiar with NYMC and Albany, but Temple isn't a lower tier school.

Something about this doesn't seem right though. If you have those stats you don't just apply to lower tier schools. What is wrong with your application? Do you have a criminal record or institutional action against you?

 

[SeminoleVesicle]

On a brighter note.
average applicant, with below average GPA
2 DO and 1 MD interview, 3 acceptances.

Where at?

 

[octupus]

Where at?

LECOM Bradenton, Touro NY and New York Medical College.
So excited to go back to NY though I'll miss Florida weather (a LOT!)

 

[crazyasian]

Overall gpa: 3.64
Sci gpa: 3.5
MCAT: 36 (14P 11B 11 V)

Physicians shadowing ~60 hrs
Hospital volunteering ~300 hrs
Research 2 years (no pubs)
President of a nutrition and wellness club for 1 year
Dance choreographer at university 3 years
Worked as EMT-B 1 year (gap year)
3 letters of rec ( I assume they're all good. No reason for me to think otherwise)

I thought I'd get at least 1 interview, you know? I only applied to lower tier MD schools (NYMC, Albany, Temple, etc) with the only mid to top tier ones being the California MD schools.

Maybe you could let others read your PS or your EC's descriptions on your AMCAS? When I had my adviser reread my PS and EC's, she found so many things that I should have changed. Either that or you have bad LOR's...you have such great stats and an amazing MCAT

 

[RedSox10]

I don't think I can. Some schools won't divulge any info unless I interviewed with them.



My GPA, according to the newest MSAR, is lower than matriculant average with my science gpa being in the lower 20th percentile in most mid to upper tier schools that are outside my home state of Cali. As for gauging the lower tiers... I also applied to SUNY Buffalo, Drexel, VCU, EVMS, GWU, Hofstra and MCW in addition to the ones I already mentioned.

Where else would have been California friendly?

Also, I have no criminal record aside from two speeding tickets when I was in high school.

As I've already said, I really don't know what is wrong with my app and I'm doing all I can to get the schools to tell me what's up but no one is willing to tell me anything. It's just all really depressing because my family and friends were so happy for me when I told them my MCAT score. People were reassuring me that I'd have an acceptance but it looks like it's just not going to happen.

The schools you just listed... are they the ONLY other ones you applied to besides the Cali schools? GW gets more applicants than any other school and accepts 2.5% of applicants (and is ranked 55/126..not quite low-teir, maybe mid-teir?). Hofstra only has a class size of 40 or something and probably has a preference for in-staters. EVMS, VCU, and SUNY heavily favor instate applicants--and actually MCW and Drexel have a high proportion of in-state applicants matriculating.

Overall it looks like you've applied to a very small number of schools, which might account for your lack of success?

Your 36 more than makes up for your low (ish) GPA, so I don't know what else to say.

 

[flodhi1]

where else should I have applied, then?

Did you actually make an impression when writing up primary and secondary applications? the key to secondaries is to answer why you think you're a perfect fit to specific schools. Therefore, do you feel like you actually accomplished all of that?
I honestly think that there might have been an issue with your PS and LORs. Your stats are more than decent and far from lowish at all.

 

[flodhi1]

The schools you just listed... are they the ONLY other ones you applied to besides the Cali schools? GW gets more applicants than any other school and accepts 2.5% of applicants (and is ranked 55/126..not quite low-teir, maybe mid-teir?). Hofstra only has a class size of 40 or something and probably has a preference for in-staters. EVMS, VCU, and SUNY heavily favor instate applicants--and actually MCW and Drexel have a high proportion of in-state applicants matriculating.

Overall it looks like you've applied to a very small number of schools, which might account for your lack of success?

Your 36 more than makes up for your low (ish) GPA, so I don't know what else to say.

VCU accepts 45ish % OOS and 55ish % IS unless I'm missing something VCU does not really "heavily favor instate applicants".

 

[flodhi1]

I didn't explain why I'm a good fit at a school unless the secondary asked "why us?" I didn't know it was obligatory. For example, many schools didn't even have a "is there anything else you'd like to tell us" prompt, so I didn't have an opportunity to write about that.

Well I didn't mean it that way. I meant to say did you answer the question properly when asked. A lot of people like to use generic answers or use the same answer toward many schools. Admissions have been doing this stuff for years and trust me they can see through all that. Again I'm just speculating but either way I can damn well assure you it's not your GPA or MCAT. Also when you asked individuals to write your LOR did they actually know you very well? or ehhh kinda? these are some important points.

 

[flodhi1]

Well, the LORs are all from my professors. They really only know me from a sit down I had with each of them about why I'm applying to med school. So I guess, in that sense none of them were from individuals I was really close with. But isn't that the case for most applicants' LORs from professors (especially those at universities with large class sizes)?

I suppose I did kind of have canned answers that I mostly copied and pasted to different secondaries if the questions were similarly themed. But don't most people do this?

There you go, I found two major weaknesses in your application that probably hindered your interview to some of these schools. Let me put it this way VCU (one of the schools you applied to) takes LORs extremely serious. During my interview, my interviewer specifically quoted some of the letter writers (they want personal letters not some oh I met john in a meeting and oh yeah I saw him in class oh by the way he got an A), they can see stuff like that on your transcript. In my opinion these generic LORs tend to be more harmful than helpful. Secondly, no not everyone just copy pastes to individual schools. "Oh I picked your school because I want to work with urban populations or rural populations". If a reviewer read stuff like that they would literally laugh and the next thing your application is in the trash can. Look I know I might be coming off as straight forward right now and not too kind but I'm trying to make you aware of these things so next time you can get into medical school. You worked hard in undergrad look at your stats man, if anything you deserve to be in medical school, maybe even more than me. So make sure you can get rid of these weaknesses and get in next cycle!

 

[Northwesterly]

There you go, I found two major weaknesses in your application that probably hindered your interview to some of these schools. Let me put it this way VCU (one of the schools you applied to) takes LORs extremely serious. During my interview, my interviewer specifically quoted some of the letter writers (they want personal letters not some oh I met john in a meeting and oh yeah I saw him in class oh by the way he got an A), they can see stuff like that on your transcript. In my opinion these generic LORs tend to be more harmful than helpful. Secondly, no not everyone just copy pastes to individual schools. "Oh I picked your school because I want to work with urban populations or rural populations". If a reviewer read stuff like that they would literally laugh and the next thing your application is in the trash can. Look I know I might be coming off as straight forward right now and not too kind but I'm trying to make you aware of these things so next time you can get into medical school. You worked hard in undergrad look at your stats man, if anything you deserve to be in medical school, maybe even more than me. So make sure you can get rid of these weaknesses and get in next cycle!

I'd agree that those are potential pitfalls, and that the 3.5 science GPA isn't so hot, but 3.6/3.5 36 should still get some *interviews* given a decent (15? 20?) number of applications to mid and lower tier programs. OP, are you sure there isn't a red flag anywhere in your app? A bad LOR? A disciplinary action at school? If you only applied to 10 schools I guess it could be down to a lowish science GPA and bad luck, but it's pretty surprising that you wouldn't even get a late season interview invite.

 

[robertch8]

Overall gpa: 3.64
Sci gpa: 3.5
MCAT: 36 (14P 11B 11 V)

Physicians shadowing ~60 hrs
Hospital volunteering ~300 hrs
Research 2 years (no pubs)
President of a nutrition and wellness club for 1 year
Dance choreographer at university 3 years
Worked as EMT-B 1 year (gap year)
3 letters of rec ( I assume they're all good. No reason for me to think otherwise)

I thought I'd get at least 1 interview, you know? I only applied to lower tier MD schools (NYMC, Albany, Temple, etc) with the only mid to top tier ones being the California MD schools.

Well first off med school admissions is a crapshoot but just looking at your ECs, I think that it's probably what's hindering you. Just looking at your list, you don't seem to have a convincing list that will tell committee members, this guy has a convincing desire for medicine with experiences that make him stand out from the rest of the applicant pool. Just going on interviews this year, I've been blown away at some of the ECs that interviewees have done and many times it's the story that transcends them to getting an interview over everyone else.

You clearly have the numbers so that gets you through the first bar, but I think you need to add a couple of ECs and then make a story about your experiences that will make ADCOMs think hey we want to see this guy in person for an interview. I went to a Second Look a couple weeks ago and they told me that at their school once a student reaches a certain MCAT score, it really doesn't matter how high that MCAT score is because it won't make a big difference in a student succeeding academically prediction wise. It becomes a matter of who you are as an individual and your story to become a doctor. I think that's what you should look at-- putting together a story through your PS and adding a couple of ECs to make your story more convincing. And of course, what flodhi said about doing your research of each school and crafting a strategy where you link your experiences to the selling points of their school.

I'm a reapplicant so I know what the feeling is like for you not getting into med school in April, but good luck; you will come through at the end!

Some schools you probably can look at that worked for me-- I'm not a Cali resident but I was OOS at these schools and noticed a ton of Cali people at these interviews were Oakland, Hofstra, and the Arizona schools (they accept up to 50% OOS now).

 

[SilentSoldier]

I don't think its your numbers holding you down since there are people in this thread that have received interviews with lower stats. Its honestly incredibly difficult to pinpoint exactly where you went wrong, and its very possible that you didn't do anything wrong and were just unlucky. Trying to make sense of the application process will drive you insane.

 

[drizzt3117]

I don't think its your numbers holding you down since there are people in this thread that have received interviews with lower stats. Its honestly incredibly difficult to pinpoint exactly where you went wrong, and its very possible that you didn't do anything wrong and were just unlucky. Trying to make sense of the application process will drive you insane.

He went wrong by not applying to enough schools. I had far higher stats and another state residency in addition to CA and applied to 10 more schools. He should have applied to 40 minimum; the 7 CA schools shouldn't even be counted when they made their list.

 

[SeminoleVesicle]

He went wrong by not applying to enough schools. I had far higher stats and another state residency in addition to CA and applied to 10 more schools. He should have applied to 40 minimum; the 7 CA schools shouldn't even be counted when they made their list.

You must be joking. Not everyone has the time and means to do this.

 

[Guero]

FranZ, please read posts in their entirety before replying. My post preemptively answered your questions.

why did you even send your application with a 23 . . . .

Because I submitted my application prior to taking the MCAT, on which I was averaging 30+ on the AAMC practice tests, to ensure that my application was verified the week my scores were returned. I received a devastating phone call just before I left to take my MCAT, which was purchased and scheduled months in advance. The next and final sitting was already booked. I took my chances, even though I knew I was distracted, knowing that I scored so well on my practice tests. I figured I'd make a 27, 26 at worst. I underestimated the effect of that phone call. Oops.

. . . (ESPECIALLY as a white person)? . . .

Really? I don't have enough palm for my face right now.

. . . You were just throwing money away. Why not just retake and wait a year? . . .

See above.

. . . I would never recommend any applicant do what this poster did.... Its just silly.

As others have already said while jumping to my defense (thanks peeps), being "silly" probably got me into medical school considering I'm already waitlisted and rocked my last two interviews at another school. Hmmm....

. . . But I do hope that you are in the middle of preparing to retake the MCAT in the event that you do not get in because I'm almost certain that they will want to see that real improvement if you reapply.

Thanks for the props. I am indeed planning to retake should I not make the cut. I'm hoping for a May 31st retake; but all of the closest centers are booked. I'm keeping an eye on everything and hope to God I don't end up retaking for nothing (i.e., receiving an acceptance after testing).

 

[thlaxer]

I don't think its your numbers holding you down since there are people in this thread that have received interviews with lower stats. Its honestly incredibly difficult to pinpoint exactly where you went wrong, and its very possible that you didn't do anything wrong and were just unlucky. Trying to make sense of the application process will drive you insane.

My guess is lackluster LORs and/or his essays were not very reflective. Perhaps he didn't fit the mission of the schools he applied to (e.g. lack of non-hospital volunteering; essays may have focused too much on research, etc.). MikeKeat, did you send any letter of interests and/or updates to these schools? Not sure if others have suggested this yet, but try calling the schools to see if they have any suggestions for you. You could also send some of us your essays. I'll be happy to take a look to see if there's anything wrong with it. Imo, if the 20-25 schools you applied to didn't even give you an interview, chances are you'd get the same result if you applied to 30 (schools with similar missions look for similar qualities). Sure you might be lucky, but the fact that you're not getting a single bite seems to be pointing towards a problem in your application. There is some randomness to this application process, but the entire process is by no means a "crapshoot" imo (though some people do fall through the cracks unfortunately). Good luck

 

[NYCMS2]

You must be joking. Not everyone has the time and means to do this.

No joke - he should have given it his best shot, 40 schools is about right, especially for a California resident.

Applying to med school is expensive, especially come interview time. I don't know what to tell somebody other than you have to suck it up and find the $ to go through this hell - credit cards? parents? job? A half assed app cycle is money blown, plus you have to come up with living expenses for another year+ prepping for the next cycle: what costs more? Doing the cycle right the first time, or going through a second cycle?