Rejection from LECOM EAP - Would like your honest feedback

[PremedthatcouldinCA]

I would be grateful to your wisdom/understanding. I am a high school senior and I applied to LECOM EAP. My stats are good (I think) 4.8 weighted/4.0, 31 ACT, I have been volunteering withe convalescent seniors in hospital settings for past 8 years in various roles. I have the certification/seal of biliteracy in Spanish language. I am ORM (does that matter here?)

I was accepted to various undergrad LECOM feeder schools - Penn State, Seton Hill, MCPHS in Boston.... it took forever to get the interview date.. finally took it in late February. Got the notice this weekend of wait for it.. rejection.

On Reddit.. it seems everyone is getting in to LECOM EAP. so what did I do wrong? I was hopeful.. now Seton Hill admissions is saying.. hey enroll undergrad with us and you can reapply to LECOM your Sophomore year.. yeah..well what better chance will I have then? I thought my stats were solid now?

Can I/Should I ask LECOM for feedback - are they looking at the right data file. (seriously), or is this the way it is..?
I was accepted to UCSB, UCSD, UCD, UCSC, UCR, waitlisted at CALPOLY SLO.. I just wasn't thinking I would be having to make a choice now of staying in California and dealing with "everyone is premed in California".

Thank you kindly in advance to this wonderful network of people hustling to be in the greatest profession ever. ever.

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[theoceanman]

Did you shadow physicians? That could have been a dealbreaker for you.

 

[chilly_md]

Moved to hSDN.

Asking them about your file is not really going to do anything.

You said you have volunteered in a hospital setting for 8 years. If you are a high school senior, that does not make sense that you were doing this from age 10. Helping a relative who is sick has not traditionally counted as clinical experience.

 

[PremedthatcouldinCA]

yes I should have explained.. started doing Meals on Wheels pet food delivery with my parents in elementary school both food for homebound and then pet food delivery. They signed up and my brother and I did it. Then in middle school I started doing Furry friends - pet assisted therapy with my dog in convalesent homes.. it was the only thing I could do to get in hospitals and homes at 11 and 12.

 

[PremedthatcouldinCA]

both are official non profit organizations.. Furry Friends Home Page Furryfriends

 

[chilly_md]

yes I should have explained.. started doing Meals on Wheels pet food delivery with my parents in elementary school both food for homebound and then pet food delivery. They signed up and my brother and I did it. Then in middle school I started doing Furry friends - pet assisted therapy with my dog in convalesent homes.. it was the only thing I could do to get in hospitals and homes at 11 and 12.

The Meals on Wheels isn’t clinical experience.
Was there anything in a traditional hospital setting where you interacted with patients?

Agree with aquafied that they probably wanted you to shadow too since this program commits you to medicine at a young age.

 

[theoceanman]

yes I should have explained.. started doing Meals on Wheels pet food delivery with my parents in elementary school both food for homebound and then pet food delivery. They signed up and my brother and I did it. Then in middle school I started doing Furry friends - pet assisted therapy with my dog in convalesent homes.. it was the only thing I could do to get in hospitals and homes at 11 and 12.

This feels more akin to non-clinical volunteering due to the lack of direct-patient interactions, such as transporting patients to ER or doing scribe work for a physician. Being in the hospital setting was probably not enough, and you should have volunteered as a teenage volunteer for hospitals (most clinics and hospitals have programs for those that are 15 and up). This would have helped your CV significantly, plus shadowing experiences would have been a bonus if you had managed to obtain some. Your current CV almost feels therapy-oriented rather than medicine.

 

[PremedthatcouldinCA]

thank you all for the helpful feedback. It really has been keeping me up. I tried to get in with a few local hospitals during the pandemic and it was a no go. and I also knocked a few doors of doctors I knew.. and guess what they had a long line of kids they were already working with (friends of parents they knew). So I did the best I could with what I had in front of me.. tried to focus it around working with "seniors in the community" since it started there with my parents.. and continued..

I appreciate the insight.. now I have to make a decision on undergrad.. I have to close this out now. Thank you kindly and I will need to focus on this during college for sure.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

So I cannot answer for this EAP. I am not at all sure what you had other than what you disclosed. But based on your descriptions, here are my thoughts.

I have to balance the undergraduate mission and professional school mission. I have to also gauge whether you are mature enough to handle the transition to college and transition to the professional programs using the help of the college program. You are probably going to do well at a lot of undergrad programs and get a ton of acceptances. So it needs to be clear why this track is appropriate for everyone.

Sometimes you can do everything right, but you are left out of the shortlist. That happens. The truth is that if you really wanted to get that slot, you could apply through other means, including regular admission. Would you use this as the safety school to leverage other offers? If so, why would I give you a spot to this track?

You have choices where you want to go to school. Congratulations and good luck in your decision.

 

[PremedthatcouldinCA]

Thank you very much with your nice thoughtful words. I guess I thought I did everything right and I ended up on a lot of almosts…this was not the only one. I also interviewed with Rowan DO, LECOM, Unecom, but in the end.i Didn’t get in. Unecom admitted me to a guaranteed interview after 4 years.. if I keep a certain gpa and with min mcat score.. i Did get in to some good uc schools And I am grateful. people on reddit said that almost nobody gets rejected from lecom eap interview so when I received the rejection it freaked me out. All the studying, all the Ap classes, etc etc..i was frustrated.. what was I missing? Time to adult and get ready for next level. Thank You. It means a lot 🥹.

 

[chilly_md]

people on reddit said that almost nobody gets rejected from lecom eap interview so when I received the rejection it freaked me out.

I think you accomplished a lot for your age and people on Reddit are likely making all sorts of claims. LECOM EAP does not have published statistics and I doubt there’s much discussion about such a specific program where anybody can make a guess at how many people move on from the interview stage.