Should I even Reapply?
Hi all,
I just received a rejection from the one school I interviewed at, which means I'm officially a medical school reject. I honestly thought I would get in somewhere, and it seemed like my one interview went about as well as it could have gone (based on both interviewers' feedback)... but they ultimately decided not to accept me. I'd like to know why, so maybe you all can help.
Here's where I'm at:
- GPA: 3.65 cGPA, 3.68 sGPA
- MCAT: 512 (128/126/128/130)
- ORM, CA resident
- Graduated with BS Biochemistry from CA state school in 2015 (spent 6 years in undergrad)
- Schools to which I applied: UCLA (David Geffen and Drew), USC, Loma Linda, NYMC, UC Davis, UC Irvine (+ PRIME), UC Riverside, Wayne State
- Research: 2 years spent in undergaduate research lab working on a novel synthesis relating to drug discovery/0.5 year writing a grant proposal for potential compounds of interest (also relating to drug discovery); no publications, 1 poster presentation at a state conference
- LOR: School committee letter with highest recommendation
- Volunteering (clinical): 550 hours (400+ in clinic in Mexico + 150 hospital volunteering)
- Physician shadowing: >100 hours spent with orthopedic surgeon, ER physician, FM physician, and endocrinologist.
- Non-clinical volunteering: 120 hours teaching children in a church program
- Extracurricular activities: grew up racing dirt bikes in desert series'/working on cars and building desert trucks/salsa dancing/avid hiker
- Leadership: Coordinator for a free monthly clinic in Mexico for >1 year/Peer mentor for minority students at local community college for 1 year during undergrad
- Employment history: >10,000 hours: I've had a job since the day I was legally able (15.5 years old) and worked all throughout undergrad. Now, i'm a married man working in the medical device industry testing new devices in development
- Immediate family members in medicine? No.
- Specialty of interest: Emergency medicine
- Graduate degrees: none
- Interest in rural health: Yes - I've spent almost 3 years working in a free clinic giving healthcare once per month in an extremely impoverished city in Mexico, and was recently the clinic's coordinator for the previous year
- Other: Conversationally fluent in Spanish; was a teaching assistant for a semester; worked as a private tutor for a few years
I did not apply early or late (depending on who you ask, I guess) - primary was submitted the first week of July, secondaries submitted early through late August. I'm fairly confident that my school list is the main reason for why I got little to no love this cycle, but if anyone else can chime in I'd love to hear what you think I should do moving forward. Here is my concern with reapplying - my application will be largely the same. I stupidly banked on getting accepted and quit the hospital volunteer position I had, so the only thing I have going for me is the added clinical volunteer hours from going to the clinic in Mexico each month. Is it even worth it for me to reapply right now without making significant changes to my application?
Thank you to anyone who replies!
Posted Mar 12, 2018, 8:54 PM UTC · edited