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Staying Motivated as a Re-Applicant


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Is anyone else finding it hard to stay motivated as a re-applicant? I just find that as the days pass by during this cycle, I become less confident in my application. I suppose I should provide a little exposition.

I first applied two years ago to Ontario schools. Luckily I scored an interview at Toronto, but was rejected in the end. The following cycle, I reapplied with a higher cGPA/wGPA, more items on my ABS, more long term commitments on my ABS, more effort put into my essays, etc. In short, I felt that if anything, my application was overall stronger than the first year. However, I did not score an interview, despite being rejected from Toronto a few days before the last interview date, which makes me feel as if my application was being held on some sort of interview waitlist in case someone cancelled last minute... 

I guess what bothers me most is that with each year that passes, I feel more discouraged. My fear is that the interview I got in my first application cycle was my one chance to get in, and I didn't seize it... I do hope that third time is the charm for me, especially for Toronto. It is my dream school :) In any case, I will still keep trying to improve myself and my application, and re-applying each year, as medicine is my goal and passion. However, one does begin to wonder if they are cut out for it as each application cycle occurs and passes. 

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8 minutes ago, Bubba said:

Totally feel the same way. Like yourself, I did not seize the opportunities I got last cycle. Was feeling optimistic about this cycle until getting hit with a brutal rejection at UBC yesterday. 

It's a hard journey but at the end of the day, your pain will make you a better physician. 

I am sorry to hear about the rejection from UBC. It's never a pleasant feeling. But you are right, every failure is a learning experience and a motivation to improve. Try to stay positive! You said that you had opportunities last cycle, so I'm assuming you had multiple interviews. Although UBC didn't work out this year, you may very likely get another chance at the other schools you interviewed at last year. I shall keep my fingers crossed for you :)

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1 hour ago, pixie094 said:

 

I first applied two years ago to Ontario schools. Luckily I scored an interview at Toronto, but was rejected in the end. The following cycle, I reapplied with a higher cGPA/wGPA, more items on my ABS, more long term commitments on my ABS, more effort put into my essays, etc. In short, I felt that if anything, my application was overall stronger than the first year. However, I did not score an interview, despite being rejected from Toronto a few days before the last interview date, which makes me feel as if my application was being held on some sort of interview waitlist in case someone cancelled last minute... 

 

I feel you, for most of us who receive more rejections than interview invites it becomes really taxing when you don't even know what you'll be doing next year + when you see all your friends get in and feel left behind..

I'm just curious though, in-between your two applications did you change your references? I'm worried since I got an interview at UofT last year but am fearing the worst as I know a few people who didn't get repeat interviews despite a stronger app.. mine didn't even change that much

 

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1 hour ago, pixie094 said:

Is anyone else finding it hard to stay motivated as a re-applicant? I just find that as the days pass by during this cycle, I become less confident in my application. I suppose I should provide a little exposition.

I first applied two years ago to Ontario schools. Luckily I scored an interview at Toronto, but was rejected in the end. The following cycle, I reapplied with a higher cGPA/wGPA, more items on my ABS, more long term commitments on my ABS, more effort put into my essays, etc. In short, I felt that if anything, my application was overall stronger than the first year. However, I did not score an interview, despite being rejected from Toronto a few days before the last interview date, which makes me feel as if my application was being held on some sort of interview waitlist in case someone cancelled last minute... 

I guess what bothers me most is that with each year that passes, I feel more discouraged. My fear is that the interview I got in my first application cycle was my one chance to get in, and I didn't seize it... I do hope that third time is the charm for me, especially for Toronto. It is my dream school :) In any case, I will still keep trying to improve myself and my application, and re-applying each year, as medicine is my goal and passion. However, one does begin to wonder if they are cut out for it as each application cycle occurs and passes. 

Definitely know how you feel. In my case I have written the MCAT 3 times and the last time i scored 128+ in bio, cars, psych only to score 122 in p/s. Each year I apply and i rewrite the MCAT while my friends get acceptances. it really is tough but at the end of the day you need to remind yourself why you are doing this and to use the time to improve not only your application but to improve yourself as a person so when you do get that acceptance, you are a better person than when you started out! Also, take solace in the fact that you are not alone and you have others also in this struggle!

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8 minutes ago, attempt2 said:

I feel you, for most of us who receive more rejections than interview invites it becomes really taxing when you don't even know what you'll be doing next year + when you see all your friends get in and feel left behind..

I'm just curious though, in-between your two applications did you change your references? I'm worried since I got an interview at UofT last year but am fearing the worst as I know a few people who didn't get repeat interviews despite a stronger app.. mine didn't even change that much

 

Not knowing what you will be doing the following year, and having friends get in and move on to med without you is definitely hard to deal with. However, just try to focus on doing whatever you can, whether you're back at school or working/volunteering during a "gap" year, to improve yourself as an applicant, but also more importantly as a person.

As for my references, they stayed the same between my first two apps. This current cycle, only one of my three has changed. I believe the two that have stayed throughout my applications are strong references, so I do not believe it is a matter of my LORs not being strong enough. One reference did wait until the last minute to submit last year however, so that may have been a factor... nonetheless, that reference has been changed for this current cycle. 

What you really need to analyze is how strong your non-academic admissions criteria are. In an application population that is always increasing in terms of academic achievement, great GPAs and MCAT scores don't really help people stand out anymore. It's really the components of your application that will decide if you interview or not (depending on the school).

I believe the main difference between my first year application (to U of T) and my second year one was the quality of my essays and 3 ABS statements. While I think they were written stronger and better in terms of writing in my second application year, they likely were less personal, and didn't hit the 4 clusters as well as my first year applications ones (I think). I am quite happy with mine this current cycle though. A lot of work went into them, and they underwent many revisions, so my fingers are crossed. 

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Hey, successful re-applicant here! The first time I applied, I got rejected everywhere and the second time I applied, I only scored a single interview (which thankfully was all I needed). As a non-trad applicant, I felt so frustrated after the first cycle and was feeling pretty hopeless after my second time applying but one thing that helped me was reminding myself that each year I applied, my application got stronger as I was adding more ABS items, had more experience with the MCAT/Casper/essays, etc. Unfortunately, there is a huge element of luck here as you can't control what the pool of applicants that you are up against looks like but just like it can work against you one year, it can work in your favour the next - I only got my interview at Western because their MCAT cut offs dropped for my second cycle! Use your determination and passion for becoming a doctor to push you and continue to build on yourself each year - try to identify where your areas of weakness are in your application and work to fix them.

As long as you persevere, you have a chance! One time when I was feeling pretty hopeless, a colleague told me about a friend of hers to applied ELEVEN times before getting accepted. If you can get an interview once, you can get an interview again, just keep going!

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I know that feeling. Going through it too. All I can say is work hard and identify the weaknesses in your application, they're definitely there somewhere. And tackle those weaknesses! Whether it's your GPA or your ECs or your essays or your references, really think about it. I do not believe it is impossible to get into med school. But I do believe you need to craft an outstanding application. Good luck to you on your journey and please don't give up on your dream. UofT is my dream school too. :) 

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