The end goal is Med. school

[davids]

Hi, sorry to jump in - I'm really new here and don't have enough knowledge about the medical school systems. So is it possible for a student to apply to a medical school and then re-apply the following year if rejected?

 

Thanks!

[future_doc]

Absolutely. Often, the first attempt becomes a practice run for the real thing down the road. Some members here have applied numerous time for many, many years until finally rewarded with an acceptancer and each year, they become a stronger candidate.

 

Welcome!

[khb008]

I would like to add to Future_docs comment. From what i've seen so far, and haven't too much so someone please correct me, reapplication is considered differently in US vs Canada.

 

In Canada it is more or less a norm for people to apply again and again if not successful previously.

 

In USA, unless between each attempt your application has improved significantly, your reapplication is looked down upon. Thus for USA you really only have one good shot.

 

Someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

[bloh]

You are mostly correct. Applying multiple times is frowned upon but I would not say that "you really only have one good shot."

 

Also, I don't believe they can even tell if your application has improved so it really just adds a red flag to your application if you've applied numerous times.

[khb008]

Oh Okay

Thanks for clearing that up bloh.

[GOALiswestern]

Thank you guys for all your help.

 

I've really spent the last few days thinking about what to do and I've figured out my biggest fear and what has been holding me back. I truly lack extracurriculars (except for some research experience, I have done nothing else in my uni life, I used to be part of a lot of things in high school but stopped once I hit uni. mostly because I started to feel stressed out when I would have to speak in front of a lot of people, I found out I have social anxiety and it just appeared out of no where). And ever since 1st year, hearing all the horror stories of people not getting in doing this and that, really got be intimated, thus my failure to do things. Pretty much I have spent the last three years in a room watching movies or playing games. Also, my social anxitey isn't helping me either.

 

Anyways, the thing I want to ask is, even if I do a 5th year or Masters, will my lack of extracurriculars affect me. And what can I do to increase my extracurriculars (volunteering at a hospital is enough?!).

[simpy]

Thank you guys for all your help.

 

I've really spent the last few days thinking about what to do and I've figured out my biggest fear and what has been holding me back. I truly lack extracurriculars (except for some research experience, I have done nothing else in my uni life, I used to be part of a lot of things in high school but stopped once I hit uni. mostly because I started to feel stressed out when I would have to speak in front of a lot of people, I found out I have social anxiety and it just appeared out of no where). And ever since 1st year, hearing all the horror stories of people not getting in doing this and that, really got be intimated, thus my failure to do things. Pretty much I have spent the last three years in a room watching movies or playing games. Also, my social anxitey isn't helping me either.

 

Anyways, the thing I want to ask is, even if I do a 5th year or Masters, will my lack of extracurriculars affect me. And what can I do to increase my extracurriculars (volunteering at a hospital is enough?!).

 

Yes, your lack of extracurriculars will affect you at most schools.

 

If you really have a lot of social anxiety, why are you considering medicine? Most specialties will require you to work directly with lots of people.

 

Volunteering at a hospital is probably not enough. To increase your extracurriculars I don't know what else to tell you other than to get involved. Figure out what interests you and start joining clubs. Maybe that starts with a Starcraft club, but as a rule of thumb, you should probably be spending a minimum of 10 hours/week on extracurriculars.

[bloh]

If you look at the admission criteria for most schools, GPA is really only a tiny part of the picture. A large part (in most schools, even the largest part) comes from extracurricular and reference letters. You get good reference letters from doing extracurriculars so they are intricately related.

 

Nowadays, schools are looking for long-term commitments and those are genuinely the ones where you get your best letters from because the people get to know you and can write deep letters on your behalf, emphasizing your strengths

 

That's one of the advantages of doing a traditional research-based masters. You get to know your supervisor on a personal level over many years and you can use those years to build your application by getting involved in other activities that supplement your application in a concerted fashion. For me, this involved teaching and supervising university science classes and mentoring other students (at grade school and university level). There is no point in getting involved in short-term activities unless they build upon each other and can be grouped together that show your interest. This will actually come naturally, because you will be miserable doing it unless you actually enjoy it.

 

Having said that, don't think that you need to do a masters to do this. It can be done just as easily with a job if research isn't for you. This is why I always warn people from doing useless 1-year Master programs. If you didn't get into medical school in the first year due to low GPA and lack of ECs, what makes you think you will get in after a piddly 1-year Masters? You have less than a couple of months from the start of the Masters to application deadline - what can you possibly achieve in that time to improve your application?