What went wrong here? Diagnosis?

[canadaanon]

Here are the numbers:

3.86 cGPA by the AMCAS standard.

 

MCAT

34M ( 11VR, 11PS, 12BS)

36M ( 10VR, 13PS, 13BS) *Recent

 

I have a lot of extracurricular things on my application (hospital volunteering, student government, own business started, employment, research etc. ). There is no shadowing of a doctor. Additionally, my personal statement was not as good as it could be.

 

I applied to 9 American Schools. Was complete at these schools by the 3rd week of October. Got 1 interview, 4 holds which turned into a rejection and 4 rejections. Last week received a rejection letter from the schools I had an interview. I am a Canadian citizen.

 

I am graduating this year and planning on taking a year off to catch up on many things I have not done.Planning on getting some more volunteering experience/ doctor shadowing as well. Good idea?

Do I rewrite the MCAT?

For people with some knowledge on this, What is the problem? How should I fix it?

 

 

The only reason I retook the MCAT was to be eligible for Candian Schools. Most don't look at your application with an M. At this point, I do not care about getting into an Canadian School.

 

Here are the 9 schools :

Wayne State

NYU

SUNY

Yale

Maryland

Boston

Jefferson

George Washinton

Vanderbilt

[biogirlsbro]

Your stats look great. I would just apply earlier (June) and to more schools.

[shikimate]

From what I understand the US schools really want you to have a reference letter from an MD, so that might be your weakness there.

 

Of course retrospective analysis is more prone to recall bias, and things like that.

[med1988]

1- submit your application on June 1st

2- Include shadowing experience

3- apply to ~8 Ivies, ~6 mid tiers and ~3 safeties

4- at the interview, let them know why you love their school, the city, and why America.

 

You'll get in.

[AnxiousBoy]

As stated above, more schools, apply earlier.

 

You got 1 interview out of 9. Apply to 27. You'll get 3 interviews. Apply early. You'll get 5 interviews. 5 interviews would be a great result.

 

Now work backwards. From 5, you applied late ==> 3 interviews. You applied to not enough schools ===> 1 interview.

 

1 interview = crapshoot (unless you are such a bright star or you come off as a wild-eyed psycho)

 

Sounds appropriate given the variables imo.

[deathvvv]

++ To the others have said

 

9 school is definitely low for someone who applied late, also, many of the 9 schools you have applied are very competitive, this round, ,add a few more low tier schools and you should be golden

[GGGSaint]

From what I understand the US schools really want you to have a reference letter from an MD, so that might be your weakness there.

 

Of course retrospective analysis is more prone to recall bias, and things like that.

 

Not the case.

 

1- submit your application on June 1st

2- Include shadowing experience

3- apply to ~8 Ivies, ~6 mid tiers and ~3 safeties

4- at the interview, let them know why you love their school, the city, and why America.

 

You'll get in.

 

++ to everything except the bold. Apply to as many schools as financially feasible that you'd be willing to attend. 17 schools with a heavy dose of ivy league schools will not cut it. You have great stats though so not to worry.

 

Be ready to explain why the heck you retook the 34M MCAT (if you weren't already asked at your 1 interview). Applying to Canadian schools obviously won't cut it. May not be easy but try to find a practical explanation. As other said, apply early June...late October really didn't do yourself justice.

 

 

---

ps: med1988 -> considering Ivy, Princeton doesn't have a med school and Brown has been ignorantly restrictive to anyone but their own alumni (although this is changing for the upcoming year).

[DubZteR]

1- submit your application on June 1st

2- Include shadowing experience

3- apply to ~8 Ivies, ~6 mid tiers and ~3 safeties

4- at the interview, let them know why you love their school, the city, and why America.

 

You'll get in.

 

there are no safeties when applying to the US as a Cad citizen ....

[DubZteR]

Here are the numbers:

3.86 cGPA by the AMCAS standard.

 

MCAT

34M ( 11VR, 11PS, 12BS)

36M ( 10VR, 13PS, 13BS) *Recent

 

-you have great stats ... don't retake your MCAT!

 

I have a lot of extracurricular things on my application (hospital volunteering, student government, own business started, employment, research etc. ). There is no shadowing of a doctor. Additionally, my personal statement was not as good as it could be.

 

-def. revamp your PS and have someone who's been through the process give you their perspective. Hindsight is 20/20 when you've been through the process.

-also focus on your interviewing skills and strategies ... did you do mock interviews etc?

 

I applied to 9 American Schools. Was complete at these schools by the 3rd week of October. Got 1 interview, 4 holds which turned into a rejection and 4 rejections. Last week received a rejection letter from the schools I had an interview. I am a Canadian citizen.

 

-like others have said ... apply to more schools and much earlier ... timing is very important for rolling admissions.

 

I am graduating this year and planning on taking a year off to catch up on many things I have not done.Planning on getting some more volunteering experience/ doctor shadowing as well. Good idea?

 

-shadowing a doctor can't hurt but it's not absolutely necessary. I wouldn't do it unless you absolutely want to.

 

The only reason I retook the MCAT was to be eligible for Candian Schools. Most don't look at your application with an M. At this point, I do not care about getting into an Canadian School.

 

-i did med school in the states ... loved it! I would gladly do it over again and you won't be at a disadvantage for CaRMs. Many programs will value your unique perspective from the US.

 

G-luck

[thirty6ix]

As stated above, more schools, apply earlier.

 

You got 1 interview out of 9. Apply to 27. You'll get 3 interviews. Apply early. You'll get 5 interviews. 5 interviews would be a great result.

 

Now work backwards. From 5, you applied late ==> 3 interviews. You applied to not enough schools ===> 1 interview.

 

1 interview = crapshoot (unless you are such a bright star or you come off as a wild-eyed psycho)

 

Sounds appropriate given the variables imo.

 

This is pretty much spot on. I applied to roughly 25 schools, submitting secondaries from July 6 to October 21. My MCAT was 32O when I applied and my score came out as 36Q in September. My AMCAS GPA was lower than yours. In the end, I was granted a total of 5 interviews from low- and mid-tier schools. Because of the timing of them, I attended 2/5 and gained acceptances at both. Take home message of this thread (and of most of the threads in this section): apply early and broadly.

[Der Kaiser]

This is pretty much spot on. I applied to roughly 25 schools, submitting secondaries from July 6 to October 21. My MCAT was 32O when I applied and my score came out as 36Q in September. My AMCAS GPA was lower than yours. In the end, I was granted a total of 5 interviews from low- and mid-tier schools. Because of the timing of them, I attended 2/5 and gained acceptances at both. Take home message of this thread (and of most of the threads in this section): apply early and broadly.

 

That is a ton of applications! Is each application fairly unique (secondary i mean), or is there some crossover that helps you save time. I see studying for and writing the MCAT, and completing 25 apps as almost too much for one summer, especially if one were to work during that time.

[mlbn]

That is a ton of applications! Is each application fairly unique (secondary i mean), or is there some crossover that helps you save time. I see studying for and writing the MCAT, and completing 25 apps as almost too much for one summer, especially if one were to work during that time.

 

SOme are similar, but I rarely recycled any answers. I felt it was better to rewrite and gear the answers specifically for each secondary. I also applied to 25 schools, and was granted interviews at 9. It's a tonne of work, almost like a full time job, but worth it. In retrospect, I should have had added some more reach schools. The last thing you want is regretting that you didn't add enough schools or apply later than you should have.