Need Help Narrowing Down Options

[anon5678]

First off, sorry for making another one of these threads. I am still unsure of what to do and would really appreciate some more advice. 

 

A bit of background about me: 

- graduated from B Sc in biology in 2016

- turning 24 this fall

- cGPA: 3.92, mcat: 131/129/129/130

- ECs: probably below average for my age. varied employment thruout UG and post-UG, a few volunteer commitments (some long-term, some short-term), research project, sports (training and competitions)

- second time applying. first cycle i was rejected at 2 schools post-interview. this cycle i was rejected or low-WL for 5 schools post-interview. The feedback this year suggests my interview improved a bit from last cycle. 

 

I'm well aware that my interview needs work. This year I just became complacent with the number of invites I received that I didn't prep seriously. Sure, I spent a lot of time at mock groups, but never really tried to improve my interview performance with each session. Over the duration of interview prep, I don't think I improved that much from my baseline. I ended up having 5 mediocre interviews. 

 

It took a while to get over the rejections, but I'm now determined to give med at least one more try. This time I'm going to bust my ass off preparing for interviews. But right now, I'm very unsure of what to do this summer and during the school year. Here are a few things I've been considering:

 

1) find FT work and continue volunteering. 

pros: 

- i'll be able to finish off my loans, afford a car, maybe travel a bit

cons: 

- I can't get much with a Bsc degree. It most likely would be a low-paying job. 

- I don't really feel like this will help my ECs. The older I get, the less impressive this becomes. 

- I really don't want to be in the same situation next year if this next cycle doesn't work out. I don't feel like my life is progressing in any way if I continue to just do this. 

 

2) apply for an accelerated nursing program. it'll start in winter 2018

pros: 

- I can finish the program in 2 years. 

cons:

- will be in more debt.

- there's a chance my cGPA will drop. 

 

3) I applied for a 1 year course-based  Masters in Biotechnology. The admissions for this program have not been sent out yet. This will start in Fall 2017

cons:

- will be in much more debt.

- there's a chance my cGPA will drop. some schools factor this into the GPA calculation. 

 

4) write the LSAT and/or DAT and apply concurrently to dent and/or law.

pros:

- I can probably do this in combo with any of the above options

- backup in case med applications don't work out

 

Please let me know what you think would be a good course of action for me to pursue. Please let me know if there are other good options I haven't considered yet. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[spacebar123]

Hey! So I don't want to directly give you an answer because i really think the end call should be yours. But here': my 2 cents.

 

If you got 5 interviews, odds are you're not gunna do much to your app in one summer to improve past that. On paper you're probably fantastic, so The focus here is your interview

 

For this year, i'd focus on doing something that you like, and something that doesn't cause you that much stress so you can focus on your interview prep and other stuff like casper. But again thats just my opinion and maybe some other people can add to this.

[InstantRamen]

Take the year off and prep for the interviews! Thats what I think is best!

Work full time till interview season, then quit, then do interview prep like its your fulltime job.

 

Good luck!! <3

[anon5678]

thanks guys. should i strive to find a half decent job? what can a Bsc in bio get? or should i just settle for anything?

[Unsure_med]

At the top of my head a BSc in bio will most likely land you some type of lab assistant job.

[MD2B2019]

Just my 2 cents, you have to make up your mind by yourself.

 

Once you have multi-inteviews, your applications are fine, you just need:

 

1. Apply more schools. Apply out-of-province MD schools, USMD, USDO, just to get more interviews.

2. Prepare your interview skills and experiences. A year job with human touch experiences (customer services, human resouces, etc) also can help your MD schools interview a lot.

 

In your case, you should apply at least 10 USMD/USDO and 10 Canadian MD schools, I'll aim for more than 5 interviews next year.

I will do a job with a lot of human touch and I will go to Toastmasters club and/or other clubs to interact with people everyday.

I also will keep volunteering in hospital/health care to keep myself focus and ready for MD schools.

 

This is my personal experiences for your reference only, Good luck next cycle !

[shikimate]

Out of curiosity, can you elaborate and reflect on possible reasons you did not do well on interviews? Past interview experience + 5 current interviews and no offers is somewhat of an anomaly and to me suggest fundamental/structural issues rather than simply lack of preparation or bad luck.

[marta12345]

Out of curiosity, can you elaborate and reflect on possible reasons you did not do well on interviews? Past interview experience + 5 current interviews and no offers is somewhat of an anomaly and to me suggest fundamental/structural issues rather than simply lack of preparation or bad luck.

 

 

What do you mean by structural issues with MMI?

[ballsortahard]

Just my 2 cents, you have to make up your mind by yourself.

 

Once you have multi-inteviews, your applications are fine, you just need:

 

1. Apply more schools. Apply out-of-province MD schools, USMD, USDO, just to get more interviews.

2. Prepare your interview skills and experiences. A year job with human touch experiences (customer services, human resouces, etc) also can help your MD schools interview a lot.

 

In your case, you should apply at least 10 USMD/USDO and 10 Canadian MD schools, I'll aim for more than 5 interviews next year.

I will do a job with a lot of human touch and I will go to Toastmasters club and/or other clubs to interact with people everyday.

I also will keep volunteering in hospital/health care to keep myself focus and ready for MD schools.

 

This is my personal experiences for your reference only, Good luck next cycle !

 

 

I feel like american interviews are fairly different to what we have up here, do any schools do traditional interviews in canada anymore?

[anon5678]

Just my 2 cents, you have to make up your mind by yourself.

 

Once you have multi-inteviews, your applications are fine, you just need:

 

1. Apply more schools. Apply out-of-province MD schools, USMD, USDO, just to get more interviews.

2. Prepare your interview skills and experiences. A year job with human touch experiences (customer services, human resouces, etc) also can help your MD schools interview a lot.

 

In your case, you should apply at least 10 USMD/USDO and 10 Canadian MD schools, I'll aim for more than 5 interviews next year.

I will do a job with a lot of human touch and I will go to Toastmasters club and/or other clubs to interact with people everyday.

I also will keep volunteering in hospital/health care to keep myself focus and ready for MD schools.

 

This is my personal experiences for your reference only, Good luck next cycle !

I've been thinking a lot about applying to USMD/USDO, but i have no idea how i'd be able to come up with the funds for it if I did get accepted

[anon5678]

Out of curiosity, can you elaborate and reflect on possible reasons you did not do well on interviews? Past interview experience + 5 current interviews and no offers is somewhat of an anomaly and to me suggest fundamental/structural issues rather than simply lack of preparation or bad luck.

.

[anon5678]

I feel like american interviews are fairly different to what we have up here, do any schools do traditional interviews in canada anymore?

Queens and Western had a Panel interview

[anon5678]

Out of curiosity, can you elaborate and reflect on possible reasons you did not do well on interviews? Past interview experience + 5 current interviews and no offers is somewhat of an anomaly and to me suggest fundamental/structural issues rather than simply lack of preparation or bad luck.

Actually nevermind what I said earlier. I think there were 3 different kinds of problems.

- in personal stations or activity stations i think i came across as unenthusiastic

- in ethics stations where I knew exactly what I wanted to say, I think I came off too strong. maybe too assertive, as if I were in a debate

- when I wasn't quite ready for a station, I would trip over my own words a lot in my answer and the structure would be pretty all over the place

I think the content of my answers was alright. But the problem was in the way I was presenting my answers

[MD2B2019]

I've been thinking a lot about applying to USMD/USDO, but i have no idea how i'd be able to come up with the funds for it if I did get accepted

1. My USMD interviews helped my Canadian MD school's interviews a lot (USMD interviews were a few months before Canadian interviews normally).

2. By appling MD student LOC in both sides Canada and USA from multi-banks at the SAME TIME (apply TD Canada Trust, RBC, BMO, Citi, Bank of America, TD Bank (USA), etc) sometimes (50% ?) you will approved by two or more banks, which give you $500K+ LoC to finish your 4-years USMD/USDO). Trick is you must apply in the same time before any bank approved your LoC applications, you are in GREY AREA, because technically you didn't lie your financial situation when you submit your applications at the same time, after a few days or weeks later, if you were lucky, two banks approved your LOC applications, just keep it to yourself.

3. Some USMD/USDO tuition at US$38~45K per year(Private universities), state universities are around $65K tuition per year.

Good Luck!

[shikimate]

Actually nevermind what I said earlier. I think there were 3 different kinds of problems.

- in personal stations or activity stations i think i came across as unenthusiastic

- in ethics stations where I knew exactly what I wanted to say, I think I came off too strong. maybe too assertive, as if I were in a debate

- when I wasn't quite ready for a station, I would trip over my own words a lot in my answer and the structure would be pretty all over the place

I think the content of my answers was alright. But the problem was in the way I was presenting my answers

 

Interesting thoughts. Sounds like you've prepared quite a bit for some stations, but didn't have an "approach" to other stations. Perhaps it would be worthwhile developing a mental "flow diagram" of sorts to guide you in case of stations that you stumbled. Also even for ethical stations where you knew exactly what you wanted to say, were you able to explore both sides of the issue and make compromises? Did the interviewer challenge you on your answers?

[Pippa756]

Queens and Western had a Panel interview

Do you know if these open or closed?

[anon5678]

Do you know if these open or closed?

Western is closed. Queens is open

[anon5678]

Interesting thoughts. Sounds like you've prepared quite a bit for some stations, but didn't have an "approach" to other stations. Perhaps it would be worthwhile developing a mental "flow diagram" of sorts to guide you in case of stations that you stumbled. Also even for ethical stations where you knew exactly what you wanted to say, were you able to explore both sides of the issue and make compromises? Did the interviewer challenge you on your answers?

I definitely tried to explore both sides of the issue. In most cases, the interviewer wasn't allowed to respond to my answer and instead had to stick to their script/prompts. The reason I think it came across too strong was just because of my loudness, not being soft-spoken, talking too fast, and lack of smiling. If my answer were read on paper, the content IMO was good.