Medical School Admissions - rejection, gap year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a student applying this cycle? Are they a senior, or did they do a gap year(s)? If a gap year, what are they doing in the gap? How is it going?

DC did not apply widely and was "R"'d from top choice. May be forced to do gap year and reassess. Trying to determine what most valuable experience would be in the interim. Paramedic? Research? Not sure about research opportunities if not actively a student.

Depends on her weaknesses. Clinical related is always helpful. Reapplying applicants will have harder time next year. Why didn’t she just take a gap year to begin with. Hindsight is 20/20 I know.

Why will reapplying applicants have a harder time next year?

She can reapply obviously, but she needs to show "significant" changes from this cycle application. What makes it difficult is they know she got R'ed this cycle and if her application looks the same/similar, that's an easy reject. Each school has so many well qualified applicants, it makes it that much more difficult.

eh, this will only be true for the schools she's applied to this year. she'll apply more widely next cycle.

what about a post-bacc?

This isn’t true. Reapplicants have a lower admission (at all schools, not just the one they applied to) and they want to see significant improvements on the second application. That’s why it’s risky to throw out an application before the applicant is ready and the application is looking good and to not widely apply. I have one in this application cycle and they took a gap year last year to round of their application and avoid this situation. They did research in the gap year (which is hard to find, we had connections). They have received three acceptances so far this cycle. If you can get published that’s probably best as so many kids are doing EMT and CNA type jobs.

Lower admission rate for re-applicants is also an example of selection bias, ie lower quality applicants are less likely to be admitted, so if they're rejected and they apply for the second time, their chances are already lower bc some will have improved their applications and some will not, plus there's greater scrutiny of their applications than they may have received the first time around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have a student applying this cycle? Are they a senior, or did they do a gap year(s)? If a gap year, what are they doing in the gap? How is it going?

DC did not apply widely and was "R"'d from top choice. May be forced to do gap year and reassess. Trying to determine what most valuable experience would be in the interim. Paramedic? Research? Not sure about research opportunities if not actively a student.

Depends on her weaknesses. Clinical related is always helpful. Reapplying applicants will have harder time next year. Why didn’t she just take a gap year to begin with. Hindsight is 20/20 I know.

Why will reapplying applicants have a harder time next year?

She can reapply obviously, but she needs to show "significant" changes from this cycle application. What makes it difficult is they know she got R'ed this cycle and if her application looks the same/similar, that's an easy reject. Each school has so many well qualified applicants, it makes it that much more difficult.

eh, this will only be true for the schools she's applied to this year. she'll apply more widely next cycle.

what about a post-bacc?

This isn’t true. Reapplicants have a lower admission (at all schools, not just the one they applied to) and they want to see significant improvements on the second application. That’s why it’s risky to throw out an application before the applicant is ready and the application is looking good and to not widely apply. I have one in this application cycle and they took a gap year last year to round of their application and avoid this situation. They did research in the gap year (which is hard to find, we had connections). They have received three acceptances so far this cycle. If you can get published that’s probably best as so many kids are doing EMT and CNA type jobs.

This is a little doomsday and judgmental. Obviously, if you're not a full-time student who is working and studying for the MCAT, you have more time to focus on research and "rounding off" your app. Seems like admissions committee would be aware of this and not hold initial application against the applicant.

That made me laugh.

+1 me too.

[Anonymous]

DD's friends gave gotten more interviews the past two days! Interviews are rolling out for the qualified

[Anonymous]

The qualified kids are getting plenty of acceptances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The qualified kids are getting plenty of acceptances.

Define qualified. This is like saying “water is wet” isn’t it?

[Anonymous]

Need to apply widely.

[Anonymous]

MCAT + research at NIH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The qualified kids are getting plenty of acceptances.

Define qualified. This is like saying “water is wet” isn’t it?

The bar really isn't that high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The qualified kids are getting plenty of acceptances.

Define qualified. This is like saying “water is wet” isn’t it?

The bar really isn't that high.

LOL. The bar is indeed very high. People say some crazy stuff here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The qualified kids are getting plenty of acceptances.

Define qualified. This is like saying “water is wet” isn’t it?

The bar really isn't that high.

LOL. The bar is indeed very high. People say some crazy stuff here.

Physician here who has worked in medical school admissions. No, it isn’t that high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The qualified kids are getting plenty of acceptances.

Define qualified. This is like saying “water is wet” isn’t it?

The bar really isn't that high.

LOL. The bar is indeed very high. People say some crazy stuff here.

Physician here who has worked in medical school admissions. No, it isn’t that high.

agree. getting into a top20 med school is very difficult. getting in to ONE MD program in the US is really not terribly hard: overall 40% of applicants get into at least one. For applicants with 3.6+ and 510+, 56% get into at least one US MD program. For those with 3.8+ and 510+, it is 66%.
Sure certain schools have 90% getting in with 3.8/510+, but 66% is pretty great for those stats when all undergrad programs are considered.
508 is average; 510 is not that hard frankly, and 3.6+ or even 3.8+ is also quite doable considering grade inflation at all schools. 3.6 is around average at uva, W&M, JMU.

[Anonymous]

^data from AMCAS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The qualified kids are getting plenty of acceptances.

Define qualified. This is like saying “water is wet” isn’t it?

The bar really isn't that high.

LOL. The bar is indeed very high. People say some crazy stuff here.

Physician here who has worked in medical school admissions. No, it isn’t that high.

Please explain.

[Anonymous]

I suspect most here are not physicians nor have worked in med admissions. I am both, different from the poster a few posts up. I went to a T5 med school and did admissions for them, as well as run med admissions advising with a couple of other physicians. What we see, among those that do not gt in, is that their MCAT is often below 505 yet they apply anyway. IF they have above 515 and get in no where it is rare, and is often because they do not apply to schools where 515 is the top end of the score range, their GPA was below 3.5, or they have a lackluster transcript, often skipping recommended premed courses such as molecular bio, sometimes skipping required courses.
No one with 3.9+/520+ gets rejected unless they have no schools below the T50 or have serious red flags on app ie no volunteering, missed courses, et al.
Top undergrad programs, as in top flagships or T25 private types generally advise very well . The applicants have all the prereqs and more. That is not the case from some schools. We advise those students to take 1-2 gaps and boost the lacking area such as a Postbacc if the coursework or grades are borderline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enroll in either a post-bac (Pitt) or the SMP (Georgetown).

Good Luck!

A lot of people mentioned post-bac.

Isn't it mainly for humanities major folks? So that they could take required courses (stem requirement math/chem/bio).

What's the point of post-bac if you were already on premed track and just gap for a year?

What post-bac can offer that you can't do on your own?

No, it is not mainly for humanities folks. I'm very familiar with this, and I can say that Georgetown's program is mainly students who had majored in science and had been pre med in college who were rejected their first cycle of applying, or who knew their stats were not good enough to be applying immediately. The point is that it shows med schools you can be successful with this kind of material at the grad level.