<p>For the longest I've had a positive mindset when it came to the idea of me getting into Medical School. For some reason it just dawned upon me that there is a possibility that I wont since many applicants get turned away. Has anyone here not gotten into a medical school but kept trying? I would love to hear experiences.</p>
<p>I was fortunate to get into all of the medical schools I applied to the first time around. But I was a working electrical engineer. I had many medical school classmates who took several attempts to get in. One got in on his 3rd attempt and proceeded to be among the top in the class, the other went to graduate school to erase his 2.5 UG GPA, and others just got in after second attempts. Those were the ones who gained admission. Plenty of people don’t. </p>
<p>My rule is to major in something that has a job waiting for you at the end. It is great to be focused and have a dream. But not finding work if you don’t get in will be a nightmare. I advised my daughter to pursue engineering, don’t fear a challenging major, and have that backup plan in case she doesn’t get into medical school.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the response! I agree with the back up plan. My major is currently Biochemistry and I’ve been researching jobs that I could possibly get after graduation.
Whats hard for me is that I do not see myself doing anything but medicine </p>
<p>One of D1’s classmates applied an astonishing 7 times before he was accepted on his 8th application. Of course, not everyone has his level of persistence or the life circumstances where they can indefinitely postpone their future. (For the record, he was married with 4 kids, had a steady if unexciting job and his wife has a well paying career so he could afford to keep reapplying.) He was accepted at age 32. Another was accepted on her 3rd round of applications. (She has a MBA and a career managing health non-profits.) She was 34.</p>
<p>Both of my kiddos had alternative careers picked out. (For D1 it was a health physics PhD. For D2 it would have been a PhD in biostatistics or a MS in biomedical or neural engineering . All of those offer great employability, very good incomes and good job security.)</p>
<p>There are tons of other health-related careers. Probably more than you have heard of. It’s wise to have a back up plan B and C. </p>
<p>That said neither biochemistry nor biology have great job options post-graduation. Considering adding some stats, mathematics and basic computer programming courses, maybe some econ, to improve your employability.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the advice. I truly appreciate it. I’m the first in my family to go off to college so it was really up to me to figure everything out and your responses has helped a great deal.</p>
<p>I tell my kids to do engineering in case they don’t want to pursue medicine in future. One of them is hedging further by taking CS classes.</p>
<p>What year are you? Where are you going to school? </p>
<p>Being first in family is quite hard. Colleges try to help if you have done your part by doing well in school and tests but you will need to add some medical school relevant ECs.</p>
<p>Here’s a list of factors that mattered. BTW, my son, while not the first in our family to go to college will be the first to go to med school, assuming he gets in!</p>
<p>*timing: did you submit reasonably early, or did you get your application in just under the wire?
*too optimistic: you didn’t apply to enough non-reach schools?
*scores: were your MCAT scores too low or the subscores out of balance? Consider retaking the test.
*gpa: either your Sgpa or CUMgpa too low. Should you consider a post-bac or applying OD instead?
*research: did you do any? Can you explain it?
*volunteering: did you do enough? both clinical and non-clinical?
*shadowing: did you shadow (most pre-meds shadow ~40-100+ hours)
*LoR: did your letter writers know you?<br>
*interviewing skills: did you practice? Come across as yourself?
*personal statement/secondaries: did you have someone read these before you submitted? spellchecked, grammar mistake-free. Altogether, do they explain you adequately?</p>
<p>jeez lima, if someone’s GPA is a little low they should at least aim for DO and probably even consider PA/NP before settling for optometry. 
</p>
<p>Oops! Meant that ;)) </p>
<p>Some at D’s Med. School were getting their Masters in Anatomy. Some absolutely amazing people for some unknown reason(s) did not get in on several tries and were actually helping Medical Students with Anatomy. My D. was praising them a lot in her first 2 years and hoping for them to get in. They celebrated when one of them got in. </p>