Where to start (or what to do) to gain entrance into Med School

Pre-Med & Medical School
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Sorry if this is redundant with other posts, but please allow me to share my qualifications:

  1. GPA = 3.80, Major = Chemistry
  2. MCAT = 96 percentile (2019 test)
  3. Experience: 3 years as CNA in critical care hospitals
  4. Shadowing: 3 months direct and 1.5 years as a scribe for four physicians
  5. Volunteer Work: 1000 hours directly with US Government Volunteer Agencies, Homeless Shelters, and Community Medical Programs
  6. Reference letters (6)

I have applied three times only to be rebuffed by respective admission committees. Interestingly, one of my interviewees at one school i happen to have known - he was an ‘adult applicant/nontraditional’ and was accepted, in his words, with very substandard merit. I am also aware of many medical schools that go public with ‘protected profiles’ (aka Affirmative Action) such as LGBTQIA. With respect to the latter, several schools claim to have reserved as much as 30-35% for this sector, with other profiles (e.g. underrepresented) the same.

With my qualifications, and med schools’ professed priority for critical thinking, problem solving, and meritocracy, how can it be that my qualifications have been turned away for this long. It is both frustrating and illogical, and so much so, that i really begin to lose faith in the very system that should be rewarding merit and qualification. In this connection, do we want to admit students that have to resort to a Chilton’s Manual to perform basic operations and protocol?

Let me know your thoughts - would be eager to understand where my credentials and application may be lacking.

Thanks!

2

Well
where did you apply?

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North Carolina state schools (UNC, ECU), and some state schools close to NC (e.g. Florida, SC, Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky).

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And you got interviews at all of these?

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A Biochem professor I had worked with on developing a placebo dosage for her clinical study had this to say on med school admittance: “It is fine to admit mediocre (assuming she means based on GPA and MCAT scores) students into med school, because it is the med school’s job to bring the lacking student up to par and get them to pass boards”

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Yes, interviews at three schools. One last year and two the year previous.

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At least one of these medical schools has a mission to educate PCPs in rural areas of their state. If you indicated you were interested in anything other than PC, that might have been an issue for you.

Also, did you repeat applications to the same medical schools? Did you consider applying to any DO schools?

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Medical schools don’t have to admit mediocre students. They have plenty plenty of applicants who excel. Having said that, the totality of your application is what matters, not just your MCAT, and GPA and sGPA. And your interview counts for a lot.

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I should also mention that my two roommates were accepted into each of the two state schools. Neither of the two had my GPA, MCAT, experience, or volunteer work. So i question and ask, exactly what are the rules and acceptance criteria. In most job applications, most of which one may get post grad school, you know the rules, you know the experience needed, and you know the acceptance criteria. the formula is easy - if you have each of those, you get the job, fair and square. What is missing from the med school process?

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Agreed on the interview process - that might be my Achille’s heel. I am an introvert and may not present as the charismatic ‘Joel Osteen’ that others bring forward. However, wouldn’t a committee want to reward substance over style? My uncle took the mcat and there was no essay, no psych section, no sociology section. Are our docs really better than 30 years ago? I don’t see it


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and yes, i did have repeat applications all three years to all of the above schools. Haven’t considered DO schools just yet.

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Wouldn’t a repeat application to a school that rejected you in the most recent year be a waste of time and money, since it is unlikely that the next year’s application pool will be significantly less competitive than the one that you were compared with and rejected from?

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It could be a lot of things.

I would say on paper your app look ok because you got interviews. But your school list is not good. Most public (state) med schools are not OOS friendly. Kentucky, SC, Indiana, Eastern Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, and Tennessee have super low OOS acceptance rates (between 1.5 and 2.5%) Applying to those schools without having a significant tie to the state was a mistake. Applying to those same school 3 times only compounded your original mistake.

Post interview rejections mean that your interview performance was subpar. Something about how you presented yourself to your interviewers turned them off. Maybe your answers to their questions showed a lack of insight or lacked deep thoughtfulness. Maybe you came off as entitled or biased (and there’s definitely a whiff of both in the your postings in this thread.)

Maybe they thought you were Ok, but they had multiple better candidates available.

You absolutely didn’t apply widely enough and had a poorly chosen school list. Most pre-meds apply to an average of 16-25 schools each cycle. After a failed application cycle, you should have applied more widely to different schools and applied to DO programs. Beggars can’t be choosers.

RE: Introvert You don’t need to be charismatic to be admitted to med school, but you do have to have decent people skills. You have to be able to make a basic connection with a patient --and make it quickly–if you going to be successful as a practicing physician. If you can’t do that, you will never be a good doctor.

BTW, people skills can be learned. Even by introverts. Try joining Toastmasters to get practice in public speaking and learning how to feel comfortable meeting lots of new people all at once.

With a 2019 MCAT score that will expiring soon (if it already hasn’t), you’ll need a MCAT retake if you want to try a 4th round of applications. I suggest you do not apply to any schools you applied to previously. Expand your list to include private schools and DO programs.

However, you are going to face numerous issues as a 4th time re-applicant and it’s very possible, indeed likely, that a MD acceptance just isn’t going to happen for you. Apply DO if you’re serious about a medical career. Or if you’re confident in your ability to be an exceptional student and you must have a MD.–you could try Caribbean schools.

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Spend $28 and buy a one year subscription to MSAR. It will give you detailed stats on each medical school in the US. This will help you plan out a better strategy.

The admissions cycle for entry into the 2023-2024 class is already well underway. And you’re a little late to the game already. So hurry up and start applying. As pointed out above, you’ll need between 15-20 apps to have a decent chance.

Also call up the admissions office of the previous schools you applied to. Ask if they will give you feedback on how to improve your application. It could have been your interview, your essays, or letters. Something else apart from GPA and test scores. You have to figure out what the weakness is.

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yes and no - figure the schools have some preference to folks who apply a 3rd of 4th time (at least those who aren’t in protected profiles).

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trust me, not biased and certainly not entitled. my parents neither one attended college. I am only going off data sets that i know - but we clearly should know the rules by which a ‘hire’ would take place. My beef is that there are profiles in med schools (e.g. take a look at University of Vermont) where there WILL BE x % in this category and y% in that category). That is affirmative action, and apologies for saying this, but I believe fully in a meritocracy. Those hitting the prereqs should get the nod, period.

Would you really want someone cutting you open that had people skills but has to use a Chilton’s Auto Repair Manual to do the work?

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They don’t. If they have rejected you once, the likelihood of them rejecting you again is high.

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You are coming off offensively, and yes entitled. Entitlement is not only monetary. You came here for advice and would be wise to maybe listen to it. Your prior strategies obviously have not been working. BTW, my kiddo came from one of your “protected” profiles . Without even reading ChiltonsgAut oManuel , she managed to graduate #1 in her med school class, and now cuts people open, as you say at a highly ranked residency.

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They don’t. If they have rejected you once, the likelihood of them rejecting you again is high.

Especially if they interviewed and rejected you.

And applying to state med schools in state that simply do NOT take OOS applicants–or take very, very few-- (Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, EVA, VA Commonwealth) is simply giving away your application $$. If you didn’t meet state residency qualifications the first time, you won’t the second, third or fourth time either.

Med school adcomm are often suspicious about reapplicants( If they’re so good, why weren’t they accepted the first time) and hold reapplicants to higher standards than they do first time applicants.

There’s a reason why many secondaries ask “What have you done to improve your application since last cycle?”

Also, some med school will give you feedback on why you weren’t accepted. Have you made any feedback request at the schools that interviewed and rejected you?

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Sorry for typos, editing function is messing up for me.