The med school app Mulligan Thread.....

mom2collegekids · 09-02-2012, 08:16 AM

While we are in the app process, I thought we'd list some of the things students would "do-over" if they could...so that next year's applicants can learn from that.

Here's some things that my son has learned...

1) Ask for LORs several MONTHS before you need them AND provide a deadline (even if it's your own deadline). One prof was rather late submitting hers. Son had requested it 2 months before and when he learned that she hadn't yet sent it, her response was, "I didn't know that there was a deadline" (really??? oh my! This is from a prof who volunteered to write his LOR!)

2) Work on your Statement of Purpose (or whatever it's called) over the Christmas holidays...at least get it to a good working rough draft.

3) If your school offers a Med School App class, take it. Son regrets not taking that class since the students did their SOPs during that time and got good feedback. They also did some other meaningful things. The class was only 1 credit, but worth it.

3) If your school does Committee Interviews and/or Mock Interviews, schedule those as soon as you can. Do not delay getting your appointment. Because of the late LOR, my son's Committee Interview couldn't be scheduled until that was complete. By the time the prof did it, the Committee appts were backed-up. Luckily, with persistence, my son was able to snag an appt from a cancellation...but that was just luck!

WayOutWestMom · 09-02-2012, 12:26 PM

If D1 had to do it all over again, her list of 'do-over' items would include:

1) submit AMCAS primary earlier (She submitted hers during Labor Day weekend 2 years ago!)

2) apply to more reach schools

plumazul · 09-02-2012, 02:22 PM

Quote:

3) If your school offers a Med School App class, take it. Son regrets not taking that class since the students did their SOPs during that time and got good feedback. They also did some other meaningful things. The class was only 1 credit, but worth it.

While we don't have a credit class on the topic, my school does have workshops in the fall and spring which serve the same purpose. The Health Advising Office makes it clear that if you do not attend, then they will not consider you a serious candidate. (so the sessions are de facto mandatory)

masslou · 09-02-2012, 04:10 PM

Submit primary application as early as possible. My procrastinator wishes he'd gotten his application into the mailbox sooner. It took several weeks for that app to 'clear'--whatever the term is, I'm not remembering. Secondary apps aren't sent out until the AMCAS does it's thing. He was surprised it took as long as it did.
It's all good,now--he's where he wants to be, but the stress level would have been much lower if he'd gotten that app in sooner.

Applying to lots of schools was a very good thing and something positive to pass along to future applicants. He sent out 18 applications, which was quite pricey especially when you add in the secondary app cost, too! He got interviews at about 75% of those schools and got into his first choice med school off the wait list! He wouldn't have guessed the #1 school from the start--He thought he liked another school or two better; changed his mind after the interview.

He listened to very good advice from his pre-med adviser and encourages his friends to become friendly with that person at their respective schools! No class was offered. It was more of a club kind of thing at his undergrad--lots of speakers, application seminars, prep classes, etc. etc.

He knew several really smart kids who thought they knew about the process and didn't need to 'waste' their time on such things. They didn't seem to fare as well as he did and he thinks the adviser made the difference.

bigreddawgie · 09-02-2012, 04:27 PM

i wish i didnt go to as many interviews as i did.

kristin5792 · 09-02-2012, 05:36 PM

I wish I hadn't applied to so many schools (13) and I wish I were more confident in my chances at the school I really wanted to go to (and currently attend!). I had many people who really knew what they were talking about in regards to my school's admission strategies tell me that my profile matched my desired school very well, that my stats matched what they were looking for, and that my personality matched their mission and vision to a T. I brushed all this off and opted to apply to quite a few schools, and in doing so I think I diluted the quality of some of those applications. It was probably this board's vets who critiqued my application strongly enough to make me reconsider my confidence in my chances there, and probably their insistence that I add a few more schools that led to those extra applications. (No hard feelings! I promise! You guys are great!) I wish I would have applied to 7 or 8, and had focused on making those applications absolutely awesome.

I'm happy I had the chance to visit the schools that I did, and I know the opportunity to see other programs and meet other applicants really helped hit it home that I really belonged where I ended up.

Perhaps I would have liked to submit in June instead of July, but looking back, I really don't think it mattered much. I had Nov-Jan interviews and picked up a Dec acceptance, so I don't think those extra few weeks made that big of a difference.

mom2collegekids · 09-03-2012, 10:45 AM

Perhaps I would have liked to submit in June instead of July, but looking back, I really don't think it mattered much. I had Nov-Jan interviews and picked up a Dec acceptance, so I don't think those extra few weeks made that big of a difference.

Son also wishes he had submitted earlier. He had a study abroad thing in May, and then a required Chem Engineering class in June (only offered in summer between junior and senior year), so July was when he submitted. By that point, AMCAS was very backed up. His app was finally "approved" (or whatever you call it), this last week, and then the supplementals came in.

He also wishes that he could have taken a MCAT class and/or studied for it. Because of his school/study abroad/summer class schedule, unfortunately he took the MCAT the weekend between the ending of spring classes and the beginning of finals. Since his ChemE projects were due that Friday (the day before MCAT), he had no time to study. He did take a practice test that Friday night (night before). Although he has a balanced MCAT 32 (11P, 11V, 10B), he knows that he could have done much better with some study...especially in the bio part.

We're still very hopeful. He's working on supplementals right now. We are crossing our fingers that his GPA (4.0 BCMP and 3.9X cum) will help nudge him in (dang that A- in Spanish!...and he's fluent!)

somemom · 09-03-2012, 11:46 AM

Once admitted to school #1, DD pointed out that she should have just applied only there. This could have been a good choice if she were willing to continue time off from med school if it did not work out. It would have been a darn gutsy move, but a lot cheaper!

Kdog044 · 09-03-2012, 11:55 AM

somemom, that seems a bit too risky for ANYONE.

mom2collegekids · 09-03-2012, 02:53 PM

Once admitted to school #1, DD pointed out that she should have just applied only there. This could have been a good choice if she were willing to continue time off from med school if it did not work out. It would have been a darn gutsy move, but a lot cheaper!

I don't know which school that was or if it was her instate public, but I can imagine that a number of students might feel that way if they get into their less expensive instate public after applying to 15+ schools and paying all those app/supp fees and interview costs.

In our home state, for some reason the pre-meds hardly apply to any schools...maybe 4-6 med schools. Seems very odd when you compare to what's going on in the rest of the country.

somemom · 09-04-2012, 03:34 AM

I ran across a prior applicant on SDN who had applied to only our instate highly regarded school, DD and I discussed that possibility, but she was bored that summer and wanted to write 20+ secondaries

I think, had she known in the summer how well her new job would work out, she might have risked it, but at the time, she was not prepared to commit to two years there!

WayOutWestMom · 09-04-2012, 11:19 AM

^^I see on SDN that many in-state students here ONLY apply to our state med school (nowhere else) and I wonder who is telling them to do this?

I understand wanting to stay close to home/family and loving where you live but it seems like such a huge risk to me. (I mean yes, all in-state get a secondary and ~75% of in-state gets interviews, but still 95 slots is 95 slots --and 15 of those go to the BA/MD students.)

katwkittens · 09-04-2012, 11:31 AM

I would again echo the first 2 posters in doing things early, early. Son did and it helped eleviate some of the stress with having early contacts=early interviews with early rolling acceptances. He did apply to many schools (24, uneven MCAT) and was able to withdraw from some when the interviews and acceptances came in early.

That in itself saved a ton of money and able to schedule the interviews around exams, a TA work schedule and research.

So he submitted on the second day it was open (1st day server was jammed and slow) and LORs were also sent early, asked early, completed early. And in turn was verified within a few days. His secondaries came right after the first batch was sent to med schools.

He was contacted for interviews in August for August, Sept and October. His majority were done by Nov. One or 2 in Dec and Jan. I think acceptances came in as early as Oct 15th, but he had some verbal communications about money before then which implied to him acceptance. HUGE stress reliever!!! HUGE. So by this time of year he had several interviews.......changed the game for him. Made him start to anaylze what he really wanted from a school and why.

I think if he could have a do-over it would be not apply to as many schools BUT he was unsure of his lopsided MCAT. And the interviews he really wanted came early so it was a win-win.

Kat

MiamiDAP · 09-04-2012, 01:11 PM

D. has mentioned one regret. She has scheduled her MCAT 2 weeks after spring finals. She wished that she scheduled it earlier, right after finals. She regretted that her summer was shortened by 2 weeks, which she said were waste of time. But looking back, how can we judge? Her final exams were very challenging and maybe she would have done worse on MCAT if she took it righ after.
Another thing, application to U of Chicago was a waste as they reject most within few hours, but again, some are getting accepted. On the other hand, maybe we should have visited Chicago before applying to couple schools there. D. clearly did not care for the city. And again, many absolutely love to be there. Another one was Pittsburgh. However, for most location is not important at all, not to the extend of my D's preferences.
So, "looking back" regrets are mostly very personal....just keep that in mind.

curmudgeon · 09-04-2012, 02:03 PM

Looking back, my kid could have applied to fewer schools in the mid-range. Being from Texas is such a great advantage, she was confident of getting in somewhere with her resume, GPA, rec's, and scores. So...a handful of high-flyers, some really nice OOS schools where she had specifc reasons to attend, and her Texas schools would have been enough. But that's easy to say in hindsight.