OK, who do I have to pay off!!!

[kdog]

Nobody said this was going to be easy. I am starting to wonder if it is going to be possible at all for me. All the counselors I have talked to have told me that with my qualifications I should be “a slam dunk” (famous last words, huh?). My friends all assure me that I’ll get in somewhere. Amazingly, I have proven all of them wrong.
At first glance I may look great on paper: 3.9 GPA in Electrical Engineering, 35R on the MCAT. But further investigation seems to raise some red flags. EE is my second degree, my first was in Mechanical Engineering and I only received ~3.5 GPA. I can only assume that admissions considers me a one-trick pony with an inflated GPA due to prior experience. Neither program was completed in the expected amount of time (I have explanations, but there was no space for that in the AMCAS application). Furthermore, I had a disastrous experience in a graduate program, probably the fatal blow even though it occurred a long time ago.
I applied to five schools, two in-state public. I felt the one and only interview I had went fairly well. The only actual feedback I received was in the form of a letter informing me I was being placed on the waiting list, the purgatory of med school applicants. Curiously, this letter arrived before they claimed were going to evaluate my group of interviewees.
I am at a loss. The weakest part of my application is extracurricular activities. I have a year of experience as an EMT-Basic and some volunteer activity at an annual charity event, but most of my time is consumed by parenting and maintaining a family. Is it too late to start seeking extracurricular activities even though it will clearly be after I am out of school and will look like I am throwing them in at the end (which I guess I am)?

[bubabuggy]

I don’t have any advice, but wow–that really sucks!

[mingchi96]

just curious.. how old are you? when u say disastrous in grad school.. did u get Cs?? or Ds? and if so, how many.
I’m kind of in the same boat as you, except i’ll be getting my EE degree soon, and in Fastrack taking grad courses.

[kdog]

Thanks! Sometimes its just good to vent.

quote:

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Originally posted by bubabuggy

I don’t have any advice, but wow–that really sucks!

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[kdog]

Age: 41. If cornered about it I merely point out that during my stint as an EMT, I was one who woke up the 22 yr. old in the other room when we got a call at 2AM. I am in excellent health, run ~16 miles/week and workout twice a week (I included these on my extracurricular activities, by the way). I haven’t used it yet, but I am certainly willing to introduce a medical school to some of the subtexts in Bakke vs. University of California-Davis (Supreme Court case in 1978) or the school’s own nondiscrimination clause.
As far as graduate school, yes I did get 2 Cs and a D. I offset that with the 3 As I received for graduate work performed at other institutions. I am currently taking classes that include some graduate students, but I am taking them as an undergraduate. The reason for my poor performance is linked to family problems (“sure, buddy, and the check is in the mail”). I briefly considered not including my grad school travails in my application, but decided rather than take an unethical approach it would be better to hit the problem head-on.

quote:

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Originally posted by mingchi96

just curious.. how old are you? when u say disastrous in grad school.. did u get Cs?? or Ds? and if so, how many.
I’m kind of in the same boat as you, except i’ll be getting my EE degree soon, and in Fastrack taking grad courses.

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[antissa]

Hey kdog, just wanted to say that I sympathize
I’m in the same situations – Canada undergrad, applied to 3 schools this year and got rejected from 2 pre-interview
3.92 GPA, 38R MCAT
My problem is extracurrics too – I was so busy studying, I didn’t get out and do any volunteer except 2 summers at a children’s hospital.
But I think med school will definitely happen for both of us, it’s just a matter of when. I think we both didn’t apply to enough schools, and underestimated the importance of non-academic factors, but those are much more easily remedied than GPA/MCAT faults. Best of luck!

[kdog]

quote:

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Originally posted by antissa

Hey kdog, just wanted to say that I sympathize
I’m in the same situations – Canada undergrad, applied to 3 schools this year and got rejected from 2 pre-interview
3.92 GPA, 38R MCAT
My problem is extracurrics too – I was so busy studying, I didn’t get out and do any volunteer except 2 summers at a children’s hospital.
But I think med school will definitely happen for both of us, it’s just a matter of when. I think we both didn’t apply to enough schools, and underestimated the importance of non-academic factors, but those are much more easily remedied than GPA/MCAT faults. Best of luck!

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Antissa

Thanks! Hey, maybe we could repent our extracurricular sins together! (that probably came across wrong!) I guess we have to just get up, dust ourselves off, try again. I’m starting to wonder if we are just not looking deep enough for “extracurriculars”. When it comes down to it, admissions is looking for well-rounded people, which perhaps means diverse interests and experiences. It would be great to be a officer of some club (even if only a figurehead), but other experiences could hold some weight also. It then becomes a matter of finding interests and experiences and presenting them as relevant.
I have a question for you (and the rest of the forum) being from Canada: if you are applying in the US, are you finding some anti-Canada bias (that whole missile defense thing, jealousy over health care systems, or something) or if being from Canada automatically places you out-of-state to all states.

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