Medical School Reapplication Considerations
What Happens After You Apply
A. Waiting
If you apply to medical school under the Early Decision Program and
are accepted, you will get the good news on or before October 1.
Otherwise, the earliest you can hope to hear is November 15, and the
notification process drags on through April. Generally speaking,
schools will request interviews and send out admission notices
starting with the students they consider the best qualified. The
earlier you hear, the higher you were on their list. Admission
procedures and policies vary considerably, however. You should also
keep in mind that the sooner you get your completed application in,
the sooner the medical school is likely to act on it. Most schools
begin processing applications well in advance of their deadlines for
accepting them.
You should not despair if a fellow pre-medical student gets an
interview request or admission notification to a school to which you
have also applied before you hear anything. This does not mean that
you have been rejected. Medical schools do not send their
notifications out in one big batch; sometimes one student will hear
several months before another. There's not much you can do except be
patient and try not to fret.
B. Acceptance
If you are accepted by a medical school, you will usually have two
weeks to respond. In order to hold your place in that school's class
you will have to put down a deposit. If the first school that
accepts you is your first choice, then you have no problems. If it
isn't your first choice, you should send the deposit anyway in order
to play it safe. Most schools will refund your deposit if you choose
to withdraw. As soon as the school you most want to attend accepts
you, you should withdraw applications at the other schools on your
list.
Assuming that you are accepted before you graduate, your acceptance
will be conditional on your completing your remaining courses with
passing grades and obtaining a diploma.
C. Alternate Status
You may be informed that you are on the waiting list for admission.
If anyone drops out of the entering class before the first day of
classes, the school will fill the empty position with the highest
person on its waiting list. You could be notified at any time so you
should keep your plans flexible. Usually a school will tell you
where you are on the waiting list and approximately what your
chances are for getting a place.
If you are designated as an alternate and do not get in, it is worth
reapplying for the following year. You should use the intervening
time to strengthen your application by working in a medical field or
attending a graduate program.
What To Do If You're Not Accepted
Rejection is a possibility you must consider; it is, after all, the
fate of 60% of all medical school applicants. The first decision is
whether to reapply. You should realistically assess your
qualifications; if your grade point average and/or your MCAT scores
are low, you would probably be wise to give up on medical school and
get started on a different career. If you did not get interviews at
the schools to which you applied, you did not meet their basic
requirements for admission, and you must either take heroic measures
or give up.
If your academic qualifications are within the range of those of
accepted applicants, you should try to strengthen your record and
apply again. If your MCAT scores were low, study industriously and
take the exam again. You should be warned, however, that if you
re-take the MCAT and fail to raise your scores, you will be in worse
shape than you were before. The Admissions Committee might be
willing to overlook one set of mediocre scores on the grounds that
you had a bad day or a runny nose; two sets of mediocre scores will
confirm their suspicion that you are a mediocre student. If your
grades are less than awe-inspiring, register for graduate work and
get straight A's. Any medical experience you can get will help prove
your seriousness and dedication to a medical career. If you do not
take any action to improve your record between your first
application and your second, your chances for success are less the
second time than they were the first. The powers-that-be will give
you credit for stubbornness but not much else. If you raise your
MCAT scores by a couple of points, take graduate courses in some
medicine-related discipline and work as a hospital orderly, a
medical school is more likely to reconsider your application
favorably. Your chances of succeeding on a third (or fourth or
fifth) try are very slim. If you don't get in on the second attempt,
you probably won't.
A second possibility for a rejected applicant is attending a foreign
medical school. This is not an alternative that can be recommended
highly if your ultimate goal is to practice medicine in the United
States. For a variety of reasons, entrance into the
nationally-supported medical schools of Western European countries
is extremely difficult for foreign nationals, including U.S.
citizens. The foreign medical schools open to U.S. students are
generally in Mexico and the Caribbean countries. Characteristically,
these schools have large application fees and high tuitions.
Instruction, usually in the native language, is frequently by large
group lecture, with little opportunity for laboratory or clinical
experience. Most U.S. citizens studying medicine abroad either plan
to transfer back to a U.S. medical school or to enter graduate
medical education in this country. You should be warned, however,
that only 30% of such students pass the National Examination, Part
I, the test required for transfer to U.S. medical schools. Only 36%
of U.S. graduates of foreign medical schools pass the certification
examinations necessary to practice medicine or do graduate medical
work in this country.
In summary, the chances for a United States citizen to obtain a
quality medical education abroad are very limited, and the
possibility for being exploited by schools catering to the U.S.
student market is great. Most students are better off considering
alternative careers.
If your interest in medicine focuses on research or teaching, then
you should consider entering a graduate program in your major or a
closely related field. If your main goal is to work with people in a
helping role, you might find a rewarding career in hospital
administration, clinical psychology, guidance counseling, social
work, or teaching. If you want to be involved in health care, you
should look into the other health care careers summarized in the
preceding section.
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