So I didn’t get into medical school… what now?

whatnow

If you applied to medical school this past year, you probably know where you’ll be this fall by now. Some of you may have been accepted into medical school and are excited for the journey that lies ahead. If so, congratulations, and best of luck as you start a brand new chapter in your life! Getting into medical school is an amazing accomplishment, but a lot of hard work and challenges still lie ahead. I’d suggest enjoying your summer as much as you can before the work really piles on =).

Others, however, may have fallen a bit short in the process and are now wondering what your next steps should be. If that’s you, then this article is for you. Before we go any further, you need to do something first.

Give Yourself a Pat on the Back

I know giving yourself a pat on the back won’t change the results of this past year, but fact is, you deserve it. Applying to medical school is hard, especially when you consider that you’ve really been “applying” since day one and not just when you started writing your application last fall. I’ll say it again: applying to medical school is hard. And tiring.

From filling out applications, to getting references letters, to doing interviews (not to mention staying on track of your school work, extra-curricular involvements, and your personal life) – the whole process is draining. And don’t delude yourself into thinking the process ends once you get into medical school. It keeps going because, well, you will have to compete for residency spots as well. Of course that is ways into the future, but it’s important to keep in mind that you’re still going to have to compete in the years that follow entering medical school. It is what it is.

So congratulate yourself for getting through this year. Even though you didn’t get in this year, going through the application process can only make you a better applicant for next year’s cycle. You will learn from your mistakes. Not only that, but you can build on last year’s application – a lot of the basic grunt work (for example, figuring out who your references will be, creating a list of all your achievements/experiences, etc.) is now done, and what happens now is more about improving than starting from scratch. That makes a huge difference.

Still, we can’t start analyzing what you should do in preparation for applying again. There’s still one more important question to ask at this point.

Should I even apply to medical school again?

Just because you have applied once or twenty times already, doesn’t mean you have to apply again this year, or ever again. Before you consider how to improve your chances, you need to decide whether this is something you want to try for again.

Perhaps you have realized there is something else you want to pursue instead of medicine. Maybe your responsibilities in life are increasing and taking a chance on medical school is no longer an option (e.g. you have a growing family, and you need to start your career now). Maybe you think you’ve done all that you can and you won’t be able to do this again.

Whatever the case, take the time to think about whether you really want to apply again. As we have established, the application process is time consuming, draining, and hard.

If your answer is still yes, you want to apply, then keep reading.

GPA / MCAT

As I have written many times before, if you are applying to medical school, you should care about your GPA and MCAT scores the most. Your academics are what get your foot in the door. It doesn’t matter how good the rest of your application is – if your academics aren’t good enough, you have no shot.

You need to ask yourself if your GPA is preventing you from being eligible or competitive for certain medical schools. If not, can you do well enough with another year of undergraduate courses to give yourself a better chance at more schools? For instance, if you had a <3.70 GPA for your first three years of undergrad, but a >3.70 GPA for your last year, it may be worth doing a fifth year of undergraduate studies and hopefully be eligible for Western and Queen’s medical schools, which require two years with a GPA >3.70.

Similarly, is it worth re-taking your MCAT? If you know you’re capable of doing better, and it could open up doors to more schools, then maybe it’s worth retaking. For example, you have a 40M on your MCAT, and have not gotten into the few medical schools you’ve applied to the past few years. It might be worth taking the MCAT again to give yourself a shot at Western/Queen’s (which require a higher WS score), especially since having scored 40, it’s likely you will do more than well enough on the non-WS sections. On the other hand, if you struggled to get a 30P, then it might not be worth taking the risk of writing the MCAT again unless those schools you will apply to again only look at your best score, and not your most recent.

Volunteering, Extra-Curriculars, etc.

Do you have medically/health care related experiences? Do you have leadership experience? Do you have teamwork experience? If your answer is no to any of these, then I’d suggest starting to do something in those areas.

Medically/health care related experience like shadowing physicians, volunteering in a hospital, attending a conference for students interested in medicine, etc. demonstrate a real interest in medicine and show that you have some basic understanding. It shows you are at least somewhat serious about a career in medicine – that you’ve really though about it and taken the time to explore medicine.

Physicians often need to take on leadership roles, such as in a health care team. You want to have some sort of leadership experience, such as running a school club.

Of course, physicians aren’t always in charge, and are very often team players. If you haven’t yet, get involved in something where you have to work with others, such as a team sport, musical band, school club, etc.

If you want to be really safe, read the CanMEDS roles, and see if you have some sort of experience that demonstrates those qualities.

Reference Letters

It would also be a good idea to think about whether you got the best reference letters possible the last time around. Is there someone who would write you a stronger letter? Could you benefit from a bit more diversity (e.g. are all your referees academics? Are they all non academics? etc.)?

Remember, most importantly, you want a referee who wants you to get into medical school. If you don’t think they support you that much, I would suggest looking for an alternative referee if you can.

Essays

If your essay(s) were good enough to get an interview, then it is probably not worth changing completely.

But if you didn’t garner an interview, it is probably worth starting completely from scratch and coming up with new and improved angles to answer the question.

And don’t think it’s too early to start thinking about something as challenging as revising, or perhaps, re-writing your essay. A friend of mine asked me for advice on an essay that wasn’t successful in this past year’s cycle, just a few months ago. I am confident his hard work will pay off in the upcoming application cycle.

Have a Contingency Plan

I have to conclude by saying that no matter what, you need to be planning long term. Although you don’t have to stick to this plan, it’s good to think about your alternatives. If I don’t get in the next time, is that it for me? Should I apply again? Should I take a year off first?

These are all important questions you want to have at least some vague answer to so that you can form an outline for not just the coming year, but for the next few years to come.