4.0 GPA & 521 MCAT: Why Was He Rejected From Med School? | Application Renovation S4 Ep. 21

This student thinks their school list, lack of reflection, and secondary submission times held them back. Were they right?
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[@antontung4101]

I wish these episodes didn't rely on so much hindsight bias. It's easy for Dr. Gray to say what looks wrong in the application AFTER the student is rejected from schools. I'd like to see him do a blind review on an application where he doesn't know the outcome (accepted vs. rejected) and then try to make marks on what parts of the application are bad vs. good. Clearly this student is more than qualified to go into medicine, a late secondary submission would not automatically result in rejections. Essays look good, there's personality, and the stats are amazing.

[@boomi4782]

From a bussiness standpoint and reputation, it may look bad if the results aren’t what he predicted. But from what it seems, there is a pattern with good applicants and they tend to follow what he would says with stories and such. However a bad prediction can hurt more than a good one, kinda like a product with six 5 star reviews and one 1 star review, people tend to focus on the negative. But I agree 100% I’d love to see an episode like this!

[@thesneakygamer4343]

@@boomi4782I am an MS4 who has interviewed applicants and read many applications. A lot of applicants make the same mistakes that Dr. Gray says are “red flags,” yet they still get accepted. The biggest mistakes I find which tend to result in deal breakers are 1) unique personal statements where they tend to be artsy with little substance and 2) an over ambitious school list. The school list is not talked about it enough. Too many people don’t have enough back up’s. Lower tier schools are more likely to accept applicants with high stats even if their application is bad because they are likely to succeed in med school.

[@baylorwiggins9781]

That is such a good idea!

[@sowhat1444]

Even if he did a blind review he would just cut out the wrong predictions and only upload the right ones so whats the point of all that? Use your own judgment whether you want to follow his advice. He is a businessman promoting his business at the end of the day

[@cloudtheavegner1000]

Even if hindsight bias is involved, he's done this long enough to have a good pattern recognition.

[@nightbot41]

This guy should have gotten in. In my opinion, his application was quite good and I think he would be a good physician. Just goes to show how brutal this whole process is.

[@GraceRocks2001]

Wishing him the best of luck moving forward- can tell he is very compassionate, passionate, focused, and will make a fantastic physician!!!

[@marisadamiano4367]

It seems like when he doesn’t talk about he learned you say that there’s no reflection, but when he does you say it’s selling himself. What exactly are you supposed to do?

[@sadiem6758]

I find this to be a trend

[@shivamurali1510]

I had this thought as well, but if you take a look at the mission accepted videos, you can see that meaningful reflection is possible without selling yourself!

[@brc2567]

This was very eye opening - perfect stats and experience but no acceptances. Thanks for doing this interview. I hope we hear back on what happened 2nd time around. Wish you both the best.

[@bouchser000]

Its hilarious.

[@jaredwilliams6853]

@@bouchser000this is “eye-opening” and he didn’t get in cause that’s regular for asian students.

[@Joongsu]

@@jaredwilliams6853 It's crazy how Asian applicant has to literally overperform to even have a shot at going to medical school compared to other ethnic groups. Discrimination based solely on skin color the last time I checked is called "racism." Yet affirmative action is still a thing...

[@ytsamurai1962]

I hate that you have to be a professor of English and write perfectly in order to get into med school now. Are we training to be doctors or authors?

[@goten3388]

Fr 😂

[@yellow8206]

Writing well helps a lot but it’s not necessary. Having the right focus in your writing is necessary

[@hira92khan]

Doctors often are researchers as well who have to at some point publish their work as well. As a high academic achiever, it is expected of an incoming medical school student to demonstrate competitive skills in the English language.

[@slowlybutshelly]

I got dismissed from a rotation because I wrote fempop instead of popfem.

[@dubscheckum8246]

@@slowlybutshelly You mean you wrote popfem instead of fem pop? Fem pop is the correct abbreviation obviously.

[@js3098]

We the viewers aren’t privy to everything;: we don’t know how his interviews went and what his interviewers wrote in their evaluation, what his letter writers wrote about him, or his secondaries. There are so many moving parts to this process and these videos while helpful can’t always pinpoint the reasons for an unsuccessful,application to a particular school.

[@rahulk9684]

This was definitely a very informative video. I think his school list was great and I'm looking to apply to a similar range/selection of schools and really liked how Dr. Gray deep dived into the experience and sorting out, for ex., what was labeled as clinical and how it could be interpreted as nonclinical based on the description wording

[@kathleenchrist7651]

UA Tucson and UW are NOT out of state friendly but UA Phoenix is! They would love your scores.....

[@luvlily]

was bout to say! uw is def not friendly to those who dont have REALLY strong ties to the region!

[@megannicole8470]

It was very helpful to hear the point of view of admissions being able to sort apps to show them applicants with “x hours of this or that” because it makes it clear how important being organized and clear in your presentation of activities! And of making it clear that you have sufficient hours of each type of experience, like shadowing. thanks Dr. Gray and good luck student!

[@heatherschneps2147]

Do we have an update? Hope this student got the outcome they wanted!

[@aylinvega2612]

Wishing you the best of luck you got this!!!!! 🙏

[@Orangesoda65]

The elephant in the room is the applicant is Asian and that worked against him.

[@jasonduran1633]

Seriously? Must be crazy bad LOR or secondaries ?wouldn't think late secondaries would overcome a 4.0/521 from ucsd, bearded dragon maybe a bit weird but not bad, piano great

[@PaulaGFSilva]

Would a massage therapy intake part of the session count as clinical work?

[@jetbean7901]

Wow one month or more turn around time. That will get someone burned.

[@thomasalbright1909]

Wth why is youtube deleting my comments.

[@AlphaNumeric123]

He had top stats for top schools, but top schools want research. Good research is essentially what defined a top school and he mostly applied to research heavy schools. Dr Gray is great for URMs, nontrads, military applicants, etc but research-focused applicants are a weak spot for this channel. Unfortunately that’s what top schools care about, outside a few seats for “interesting” candidates. That, and late secondaries probably hurt him a lot.

[@anmariee5560]

@Medical School HQ, can you please delete the comments that are racist towards this boy you interviewed? Thank you.

[@anmariee5560]

@Turtle That's what I meant. But what these other comments are implying is that "he is only good but still didn't get in because of his race". There are people that are not of his ethnicity who have higher stats than him but still didn't in. It's all about putting in the work and effort and how well you present yourself, not your race.

[@johna.6985]

@@anmariee5560 When was the last time you saw a URM on application renovation with high stats? Is that a coincidence? This guy has worked harder and put in more effort than many other applicants.

[@shivmirani748]

@@johna.6985 true

[@anmariee5560]

@@johna.6985 First of all, this channel is not big enough YET that everyone knows it and people don't have to show up if they want to. Secondly, it is more than just high stats. According to the video, if you were watching, Dr. Gray said his short essays and personal statement came off as arrogant and the typical "selling yourself" type of writing. And he was not clear on listing where his shadowing experience was.

[@lickinglemons2358]

How about we move away from deleting everything we don’t want to see. That isn’t a healthy or productive response