Advice to a College Athlete Reapplying to Med School | Application Renovation (S2 E10)

Today, I chat with a premed athlete whose experiences and grades SHOULD'VE been enough to "overcome" his average MCAT score. But he applied last year and received no interview invites. Let's look through his TMDSAS application and see what went wrong!
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On Application Renovation this week, our student received NO interviews and was rejected by all the med schools he applied to last year. Since he's a Texas resident who applied only to Texas schools, we're looking at his TMDSAS application. We discuss:
• Why submitting your med school application in mid-July is borderline late for TMDSAS.
• Why TMDSAS asks about a "significant male" or "significant female" in your life.
• A pitfall that so many college athletes fall into in their med school application.
• Which part of his story doesn't make sense and may need to be changed.
• Why it's typically a waste of space to write about coming to terms with death in the personal statement.
• Why referring to "lifestyle" in your personal statement is a potential red flag.
• Why having skills and traits that line up with medicine is NOT a reason to be a physician.
• How to write the Personal Characteristics essay in the TMDSAS application.
• How he nailed the TMDSAS Optional Essay.
• Two possible mistakes with his shadowing hours and how he logged them in his application.
• Why his relative lack of clinical experience is really hurting his application.
• Why his grades and experiences should've been able to overcome his 500 MCAT score.
• Whether his research hours are a concern or not.
• Whether he should get new letters of recommendation when reapplying.
For more episodes of Application Renovation, check out the playlist at applicationreno....

[@crazy808ish]

This video is fascinating to me because I chose my career in two evenings, never really having thought seriously about it before, spent 4 years studying at it, and never once questioned, regretted it, or looked back. I know it's not the same length of time as becoming a doctor would be, but the idea of requiring some sort of background/seed in medicine, or thinking essays are a valid gauge of a person's ability to focus, commit, and persevere, is an utterly foreign concept to me.

[@hmok1083]

What career do you work in?

[@crazy808ish]

Forgot Bio majors. Should become a English or Marketing major to get into medical school, because that's obviously what you need to get through the application process.

[@Russianboyz95]

Major in whatever interests you. Med schools for the most part don't care about your major.

[@zooks7318]

I think that crazy808 means that a lot of students have the experiences needed for med school but can't articulate (write/market) them well enough to adcoms

[@baemonrawr]

Not trying to politicize affirmative action, because even as a URM myself I think it's important and see the merits, but I think the 500 MCAT score was a pretty large detriment to his application. I think aiming for a 510 would have helped a lot, but you are absolutely correct that his essays should have better reflected his desire to be a physician. He obviously has great grades and good ECs and leadership. The score and the direction of the app seemed to hold him back the most. Of course, you're the expert haha.

[@baemonrawr]

I meant ORM. I'm asian, so ORM. lol.

[@baemonrawr]

okay I'm going to shut up now. I just got the part where I heard he got a 511.

[@shivmirani748]

Matthew Cha 😂😂😂

[@kmartinez7077]

Woahhhh Dr. G ripped this guy to shreds with his personal statement. 😳

[@paulp1769]

Can you review a AACOMAS application, specifically the experiences and achievements section?

[@justinfox1432]

To every applicant EVER. Tell me a story. No matter what it is its wrong.

[@JKarstadt]

every applicant's story is wrong? haha

[@Russianboyz95]

@@JKarstadt Nah, I think he's complaining that Dr. Gray always bashes peoples' essays no matter what they have written...which I don't think is the actually the case, sometimes he does praise an applicant's essay. Besides he has to provide some kind of constructive feedback.

[@rayanhassanbilal]

PLEASEEEE do videos of successful applications to top schools Pleaseeeeee 😭😭😭😭

[@OlamiDaily]

Thank you Dr. Gray.. The information was helpful and honest. Will remember this when I write my apps!

[@andrewbrown656]

My favorite part of application renovation is the personal statement not-so-greatment.

[@christiansong5681]

Great video... time to go fix my essay now😅

[@ahmadalmousa6286]

Can you talk about how much chance is there for an international to get accepted into medical school or the possibility of getting interviews? Thank you! . i'm an international student here in the US and I'm about to apply for medical school. However, there's lack of resources for an international applicant exist .

[@drewmarten1199]

D1 collegiate wrestler, applying next cycle! Great video, thanks a bunch.

[@giridharmurali9432]

How come a 500 is ok for this applicant, but for another applicant with a 500, 3.81 you said that the MCAT was the issue? Both seemed to have good extra-curriculars.

[@tombradysfootballdeflator4528]

depends on the schools he looks towards

[@okherewego]

Is grammar not a priority, Dr. Gray? Many personal statements you review have run on sentences, but you don't really talk about if they matter.

[@Russianboyz95]

It is, but that's sort of a given at this point. Also he doesn't have time nor the desire probably to review every grammatical error.

[@anagenesis6116]

how can i reach out to you so that i can pay for your correction or feedback to my personal statement?

[@MedicalSchoolHQ]

I actually don't have any availability right now, but you can reach out through my website. And we can help in any way possible.

[@anagenesis6116]

Medical School Headquarters thank you, i will contact you from there! do you have any availability in year 2020?

[@allthingschrisee9350]

@@MedicalSchoolHQ I honestly don't plan to apply until next year,do you have availability then and can I book out for then?

[@Pete-da-peter]

They always said " if you don't like fat joke, stop eating junk food" Well I said. If you don't like constructive criticism, don't make Dr Gray review your app.

[@koolkittykat04]

I’m not really sure why having the shadowing only at one time is a bad thing? Surely you can’t be expected to keep shadowing all the time.

[@grantgordon4378]

Are there any differences in your recommendations if you had this guy apply with AMCAS? (besides the obvious formatting change and time of entry issue of course)

[@at_reflux3125]

I will be applying during next year’s cycle for the first time, do you offer a service for someone to go over my personal statement? To revise them before I submit them?

[@rashidimran2737]

Wow talking about medical in lock down come on man give me a break