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5+ of your schools are low-yield. Those are going to be a crapshoot to get interviews with anyways.
Have you had people read over your application? What feedback did they give you? Did your writing convey your “why”?
At this point, you should continue adding hours to each activity to strengthen your application. Explore new activities that set you apart and make you a great fit for your in-state programs. I know BU is huge on social justice.
LizzyM will tell you Thanksgiving is when you should worry. Only send updates to programs that accept them, each school is different.
Have you had people read over your application? What feedback did they give you? Did your writing convey your “why”?
At this point, you should continue adding hours to each activity to strengthen your application. Explore new activities that set you apart and make you a great fit for your in-state programs. I know BU is huge on social justice.
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Depends on what you value. I wanted to get in on my first cycle so I applied MD and DO. If that’s what you want, then it’s not too late to apply DO. If that’s not the route you want to take (which is ok) you might have to strengthen your application, then reapply. There’s still some time left, don’t lose out hope entirely.
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This is your weak spot. Is the home daycare a non-profit? What kind of "advocacy" are you doing for the Armenian Association?
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Imagery? Oh dear. Can you elaborate on what you mean?
From the snapshot you provided your application looks genetic but decent. Overall your school list is solid. You may get some traction yet. But I do agree with @LizzyM that your non-clinical is on the weaker side.
polymerization
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Something I'd recommend doing is getting on LinkedIn and searching medical student profiles for the schools you're looking to attend. Many medical students will scrub their accounts of less significant undergrad activities once they get in, but others will basically put up their entire AMCAS Work & Activities section as a profile. I did that many years ago to guide me as I searched for opportunities, and I suspect it will help you gauge your competitiveness.
I was really confident applying, and now that I'm in accepted student chats and can google my classmates... well, to say I've been humbled is an understatement. I am in wonderful company: I will matriculate with, no doubt, some of the most accomplished people I will ever meet.
I was really confident applying, and now that I'm in accepted student chats and can google my classmates... well, to say I've been humbled is an understatement. I am in wonderful company: I will matriculate with, no doubt, some of the most accomplished people I will ever meet.
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Can you clarify what you mean by “if it will be very competitive” or not
polymerization
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Yes, but your chance at becoming a dermatologist will be 0% if you don't get into medical school at all. So, really, applying DO may be the only logical decision in order to move forward toward that specific goal while at the same time giving you latitude to explore other options that your school might be able to support confidently.
And for what it's worth, when I worked in Mohs surgery, the surgeon was a DO—the most esteemed subspecialty within dermatology. It's not impossible. The guy had 9 luxury cars and brought a different one to work every morning. If prestige, status, and money are what you're looking for, DO has got to get you closer than another 5 years working as an MA or scribe just for the narrow possibility of getting into a T20 MD school.
Take it from me, I just got into an Ivy. I started college in 2013. It was not worth it! (Don't get me wrong, I'm beyond relieved to be here—but I spent all of that time unsure if anything I was doing would ever be rewarded, which was psychological punishment in itself.) Get in where you can, as soon as you can.
For the night is dark, and full of terrors.
You'll never know if this is your last chance to apply until the opportunity has already slipped through your fingers.
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I previously advised you.
What advice have your prehealth advisors given?
I suppose you can apply to DO programs. You can send apps to all the newer MD and DO schools that have just opened, though Arizona State is not a fit. I don't understand the NEED to get into medical school at all. Many people say they NEEDED to start medical school, only to find themselves failing out.
You'll need service orientation activities: food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation. I'm sure being part of a cultural affinity group is important to you, and that may help you with scholarships.
aamsc.org
aahpo.org
You should have 150 hours of the above activities when you submit your application to avoid getting screened out at most schools. Schools will often average MCAT attempts for screening, but your 511 will...
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You should have 150 hours of the above activities when you submit your application to avoid getting screened out at most schools. Schools will often average MCAT attempts for screening, but your 511 will...
What advice have your prehealth advisors given?
I suppose you can apply to DO programs. You can send apps to all the newer MD and DO schools that have just opened, though Arizona State is not a fit. I don't understand the NEED to get into medical school at all. Many people say they NEEDED to start medical school, only to find themselves failing out.
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Really?? We have quite the situation with SNAP funding suspension, and practically every food pantry and bank I know of is calling for volunteers. The winter holidays are especially busy.
Again, this is likely the reason you have had difficulty, and this may extend to DO applications though they need to fill their seats. Without more details on what social support you have been doing, the major issue is you need to establish better credibility with more experience hours engaged with community, especially with those unlike yourself and underresourced.
We discussed this very early on when you were a sophomore. What happened?
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We discussed this before.
No, I don't think e-mentoring is going to help you. You need face-to-face experiences with people from a position where you are not a subject matter expert (i.e., teacher/tutor/mentor). Every premed does some form of teaching or mentoring; same thing with crisis text line. You must find a way to be comfortable in uncomfortable settings or people.
Were these advisors discouraging after you took the MCAT for the first time (your sub-500)? Was there any actionable advice?
We just pushed out the Profile of the Accepted Applicant, and we discuss advising there. We will be launching a new survey soon for the 2026 cycle.
HPSA Profile of the Admitted Applicant 2025 Report | HPSA
New research from HPSA reveals that while admissions achieve equitable outcomes across demographic groups, access to resources varies.
www.hpsa.org
polymerization
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Thank you. More to your point, the fact that I could be accepted at an Ivy and still have radio silence from over 40 schools (many of which are lower-tier) just goes to show how opaque and disjointed all of this really is. I'm saying this as someone with lower stats by more than a standard deviation.
If by saying whether you need to apply DO, you mean, do I think you will be rejected from all of your MD schools? I really couldn't say. If you were going to do something to improve your chances, applying DO (in my opinion) is the one thing you can do to exponentially increase your chances of matriculating next Fall. If you're an MD reapplicant instead, you're tasked with showing significant progress over your application this year, which is more subjective and thus objectively harder—again, in my opinion. You've already taken the MCAT twice and done a lot of work... I don't know if I would put myself through another cycle if I had a choice, especially with no guarantees.
My own cycle went very differently than I expected. My plan was always to apply DO if I didn't have interviews by Thanksgiving, and that seems to be the strategy for most applicants. It's definitely not too late, though I have seen students who have been sitting on silence and then suddenly have 2 or 3 IIs over the course of a week.
In the meantime, take care of yourself. The week prior to receiving the A, I was licking my wounds from a post-II R at my state school. The sting was unimaginable, and honestly, I felt like I was fully outside of my body over the course of that time. I was not taking the rejection in stride at all, and felt particularly awful the day prior to getting the A. Maybe it's just your sign that better news is around the corner! Keep the faith.
Stop at nothing to feel better. My partner and I were doing goofy things like praying to the moon, harnessing our black cat's witchy energies, and reading tarot cards to fill the silences. I bought myself a cake when I got the R. Laugh so you don't have to cry. I get it. This is hard, and it's like, probably the biggest thing that's happened to you since undergrad admissions, this time with even deeper stakes.
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I presume yes, but did you attend their "mandatory" session on applying to schools before you submitted (around this time last year)? Should I assume you did NOT get a committee letter because of your MCAT?
For right now, you have a lot of feedback in this thread. I would consider submitting applications to newer MD programs and consider throwing in an application for DO schools, especially the new ones (the dean of the new IllinoisCOM has been engaging us on the pre-DO threads). You never know, but it only takes one. Sure you take a risk applying to a program that hasn't graduated a class yet, but they are looking for good students who want to take that chance. Now, whether that's a culture you can thrive in, that would be a different conversation with your champions and mentors you have secured to date.
All current applicants should continue to engage in clinical and service orientation community service activities. The hours will accumulate for a potential reapplication, and they could serve as new "update" material to convey to schools.
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Right now, you can apply to DO programs and increase your odds of starting next Fall. But as you said, going the MD route is something you have dreamt of at the start of this journey. That’s what I meant by understanding what you value.
If that’s the case, then there’s no “right now” fix. There’s still time in the cycle. You may very well get an interview(s) over the next few weeks. You have to learn how to love the grind, even when it gets hard. If not, then you have to focus on the weak points of your application and grow them. There is an entire thread for reapplicants and advice for them on SDN.
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Certainly your profile is good for DO, except for the service orientation piece. It might be worth going for the DO schools that are established and have lots of spaces (NYCOM, PCOM, VCOM, LECOM). I'd go for UNE while they do have a mission for underserved.
If your advisors can't help you, seek organizations that can. I am pleasantly surprised the Armenian American Medical Society is willing to mentor prehealth applicants.
If your advisors can't help you, seek organizations that can. I am pleasantly surprised the Armenian American Medical Society is willing to mentor prehealth applicants.
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Are you still in Amherst? Not Bread Alone (soup kitchen) is always looking for volunteers, and they serve on weekends. Amherst Survival Center definitely needs volunteers, and they may have time slots that fit your work hours.
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This approach can be difficult to pull off successfully.
I know SDN can be quick to shuttle people into DO schools, but only go that route if you want to.
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Always "answer the prompt." I'm a fan of CARS/STARS/STAIRS.
We don't have your application, and I don't know what feedback you received. "Show don't tell" when overdone is like overworking bread dough. Self reflection is important, not just observation.
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Just using clean, simple, straightforward language to make your points.
When you have to read hundreds of personal statements in fairly rapid succession, having every one of them showing rather than telling gets very old, very quickly.
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Not every activity should be described using show-don't-tell. It's the easiest way for me to put applications on a lower priority because so many people take show-don't-tell too close to heart.
When doctors have to break bad news to patients, show-don't-tell is not preferred. You have to demonstrate you can communicate answers directly too.
Beware of survivorship bias. Just because a med student tells you how to write your application in the same style as they did does NOT mean it is a successful strategy for you. You don't know the rubrics or the preferences of an adcom.
Admissions Committees: The Art of the Decision | Student Doctor Network | SDN
Abstract: Faculty serve three to four year terms on admissions committees, so they can vary significantly year-to-year with shifting priorities over time.
www.studentdoctor.net
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I have, and many on this thread are serving on admissions/review committees. I have already disclaimed that I don't know what your application says, but I think over 10+ years of reviewing applications gives me the experience to connect why you haven't been as successful as you want to be. I've read plenty of applications for admission to different professions (think up to 10K med school apps in 6 months). Furthermore, you could still get an II tomorrow. It just takes one admissions committee to invite you.
The adcom leadership makes the rules, and I have to follow them. I give feedback, but I have a job when I (and my team) review applications: we must identify students who would fulfill their goals at our program who would handle the challenges that most students face when becoming doctors. (See the article and many others posted on SDN.) Ultimately around 10% of all applicants in a pool get strongly considered for an interview.
I know it's challenging to go through the process (and education). We are supportive, but we also will call spades when it is suggested. The challenge for you is understanding that accepting and processing criticism will be part of your professional career, and you are asked about how you process it as part of your understanding of professional behavior. You'll be asked to do things over again if something isn't done right OR the results are suboptimal. Sometimes the people giving you advice really try to shame you; others won't even give you advice because they lack any confidence in you. Welcome to clerkships.
Believe us, we are in your corner and we root for you and every single person who commits themselves to healthcare. But if you are asking for help, be prepared to process it. We are providing actionable advice in case you have to apply again (which I hope compares to the advice your prehealth advisors did not give you but should have). Ultimately your application is the product of your decisions based on the community and advisors you depended on. And the profile of the accepted applicants suggests more success for those who had such a network of champions than those who just approached the process without one. Trust us; we are trying to help (see posts linking you to AAMS).
The point is that what may sound like excuses must turn into accomplishments. We have advised you that your approach to your community service orientation activities (which I advised you on previously) likely contributed to the lack of results you are seeing in your cycle. When something isn't working the way you expect, you consider changing plans. That's what we are suggesting. That's what we want you to show, not tell.
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And I continue to say, I don't have your application to comment on your actual writing; it's all conjecture. (People do send their apps to me in private chat, and you can change my mind that way in private.) But the advice is founded on experience in the process on adcoms and what directions medical education is taking. More applicants have both academic and on-the-ground experience to understand social determinants of health. I don't want you to be left behind if you want to avoid getting screened out for the least significant of reasons. Again, our job as screeners is to help with the triaging of applications to get them down to roughly 10% of the pool.
I am familiar with the prehealth advisors who you had access to. Someone also noted opportunities available to you when you were in college. It stinks if no one was there to help point them out for you, but I give advice from the perspective of reviewing and advising others to succeed not just in the process but as future students. Others here can give differing advice.
Your thread title says, "Looking for advice about my chances for this cycle." And so we have offered advice from impressions. But you know what you wrote in your application and did for your experiences; we only know what you shared with us.