If you take the time to peruse the vast databases of applicant statistics, there’s one striking conclusion which can be drawn about reapplicants – in most cases, they’re fighting an up hill battle against the application, the interview, the first-time applicants, and the statistics from previous years. Unless reapplicants make substantial strides in their applications between cycles, they have a slim chance of getting into a medical school of their choosing. 🙁
Its been said that “you only want to take the MCAT once”, but even more importantly, you only want to apply once. For some (myself included), this translates to taking a year off to improve your MCAT, gain meaningful clinical/research experience, etc. Once your name is out there on the AMCAS and TMDSAS applications, you want to be confident in the impressions you make.
Another point to consider is how to answer the ever-so-popular interview question: “What will you do if you don’t get into medical school this cycle?” While there’s no “right” answer, most people say something along the lines of taking time off to improve their applications by working, volunteering, and/or retaking the MCAT. Sure, this means you’ll hypothetically be a reapplicant, but at least you’re indirectly showing your steadfast determination towards pursuing a career in medicine.
So if you’re deciding whether or not to take additional time before applying, ask yourself some questions.
- Is medicine really what I want to do?
- How much can I realistically expect to improve all aspects of my application?
- If I still don’t get in anywhere, what’s my “Plan B?”
hey rishi,
Long time follower, first time poster….i have a question for you.
speaking of taking a yr off instead of applying…is it looked bad upon if you withdrew your app from tmdsas….you already applied but the mcat scores weren’t as great as you’d like…at what point should you decide i’m unlikely to get an interview..and then you wuthdraw the app…are you still considered a reapplicant or not?
If my memory serves me correctly, you can “submit” your TMDSAS without an MCAT score, fees, photos, certification page, etc., but they won’t begin “processing” the app until the aforementioned have all been received. Withdrawing the application at this point (in the event of a low MCAT score, for example) doesn’t mean you’ll be a reapplicant the following cycle.
If you’ve already submitted your entire application, its been processed, and TMDSAS has released it to the Texas schools, I’d imagine you’re too far along to withdraw without being considered a reapplicant in the future. In either case, I would definitely call TMDSAS to figure out exactly what constitutes a “reapplicant” according to them.
Thanks a lot for the question, Parth! 🙂