Why You Should NOT Try to 'Stand Out' in Your Med School App | Application Renovation (S3 E7)

Premeds are often told they need to "stand out" in their med school applications. Today we review the app of a student with a 3.79 GPA and 514 MCAT who hasn't gotten any interviews, likely because she approached her app with this mindset.

Our student this week applied in this most recent med school application cycle for the first time, to both U.S. and Canadian medical schools. She's gotten no interviews here in the U.S., where she applied to eight MD schools. She thinks it may have been due to struggling to convey her story in a way that caught attention.

While walking through her entire AMCAS application, we discuss:

• Why admissions committees may scrutinize your app more than usual if you have a parent who is a physician.
• When projecting out the date for ongoing activities on your app, do you project out the hours, too?
• Which activities should you select as your "most meaningful," and which are poor choices?
• Which *kinds* of stories should you focus on in your activity descriptions?
• What you need to avoid to make sure your stories don't drag on without any purpose or impact.
• Should you even list an activity on your app if it was only 6 hours?
• Do you need formal shadowing if you've observed doctors through clinical jobs and other experiences?
• Can you extract some hours from a job in a clinical setting to list separately as "shadowing" on your app?
• Why you should be careful with highlighting personal strengths or characteristics by name ("dedicated," "passionate," etc) in your med school app.
• How to convey your passion for medicine in a way that is actually unique to you and allows the admissions committee to connect with you through your app.
• Which kinds of generic sentences and explanations should be removed from a personal statement?
• How to write a conclusion for a medical school personal statement.
• Are any medical schools truly "out of reach" when you have a 3.8 GPA and a 514 MCAT?

[Thedancingdoc]

Just goes to show that you can have amazing stats and still not get in. I firmly believe next year she'll get it. I applaud her for her vulnerability so she and we can learn from her mistake(s).

[Russianboyz]

It's almost like you need to try but not too hard.

[makhloufbannoud]

She took criticism extremely well and I can tell she’s trying to improve. I hope she’ll have more luck next cycle. Thank you for sharing your application.

[HarpreetSingh-ttio]

You being you is standing out since you would follow your passion and tell your story. That’s what it means to stand out

[mikell.]

I swear if the next video is "520 MCAT 4.0 GPA, No interviews" I will lose it lol. This goes to show how challenging this process is. Respect to all current pre meds.

[jessicas]

Seeing stats like that not get in makes me want to freak out but I guess it’s also sorta comforting because it proves that stats aren’t everything

[nc]

Her school list needed to be expanded, I think she easily picks up an interview if she applies to 20-30 schools (which with these stats, you absolutely should be). The story is critical but she's missing so many opportunities for a school to take a chance on her.

[matthewlee]

I'm shocked she didn't get any interviews. She seems like a very competent and personable applicant

[Ugo_Kalu]

Wow 😭 thank you so much for the insight. I always thought that standing out is the best thing but it’s just being yourself.

[fifi]

Thank you for these application renovations Dr. Gray! Applying in ~2 years but I want you to tear my application apart first haha. Jokes aside, these are really beneficial.

[Russianboyz]

Looks like she only applied to 8 schools...and 2 of those are NW and Uchicago...yeah that ain't gonna fly. Unless you have an amazing story or have insanely high stats you should be applying to at least 20 schools IMO.

[dominionbeats]

I’m glad you shut down her self degradation! Her states are definitely competitive and she should not doubt that!

[ansonw]

As a med student, I would say that Dr. Gray does a fairly decent job breaking apart these apps. I think that the only part underemphasized--and this is probably because he doesn't have access to these--are the letter of recs. Arguably, besides the GPA, MCAT, PS, and interview, these are one of the one of the most important parts of the app. And of course, most ppl don't realize that letters are weighted differently based on the quality of the letter and who writes it (e.g. a small-town doc vs. the chair of a renowned department).

[flamebows]

Dr Grey doesn't give you the cookie cutter bullshit - I love it

[shleekers]

Incredibly misleading telling her a 514 is competitive to Pritzker and Feinburg... she's well below the 10th percentile for MCAT scores there

[Maureen-MO]

This was great. Thanks a lot Dr. Gray. These videos keep reminding me that my story matters and has more power to promoting me than I think.

[zooks]

for anyone watching a lot of schools will auto filter you out if you don't have any formal shadowing listed on your application

[sophiepellerin]

She justifies applying to few schools by saying she also applied in Ontario but I don't think her stats are not that exceptional for Canadian schools so that doesn't really increase her chances of getting somewhere by that much.

[renny]

How much hours can you or should you extract from clinical experience to count as shadowing?

[claireworld_]

To me personally I have my most meaningful experience when I was tutoring a person. Even though it does not relate directly to medical school, for me it relates to having empathy and helping people. Would it be okay to put it as most meaningful experience or would that put me back?