Medical Reapplicant secondary prompt

[GoSpursGo]

I'm looking a bit ahead into the application process for the upcoming cycle and remembered that some schools have a reapplicant secondary question that asks what you've done to improve your app, so are adcoms more likely to more lenient given the circumstances of the past year? Quite a few of my plans were canceled so I haven't improved my application nearly as much as I hoped I would.

The question you should be asking isn't "Will adcoms understand that my plans got canceled," because the answer is "yes," it's abundantly obvious that a lot of plans changed this year. But adcoms being understanding doesn't really help you as much as you might hope, because you're not being evaluated in the vacuum. So there is no such thing as them being "lenient"--they are still doing to take the candidates who are the most qualified. So instead, the question you should ask is, "What is different about my application compared to my prior application that would lead me to believe that I am now more qualified than the other applicants, and thus will be successful this time?"

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[TheBoneDoctah]

Just because you didn't get to improve your app because of COVID (which is unfortunate), there are still thousands of other well-qualified applicants that they can take. You should really try to improve your app in as many ways as you can. If you reapply with the same app, it's not gonna look good.

 

[Goro]

You might very well have to take the hit, wait for new opportunities to open up to boost your app, rather than reapply hoping for magic to strike since nothing has improved your app.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I did get about 100 hours of research in a lab before everything was shut down and I currently have a an additional 100 hours of virtual volunteering during the pandemic, so it's not that I didn't improve anything, it just looks very tame to what I had initially planned.

Again, it really doesn't matter what you did relative to what you had planned. What matters is whether you can realistically say that you improved your app enough to be better than the other applicants out there.

I honestly don't think 100 hours of virtual anything is going to move the needle, and research is a pretty marginal EC unless you were very prolific. So personally I don't think you're going to be seen favorably at schools where you're reapplying. But it's your money, and the only way to find out definitively is to apply.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Again, it really doesn't matter what you did relative to what you had planned. What matters is whether you can realistically say that you improved your app enough to be better than the other applicants out there.

I honestly don't think 100 hours of virtual anything is going to move the needle, and research is a pretty marginal EC unless you were very prolific. So personally I don't think you're going to be seen favorably at schools where you're reapplying. But it's your money, and the only way to find out definitively is to apply.

I would agree with this. If the 100 hours of research was 100 hours of clinical work as a scribe or something that would help helped a lot more. Research just isn't THAT big of deal. If you have a stellar app and have checked all other boxes, then research is just cherry on top.