Missing Personal Statement

[sydneyecross]

I am a re-applicant for this 2021 cycle after a rejected application last year. I made an unfortunate discovery when looking over last year's application that I had not added my personal statement essay to my primary application. After spending months writing this essay, I'm sure you can imagine that I am kicking myself over this massive oversight...

I'm wondering how this affected my applications. My statistics are not extremely competitive for the MD programs I applied to: 502 and 507 MCAT scores, and 3.6 GPA at Portland State University. I had some volunteer scribe experience at the time, but no research experience. I was rejected by Loma Linda SOM post-interview, and I was not given an interview at Oregon Health and Science SOM, despite being an Oregon resident (25% of Oregon applicants matriculate at OHSU). LLUSOM: 3.89/510 average. OHSUSOM: 3.79/512 average. My secondary applications were very well written and my interview at LLUSOM went wonderfully. Do you think that the missing personal statement was a key player in my rejected applications last year, or was it more likely my statistics and experiences? I'd like to hope that I have more of a chance of acceptance this time around without that major deficiency.

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[lumya]

I’m not an adcom but I’ve done some interviewing and hiring for my work before. I would discount someone who didn’t submit a cover letter if it was required for their position. If it’s part of the application I expect to see it even if it’s the most generic copy paste letter. We will still interview them if their resume is exceptional. Alternatively, if their resume is a little lacking but their cover letter was exceptional and showed a lot about them as a person and how they fit into the company culture, we’d give them an interview. I think you can see the analogy I’m making. Your previous experience might have been your missing letter or your stats, but it also could have been a combination of the two.

Any school you reapply to will compare your current app to the one you submitted last time. Best case scenario they realize your mistake and give you another chance. Alternatively they might compare your apps and determine that adding a personal statement isn’t improvement enough for a re-applicant. Have you improved your app in other areas? It’s rough but there are so many good applicants who don’t make mistakes. You should probably apply broadly to schools you are not a re-applicant at, that your stats are competitive for, and include DO school to ensure your best chances are admission (and avoid running into both issues you had previously). You can tag and adcom to help with your list.

 

[chaim123]

I am a re-applicant for this 2021 cycle after a rejected application last year. I made an unfortunate discovery when looking over last year's application that I had not added my personal statement essay to my primary application. After spending months writing this essay, I'm sure you can imagine that I am kicking myself over this massive oversight...

I'm wondering how this affected my applications. My statistics are not extremely competitive for the MD programs I applied to: 502 and 507 MCAT scores, and 3.6 GPA at Portland State University. I had some volunteer scribe experience at the time, but no research experience. I was rejected by Loma Linda SOM post-interview, and I was not given an interview at Oregon Health and Science SOM, despite being an Oregon resident (25% of Oregon applicants matriculate at OHSU). LLUSOM: 3.89/510 average. OHSUSOM: 3.79/512 average. My secondary applications were very well written and my interview at LLUSOM went wonderfully. Do you think that the missing personal statement was a key player in my rejected applications last year, or was it more likely my statistics and experiences? I'd like to hope that I have more of a chance of acceptance this time around without that major deficiency.

I'm thoroughly impressed you got an interview with no personal statement. Did no one ever bring up your lack of PS?

 

[sydneyecross]

One of my interviewers did mention it briefly, but I misunderstood and thought that she was talking about a part of the secondary application that was missing. If I had known, I could have submitted after the interview.

 

[sydneyecross]

I’m not an adcom but I’ve done some interviewing and hiring for my work before. I would discount someone who didn’t submit a cover letter if it was required for their position. If it’s part of the application I expect to see it even if it’s the most generic copy paste letter. We will still interview them if their resume is exceptional. Alternatively, if their resume is a little lacking but their cover letter was exceptional and showed a lot about them as a person and how they fit into the company culture, we’d give them an interview. I think you can see the analogy I’m making. Your previous experience might have been your missing letter or your stats, but it also could have been a combination of the two.

Any school you reapply to will compare your current app to the one you submitted last time. Best case scenario they realize your mistake and give you another chance. Alternatively they might compare your apps and determine that adding a personal statement isn’t improvement enough for a re-applicant. Have you improved your app in other areas? It’s rough but there are so many good applicants who don’t make mistakes. You should probably apply broadly to schools you are not a re-applicant at, that your stats are competitive for, and include DO school to ensure your best chances are admission (and avoid running into both issues you had previously). You can tag and adcom to help with your list.

I appreciate your insight on this. I hope they do give me a second chance, but I've also prepared for this not to happen by applying to DO programs that my stats are more competitive for. I've also gotten some clinical experience as a phlebotomist since my first application, and I'm looking for basic science research positions to fill my gap year. Would you recommend that I try to contact the schools to mention that I was not purposefully excluding my personal statement last year? Thank you for the help!

 

[lumya]

I appreciate your insight on this. I hope they do give me a second chance, but I've also prepared for this not to happen by applying to DO programs that my stats are more competitive for. I've also gotten some clinical experience as a phlebotomist since my first application, and I'm looking for basic science research positions to fill my gap year. Would you recommend that I try to contact the schools to mention that I was not purposefully excluding my personal statement last year? Thank you for the help!

I think what has happened has happened and you should just move on. If you re-apply to those schools, reaching out to tell them you meant to send a personal statement last time won't make that much of a difference to them whether you excluded it on purpose or accidentally.

 

[sydneyecross]

I think what has happened has happened and you should just move on. If you re-apply to those schools, reaching out to tell them you meant to send a personal statement last time won't make that much of a difference to them whether you excluded it on purpose or accidentally.

Ok, great. Thank you for the advice!

 

[deleted480308]

You have to get better at details. That was a $200k mistake

 

[ndcpjf]

I didn't even realize AMCAS would let you submit without having something filled in for the PS section...Interesting.

 

[gyngyn]

You must have had a very powerful application for LLU to have interviewed you with the PS.