Med School Rejection? Here’s How to Fix Your Application and Get Accepted (Step-by-Step Guide) Part 2

Rejected from med school? It's time to stop wishing and start winning. In Part 2 of this step-by-step guide, Dr. Andre Pinesett, the Pre-Med Productivity Expert, shows you how to fix your application and get accepted as a med school reapplicant. 

🎯 This video is your next move—because getting in to med school in the next cycle requires more than hope. It takes: 
✔️ A specific and strategic plan to fix the real issue in your med school application
✔️ Smart MCAT & GPA improvement tactics that actually work and amplify your med school app
✔️ Step-by-step guidance for building a stronger med school application
✔️ Real understanding of postbac programs, how not to mess them up, and how to know if you're ready
✔️ How to apply to med school more strategically—without wasting time or money
✔️ Why med school application feedback from the right people is the key to getting accepted

Each week, I’m bringing strategies for:

💪 Locking in that bulletproof mindset.

⏰ Cutting the nonsense and getting productive.

🧠 Studying smarter, not harder.

🩺 Streamlining your path to med school.

If you're serious about medicine, this is where you need to be!!

**VISIT MY WEBSITE**

https://www.premedproductivity.com/

Chapters

• 0:00 Accept and Move Forward
• 0:49 Strategy vs. Hope
• 1:01 MCAT Retake Mistakes
• 2:37 Post-Bac Program Considerations
• 4:47 Applying Smarter This Time
• 9:08 Start Working Today
• 10:45 Honest Assessment and Closing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

So step one, we have to accept what has happened. We shrug it off right and we say, okay, listen, we're going to work on it, we're going to move forward. I'll be paralyzed. Step two is we say, okay, now we're going to move forward. How do we move forward? What is the issue? What do we have to target? And then step three is now we actually have to target it. We have to fix the issue.

Speaker 1: 0:25

And before I, between hopes and dreams and wishes and all that stuff and actual strategy and planning, there are people who say there's an issue here and I just believe it's going to be better. I hope it's going to be better. No, you have to have a targeted plan, especially when you're reapplying, because you have only a few months to fix this issue. Or at most, maybe you apply next cycle 15 months to fix this issue. So it's a short period of time, and so every step you take must be on the money when we fix it. So build a strategy, not just hope. Today is the day, guys. You're going to take your future into your own hands. You're going to dominate, you're going to be successful. No excuses, just dominate.

Speaker 1: 1:01

If your MCAT was weak, retaking it is not sufficient. And hear me and hear me now when I say this, guys, because too many students make this mistake. They get to this part of the cycle. They took their MCAT 10 months ago, whatever it is. Before the cycle started, this whole time they were focusing on applications and then now they're like man, I'm not getting in and they're going to go retake the MCAT in two months to make sure they're applying for the start of the cycle. But what you have to recognize is is you were studying for the MCAT for a focused, extended period of time and you got the score you got. So now 10 months have passed, all that curve of forgetting, and so you've forgotten materials. You've moved out of the MCAT mode, you've been in application mode and now, all of a sudden, you're going to study for less time than you spent before, after being cold for 10 months, and you're going to score better. How does that happen? It doesn't really happen, and so, if the MCAT is your issue, guys, it's important that you come up with a specific plan of how you're going to prepare differently and how you're going to prepare more than you did previously to amplify your score. It is misleading thinking. It is the wrong thinking, to think to yourself. You know what? Whatever happened before, it was just a fluke. This time I'm laser focused. I want it. Okay, I'm going to do two months. I know I did six months last time, but two months down is going to be perfect. I'm going to get it done. No, give yourself the amount of time you need and have yourself a set of different strategies. Approach the exam differently this time to be more successful.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Maybe you need a post-bac program if your GPA is the issue. If a post-bac program is the way you're going to go, then make sure. This is so important. Students rush into a post-bac. Don't do that to yourself, guys.

Speaker 1: 2:29

If you do poorly in a post-bac, it sets you back. It's almost something you can't overcome. If you do poorly in a post-bac, the true story there's very little you can do. That's such a big red flag that you can't overcome by doing something else. But if you go through your whole career and then you go to a post-bac and then you don't do well, it is catastrophic to your med school chances. And that's because if you're doing a post-bac, you're telling medical school I am seriously going to medical school. I'm entering a focused post-bac program. I'm going to do my best to show you I'm qualified. Well, if you go into that program and you don't do well and it's competitive and it's fast paced it's going to look awful to medical school. So they're saying, listen, your most recent coursework is in as close to med school environment as we can be, shows us that you aren't ready for medical school. So why would we admit you? You went in there to fix your issue, but you actually made it a bigger issue.

Speaker 1: 3:17

If you need a post-bac, make sure you're academically ready. Make sure you have your time management skills. Make sure you have your study skills on point right. I've had so many students who did fully in undergrad. They get into my five pillars of studying less than eight-billion grades program, my TST, my total student transformation and they learn how to, from the ground up, manage their time, manage their studying approach, their academics, organize themselves, read better and they're able to implement that quickly in a few months, get into their post-bac program and then excel. But it's about plugging those skills and getting those skills right so that way you don't mess up in your post-bac programs. Make sure you fix the root cause of your academic issues. Do we get it guys? The real smart applicants, the re-applicants who get accepted are the ones that don't just hope for better results. They craft better results by coming up with a bulletproof strategy for success.

Speaker 1: 4:08

I'm going to ask you is it your actual dream? If it is your dream, it is everything you've ever wanted. If it means so much to you, why again would you leave it up to a coin flip? Why would you leave it up to chance? Why would you have holes in your information? Why would you not go find a mentor, find a coach, find someone who can help you and get you over the top? I can say this from the mountaintops Stop listening to Reddit, stop going to studentdoctornet. Why? Because these are anonymous people and we just don't know where the advice is coming from. Get with someone who's reputable, who put their name behind the advice they're giving you, so that way you can be successful and get into medical school.

Speaker 1: 4:40

It's so costly in terms of time and money and all these things to reapply. Reapply right the first time and don't get in this endless loop of applying and applying, applying and being out of money and feeling old and all these things. Have your MCAT expire. It's terrible. Fix the issue and when you fix the issue, don't neglect the strategy. We said there's four possible issues. When we get to that third issue, whatever we fix one of those first three whether it's the numbers, our pre-med experiences or it's our actual application, how we told our story, that fourth part we always wanna check and say, wait a minute, now we fixed the issue, but is there any way we could apply more strategically to give ourselves just that little bit of bump up, to get us over the hump? And when you're talking about half of the applicants being accepted, every little bit counts because there's so many acceptable, so many solid students who don't get accepted to medical schools. It's millimeters, not feet, to get into medical school.

Speaker 1: 5:32

So make sure that after you fix the primary issue, look for little things you can tweak to apply more can tweak to apply more strategically, to apply smarter than you did the previous time. Three quick tips for applying more strategically is one make sure you apply early. Next cycle, the first week that you're able to submit, get things submitted, get things verified, get things sent off to medical schools. This is so important and when it comes to application strategy, it is the number one factor in improving your chances. All other things considered, make sure you apply early and you apply complete with your application. If you do that, it gives you the best odds of your application being fully considered.

Speaker 1: 6:09

The second thing is is consider broadening your school list. So if you went with only top tier and when I say top tier guys, it's all relative right. Getting into medical school is getting into medical school. You're going to become a doctor, no matter what. If you go to a lower tier medical school, don't poo-poo that. That's an awesome feat to get into any medical school.

Speaker 1: 6:26

But, with that being said, there are tiers of competitiveness in terms of applying to, and so if you've applied only to the most competitive schools, take some time and broaden your school list. Maybe you live in a very competitive state. Start looking out of state. Maybe you only apply to the Ivy Leagues, okay. Well, let's take a step down a little bit and let's apply to some other medical schools across the country. There's a lot of great medical schools out there. If you only did MD, maybe broaden out and add some DO schools. If you only did a few DO schools, add some more DO schools. If you only did MD and DO schools, maybe it's time to go even broader across the DO schools, or maybe it's even time to look at some Caribbean schools and I have some great videos on this. But I've had a number of students go to the Caribbean, do excellent, get into Ivy League residencies, get into UC residencies, because they've gone down into the Caribbean right, and there is a strategy for that. Make sure you check out my video about that so you can be successful if you do go to the Caribbean.

Speaker 1: 7:17

When we talk about broadening your school list, one pushback that students may have is well, wait a minute. I applied to the most number of schools I could apply to that I could afford, and now I already have a cycle behind me so I'm even more broke this cycle. It's okay to be broke. What you're going to do in that situation is you're going to shift your schools. Maybe, maybe you applied to 20 schools and 15 of them were top tier and five of them were middle tier. Now we're going to flip it. We're going to do five top tier and we're going to do 10 that are low tier and then five mid tier. So we're going to shift. So if you did all MD, maybe do five MD and you do 15, do so whatever you can fit in your budget. Look at shifting and reallocating those school lists. The other nice thing about shifting your school list is that when you are a reapplicant, many schools only consider you a reapplicant if you're reapplying to their school. So if you've never applied to their school before, you are not a reapplicant in their eyes. They're looking at your application fresh and that sometimes can give you a leg up when you're reapplying.

Speaker 1: 8:13

The third and final thing is, as you go through and you start doing all these things and you talk about the strategy part of it get that real feedback. Have I said that enough in this video? Get real feedback before applying so you don't repeat the same mistakes. Reach out to schools that have rejected you and say I really liked your school. You rejected me this cycle. I'm looking to reapply again next cycle. Is there any feedback you can give me, either in writing or in a Zoom call something so I can get this right, because being a doctor is everything I want. Keep the email short, but a nice little thing to include in there at the end is your why for medicine to really make you human, to really have them be invested in you getting into medical school. Having someone who knows the process give you feedback is huge. I've helped students who went from zero interviews to, all of a sudden they're getting double digit interviews and they're getting a handful of acceptances. It's all because they stopped guessing and they started understanding what was exactly the issue strategically and also what was wrong in the core of their application, and they started executing at that high level. Exceptional execution is what it takes to be accepted to medical school.

Speaker 1: 9:11

Step five, our final step here is you need to actually get to work. I know Start today. As you watch this video, I know for many of you you are exhausted. It has been a cycle. You were pumping through the MCAT, you were wrapping up college and then now you've been doing secondaries. So your eyeballs pop out and you are exhausted. It has been a taxing cycle for you, I know, but you have to put this in perspective. You have to recognize that you've worked for four years, five years, six years, maybe 10,. However long you've worked all these years, I'm asking you to suck it up, put your head down, and I'm asking you to grind for two, three, four more months to bang out whatever you have to do to make yourself exceptional and whatever you do to make your application exceptional. And then, once you submit, we can relax again.

Speaker 1: 10:03

But this is three months or four months to create your life, your dream life. So don't mess it up. Start working right now. Get to work. Your application starts right now. Your comeback begins today.

Speaker 1: 10:13

Even if you're waiting on some schools, it's okay. Wait on those schools, but why not be double prepared, right? It's the mark of a doctor. I'm an anesthesiologist. I always have a plan B, plan C, plan D, because I never want to be caught in a situation where life's on the line and I ain't got nothing to go to, I got no plan, what's happening? Have your plans, have your ducks in a row. So start working on your application today. Start getting things right, start getting feedback. Start looking at your application to see what you could tweak, what could be better, and then get to work on fixing those things right now, not later, so you can maximize the small amount of time you have to get accepted during this next cycle.

Speaker 1: 10:45

The last thing I'll say now we get out of here. Can we get out of here? If you're liking this video, guys, take a second to like the video right now If you're listening to this on the podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Take the time and leave a review. Let them know. Hey, dr Pines, that's pretty cool. I kind of like that guy. He brings some nice information, some nice expertise and he's here for us as students. So take time to leave a review. I'd appreciate that. Five star us would be great.

Speaker 1: 11:05

The last thing is that as you look at your previous cycle and you look at man, I was rejected this cycle. Have an honest conversation with yourself about whether you can fix the deficits in your application in the next few months. I talk about hopes and wishes, but people who are successful in reapplying have a solid, reality-based plan for success and for some of you, it may mean delaying your application and taking a year, maybe even two years, to get your application where it needs to be. This is particularly true for the students who have these low GPAs. This is not a quick fix because it took you years to mess up the GPA, so it's going to take you at least a year, maybe a little bit longer, to fix that GPA. Give yourself the time you need, guys. Don't rush to another rejection. Instead, take your time and be excellent into acceptance.

Speaker 1: 12:02

I hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you did like I said, like the video. If you're watching this on the podcast, leave a review. I thank you guys all so much. I'm bringing you guys new, live, fresh content every week. If there's anything you have a question about, guys, put it in the comments below. Let me know and I'll look at your comment and I'll reply back. I'll get you a video because I'm on a mission to empower a million students and this is helping me. So take the time, comment if you enjoyed this video, comment if you have questions and I'll make sure I get to them and answer them.

Speaker 1: 12:27

Guys, have a wonderful day. Thank you so much for watching and, as always, how do we end? No excuses, just dominate. That's it for another episode of the Premed Productivity Podcast. Show your love by smashing the like button and commenting in the box below. Today is the day, guys. No more excuses, no more complaining. You're going to take your future into your own hands. You're going to dominate. You're going to be successful. I challenge you. What are you going to do today to make your life better? Get to my website, premedproductivitycom, grab a free ebook, sign up for a free webinar and, if you're really ready to transform, enroll in one of my life-changing courses or coaching programs. You have greatness inside you. Let me show you how to unlock it so you can dominate and make your dreams a reality. No excuses, just dominate.