Episode 9 — Rejected Premed Case Study

In this episode, we review the profile and applications of a premed student who was rejected from both of their early decision schools, roughly top-25 to top-35 national universities. This student attended a top-1% US high school, possessed a 3.9 unweighted GPA, 99th percentile test scores, took 15 AP/honors courses, and had what many would consider an excellent resume filled with many “leadership positions” and “service activities.”In our case study, we break down several of the student’s application weaknesses and errors, including the following:The Difficulty of Premed PositioningThe Importance of All HS Grades, Not Just Overall GPAThe Importance of Relevant Coursework (e.g. Premed = STEM course rigor/grades)Analyzing Test Scores by Subject/Section vs Overall ScoresAwards That Matter/Don’t Matter for AdmissionResume AnalysisWhy Leadership & Service Aren’t EnoughHighly Common/Cliche Activities That Don’t Separate StudentsBranding of ActivitiesApplication MistakesPoor Essay Hooks/Endings“Kitchen Sink Syndrome” (too many themes)Poor and Non-Unique School Knowledge/DetailsFailure to Show Intellectual PromiseMisplacement of Information & Voice (Narrative vs. Analytic) Throughout Application——“The Game” is hosted by Sam Hassell and brought to you by Great Minds Advising.Great Minds Advising’s unique, hands-on mentorship program and its deep strategic insight into the application review process have earned the company a nation-leading track record of excellence, with 100% of its students gaining admission to a top-choice school in the 2025–26 application cycle.Its students have recently gained admission to Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Northwestern, UC-Berkeley, and WashU (among many others) and are admitted to the Ivy League at a rate 14x the national average (90% when applying early).Web: greatmindsadvising.comContact: greatmindsadvising.com/#contactNewsletter: greatmindsadvising.com/#newsletterEmail: [email protected]: facebook.com/GreatMindsAdvising/IG: instagram.com/greatmindsadvising