Brief Profile:
Applied to 14 allopathic medical schools for the 2012-2013 cycle. I wanted to provide other applicants, who like myself may not have had the strongest GPA, with some hope that they can be accepted and have a successful cycle.
Application Overview:
*Honors Student *Clinical Volunteer (100 hrs) *Fraternity Vice President *Undergraduate Research (3 yrs) *Research Scholarships and Awards (~$10,000) *Third author publication *Paid Clinical Position as a Perioperative Technician *Letters of recommendation (science prof, non-science prof, research PI, and academic mentor)
MCAT Prep:
*Took free Kaplan and Princeton Review diagnostic tests before review (scored 28-30) *Used The Berkeley Review (TBR) for all content review *Took ~7 Gold Standard (GS) online full-length tests *Completed TBR passages as needed to reinforce missed concepts from GS *Reviewed content in TBR and ExamKrackers physical and biological science books *Worked through Kaplan's MCAT 45 Advanced Prep book (highly recommend some kind of advanced prep) *Took ~5 full-length AAMC practice tests (range: 32-35) *Test Date: June 21, 2012
I was incredibly happy with my performance on the MCAT. If I received an average score (30-34) for matriculating students, I don't think I would have been accepted anywhere, so it was a very important aspect of my application and key to success this cycle. If I were to split hairs however, I felt I underperformed on the physical sciences section and could have received a 13 if I had not missed several questions (that I was kicking myself over missing immediately after the test). Overall, I took about 5 months to prepare for the test but with the majority of working coming in the last month or two.
Accepted at The Ohio State University (matriculated) and The University of Toledo (withdrew). Other interview invites from Northeast Ohio Medical University (i.e. NEOMED) and New York Medical College.
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 07/21/2012
Undergraduate college: The Ohio State University
Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 519
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 130,
C/P 128,
CARS 130
Overall GPA: 3.48
Science GPA: 3.37
Summary of Application Experience
Overall, I am very pleased with my performance in the academic free for all of medical school admissions. There is old adage in medicine (and life) that really applies to me this cycle, "better lucky than good." I applied late because I took the MCAT late. I would have been far more competitive across the board, especially at Ohio schools, but I was making due with the situation I placed myself into. Also I should have pre-written my secondaries while I was waiting for my primary application to be verified so I could just submit those as I received them. Unfortunately, I was busy with other schoolwork and responsibilities and found it difficult to motivate myself to complete them.
I took the MCAT late because I was too focused on difficult coursework that ruined by GPA. I took difficult coursework because I believed I need to succeed in upper-level courses to make up for some of my difficulties freshman and sophomore year. I also had a disastrous quarter that tanked my cumulative and science GPAs in my junior year. My quarter consisted of 20 credit hours of science courses and I ultimately earned a sub-3.0, which just completely wrecked my science GPA. Regardless, my application was very top heavy (based on my stats) and I should have applied to at least five more schools. Furthermore, I lacked shadowing and more importantly, a recommendation letter from some kind of clinician. I also lacked significant volunteer experience, relative to many of my peers, in either a clinical or non-clinical setting.
I heard it all the time, but your GPA and MCAT are part of a numbers game. Obviously your extracurricular activities, research experience, clinical shadowing, and letters of recommendation have tremendous intangible value but they are still riding on the back of your GPA and MCAT values. As anti-intellectual as it sounds, I should have focused on maintaining or boosting my GPA rather than building a cohesive undergraduate education based on my primary academic interests: neuroscience and immunology. Academic rigor is not as highly touted as it should be. I am much more forgiving of the chemical engineer with average grades over the creative writer with stellar grades (and equivalent pre req grades). Regardless, I am pleased with my education and I hope I can take this knowledge to medical school with great effect.
As a final note, I graduated with a science GPA of 3.45 and an overall GPA of 3.52. The stats above reflect my application when I submitted.
Overall Recommendations:
*Apply EARLY and BROADLY (do not forget to apply DO if interested)
*Take time to formulate your essays, personal statement, and experience descriptions so they fit the narrative of your application and life (explore why you did things the way you did, why you took one class over another or had a minor, etc). I attempted to write my application such that each of my work experiences flowed into the next, I left club A to join club B because...
*And most importantly..."Find the breath, kid. Don't forget to breathe." This is a long, arduous process--learn to appreciate it and you will be a really rewarding experience.
Application Complete, Rejected
University of Cincinnati
Applying for combined PhD/MSTP? No
Submitted: 07/24/2012
Secondary Completed: Yes
Interview Invite: No
Interview Attended: No
Waitlisted: No
Accepted: No
Rejected: 03/06/2013
Summary of Experience:
Immediately after I submitted my primary app, I received a secondary from UC. UC's secondary was, how I often describe as, "check, check, send a check," and basically forced me to reenter meaningless information from my primary app and send them money.
I received my final rejection notice once it was perfectly clear they were done interviewing candidates. To be frank, I was a little surprised I did not receive an interview at this school (since I had already been accepted at the University of Toledo and had been interviewed at Ohio State). Oh well...
Summary of Experience:
Not really sure what happened here. My stats were competitive and I knew several other people who received interviews here (and had less competitive applications). If anything, my acceptance at Toledo may have had some impact. If accepted at Wright and Toledo, I would likely attended Toledo unless I saw something on interview day that would have suggested otherwise.
Summary of Experience:
I love Boston and was motivated to apply here mainly to live in the city. As was the case with the other schools, my MCAT and GPA were within range of what was provided on MSAR so I applied. Considering how quickly rejections are given out by this school, I was led to believe that my application may have been in limbo for about a month before I was ultimately rejected. Due to the number of applications this school receives, I wasn't too disappointed, although this was my first rejection.
Summary of Experience:
I, like most other applicants, was probably deceived into applying here based on their MSAR stats and their apparent commitment to searching for unique, dedicated candidates independent of numbers.
I really had no business applying here. Aside from the high secondary cost (not to mention their incredibly high COA and living expenses), they tend to "play games" by essentially requiring applicants to send updates, submit and maybe even resubmit letters of intent to the school.
Summary of Experience:
For those who do not know, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicinel (CCLCM) is a MD/MS* program funded by the Cleveland Clinic and provided through Case Western University. Students are fully reimbursed for tuition and have the option to receive a masters degree in a variety of fields as part of their five year program. Their goal is to train physician scientists (not necessarily MD/PhDs) for the future.
I applied here because it was in state, free tuition, and I was genuinely interested in their research philosophy. I believed my strong research background coupled with my rec letters attesting to my success as an undergrad researcher would make an a suitable candidate. However, I believe this school was way too competitive for my stats, mainly GPA.
Summary of Experience:
I took a gamble and saw that my GPA and MCAT were within range of the accepted class, as provided by MSAR. I put together what I believed were well-written essays for my application (but who doesn't think that) and assumed I was unique enough to have received an interview invitation. Unfortunately, if I had any chance at all at this school, I would have needed to apply much earlier. Apparently, most of the interview slots had been given out fairly early according to posts on their school-specific page on SDN.
Summary of Experience:
VT is an interesting school with an appealing prerogative to accept students who will become physician thought leaders. Unfortunately, I should not have applied here. My interest in translational research and tertiary care was not suited for this school.
Summary of Experience:
Once again I applied here due to my believe that my stats were competitive enough. That being said, I received no love from this school. Any applicant who takes the time to even submit their secondary should hopefully receive some consideration.
I would also like to point out that Loyola requires applicants to pay for their secondary in advance, prior to seeing the application. I can't imagine how many students pay for the application, stare at the computer screen in disbelief at the thought of having to write 6 essays and then just say, "**** it.."
Summary of Experience:
I was really interested in the trauma research programs available at this school, particularly their work in traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. Not to mention that living in Miami would have been...fun :)
Alas, I was rejected not once but twice from this school (for some reason I received a second rejection notice about a week after April 15). I guess they really wanted to make sure I knew I wasn't attending. That slight aside, I was really in awe of how disorganized and confusing the format of their secondary application was. As an applicant, you are instructed to login in to your profile, print out the application, log out, fill out the application by hand, then log back in and copy your information back in. There was also no clear way for me to know whether my application was accepted/completed or that my money actually went to the school.
Summary of Experience:
Wake has a very competitive screening process for their secondary application. I was fortunate enough to receive an application, but was, like most of my OOS schools ultimately rejected.
Summary of Experience:
I applied here because my stats were competitive based on what I read on MSAR. I was also motivated by the prospect of living and training in New York. It would be a nice departure from my midwestern upbringing; however, when I was pleasantly surprised with a later interview invite (after having already been accepted at Toledo), it was a tough pill to swallow when I withdrew.
NYMC is located in a rural area that likely would have made me miserable after having lived on Ohio State's huge campus for four years. In addition, the cost was significantly higher than Toledo.
Summary of Experience:
NEOMED is a unique school in that a significant majority of its students are either accelerated BS/MD candidates or non-traditional students. That being said, I applied to all of the Ohio schools and thought with my stats I would be very competitive at NEOMED. I was surprised that I was offered an interview, and considering the dates available at the time I received one of the last interview slots.
However, at the time I had already been accepted at Toledo, so I withdrew.
Going into this application process, Ohio State was one of my top schools. Considering I am from Ohio, I am intimately familiar with everything Ohio State. I put a lot of work into my essays and hoped for the best.
Soon enough, I was called by the admission office (on 11/13) and was told that I could either attend an interview the next day (11/14) or in February. My gut feeling was to go for it and I prepared as much as I could and attend the interview session the following day.
Although I was initially really interested in OSU, my interview day sold me. Unfortunately, I was deferred (definitely not rejected, but not waitlisted either) several weeks later. I sent an update letter in the winter at the end of my fall semester and a second update once I graduated. I was able to raise my cGPA to a 3.52 and sGPA to a 3.45 accordingly. These stats, in addition to several research awards, likely made me a more attractive candidate as I was accepted on June 20 (almost exactly 1 yr after I took the MCAT).
Summary of Experience:
I really liked this school and was glad I was accepted here. It was my first acceptance but ultimately I was accepted at OSU (my top choice) and elected to matriculate there. Considering most scholarships for UT are given out in late July or early August, I was not given a chance to compare between Toledo or OSU, which made my decision easy.
In spite of that, I was really impressed with the school. The students, staff, and faculty at UT were all really friendly and eager to help us interviewees. On the other hand, I received several odd vibes from various faculty and staff members about the school, in that they did not really attempt to upsell their school. While I appreciated this genuine approach, I left my interview day with mixed feelings. While I would have been more than happy to attend the school and be among some great students, I was a little unsure about the administration who seemed to lack the same drive that was so evident in their students. Perhaps my experience was unique, so my intention isn't to assume everyone's experience was the same.
