Brief Profile:
Graduated college in 2013; hoping my gap year will rejuvenate, teach, and help make me a better person/med school applicant.
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 06/09/2013
Undergraduate college: University of Mystery
Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 511
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 127,
C/P 127,
CARS 129
Overall GPA: 3.73
Science GPA: 3.65
Applied, Withdrew
Rosalind Franklin University
Applying for combined PhD/MSTP? No
Submitted: Yes
Secondary Completed: No
Interview Invite: No
Interview Attended: No
Waitlisted: No
Accepted: No
Rejected: No
Summary of Experience:
9-9-13: Took one look at that secondary and went LOL NOPE. I mean, seriously: one page per essay, with two horrible essay topics??? NOPE.
Not in the best location (and has been on probation TWICE recently), anyway. Too far away from Chicago and even further from my family.
Summary of Experience:
7-16-13: I think it's over already for me with them; no LOR request within the first two batches of requests despite submitting payment on the very first day.
7-19-13: Rejected, sigh. Saw the writing on the wall with the lack of LOR request, knew this was coming...
Summary of Experience:
7-10-13: First school I was complete at! Have heard some very great things about this school and hope to get some good news here myself.
4-1-14: Kinda a long time to hear back about a rejection, but not too upset...especially after still not hearing back from Indiana. Didn't really get too attached to Cincy, anyway, so the rejection doesn't really sting. Probably wouldn't have attended here, anyway.
Summary of Experience:
7-10-13: They have been very transparent about their admissions process and I've been very impressed! Love their website and hope to get a chance to visit/love their school, too...
1-21-14: Rejection city. Never got attached to this school, so not upset. Not really in a good location for me, anyway (it's not really close to any major cities--other than Detroit, which is still 45 mins-1 hr away--and about 5 hours from my family).
Summary of Experience:
7-10-13: Great location; would love to go here and experience all the school + Chicago have to offer...
3-14-14: Not gonna lie, this rejection stings. I'm guessing I didn't have enough "community service" for their liking...because I can't see why else I would've been rejected without an interview invite (other than the obvious: med school apps are a crap shoot). And I really wanted to see the school, especially since location is awesome (close to Chicago's Loop, yet close also to my family). Guess it just wasn't meant to be.
Summary of Experience:
10-8-13: Rejected pre-ii, despite my thought I'd get an interview at least (went to undergrad at a school with a very similar mission, thought my app matched with GT's values, etc). Very cold treatment from the people I emailed about various things (like when I sent an update in September about my new job). So I guess I can't say I was surprised by the rejection by October, though disappointed. I don't know if I would've liked how they curve their classes, anyway, however.
Summary of Experience:
7-10-13: Had I known I was going to get an ii from LECOM so early, I probably wouldn't have applied here--flights to Florida are a lot of $$$ even in the summer/fall (as I learned when I bought flights for my LECOM interview). I was just thinking "WARM WEATHER WOOO" when applying and not thinking about the finances of the situation...
7-26-13: Interview invite after all--signed up for a late September date in case I change my mind about interviewing here (and/or I get interviews closer to home). Have not booked flights/hotel yet because of my indecision about going to this interview.
8-12-13: With other interview invites coming in, I decided to push this interview back to late October--I'm still debating whether or not I should attend this interview...
10-26-13: Finally withdrew. Kept pushing my interview back and back and back until I finally had to accept that I never would attend this interview and should give it up. Probably should've attended this interview instead of the LECOM-B one (if I was only going to attend one Florida school interview), but whatever. Don't think the location was for me, anyway (again: wanted to be closer to my family in the end).
Summary of Experience:
12-2-2013: Kinda surprised I got an interview here. Probably would've attended the interview had I not gotten into Loyola a few weeks before my interview was scheduled...but once I heard back from Loyola, I just couldn't see myself attending Hofstra (b/c of location, mainly--my family is in the Chicago area)...and spending thousands of dollars to travel there for the experience did not seem prudent.
Oh and I ended up being relieved I cancelled for another reason--my flight was cancelled the day of because of a snowstorm. Wouldn't have wanted to deal with that mess. (Or the public transportation needed to get to the interview.) Also became wary when I heard someone got mugged right outside of the hotel I probably would have stayed at (a hotel very close to the school). Overall, I don't think it was the school for me (unless I had no other M.D. acceptances).
Summary of Experience:
1-22-14: Took quite awhile to withdraw from this school...was kinda hemming and hawing about it for awhile. I mean, I had my Loyola acceptance long before I withdrew from this school...but for awhile I think I still contemplated visiting this school anyway. The travel fees turned me off (and like Hofstra, I wouldn't have attended this school over Loyola even if I had been accepted). Location (being close to family) was a big factor for me...this school certainly isn't close to my family.
Summary of Experience:
7-10-13: OOS, but have serious ties to the state & school--hoping to get an interview, at the very least.
7-29-13: First MD interview invite!! Very excited--especially happy that I got it so early in the cycle! Now gotta get working on the IU secondary materials...
6-5-14: WHAT A JOKE. I knew coming in I'd have a harder time getting into this school, being OOS and all...but I never imagined their admissions process would be so cold for out-of-staters. I.e., if you don't have high stats, don't even bother applying to IU--I had ties to the school and the state and apparently my stats weren't even good enough for the wait-list.
Oh and the 9 months waiting for ANY kind of notification regarding my status post-interview was completely ridiculous. They could have AT LEAST wait-listed me back in November, or even JANUARY. Waiting 9 months with NOTHING is stupid and shouldn't happen. Thank you IU for making my decision easier...probably wouldn't have gone to IU even if I *had* gotten in (and no, that is not just the rejection talking).
Summary of Experience:
12-2-13: Withdrew, having gotten my Loyola acceptance. The schools are very similar in many ways (other than exact location) and I didn't need to wait and see if my wait-list would turn into an acceptance...I would've gone to Loyola over MCW, regardless (mostly because of location).
Summary of Experience:
4-27-14: Finally withdrew. Was waiting it out a bit, trying to see if I'd finally get accepted, but finally decided it wasn't worth it. (This also has to do with the fact that I attended Second Look at Loyola shortly before I withdrew from SLU...I was so enamored with Loyola at this point, I couldn't see myself attending SLU over Loyola. SLU and Loyola are very similar, anyway...the main difference is the location/lower cost of living in SL--but as I want to end up in Chicago for residency, most likely, I don't think a lower cost of living for four years is worth lower residency chances.)
Summary of Experience:
8-6-13: Interview invite here! Very close to home; excited to have an interview that will be easy to drive to. :)
12-14-13: Withdrew, despite my acceptance. Too expensive (tuition is $8,000 more expensive than the private school I'm attending, for starters), didn't like that classes aren't recorded in any way (& seems like classes are required/it's almost necessary to go to every class), and I was worried about the D.O. degree for residency options (I have a M.D. acceptance). Of my D.O. options, probably would've chosen this school over the others (although it was tough deciding between this and Marian, even with Marian being a new school).
Summary of Experience:
7-5-13: Very first interview invite for me!!! Very excited; hope it's not too sweltering down there when I interview...
8-15-13: Attended the interview...ended up pretty much hating the group interview format (and don't think I contributed very much to the discussion--the people in my group were way talkative and it was hard to get my say in), and I'm not sure I like their PBL curriculum either now that I've heard about it in person. Decided to defer hearing about my status until November; really won't care too much if I get waitlisted/rejected here, I think (but picked Nov to hear because I don't want to know if I got W/R this early in the cycle). I have other schools I've been invited to interview at, and might have others soon--hopefully I'll enjoy their curriculums better than I did LECOM-B's.
12-14-13: Withdrew. After I got other D.O. acceptances (and a M.D. acceptance), I knew I definitely didn't need to keep this acceptance. I definitely did not fit with this school's style of teaching...at all. Very surprised they accepted me. Glad I waited until November to find out--gave me time to interview & get acceptances from other schools.
Summary of Experience:
8-15-13: Interview invite!! Considering I don't have a "top" MCAT score (or top GPA; both of my scores are pretty average--see above for the exact numbers), I was very surprised to get an invite here so early! Very happy--this is one of my top choices I think (because of the location and a number of other reasons), so this is very exciting. Scheduled the interview for a Saturday so I don't miss too much work--especially considering I have 3 other interviews scheduled right now as well (interviews I definitely will miss work for).
7-22-14: Attending this school. Love, love, love this school and am so glad I knew of my acceptance here so early...really gave me a good peace of mind for the rest of my year "off".
Factors of this school I love: the facilities (amazing; as someone who worked at Loyola for a year I definitely know a lot of the facilities intimately and am very happy with them), the people (great community, happy & chill people, etc.), location (close to family & the city of Chicago), cost (cheaper than a number of other private schools)...oh and did I mention their gym? :) Love that gym. So excited to be attending this school...in a week!!