Brief Profile:
Going to use this to help keep track of my applications...these stats are an approximation, and I didn't have an MCAT writing score.
App details: -Strong research (1 pub in a high-impact journal that will be going into my update letters) -Strong rec letters from PI, instructor I TAed for, and music prof (based off interviewers' direct quotes, though I dunno about the committee letter) -Strong leadership in extracurriculars -Average shadowing/weak (almost zero) clinical experience -Strong personal statement (based off interviewers' comments) -Weak to strong secondary essays (depending on how annoying the prompts were and how burnt out I was feeling from writing previous essays) -Strong upward trend in GPA (aka screwed up freshman year then essentially aced everything after)
I applied to two of my state schools, which are not listed for anonymity. I was accepted into the better one in October and withdrew from the other without having submitted the secondary.
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 06/02/2014
Undergraduate college: Top 10
Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 519
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 130,
C/P 130,
CARS 129
Overall GPA: 3.77
Science GPA: 3.68
Summary of Application Experience
AMCAS submitted 6/3/14, transcript received 6/9/14, AMCAS processed 6/25/14, LORs received 7/28, update letters sent to a few schools post-interview 1/23/15 and later
2/01/15: Having most likely wrapped up my interview trail at this point, I'm pretty satisfied with how things turned out for me. Being accepted to multiple schools so early allowed me to withdraw from a lot of schools that I should not have applied to in the first place but added to my list at the urging of premed counselors and fellow premeds. I should've just gone with my original list of schools, which ended up being the ones I got interviews at anyways. **Update: Got a Stanford invite five days later. Just kidding, not done with interviews yet.**
I've also realized that I hate MMIs. Maybe I'm just terrible at them, but I feel like they're not a good metric for getting to know an applicant. It makes the interview experience so impersonal, which obviously some schools view as a good thing, but I am all for the traditional interview, where you get to see how the interviewee actually interacts with another person in a normal situation. I think the whole concept of an MMI is a little bizarre because of the approach and the content. Even though I prepared beforehand and wasn't personally surprised by any of the content, I don't think it's useful to try to gauge how ethical or diplomatic a person is based on how they respond to these situations. Isn't that part of medical school, learning how to handle all these MMI situations? And obviously everyone is going to try to give an answer that sounds good, whereas if the situation was in real life, they would likely do something totally different. It's just not useful to hear these made-up answers rather than hear about actual experiences as you would in a traditional interview. End of rant.
Applied, Withdrew
Wake Forest 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:
Didn't complete the secondary. Thought about it briefly, but the deadline had passed and I didn't really want to go to Wake. Withdrew after UNC acceptance.
Summary of Experience:
Applied here to make myself feel better about my spread of schools. Never turned in my secondary; figured I might do it in September if I hadn't gotten any invites by then. In hindsight I shouldn't have wasted my money applying, but you never know how the application cycle will turn out.
Summary of Experience:
By the time the secondary rolled around (8/26), I was tired of writing essays and half-assed it. Not surprised I was rejected. I don't think I'm the kind of person they're looking for, and I'm not that disappointed except for it being an option in a location I would've liked.
Summary of Experience:
Applied because it's a good school and I felt like I owed it to myself to at least try. My secondary was total BS. Reading it makes me crack up at this whole ridiculous med school application process. Should not have applied here, because I didn't want to end up in Baltimore.
Summary of Experience:
Applied here because it's relatively cheap and doesn't use TMDSAS (too lazy to apply with TMDSAS to other Texas schools). Did not have any vested interest in going to Texas.
Summary of Experience:
Applied because I thought I wanted to be in California. I now realize that I never wanted to go to Irvine anyways, so unfortunately that was a waste of time and money.
Summary of Experience:
Applied because it was in New York. Withdrew because I would not be willing to fly out again to interview here if I got an invite this late in the season.
Summary of Experience:
Had almost given up hope on getting an interview invite. Unfortunately my interview is scheduled pretty late and Stanford has rolling admissions, so I'm not too optimistic about my chances.
Post-interview: I wish I could say I hated Stanford so I won't be upset if I'm rejected, but I really liked it. There was a hot breakfast on interview day!! They had me at that, because I am a huge breakfast person. Gotta have eggs.
I don't think I did well on the MMIs, but I'm trying not to think about it too much. All I can think about is sun, sun, and sun...please Stanford, give me a chance to live somewhere where the weather is not bad for my health.
Summary of Experience:
Up until the day before the interview, I didn't think much about Harvard and didn't think it would be anything special compared to other schools. But after talking to some of the students, I felt strangely like this was a place I really wanted to be. It's a shame because I don't have high hopes after my interviews. I had a fantastic time during both my student and faculty interview, but there was a bit of awkwardness during the faculty interview that probably won't be overlooked in my evaluation.
The students seemed really happy. Nobody there tries too hard to sell Harvard to you, because they know they don't need to.
Summary of Experience:
I really liked BU as I started researching schools. Maybe because it was one of the first ones I researched. But I hope the feeling remains after interview day.
Post-interview: I think my hopes for BU were too high. I liked BU, but it didn't stand out to me in any way besides the focus on serving the underserved. I think my terrible interview experience really ruined my day. The interviewer grilled me on a bunch of numbers and facts, and I felt insanely awkward the whole time. Maybe that was just his style. I'm a little peeved that there was only one interview and I had such a bad experience, but I'm not that into BU anymore so I guess it doesn't matter.
Summary of Experience:
The day started off with an impressive speech by Dr. Armstrong. To be honest, it seemed a little too rehearsed, but I liked it anyways. The match list they gave us a printout of was amazing — she said they had a 100% first choice match rate. That's hard to believe, but I suppose their third year independent project time really helps.
I was super glad to be in the morning interview group. I had an ok experience with the MMIs — not as stressful as I'd been expecting, though that's not to say that I think I did well.
Unfortunately there weren't too many students free to talk to us throughout the day because they were mostly studying for finals, but some of the ones who did drop by were fun. I didn't feel like I particularly clicked with the students (they talked a lot about sports), but that could just be because it was such a small subset. The tour was interesting...so many new buildings and so much empty space. Not sure if this was also because it was close to the holidays/finals time.
The faculty all seemed to really support the curriculum, which was great to see. The one preclinical year still scares me a little, but the freedom of the third year is very tempting. Overall, I think I'd like Duke. I don't particularly like Durham though.
Post-interview: I liked UCSD. The interviews were not tough compared to my previous MMIs, but I gave some pretty lame answers to some of them. I met a few cool people in my interview group during our 90-minute break while the other group interviewed. The weather here is unbeatable and the area is wonderful, except for the traffic and parking issues.
I didn't get to meet many students, but the ones I did interact with seemed pretty normal and emphasized how laidback people at UCSD are. I'd like to meet more of the students and get a better feel for the school.
Update: Rejected. Oh well. I really just wanted to have the option to be someplace near the beach with good weather. At least this makes my decision easier.
Summary of Experience:
This interview day felt a little impersonal. I'm not sure if that's the right word to use. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but it didn't really draw me in. The talk by the dean was nice but pretty bland.
I was really scared for the MMIs, but they actually weren't too bad. I had fun in a few stations and agonized in a few. I don't think I crushed the MMIs, but I don't think I totally flopped either.
The NYU area seems like a cool place to live at least. The medical campus is very compact and the dorms are a conveniently close walk. The dorms seem ok...a little old, but at least they're not totally freshman-year-dorm style and have suites with a kitchenette and a bathroom. Definitely less homey than UNC though.
I don't think I have a great feel for the student culture. It seems easy to get lost in the bustling environment, and I'm now wondering if I can really deal with NYC long-term. It's too crowded and there's so much congestion everywhere.
Summary of Experience:
Wasn't expecting an invite at this point (so close to when they announce decisions), so it was a nice surprise, but I was conflicted about going to the interview because New York is far from where I am right now and I'm pretty tired of interviewing. Ultimately I decided to go because I don't want to end up regretting it. Bracing for the cold again.
Update: Interview day and flights all canceled because of winter storm Juno! :( Gotta reschedule ASAP.
Columbia had so many lunch options they sent out beforehand. Yum. Also freaked out when I saw their email on Jan. 23 about nearing the end of their application review...for a minute I thought they'd just decided to cancel the last week of interviews or something.
Post-interview: I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Columbia. I went to a med school lecture for the first time, first thing after breakfast. I think the only other time it was an option during interview day was at Harvard, because the day was so unstructured. The lecture was too long (80 min straight — my host told me this was unusual and they're usually only an hour), but the lecturer was sassy, so it was entertaining regardless.
My interview was really enjoyable. My interviewer was so nice and kept telling me how great she thought every part of my application was — if this isn't a good sign, I don't know what is.
The dean was also very welcoming and had read over all our applications beforehand so he could talk to each of us about our activities and backgrounds, as I'd heard he would. He's probably told his story about his cowboy boots every day of the interview season, but it remains so good.
Columbia students seem to be particularly artsy. I'm not sure if I see that as an upside or a downside. I like music as much as the next person, but it almost started to get annoying when every person started to get uppity about their love of music. I'm not looking to choose a medical school based on how likely it is that I'll be able to form a garage band there.
The most serious downside of Columbia in my mind is that it's too far from the epicenter of New York. In terms of location, I think NYU, Cornell, and even Mt. Sinai are better, which is unfortunate because I really liked Columbia as a school. They advertise the opportunity to work with people from Washington Heights and Harlem as a plus because those areas are underserved, and I understand and agree with that, but it's really not the nicest area to attend school. No matter how many people tell me what's most important about a school is the clinical training, I'm going to have to politely disagree and put my personal happiness first.
Everybody emphasized that New York Presbyterian is a great hospital and the clinical training at Columbia is top-notch, but I've also heard that from almost every other school.
Update: Waitlisted. I saw it coming because decisions have been going out for at least a week now, so I figured if I hadn't gotten a call yet then I must be waitlisted. Columbia accepts few people at first and later draws a lot of people off their waitlist, but I don't think I'm willing to wait that long to make my med school decision.
Summary of Experience:
Worst interview ever. I liked Miami in general because I love beaches, and the Brickell area where most of the med students live is nice, but I was not so happy with the actual med school.
I was totally unprepared for the format of the interview, and it really turned me off how it was a bad cop/good cop situation with a faculty member and a student, and the student wasn't even a good "good cop." I felt like she was sneering at me at times even though she was mostly silent, and the interviewer essentially accused me of lying because I couldn't remember the exact dates for one of my activities. All I can say is, WTF. Why was it even necessary to ask about things that were obviously written on my application already? If that's something they wanted to test, then I really don't like how they operate. I heard other horror stories about the Miami interview later on from other students and was not surprised.
The campus is pretty and the rest of the interview day was fine, but I got the feeling that this wasn't the best place for me. The program and the rest of the people I met that day did not make up for the terrible interview experience. I think the MD/MPH program is the highlight of this school, and that's not what I'm pursuing.
On the bright side, we got out early (before 2pm) and I had time to go to the beach before catching my flight back, which was awesome. I felt like I was on vacation. The students seemed to genuinely enjoy being there and have actual social lives, so that's probably the best aspect of this school. My hosts were really fun.
Update: I can't believe I wasn't rejected outright after that horrific interview...haha doesn't matter too much at this point though because I'll most likely end up withdrawing. There's nothing special about the school that makes me want to go except for the fun lifestyle of the students.
Summary of Experience:
Excited to get my first interview invite from UNC! I was a little hesitant at first because it seems like UNC is heavily focused on primary care, but it seems like people also do well in plenty of other fields.
Post-interview: Had a great faculty interview and an ok student interview. I couldn't read my student interviewer at all. The students that dropped by to talk to us were all really nice, and everyone was so inviting. We'll see how it turns out. Would love to go here.
Update: Accepted! My initial excitement about UNC has faded a little bit, but I'd definitely still love to attend.
Summary of Experience:
I don't know much about Vanderbilt, but it sounds like a nice place and I've heard they like people from my schol who can talk...we'll see about that.
Post-interview: On interview day I felt like I rocked the short interview and did pretty well on the long interview. I really liked both of my interviewers and could see them as mentors. They were so cool and even sent me personalized congratulations emails when I was accepted! Don't know if this is something Vanderbilt encourages or if they're just nice people. Either way, it definitely makes me feel good about Vandy.
I like how they heavily emphasize student wellness, and it seems sincere.
Update: Accepted! Excited but not as pumped as I thought I would be because I didn't get one of their awesome 3/4 tuition scholarships (at least not yet). Looking forward to checking out more of Nashville during second look though. I'm really interested in the music scene.