Application Cycle One: 2006

• Undergraduate college: Caltech
• Undergraduate Area of study: Physical Sciences

• Institution: Tufts
• Area of Study: Physical Sciences
• Degree Obtained: MS

• Total MCAT SCORE: 525
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 131, C/P 132, CARS 132   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.30
• Science GPA: 3.30

Summary of Application Experience

I'm putting this up mostly for my fellow techers, as there are only two others on this site so far. The following advice is for them.

The key question for techers, of course, is: 'does undergrad matter?' Okay, some of you have good GPAs. You got an A in AMa 95. (I think they changed its name to ACM 95, but I have no doubt it's still evil.) You don't think Jackson's Electrodynamics is in any part co-written by the devil. You people go away and write your personal statements. You need no help.

OK, so for the other 95% of you: there are two leading possibilities
1) Adcomms really have no idea what it takes to get a 3.0 from Caltech in physics -- except, thank goodness, UTSW's.
2) I'm an awful interviewee and write a lousy personal statement.

I really don't think that I am bad at interviewing, but none of us think that, and some of us must be. Nevertheless, for the sake of my own ego, I'm betting on #1 in the privacy of my own mind (and the privacy of my own mdapps website.)

So what can I tell you? Not much. This is just one more piece of data to use to frame your expectations.

Crush the MCAT, of course. If you can graduate you can do that, but it'll still take hours and hours of studying, and many practice tests. DON'T blow it off. However, I don't really know whether a 42 got me anything that a 36 wouldn't have gotten me. Do a SURF, and be able to talk about what you did. My SURFs were a decade ago, and I wasn't very good at whatever it was that I did anyway. Apply widely, because it's possible that many schools do a spreadsheet-sort by GPA and never look at you again. Do a mock interview, just in case I'm wrong. :) Come back here and post your experience for the next guy /girl to use. And good luck.



CHRONOLOGY (Newest First)

Post acceptance: Waitlists and rejections have been rolling in, but that's immeasurably less upsetting now that I'm in somewhere. As a non-trad I can't just wait till the last minute to decide where to move, so I'm withdrawing from all my waitlists. If I didn't love (or couldn't afford) Southwestern this decision would be difficult, but as it is, it's a no-brainer.

16 Nov 2006: ACCEPTANCE at SOUTHWESTERN!!!! I'm going to be a doctor!!! I take all the whininess back. :b

15 Nov 2006: INTERVIEW DECISION DEFERRED by UPENN. :(

03 Nov 2006: Irrationally cheered up by Duke's invitation. Sure, their IT problems have been so bad that many of the really high-quality candidates haven't even gotten the secondary yet... yeah, this'll probably end in another waitlist... but I don't have to think about all that.

02 Nov 2006: WAITLISTED at TUFTS. 'Active consideration,' they call it. Hah.

02 Nov 2006: PRE-INTERVIEW HOLD at CHICAGO.

20 Oct 2006: WAITLIST at VANDERBILT. :(

14 Oct 2006: INTERVIEW at SOUTHWESTERN. The students I met didn't seem to be any more gunnerish than any others. I could be happy there, too. $10,000 tuition&fees. Better.

05 Oct 2006: INTERVIEW at TUFTS. Lovely school. Great selectives program, friendly students. $48,000 tuition. Damn.

14 Sep 2006: Another PRE-INTERVIEW HOLD from LOYOLA.

08 Sep 2006: INTERVIEW at BAYLOR: I'm in love with Baylor. Is that cheating on Vanderbilt and UTHSCSA and UTMB?

05 Sep 2006: INTERVIEW at VANDERBILT: Vanderbilt was fantastic! Nice people, good curriculum. So far I haven't interviewed anywhere that I couldn't feel enthusiastic about attending.

18 Aug 2006: INTERVIEW at UTMB:

14 Aug 2006: INTERVIEW at UTHSCSA: Loved UTHSCSA, everybody I met was extremely friendly and cooperative, which I believe is very important.

19 Jun 2006: MCAT scores turned my world upside down. I also got an e-mail: AMCAS processed already.

13 Jun 2006: Submitted AMCAS & TMDSAS!!! We'll see how long they take to process...