Application Cycle One: 05/31/2010

• Total MCAT SCORE: 514
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 127, C/P 129, CARS 129   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.85
• Science GPA: 3.85

Summary of Application Experience

May 8th. I have finished the majority of the AMCAS part for primaries. Course work is all entered in, I\'ve sent in transcripts from two of the universities I attended and plan on doing so for the third on Monday. Work/activities are also entered in, little nervous about the lack of anything super unique, but I feel I am competitively average with what I\'ve done. Getting around to choosing which schools to apply to; I\'ve got 9 that I\'m pretty sure on, but I\'m afraid that some on the list are too ambitious. Will probably add 5-6 better fitting schools, even if they are a bit further away.

Only thing I\'m really worried about right now are the LORs. I have ONE in and that\'s it. I have handed the rest out and should be picking up at least one more this week. However the science profs take forever with this stuff even though I spoke to them about it almost 2 to 3 months ago. I plan on visiting their offices at least once or twice this coming week and asking for the letters within two weeks (hopefully the last week of May). That way I can submit them through my school\'s letter service to AMCAS and hopefully in time for secondaries. Real nervous about this part; hope my home school doesn\'t botch things or slow the entire process down.

May 18th. AMCAS primary part is 90% done. Transcripts have all been sent in and received by AMCAS. Personal statement is mostly done, just needs some minor tweaking. Really sick of the PS part, I have never revised/read over/re-edited any draft to this degree. Hopefully it pays off.

LORs are still coming along slowly. I\'m supposed to pick up at least one on Thursday, and the other two by Monday of next week. I\'ve been stopping by almost every office hour session for the profs, just to continuously remind them. It\'s such a tricky process because you don\'t want to annoy them, yet you want to make sure they remember that you\'re operating on a real tight time constraint.

School list is pretty much finalized. I\'ve got a list of 15 schools; I\'d classify five or six as reaches, and I think I\'m competitive for the rest. Don\'t really believe in \"safety schools\", especially when you\'re only talking about a 1 or 2 point MCAT differential between the two. I might add ONE more dream school, one far from home, just for the hell of it. But the expensive nature of the process is slowly becoming more clear to me; I may well spend upwards of $3000 on this stuff! Just looking forward to June now; hopefully LORs will be in by then, PS will be polished and I feel confident in my school choices.

June 1st. Submitted my AMCAS primary at 9:10! Bit nervous about how anti-climactic the entire thing felt. Added two more schools to make a final list of 17. LORs are all in and should hopefully be sent out tomorrow. Hoping that they get there by no later than the 2nd week of June.

June 10th. AMCAS was verified three days later. LORs have all been sent out and received by AMCAS. Will probably assign them to schools and resubmit AMCAS within the following week. Might send out one more LOR (volunteering one) to AMCAS for schools that heavily emphasize that, figure it can\'t hurt. Feel good about getting everything in on time, especially given that I felt awfully nervous about this part of the process earlier. Anxiously awaiting June 25th; just relaxing nowadays knowing the rush of secondaries that will come then.

June 30th. Guess it\'s secondary season now. Received 4of them over the last 5 days and have filled out 3. The essays are really challenging, most can only be half a page single-spaced. Lots of creativity is required, however I don\'t mind writing them so much (at least not yet); they really force you to think about yourself. I\'m trying to fill them out within two days of receiving them however you really have to walk a fine line between being rushed, taking your time, and writing good responses. I feel pretty content thus far, hopefully the rest go equally smoothly.

August 12th. I have officially submitted all secondaries! It was a tiring process to say the least; had lots of steam early on but really faded down the stretch. No idea how people fill out 25+ secondaries... The past month or so has been the most taxing; reading SDN certainly doesn\'t help, as you start hearing of interview invites from schools that you have already applied to. Then you get down on yourself and don\'t have the motivation to put as much effort into the secondaries you have remaining. It really is a vicious cycle. Not too surprised that I have not heard anything yet given that it is still pretty early and my stats aren\'t that great, but really hoping for some good news this month. Trying my best to stay optimistic, but it still is a downer when you see people with similar or \"lesser\" stats than yourself (obviously keeping in mind that stats aren\'t everything) getting invites and you\'re still waiting. Nonetheless, I received my first invite yesterday and I\'m really pumped. For the next month or so, I\'ll be concentrating on prepping for my interview and hopefully I\'ll be given the chance to prepare for others as well!