Brief Profile:
- co-author on publication - lab assistant for 4 years in college - 2 summers research at NIH - 1 year post-bacc program at NIH - 2 years mentoring youths - shadowed physician - worked at hospital for several years - other community involvement, activism, exc.
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 2007
Undergraduate college: Emory University
Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 513
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 129,
C/P 127,
CARS 129
Overall GPA: 3.65
Science GPA: 3.46
Summary of Application Experience
This was my second year applying, First time around I had a 3.23 science GPA and 3.54 overall GPA and ended up getting waitlisted at a couple of schools.
I got a very good GPA senior year (took many BCMP science classes that would boost my GPA and a couple of challenging ones that would show that I can handle the med school workload). I did not take Biochem, however, because I thought it would lower my GPA and I still got accepted at a couple of schools(for those of you deciding whether to take it or not). This may sound cynical, but med schools obviously do use GPA cutoffs for who they interview and I knew I could impress them when I did interview so my course selection was definitely influenced by that fact. I also did research at the NIH for year while I applied the second time.
Overall, it was still a dreadful and stressful process with a couple of interviewers asking pointed questions about my re-applying and GPA. I was lucky in this cycle with my early acceptance because it took the stress off when interviewing at other schools. It sucks not to get into my home state school (could have had a lot less debt) but I am very happy at EVMS.
For those of you applying the second or n'th time around, you can do it! A mediocre pre-med like myself got in so just be persistent and smart with where you spend your money applying. Many med schools tell you to just apply there because they value 'all' their applicants. That could be true, but they couldn't look at all the apps even if they wanted to. Dont waste your money on more than 2 'dream' schools and spend the rest on places where you have a decent chance of getting in.
That obvious realization definitely helped me this application cycle. It often seemed like a very random process so the only thing I could do was maximize the probability of getting into a school in my 'target' pool. Do something unique that makes you memorable (in a good way) compared to all the other applicants. Good luck!
