Brief Profile:
Took my MCAT on April 17th but I only received a 27Q. This score didn\'t really reflect my AAMC scores (average=31O, range=28-33) but I have a tendency to score lower on standardized tests. I\'m not completely satisfied with my score but I\'m not going to retake the test (during this cycle at least).
nsGPA: 3.84 Avg GPA: 3.87 during last two years of college (Dean\'s List for 7 quarters)
Research: 3 years as lead research assistant in visual attention lab 1.5 year independent study in child psychology lab (Won 2 fellowships for summer research)
Volunteering: Community Crisis Center (Children\'s Group), Children\'s Memorial Hospital (Uptown Clinic), Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Women\'s Hospital), Northshore University Healthsystems (Women\'s Center), Children\'s Advocacy Center (~530+ hours total)
Shadowing: Six physicians total (pediatrics, cardiology, allergy, obstetrics, maternal-fetal medicine, anesthesiology-DO), witnessed live cardiac surgery (~51 hours total)
Miscellaneous: 1 year as a GSW facilitator (Calculus tutor), 3 years in NU Marching Band (Color Guard), Alternative Spring Break: Wings of Hope (St. Louis, MO), Chemistry demonstration assistant (2 quarters)
Clinical: Previous hospital volunteering (some were more clinical than others), CNA in an Infectious Disease office (~1200-1800+ hours total)
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 06/08/2010
Undergraduate college: Northwestern University
Undergraduate Area of study: Psychology/Social Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 503
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 124,
C/P 126,
CARS 127
Overall GPA: 3.71
Science GPA: 3.56
Summary of Application Experience
6/28/10: So I had a mini panic attack last night and was convinced that I wouldn\'t get in anywhere. I decided to add a few more schools while it\'s still early. I figured that since I don\'t have to pay for secondaries, I have nothing to lose (thank you fee assistance!). On the bright side, I just received the secondaries for GWU and MCW. :D
07/02/10: Just received an email to complete the EVMS secondary....along with an email saying that they strongly recommend I retake my MCAT. I\'m starting to think I have no chance this cycle...:(
07/04/10: Spent most of the holiday weekend filling out secondaries. Hopefully something good comes from all this!
07/10/10: I know my BS score is going to be a HUGE red flag on my application. I\'d rather not have to reapply so I added a few more schools that have an 8BS within their 10-90 percentiles. Yea, all of these secondaries will take some time to complete but I don\'t have anything else going on right now...I\'ll just have less time to play video games. :P
7/18/10: Just submitted the Michigan State CHM secondary today. At this point, I\'m all up to date on my secondaries. I\'m hoping that I get several more secondary invites by the end of this week.
7/23/10: I guess the temporary break from secondaries is now over. Since Wednesday, I have received Loyola, Arkansas, Wake Forest, and PCOM so I have a busy weekend ahead of me.
7/26/10: All of my DO secondary apps are officially done! :D
08/02/10: I went on vacation over the weekend and I came back engaged! :D I was happy to find the secondaries for U of Iowa and Wayne State in my inbox. Now I have to finish the last few secondaries, schedule (and pay for) interviews, and plan a wedding!
08/06/10: I just submitted Drexel and Penn State but I still need to work on the secondaries for Wayne State and Oakland. Hopefully, I can submit both of these by Monday evening.
8/9/10: Received the U of Minnesota TC secondary...and an interview invite for DMUCOM! Yay! First invite! :D
8/17/10: Received secondaries for U of Mn (TC) and U of Toledo recently. My motivation for completing these secondaries is definitely starting to decrease...I\'ll try to get these done by Saturday since I have wedding stuff to attend to on Sunday.
The only secondaries I\'m still waiting on are: SIU East Tennessee State Texas Tech (waiting for TMDSAS to be sent) Texas A&M (waiting for TMDSAS to be sent)
I\'m pretty sure SIU and East Tennessee State won\'t be sending me their secondaries (no instate love from SIU!). Oh well. Once I finish working on the Texas Tech and Texas A&M secondaries, I\'ll consider the secondary season done and over with (thankfully).
8/20/10: Just finished the University of Minnesota secondary (finally!). I\'ll finish the Texas Tech and Texas A &M ones in the next couple of days then it\'s onto interview prep! :)
8/24/10: My TMDSAS application was finally sent to schools today! I have the majority of the Texas A&M and Texas Tech secondaries complete so I will be submitting them in the next couple of days.
9/2/10: I\'ve gotten several rejections but I also have 5 interviews already. Hopefully, the rest of the cycle will go this well! :D
9/7/10: Received the interview invite for Wayne State today. I\'m having way more luck with this application cycle than I initially thought. :)
9/17/10: My interview at DMU went really well (at least I think it did) and I absolutely loved this school! All of the students seemed incredibly easygoing and the Des Moines area was very nice. I really hope I get accepted here!
9/29/10: Just interviewed at Wayne State but I didn\'t like this school as much as DMU. Since DMU is one of my top choice schools, I think I will cancel my interview at LMU and KCOM. These schools are too small town for me and because my fiance is finishing his bachelors degree, it would be a lot easier to stay near a city.
1/20/11: I didn\'t think I\'d even get an interview at Penn State so I\'m thrilled about this acceptance. This school was one of my top choices and I love everything about it. I\'ll still do my FAFSA for Wayne State and DMU but it\'s highly likely that I\'ll be attending Penn State in the fall. :-)
Summary of Experience:
I appreciate the interview invite but I had already planned on attending Penn State. As such, I won\'t be attending this interview.
