4/16/2011- Took MCAT.
5/17/2011- MCAT scores are in. Quite disappointed-particularly due to scoring several points below expected in BS-but I don\'t think I\'m going to retake. I\'d rather dedicate my summer to working on secondaries. I\'ll retake for my target range (35+) if I have to re-apply.
6/3/2011- Submitted AMCAS application. $1,000+. Whew. Decided to include some crazy reach schools last minute. Although with my GPA most-if not all-schools are a bit of a reach.
6/8/2011- AMCAS verified.
6/17/2011- AMCAS primary released, including all LORs. Received three secondaries the very first day :-) (MCW, DMS, SLU).
6/20/2011- Received Pitt and George Washington secondaries. Finished Dartmouth, George Washington, Pitt, and SLU secondaries; GW fee waived.
6/21/2011- Received Tulane and Rochester secondaries. Submitted Rochester secondary; Rochester fee waived.
6/23/2011- Received Jefferson, FIU, and UCF secondaries. Submitted Jeff and UCF secondaries.
6/25/2011- Completed Boston University and Columbia P&S secondaries.
6/26/2011- Completed FIU secondary.
6/27/2011- Received Temple and UF (screened in) secondaries.
6/28/2011- Complete at Dartmouth, UCF, and GW; Dartmouth fee waived.
6/29/2011- Received FSU and UIC secondaries; BU fee waived
6/30/2011- Submitted Temple and FSU secondaries; received Cinci secondary and submitted.
7/05/2011- Received Einstein, Georgetown, Hofstra and Vermont secondaries; completed Einstein, Hofstra, and Vermont, but wasn\\\'t able to submit any secondary fees.
7/07/2011- Received and completed Miami secondary, but am waiting for waiver. Rejected from Wake pre-secondary...
7/20/2011- Since the 7th I\\\'ve received secondaries from Tufts, Sinai, USC, NYU, Rush, and Albany. I\\\'m starting to get burned out writing these things, so I\\\'m taking a little longer to submit.
7/28/2011- Rejected by BU; screened in at UCLA (did not even expect to get a secondary, so I\\\'m happy); received a slew of additional secondaries.
8/9/2011- Rejected by Washington. The e-mail said it was because I was an out of region candidate, but the admissions site says disadvantaged applicants will be considered. Not sure what\\\'s going on, but it was a long shot anyway. Lots of secondaries are sitting stagnant in my inbox, but I am still waiting for my renewed FAP to submit.
8/12/2011- FINALLY got FAP renewed. Formally submitted a bunch of applications that I\\\'d been sitting on. Withdrawing from a few schools as well.
8/22/2011- Submitted Loyola, Georgetown, and Hofstra.
9/1/2011- Submitted USF, Albany, and a handful of others last week as well. I have all but Northwestern done. Screened out at Mayo.
9/9/2011- Rejected by Vanderbilt. Sad.
10/04/2011- First invite!!! Thank you FIU :-)
11/5/2011- Rejected by Pitt, Georgetown, George Washington, and University of Rochester since my FIU II. Ouch.
11/14/2011-Rejected by Brown.
12/7/2011- Rejected by Dartmouth.
12/14/2011- Rejected by Creighton.
1/18/2012- Alternate list at FIU. Thought the interview went well, but maybe they couldn\'t get past my GPA. Also, from what I understand, new schools cannot over-accept. I think this may have been the case.
1/24/2012- Rejected by Hofstra.
1/26/2012- Rejected by UVM.
2/1/2012- ACCEPTED TO FIU!!!
2/15/2012- Rejected by UCF, my hometown school.
2/28/2012- Rejected by UCLA (snail mail) and SLU this week.
04/08/2012- Rejected by a handful of schools in March. Too apathetic to look up the dates.
Attending FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Advice for similar applicants:
-In terms of borderline GPA, if you went to a really rigorous school and took heavy course loads, don\'t anticipate receiving any sympathy. This is what irked me the most by far. I transferred into a top school, but could have stayed and graduated summa. I didn\'t for a few reasons, mainly because I wanted to challenge myself and get better preparation, which in my case lead to a B+ average at a tough school. While admissions folks that I talked to openly recognized how incompatible GPA is between institutions, I think that most schools simply don\'t want to lower their stats. Your only hope then is to cure a major disease or get >95th percentile on the MCAT to compensate. I was expecting a 34 or 35 and got a 32. If you\'re in my position, you should retake as I should have done. After taking it once, many people find it easier to go back for a month or two, hit their weaknesses, and get +3 or more. I have several friends that went from similar scores (~32/33) to 36+. This is, of course, unless you think you have something unique and important to offer in other aspects of your application. If you\'re confident of that, you can save yourself the time and money (and headache of another standardized test). Other than that, apply broadly.
-If you\'re a disadvantaged economic applicant, don\'t expect this to help as much or at all compared to other diversity metrics. Perhaps this may change in a few years since my application cycle was the first with the separate \"disadvantaged\" section, but in my experience it added nothing to my application, even though my upbringing contributed significantly to who I am and does make me quite different than most applicants. Still nowhere near as important as other \"diversity\" factors.
Advice to all applicants:
-Don\'t let this stressful process make you doubt yourself. Some people with better stats than you will have a harder time getting in, and some with lower stats than you will have it relatively easy. The process is not fair in the traditional sense of saying so. Schools look for particular things in applicants, and if you\'re not one of the very top applicants that get invited everywhere, it\'s more of a luck-of-the-draw kind of deal depending on if your application catches someone\'s eye. Some schools have screening, and one person may reject your application while another from the same institution would have screened you through. It\'s a combination of hard work and serendipity. Just try to stay patient and have a solid backup plan in place. Good luck guys!
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