Brief Profile:
AMCAS was verified 6/21/2011 TMDSAS GPA 3.87/3.86s (i have a bunch of A-\'s which tmdsas rounds up to A\'s ^.^) TMDSAS was submitted 7/29/2011 and verified/transmitted on 8/15/2011 My committee packet was uploaded to AMCAS and TMDSAS on 8/26/2011
Chemistry BA
I wanted to make one of these things to represent UofC on this site since there aren\'t many recent profiles. I did a lot of research in college (wasn\'t premed but took all the prereqs b/c of my major) and graduated 2 quarters early. I worked a career completely unrelated to medicine for 2.5 years after graduation, then got back into research for another 2 years while I applied.
Overall my application has a lot of research, some unique work experience, only a little shadowing, and almost no volunteering at all. I think I partially made up for these deficiencies by focusing on schools that seem to value research over service or value strong school/grades/mcat more than the norm. I did my best to sell how my work and life experiences translated towards being a driven and compassionate doctor. I also did a fair amount of book-reading about being a doctor and problems in healthcare. This didn\'t go on my application specifically but it definitely helped me articulate why I wanted to be a doctor and why I would be a good one.
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 06/09/2011
Undergraduate college: University of Chicago
Undergraduate Area of study: Physical Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 523
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 132,
C/P 130,
CARS 129
Overall GPA: 3.81
Science GPA: 3.83
Summary of Application Experience
I have strong ties to IL and good stats so I felt comfortable applying top-heavy and leaning on UIC as a pretty sweet \"backup.\" If I was a straight-up WA resident I would have had to apply a lot more broadly since UW is a crap shoot. If I hadn\'t gotten in to Michigan on Oct 15 I probably would have applied to Rush too.
I focused on schools that offer a lot of scholarships (Mayo, Pritzker, Penn, Michigan, WashU), have a low sticker price (UTSW, UT-Houston, Baylor, UDub), or otherwise seemed like a great fit for someone interested in biomed research (Pitt, Harvard). I had also been on the fence about adding Vandy, Wisconsin, Stanford, Hopkins, and Yale but never got around to them. In hindsight I probably should have tried for Hopkins since after going through this process I\'ve noticed quite a few cross-admits between Michigan, WashU, and Hopkins but fewer between say WashU and Harvard (mostly from talking to other applicants and med students, I don\'t have hard evidence to back this up). I probably would have stuck with Southwestern over anywhere else anyway so it didn\'t matter.
The biggest factor in my school choice was my fiance applied to PhD programs along with me this cycle. Whenever one of us received an acceptance we would notify the other program\'s dean about us being a couple. There is no way of knowing for sure but I do believe these updates helped us and I would strongly recommend these communcations to others in similar situations. When all was said and done we were extremely lucky to both have options in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Dallas. We chose UTSW because it was by far the best fit for her (PhD programs tend to vary a lot more in their specifics than med schools do--in general I think all med schools give you the opportunities to succeed). Financial security was also important--the low cost of tuition at Southwestern coupled with low housing prices and cost of living in Dallas will allow us to easily get through school debt-free. I am a little worried I didn\'t choose the most prestigious school I was admitted to--if I was 22, single, and broke I probably would have gone to WashU or Michigan and taken loans--but I am very happy with our decision and can\'t wait to start.
Applied, Rejected
University of Texas, Houston
Applying for combined PhD/MSTP? No
Submitted: 08/16/2011
Secondary Completed: No
Interview Invite: No
Interview Attended: No
Waitlisted: No
Accepted: No
Rejected: 01/31/2012
Summary of Experience:
no secondary. silent rejection.
Summary of Experience:
interviews were good and with some really fun faculty. i\'ve had my eye on baylor ever since i decided to go to med school. 6/1: since i\'m holding a spot at UTSW and i didn\'t hear anything from Baylor today, i am officially rejected.
Summary of Experience:
found out about the continued status (ie waitlist) on Christmas Eve, really sad day. interviews were good, one of my better days overall (at least i thought so). pretty tough competition though so waitlist not a shock. 6/27: assume rejection
Summary of Experience:
faculty interview was pretty bad. i could tell from the moment he introduced himself he didn\'t like my application and wasn\'t interested in what i had to say. i didn\'t do a good job answering his questions either. sucks cause penn seems to value weird backgrounds/work experiences--i thought this was one was mine to lose. i had a lot of fun visiting philly too. some bad luck, but hey i had good luck with interviewers elsewhere...can\'t win \'em all. 6/27: assume rejection, never had a shot anyway
Summary of Experience:
interviews were mediocre but both student and faculty interviewer were really nice and seemed to understand me even though i was all over the place. they asked some pretty tough questions too. most people are waitlisted post-interview but i think the chance of getting in off the waitlist is pretty good if you wait it out since a lot of people withdraw/lose interest. i sent two updates and a really long interest letter. 5/1: withdrew
Summary of Experience:
was such a relief to have an awesome acceptance so early on. was my first interview day and i didn\'t know what i was doing. my interviewers seemed to understand though. my second faculty interviewer was strangely impressed with me...he called me a \"star\" and at the end of the interview he said \"i hope you choose michigan,\" despite the fact we just talked about my family and basic parts of my application the whole time. pretty sure i have that guy to thank for my acceptance. i was definitely lucky to get matched with him b/c my other interviews were pretty average. 5/14: withdrew
Summary of Experience:
every admitted non-Texan gets IS tuition + $1k/yr scholarship...sweet ;) interviews were great/lucky. first interviewer was from my same hometown in IL, second was a PhD who did similar research to me so we just talked about that the whole time. i couldn\'t mess these interviews up. 5/14: declared my intent to matriculate
Summary of Experience:
interviewed at rockford, assigned to chicago. was a panel interview and the closest thing i had to a stress interview, but i think i did ok. 12/20: received IS tuition + $10k/yr merit scholarship for M3 & M4 if i scored 1 std dev above mean on step 1. after calling and telling them i could qualify for IS tuition anyway, the award changed to IS tuition + $25k/yr with M1 & M2 guaranteed, M3 & M4 dependent on step 1. 5/9: withdrew
Summary of Experience:
added this school pretty late in the game. interview was great--really liked that we had a whole hour. most people rag on st louis but i think the area around the med school is not bad at all. 5/14: withdrew
