Brief Profile:
Strong research experiences but no publications Strong volunteer work in nonclinical field Strong/ongoing international extracurricular program in which I was involved in both clinical and nonclinical activities Passionate about art - drawing, painting, writing, dancing Not a large volume of clinical experience, but I was very personally influenced by the bit that I had
I took all honors/advanced science coursework from freshman through senior year, and I chose a major that I found difficult as well as interesting. Clearly I have low GPA stats, but I am hoping that my strong MCAT score and personal passions demonstrate my competency to become a physician.
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 06/29/2014
Undergraduate college: ivy
Undergraduate Area of study: Physical Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 522
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 132,
C/P 130,
CARS 127
Overall GPA: 3.51
Science GPA: 3.35
Summary of Application Experience
Submitted AMCAS 30 June // Verified AMCAS 23 July.
My MCAT has no writing score.
In general, I completed my secondaries 3 weeks or more after I received them. I did not "pre-write" anything ahead of time. I valued the quality of my essays over the "two-week completion" ideal.
Update 01 Oct: I intentionally sent my primary application to more schools than I planned to complete. After completing 28 secondary applications, I am leaving other secondaries unfinished so that I can close that chapter of my application process and get ready for interviews. I can't believe that I have been working on essays pretty much without pause since mid-May (when I began drafting my personal statement). I am very burned out from essay-writing, especially as I completed the pieces that most challenged me (for Duke and Vandy) at the very end.
Update 05 Dec: I am honored to have received seven invitations to interview so far. Though interview timelines that people have posted on SDN led me to believe that I was out of the running at schools that I completed in July/early August, I am pleased that I have been proven wrong.
Applied
University of California, San Diego
Applying for combined PhD/MSTP? No
Submitted: Yes
Secondary Completed: No
Interview Invite: No
Interview Attended: No
Waitlisted: No
Accepted: No
Rejected: No
Summary of Experience:
No secondary rec'd as of 05Dec
Summary of Experience:
These guys really love their in-state applicants! Pre-sec rejection. For the awesome curriculum and location of this school, it was worth a try.
Summary of Experience:
These essays were tough. I wasn't sure if I would complete them. I considered withdrawing, but then I pulled through at the last minute. It seems that late September was a bit late for submitting. According to generous SDN posters, as of 01Dec, there is only ONE interview date available. Duke seems to be pretty stringent about reviewing applications in the order in which they were received. In 20/20 hindsight, I should have either finished this school earlier, or else should have withdrawn and finished Vandy's secondary earlier.
Summary of Experience:
Sec invite 05Sept // Sec submitted 01Oct.
Update 05 Dec: The autobiography was a challenging but rewarding essay for me. I think I took too long to submit this one. According to generous SDN posters, it seems that all but the last three interview dates in January are full. If I had known that the first of October would be so late for this school, I would have prioritized finishing this one by mid-Sept. I would love to have the opportunity to interview/attend Vanderbilt. Nashville is such a cool, up-and-coming city, and their condensed pre-clinical curriculum, which allows students TONS of time for electives during clinical years, is especially awesome.
Post-sec rejection. This is the first rejection that actually stung me a little.
Summary of Experience:
This was my first interview experience. And the day was SO CHILL. I speak only from my own experience, and perhaps not all interviewers at the school are as chill, but my interviewer basically spent an hour telling me stories about his career, why a life in science and medicine is incredibly rewarding, and why he thought I would be a great fit at Columbia (this was very flattering). We had a great personal rapport, and that put me at ease, as I had been very nervous to go to Columbia for my first interview. Dean Nicholas joined the group for an hour. He had taken notes on each person's application. Rather than lecture at us for the hour, he used those notes as jumping-off points to present cool quirks about each candidate to the rest of the group. We also were given the opportunity to talk about ourselves a bit. I liked learning that I was surrounded by a bunch of diverse and passionate people.
The students here seem super happy. Everyone has passions outside their career, and at Columbia, students are encouraged to practice those. The pass/fail curriculum allows plenty of free-time for that. In addition, students are very warm and collaborative. I love that members of this community (administrators and professors and students alike) value art as an energizing enrichment to the study and profession of medicine.
On a less pleasant note, I am wary about how Columbia leads applicants on (especially via their post-interview Thank-You letters), but then waitlists most of applicants about whom they "keep strongly in mind." Warm, fuzzy feelings that seem mutual are pretty irrelevant until there is an acceptance in hand!
Overall, however, the ideology of Columbia seems to align perfectly with my own. Columbia is definitely one of my top choices, and I am crossing my fingers for some good juju come February.
cavedance took the old MCAT and scored a 38 which is in the 99th percentile of all old scores.
We converted this to a 522 on the updated scale which is in the 99th percentile of the updated MCAT. We also converted cavedance’s section scores as follows:
cavedance scored a 15 on the Biological Science section of the old MCAT which is approximately equal to a 132 on the Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems.
cavedance scored a 13 on the Physical Science section of the old MCAT which is approximately equal to a 130 on the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems.
cavedance scored a 10 on the Verbal Reasoning section of the old MCAT which is approximately equal to a 127 on the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills.
