Brief Profile:
22 yr old Asian female who is applying to allopathic schools for the first time within a year of graduating from college with a degree in Biochemistry. ECs are fairly standard and include shadowing, volunteering (clinical/non-clinical), teaching (TAing/tutoring), research, and some awards/honors. Submitted AMCAS in June. Took the MCAT once in July. Got marked as "complete" at schools from early September-mid October. Started interviewing from the first week of November.
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 06/16/2014
Undergraduate college: Large Public School (Flagship)
Summary of Experience:
Interview day at Georgetown was a good experience. There was only one interview with a senior faculty member, and it was not very stressful. The facilities are well-maintained and the campus is beautiful. What I really liked was that Georgetown admissions committee members actually talked about the school's philosophy during the presentations. I think very few schools do this (from the limited amount of experience I have), although all have a mission/vision statement. Apparently Georgetown wait-lists a large portion of the candidates they interview, and only those who send additional updates after being wait-listed are reconsidered for an acceptance offer. If accepted, I might consider coming here, but my only qualm would be the cost of attendance. Living in D.C. can be extremely expensive, and Georgetown's tuition is not too shabby either. But, costs aside, this looks like a school that instills the concept of humanism in its students and truly trains excellent physicians.
Summary of Experience:
Accepted! 15K scholarship! Yay!
This is a fairly new school but it recently got accredited by the LCME and its first graduating class fared fairly well in getting residencies. So it is definitely on an upwards trajectory. Virginia Tech's small class size and its location in a small town makes the school a tight-knit, intimate community. My interview day at VTech was average--neither good nor bad, in my opinion. A couple of the MMI interviewers seemed to be uninterested during the interview, but most interviewers were engaging and conversational.
Summary of Experience:
Very happy to be accepted here! Had a lovely experience at the interview. Both my interviewers (faculty and MS II student) were engaging and supportive. The staff seemed very friendly overall and the students seemed genuinely pleased with their decision to attend the UMD School of Medicine. I am a Maryland resident, so taking into consideration both the cost of attendance and quality of education, this was my first choice and I probably will end up matriculating here. Fun bit of trivia about UMD SOM: it is America's first public medical school! :)
