Brief Profile:
These profiles were very helpful for me when I applied to medical school, so I thought I would pay it forward and make one of my own. My career interests are specifically in writing about health policy from a clinician perspective, and I tried to play this up as much as I could throughout my application and interviews.
Global Health/Health Policy-related Activity: - Graduated in three years with a degree in anthropology, and pursued a one-year master's degree in health policy and global health in the UK during my application cycle. - Regular writer at a prominent national blog (think Slate/HuffPost/Vox), writing on topics related to politics and health. - Worked as a liaison between a DC think tank and my undergraduate student body, putting together a few policy-related talks and attended a few conferences at their HQ in DC. - Attended two biomedical and global health conferences (DC and Greece).
Research: - Research assistant for a year at my university's medical school. - Independent physical anthropology project for one semester -- presented findings at national conference and submitted first-author manuscript. - Organ donation policy research for master's dissertation in the UK (still ongoing project).
Volunteer Work: - Help start a tutoring program between my university and a local library in a nearby underserved community (1 year). - Volunteered and helped program pacemakers at a cardiac clinic. (1 summer)
Clinical Exposure: - Shadowed physicians of a few different specialities in my hometown (no more than 50 hours). - Assisted in the OR of an organ donation clinic for one summer.
Other: - Was in a selective medical anthropology-focused student program which involved an internship and program-specific coursework. - Club squash team member for 2 years. - Drafted a novel on the American Dream in one month for NaNoWriMo.
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Rough estimate of interview-related expenses:
Travel Costs: - London to Boston (early November) -- 40K miles = $680 - Boston to Providence (car) -- $100 - London to Oklahoma City via Dallas (late November) -- 52.5K miles = $893 - London to Raleigh/Durham (mid December) -- 40K miles = $680 - Raleigh/Durham to New York to Dallas (mid December) -- $320 - Dallas to London (early January) -- 20K miles = $340 - London to St. Louis via Chicago (late February) -- 40K miles = $680 - London to Dallas (early June) -- 40K miles = $680
Hotel Costs: - Hotel in Providence -- $150 - Hotel in OKC -- $90 - Hotel in Durham -- $300 (stayed with family and friends in New York, St. Louis, and Atlanta)
Miscellaneous costs: - Global Entry membership (good for both Global Entry and TSA Pre-Check) -- $100 - Public transit costs -- $50 - Uber -- $40
Cost-saving: - 45K miles free with new credit card = $765
Total: $3618
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 06/02/2015
Undergraduate college: Washington University in St. Louis
Undergraduate Area of study: Psychology/Social Sciences
Institution: London School of Economics (LSE)
Area of Study: Psychology/Social Sciences
Degree Obtained: M.Sc.
Total MCAT SCORE: 516
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 131,
C/P 126,
CARS 129
Overall GPA: 3.66
Science GPA: 3.73
Summary of Application Experience
Submitted: 6/3/2015 Verified: 6/15/2015 Took the old MCAT without the writing exam.
