Undergraduate college: 20-40th Ranked Liberal Arts
Undergraduate Area of study: Physical Sciences
Institution: Top 5 in Chemistry
Area of Study: Physical Sciences
Degree Obtained: PhD
Total MCAT SCORE: 523
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 130,
C/P 132,
CARS 132
Overall GPA: 3.80
Science GPA: 3.80
Summary of Application Experience
2015 MCAT score was 522 (38?) Took the MCAT in 2010 after my sophomore year and got a 34.
Made this for future people applying to medical school after their PhDs. Most of my volunteering was done many years before I applied (due to time demands of PhD) and I was concerned this would limit my chances.
I selected schools mostly based on where my wife can also go to graduate school.
Extracurriculars:
I would summarize my undergraduate ECs as great for non-clinical and research and decent/average for clinical volunteering.
Volunteering:
1. EMT-B for all 4 years of college. Volunteered with an ambulance company that responded 911 but was never professionally trained. Did a lot of work with campus student-lead EMS organization. Spent 1 year on their leadership team.
2. Peer Health Exchange for 2 years. Taught mental health workshop to high school students once a week.
3. Small amount of hospital volunteering (~120 hours) summer after my freshman year and shadowed one doctor during college and one doctor during graduate school (total about 30 hours). Did a lot more of these things after submitting my app and added them in updates in the winter.
4. Worked with a scientific education outreach program during graduate school for 2 years. About 8 meetings each year with middle school classes from local schools. Taught them why it’s cool to be a scientist.
Research:
1. PhD in organic chemistry. My work was tangentially related to medicine so it was pretty easy to tell the story in essays and interviews. Worked for “famous†chemist but not one any MD interviewer would have/had heard of. 2 2nd author papers and 1 1st author paper (wasn’t published yet when I submitted primary unfortunately) + a 1st author mini-review.
2. Undergraduate researcher in organometallic catalysis lab for 3 school years and 3 summers. 1 2nd author paper after graduation.
3. NSF Predoctoral graduate research fellowship
Work:
1. RA my junior and senior years of college. This was a pretty big time commitment at my school. (10 hours/week)
2. Tutor at on campus tutoring center for undergraduates during junior and senior year. (10 hours/week)
Summary of Experience:
Only interview day where I got the impression that my research-focused application was out of place. I could have just been off during my interview though.
