Application Cycle One: 2005

• Undergraduate college: University of Maryland-College Park
• Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences

• Total MCAT SCORE: 519
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 130, C/P 130, CARS 127   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.62
• Science GPA: 3.62

Summary of Application Experience

6.17.05: Submitted AMCAS.

6.21.05: AMCAS verified.

10.15.05: Super excited after Michigan acceptance!!!!

12.9.05: So it looks like I'll finally get the chance to see California, since I was granted an interview at UCLA. Michigan still tops the list of the schools I've seen, though.

1.10.06: I feel very fortunate to have so many interviews. Eleven is much more than I was expecting. The addition of a full scholarship offer from Marlyand is really mixing things up...I have no idea where I'll end up at this point in time.

2.22.06: Things are winding down and I'm assuming that the schools I haven't heard from by this point have rejected me.

5.15.06: I have chosen to attend the University of Michigan despite the prospect of graduating from medical school with about 200k/debt. GO BLUE!
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ADVICE FOR FUTURE APPLICANTS:

With regards to the application process itself:

1) Timing is key. Apply as early as possible and don't listen to those who say that applying later on in the cycle doesn't hurt your chances. Submit your completed, spellchecked, proofread (by at least two or three people besides yourself) AMCAS in June and I promise you will not regret your early submission.
--> Take the April MCAT instead of the August MCAT.
--> Submit secondaries for rolling schools ASAP. It's painful, but it will help you immensely.
--> Schedule your interviews as early as possible

2) Apply to whatever schools you want, but make sure it's a broad range.

3) Don't get lazy about completing hellish secondaries. I still regret not completing the Duke secondary because of the number of essays, and taking my precious time with the UCLA essay made me interview very late in the season (hence probably hurting my chances somewhat).

With regards to preparing for applying to med school:

ECs are much more important than you could ever imagine, and your numbers of much less important than you really think. In my honest opinion, the 'stats' portion of your application can only hurt you - not help you (at most institutions). This is especially true early in the application cycle. While reviewing the first thousand or so applications, I seriously doubt that major distinctions would be made between two individuals, one of which has a 38 MCAT and the other a 33, based on numbers alone. What distinguishes people at this (high) level is the presence or absence of passion, and not necessarily passion for medicine itself. Hopefully it's something that applies to the field of medicine in some way, shape, or form - research, community service, teaching, and clinical exposure are just some of the most prominent activities that come to mind - but the important thing is that the passion is present.

I think that stats (GPA and MCAT) are used exclusively to determine whether or not you can cut it in the first two years of med school, and you should definitely make sure you have good numbers. But please, PLEASE, develop as a person and individual at the same time. You'll find that you'll discover your passions with your personal development and you'll rock in the application process. This will especially help in interviews - you'll hardly ever be talking about that 'C' in class X if you have a super interesting story to tell.

Remember that you're not going to be able to demonstrate passion on an application with an activity that lasts four months. Your involvement should be on the order of years.