Application Cycle One: 2006

• Undergraduate college: Bates College
• Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences

• Total MCAT SCORE: 514
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 129, C/P 128, CARS 129   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.86
• Science GPA: 3.75

Summary of Application Experience

Before I get into my whole rant about my experience, let me throw out some advice - or things that helped me.

1. Submit your application as early as humanly possible (so at least you know I'm legit as I'm on the same page with EVERYONE else on this site). But seriously - it helps. I was in the first interview group at UPenn and, somehow, I must have made an impression.

2. Even if you live 2 hours from the school, do an over night stay. You can learn so much about the school, the area, and the students. This is important - you have to live at this place for the next 4+ years.

3. Spend a good amount of time of your personal statement and make sure it's enjoyable to read. Make sure you are proud of it. It doesn't have to be incredibly unique, just honest and personal. And edit it like crazy because 'one' and 'on' look the same to spell check and it's so easy to miss that type of error.

4. Write thank you letters to all interviewers and anyone else who was helpful to you such as staff presenting financial aid info (they are under appreciated and yet SO important, so develop a friendly rapport now).

If you have any questions, feel free to post.


This was a very positive experience for me. Going into it, I wasn't sure how I would do since my application was very strong, but certainly nothing out of the ordinary (I feel). I got a ton of interview invites right off the bat which made me feel a bit more confident. UPenn, Vandy, Brown, and Harvard were by far the best interviews/interview day programs. UPenn had a fantastic program and the students and faculty were great! The Vandy kids were the happiest and very cool all around. Loved the faculty there as well. Nashville is a cool city, expecially if you like music. Yale was nice, but just not for me.

So I was accepted to UMass in the fall, which made the whole process so much less stressful. I have friends at UMass who are very happy there, it's a great school (4th for primary care in 2006), the nobel prize winner this year is from UMass, it's affordable, and close to home (I love my friends and family). I was all set to go until. . . .I got an acceptance from UPenn. Completely unexpected! I had a great visit at Penn and was so excited about it. The curriculum is awesome and gets you into the clinical setting earlier than a lot of programs. The faculty were great - so friendly. It felt like Bates all over again (Bates might have some of the best people on earth, but that's another story for another day). Not to mention that the Penn name carries some significant weight. So I'm almost finished with submitting my financial aid info and I should hear back by the end of April. I actually have a phobia of exorbidant amounts of debt (especially where I'm considering primary care among other things), so the financies will matter. Ummmmm. . . .but every time I think about Penn I get so excited. Decisions, decisions, decsions.