Word of advice: Avoid cheaptickets.com. Their customer service is horrible!
Thanks for the comments!
** Application Process **
6/28 - Submitted AMCAS. ($730)
6/29 - Ready for review.
7/10 - Verified!
7/11 - Secondaries are slowly coming. Beginning to fill them out, but my LoRs aren't in yet.
7/18 - Most LoRs are in. Waiting for one more, then going to start submitting secondaries. Also added UPenn and Case Western for their outstanding research opportunities (especially CCLCM)
9/17 - First interview invite from Drexel. [10/16/07] ($328 + $110 hotel)
9/20 - Final letter of recommendation comes in from my volunteer program manager. Sending update letters ($6 for each school).
10/1 - Complete at UCSF.
10/5 - Wow.
10/16 - Interview at Drexel. I liked their medical school building, although it is a bit small for 281 students each class. There was a long wait between finishing the tour and actually getting into the student interview, about an hour or so. Finally, I went to the student interview, which was relaxed, but I still managed to tense up somehow. My interviewer was nice, went into the med program through an undergrad linkage. Seems like the city was a little shady, especially around the Queen Lane campus.
The student interview ended at 1PM, and I had half an hour to get to the main campus downtown, which was a lot bigger. They have shuttles that take you back and forth in about 30 minutes, so I had a good chat with an M1, but got to the interview late! The faculty interview is open file, so many questions about my engineering background, volunteer experiences and classes were asked. This interview was slightly tougher, and I feel that I could have done it much better (in retrospect). Overall, positive impression of Drexel.
10/30 - Whoops. What's going on here? Preparing to take the GRE and apply for a Master's Degree in Chemical or Bioengineering.
11/4 - Rejection from Cleveland Clinic. There may be something fundamentally wrong with my AMCAS PS or letters that is not clear to me right now.
12/7 - No news since 11/4, except for a rejection and a waitlist from Drexel. I'm wondering what happened, since Drexel's goals seem to fit well to mine. I need to analyze my current situation.
12/12: Thomas Haider broke the silence with an invite on 12/12.
12/21 - Case rejection, and silence. What is going on with UCSF? I would have expected some kind of news by now. Perhaps my application to the JMP was slowing the final response down.
1/18: Interview at Thomas Haider. Not getting my hopes up, preparing for Plan B.
2/1: Accepted at UCR/UCLA!
2/5: Those small envelopes are trickling in. By the way, Haider's envelope is small too. That was heartbreaking, until I opened it.
3/21: This application cycle is over. I'll probably get around to writing a report about it someday, if anyone is interested. If not, let this profile be a testament that every part of your application needs to be perfect if you want to go to higher level schools. Don't skimp on perfecting your AMCAS and personal statement, and also turn in secondaries early, get your LoRs REALLY EARLY.
Good luck to all future applicants, and congratulations to the entire American class of 2012 medical students!
