I think the strongest part of my app was recommendations. Since I was lacking in publications, I sent the maximum that I could send to most schools (in most cases this was 6). I also applied late. I sent in AMCAS at the end of July and received my first secondaries in August. I didn't get around to submitting my secondaries until the end of September. I decided not to submit to UCLA b/c the app was rather long and I just finished Stanford and was exhausted.
I also didn't apply to very many schools when I look at other applicant profiles. In retrospect, this could have backfired as I was rejected from my 'backup' school before Christmas.
Hopkins:
Hopkins was my first interview offer 2 weeks after submitting the secondary which was a huge surprise. Unfortunately I was traveling during October and November and didn't get to interview until mid-December. Hopkins was very accommodating in adjusting my interview date. It wasn't actually my first choice at all (Yale was) until I got there. Sharon and Bernadine were great as was my host and I really fell for the program. It was very relaxed and didn't feel like an interview at all. If I hear from Yale it will be a tough decision, but I'm leaning toward Hopkins.
Yale:
Yale was my first choice mainly b/c of a professor there who I wanted to work with. He left this year (found out after I submitted my app) but I still kept Yale high on the list due to the independent-study style. This shouldn't be confused with Harvard NP's style which is completely different. Yale has 'optional' exams and the students joke that exams are pass and pass later (if you fail you can usually talk the prof out of it). Although I liked the fact that there was a lot of flexibility in the curriculum, I was a little concerned about the carefree attitude toward exams. Nonetheless, Yale still has board scores that are comparable to other top 10 med schools and their match lists are of course impressive.
WashU:
WashU was equally wonderful when compared to Hopkins. Plus they offered the largest stipend ($28,000) for MSTP. They put MSTP applicants in a 5-star hotel and really go out of their way to impress. I met with around 6-8 people (some were interviews, some were just faculty meetings) in addition to the panel interview (~10 people) which is not as intimidating as it sounds (in fact it's only 20 min so it's over before it really gets started). The only drawback was that I really didn't care for St. Louis when compared to New Haven or Baltimore.
Stanford:
I had no intention to go to Stanford MD-only. I almost backed out of the interview but I had never visited Palo Alto and I have friends there so I decided since I spent so much time on the app (the longest app of all) that I might as well take it as an excuse to visit. I really felt out of place though b/c I was with other MD-only applicants and only got to talk to current MD-only students so no one was able to answer my questions about MD-PhD. Stanford also was the weakest of my interviews which reaffirmed my belief that my application would only get me into MD-PhD programs and not MD.
Harvard:
Had a great time at Harvard. The NP and HST interviews both went well. Coming from an engineering background, I don't think I would want to do NP but HST seemed like a huge workload. Overall it isn't one of my top choices. Though I'm holding out to see if an acceptance comes in just for fun.
Baylor:
Really liked Baylor. The medical center is about 3 times the size of downtown Houston and that's saying a lot b/c Houston is one of the biggest cities in America. They are building a new hospital to be directly associated with BCM and it is to be one of the first that uses genetics to custom-tailor treatment to patients. Although I won't be going to Baylor now that I'm in to Hopkins I'm definitely keeping them on my list as a top 3 choice for residency.
Emory:
Emory was my first interview of the season. They were like WashU in designing the weekend to be both informative and impressive (3 course meal for dinner on the first day). I would recommend Emory very highly to almost anyone. The only drawback is that I'm from the area and wanted to branch out and be geographically more diverse for med school.
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