Application Cycle One: 2003

• Undergraduate college: University of Utah
• Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences

• Total MCAT SCORE: 519
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 129, C/P 129, CARS 132   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.85
• Science GPA: 3.84

Summary of Application Experience

I'm somewhat old. I took two years off during undergrad for religious purposes and four after graduation for personal reasons. For a time I had actually decided that my chances of attending medical school were very limited. I had an aging degree and an inordinate fear of the MCAT. I signed up for the MCAT in april of 2003, because I was getting nowhere fast in my current career. I have no idea how I managed to do so well, I like to read so I theorize that this tipped the scales for me. Anyway, my success gave me the confidence I had always lacked before and I made the plunge, sent in my AMCAS. I couldn't scrape together enough letters of recomendation to apply to the University of Utah, so I was really worried that my only options were out-of-state schools.
There is no way I could have predicted the results I recieved. Schools that seemed like a sure thing rejected me, UVa offered my first acceptance and I thought I had no hope of attending there. I tried to choose wisely but I didn't pay attention to rankings and ended up applying to too many highly ranked programs. This proved unwise when I recieved a large number of waitlists and rejections.
In retrospect I was really (unecessarily) paranoid about being accepted to medical school. At the beggining all I got was bad news and I felt like I was doomed to be a lab-rat forever. It paid off though, I'm in and I've never been happier. I feel really lucky, it blows me away that I get to spend the rest of my life helping make people well.
~16,000 spots for ~32,000 applicants = ~50%, those are goods odds. Have faith and a little patience, your day will come too.