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MD Applicants

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  • User #4938

  • Application cycles: 2005
  • Demographics: Female, Caucasian
  • Home state: California
  • Brief Profile: My degree is a BA in Medical Ethics.

    I was a transfer student. I attended junior college for a year and then transferred to the UJ. I graduated from college in a total of 3 years. I had trouble in my first few science classes in JC, but got close to all A's after that (just one B in a one unit lab class). My GPA at the UJ was a 3.98.

    Academic Awards:
    Dean's List (every semester for all three years)
    Parsons Research Fellow
    Graduated Summa Cum Laude
    UJ College of Arts and Sciences Award for Academic Excellence

    Jobs:
    Professional Actress, Los Angeles, CA (1997-2000)
    Philmont Boy Scout Ranch, Cimarron, NM, Program Counselor (Summers 2002, 2003)
    Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, position: Research Intern (2002-2004)
    Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, position: Clinical bioethicist (2003-2004)
    University of California San Francisco, SF, CA, postion: IRB analyst (research ethics)(2004-present)

    Memberships:
    UCSF Ethics Committee, member since July 2005
    UCSF Academic Business Officer's Group (ABOG), since January 2005
    UCSF Toastmaster's Club, member since October 2005

    Hobbies:
    Music: Guitar, mandolin, singing
    Crafts: knitting, quilting, etc.
    Outdoors: Backpacking, hiking, biking
    Excercise: swimming, running, water polo
    Computers: web design
  • // Applications //

    Application Cycle One: 2005

    • Undergraduate college: University of Judaism
    • Undergraduate Area of study: Computing and Information Science
    • Total MCAT SCORE: 509
    • MCAT Section Scores: B/B 127, C/P 124, CARS 132  
    • Overall GPA: 3.82
    • Science GPA: 3.78

    Summary of Application Experience

    The school listings are a hodgepodge mix of my three application cycles.

    First application cycle: no interviews.
    Second cycle: Accepted at one school, but it wasn't a good fit. I was waitlisted at 3 other schools (2 of which were my top choice schools) last year for over 7 months. Grueling!
    Third cycle: I was just accepted at my two top choice schools!

    Explanation:
    I think that I was not accepted on the first try because I was so young (20 years) and graduated from college in three years. I thought that this would be a plus, since I worked so hard. However, in the end, I think that there was a big concern that I was too immature. I also didn't know as much about the range of schools as before. I didn't know which schools would look upon my application more favorably. Plus, I have a degree in medical ethics which is really weird. I took very few classes above and beyond the basic requirements (my school didn't offer very much).

    My second application I had a timing problem. I should have gotten my stuff together and submitted my application on June 1. However, I was still depressed over the first year rejections, and I procrastinated. Then I procrastinated with my secondaries. So by the time I interviewed in February and March, several schools had already filled their classes, so I interviewed for the waiting lists. Plus, I've heard (through various contacts) that I was ranked quite high on the waiting lists, but that they accepted very few people after May 15. I heard the GW actually over booked their class when too few accepted students matriculated. Then it was EVEN HARDER to get in off the list. Loyola used to (up until last year) fill the class by December. This year, they are saving at least 10 spots until after May 15. *I should mention that I was accepted at one school, but it was a bad experience and I knew that I wouldn't be happy there.*

    In terms of how I improved my application, I had two amazing jobs in two very different hospitals. I was a clinical medical ethicist for a major Los Angeles hospital. I saw some of the most grueling cases and worked with a wide variety of health care workers, patients and families on decision making issues. I saw how wonderful and horrible it can be to be a doctor. I met people who would become an MD all over again, and those who wouldn't wish it on anyone. I saw so much that I never saw as a volunteer. My work at UCSF in the IRB has been equally educational (although not nearly as dramatic). I had done bench research in college and found it quite boring. I hadn't had an opportunity to do any clinical research. Now I get to read about hundreds of research projects and help determine whether or not they are ethical, legal, worth it, etc.

    This year, after going through two cycles of rejection, I was able to say in my interviews that I am serious and stubborn. I want to be a doctor and have fought long and hard to become one. The time applying has helped me to clarify and strengthen my rationale for entering the profession. Also, through my work in ICU and wards (as an ethicist) and as an IRB analyst (overviewing hundreds of research proposals), I have seen what working in health care is really like. I don't think that you get that kind of education from reading books and volunteering (my volunteering didn't show me much at all about medicine).

    It was horribly depressing both times I was rejected, but they turned out to be blessings in disguise. I would have missed out on so many amazing experiences that have shaped me into the person I am now if I had gone to school earlier.

    Applied, Rejected

    University of California, Irvine
    Mayo Medical School

    Applied, Withdrew

    Touro University - Mare Island

    Application Complete, Rejected

    Tufts University
    Medical College of Wisconsin
    University of California, San Diego
    University of California, San Francisco
    Stanford University

    Application Complete, Withdrew

    University of Southern California
    University of Virginia
    University of California, Davis
    New York University
    New York Medical College
    Mount Sinai School of Medicine
    Johns Hopkins University
    Howard University

    Attended Interview

    Saint Louis University

    Attended Interview, Waitlisted

    Georgetown University
    Drexel University
    Boston University
    Albert Einstein of Yeshiva University
    Des Moines University

    Accepted

    Loyola University Chicago
    Western University of Health Sciences
    George Washington University

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