i princeton reviewed for the mcats one spring, fell behind in orgo, and postponed my mcats for the following year. then, i took the mcats, sent in my primary, but TRANSCRIPT PROBLEMS at my undergrad art school caused major major delays, and I didn't finish my primary application until september! ouch! spent the rest of the school year taking light load of classes and volunteering, and assumed (rightly) that all the ny schools would reject me, that u penn would have nothing to do with me, but that id have a shot at jabsom. i love how they all take secondary applications so they can collect their fees. got appointment for jabsom in october or so, for interviews in january, then informed first week of april that i got in.
some advice:
1. don't feel too bad about taking a semester off to study for mcats. i did it, lots of others did it, and no one seemed to mind.
2. check your transcripts for problems way in advance. Staff at schools go on vacation during the summer (*grumbles*) and it might be harder for you to get stuff straightened out when its time to send the transcripts in. especially if you went to an art school. :p
3. stalk your interviewers (online), if you know who they will be in advance. i felt more relaxed during interviews because i felt more familiar with them when i actually met them. i don't mean go through their garbage or anything. just see if they have been in the news lately, or if they have published anything. just google their names.
4. look for those lists of interview questions online, they really do come up. imagine my surprise when two of the oddball questions came up during my interviews! questions that i had just seen on online lists of interview questions! lucky i answered them for myself the night before!
5. know the PBL deal if you are going to interview at JABSOM. go on their tour, even if you think you don't need to. these kept coming up in interviews. really the tour is kind of short and sweet and the fellow who guided me was a nice guy too. i got to see my first preserved cadaver. 8^o
6. esp for non trads: unusual background really is a plus. i never failed to get a big smile when i mentioned that i have an animation background (as opposed to a science background).
7. practice mcats on the computer. its a diff experience compared to mcats on paper.
8. esp for non trads: you are never too old :p
9. don't let the nay-sayers get you down!
10. pray for me! what the heck have i gotten myself into!?
Finally, people say that mdapplicants is not representative of all applicants.. this is probably true.. but to counter the idea that only the people with crazy good stats put profiles here, ill post some stuff about me that i was worried about that no one seemed to mind:
I didn't have a lengthy science background. just a few bio classes past the prerequisites. my undergrad degree was a bfa.
I had two years 'freelancing' as an artist. harsh reality is, is that that means i spent more time trying to look for work than working. this never came up as a problem. i was asked in a premed committee interview how i paid for things since i wasnt working during school. i said my parents helped me out. it didn't seem to be a problem.
I had a c+ in ochem recently, a withdrawal in a japanese class from a long time ago.
I transferred a lot (6 transcripts), and took a damned long time to get to applying after going back to school.
technically, i never shadowed a doctor.
IMHO, my research experience was minimal, and i did describe it accurately in my application. never published, just learned some basic stuff.
I had 5 consecutive semesters towards the end where i had only one or no classes. i was never questioned about this. (i was struggling to study for mcat).
