User #16458

Undergraduate College: Columbia University
Undergraduate Area of Study: Psychology/Social Sciences

MCAT: BS 1, PS 1, VR 1, J
Overall GPA: 0.00
Science GPA: 0.00

Brief Profile:
I'm a non-trad student. By trade, I'm a television writer. I've had a very successful writing career, but medicine is my calling, passion and love. Not a great GPA by any stretch. Actually, it's a poor GPA. Upward trend though.

Research:

- 4 Journal Papers to date (2 indexed, 2 non-indexed), expect to have ~6 come Oct/Nov.
- 2 Abstract/Poster Presentations
- 1 Textbook Chapter (printing in Jan/Feb 2012)
- 3-5 Papers under review as of 8/11
- 5 or so published "Acknowledgements"
- Literally about 20+ uncredited manuscript projects that I've participated in helping write. Maybe more.
- About a dozen academic doctors have me on speed dial for ongoing work, and vice-versa. I hope to convey that I have built a lot of trust with my "future" colleagues.

Shadowing/Observing (Over 500+ hours Total)

Peds Anesthesia (~50 hours) (Shadowed at P&S Peds Anesthesia, NYC, FL)
General Anesthesia (~100 hours) (Shadowed P&S and Schneider's Childrens LI, FL)
Interventional Pain Management (~50 hours) (Shadowed Intrvntl Pain Doc (Anes) for one week FT; also saw patients with Physiatry, Neuro, & OR cases too)
Cardiothoracic Surgery (~50 hours) (Shadowed Dr. Oz for an MV Repair in NY; two beating heart cases in FL, three CABG+MV repairs in FL)
Cardiology - Cardiac Catheterization Lab - (100+ hours, as part of my research assistant position, PCI clinical trial, seriously cutting edge stuff)
Anesthesia: (75+ hours of additional anesthesiology exposure per my new research assistant position)
Cardiology/IM - Morning Rounds - (20 hours+) (with former boss at research spot, he's an academic interventional cardiologist, CCU rounds with interns, interesting to see the actual process)
Cardiology - Clinic (10 hours) Initial Patient Evaluations for Clinical Trial
Neurological Surgery (~9 hours) (saw one coccygectomy and one cervical disk repair)
Integrative/Alternative Medicine, P&S (3 years)
Women's Health P&S (3 years)
CME Fundraising for two successful P&S CME courses partnered with Univ. of Ariz. (3 years)

Volunteering:
Emergency Department - Los Angeles, (105 hours)
Cardiology - Clinical Trial - Research Assistant - Volunteer - 400+ hours to date (8/11)

Father:
x2

Continued success to ALL!!!! D712.

Oh: When I was 22, I successfully gave the Heimlich Maneuver to a Male, ~80 y/o pt, who demonstrated bilateral manual clutching of his distal tracheal processes, with rapidly dropping Sp02. Turned out to be too much Tuna Salad for his epiglottis. He gave me a $5.00 tip following said procedure and asked for a doggie bag for 1/2 uneaten tuna salad sandwich. (Could I make this stuff up?)

AMCAS submitted: 2011

Applied

Summary of Application Experience

Have to go Ninja for reasons that only other Ninjas would understand.

Adding AMCAS schools not to say that I'm final at any of these just yet. If it seems like I didn't apply to an obvious choice (like a certain state school) I probably didn't have Calculus or another specific requirement. I'm applying broadly, all over the US. I understand that if I get into Baylor, I'll probably get into my state school, however, this is such a random process I'm trying to cover all bases...

The bottom line: poor GPA, better postbac GPA, superb ECs/shadowing/research/pubs/book chapter/medical exposure, very unique and popular writing background, MCAT will update : )

I think I limited OOS schools (I'm in FL) if they accepted less than 20% OOS. If I've made any obvious mistakes, please chime in!

Applied to 39 schools.

Thanks
D712