Brief Profile:
Led two service organizations 4th author pub x2 2nd author pub (in prep) 1st author pub (submitted) Presented posters x2 Medical trips abroad x5 Volunteering at hospital Shadowing
Applying MSTP only
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 06/09/2013
Undergraduate college: HYPSM
Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 523
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 131,
C/P 132,
CARS 129
Overall GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.97
Application Complete, Rejected
University of Chicago
Applying for combined PhD/MSTP? Yes
Submitted: Yes
Secondary Completed: Yes
Interview Invite: No
Interview Attended: No
Waitlisted: No
Accepted: No
Rejected: 09/02/2013
Summary of Experience:
First news from a school post-secondary. A bit unnerving to be rejected both MD and MSTP pre-interview. I wondered for a moment about whether I should have applied to more schools...
A huge sigh of relief came when I started receiving interview invites shortly afterwards!
Summary of Experience:
I realized that I would much rather go to UCSF MD (and then apply MD-PhD internally) than spend 8 years in NC. Also, I didn't want to miss class right at the beginning of the year. So, I withdrew!
Summary of Experience:
Waitlisted. Womp womp. I was expecting this, given the mysteriously long wait. But still a little sad, nonetheless. Oh well. Moving on!
Great first interview experience. Love the campus. Love the weather. Love the people. And the students love the school! MMI was an interesting experience -- became enjoyable by the end of it.
Summary of Experience:
Waitlisted HST. Rejected NP.
I came in with stereotypes about Harvard (e.g. cold weather, cutthroat environment, lack of collaboration, etc), but ended up being surprised. The students genuinely seem to like the environment. It generally seems like the place for intense people and definitely not for everyone. (Unsure whether I consider myself intense or not haha.) Very hands-off interview experience compared to other schools. Two MD-PhD interviews, one HST panel interview, two interviews for NP, and a couple of brief meetings with directors. I was expecting the MSTP interview to be a lot of technical grilling, but it turned out to be really conversational and not terribly research oriented, oddly enough. (I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm pretty sure that's not the norm.)
HST interview was a bit awk: I had two wet-lab researchers ask me lots of questions about my work, even though I had one interviewer who did not do research at all. Finding the right balance of precise language and lay language was tough, but doable. (On a random note, we all geeked out about Sherlock Season 3 near the end heh.)
Pretty bare-bones interview experience, which was pretty nice. Definitely less draining. And now the wait begins!
Summary of Experience:
First MSTP acceptance! Huge sigh of relief.
Housing seems a little cramped and the neighborhood's not-so-great, but it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be for New York. Where it lacks in residential options, it certainly makes up for its faculty and students! We had the entire first-year class come out to eat with the interviewees (3:1 student-interviewee ratio -- pretty redonkulous), and it was so great seeing them interact. Seems like a fun place to be for 8 years. Excited and feeling blessed to have this opportunity to attend such a great school!
Summary of Experience:
Gorgeous weather: 70-80 degrees with plenty of sun. (Had to take off my suit to avoid sweating so much!) Campus tour was definitely a highlight. Oh, and nice hotel housing was definitely a plus :)
Fairly typical interviews. All the faculty members emphasized collegiality and their reasons for moving away from the east coast. Director was very personable. Students seemed genuinely happy. Looks like a great program! :)
Summary of Experience:
Totally missed the status update telling me that I was invited to complete a secondary. Freaked out that I was over a couple weeks late after their "recommended" timeline, so you can imagine my relief when they invited me for an interview!
Great sales-pitch by the director. Very transparent with their application process. Emphasized the fact that they choose very few people for the interview and that once invited, our chances of being accepted were very high. (Whew!)
Two MSTP committee interviews, two MD interviews. All very friendly and conversational. SF seems like a fun place to live, albeit a bit pricey. The fact that there are several campuses separated by shuttles is a draw-back. Faculty talked a bit about how there's too much bureaucracy at UCSF (expected, given that it's a UC school). But a huge plus for the school is that UCSF doesn't have undergrads in their labs and, as a result, focuses very intently on its graduate students!