Brief Profile:
MD/PhD applicant: 4 summer research internships, 3 semesters of research at Berkeley 1 paper in proteins (second author) 1 undergraduate journal paper 4 abstracts [3 at ACS meetings, 1 j biophys]
emt certified 200 hours volunteering in hospital
7 letter of recs [4 PIs, hospital head nurse, humanities prof, bio prof] grades on an upward trend from freshman year
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 2005
Undergraduate college: UC Berkeley
Undergraduate Area of study: Physical Sciences
Institution: EMT Certification
Area of Study: Nursing/Pharmacy/Medical Technology
Total MCAT SCORE: 516
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 127,
C/P 130,
CARS 129
Overall GPA: 3.41
Science GPA: 3.28
Summary of Application Experience
12.2 - got into drexel! woo hoo! i'm going to a med school that i'll actually like next year! still waiting for other places though
2.7 - utmb acceptance. not as exciting as drexel's, but it's nice that the mstp director called me :)
2.23 - still waiting for uci (i'm on the pre-wait list), umass, and madison
2.28 - woo hoo! i got into u mass! i just turned down utmb, but i need to decide whether to go to drexel or u mass.
4.2 - after going to the drexel accepted student day and re-reading the information from umass, i'm leaning towards umass again. there's a lot more research opportunities there. also worcester is pretty close to boston but is still very peaceful. i had to miss the md/phd open house, but they said that they would arrange a separate visit for me :)
4.19 - i decided to go to umass over drexel. it's a better program for research and they seem to provide for the md/phd students more. for example, there are monthly seminars that help the students get to know each other and stay connected during the long program. also, there are weekly one-hour 1-on-1 sessions between a faculty member and the student during M1 and M2. additionally, umass is applying for the mstp grant now.
however, while i like umass, i admit i would rather stay near home and go to uc irvine. i'll find out more from them in a month -- may 15th is the date people need to decide where to matriculate!
6.2 - i go to the umass orientation on a friday, one day early, so that i could meet with potential research advisors. then after a long day of traveling and meeting with various profs and while eating dinner with my host md/phd student, i get a phone call from uc irvine! i'm off the waitlist and the course of my life (or at least the location for the next 7-8 years) completely changes. back to sunny california =) my mom was excited.
