Application Cycle One: 2008

• Undergraduate college: University of Arizona
• Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences

• Total MCAT SCORE: 519
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 130, C/P 130, CARS 129   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.73
• Science GPA: 3.71

Summary of Application Experience

**Apply early! I cannot stress this enough. This can keep your application from being in a pile of thousands of application once the interview season picks up. Also, applying early let me get early interviews and the peace of mind of getting an early acceptance. If there is one thing that you take out of my profile, please see the benefit that I got out of applying early.**



8/18 - I'm a little nervous about having to take a 5 day trip in September for 3 interviews in 3 cities, but that's how the schedule has worked out. (I guess it's also a good problem to have.) I think that applying early has definitely helped me out with getting some early interviews so far. I'm less than one month away from my first interview at Pitt and I can't wait to get interview season started!

8/26 - Got my first two rejections from Vandy and Pritzker last week. Oh well; no time to dwell on those. I got good news from Wake Forest last week for an interview. This is the waiting part of the process, I guess.

9/4 - Interview from Duke! Wow! It's been slow for the past couple weeks without hearing anything back from schools but this was worth waiting for.

9/8 - Wow! I'm getting some love from New York. Albany and Columbia both want to see me for an interview. I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Winston-Salem, NC to see Wake Forest!

9/10 - Wake was amazing! Very organized with friendly students and faculty. The trip was fun, but I'm a little unsure about how well I did because each interview was only 15 minutes.. Hopefully, I'll hear some good news in the next month or so!

9/12 - Mayo Interview! Mayo is one of those schools that has a mystique about it because of the tiny class size (40) and it's affiliation with Mayo Clinic. I can't wait to go there!

9/16 - Back from University of Pittsburgh! What can I say, it is an incredible school. The interviewers were very friendly and I learned a lot of things that I didn't know before about the school. Loved it.

9/18 - Mixed news this week with both an interview with Boston University and a rejection from Wisconsin. I'm getting ready for my longest trip of the cycle next week, visiting Ohio State, Case Western, and Georgetown in four days. It will be exhausting but hopefully it will go well.

9/26 - Back from Ohio State, Case Western, and Georgetown. Each school was impressive and the students were great. I stayed with student hosts at each school and it was a good way to get closer insight into the feel of each program. Looking forward to a relaxing weekend, then next week is Duke and Columbia.

9/29 - Waitlisted at Wake Forest. I received an email from them today and since schools aren't allowed to send out acceptances this early, I knew it was a waitlist or rejection. Well, it could be worse..

10/8 - Finished with my first 8 interviews now and I can begin to sort out which perspective schools would be the best fit for me. Stayed with students at Duke and Mayo last week and got a good feel for each school.

10/16 - Got back from interviews at Jefferson and Albany. Really liked Jefferson quite a bit and Albany was fine.

10/17 - I've been ranked at Mayo! I suppose this means that the next time the school sends out decisions, they'll tell me I'm either accepted, rejected, or on hold. I really hope they send out some decisions soon.

10/17 - I'm on hold at Case Western and Ohio State. I'm still optimistic, though, because my student host at Ohio State told me he was on hold, then was accepted about a month later. I'll see..

10/20 - I'm leaving for Tulane in a few days, and I'm getting really anxious to hear about decisions from schools. I'll probably hear back from Mayo, Georgetown, Jefferson, and Pitt in the next couple weeks. Really, really hoping for good news!

10/26 - Really enjoyed the Tulane trip. It's a very solid program and it just seems like there's so much opportunity for volunteer work after the hurricanes. Plus, New Orleans seems like a fun place to unwind after studying! Next up is Boston University..

10/29 - Interviewed at BU recently and was very impressed. The school has recently become P/F which is great for student relations, I think. Boston also seems like a great city to live in. I really enjoyed the experience and hope they enjoyed having me there as well.

10/29 - Received an invitation to interview at the University of Cincinnati. I wasn't expecting this because I'd been complete for quite a while, but this is a nice surprise.

10/30 - Accepted to the University of Pittsburgh this morning via status page!!!!! I love this school and I can't explain the feeling of finding out that you are going to med school. It is like disbelief before it morphs into euphoria. Some of the best news ever.

10/30 - Declined the interview at University of Cincinnati and withdrew my application from several other schools after the Pitt acceptance.

11/05 - Received an interview invitation to USC today. I'm a little surprised because I'd been complete for months. I'm unsure of whether I'll schedule the interview because I'm already accepted to Pitt, but the possibility of going to school in California sounds very alluring. Tough decision.

11/07 - I decided to schedule the interview with USC. I really like Pitt, but this is the only West Coast school I've received an interview with, so I figure I may as well take a look at it to keep my options open. Unfortunately they are booked until January.

11/07 - I was placed in the competitive applicant pool with Georgetown today.

11/10 - Rejected from Dartmouth. Expected, as I'd been complete for quite some time.

11/16 - Placed on a pre-interview hold at Penn.

11/24 - Accepted to Mayo Medical School this morning! Phone call from the admissions office made my day.

11/27 - With my acceptance to Mayo, I canceled my interview with USC. USC is a great school, and in California, but I can't see the point in paying to travel to any more interviews when I already have acceptances and other applicants may need these interviews.

January - Received an annual $16500 scholarship to Mayo! This would make life much easier. Very grateful.

2/28 - Received an annual $10000 scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh! I'm a little shocked, but in a good way.

3/7 - Waitlisted at Columbia. Columbia is a great school and was the second favorite one that I visited behind Mayo. I'm set on Mayo so I probably won't stay on their waitlist, but they were classy throughout the entire process.

3/31 - Withdrew from the University of Pittsburgh. It is a great school where I would have been very happy and successful, but I can only go to one school. I'm going to Mayo!