Brief Profile:
GRADES: Strong upward trend (2.9 freshman yr to a 3.8+ senior year) YES -- i know my grades are craptastic.
RESEARCH: Student researcher, NASA-related, 1 yr Research asst, Dept of Neurobiology and Behavior, 1 yr Research asst, Dept of Physiology and Biophysics, 1 yr Research asst and scholar, College of Education, 2 yr (w/ presentations) Independent study and scholar, public health-related research, 1 yr (oral presentations: 1 local community forum, 2 conferences); another for one summer w/ presentation and award Independent study, contemporary post-war theory and post-colonial narratives, 1 yr Study abroad program and internship in country in Africa on global health/human rights
OTHER PROJECTS: A workshop on media, and another on health, at a student conference (2 diff years) Photovoice project (sold photographs at a gallery for $100+ each) Writing committee and theatrical performances every Spring (4 quarters) Documentary film, screened in 2009
LEADERSHIP: President of student organization (4 yr involvement; active as alumna) Board of secretariat, Model UN (2 yrs) Campus UNICEF Chapter, Activities Coordinator (1 yr) Honors Advisory Board (1 yr) Dialogue and discussion-based org (1.5 yr)
COMMUNITY SERVICE/VOLUNTEERING: Focus on children\'s literacy (3+ yr, very active) Mentor for high school students (1 yr) Refugee-resettlement org (80+ hours and counting)
CLINICAL EXPERIENCE: Shadowed doctors in rural area for a week (3 specialties, 45 hours) Volunteered at children\'s hospital (~100 hours) Shadowed doctors in clinic with 5 specialties (~100 hours)
STUDY ABROAD EXPERIENCE: Fulbright scholar to SE Asian country to study language and do research (summer 07) Creative writing in Rome (summer 08) Global health and human rights in country in Africa (summer 09)
HOBBIES: Anything to do with narratives (writing, photography, filmmaking) Doing some film and writing projects on the side while I apply Currently taking a 9-month independent filmmaking course (which is teaching me another side of leadership and visionary thinking)
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 2010
Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 507
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 129,
C/P 126,
CARS 126
Overall GPA: 3.47
Science GPA: 3.12
Summary of Application Experience
update: my future is set. i\'m going to miami! i\'m saddened by the rejection from UW-- considering i had gotten so far in their application process as an OOR applicant, but i\'m grateful for the opportunity. the interview pinpointed glaring weak points in my application and i\'m going to do what i can to remedy those issues before i start school in june at miami.
i wanted to put my stats up for anyone who thinks that with a sub-par gpa and mcat they can\'t get into med school in their first try. i have a feeling that it was my ECs and my essays that got me the interviews, and the fact that these schools have some sort of focus on global health/underserved health, which is what i want to focus on. i also studied for these interviews as if i was going to take a difficult oral exam-- i\'d start prepping 2 weeks prior to the interview and go over every single thing i know about myself and how it fits into that school. whether that helped or not, i\'ll never know, but it preparing for the interview has strengthened my conviction for medicine and offered me greater perspective. (although i didn\'t have as much time to prep for the UW interview, so a painful lesson learned-- thoroughly prepare for your interviews!)
thing is, i pretty much did a bunch of activities in college that my premed advisor would have advised me against, but i\'m glad i went with my gut and embraced what opportunities were in front of me, regardless of whether it would help me get into med school. the trade off was that i had to put in a lot of work studying and being involved at the same time, and the fact that my grades suffered, but i get a rush at having a lot of things going on at the same time (and of course, i know better now than to screw my grades up in med school, where lives depend on my competency).
granted, i got rejected at a ton of other schools, and if i had to do this again, i\'d\'ve only applied to md/mph programs.
Invited for Interview, Withdrew
Ohio State University
Applying for combined PhD/MSTP? No
Submitted: Yes
Secondary Completed: Yes
Interview Invite: Yes
Interview Attended: No
Waitlisted: No
Accepted: No
Rejected: No
Summary of Experience:
decided that i couldn\'t see myself in columbus, ohio, despite OSUCOM\'s higher ranking. miami was a better fit in many ways and i couldn\'t justify spending money for a plane ticket for a school that i wasn\'t sure about.
support in your m4 for international clerkships, a good global health program. it\'s in another cold area though, so i\'m hedging, but i suppose that won\'t really matter once med school starts.
Summary of Experience:
i was expecting the rejection email right after i left my interview, so when it did come, it was the final nail in the coffin. though i\'ve been accepted somewhere else, i\'m still going to take their recommendations seriously and attend the town hall meeting.
crossing my fingers with UW-- they have a kickass global health program and i\'ve got friends here, although the weather alone is enough to make me want to opt for sunny miami. plus the fact that i think it\'s about time i experience living somewhere else
may not have the best facilities or the best weather, but the amount of support you get at uwsom as a med student is almost overwhelming. this school loves its students. even if i don\'t get in, i\'m honored for the opportunity to interview.
Summary of Experience:
i can very easily get used to life here. it\'s laid back, friendly, warm, multiethnic, and i already have friends on the island. the med school is new, situated right in front of the beach, and they have a full pbl-curriculum, which is completely fine by me. they do non-rolling admissions, so i gotta wait til march for the decision.
