Application Cycle One: 2009

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

• Total MCAT SCORE: 516
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 129, C/P 129, CARS 129   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.40
• Science GPA: 3.34

Summary of Application Experience

6/15 - Submitted AMCAS...obsessively checking SDN to see when people are getting verified
6/26 - AMCAS Verified! :) Working on secondaries....
7/27 - LOR\'s finally posted to VirtualEvals
7/28 - AMCAS verified receipt of LOR\'s
8/3 - FIRST INTERVIEW INVITE!!! (UVA)
9/1 - FIRST INTERVIEW!!!
10/15 - FIRST ACCEPTANCE!!!! (LSU-NO)
11/23 - MAYO ACCEPTANCE!!!! (TOP CHOICE!!!)
3/15 - So all decisions are in (minus Emory, which I\'m withdrawing from), and I\'m still set on Mayo. Withdrawing all acceptances and waitlist spots. MAYO, HERE I COME!!!!!

I was really blessed during this application cycle. I never expected to receive so many interviews, let alone acceptances. I guess as a pre-med, I had heard so many horror stories and become so scared about applying to the point that I never considered how good of a candidate that I would be considered (as conveyed to me by some of my interviewers). In hindsight, I would have applied to fewer schools (Although, I really did like each one of them, and it was hard to narrow it down in the first place.). Mayo was definitely my top choice, so I pretty much knew by November where I would be the next year. However, I chose to continue going on interviews for three reasons. First, it is such a honor to be offered interviews. Second, I wanted to give every school a fair shot by getting to know more about them in person. Finally, I had already booked tickets and arranged accommodations for many of the schools.

Overall, I had a pretty positive application experience. I never had any of the stress interviews or had any really horrible interviews that would make good stories. While interviewing definitely got tiring, I appreciated the experience. I learned a lot about by myself, improved my speaking (and my selling?) skills, and met a lot of really cool applicants, who will become my colleagues one day.

Advice to future applicants:
1) Apply early!!!! (It really is to your benefit.)
2) Don\'t apply anywhere you wouldn\'t go (While I really did love Mayo, I was prepared to be happy at any of my other schools if I wasn\'t accepted.)
3) Take a Zen-like approach to the whole cycle and try to stay preoccupied (Otherwise, you\'ll drive yourself nuts on SDN! What happens, happens.)
4) Be humble and grateful
5) Be yourself at interviews and socialize with fellow interviewees (It will ease your anxiety or lower your stress level)
6) Enjoy it! (It can be stressful, but it can definitely be fun if you relax-after your apps are in-and make the best of it. Who doesn\'t love touring different cities and schools, dressing to impress, making themselves sound cool to strangers, and meeting new people?)