Application Cycle One: 2009

• Undergraduate college: Loyola
• Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences

• Total MCAT SCORE: 502
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 127, C/P 126, CARS 123   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.61
• Science GPA: 3.78

Summary of Application Experience

09/28/09 --

AMCAS submitted 07/07/2009 and finished most secondaries within a week of receiving them, last one submitted on 09/01/2009

AACOMAS submitted 09/07/09 - took a ridiculous amount of time to verify, well over the 6 week time frame and it really set me back. Hurried to get all the osteo secondaries in but they are in as of 09/28/09 (much later than what i planned for)

Note on MCAT: very disappointed and actually surprised by the outcome, my average practice test score was a 30 with a range of 2 points. not sure what happened but i took the Kaplan course and then studied a lot for the 2 months leading up to the test. I know I can do better if I have to retake, but I\'m not sure if im willing to go through that process again. We\'ll see how this cycle turns out.

Overall I have a sincere cohesive story I\'m telling in my essays and will tell in my interviews, and I\'m hoping my story can carry my through the interview process and get me a few acceptances.

One interview at LECOM-B on 11/2, hopefully more to come . . .

10/20/09 -

So far so good 4 interview invites, two of which are instate osteopathic schools and I am feeling very confident going into the interviews. Its hard to deal with the waiting . . . you almost need to distract yourself and set specific times of the day to check your email. Hopefully more invites to come, it will be interesting to see if any allopathic schools show interest but that 26 mcat is a big red flag for them. We\'ll see

12/6/09 - 3 interviews and 1 acceptance down. Its such a relief to have all the effort pay off. Now I can be selective about where I interview in the future if I hear back from any other schools. I will say that after seeing the PBL on two interviews its going to take a lot for me opt for any other school.

6/28/10 - Interviewed at Drexel very late into the cycle and knew my chances were slim. Did like the school a lot. I\'m leaving for Erie in a month and I am very excited about it!

Advice
1) get everything in as early as possible - Timing is really the biggest difference maker besides the MCAT and GPA
2) once everything is in try not to worry about things out of your control
3) Before interviews go onto SDN and look at interview feedback for particular schools, its really a confidence booster going in. I would say that I knew about and planned for over half of the quetions asked of me on the interview trail.