Brief Profile:
Originally, I wasn\'t the most academically inclined individual. To be honest, I didn\'t think much of my future, but when I found my passion in medicine, I found the motivation I had been lacking for so many years! My passion for medicine pushed me to work hard and pursue experiences that I really enjoyed while bolstering my interest in becoming a community-oriented academic physician!
Let me preface this paragraph by saying that I started my undergraduate career at a community college. In my travels and experiences, I\'ve heard from many people, including a couple of medical school admissions deans(that will go unnamed... even though I feel that it would be right to reveal their institutions to my CC brothers and sisters to save their time and money), that students with community college backgrounds are highly undesirable.
Well, to those of you reading this profile that have community college backgrounds, please note that many amazing schools have not taken issue with my community college background. As you can see, they\'ve been incredibly generous to me! If anything, I feel that they believe it adds to their class diversity. I know I certainly included my CC experiences positively in my secondary applications.
In my humble opinion, in order to be successful in this entire process, you need to try your best to maintain some sense of self. Equally important, you need to ensure that your sense of self is accurately and consistently portrayed throughout the entire application, be it primary, secondary, or during an interview. Don\'t lose yourself in this long and arduous process. Always think back onto why you wanted to become a physician in the first place. Lastly, approach every school with an open mind. I honestly believe that each school has something unique to offer its students that tangible factors such as match lists, curricula, or prestige cannot predict.
That\'s all I\'ve got for now! If anything in this profile helped you out, please do the right thing and pay it forward! Remember, we\'re only as good as our deeds.
If you have any questions, don\'t hesitate to message me on SDN. I\'m always happy to help. Thank you for reading this, and I wish you the best of luck in your applications! :]
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 06/16/2011
Undergraduate college: University of California, Irvine
Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 520
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 132,
C/P 129,
CARS 127
Overall GPA: 3.86
Science GPA: 3.87
Application Complete, Rejected
University of Rochester
Applying for combined PhD/MSTP? No
Submitted: Yes
Secondary Completed: Yes
Interview Invite: No
Interview Attended: No
Waitlisted: No
Accepted: No
Rejected: Yes
Summary of Experience:
At the beginning of this application cycle, I was incredibly interested in University of Rochester, but alas, I have been rejected. Oh well! Good luck to everyone applying here! :]
Summary of Experience:
I was initially saddened by this, but then I remembered that I had my interview at UCSF in a week and completely forgot about Stanford. :D
Summary of Experience:
Rejected by Brown, but I would have withdrawn if they had extended me an interview invite, so it seems like they did my job for me. Ha ha. :]
Summary of Experience:
The only UC in California that showed me no love. It\'s not surprise that this was the school in which I was the least interested.
I have a hard time understanding the hype it gets on SDN outside of its stellar ranking. Maybe it\'s just too close to home without having the familiarity I love about UCI or the inherent allure of UCLA.
To those applying in the future, definitely put more effort into your autobiography than I did! Mine was absolutely miserable, and the rejection completely reflects that. I enjoy writing... just not about myself!
Summary of Experience:
Again, due to lack of funds and time, I had to turn down my interview invitation.
I don\'t know if Dartmouth would have been the right fit for me anyway. While it\'s an amazing school, the location is a bit of a deterrent for me. Good luck to everyone applying here!
Summary of Experience:
Great school in a great city! With more resources, I would not have thought twice about attending my interview here, but I am unfortunately running low on funds and time, so I had to turn down my interview invitation.
Good luck to everyone that has a chance at Tufts! It\'s a great school!
Summary of Experience:
I am incredibly thankful to Boston University for the interview invite. I would have loved to visit, especially considering that I have a friend in the first year class, but unfortunately, I no longer have the financial ability to go on any more interviews. My bank and credit card statements are a lesson in depression... ha ha!
I hope my interview goes to someone more deserving than I. Good luck to everyone applying here! :]
Summary of Experience:
I am thankful for this interview invite, and it\'s very interesting to see that the school is still sending them out this late into the cycle.
I applied to AMC because one of my mentors went here for medical school and absolutely loved his time there. I would love to visit, but I cannot justify taking a position from another applicant that could really use this interview! I hope it goes to someone more deserving than I. :]
Summary of Experience:
I am very thankful for this interview invite as well. I am actually very interested in visiting Einstein, especially thanks to their gorgeous new Children\'s Hospital.
I cannot, however, justify taking this interview position from another student that could use it. I hope it goes to someone deserving!
Summary of Experience:
Attended the interview the day before my birthday. Hopefully I\'ll get a belated birthday present from UCLA! :]
The interview day is incredibly sparse. There\'s just a brief tour, a quick lunch, and then the interviews. The tour left much to be desired, especially since we didn\'t get a chance to venture too far into Reagan Hospital.... Our tour guide teased us by taking us through the main entrance and back out again. :[ Ha ha!
The school really is great, and they have a TON of amazing community service opportunities throughout Los Angeles county.
The curriculum does leave a bit to be desired though. Purely prosected anatomy should be a cardinal sin in modern medical education. Also, course grades(read pass/fail) are determined by one final exam for all classes at the end of the block. It seems a little stressful to me, especially since I like to be tested while I\'m learning the material. There is a silver lining to all this, however. There are only, at most, 2 hours of lecture a day!
The best part about the school, however, is how absolutely supportive and amazing the faculty are at UCLA. My short interactions with them throughout the MMI were some of the best throughout my entire interview trail. These faculty interactions alone, if they foreshadow what is to come, make UCLA easily one of my top choices!
I would like to add two quick pieces of advice for anyone applying here: first of all, if you are invited for an interview, please please please do not stress about the MMI. The faculty and students that run the stations are incredibly friendly and supportive. The MMI itself is a lot of fun, and if you play it right, will really give you a chance to express yourself and put you in a nice position for acceptance. If you worry about the MMI at UCLA, you\'re wasting your time!
Second, I would do your best to stay away from the UCLA specific thread on SDN. While I consider SDN to be a great resource, there is just too much malignancy in this particular thread. Take a look at the 2011-2012 thread for some specific examples. You\'ll see people telling others to \"shut up\" just for posting questions or bumping the thread. Some people get a little too overwound about UCLA and dump it out on SDN. This is me rolling my eyes at those people!
Summary of Experience:
I have always been in love with UCSF. In fact, whenever I was running low on motivation, I would always think about attending UCSF. That always seemed to reinvigorate me!
After attending the interview day, my love affair with UCSF and San Francisco in general has only increased in intensity. They told us that they accept roughly 50% of the students that they interview, so I have my fingers tightly crossed! :]
Summary of Experience:
I fell in love with UPenn\'s curriculum, student body, and clinical opportunities.
The school\'s affiliations with CHOP(GORGEOUS!!!) and Presbyterian(very historical!) are incredibly, incredibly appealing.
It\'s definitely worth mentioning that the school\'s curriculum is brilliantly designed. Allowing students to take Step 1 after the core clerkships is not only a fantastic idea but incredibly humane!
I had a stellar time with both my faculty and student interviewer. In fact, my student interviewer and I spent most of the interview talking about video games and Batman movies. Absolutely awesome, if I do say so myself!
Summary of Experience:
I had a great experience at Yale. My student interviewer was really kind, and it seemed like she was really on my side. My faculty interviewer was incredibly supportive. We clicked right away. He was the nicest guy, and I feel like he really exemplified what Yale is all about!
I absolutely love the feel of the campus, especially with the Yale Historical Medical Library. I am very much into the history of medicine, and it would be awesome to explore it just as my favorite author, Dr. Sherwin Nuland, did in that same library!
It\'s also worth mentioning that Yale easily has the best anatomy program I\'ve seen. Approaching the dissections from a surgical/clinical perspective is brilliant!
Summary of Experience:
I came away from CMS incredibly impressed. I wasn\'t expecting much going into my interview, but I walked away with a deep-seated respect for the students, faculty, and staff at CMS. Everyone I spoke to was incredibly supportive and friendly.
I must mention that CMS has an absolutely amazing, and I mean AMAZING, match list. It just shows that it doesn\'t matter where you go, it\'s what you do when you get there that matters.
I was put on hold at CMS early November. While I thoroughly enjoyed my interviews, I can wholeheartedly understand why they would waitlist me to test my interest in the school. After considering my current acceptances, I kindly withdrew hoping that I don\'t get in the way of another student\'s acceptance.
Good luck to everyone applying here. It truly is a diamond in the rough! :]
Summary of Experience:
I enjoyed my interview day at Pritzker. The school has a lot to offer and is located in a prime location to help the communities of Chicago\'s South-side.
One thing that I learned about Pritzker from my interview day was that the administration is incredibly supportive of the students. I don\'t know of too many others schools that take all of their students out on a night cruise with dancing and drinking after a big anatomy exam!
To anyone interviewing here in the future, be prepared for them to question your desire to attend Pritzker to no end. My three interviews consisted primarily of questions asking why I would want to come to Chicago from California. With that said, it was no surprise that I was placed as a \"continued\" applicant, which I am sure will translate to a waitlist.
It really is a great school, but it\'s one of the few that I can say would be a bad fit for me. And I\'m pretty adaptable! Ha ha!
Good luck to everyone waiting, and congrats to those accepted(especially on those scholarships!).
Summary of Experience:
I enjoyed my time at PItt Med! Their medical center is HUGE and incredibly impressive!
They have one of only a few gamma knife programs within their Department of Neurosurgery. That is definitely a big selling point for me! I have my fingers crossed that I will see an acceptance from Pitt in the near future! :]
Update: Waitlististed on 11/14. While I felt like my interviews went incredibly well, I am not surprised by this one. Pitt has a well established system of putting a large number of applicants on the waitlist. I will definitely be keep a close eye on this one!
Summary of Experience:
I enjoyed my time at UVM! While the diversity in Vermont is not what I would like it to be and the tuition for out of state applicants is exorbitant, I got a very good vibe from UVM and the people there!
I\'ve been placed on the out of state waitlist! Everyone said they would do this, but I was still a little surprised by this! I suppose even my neurotic pre-med tendencies are hard to quash.
Update(11/28): I withdrew my position on the OOS waitlist. The school wasn\'t a right fit for me, but I know another applicant will definitely be happy moving up a little bit!
Summary of Experience:
I very much enjoyed my interview here! The students were incredibly happy! Unfortunately, though, we were unable to see the IQ teams in action because the first years had exams and the second years were in their musculoskeletal week!
Nonetheless, my faculty interviewer was encouraging about my prospects at Case! :] I hope he\'s right. I would love to come here!
11/2/2012: On hold... I didn\'t quite see this coming, especially considering how encouraging my faculty interviewer was, but this decision was also not entirely unexpected either considering the high volume of students Case interviews! Let\'s see if this turns into an acceptance by the end of the cycle. :]
Summary of Experience:Matriculating into the class of 2016. Words cannot describe my excitement!
Update 1/30/2012: Dr. Weiss has cleared my biochem requirement! Happy day! Now I\'m even more excited for second look!
Update 1/27/2012: ACCEPTED!!! I can\'t believe it.... I keep listening to the voicemail over and over again to make sure that I\'m not just dreaming or hallucinating. This is EASILY my top choice! I love everything about the school and was pleasantly surprised by Baltimore. There seems to be a minor discrepancy with my Biochem course(4 quarter units = 2.7 semester units....), but hopefully once that gets cleared up, it will be smooth sailing from here. Can\'t wait for second look! :D
Update 1/12/2012: I absolutely fell in love with JHU after my interview. I honestly couldn\'t say enough good things about the school. I became instant friends with my host and a few of the applicants I met at the interview. My photographic friends(you know who you are!), if you read this, I hope that I see you again soon at the JHU second look!
The opportunities at the school are nearly unparalleled, and I think there are few schools out there that can match the history of JHU. The new medical education building is gorgeous, and the anatomy lab was incredibly nice. Every station had iMacs... O_O
I know it\'s an incredibly long shot for me at JHU, and I would liken my chances to an ice cube\'s in a frying pan, but that\'s definitely NOT going to stop me from keeping my fingers crossed for some positive news at the end of January! :]
Interview invite! I\'m incredibly surprised and humbled by this one! I\'m looking forward to visiting JHU! :]
Summary of Experience:
5/1/2012: I just withdrew my acceptance here. I have never felt so sad hitting send on an email, but I know that I will be a better fit at Hopkins(plus I don\'t have anatomy...). Ohio State is easily one of the best schools I interviewed at, and I think they\'re a little underrated at times. I would love to come back for residency! :]
I absolutely loved everything about THE Ohio State University. Dr. Capers is an incredibly amazing and supportive admissions dean. I can definitely see myself doing incredibly well here! \"Perfect fit\" is the first thing that came to my mind as I left Columbus.
ACCEPTED! I can\'t believe it! A punk like me accepted into such an amazing school! Dr. Capers, you\'re my hero! I\'m going to SERIOUSLY consider matriculating here.
Summary of Experience:
5/1/2012: I just withdrew my application. This was an incredibly tough choice, but at this point, it\'s looking like I\'m going to Hopkins! :D
I\'m incredibly surprised by this acceptance! Thank you so much UVA School of Medicine! This is definitely one of my top choices. I can definitely see myself here!
Summary of Experience:
5/11/2012: Withdrew from MSSM today. I really loved the school, and it was among my top choices. Alas, JHU has my heart!
I have been incredibly impressed by Mount Sinai. It was a school that I only started researching once I applied.
They are an incredibly community oriented school especially considering their strong research background.
The hospital and school facilities(which are essentially the same) are very nice, and the student apartments in Aron Hall are very nice and very affordable. The last thing that has to be mentioned is the brilliant location of the school and the affiliated clinical sites. The main hospital is on the border of the Upper East Side of Manhattan and East Harlem allowing for an unparalleled level of patient diversity. It\'s really refreshing to see this!
Their student-run clinic is also incredibly active, and they even have an elective where stellar fourth year students can be teaching leaders at the clinic for their underclassman colleagues.
I honestly don\'t think I could say enough positive things about the school, but I would like to mention their match list briefly. Mount Sinai is the only school I have seen that places at least one student in each of their own departments for their residency(granted they have students applying to those departments\' programs). This shows an unprecedented level of loyalty to their students, and I have a lot of respect for the school and hospital for this.
Update 1/11/2012: I woke up to an email congratulating me on my acceptance! I am absolutely shocked.
I will be very strongly considering Mount Sinai, especially thanks to my interest in their Visiting Docs program. Plus, it would be tough to pass up going to school in New York after growing up in California. Thank you so much Mount Sinai! :]
Summary of Experience:
5/14/2012: I withdrew from UCD today. I\'m saddened that I can\'t attend both Hopkins and UCD. I really loved the school. I will definitely be applying there for residency! I really liked Sacramento and the feel of UCD.
Thank you so much, Dr. Henderson!
I loved everything I saw about UC Davis. Their student-run clinics were especially amazing. Most schools have some kind of a student-run clinic, but not only does UCD have 7(yeah, 7!), they are COMPLETELY student-run and student-funded! This will definitely be among my final choices!
Summary of Experience:
5/14/2012: Withdrew from my alma mater today. I love the school, but I DEFINITELY need a change of pace anywhere away from Irvine. Will consider coming back for residency though!
I am so thankful for some love from my alma mater.
I have been intimately connected with the medical school throughout my entire undergraduate career, and I have a deep reverence for the students and faculty at UCI. They are genuinely some of the best people I have had the honor of meeting, and it would be my pleasure to attend a school where they would be my peers, colleagues, and instructors.
While I\'m not applying for the PRIME-LC program, I would venture to say that it is easily one of the strongest within the PRIME system.
Summary of Experience:
5/6/2012: I have withdrawn my acceptance from Georgetown. It\'s a great school, and judging from this year\'s match list, their students are going to be incredibly successful. The school just isn\'t for me! :]
My feelings about Georgetown are very mixed. I absolutely loved DC, and I think the school has a lot of potential to be great, but there are just some glaring idiosyncrasies that bother me. For example, on my interview day, we had three tour guides. One tour guide, a second year, spend the entire time bashing the school while the other two ran damage control. It was strange.
I do think their curriculum is interesting(don\'t get me started on their grading system though), and their Health Justice Scholars Track is unique.
I will mention, however, that the faculty takes great pride in the school. The other applicants who interviewed alongside me said that their faculty members were incredibly enthusiastic about the school. Personally, my interview with Dr. Lauerman went incredibly well. I really felt like it was conversation, and he seemed interested in everything I had to say.
Update 1/18/2012: Accepted! Well, this is a pleasant surprise! I\'m very thankful to Georgetown for this opportunity. In looking at my other acceptances, I will not be accepting my position at Georgetown in May, but I am still very happy and thankful!
Good luck and congratulations to everyone accepted to Georgetown! :]
