Application Cycle One: 07/17/2010

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

• Total MCAT SCORE: 523
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 132, C/P 132, CARS 127   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.88
• Science GPA: 3.87

Summary of Application Experience

I decided that going out of state was not for me at least at this point in my life. I\'d rather stay in state than hunt for prestigious Ivys for the sake of my happiness. Also, the early acceptance into UMich made that decision much more comfortable. After researching the out-of-state programs I received interviews from, I\'m pretty sure I would enjoy UMich more. Could be wrong of course, but I\'ll never know at this point =P

It\'s been a long and arduous process, but I\'m finally done!! I\'ll stay on Stanford\'s waitlist for now, but I\'m about 95% sure I\'ll be attending UCSF in the fall regardless! :) WOOOOOTT

Impressions of Interviews (in order):
University of Michigan: Cold! I interviewed in the middle of December and immediately noticed how spoiled I was as a Californian. Regardless, the people and community were far from cold. =P
Pros: Everyone was really nice, my student hosts were amazing, it seemed like a near perfect fit. I like the flex time quizzes, small group teaching for anatomy lab, technology, and the supposed approachability of the faculty. They really try their best to make a great first impression during interview day and even after being accepted, I felt like I was being actively recruited up until I signed my letter of withdrawal. The students were very diverse and I got to party with them a little (I came on a friday) after exploring downtown on my own. I really enjoyed the small college town feel, especially since I came from one myself. also cheap cost of living!, P/F first two years
Cons: I would say were that the school wasn\'t closer to home, it was perhaps a little too big for me (maybe not a problem for others), it was cold!, perhaps lacks the excitement of a bigger city, out of state tuition, gym was far from campus, a bit lacking in ethnic diversity (although diversity of patients was a big plus!).

University of Pittsburgh: For some reason, this school and I didn\'t click. Maybe it was because I thought UMich was so much better in comparison. On the plus side, my student hosts were among the friendliest I had all interview season!
Pros: Lots of good places to eat nearby (although I think I got sick from one of the asian restaurants around the corner lol), nice simulation center (although I\'m not sure how much exposure you\'ll get as a med student), cheap cost of living, probably more things to do in the city than UMich though I didn\'t have much time to explore, interesting architecture and history, diversity of patients
Cons: lots of in class time, facilities old, cold!!, graded preclinical years, lack of ethnic diversity (obviously important to me as a Californian), forced scholarly project

Stanford:
Pros: no class on Wednesdays!!, small class size, everyone seems laid back, lots of flexibility, can take interprofessional classes at other professional schools (all highly ranked!), research powerhouse, committed to producing leaders, good weather!, low debt despite being a private school (lots of opportunities to offset higher cost such as being a TA), about 20 miles from home! lol, amazing facilities! the LKSC is the coolest building I have seen. It has designated areas for sleeping, cooking, and exercising and is open 24/7! diversity of hospitals from Kaiser, VA, county, Stanford, etc., emphasis on accepting an ethnically diverse class, diverse patients, no ranking even during clinical years!
Cons: kind of too quiet (suburban neighborhood), got kind of a snobby impression from some of the students/faculty, but maybe I just caught them on an off day or it was too small a sample not representative of the entire population, undergrad affiliation (may or may not be a con), extremely high cost of living, that\'s pretty much it!

UC Davis:
My alma mater!
Pros: Big on primary care, recently built education center (nice big desks you can put your computer on! lol), beautiful hospital and facilities, low cost of living, ethnically diverse population, in state tuition, beautiful weather, lots of outdoor activities you can do (nearby sacramento river, bike trails, close proximity to yosemite/lake tahoe, etc), seven student run clinics! P/F preclinical
Cons: stand alone medical school (no other health schools), very small gym (need to go to the undergrad campus 20 minutes away to use the nicer undergrad gym), med students don\'t seem as laid back as other schools (although that was just my impression), research opportunities not as great bc most of the main facilities are on the undergrad campus

UC San Francisco:
OMG I love this school!
Pros: stand alone health school (lots of interprofessional opportunities with pharmacy, dental, physical therapy, nursing, etc), everything is really close to each other (SF is a compact city), lots of things to do and good places to eat nearby, top-notch research and faculty, committed to admitting an ethnically diverse population of students, students appeared laid back, newly opened Teaching and Learning center is amazing!, gym is small but adequate and very close by to the library and teaching facilities., close proximity to home (my dad works in SF! lol), P/F preclerkship, 4 student run clinics, ethnic diversity and diversity in disease (I\'ve heard a joke that Stanford sends the patients it doesn\'t want to SF presumably for financial reasons), many different teaching hospitals (VA, county, main hospital, Kaiser, etc)
Cons: library is not open 24/7 lol, expensive cost of living, hilly, i didn\'t feel as safe in SF as in Sacramento or Palo Alto (although the location is definitely safer than most areas of SF), older facilities, although still california weather it tends to be a lot more windy and have a lot less sun than the rest of the bay area,

Hope this helps anyone. Message me if you have any questions!