Brief Profile:
I made this late in the cycle so that future applicants could reference it as a helpful tool. I don\'t consider myself a very competitive candidate but still managed to get interviews at a couple high ranked schools. Feel free to message me if you have any questions!
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 07/09/2011
Total MCAT SCORE: 514
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 130,
C/P 128,
CARS 127
Overall GPA: 3.80
Science GPA: 3.70
Summary of Application Experience
I sent in my primary / secondaries a lot later than I should have...so my biggest piece of advice would be to apply as early as you can. Also, prepare as much as you can for your interviews. I messed up big time during a lot of my interviews and the results weren\'t pretty . Even if your a strong applicant don\\\'t take any of your interviews for granted. I didn\'t get my first acceptance until the beginning of May, so I had planned for a while to be a re-applicant, which would have been super stressful.
I think its pretty obvious from my list of schools that I want to go out West. Last June I was expecting interviews at most of the schools i applied to in Illinois/Wisconsin/Indiana. I never would have guessed that California schools would have appreciated my application more than the Midwest! (home state being Illinois)
Applied
Tufts University
Applying for combined PhD/MSTP? No
Submitted: Yes
Secondary Completed: No
Interview Invite: No
Interview Attended: No
Waitlisted: No
Accepted: No
Rejected: No
Summary of Experience:
Another school my parent pestered me to apply to. Didn\'t finish secondary
Summary of Experience:
As with Northwestern, it had gotten really late in the cycle by the time I got to this application and my chances were very slim here. I really regret not applying here as this is an amazing school. I visited a friend that goes to Tulane undergrad last August, and I really enjoyed seeing its medical district. New Orleans was a fantastic city to be in as well. Will definitely consider this area for residency
Summary of Experience:
Got screened in for a secondary early on, but didn\'t complete it after learning how few OOS were accepted. Another great school to have gone to.
Summary of Experience:
I got this secondary the same day I submitted my primary, which I thought was pretty surprising. I don\'t know why I didn\'t finish it, but the fact that it had to be mailed in made me less motivated to complete it.
Summary of Experience:
I thought their secondary application was quite intimidating. That, and with their super low OOS acceptance rate, I ended up not finishing the secondary. Would have been awesome to have lived in Miami
Summary of Experience:
I\'m not going to lie, I think I really only applied here because it was in Florida. I quickly lost interest here but the admissions committee kept emailing to finish my application, so I withdrew pretty early on.
Summary of Experience:
My parent nagged at me to apply here, so I hastily added this school in August. After looking up how popular this school was and that top candidates were getting rejected, I bailed.
Summary of Experience:
This was going to be my last secondary completed (early-october), but after a couple weeks of putting it off and having stats much lower than this school\'s average, I chickened out of applying. I figured one rejection from this school was enough ( got rejected for undergrad)
Summary of Experience:
When I added Boston and Tufts in late august, I decided to add this school as well. Was definitely one of my top choices, and I got screened in for a secondary. However, school was taking a toll on me in November-December, so I didn\'t start the secondary until mid- December. I completed one of its essays but I didn\'t think I could truly answer the remaining questions so I withdrew. Tough decision to make.
Summary of Experience:
Yet another application I neglected. I was going to start this application early October, only to realize it was due literally 2 days before. Had no idea they had a 4-6 week turnaround deadline...
Summary of Experience:
I had a strange experience with this school. Got rejected literally within hours after getting my primary verified. The rejection email said I was rejected for the class entering July 2011. I respond back to correct them about this, but I got the same exact rejection email back. Decided it wasn\'t worth my time anymore.
Summary of Experience:
I wasn\'t too disheartened by this rejection. I don\'t think I fit their mission statement that well, but nonetheless it still a great school.
Summary of Experience:
Another application I wish I could do over. Submitted the online app in mid September, but didn\'t get the mail-in stuff in until mid-October. Considering my other interview invites, I think I could have gotten one had I applied much earlier. Oh well
Summary of Experience:
And yet again....this is another application I messed up on. I got screened in for the secondary at the end of August, and they have a one month deadline for completion. I managed to complete my application by the end of September and submit it then (before the deadline). I thought all was well until early November when I randomly decided to check up on all my submitted secondaries. It turned out that I never submitted my payment for this application (I remember filling out my payment information back then, but I guess didn\'t fully submit it) . In a moment of panic I quickly sent in the payment in early November despite the fact that it was well past due. (They do NOT review applications at all until the payment is made.
But even with all my mess ups this cycle, I\'ve managed to get good luck too. I was surprised when they put me on hold in January (was expecting an outright rejection with what happened) so I guess the 1-month application deadline isn\'t strictly enforced.
Unfortunately, I was rejected in February but still think I got more consideration in this application than I deserved.
Summary of Experience:
I\'m pretty surprised I didn\'t get an interview invite from here, considering that I got ones from much more competitive school that I applied to later... I got an email in early April saying they may open up more interview dates in the future and weren\'t going to reject the remainder of us for a while. I thought it was foolish to still stick around here so I withdrew early may.
Summary of Experience:
I definitely took this application too much for granted. It was my first interview and I didn\'t prepare for it at all. I interviewed at the Peoria campus and really bombed my student interview, the faculty interview was mediocre at best. Being this is my state school I sort of expected an acceptance. Not the best attitude to have...
Summary of Experience:
This application is probably the greatest example of the lack of attention I put into this cycle. I didn\'t realize that only applicants invited for interview were given secondary apps, so I had simply put this secondary in its email folder until I finished a few other application. Needless to say, I was beyond surprised at getting this interview before submitting my secondary.
In the end, I got my materials in late and think that contributed to my rejection. This was my second interview and I think it went slightly better than my UIC interview but I was still shaky about it.
Summary of Experience:
Not sure where to begin with this school. A year ago this was my number 1 choice and hardest school to get in to. I NEVER thought I would ever get into this school. I\'ve been looking up their admissions requirements and stalking their website since my sophomore year of college. As I continued to learn how competitive it was here, I ended up making myself apply here more-so because it was my top choice and I told my friends and family it was my dream school rather than applying to actually expect an acceptance.
I got the secondary within a few hours of my primary getting verified. It wasn\'t until after I got it that I learned that there was a primary screening and only half of UCLA applicants get the secondary. This boosted my spirits about completing the secondary.
After 4 months from submitting my secondary, I was surprised with an interview invite. Never expected this to happen, and had to read the email a couple times over before believing it. I actually really enjoyed the whole MMI set up at Geffen, and was even complemented by one of my interviewers for doing a really good job.
I also want to thank Ian, one of the admissions members, for helping me out tremendously. He made the effort to give me an alternate interview date to coincide with my USC interview (which I had to decline because my travel arrangements were already booked) and made sure my student host arrangements were properly made. I did have a hard time understanding him over the phone with his thick British accent, but he made my interview experience much smoother and thus I directed my thank you letter towards him.
I got waitilisted at the end of May and I have to say I couldn\'t be happier. UCLA accepts a much smaller percentage of interviewees than most other schools and so it is quite an honor to get even a wait list and not an outright rejection. I never would have thought I would have gotten this far, and hopefully my luck keeps up and I get off the wait-list.
Summary of Experience:
This was one of my top 3 schools from the get-go, but I knew my chances here were bleak. With that being said, I was absolutely dumbfounded when I got the interview invite. I did write some pretty good essays for their unique secondary questions, and I think those helped me the most in getting an interview.
I had an excellent visit at Keck and met so many great people here. I think I had great interviews here , but being that I interviewed late and was probably one of their less competitive candidates, it wasn\'t a surprise I got wait listed. I am extremely thankful to have interviewed here and really hoping to be pulled off the wait-list!
Summary of Experience:
Super relieved to have been accepted here. It was my last interview and thus I had a lot of practice going in to it. I have heard so many positive things about this school and would be happy to matriculate here.
