Application Cycle One: 2004

• Undergraduate college: SUNY Binghamton
• Undergraduate Area of study: Computing and Information Science

• Institution: Hunter College
• Area of Study: Premedical Studies
• Degree Obtained: postbac

• Total MCAT SCORE: 503
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 125, C/P 126, CARS 126   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.41
• Science GPA: 3.38

Summary of Application Experience

Start early! Start studying verbal mcat as soon as you can! Take the april mcat if you can b/c that way your whole application can start moving. Also find out if your school can write committee letter early. At Hunter, they write one in april and in october. Found out to my dismay that I needed certain number of credits at Hunter by a certain deadline before I qualify for the april letter, notified when it was too late to take the classes before the deadline. Having the mcat score and committee letter done early puts all the control back in your hands. Everything else you can submit as early as you can.

I unfortunately took the aug 2004 mcat for the first time, scored badly, and the committee letter sent in november 2004! Despite these downfalls, I had the audacity, and probably stupidity, to apply to 27 schools! Most of them out of my league when looking at my MCAT scores. My mindset was that I never ever wanted to take the MCAT again, and that I never ever wanted to apply to schools again. So I thought I don't want to regret not applying to a certain school, so I applied to all my dream schools. But I should have only applied to no more than 10 schools if I really thought about it more practically. I would have saved tons of time (I banged out lots of secondaries in a short amount of time) and probably save myself $2,000. FYI - I had an extenuating circumstance as to why my mcats were so low, like me, you should send a letter explaining the low score as soon as the scores are released.

My saving graces were probably my strong personal statement/story, good health experience considering I was a business major, strong motivation which was tested before quitting my job, good recommendations, and interviewing skills - which despite having business experience working with clients, its different, and very difficult to speak about yourself candidly about such personal things, I had great help and practiced with other postbacc premed friends.

Any questions you can email me at [email protected]