Application Cycle One: 2003

• Undergraduate college: Boston College
• Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences

• Total MCAT SCORE: 520
• MCAT Section Scores: B/B 130, C/P 132, CARS 129   Detailed Breakdown
• Overall GPA: 3.90
• Science GPA: 3.93

Summary of Application Experience

So my process cost a lot of money and after reading you will see that I could have saved a boat load of it.

I interviewed at Cornell and UConn in late September. In October I interviewed at Georgetown, NYU, BU, Tufts, Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, and Columbia.

I felt the interview process went very well at all schools, and in early October I was accepted to UConn. I loved the interview day, but wanted to see how the rest of the process panned out before I made my decision. Over the course of the next 3 months I was accepted to NYU, Georgetown, BU, and Tufts, and waitlisted at Yale, Columbia, Cornell, and Dartmouth.

I almost immediately took myself off of the list at Dartmouth. As much as I had loved the school, I decided I wasn't too into the location. I had spent too much time in NH as a child, and I was also nervous my fiance wouldn't be able to find a job.

I ultimately turned down BU, Tufts, and Georgetown because they were ridiculously expensive for the product they offered.

I was eventually accepted off the wait-list at Cornell in early May. After making what was probably one of the hardest decisions of my life I decided I couldn't go to Cornell, and couldn't live in NYC so I turned down Cornell and took myself off of the wait-list at Columbia.

So all that was left was UConn and Yale. I bought an apartment where I could commute to both schools, that was also conveniently located between the schools and my fiance's new job. I figured if I got into Yale I would go, if not I would be happy at UConn.

After the entire summer, and at least 20 calls to Dean of Admissions at Yale, I began classes at UConn. When I called to take my name off of the list at Yale, I discovered I was the last student on the wait-list not to be accepted.

But it all ended up working out for the best. I LOVE UConn and its programs. The only thing I regret is that I could have saved myself a ton of time, money, and stress if I had just decided to withdraw all of my applications after being accepted to UConn in early October.

I highly recommend prioritizing your schools before you begin the process, so if you get accepted to a school you can knock off all of the schools below it on your list.