Summary of Experience:
Pros: Its a large, southern city which agrees with me in terms of weather and culture. The students here seemed to have a good school/life balance. The curriculum is a P/F unranked preclinical with a lot of free afternoon time. This school is also very cheap. Also, TMC is the largest medical center in the country, so that is pretty difficult to match.
Summary of Experience:
Pros: Pittsburgh is a very cool city. Seems to be very vibrant with good dining as well as social/exercise outlets. UPMC is an excellent medical system with quality rotation opportunities across the board. Cost of living is apparently excellent. P/F preclinical with non-mandatory class.
Cons: It's a little chilly. The facilities aren't over-the-top gorgeous. Some strange lottery system for choosing rotations.
Second-tier Waitlist. Disappointed to say the least, but you can't win them all. Putting this one in the motivation file.
Summary of Experience:
Pros: The Upper East Side is by far the nicest area to live in Manhattan in my opinion. Also, the cost of living is minimized by student housing that is an absolute steal. The sites that are available to rotate at are absolutely stellar (NYP - Cornell, MSK, HSS, and Methodist in Houston.) The students, especially my student interviewer, seemed like incredibly cool people. Their curriculum is great (1.5 Preclinical.) I hope that March is kind to me.
Cons: Manhattan, while beautiful and exciting, is also a bit intimidating. It would be an extreme lifestyle change for me to move to The Big Apple. Also, $$$ could be a factor - but that remains to be seen.
WL - kind of like kissing your sister. Anyways, I still think this school is amazing and haven't ruled it out yet. I'll probably be a little more decisive after Mayo - Arizona Second Look Weekend.
Summary of Experience:
Pros: The facilities are nice and well subsidized. Preclinical is P/F unranked. Tests are given online and over the weekend. Lecture is non-mandatory and does not begin until 10AM. Protected flex time each Tuesday. Right beside central park. Elective rotation time built into M3 year.
Cons: Not sure how well I fit into the culture of the school. Mt. Sinai seems extremely socially liberal, while I'm more moderate. If I'm lucky, I will figure that out for certain at second look. More expensive than Cornell.
Deferred
Alternate List. I'm still very meh about this school, but I never say never.
Pros: Scottsdale is absolutely beautiful. It would definitely be paradise to live there for 4+ years. The school itself was gorgeous. All of the facilities were brand new. Everyone seemed so excited that they were finally going to have medical students in AZ. I also love that the curriculum allows for each student to rotate among all three Mayo campuses (AZ, MN, FL.) 24 weeks of elective time in the first 2 years is a big plus as well. The amount of institutional support at Mayo in unparalleled in my opinion. The students at Mayo are absolutely treasured by the institution. The patient comes first mentality also means that the majority of their research is clinically based (which is a plus for me.)
Cons: The AZ campus is brand new, and I cant help but think that there will be some growing pains as everything is done for the first time. Also, I am a very social individual - so Mayo's small class size compounded with having no upperclassmen around is a bit concerning. Also, the Scottsdale campus sees no trauma and the Phoenix campus is a level 2 trauma center (meaning the most intense cases are likely transported downtown.) If I decide I want to explore this further, I will need to rotate or take a selective at a level 1 trauma center. However, with all of this being said, I have zero doubt that students at Mayo AZ will experience an exceptional education.
Cue the music! Scottsdale, here I come! Appointment offer!!
Update: I received a need-based scholarship for 75% tuition, but the amount not guaranteed through all 4 years.
MN Campus Rejected 1/18/2017 - Rochester is too cold anyways.
Summary of Experience:
Pros: There is a wealth of sites to do clinical rotations (UH, CC, Metro, Rainbow Children's). They advertise a P/F without internal ranking which is nice. Cost of living is superb. Cavs and Indians are spectacular as of late. Larger class, which means more of a social scene. NBME integrated into curriculum.
Cons: CWRU is likely going to be expensive. The weather is pretty cold and dreary (comparatively). Longitudinal anatomy might be a little frustrating - but I may be overthinking that.
Accepted! It feels good to finally be accepted somewhere. Although this institution has the highest sticker price of my likely options thus far, it is certainly a place that I could see myself thriving.
absolutelynot took the old MCAT and scored a 36 which is in the 97th percentile of all old scores.
We converted this to a 519 on the updated scale which is in the 97th percentile of the updated MCAT. We also converted absolutelynot’s section scores as follows:
absolutelynot scored a 12 on the Biological Science section of the old MCAT which is approximately equal to a 130 on the Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems.
absolutelynot scored a 12 on the Physical Science section of the old MCAT which is approximately equal to a 129 on the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems.
absolutelynot scored a 12 on the Verbal Reasoning section of the old MCAT which is approximately equal to a 130 on the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills.
