Letters of Recommendation (LORs): Standard Three Letters - Academic Advisor, Upper Division Science Professor, and Principle Investigator - Upper Division Science Professor and Teaching Assistant Supervisor - Religions Professor (had freshman and senior year) Additional Letters - Lower and Upper Division Science Professor (had freshman and senior year) - BCM SMART Program Principle Investigator - Personal Physician, Mentor, and Principle Investigator
**My school does not use a committee letter**
Diversity Factor: I was diagnosed with leukemia when I was 12, had chemotherapy for 18 months and then relapsed. I had a sibling matched bone marrow transplant and had four years of subsequent treatment for graft vs host disease. During those four years I had numerous life threatening (if cancer wasn't enough) and debilitating complications that allowed me to see many aspects of medicine that most people never see. Recovery was long and hard, but if you saw me today, you would never suspect I went through cancer treatment.
General Advice
This section may fill up slowly, but this is where I will be posting advice specific to the application cycle that I wish would have known/though of before applying.
Submit early!! My number one piece of advice is to submit as early as possible. It takes increasingly longer for AMCAS to verify your application the later you submit. Even though I submitted on the 8th day possible this year I still felt a little behind as others were getting secondaries before me and were complete with those secondaries before me. A lot of school review applications based on when the secondary is marked complete so getting those in as soon as possible should be your number one priority while applying.
The graph does not show this all that well because its a 2 period average, but for those who submitted on the first day in 2012 it took up to eight days to be verified and by the third day was a two week delay. Data was compiled from the SDN Official AMCAS Verification Thread for their respective years.
Choosing an email address: Make a new email address that is specifically for your medical school application. Use gmail, yahoo, icloud, or whatever you want (not aol) and make it as professional as possible - [email protected] or [email protected] or something similar. This way all of your medical school emails go into a specific account and do not get mixed up with your personal/undergraduate email. This email has to be used on your AMCAS application because that is what individual schools will use to create your secondary logins etc.
Put everything on a credit card to earn airline miles: Sign up for a credit card that earns you miles and put everything on it and use those miles for travel. I mean, you are either paying for your application costs with 'cash' and getting nothing for it or you could be putting it all on a credit card and earning miles. Just be sure to pay off the bill when you get it and cancel it after the application cycle if you get it cause most have an annual fee of $60 - $100. Try this as Southwest is considered one of the better airlines to fly on.
Renting a car: If you need to rent a car look around and see if companies are waiving their dues for a gold membership or whatever they are calling it. I signed up for Hertz cause they were waiving the dues and through their Gold Club Card the under 25 fee was waived for me when renting a car. If you know you will have to rent a car several times, it may be worth paying the membership fee as the under 25 fee is also very expensive. Again, remember to cancel this when done because there is an annual fee.
Withdrawing from schools: If you apply to a school and no longer wish to submit the secondary for whatever reason or wish to withdraw at anytime during the application cycle, send a quick email informing them of that. Its professional and courteous and keeps them from reviewing your application any further allowing other applicants that are genuinely interested in the school to be processed faster. It can be as simple as:
To Whom It May Concern, (Or if you got an email from someone specific use their name)
I am writing this email to inform you that I will not be submitting the supplemental application and would like to withdraw my application from consideration for the entering class of 2013.
Date: 5/24/12 Test: The Real Deal Score: PS 10 | VR 10 | BS 10 | (30 O)
I'm a little disappointed with my score because my practice exams were consistently a few points higher in PS and BS, but I'm going to apply anyways w/o a retake. I figure I would rather apply early with this score than later with a potentially higher score. I am thankful though that my score is balanced with no section at or under 8, as at that point I would have retaken.
My Preparation: I used Kaplan's Online On Demand Course and EK 101 Verbal. For Kaplan I spent four days on each block of material given to me. Day 1: First 1/2 of the chapters and their respective end of chapter quizzes. Day 2: Second 1/2 of the chapters and their respective end of chapter quizzes. Day 3: "Required Quizzes," online lecture, and additional review of the chapters as needed. Day 4: "Strongly Recommended Tests" which were normally two passages w/ questions and ~10 discrete questions.
I would do one or two days of Kaplan Verbal/Writing when it came up in their schedule and one day for MSCT when it came up.
I took every Sunday off from studying MCAT material.
I followed this general four day format very well, but got behind often as I was going to school full time and would just get side tracked some weeks and not do anything. I also registered late for my MCAT which gave me an later test date than I wanted, so my 3.5 month study plan turned into a 5 month study plan.
I recommend Breaking Down the MCAT: A 3 Month MCAT Study Schedule by SN2ed if you do not have the money for a prep course, which was probably not necessary looking back. My best advice would be to make a schedule and stick to it.
Personal Statement
**I will post this after the majority of the application cycle has passed.**
Personal Statement Tips: Get started on this early in the year you plan on applying - I would say to at least start thinking about it in November so you can have a good draft to give to your LOR writers when you request those on May 1st.
Once you have a nice rough draft I would recommend tracking down the current Official Personal Statement Guide and Reader List thread on SDN and carefully selecting one or two readers based on their listed credentials for what you want and their post history to make sure they are not a troll or someone that is likely to copy your statement.
Activities
Activity titles and descriptions are as they appear in AMCAS. Most meaningful experiences are denoated by a dagger (†). Brackets denote changes to names and information for anonymity.
To understand some of the references, you should read my Diversity Factor statement. Adcom members will have to reference my personal statement for this information.
Experience Description: Dr. [X]'s lab studies the role of cortactin, a cytoskeletal protein, in metastasis of Ewing's sarcoma using molecular biology and biochemistry techniques. Sophomore year I worked on showing a relationship between metastasis rates and expression levels of cortactin. Junior year I investigated Aurora kinases and their role in phosphorylation of cortactin. This project used immunocytochemistry to show that Aurora kinases are present in the cell with cortactin during mitosis, potentially allowing for phosphorylation to occur. This past year, I worked on developing Dictyostelium discoideum as a model organism in our lab for further research on the role cortactin has in cell motility.
Most Meaningful Summary: I became interested in working with Dr. [X] after hearing her speak at a departmental meeting about her research. The idea of working on a project that no one had done before and knowing that someday it could lead to research that finds a treatment for Ewing's sarcoma was something I could not pass up. Beyond gaining the necessary technical skills to work in the lab, I also developed lifelong skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, persistence, and organization.
My second year working in the lab is when I really began to enjoy my work. I was able to design my own experiments and work on refining them throughout the year. I would often spend long hours alone in the lab at night preparing for the next day's experiment. I came to enjoy this time alone due to the independence and self-reliance I quickly developed. It was later when I started to see positive results that I became even more confident in my work and knew that research would likely be apart of my lifelong career.
Senior year working on the Dictyostelium project I was able to share many of the skills I had learned over the years by taking lead on the project and working with two underclassmen. This developed my leadership and organization skills by working to keep the project together and continuing to progress it forwards.
Experience Description: Dr. [Y]'s lab studies the role of Sox9, a transcription factor, in cell differentiation in intestinal epithelial cells. During the summer, I investigated the role Sox9 plays in regulating proliferation of colorectal cancer cells. I participated in weekly lab meetings and gave an end of program presentation to other participating undergraduates. This was my first exposure to full time bench research and something I really enjoyed. Being able to start a set of experiments on Monday and see results by Friday was an entirely different type of research than I had experienced at [University] and reaffirmed my interest in research as part of my career.
Experience Description: I worked with the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Program at OHSU, doing a retrospective study validating the Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation-Comorbidity Index (HCT-CI). My primary role was to manually extract information from patients' charts that had not been automatically extracted from OHSU's electronic medical record system when this project was initiated. After compiling all the needed information about a given patient, I would evaluate the comorbidities and score them based on the HCT-CI. This project related to my personal experience with bone marrow transplants, and knowing that this type of research will help doctors treat patients in the future was very rewarding.
*Bracketed info has been removed because I'm playing it safe with HIPAA on the internet* *June 2011 - August 2011 (2 hrs/wk)*
Experience Description: As a Patient Pal, I visited with patients on the inpatient wards. I would chat with them, read to them, play games with them, bring them toys, and take them to the playroom. Part of my role was to make the patient's stay in the hospital as enjoyable as possible by taking their mind off of their treatment, but the other part was to give parents a break so they could get a meal or take a shower. I personally understand the uplifting effect volunteers have on patients and also how valuable they are to parents. The short breaks volunteers provide to parents allow them to leave the room for a few hours to regenerate during long stays in the hospital.
Most Meaningful Summary: I looked forward to spending every Friday evening with these patients because they reminded me so much of myself. I remember sitting in the hospital for days at a time with little to do until a volunteer would come to play a new video game. The fun, uplifting spirits those volunteers brought me is what I wanted to bring to these patients. By doing this, I knew I was making a difference in their quality of stay and that they, like myself, would not forget the difference volunteers make.
Beyond the positive spirit I brought these patients, I also brought a fuller understanding of the toll treatment can take on one's outlook. A patient I remember well was an [insert age] year-old girl undergoing treatment for [insert cancer type]. I played [insert game] with her for sometime without sharing that I too had undergone treatment, but eventually I felt it was appropriate. Upon sharing a little of my story and what I had been able to accomplish post-treatment, she opened up to me telling me about her future goals of being an [insert career]. I could tell she just needed someone to talk to that truly understood what she was going through and proof that a normal life can be lived after cancer. I met the mother a week later who informed me of the encouragement I left with her daughter; something I hope to instill in all my future patients.
Experience Description: The Oregon Cord Blood Program's mission is to increase awareness about cord blood donation and to recruit expecting mothers to donate their cord blood for public use in cord blood stem cell transplants. My role included speaking with expecting mothers about the need for cord blood, explaining the donation process, explaining the informed consent, reviewing health history screenings, following up with potential donors, and maintaining the donor registry. This experience was very meaningful to me, knowing that what I did will help others like myself overcome life-threatening hematological diseases.
Experience Description: Due to my close relationship with the Pediatric Hematology Oncology department at OHSU, I was able to spend several mornings a week freely shadowing many of the attending doctors and fellows in the department. I spent the majority of my time with Dr. [Z], the Medical Director of the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Program, seeing patients in clinic and on the ward. I attended weekly grand rounds, weekly departmental rounds, and inpatient morning rounds discussing and seeing every patient in the ward. I observed many procedures such as spinal taps, bone marrow biopsies, and bone marrow procurement for donation.
Most Meaningful Summary: Being back to the clinic where I had been treated, but no longer on the patients' side, I was able to see the work that goes into treating a patient. Dr. [Z]'s ability to communicate with all ages and education levels was something I had never noticed as a patient, but stood out while shadowing her. She was able to speak to young children, teenagers, and parents, some with no secondary education and others with advanced degrees, in such a way that they all understood the disease and how it was being treated. Her adaptability in communicating was remarkable and something I can only hope to emulate as a physician.
The teamwork between doctors was another aspect I had overlooked while undergoing treatment. Observing the back and forth between doctors during inpatient rounds and the discussion of treatment options was eye opening. Each doctor knew each patient, their history, and their current treatment, which allowed for this kind of open discussion, resulting in an agreed upon course of treatment. It showed me the amount of teamwork between doctors and the importance of understanding each patient's case.
Experience Description: Each week, one other student and I would prepare the chemical reagents needed for a given experiment and set up the necessary equipment. I assisted students with their experiments in lab, explaining pertinent theoretical background, demonstrating techniques, and answering questions related to lab or lecture. Outside of lab, I would answer email questions and meet with students by request to go over lab reports or lecture material. This experience improved my confidence in speaking in front of peers and reinforced the knowledge I had learned the previous year.
Experience Description: I tutored two students in general chemistry that requested individualized tutoring sessions through [University]'s Learning Support Services. I would explain concepts, go over homework and lab reports, and help them prepare for exams. The two students had very different learning styles so adapting to each of them was a challenge and a valuable learning experience in determining how a particular concept should be conveyed.
Experience Description: I worked with faculty and staff in preparation and distribution of computers along with troubleshooting software and hardware problems.During the summer I worked with one other student to upgrade the computer labs on campus.
Commitment breakdown: 4 hrs/wk January 2009 to May 2009 20 hrs/wk June 2009 to August 2009 4 hrs/wk September 2009 to February 2010
Experience Description: President 1 hr/wk September 2011 to May 2012 I led twice-monthly meetings that covered topics relevant to pre-health students including on campus opportunities, applying to summer internships, upcoming changes to the MCAT, advice from upperclassmen, and gap-year opportunities. I also brought in guest speakers to discuss topics relevant to pre-health students, led off campus trips, and communicated with the faculty adviser about the goals and progress of the society. I ran for president to share the information I had learned over the past three years in hopes of making other students knowledgeable about the pre-med path and the medical school application process.
Member 0.5 hr/wk September 2008 to May 2011 (during the academic year)
Experience Description: A fellow student and I founded this club to facilitate student interest in biology. I was responsible for drafting the club bi-laws, the constitution, and the initial goals of the club along with obtaining 170 student signatures (10% of total student body) in favor of a club charter and recruiting club members. I also arranged club events including movie screenings, journal clubs, off-campus lecture trips, and summer reading discussions.
Member 1 hr/wk September 2011 to May 2012 I advised the new president on how to continue with leading the club and the logistics of planning events and off campus trips, which I also attended.
Experience Description: The Peer Conduct Board reviews cases of student misconduct hearing from both the offending student(s) and the Residence Life staff member(s) and Campus Safety officer(s) who cited them. We recommended community service hours, fine amounts, alcohol counseling sessions, and other consequences to hold students responsible for their actions. I became involved in this to help ensure [University]'s community was a safe and enjoyable place for all students.
Experience Description: [University] Pep-Band: Saxophonist 4 hrs/wk September to November each year (2008-2011) I played at all on-campus football games and attended twice-weekly rehearsals.
Additionally, I took private lessons from fourth to twelfth grade, have played with the Portland Metropolitan Youth Symphony for two years (2002-2003 & 2005-2006), and was the principal saxophonist for the Portland Youth Philharmonic for two years (2005-2007). Music has always been and always will be an integral part of my life. It not only taught me dedication when I was young, but helped me through many rough days of chemotherapy and stressful weeks of college.
Experience Description: The [University Newspaper] is a weekly student run newspaper. I took photographs of school events and achieved front-page photographs for several news and sporting events. Photography had been an interest of mine when I joined the [University Newspaper], but something I had never pursued. Working for the [University Newspaper], I was provided equipment and diverse subject matter, which I readily took advantage of to learn a new skill, while providing a valuable resource to my college community.
02 - Transcripts: Requested for AMCAS and TMDSAS (one held for spring grades for TMDSAS) 10 - Transcripts: AMCAS received transcript from primary undergraduate institution (w/o spring grades) 14 - Transcripts: AMCAS received 1 of 2 transcripts from HS dual enrollment 15 - Transcripts: AMCAS received 2 of 2 transcripts from HS dual enrollment 15 - Transcripts: TMDSAS received 1 of 2 transcripts from HS dual enrollment 16 - Transcripts: TMDSAS received 2 of 2 transcripts from HS dual enrollment 16 - LORs: AMCAS received 1 of 6 LORs (not sent through interfolio) 22 - LORs: TMDSAS received 1 of 3 LORs (not sent through interfolio) 24 - MCAT: Sat for exam 29 - Transcripts: Requested transcript for AMCAS w/ spring grades (See Rational) 30 - LORs: Interfolio received 1 of 3 LORs 30 - LORs: Interfolio received 2 of 3 LORs
01 - LORs: Interfolio received 3 of 3 LORs 04 - LORs: Sent Interfolio letters to AMCAS 05 - LORs: AMCAS received 4 of 6 LORs 05 - Transcripts: AMCAS received transcript w/ spring grades 06 - Transcripts: TMDSAS received transcript w/ spring grades 13 - AMCAS: Submitted for verification w/ state school only (see Additional Notes for rational) 21 - LORs: TMDSAS received 2 of 3 LORs (not sent through interfolio) 22 - LORs: AMCAS received 5 of 6 LORs (not sent through interfolio) 23 - LORs: AMCAS received 6 or 6 LORs (not sent through interfolio) 26 - MCAT: Received score (10/10/10/O)
05 - AMCAS: Verified and additional schools added 05 - TMDSAS: Submitted for verification 06 - TMDSAS: Payment mailed 06 - Payment Request/Sent: Mayo Medical School 06 - Secondary Received/Submitted: Medical College of Wisconsin 06 - Secondary Received: St. Louis University 07 - Secondary Submitted: Baylor College of Medicine 09 - Secondary Received: University of Cincinnati 09 - TMDSAS: Payment received 09 - Complete: Medical College of Wisconsin 10 - Complete: Baylor College of Medicine 11 - LORs Requested/Sent: Mayo Medical School 12 - Secondary Received: Ohio State University 16 - Secondary Received: University of Wisconsin 16 - Secondary Submitted/Complete: University of Cincinnati 16 - Secondary Submitted/Complete: St. Louis University 18 - Secondary Received: Case Western Reserve University (Applying both UP & CCLCM) 19 - Secondary Received: Wake Forest University 19 - Secondary Received: Oregon Health & Science University 20 - TMDSAS: Application Transmitted to Schools 20 - Secondary Submitted: UT Southwestern 24 - Secondary Received: University of Arizona - Tucson 24 - Complete: Mayo Medical School 25 - Secondary Submitted: Wake Forest University 25 - Secondary Received: University of Iowa 25 - AMCAS: Added UA Phoenix & UCF 26 - Secondary Received: University of Central Florida 31 - Rejection: University of Washington (No surprise here as an OOR applicant)
01 - LORs: TMDSAS received 3 of 3 LORs (not sent through interfolio) 02 - Secondary Received: University of Colorado 06 - Complete: UT Houston 06 - Secondary Submitted: University of Wisconsin 07 - Complete: University of Wisconsin 08 - Complete: Wake Forest University 09 - Secondary Submitted: Case Western Reserve University (Both UP & CCLCM) 09 - Secondary Submitted: University of Iowa 10 - Complete: Case Western Reserve University (Both UP & CCLCM) 10 - Secondary Submitted: University of Colorado 10 - Interview Invite: Wake Forest University 13 - Complete: University of Iowa 14 - Complete: University of Colorado 14 - Secondary Submitted: University of Central Florida 15 - Complete: University of Central Florida 16 - Secondary Submitted: Oregon Health & Science University 17 - Complete: UT San Antonio 22 - Rejected: Mayo Medical School 22 - Small Pool: Medical College of Wisconsin 23 - Eligible for Interview: University of Central Florida 24 - Complete: Oregon Health & Science University 29 - Secondary Recieved: University of Arizona - Phoenix
07 - Secondary Submitted: University of Arizona - Phoenix 07 - AMCAS: Added Columbia University 10 - Secondary Received/Submitted: Columbia University 11 - Complete: Columbia University 21 - Interview Attended: Wake Forest University 27 - Rejected: University of Wisconsin 29 - Withdrew: Texas A&M
03 - Interview Invite: Oregon Health & Science University 04 - Withdrew: Ohio State University 04 - Withdrew: University of Arizona - Tucson 09 - Interview Invite: University of Arizona - Phoenix 15 - Waitlist: Wake Forest University 26 - Interview Attended: Oregon Health & Science University
09 - Rejected: Case Western Reserve University CCLCM 14 - Rejected: Case Western Reserve University UP 29 - Hold: Oregon Health & Science University 30 - Update/Interest Letter: University of Central Florida
10 - Interview Attented: University of Arizona - Phoenix 10 - Update/Interest Letter: Wake Forest University 12 - Update/Interest Letter: University of Cincinnati 19 - Rejected: University of California San Diego
08 - Rejected: UT San Antonio 11 - Hold: University of Arizona - Phoenix 14 - Update/Interest Letter: Medical College of Wisconsin 14 - Update/Interest Letter: St. Louis University 14 - Update/Interest Letter: University of Colorado 22 - Rejected: UT Houston 28 - Rejected: University of Iowa (via postal mail)
04 - Rejected: Univerity of Colorado 12 - Rejected: UT Southwestern 14 - Interview Invite: University of Central Florida 26 - Rejected: Baylor College or Medicine
04 - Rejected: Columbia University 07 - Rejected: University of Cincinnati 08 - Interview Attended: University of Central Florida 21 - Update/Interest Letter: Wake Forest University (2nd update) 25 - Rejected: St. Louis University 26 - Waitlisted: University of Central Florida (middle of upper 1/3rd)