Brief Profile:
Navy ROTC (lots of leadership exp.), triathlon team, English teacher in China, medical volunteer in Guatemala, lots of travel experience, physics TA, undergrad & grad research experience (3 first-authored papers so far), cancer survivor - not recommended :)
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 2003
Undergraduate college: University of Colorado
Undergraduate Area of study: Engineering/Technology
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Area of Study: Engineering/Technology
Degree Obtained: Ph.D.
Total MCAT SCORE: 513
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 127,
C/P 130,
CARS 126
Overall GPA: 3.30
Science GPA: 3.12
Summary of Application Experience
Humbling! Undergrad grades (aerospace eng) were poor, grad (biomedical eng) were much better. Strong points are diversity of life experiences and research, weaknesses in application are grades and clinical volunteer work (only 1).
Biggest surprise is that the Ph.D. isn't carrying as much as weight as I expected. There's no substitute for hard numbers (gpa, mcat). Advice for 'overeducated' applicants is to rock the mcats (35+). Show that your ms/ph.d/whatever really pushes you to the next level of scientific understanding. Good luck!
