Brief Profile:
Volunteered at Children's Hospital Oakland in the ER for about a year and a half. Taught as a Comp Sci TA at Berkeley, and as a lecturer at University of Umea in Sweden. Helped start (and served as president for) the Cognitive Science Student's Association at Berkeley. Did a little research in biomechanics under a post-doc at Cal. Did a little research in mouse cloning at Lawrence Berkeley Labs.
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 2003
Undergraduate college: U.C. Berkeley
Undergraduate Area of study: Biological/Life Sciences
Institution: 2nd undergrad major @ Berkeley
Area of Study: Psychology/Social Sciences
Institution: Certified Nurse's Aid
Area of Study: Nursing/Pharmacy/Medical Technology
Degree Obtained: CNA
Total MCAT SCORE: 520
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 130,
C/P 128,
CARS 132
Overall GPA: 3.46
Science GPA: 3.36
Summary of Application Experience
Kinda odd that none of the UCs even wanted to interview me, but I got in without even waitlisting at SUNY, although I had Cali residency and not NY. Oh well.
I turned down the Chicago interviews because by then I'd gotten in elsewhere and decided I didn't really want to live in such an extreme climate.
Applying to so many schools paid off - I was in the happy position of trying to decide between USC Keck (great school, great weather), SUNY Downstate (great school, great price), and Columbia (great name). (SUNY Downstate would probably have been cheap for me even though I'm from CA because I moved to NY for the year before med school.)
Although I didn't write an LOI, I got into Columbia from the waitlist. I had a second interview, and Dr. Frantz seemed to like me. I turned down the offer though, because I'd decided I'd rather be at USC.
In the end, I chose USC Keck because after visiting all three schools that I was still considering (Downstate, Columbia, Keck), I realized that I was the most excited about Keck, and that I would be happiest there.
