Brief Profile:
VOLUNTEERING ER volunteering inner-city volunteer tutoring St. Louis Science Center volunteer
LEADERSHIP community plumbers examining board MU College of Ag. Staff Council President
MEDICAL EXPERIENCE 50+ hours of doctor shadowing extensive lab research experience
// Applications //
Application Cycle One: 2003
Undergraduate college: Washington University
Undergraduate Area of study: History/Humanities
Institution: University of Missouri-Columbia
Area of Study: Biological/Life Sciences
Total MCAT SCORE: 513
MCAT Section Scores:
B/B 127,
C/P 128,
CARS 129
Overall GPA: 3.11
Science GPA: 3.11
Summary of Application Experience
Grad work at UM-Columbia greatly helped my application, and my second year of application was successful. The process was strange and difficult, and being wait-listed at number 15 in mid-March with no other offers or opportunities did not make it any better. It is mid-May now, and some schools that long ago received my expensive secondaries have yet to send a rejection letter. Missouri was my first choice for personal and financial reasons, and this acceptance was well worth every ounce of frustration, anxiety, and disappointment I experienced over the past two years.
My advice to applicants with an uphill battle is to persevere and to consider your pursuit of medicine a deliberate but not necessarily quick process. In other words, I decided to be a doctor during my first year out of WashU, but I knew that, with my sub-3.0 GPA and small list of extra-curricular activities, I would have to make slow, progressive movements toward med school. I decided to teach high school physics for a few years at a private school that did not require a state teaching license, and then I moved and picked up a job at the University of Missouri so my grad school tuition could be mostly covered by employee benefits.
If you have a low GPA to overcome, move slowly yet delberately, and plan well rather than rush to gather all that is required. While the decision process can be a crapshoot, large portions of what is expected are very well laid out for the applicant. Learn what needs to be done, plan your life down to the hour for months and months, and make it happen. I am confident it will be worth it for me, my patients, and my family.