Menu Icon Search
Close Search

MD Applicants

  • fpo-profile-avatar
  • User #5055

  • Application cycles: 2005
  • Demographics: Male, Caucasian
  • Home state: North Carolina
  • Brief Profile: Phi Beta Kappa, did a little volunteering in the ER, and did 1 year of cancer research that didn't go that well. Intramural soccer and also a member of some school clubs. Dean's List every semester. Extracurriculars and clinical experience by far weakest part of my application
  • // Applications //

    Application Cycle One: 2005

    • Undergraduate college: UNC Chapel Hill
    • Undergraduate Area of study: Physical Sciences
    • Total MCAT SCORE: 522
    • MCAT Section Scores: B/B 130, C/P 129, CARS 132  
    • Overall GPA: 3.89
    • Science GPA: 3.93

    Summary of Application Experience

    I pretty much went into this thinking a 38 on the MCAT and a 3.89 GPA would get me in anywhere. Unbelievable arrogance. Now I'm feeling uneasy and just hoping for the best.

    3/3 - I can't expect a good outcome from WUSTL or Baylor. Already sent a LOI to UNC. Maybe I should also send a love sonnet.

    Bah, this whole process is a giant fustercluck!



    4/18: long update
    Well, UNC and Case Western have been going Brett Favre lately, but they both said decisions will get here sometime this week. Somehow I bet it gets pushed back again.
    I'm on four waitlists now, which normally would give me a pretty good chance at getting in this cycle, but I don't sense that any of the schools are particularly good waitlists to be on. Baylor and Wash U apparently reject almost no one after interview, so I imagine their waitlists are 500 people or more. I think OSU and Wake Forest hand out many more waitlists than rejections post-interview as well. Wake Forest is the only school I know that doesn't overfill it's class, so if I had to guess where I'll be in August, Winston-Salem would probably be the most likely destination. I've heard UNC's in-state waitlist doesn't move very much at all. My interview at Case Western was definitely sub-par and I'll be surprised to even get waitlisted, let alone high enough on the waitlist to get accepted eventually. I don't think they'll take many off of their waitlist either. The most maddening aspect of the waiting game is that every alternate list for me is unranked. I'm just going to have to watch the door close inch by inch throughout May and June unless and until I get that elusive phone call.

    I've pretty much resigned myself to having to reapply, and I won't wait until August for the door to close completely on this cycle. Late apps were a broken leg this time around, and I definitely won't repeat that mistake, even considering that the toil could be for naught while waitlists are moving. Once I graduate in early May I think I'll start working on the TMDSAS and AMCAS primaries. I hope to submit AMCAS and ask for some new letters during the first week of June. In the meantime, I need to get a research job. I've been procrastinating, waiting for UNC to finally hand down a decision. Right now I don't even have a resume. I've also found a couple more fulfilling volunteer experiences and am getting in some shadowing with an opthalmologist, general surgeon, family practice doctor, and at whichever of the ~30 practices I called in the last week decide to get back to me. Do practice managers ever answer their phones?? Also, I plan to continue TAing at UNC's chem department over the summer as well as volunteer in Durham public schools for the last month or so of the school year. Hopefully that will get me into a decent school next time around, in contrast to last year, when in my infinite wisdom I only listed 2 activites on my AMCAS primary.

    I'll go ahead and go through the 30 schools I've tentatively designated for next season. I'm relying heavily on acceptance rates I got from US News premium online - it's a terrific resource for demystifying this process and making it less of a crapshoot as far as getting in goes.

    Reach schools
    Name Acceptance Rate (OOS/In-state, as applicable)
    Baylor 3.4
    Mayo 1.9
    Wash U St. Louis 10
    Duke 5.7
    Columbia 5.2
    Michigan 7.3


    'Target' schools
    Name Acceptance Rate (OOS/In-state, as applicable)
    UNC 22.3
    Texas Southwestern 8.9 - Is this high rate worth completing an extra primary? For now, I'll assume it is.
    Pittsburgh 8.8
    Case Western 8.1
    Iowa 7.8
    Albert Einstein of Yeshiva 7.5
    Ohio State 6.8
    Vanderbilt 6.6
    Virginia 6.2
    Northwestern 5.8
    Dartmouth 5.5
    Rochester 5.2
    Emory 5.0
    NYU 5.0
    Jefferson 5.0


    Additional schools (don't feel comfortable labeling them as backups or safeties)
    Name Acceptance Rate (OOS/In state, as applicable)
    ECU 14.8 - Really felt like a lousy fit this year, but I would attend after another cycle if I got rejected everywhere else.
    Wake Forest 12.4
    Drexel 8
    New York Medical College 7.1
    Kentucky 8.1
    Eastern Virginia 7.5
    St. Louis 7.4
    Rosalind Franklin 7.3
    SUNY Upstate 7.3

    I'm also applying to the following Texas schools because it only costs me an extra $10 each if I do the TMDSAS anyway, and no secondaries are required:
    UT Medical Branch
    UT Houston
    UT San Antonio

    I'm going to interview at as many places as possible, and hopefully I'll have an acceptance in hand somewhere - anywhere - on October 15th.

    For any of you hungry premeds in the audience, I can't overstate the importance of not procrastinating and even more importantly, not trying to get through this all on your own. I never saw a premed advisor during my first three years of college and went into this with some deadly misconceptions and a poorly researched selection of schools. I can think of a hundred things I would have done differently as a premed student - April MCAT, building better faculty contacts, volunteering earlier, etc. Fortunately these mistakes are likely to only cost me a year of what I want from life. Thank Ford for SDN - I don't know where I'd be without it.

    Thanks all for the supportive comments! PM me anytime if you want advice or commiseration from a crusty old veteran of this process.

    5/23/06
    I got the call today from Ohio State! I can't believe it! Looks like I won't be making one of these for next year after all!

    Applied, Rejected

    Vanderbilt University
    Mayo Medical School

    Application Complete, Rejected

    Johns Hopkins University
    Emory University

    Attended Interview, Rejected

    Case Western Reserve University
    Duke University
    East Carolina University

    Attended Interview, Waitlisted

    Wake Forest University
    Baylor College
    Washington University in St. Louis
    University of North Carolina

    Accepted off Waitlist

    Ohio State University

    // Share //

    × Wait!

    Are you sure you want to delete this application cycle? This will remove all application data and cannot be undone.

    × Wait!

    Are you sure you want to delete this school? This will remove all application data and cannot be undone.