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Medical school applicants are often anxious to know what their chances of acceptance are. These vignettes are intended to help in this regard, and maybe even provide some encouragement.
If you have been accepted to medical school, please e-mail me your particulars.
1) I went to Columbia.
2) When I applied, my undergraduate GPA was about 3.8.
3) My MCATs were 12V, 14P, 14B, Q.
4) I got into:
Cornell, Columbia, NYU, Albert Einstein, Washington,
and Mayo Med just to name a few. I also got into a bunch
of DO colleges, but attend an MD school.
5) Nothing too special about my transcript, but I did notice
that research is key to getting into the best medical schools.
For all you premeds out there, be sure to write a strong AMCAS essay. Don't take it lightly. I know of too many students that relied solely on the name of their prestigous school, GPA and MCAT scores but didn't take the AMCAS essay very seriously. Now, they're still reapplying to medical school.... Good luck to y'all. I'm very happy with going to George Washington!!!
White female from Northern California. Standard research and pretty good extracurrics, no publications. Good but not stellar letters of rec. (didn't know many professors very well).
Interviewed at UCSD, UCLA, UCSF, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Penn, Yale, Harvard, Hopkins, Duke. Also invited to interview at Pritzker, Wash.U. and USC, but I didn't go to these interviews because I already had a couple acceptances.
Accepted by Vanderbilt, UCSD, UCLA, Duke, and Hopkins. Wait-listed at Stanford and Penn.
It's kinda weird: I had secondaries and interviews at every school I applied to except one: UC Irvine! I've heard that they actually have a top cut-off, ie, if you have ABOVE a certain GPA/MCAT they won't even give you a secondary because they "know" you won't go there. Go figure!!!
I applied to 30 schools!! interviewd at 22. accepted to 12 of these!! Harvard, Columbia, John Hopkins, Cornell, were the top schools I was accepted to. Also, I am a CA resident but was only accepted to UCD and USC in CA. I was so shocked at my results that I have asked admissions committee why they accepted me. Their answer: I acted human and they could see I was genuine and I had faults and talents. They were also comfortable being around me, and thought I was a nice person. My advice: aim for interviews, then be yourself... If you are a truly nice and REAL person then you have a good chance to get in.... GOOD LUCK!
p.s. I am going to Cornell
Discovered an allele, co-authored one article Chairman of one judicial committee, Board of Student health, Coordinator in AMSA, one year of volunteer work at Penn hospital, tutored for 3 yrs. Research asst one semester at Penn hospital, Researcher at Sloan-Kettering (for above accomplishments) Two other in-depth computer science/medial research projects
Bad mistake: I sent in my apps in Sept! Bad! Due to this late submission, along with lost recs, I missed the deadline for Harvard. If you haven't applied by now, get to it!
P.S. Getting published means a BIG deal to medical schools, particularly private ones. Pretty much all of my friends who got into top medical schools had one or more publications. Being deeply involved in research shows not only that you have the intellectual capacity it takes to make it through the academics of med school, but also that you possess intellectual curiousity, a quality necessary to excel in all aspects of medicine. Considering that there are tens of thousands of applicants, many with comparable numbers, publications are one of the major landmarks that get people into top medical schools.
APPLIED ONLY TO SYRACUSE AND GOT IN.
Two quarter research project on Brain wave mapping.
Got in MCW, St.Louis and Finch.
Acceptances New York Medical College, Medical College of Virginia, Dartmouth, Tufts, UC San Francisco. I decided to go to UCSF.
Worked full-time while in school, did some research assisting for DowElanco chemical company. The past year I have taught high school physics and an astronomy course at Fresno State. Worked as a volunteer for St. Agnes Hospital, Central Valley Blood Center. I applied to 35 schools and was offered 8 interviews (went to 4 of them), and was accepted UC Irvine, Davis, San Francisco, and New York Medical College. To be honest, with my numbers, I don't know how on earth I pulled this thing off with San Francisco!
I applied MD/PhD to most of my schools.
Boston U - Accepted
Dartmouth - Accepted
Chicago Med - Accepted
Pritzker U of Chicago - Accepted
USC - Interviewed, waitlisted, and withdrew from waitlist
Jefferson - Same as above
Penn State - Same as above
Univ of Maryland - Same as above
Georgetown - Interviewed and rejected
Other offers for interviews that I didn't go to (I was already accepted when these offers were made): U of Conneticut, Bowman Gray, and Case Western.
Other schools I applied to but was rejected (they told me that they accept applications from Canadians):
U of Vermont, Tufts, George Washington, U of Virginia, Northwestern, Mount Sinai, Cornell, NYU, U of Cinncinati, U of Penn, Einstein, St. Louis, Wash U, SUNY Brookyln, SUNY Stony Brook, SUNY Syracuse, U of North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Ohio State U.
Schools I discovered that do not accept Canadians: all UC schools, U of Michigan, Allegheny, Temple, Loyola, Rush, U of Illinois, SUNY Buffalo, U of Alabama.
I also applied to some Canadian schools:
McGill - Accepted
U of Toronto - Accepted
U of Calgary - Offered an interview and withdrew
I decided to join the MD/PhD program at the University of Toronto. There were a lot of personal and professional reasons for doing so, and it was a hard choice between Toronto (close to Montreal/amazing school and hospitals/superior research experience) and Pritzker(amazing school/environment/opportunities).
The MD/PhD route is many years. Don't just do it because you feel it is an easy way to get in - it's not. Applications are twice as long, and interviews tend to be 2 days long. Just like the MD route, your interviewers will see right through you if your reasons for going MD/PhD don't appear sincere and justified. But, if you want to do both research and medicine, by all means, apply MD/PhD.
You have to understand that it is very expensive to apply and go to the states. Think good and hard about this before you apply. Realize that it is going to cost anywhere from 22-32 K tuition a year in US dollars. With the Canadian $ at 65.30 cents right now, this is almost 45 K a year Canadian. Multiply by 4 years and this is close to 180 K. Add on the living costs and it is extremely expensive. There are no loans from US schools for Canadians, really, and bank loans from Canadian/US banks would be a scary thought!
I stayed with students whenever possible during interviewing, and at U Chicago they have a sort of hostel that I stayed at. Always schedule your interviews on a Fri or Monday so you can stay over the Sat night to get a cheaper air fare. Chicago Med only interviewed on Thursdays and this cost me: flying out Wed to O'Hare and coming back the next day cost me about $1000.
Undergrad (pre-premed): 3.2, science: 3.15.
Postbac (premed): 3.92, science: 3.92.
Overall undergrad: 3.35, science: 3.58.
MCAT: 32
I applied to SUNYs, UR, Cornell, Vermont, Columbia, MCO, Yale, Harvard.
Accepted at SUNY Buf, Syracuse, Cornell, Columbia, Yale, Harvard. I chose Syracuse.
Extracurriculars/research: Flight medic, mercy flight. Senior software engineer doing research in angiocardiography with U of W - left ventricular analysis and QCA.
I graduated from Oregon State University with a BS in biology (minor in chemistry).
Science GPA 3.26; overall GPA 3.34
MCAT: 9V 10B 8P R
I applied to:
OHSU - Got on the waiting list, rejected
Loyola- Interviewed only for statistical reasons(that is what I was told after the interview was over. I was promised a place on the waiting list, however I was not told where I would be on the waiting list.) Rejected!
UHS-COM - Interviewed and accepted
UOMHS, CCOM - Interviewed and accepted.
I decided to attend UOMHS as it had an excellent reputation for putting out clinically oriented and competent physicians.
Extracurriculars/research, etc.:
Emergency Room volunteer for two years in undergraduate.
Two years of undergraduate research. I recommend only doing this if you
are truly interested. I hated basic science research and although after
graduating I worked as a clinical research assistant, I really only enjoyed
the recruitment aspect, and not the day to day operations. So, the rule
is be true to who you are, only involve yourself in things that interest
you because it shows if you don't.
I also was involved with a number of clubs on campus as Vice-Presidents,
Secretaries, etc. Know your limitations. I was too interested in being
well-rounded and in the end my grades suffered.
2) gpa/sci = 3.87/3.72
3) MCAT 11V, 9P, S, 13B
4) Applied to University of Toronto, McMaster, Univerisy of Western Ontario
5) Accepted by all
6) Extra currics: Worked part-time at Royal Trust (bank) - was on the soccer team for one year; research project on the culturing of T-cells; volunteered at a local hospital for a while; worked on the campus newletter (money section)
7) Problem with application: Since I went for a B.Comm degree (Specialist Program in Commerce and Economics), I had little room to take science courses *and* the interviewers queried me intensely about my reasons for entering medicine (they probably wondered why someone in business would want to enter med school)
8) My successes with application: I had many extracurricular activities; I was well rounded; superior GPA (in sci too); great essays (many English courses helped)
ADVICE: Try to be well-rounded, and always have something to fall back on: don't major in bio or biochem for the sole purpose of med school (you may pay for it if you don't get in). Frankly, I wouldn't have cared if I hadn't been accepted because with my B.Comm Royal Trust (a bank) wanted to hire me as a junior manager of accounts receivables (and I was only 22).
Good luck, and remember it doesn't matter what you major in, just take the prereqs and do something that interests you. You will probably get higher marks that way.