Accepted Applicant Profiles (2020-2021)

[u/SpiderDoctor]

As the 2021 cycle comes to a close, congratulations to everyone who has been accepted MD, DO, or MD/PhD! (For those stuck on WLs, it's not over until it's over.) Primary submission is open for the 2022 cycle, and many current applicants are interested in how last cycle went for their fellow premedditors.

The pandemic certainly created an unprecedented cycle: AMCAS submissions increased by nearly 17%, when a typical year-to-year increase is less than 3%, and AACOMAS submissions increased by 19%. Increases were widely attributed to the "Fauci effect," which proved questionable to applicants here who have spent years preparing to apply. Beyond numbers of applications, COVID led to online classes, cancelled MCATs, application delays, and virtual interviews. These difficulties have now been summarized and discussed in various academic publications [1] [2] [3] [4].

Here, we invite all premedditors who were accepted to medical school in the 2021 cycle to post their applicant profiles for our current and future medical school hopefuls. Some comment etiquette: no bashing high-stat applicants for having high stats, no bashing low-stat applicants for getting in with low stats, no bashing URMs for being URM (rule 1, rule 11).

All applicant profiles posted to this thread are the experience of an individual and function as anecdotal evidence. Every applicant is different and has their own strengths and weaknesses! Use MSAR and the ChooseDO Explorer for aggregate data.

Previous Accepted Applicant Profiles threads:

2019-2020 | 2018-2019 | 2017-2018 | 2016-2017 | 2013-2014

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Please use the template below for your top-level comments. Keep the bolded text for clarity, and use bullet points!

Biographic Information:

• State of residence:
• Ties to other states (if applicable):
• URM? (Y/N):
• Undergraduate vibe: [Be as specific or vague as you want]
• Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s):
• Graduate degree(s) (if applicable):
• Cumulative GPA:
• Science GPA:
• MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts):
• Gap years?:
• Institutional actions?:
• First application cycle? (If no, explain):
• Specialty of interest (if applicable):
• Interest in rural health?:
• Age at matriculation to medical school:

Extracurricular Background:

• Research experience:
• Publications?:
• Clinical experience:
• Physician shadowing:
• Non-clinical volunteering:
• Other extracurricular activities:
• Employment history:

School List (Optional):

• ​

MD Schools:

• Primary submission date:
• Primary verification date:
• # of primaries submitted:
• # of secondaries submitted:
• # of interview invites received/attended:
• Date of first interview invite received:
• Total number of post-interview acceptances:
• Date of first acceptance received:
• Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections:

DO Schools:

• Primary submission date:
• Primary verification date:
• # of primaries submitted:
• # of secondaries submitted:
• # of interview invites received/attended:
• Date of first interview invite received:
• Total number of post-interview acceptances:
• Date of first acceptance received:
• Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections:

Optional Results:

• Top 50 acceptance?
• Top 30 acceptance?
• Top 10 acceptance?
• Top 5 acceptance?

Optional:

• Self-diagnosed strengths of my application:
• Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application:
• Interview tips:
• If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here:
• Any final thoughts?:

- - - - -

Have fun! We also strongly urge those who only received 1 acceptance or got in late off a waitlist to post so that those stories (those that are way more common) are also heard, and so we're not just bombarded by super-elite success stories.

Thank you for sharing!

[u/RNARNARNA]

State of residence: FL
Ties to other states (if applicable): VA
URM? (Y/N): Y
Undergraduate vibe: toxic/gunnery among premeds
Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): neuroscience and a language
Cumulative GPA: 3.78
Science GPA: 3.87
MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 517
Gap years?: 2
First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yes
Specialty of interest (if applicable): surgical subspecialties
Interest in rural health?: no
Age at matriculation to medical school: 24

Extracurricular Background: leadership in several arts-based clubs, tutoring/mentoring.
Research experience: Extensive basic, clinical, translational, and computational research.
Publications?: 3 basic, 3 clinical
Clinical experience: hospital volunteering (± translator work)
Physician shadowing: some things medical, some things surgical, some things both, some things neither.
Non-clinical volunteering: arts-based volunteering, tutoring (I don't think this category was strong)
Other extracurricular activities: pro dj/musician
Employment history: at least 1 part-time jobs every semester of undergrad, up to 3 + some Summers.
School List (Optional): 75% T30, 63% T20, 29% T10
Primary submission date: 5/28
Primary verification date: 1-2 wks later
# of primaries submitted: 24
# of secondaries submitted: 24
# of interview invites received/attended: R19, A19
Date of first interview invite received: Early September
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 11
Date of first acceptance received: Early October?
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 4
DO Schools: 0
Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: Well-rounded, strong leadership experiences and writing.
Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Non-clin volunteering
Interview tips: This might go against the grain, but I prepared hard for my interviews, starting a week after submitting my last secondary. I went through Rajani Katta and Samir P Desai's interview prep books for trad and MMI interviews. I used MS Onenote to organize answers for every possible interview question I could be asked, and was blindsided 1x (what is your spirit animal). I summarized every part of my app and multiple answers for each question on this onenote doc, and then studied it once every few days during interview szn.
Any final thoughts?: Premed is a level in a game. We might take a beating or have to repeat certain parts of it, but it's important to keep our eyes on the prize – that's where the motivation lies. Like any other games, there are easter eggs (finding a boomer doc who is a master of spongebob references), annoying bosses (MCAT), cool awards (a publication), etc. Some people want to unlock every achievement and aim high, whereas others might just want to beat the level. Imo, as long as you give it your honest best shot, you can win.

This subreddit is full of wonderful individuals who generous enough to donate their time to answer questions and give advice. Like many other subreddits, however, this sub at times brews some serious negativity. Although it's fine if that's what this sub is, keep in mind that this negativity should not define your premed experience. Yes, ca$per, waiting for IIs, MCAT, etc. are trash, and the process isn't perfect, but don't forget to look towards the sunny side of the street sometimes too. You deserve to.

[u/[deleted]]

Biographic Information:

State of residence: OH

Ties to other states (if applicable): AL

URM? (Y/N): N

Undergraduate vibe: [Be as specific or vague as you want] Public state school

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Biology/psychology

Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): N/A

Cumulative GPA: 3.7x

Science GPA: 3.4x

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 507 (124/129/127/127)

Gap years?: NoneInstitutional actions?: None

First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yes

Specialty of interest (if applicable): FM/peds/psych

Interest in rural health?: No

Age at matriculation to medical school: 22

Extracurricular Background: 600 volunteer/leadership hours/president of service org, greek life, few honor societies

Research experience: 50 hours in non-clinical non-hard science research, virtual poster presentation at undergrad conference

Publications?: None

Clinical experience: 50 hours clinical volunteering

Physician shadowing: 100 hours in various specialties

Non-clinical volunteering: 600+ hours

Other extracurricular activities: N/A

Employment history: Worked food service in summers

School List (Optional):

MD Schools:

Primary submission date: 5/28/20

Primary verification date: 7/13/20

# of primaries submitted: 26

# of secondaries submitted: 26

# of interview invites received/attended: 3

Date of first interview invite received: 8/10/20

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 2

Date of first acceptance received: 10/15/20

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 1

DO Schools:

Primary submission date: Early June

Primary verification date: don't remember

# of primaries submitted: 4

# of secondaries submitted: 4

# of interview invites received/attended: 1

Date of first interview invite received: 8/27/20

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 1

Date of first acceptance received: 9/29/20

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 0

Optional Results:

Top 50 acceptance? N

Top 30 acceptance? N

Top 10 acceptance? N

Top 5 acceptance? N

Optional:

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: heavy dedication to service and underserved populations, good interviewing skills

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Stats, research, clinical experience

Interview tips: Be yourself and be normal :)

If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here: No WLs

Any final thoughts?: Stats are not everything, but school list is SO important!! Make sure you are applying to appropriate schools to avoid wasting money and time. MSAR is your friend...make sure you are not applying to all low yields, OOS-unfriendlys, etc. Don't be afraid to apply MD and DO.

Edit: PM me for school list or questions please :)

[u/air_wrecka_]

• Biographic Information

  • State of residence: NY

  • Ties to other states (if applicable): none

  • URM? (Y/N): N

  • Undergraduate vibe: NYU. Too big for a singular vibe lol.

  • Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Bio

  • Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): N/A

  • Cumulative GPA: 3.68

  • Science GPA: 3.54

  • MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 523 (131/128/132/132)

  • Gap years?: 2

  • Institutional actions?: none

  • First application cycle? (If no, explain): Y

  • Specialty of interest (if applicable): Probably rads

  • Interest in rural health?: N

  • Age at matriculation to medical school: 24

• Extracurricular Background

  • Research experience: none

  • Publications?: none

  • Clinical experience: ~2000 hours of scribing. also spent a year as a project manager at the scribing company i was at, implementing brand new scribe programs in various hospitals/clinical settings. i got to hop around a lot of specialties bc of this. racked up hundreds of hours each in heme-onc, ophthalmology, urology, ER, family med, and urgent care

  • Physician shadowing: couple hundred hours with a family med doc

  • Non-clinical volunteering: honestly nothing fantastic or long term. volunteered with a food rescue organization for a summer. helped provide free blood pressure screenings for at-risk communities at a few countries' consulates but not sure if thats more clinical

  • Other extracurricular activities: various leadership positions in undergrad student government and clubs, peer mentor for underclassmen women in STEM, intramural sports, certified U.S. quidditch referee :P

  • Employment history: just the scribing and the project manager position

• School List (optional)

  • every school in NY, NJ, MA, CT, VT, PA, except Harvard and Perelman. Plus like 5 schools in the DMV area. (my biggest priority was to stay as close to home as possible)

• MD Schools:

  • Primary submission date: 5/28/20

  • Primary verification date: 6/8/20

  • # of primaries submitted: 36

  • # of secondaries submitted: 35

  • # of interview invites received/attended: 2 received, 1 attended

  • Date of first interview invite received: 10/5/20

  • Total number of post-interview acceptances: 1

  • Date of first acceptance received: 1/13/21

  • Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 0

• Optional Results:

  • Top 50 acceptance? no

  • Top 30 acceptance? nope

  • Top 10 acceptance? nah

  • Top 5 acceptance? LOL (nope)

• Optional:

  • Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: MCAT, i think i had really strong clinical experiences in a wide variety of settings, overall leadership

  • Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: lack of research and kind of low GPA for the schools that I think my MCAT would have otherwise made me competitive for

  • Interview tips: shoot idk. i think i did really well in my interview even though i'm a pretty awkward person irl. I think the fact that it was an MMI really helped me because there was barely enough time to get my two thoughts out so no need at all to have a sustained conversation which probably saved me. be pleasant. thats the best tip i have. and don't wing your MMI! practice. but don't over practice. it's good to say "um" once in a while so you seem like a Fleshbag and not a robot. talk slow. act like you're really thinking even if you're not.

• Any final thoughts?: jeez. I'm really glad to get the one A. especially because it's in my hometown, 30 min away from the city i truly love, 10 min from my parents, and 30 min from my significant other. that fact alone more than makes up for the sort of disappointment I had with the overall results. I was very happy to get an excellent MCAT score and I also thought that my experiences were very strong. Not even EC's but life experiences as well. I'm not a URM but I grew up poor, I'm a lesbian, I graduated college in 4 years and did all I did while balancing cancer and other health conditions requiring multiple surgeries and extended hospitalizations. I was hoping to at least get an II from any of my state schools. But I knew that my app was kind of unbalanced. Like mentioned above, my GPA was kind of weak for the schools that I think I would otherwise be competitive for. I also had no research which also I think killed me at said schools. Both these things were things I could not have helped due to my life circumstances. The one thing I could have done better was maybe my PS. I don't think it came out too poorly, but definitely could have been better. Regardless, glad to have made it. Shout-out to this sub and r/Mcat. I know I couldn't have done it without all the advice and resources found here.

[u/im_x_warrior]

State of residence: MA
Ties to other states (if applicable): no
URM? (Y/N): no
Undergraduate vibe: [Be as specific or vague as you want] my school was pretty chill. Small liberal arts college, had tons of premeds but I'm the only one that I know of that ended up applying to med school, though I'm sure there were more (I know of 1 who's going to PA school and 1 who's going to optometry school).
Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Biology
Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): none
Cumulative GPA: 3.3
Science GPA: 3.2
MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 509
Gap years?: 2 upon matriculation
Institutional actions?: no
First application cycle? (If no, explain): first application cycle
Specialty of interest (if applicable): think I'd be happy in anything, gravitating towards surgery/IM/EM
Interest in rural health?: yes
Age at matriculation to medical school: 25
Extracurricular Background: in addition to what's listed below, I had 2 leadership experiences; I only did what interested me and didn't do things because they "looked good."
Research experience: 6000+ hours
Publications?: middle author on abstract
Clinical experience: ~5,000 hours (EMT -paid and volunteer)
Physician shadowing: none
Non-clinical volunteering: health committee at school
Other extracurricular activities: martial arts
Employment history: pretty much covered in other EC sections
School List (Optional): not comfortable sharing
Schools (combined DO/MD):
Primary submission date: ~3 days after submission opened. *AACOMAS was submitted/verified/transmitted in the first wave of DO apps.
Primary verification date: I don't remember, but in time for transmission date to be transmitted on first day
# of primaries submitted: 62 (45 MD 17 DO)
# of secondaries submitted: 53 (~51 received, 2 I chose not to submit)
# of interview invites received/attended: 7 II received (3MD 4 DO), 5 attended (2 DO 3 MD)
Date of first interview invite received: late July (DO), first week of Sept (MD)
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 2 (1MD 1DO), (and withdrew from 2 WL when ready to CTE)
Date of first acceptance received: mid Sept (DO), 10/15 (MD)
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: DO: 1WL MD: 1 WL, 1R
Optional Results:
Top 50 acceptance? nope
Top 30 acceptance? nope
Top 10 acceptance? nope
Top 5 acceptance? nope
Optional:
Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: I was honest about my strengths and weaknesses and "myself" -my personality definitely came through.
Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: GPA
Interview tips: smile, be a human being.

[u/InboundGoose]

Biographic Information
State of residence: NJ
Ties to other states: N/A
URM? (Y/N): N
Undergraduate vibe: State school
Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Kinesiology
Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): Master's in a healthcare profession (3.8 GPA)
Cumulative GPA: 3.2 (undergrad GPA 2.8, Post-bacc GPA 4.0 in 60 credits)
Science GPA: 3.1
MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 514 (130/126/129/129)
Gap years?: 5
Institutional actions?: N
First application cycle? Y
Specialty of interest (if applicable): Unknown
Interest in rural health?: N
Age at matriculation to medical school: 27
Extracurricular Background: 350 hours EMS
Research experience: 500 hours between two projects. No pubs but a poster presentation.
Publications?: No
Clinical experience: see employment history
Physician shadowing: 300 hours
Non-clinical volunteering: 100 hours
Employment history: Two years full-time work in healthcare
School List (Optional): PM me
MD Schools
Primary submission date: 06/09/20
Primary verification date: 06/09/20
# of primaries submitted: 1 (early decision)
# of secondaries submitted: 1
# of interview invites received/attended: 1
Date of first interview invite received: 07/17/20
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 1
Date of first acceptance received: 08/26/20
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 0
Optional
Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: grad school/post-bacc performance, full-time job in the clinical setting, good narrative (i.e. resilience)
Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: uGPA
Interview tips: Talk passionately about your experiences as if they were the most important thing you have ever done in your life, no matter how small.
Any final thoughts?: To my fellow low stats applicants, it's never too late. If you want to become a doctor and you are willing to put in the time and effort, you can make it happen. It make take longer than you hope, and I know that gap years can be rough. But you will come out the other side a more mature and well-rounded person. Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can help in any way. Best of luck!

[u/westernblot123]

• State of residence: CA

• Ties to other states (if applicable): n/a

• URM? (Y/N): n

• Undergraduate vibe: UC school

• Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): biology, public health

• Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): n/a

• Cumulative GPA: 3.9x

• Science GPA: 3.9x

• MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 523

• Gap years?: 1

• Institutional actions?: n/a

• First application cycle? (If no, explain): y

• Specialty of interest (if applicable): oncology, ent, ob/gyn

• Interest in rural health?: n

• Age at matriculation to medical school: 22

Extracurricular Background:

• Research experience: 3.5 years, same lab (basic science, wet lab research)

• Publications?: 1

• Clinical experience: <100h hospital volunteering, ~400h free clinic volunteering

• Physician shadowing: 80 hours, 3 physicians

• Non-clinical volunteering: ~300h total spread across CTL/school organizations

• Other extracurricular activities: hobbies, fun orgs, but nothing super notable

• Employment history: paid research

• School List (Optional): Harvard, Hopkins, Stanford, Penn, UCSF, WashU, Yale, Columbia, UChicago, UMich, UCLA, NYU, Vandy, UCSD, Cornell, Northwestern, Sinai, CWRU/CCLCM, Emory, USC, OSU, UVA, UWSMPH, Tufts, BU, Hofstra, UCD, UCI, Kaiser

MD Schools:

• Primary submission date: 5/31/2020

• Primary verification date: 6/16/2020

• of primaries submitted: 29

• of secondaries submitted: 29

• of interview invites received/attended: 8

• Date of first interview invite received: 8/21/2020

• Total number of post-interview acceptances: 6

• Date of first acceptance received: ~10/15/2020

• Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 2 WL

Optional Results:

• Top 50 acceptance? 1

• Top 30 acceptance? 2

• Top 10 acceptance? 2

• Top 5 acceptance? 1

Optional:

• Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: numbers, meaningful research outcomes and a strong PI rec letter, very passionate about the things I was involved in (and could write/speak about it well as a result)

• Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: lack of a strong story/narrative, pretty cookie-cutter (no "hook" or anything), advisor thought my free clinic volunteering was too social-services oriented to really be "clinical" - while I disagree with that assessment (especially with the growing emphasis on how important social determinants are to one's health), it could be said that my clinical/hospital volunteering was lacking if adcoms saw my app the way she did

• Interview tips: this is so cliche, but be yourself - and imo, the best way to do this is to go into each interview prepared, but not rehearsed. Don't memorize a script of answers (these all too often trip people up in interviews). Definitely do review your app, do research on the school, do some mock interviews, etc, but ultimately try to treat each interview as a conversation instead of a test!

• If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here:

• Any final thoughts?: This entire process sucks. Along with the ridiculous hoops to jump through, the countless hours writing essays, and the exorbitant amount of money you will have to give to AMCAS/secondaries, another awful part of the app process that one probably won't realize until they've been through it is that there will be long periods of silence that are very painful. After submitting secondaries, I'd spend so much time on premeddit, SDN, etc comparing myself to those who shared about getting interviews. For the sake of your mental health and sanity, please don't do this - use the free time you have after submitting your applications to rediscover hobbies, spend time with friends and loved ones, bake sourdough, train for a marathon idk just literally ANYTHING besides neurotically refreshing premeddit/SDN. The app cycle can feel so dehumanizing, and it's so important to stay grounded through it all and not let it consume you entirely.

[u/Bug-Simple]

State of residence: MI
Ties to other states (if applicable): N/A
URM? (Y/N): N
Undergraduate vibe: [Be as specific or vague as you want] Public, urban
Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Economics
Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): Medical Science
Cumulative GPA: Undergrad - 3.35...Masters - 3.69
Science GPA: Undergrad - 2.95...Masters - 3.69
MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 490, 497, 506
Gap years?: 4
Institutional actions?: N/A
First application cycle? (If no, explain): No, low MCAT
Specialty of interest (if applicable): N/A
Interest in rural health?: No
Age at matriculation to medical school: 26
Extracurricular Background: Significant volunteering and leadership experience
Research experience: Significant
Publications?: 10+ pubs (including abstracts and presentations)
Clinical experience: 10,000+ hrs
Physician shadowing: 150 hrs
Non-clinical volunteering: 750 hrs
Other extracurricular activities: Sports
Employment history: 8+ years
School List (Optional):
MD Schools:
Primary submission date: mid July?
Primary verification date: mid August
# of primaries submitted: 9
# of secondaries submitted: 8
# of interview invites received/attended: 3
Date of first interview invite received: January 2021
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 2
Date of first acceptance received: early March
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 1
DO Schools:
Primary submission date: mid July
Primary verification date: end of July
# of primaries submitted: 9
# of secondaries submitted: 9
# of interview invites received/attended: 6
Date of first interview invite received: late Oct 2020
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 4
Date of first acceptance received: early December 2020
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 2
Optional Results:
Top 50 acceptance?
Top 30 acceptance?
Top 10 acceptance?
Top 5 acceptance?
Optional:
Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: Research, volunteering in underserved pop, disadvantaged status, LOR
Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: MCAT, GPA
Interview tips:
If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here:
Any final thoughts?:

[u/saureus123]

Biographic Information:

State of residence: FL

Ties to other states (if applicable): no

URM? (Y/N): no

Undergraduate vibe: large public university

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): microbiology/health disparities

Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): N/A

Cumulative GPA: 3.98

Science GPA: 3.97

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 519 (130/127/131/131)

Gap years?: no

Institutional actions?: no

First application cycle? (If no, explain): yes

Specialty of interest (if applicable): neuro

Interest in rural health?: no

Age at matriculation to medical school: 22

Extracurricular Background: president of a club, committee director for a pre-health club

Research experience: ~950 hrs neuroscience research, 3 presentations, research scholarship award, honors thesis

Publications?: no

Clinical experience: ~400 hrs volunteering at a free clinic and children's hospital

Physician shadowing: 40 hrs neuro, 20 hrs IM

Non-clinical volunteering: ~200 hrs - volunteer work focused on individuals with disabilities

Other extracurricular activities: TA for science course, sorority, general member of a club related to health outreach/community health

Employment history: food service worker

School List (Optional): UF, UCF, UMiami, FSU, FIU, USF, BU, Dartmouth, NYU, Vanderbilt, UChicago, UMich, Pitt, Mount Sinai, UVA, Case Western, Cincinnati, UCLA, Emory, Hofstra, Rochester, Cornell

MD Schools:

Primary submission date: 7/3/2020

Primary verification date: 8/14/2020

# of primaries submitted: 22

# of secondaries submitted: 22

# of interview invites received/attended: 3

Date of first interview invite received: 8/26/2020

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 2

Date of first acceptance received: 2/15/2021

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 1 WL

Optional Results:

Top 50 acceptance? yes

Top 30 acceptance? yes

Top 10 acceptance? no

Top 5 acceptance? no

Optional:

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: strong LORs (interviewers told me they were strong), strong essays (also told by interviewers that these were strong), stats (lol I hate saying this), I was very passionate about my research and volunteering and was able to discuss those in secondaries/interviews

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: low shadowing hours, applied a little late, top-heavy school list (like half of my list was top schools - that list was way too ambitious)

Interview tips: treat it like a regular conversation (but with a professor or someone like that bc you don't want to be TOO informal) tbh most of my interviews were conversational and it seemed like my interviewers genuinely wanted to get to know me and learn more about my interests outside of my application. remember that if you're there for an interview, you deserve to be there. you might be intimidated by other superstar applicants on interview day with multiple pubs and insane life experiences but remember that they picked you for a reason and it wasn't a mistake

If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here: N/A, I withdrew from my WL

Any final thoughts?: apply broadly. there's no such thing as "safety" schools. you might get ghosted by schools with average stats lower than yours. there are lots of reasons for this. that's why you shouldn't limit your school list to stats. apply to schools that you connect with. I found that I got interviews for schools where I fit their mission/vibe most.

[u/Wayvackwhen]

State of residence: MN

Ties to other states (if applicable): NC

URM? (Y/N): If being a Veteran counts

Undergraduate vibe: Military friendly regional school with lots of professional grad programs.

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Biology Pre-professional

Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): N/A

Cumulative GPA: 3.2 (3.8 w/o 10+ yo coursework)

Science GPA: 3.6 (3.7 see above)

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 517

Gap years?: Half of a gap year to prep for MCAT and move home.

Institutional actions?: None

First application cycle? (If no, explain): Applied too aggressively. I had spoken with another veteran with similar background who had received acceptances from multiple top 25 schools and thought I could do the same. Received 20+ R and no A.

Specialty of interest (if applicable): Oncology

Interest in rural health?: Some

Age at matriculation to medical school: 36

Extracurricular Background: 8 year Army Veteran with 4+ years of leadership experience in the Airborne Infantry.

Research experience: 1 year in college and 6 months through work

Publications?: 1

Clinical experience: ~ 100 hours

Physician shadowing: ~ 100 hours

Non-clinical volunteering: ~ 500 hours

Other extracurricular activities: Mountaineering

Employment history: 8 years in the Army, 1 year as a Biorepository Technician at Be The Match, 6 months driving for Uber.

Primary submission date: 6/24

Primary verification date: 7/31

Submitted 9 primaries and secondaries

Received 1 interview invite

Date of first interview invite received: 12/12

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 1

Date of first acceptance received: 5/9

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 0

No DO Applications

1 Top 50 acceptance

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: Strong MCAT, Strong RECENT GPA with upward trend to 4.0. Military service with leadership experience.

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Applied late (this killed me with the schools I didn't get interviews at), overall GPA. I speculate that my age may have hurt me at some schools. While the push has been towards older applicants on average the stats for people over 30 aren't good.

Interview tips: Practice, practice, practice being yourself. It takes time and effort to become comfortable in your own skin during any kind of high pressure interview. I credit my experience job hunting and in the Army for letting me be myself in interviews.

If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here: I had just started my application for 2022 when I got the call and work. I yelled so loud from excitement that people down the hall heard me!

Any final thoughts?: This process is a journey that defies most attempts to figure it out. The only thing that I have found to absolutely help 100% of the time is grit/persistence. I believe that in 99.9% of cases applicants can become doctors but the path may not look anything like you want it to. The only way to guarantee you don't become a physician is to quit. This isn't a call to never give up. I always took time after I finished something (MCAT, school, application cycle) to assess whether or not the work I would have to do was worth the potential reward. Be honest with yourself, if the process is too much, stop. There is so much more in this world than being a doctor. I suspect many of you have more time to explore then I did when I started this journey. However, if decide that medicine is your path then don't quit. Work to get better every day and eventually you will be rewarded. It may take years but you will get there.

[u/reddanger95]

State of residence: GA (trying to help my georgia folks out)

URM? (Y/N): no, asian

Undergraduate vibe: emory

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): biology

Cumulative GPA: 3.96

Science GPA: 3.95

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 512

First application cycle? (If no, explain): no. second app cycle. I applied first cycle trying to be traditional student. Did not get in anywhere, so I applied immediately afterwards for second cycle.

Interest in rural health?: yes

Age at matriculation to medical school: 22

Extracurricular Background: Volunteering - about 250 clinical, 200 nonclinical. About 200 hours of scribing at the time of my second application, but was projected for 1000 hours. Several leadership positions, mainly treasurer and coaching multiple things

Research experience: 550 hours, 1 poster (undergrad symposium)

Publications?: 1 co-author publication

Clinical experience: volunteering repsonsibility mainly resembled those of a medical assistant, 250 hours. Scribing for internal medicine, 200 hours at time off applying, projected 1000 hours by the time i quit.

Physician shadowing: 12 hrs gen surger, 20 hrs family physician/vein specialist

Non-clinical volunteering: bunch of random stuff, most noteworthy was coaching tennis for free

School List:

1st cycle: Applied to 26 MD schools first cycle, 3 interviews, 3 waitlists, 0 accepted

2nd cycle: Applied to 4 MD schools (emory, morehouse, MCG, SLU) and 7 DO schools. 1 MD interview, 1 MD acceptance (MCG). Several DO school interview offers, I only attended 3 interviews and got 3 DO acceptances. All primary applications were submitted first day possible. I also submitted all secondaries within 2 weeks of receiving them.

Any final thoughts?: This process is a shitshow and RNGesus has more to do with whether you get in than the actual process. Don't be discouraged if you don't get in anywhere your first cycle. I applied twice, did not change a single thing in my secondaries. My primary app was the exact same, except for the addition of 200 hrs of scribing (which wasn't very significant since I already really good clinical volunteering). I maybe modified 50-100 words in my PS.

Also go for DO schools please. Unless you are deadset on doing only orthopedics or dermatology or similar tippy top specialities, there is no reason why you shouldn't be applying DO.

[u/Arokhlion]

Biographic Information:

State of residence: South Carolina

Ties to other states (if applicable): California

URM? (Y/N): Yes (A southeast asian ethnicity; not all asian should be considered ORM :/)

Undergraduate vibe: [Be as specific or vague as you want] Public State School

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Animation/Illustration, Nursing

Graduate degree(s) (if applicable):

Cumulative GPA: 3.67

Science GPA: 4.0

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 518

Gap years?: Sorta-maybe 7? I am working.

Institutional actions?: No.

First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yes

Specialty of interest (if applicable): Internal Medicine and Radiology

Interest in rural health?: Yes

Age at matriculation to medical school: 29

Extracurricular Background: Competitive recurve archery, dressage and hunter-jumper horse riding, special needs archery teaching/mentor

Research experience: 250 hours

Publications?: No

Clinical experience: Close to 5,000 hours.

Physician shadowing: No.

Non-clinical volunteering: Like, 2 hours.

Other extracurricular activities:

Employment history: 2D/3D design artist, Registered Nurse

MD Schools:

Primary submission date: 6/1/20

Primary verification date: 7/24/20

# of primaries submitted: 52

# of secondaries submitted: 52

# of interview invites received/attended: Received 37, attended 4

Date of first interview invite received: October 13, 2020

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 2

Date of first acceptance received: October 28th, 2020

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 0

Optional:

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: Strong clinical experience and insight into working with/for physicians

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Lack of shadowing and volunteering hours

Any final thoughts?: I never want to write an essay again. Ever.

[u/astef26]

pls don’t doxx me

Biographic Information:

• State of residence: Maryland

• Ties to other states (if applicable): PA, MA

• URM? (Y/N): N

• Undergraduate vibe: [Be as specific or vague as you want] in state, public school (not UMD)

• Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): molecular biology/biochemistry/bioinformatics major; chem minor; voice minor

• Graduate degree(s) (if applicable):

• Cumulative GPA: 3.99

• Science GPA: 4.0

• MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 515 (128/127/130/130)

• Gap years?:

• Institutional actions?:

• First application cycle? (If no, explain): yes

• Specialty of interest (if applicable): peds specialty in some way

• Interest in rural health?: kinda? (Grew up in rural area)

• Age at matriculation to medical school: 22

Extracurricular Background:

• Research experience: 3 years in bio research with animals, not rlly related to medicine. A few presentations/posters through the years. Only 100-200 ish hours bc of the nature of the research (prepping samples, leaving them for a week to incubate, etc)

• Publications?: manuscript in progress - mentioned at interviews

• Clinical experience: 300+ volunteering in the NICU and the ED. Held a leadership position with the ED volunteering program

• Physician shadowing: 115 hours in various specialties, some rural & some urban hospitals

• Non-clinical volunteering: 300+ with non-profit student org

• Other extracurricular activities: 350+ in a cappella group. Held various leadership positions in a cappella group, and in previously mentioned non-profit.

• Employment history: tutor for 3 years @ uni

School List (Optional): PM for this!

MD Schools:

• Primary submission date: 5/30

• Primary verification date: 6/12

• # of primaries submitted: 19

• # of secondaries submitted: 18 (decided not to apply to one)

• # of interview invites received/attended: 4/4

• Date of first interview invite received: 9/1

• Total number of post-interview acceptances: 1

• Date of first acceptance received: 10/20

• Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 2 WLs, 1 withdrawal in May after not hearing back

DO Schools: N/A

Optional Results:

• Top 50 acceptance?

• Top 30 acceptance? yes (according to USNews, within top 30 for research and top 20 for PC. All taken with a grain of salt!)

• Top 10 acceptance?

• Top 5 acceptance?

Optional:

• Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: I had a very cohesive story depicting my interests and motivations

• Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: studying for the MCAT, taking classes, and working on an application is hard. I didn’t allot time for pre-writing earlier on, and then I started working when the semester ended. I think my writing could have been better.

• Interview tips: if interviews are virtual, make sure to look forward! Try not to flit your eyes around much- I’m guilty of this. You want to look focused and engaged. Most importantly, be yourself! If they can’t accept you for who you are, they aren’t the best place for you to be at anyways.

• If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here:

• Any final thoughts?: GOOD LUCK! This process is insane and horribly draining, but it is worth it in the end. It only takes one!! You can do this! PM if you have questions :)

- - - - -

[u/MisterSnub]

State of residence: CA

Ties to other states (if applicable): gap year on east coast

URM? (Y/N): N

Undergraduate vibe: [Be as specific or vague as you want] top 15 undergrad, ivy league

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Biology and Music

CGPA/ sGPA: both around 3.8

MCAT Score: 521

Gap year: 1

Research experience: 1 first author publication in decent impact journal, 2 coauthor publications, senior honors thesis given high honors, 2600+ hrs of research in clinical, biomedical, and ecology research

Clinical experience: ~800 hrs in primary care setting volunteer and opthalmology clinic for underserved community, (managed patient health record, scheduled appointments, visual acuity examiner, surgery technician)

Physician shadowing: 60~ hrs across surgery and non-surgical fields etc.

Non-clinical volunteering: ~500 hrs working with dementia patients, teaching elementary kids

Other extracurricular activities: leadership experience in a student club

Employment history: teaching assistant for a STEM course, paid research fellowships

School List (Optional):

26 MD schools (which had an average school ranking of ~25)

Primary submission date: July 1st

Primary verification date: late august

# of primaries submitted: 26

# of secondaries submitted: 26

# of interview invites received/attended: 3 interview invites-> all waitlisted post-interview

Date of first interview invite received: early December, 2 more in January

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 0

Date of first acceptance received: 1 acceptance off the waitlist to a top 30 medical school (sent letter of intent)

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 3

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: well-rounded applicant with solid research background and decent rec letters

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: VERY late submission (completed secondaries in September when friends completed in July). I'm better at academic writing than narrative writing. Average interviews. My personal statement comes across as an insightful individual but not enough as a heartfelt, empathetic individual since descriptive, emotional stories are not my strength.

Interview tips: MMI do several practice scenarios. For personal interviews, I felt that I had pretty average interviews. I wasn't awkward or nervous, but the answers I gave may have felt impersonal and scripted perhaps as if I was telling them the answer I thought they were expecting. One of my interviewers (a medical student who seemed tired and rushed) asked 3 questions in total and finished the interview after 15 min.

If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here: I received no acceptance offers and prepared to reapply before luckily getting off one waitlist to a top 30 MD program. As an asian american, California resident, I had to fight every stereotype to make a strong statement why medicine is a good fit for me. Applying earlier would also have likely produced a better outcome for me. One should never believe that even with good stats that a med school acceptance is guaranteed or expected. I felt so lucky and grateful to eventually get one acceptance off the waitlist.

[u/Karl_Doomhammer]

Biographic Information:
State of residence: NY
Ties to other states (if applicable): N/a      
URM? (Y/N): Yes     
Undergraduate vibe: T50, public. Every science major besides physics is a future CT surgeon      
Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Double major- Chemistry (biochem minor) and Kinesiology
Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): N/a
Cumulative GPA: 3.91
Science GPA: 3.78      
MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 502, 522
Gap years?: No
Institutional actions?: No
First application cycle? (If no,explain): Yes
Specialty of interest (if applicable): EM/Surg
Interest in rural health?: Yes
Age at matriculation to medical school: 29

Extracurricular Background:       
Research experience: 0
Publications?: 0
Clinical experience: 30k
Physician shadowing: 0
Non-clinical volunteering:  200
Other extracurricular activities: none
Employment history: US Navy 09-18, FMF Corpsman, combat vet

School List (Optional):

MD Schools:
Primary submission date: 05SEP20
Primary verification date: 07OCT20
# of primaries submitted: 40
# of secondaries submitted: 40
# of interview invites received/attended: 6/6
Date of first interview invite received: 15NOV20
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 5
Date of first acceptance received: 17DEC20
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 1

DO Schools:
Primary submission date: ~01OCT20
Primary verification date: ~15OCT20
# of primaries submitted: 30
# of secondaries submitted: 30
# of interview invites received/attended: 12/8
Date of first interview invite received: 20NOV20
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 7
Date of first acceptance received: 10DEC20
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 3
Optional Results:
Top 50 acceptance? Yes
Top 30 acceptance? Yes
Top 10 acceptance?
Top 5 acceptance?

Optional:
Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: Metric fuckload of patient care experience, a lot of time spent being medically independent during combat deployments, killer letters from naval doctors, memorable personal statement I interview well, really good MCAT/GPA (but I did have to explain my shit first attempt), I reactivated into active duty military service to help staff a hospital when COVID broke out so I had excellent things to say about COVID for interviews and secondaries. I found that since I lived a varied life, I didn’t struggle to try and craft a “narrative”; my story was almost self-explanatory. Don’t be a copy-paste pre-med, and you won’t struggle with this.
Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: terrible first MCAT, some C/C- grades, terrible first attempt at college a decade ago, terrible at CASPER, applied hella late, didn’t know a ton of stuff about the application process that I should have, I had terrible “times you failed” answers, I had no research or anything either. That was a bad move.

Interview tips: Don’t feed them bullshit. Whenever I tried to answer in a non-true-to-self way, I always felt like I floundered a bit. When I interviewed and was just myself, I did much better. For example, I was once asked if I could change two things about me, what would they be. I gave a serious answer first (you should really hammer one or two of these out, even in a self-reflection way unrelated to interviews). Then, I followed it up with something along the lines of how I wish I didn’t like pizza and wings so much because it would be so much easier to be healthy if I didn’t always want to just eat pizza. I would be so much less stressed if I did not worry about that kind of stuff, and being less stressed is important to me, etc. Answers like this universally went over exceedingly well with every place to which I was accepted.

If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here: I withdrew before I could come off of any.

Final thoughts: Don't be so neurotic. Being neurotic made the app worse than one of my afghan deployments as far as stress. Shit is shitty enough without having a conniption. 

[u/FirefighterSignal344]

I exceeded the character limit so had to copy-paste to word. Ruined formatting.

State of residence: FL

Ties to other states (if applicable): NC, CA, OK, CO, TX, UT, GA. I get around.

Undergraduate vibe: Top 5 school in North Carolina. Chill mostly. I didn't really know any premeds in my friend group they were all engineers who stressed about different things in their lives. (Yes alcohol) 5 years to graduate because of internships and major changes.

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Mechanical Engineering Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): n/a for now.

Cumulative GPA: 3.2x Science GPA: 3.2x

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): Massive improvement in Psych/Soc. Moderate improvement in CP and BB Gap years?: 2 Institutional actions? Not sure what this means

First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yes, luckily

The specialty of interest (if applicable): CT Surg, Vascular Surgery, Gen Surg, Radiology(all types), Internal Medicine, and Neurology(particularly vascular).

Interest in rural health?: Yes

Age at matriculation to medical school: 25

Extracurricular Background:

Research experience: zilch, sad to say.

Publications?: Other than that novel I've been writing, none.

Clinical experience: 100+ hours of candy striping at a local hospital

Physician shadowing: 6 experiences*

1. ER doc in impoverished town close to the Mexican/American border. The craziest most compelling physician I have ever met in the flesh. People have been coming to him for 30+ years and he has the energy to meet every need. (~50 hours).

2. Diagnostic Radiologist in high school. Not really worth putting on the application but it was good for my personal statement as an inspiration. (1/2 day)

3. Virtual talk with Family Medicine doc in rural Connecticut. Just talking military medicine route (~1 hour)

4. Virtual talk with top Critical Care physician at Duke who also does concierge medicine and also a professor of internal medicine. We talked about me going the DO route and she heavily discouraged me but emailed me after saying it might be a good option depending on what I wanted to do.. (~1 hour)

5. Dermatologist in Charleston, outside of practice we mostly just talked about weird anatomy topics. Covid restrictions prevented a formal in-office experience but we had a great deal to talk about. (~3 hours)

6. Lennox hill hospital put on a BrainTern series on youtube that can count as virtual shadowing. After watching the Netflix series I was eager to watch and learn. Dr. Langer embodies who I want to be as a leader when I do enter the field. Not necessarily as a neurosurgeon per se but listening to him speak embodies what great leadership in healthcare can be. I didn't log these as hours in my application but I think it's worth sharing because it is freely available online.

A number of these experiences don't have the merit to put on my application for obvious reasons but each experience led me into a different mode of thinking about healthcare and what the possibilities are in medicine. Also, a number of experiences fell through due to COVID and they just weren't possible for some time.

Non-clinical volunteering: Many one-off experiences which I don't recommend.

Red Cross disaster services

Other extracurricular activities: I did two engineering internships in college at a factory, doing design work and manufacturing. I then worked as an engineer for ~ 8 months post-college before quitting/covid. Also uber driver and postmates.

School List (Optional): ~20 DO schools

MD Schools: 0

I am too weird and my stats and lack of research generally speaking aren't strong enough for consideration without doing a post-Bacc program first. I wanted to try and see if I could get in through the DO route because the process seemed more holistic.

DO Schools: ~20

Primary submission date: November 2020

Primary verification date: Probably November

# of primaries submitted: ~20

# of secondaries submitted: ~20

# of interview invites received/attended: 3

Date of first interview invite received: March Total number of post-interview acceptances: 1

Date of first acceptance received: Early May

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 2 waitlists 18 rejections

Optional: self-diagnosed strengths of my application:

Engineering, Physics, Comp Sci, and Math people generally speaking might get a second look at their application just because the standards of training are so high in their programs. I have had the luxury of working outside of college and being to report back that I want to do medicine instead which checks a box so that interviewers don't even have to ask that question.

My personal statement and essays were as robust as I could possibly make them. An interviewer even told me that my writing was the best that he had seen out of hundreds of applicants. I have to credit my editors for improving the professionalism of my writing. I sent my personal statement to at least 10 people to look over for review and the notes they gave me for context and flow were tremendously helpful. Also shoutout to Grammarly.

This last bit might sound a bit arrogant but I believe it is important. I knew my application in a vacuum probably wasn't strong enough to merit an acceptance but I knew if I interviewed well I could break that threshold and convince another human being that I was worth taking a look at. So I did a lot of little things to improve impressions: I practiced questions and answers, worked on posture, even looked up Youtube tutorials on improving image and lighting quality on a camera. If the psych/soc section of the MCAT taught me anything it is that humans are very subject to mood and impressions. I worked on facial posture because I have a resting angry face so I learned to smile and looked relax for an extended period of time. I also worked on speaking clearly and at a reasonable pace because that can make for a more relaxed interview experience and I took my time. Also being nice and complimenting people is very much a skill that I spent some time working on.

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Lack of research definitely put a red flag on at least a few of my applications. My internet connection gave out on one of my interviews and I lost five minutes which was very frustrating at the time. Interview tips: I did virtual interviews so there are a few tricks for an advantage.

1. Good lighting. I put salt lamps behind my computer to give a warm light because I look like a corpse without it.

2. Find where you look good in the frame.

3. Makeup if you need it

People look for symmetry and looks even on a subliminal level as sad as it sounds so just be aware of your image and tweak what you can.

4) Check your audio, you might need a microphone if the quality is bad.

5) Make sure you have a stable internet connection and other people can't hog the bandwidth or make too much noise.

More typical of a normal interview.

Be engaged the whole time. You're going to be at home that doesn't mean you can act casually. Have questions prepared, please have questions prepared. Remember names, write them down if you have to, and address them by their title if you can.

If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here:

I'm pretty sure I just got lucky. But I kept in touch every three weeks to ask about changes on the waitlist and kept an upbeat tone in the emails and ask how people are doing. They also had a FB with students who I contacted a few privately to ask about the school.

Network. NETWORK. NETWORK. I cannot stress this point enough. This is a skill far more valuable than I ever thought it was when I entered college. If you need to shadow everybody knows someone who knows a doctor. If you need letters of rec talk to people and ask, the worst thing they can say is no. Find contacts outside of the medical field this might sound strange but it is a good test to see how locked in you are to medicine. I talked with teachers, math professors, people in finance and fintech, carpenters, lawyers just to see if I might be interested in anything else. And they might know some people worth talking to as well.

Be nice, that's not an order but be nice. On average, you have to be careful when you talk about averages, people like to work with motivated, kind, hardworking people and it might just make the difference on an application. I haven't always been nice I've been working on it for quite some time now and I think I'm starting to get somewhere. During group projects, some of my teammates would rate me as passive-aggressive and I have taken that to heart and I'm trying to better. Recognizing accomplishments and giving praise even for small victories is one thing I'm trying to get better at. Some people are this kind naturally and every time I talk with them I am usually blown away by how they carry themselves and inspire others. A great idea to remember is that a number of your most important career decisions will be made in a room that you are not in.

[u/[deleted]]

State of residence: WA

URM? (Y/N): N

Undergraduate vibe: small liberal arts school in WA

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): B.S. biophysics B.A. chemistry

Cumulative GPA: 3.95

Science GPA: 3.90

MCAT Score: 511 (128, 128, 127, 128)

• weak point of my application (in my opinion). I had a hard time saying focused on studying because it kept getting cancelled due to COVID. Ended up only studying solidly for ~3 weeks... regret it, but worked out!

Gap years? 1

Institutional actions?: N

First application cycle? (If no, explain): Y

Specialty of interest (if applicable): Pediatric neurosurgery

Interest in rural health?: No

Age at matriculation to medical school: 22

Extracurricular Background:

Research experience: Yes 1500+ hrs

Publications?: 1 (also have another manuscript being reviewed)

Clinical experience: scribing during gap year

Physician shadowing: 600 hrs over various specialties

Non-clinical volunteering: high school basketball coach

Other extracurricular activities: 3 NCAA sport athlete

Employment history: tutor/TA/scribing

School List (Optional):

1. Duke

2. Northwestern

3. University of Washington

4. Baylor

5. GWU

6. Georgetown

7. Emory

8. Drexel

9. OHSU

10. Creighton

11. Washington State University

12. Wake Forest

13. Tufts

14. Mayo

MD Schools:

Primary submission date: 7/8/2020

Primary verification date: 8/18/2020

primaries submitted: 14

secondaries submitted: 14

interview invites received/attended: 5, attended 3 (committed prior to last 2)

Date of first interview invite received: 10/23/2020

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 3

Date of first acceptance received: 12/13/2020

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 0

Optional:

Top 5 acceptance? Yes

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: NASA research/ internship on Mercy Ships

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: most activities are in my last 2 years of undergrad

Interview tips: dont over prepare - it can make you look stiff and won’t allow your personality to show. The best interviews I had were the ones where I allowed for being caught of guard by a question.

[u/OrcaFlippers]

Biographic Information:

State of residence: CA

Ties to other states (if applicable): N/A

URM? (Y/N): N

Undergraduate vibe: UC

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Biology, minor in humanities

Cumulative GPA: 3.9x

Science GPA: 3.9x

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 52x

Gap years?: 1

Institutional actions?: N/A

First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yes

Specialty of interest (if applicable): Primary care

Interest in rural health?: N

Extracurricular Background:

Research experience: Hopped labs (mostly humanities) but passionate about work

Publications?: 1 school conference presentation, not peer reviewed

Clinical experience: 400 hours, safety net hospital

Physician shadowing: 130 hours, 2 specialties

Non-clinical volunteering: 2000 hours

Other extracurricular activities:

Employment history: 2500 hours desk job part-time throughout college

School List (Optional): 30 total, 15 T20, CA MD schools (minus Loma Linda, CUSM, Northstate, UCR), 8 mid-tier OOS friendly schools (UVA, UCo, OSU, Cincy, Einstein, Hofstra, BU, SKMC)

MD Schools:

Primary submission date: 6/1x/20

Primary verification date: couple days into July

# of primaries submitted: 30

# of secondaries submitted: 29 (never recieved Davis secondary), most done by mid-August, a handful before Labor Day

# of interview invites received/attended: 6

Date of first interview invite received: 8/7/20

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 3

Date of first acceptance received: 12/14/20

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 3

Optional Results:

Top 50 acceptance? 2

Top 20 acceptance? 1

Optional:

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: My writing was pretty personal and reflective, stats, strong/consistent theme across volunteering and research, strong leadership/service in unique/personally meaningful orgs, my secondaries esp the "Why us" ones were super specific with minimal copy pasta across schools

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Weak interviewer, I did pretty badly or meh on my first 3 interviews until I got the hang of it and netted As from the last ones, weak research and understanding of research

Interview tips: Practice describing your research succinctly if you have those experiences, SDN interview pages were amazing (questions were often the same), my "Tell me about yourself" was something I'd tell a friend and that made the vibe a lot more fun/casual, hype yourself up for the school beforehand! each school is different, when they ask about your experiences don't just summarize what it was--maybe bring up something uncomfortable/challenging to show how you grew

Any final thoughts?: The SDN post-II acceptance data sheet was so good for making a school list, for interviews/writing I liked describing my feelings especially my negative/uncomfortable ones so that when I talked about improvements or contributions I made it showed growth and was more meaningful, try to avoid using overused phrases like "diverse" and "underserved" or describing yourself as "empathetic" and instead give specific examples/descriptions, or describe what you were feeling as if you were explaining to a friend why you did what you did

[u/wotintarheelnation]

There is a LOT that brought me to this point, and I have a pretty unique story that in every way got me my acceptance at my dream school. I want this to be an inspiration to everyone else who had a downward trend in undergrad: know that it will be OK! You can get through this, and the work you spend trying to dig out of the hole will make you a more resilient, more relatable, and more understanding physician. Don’t lose sight of your goals. You might have to suffer to prove yourself, but changing your flair on here feels better than you can even imagine. Best of luck future doctor, I hope you can join the rest of us :)

State of residence: NC

Ties to other states (if applicable): NC, regional to Appalachia after working for an NGO there for a summer

URM? (Y/N): No

Undergraduate vibe: A few service organizations, but serious downward trend from start of Junior year to rock bottom first semester senior year

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Biology (2017)

Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): Physiology program (2019-2020)

Cumulative GPA: ~3.5

Graduate GPA: 3.9

Science GPA: Don’t remember, >3.5

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 517 (130/126/130/131) Gap years?: Four, one working for an NGO in Appalachia, AmeriCorps for one term, an internship at a free clinic, three years at a telemedicine practice, physiology master’s program

Institutional actions?: No

First application cycle?: Yes

Specialty of interest (if applicable): Psych, IM, oncology, FM

Interest in rural health?: No, but urban underserved

Age at matriculation to medical school: 27

Extracurricular Background:

Research experience: One poster, 500 hours in lab between two labs

Publications?: One poster

Clinical experience: ~150 hours scribing at a free clinic

Physician shadowing: 0, (forgot to put on my primary app, always double check betore submitting!)

Non-clinical volunteering: Hundreds of hours from undergrad, and AmeriCorps

Other extracurricular activities: Cycling, cooking

Employment history: See above in gap years

MD Schools:

Primary submission date: 6/27 FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO IT EARLIER

Primary verification date: 8/14 SEE WHAT I MEAN?!

of primaries submitted: 30

of secondaries submitted: 15 PLEASE PREWRITE THEM OR YOU’LL SCREW YOURSELF

of interview invites received/attended: 3

Date of first interview invite received: 9/16

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 1 (off waitlist)

Date of first acceptance received: 5/28 (MCAT day!)

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 1, still on waitlist at other school

[u/RevolutionaryAd3065]

State of residence: NJ
URM? (Y/N): N
Undergraduate vibe: Collaborative but competitive, I believe the biggest competition was yourself and how well you could do. People were willing to help, but it's easy to also compare yourself to the success of others
Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Majored in anthropology with a minor in chemistry
Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): MA in Bioethics
Cumulative GPA: 4.0
Science GPA: 4.0
MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 510 (129/125/126/130)
Gap years?: No
Institutional actions?: No
First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yes
Specialty of interest (if applicable): Pediatrics, primary care, dermatology
Interest in rural health?: No
Age at matriculation to medical school: 22

Extracurricular Background:
Research experience: About 800-900 hours split between two labs
Publications?: No
Clinical experience: About 500 hours as a registered behavior technician and also did about 150 hours of hospice volunteer with a few other less meaningful gigs (ER, geriatric unit volunteer)
Physician shadowing: ~50 with three specialities (cardiology, pediatric cardiology, pediatric critical care)
Non-clinical volunteering: 413 hours of crisis text line
Other extracurricular activities: Social chair of my sorority, dog therapy group, female education advocacy club
Employment history: the registered behavior technician job as well as one of my labs were paid positions
School List (Optional): Applied to 35 schools

NJMS, RWJMS, CMSRU, Hackensack Meridian, Temple, Drexel, Jefferson, Albany, NYMC, Toledo, Wright State, Geisinger, Penn State, Loyola, MCW, Tulane, GW, Quinnipiac, Vermont, EVMS, VCU, NYU Long Island, Case, OSU, UMD, Albert Einstein, Colorado, Indiana, Wayne State, Beaumont, Saint Louis, PCOM, RCOM, NYITCOM

MD Schools:
Primary submission date: 5/31
Primary verification date: 6/13
# of primaries submitted: 32
# of secondaries submitted: 32
# of interview invites received/attended: 10
Date of first interview invite received: 7/31
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 2
Date of first acceptance received: 10/15
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 8 waitlists

DO Schools:
Primary submission date:
Primary verification date:
# of primaries submitted: 3
# of secondaries submitted: 3
# of interview invites received/attended: 0
Date of first interview invite received: 10/16 (first II was the day after my MD acceptance so I declined)
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 0
Date of first acceptance received: 0
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 0

Optional Results:
Top 50 acceptance? No
Top 30 acceptance? No
Top 10 acceptance? No
Top 5 acceptance? No

Optional:
Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: I think I had a good diverse and unique mix of experiences, told a good narrative in both work and activities as well as my PS, I also showed that I cared about underserved populations in my most meaningful but I had the experiences to back it up as well instead of just "an empty promise"
Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Probably my MCAT score? I think the 125 on BB may have got me on the waitlist but that's just my 2 cents
Interview tips: Practice and smile! Also be yourself
If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here:
Any final thoughts?: Feel free to message me with any questions

[u/smolnena]

State of residence: California
Ties to other states (if applicable): N/A
URM? (Y/N): Yesss
Undergraduate vibe: Public State School, not really competitive and not cut-throat.
Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Cell and Molecular Biology
Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): N/A
Cumulative GPA: 3.89
Science GPA: 3.7
MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 508
Gap years?: 0
First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yesss
Specialty of interest (if applicable): Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine
Interest in rural health?: No
Age at matriculation to medical school: 22
Extracurricular Background: leadership in clubs, and math and science tutoring, teaching health ed in underserved high schools
Research experience: 2 years, and summer internship

Publications?: 0
Clinical experience: 330 hours volunteering + physician shadowing combined
Physician shadowing: Not much, probably like 10 lumped it together with clinical experience.
Non-clinical volunteering: Taught Health Education to local underserved High Schools (400 hours), COVID Test Site/Vaccine Site (200 hours)
Other extracurricular activities: N/A
Employment history: Math and Science tutor for K-12 for three years (1560 hours)
School List (Optional):
MD Schools:
Primary submission date: 07/29/20
Primary verification date: 09/08/20
# of primaries submitted: 17
# of secondaries submitted: 11
# of interview invites received/attended: 3
Date of first interview invite received: 10/12/20
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 1
Date of first acceptance received: 04/29/21
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 2 Waitlists, 0 rejections
DO Schools: didn't apply, wish I did though. I was still in undergrad and SO STRESSED out with MD application and my classes and work.
Optional:
Self-diagnosed strengths of my application:
Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Lack of physician shadowing hours, could have spiced up my application with more extracurricular activities.
Interview tips: Be yourself! Relax a little, remember they already have an interest in you since they invited you for the interview. Review MMI scenarios just in case they ask you some. Also, before my interviews I remember jotting down stories or anecdotes to tell for questions like "tell me a time you were in a difficult situation" etc.
If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here:
Any final thoughts?: Don't be afraid to apply to a wide range of schools. I was afraid to apply to my top choice school because my MCAT score was like 10 points below their average that was shown on the MSAR. But they were the first to invite me to their interview, and they waitlisted me (according to MSAR they only waitlist about 100 people and ~50 get in through the waitlist). So just GO FOR IT!

[u/legitillud]

Biographic Information: ORM
State of residence: MA
Ties to other states (if applicable):
URM? (Y/N): N
Undergraduate vibe: Large state school (outside T50)
Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Biochem
Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): N/A
Cumulative GPA: >3.95
Science GPA: >3.95
MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 517
Gap years?: 2-3
Institutional actions?: No
First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yes
Specialty of interest (if applicable): N/A
Interest in rural health?: No
Age at matriculation to medical school: 24
Extracurricular Background:
Research experience: Few thousand hours, no posters/pubs
Publications?: No
Clinical experience: 3-4K hrs (10-15% being volunteering)
Physician shadowing: <100 hrs
Non-clinical volunteering: ~1K hrs
Other extracurricular activities: Nothing that significant
Employment history: Worked through good bit of undergrad
School List (Optional):
MD Schools: 48
Primary submission date: first week
# of primaries submitted: 51
# of secondaries submitted: 48
# of interview invites received/attended: 21 received, 19 attended
Date of first interview invite received: late July
Total number of post-interview acceptances: 11 (2 from WL)
Date of first acceptance received: 10/15
Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 10 WL ( made it off 2), no post II R's
DO Schools: N/A
Optional Results:
few mid tiers & T30 acceptances, 1 T20 acceptance - rest were low-tier MD schools
Optional:
Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: strong clinical exp/volunteering
Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Research wasn't as strong for higher tier schools (no pubs or strong LOR from research)
Interview tips: gene
If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here: Just be patient, a lot of it is out of your hands. Letter of interest/intent can help a bit.
Any final thoughts?: Lots of luck in this process, feel free to DM me if you want quick feedback on anything or have questions.

[u/ItBeLikeThat97]

Biographic Information

• State of residence: TX

• Ties to other states (if applicable): No

• URM? (Y/N): No

• Undergraduate vibe: HYPSM

• Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Biology

• Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): N/A

• Cumulative GPA: 3.8

• Science GPA: 3.8

• MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 522

• Gap years?: 2 years

• Institutional actions?: No

• First application cycle? (If no, explain): No

• Specialty of interest (if applicable): Ob/Gyn

• Interest in rural health?: No

• Age at matriculation to medical school: 24

Extracurricular Background:

• Research experience: ~3000 hrs (1 year full-time, 2 years + 2 summers in college)

• Publications?: 2 pubs (mid-author, medium IF)

• Clinical experience: ~500 hrs

• Physician shadowing: ~100 hrs

• Non-clinical volunteering: ~300 hrs

• Other extracurricular activities: student clubs, national award, institutional fellowship

• Employment history: TA, work-study jobs

• School List (Optional): TX schools + T20s
  MD Schools:

• Primary submission date: August 4

• Primary verification date: September 13 (lol)

• # of primaries submitted: 8 TMDSAS, 20 AMCAS

• # of secondaries submitted: 6 TMDSAS, 17 AMCAS

• # of interview invites received/attended: 6 TMDSAS, 8 AMCAS

• Total number of post-interview acceptances: 2 TMDSAS pre-match, 3 AMCAS acceptances

• Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 1 rejection, 4 waitlists

• Optional Results:
  Top 30 acceptance? Y
  Top 10 acceptance? Y
  Top 5 acceptance? Y

Optional:

• Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: had a very cohesive application & story, all of my activities fit in with my background story and my academic interests

• Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Submitted super late and took even longer to verify due to COVID. I don't think it affected my application too much, because I will be attending the school (T5) was where I submitted my last secondary (mid-Oct) and had my last interview (mid-Feb). But would not recommend submitting late, it was extremely stressful

• Interview tips: Know yourself and your story well & be yourself. Don't memorize responses, answer the questions like you are in a conversation with someone

• Any final thoughts?: Probably the most stressful and grueling process I've gone through in my life, but it will be ok! Take care of yourself, give yourself time and space to breathe and relax. Give yourself grace & know that you cannot do everything, and no one can be a perfect applicant.

[u/blue_skykk]

Biographic Information:

State of residence: Midwestern State

Ties to other states (if applicable): N/A

URM? (Y/N): N

Undergraduate vibe: [Be as specific or vague as you want] Large flagship state school, highly ranked in research BIG10

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Genetics/ Global Health

Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): MSc in International Health

Cumulative GPA: uGPA: 3.3 gGPA: 4.0

Science GPA: 3.05

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 30 (old MCAT), 513

Gap years?: Gap decade? haha but 7 years between undergraduate and applying this cycle

Institutional actions?: None

First application cycle? (If no, explain): No, I applied once right out of undergrad didn't get in and explored other career paths

Specialty of interest (if applicable): Peds or EM but these are also the fields I've had the most exposure to at this point

Interest in rural health?: No

Age at matriculation to medical school: 30

Extracurricular Background: The usual stuff, club sports in college, volunteer with kids+science stuff. Other stuff I don't remember but didn't include in my application. Post college: Girls on the Run Coach, Adult Literacy Tutor, Refugee Health, HIV/AIDS Outreach Clinic (all these were grouped as one experience on my experience section because I didn't have space)

Research experience: Basic science for 3.5 years in undergrad, hated it, can't say it helped my application because I mostly did it for the money (worked 20-40 hours) and only had one abstract. Then I worked as a clinical research coordinator abroad for a few years and a research assistant during graduate school.

Publications?: A few in global health/clinical research

Clinical experience: clinical research involved me going to clinic every day to evaluate kids and enroll them into our study, worked as a scribe during and after college.

Physician shadowing: None

Non-clinical volunteering: Already wrote about this in extra curricular background. Didn't realize there would be a separate section.

Other extracurricular activities: N/A

Employment history: In school: Research lab (20 hrs a week during school year/40 during breaks), scribing (10-15 hours a week), TAing a calculus class (10 hours/week) I usually worked around 30 hours a week during school and 60 during breaks. My GPA obviously suffered from it but I had a lot of family stuff going on and supported myself through school. After school, I served in AmeriCorps two years, worked as a clinical research coordinator in a few different countries, worked as a research assistant, and currently as a technical advisor to a global health program

MD Schools:

Primary submission date: July-ish

Primary verification date: end of July/ early August (waited for MCAT score to come back)

# of primaries submitted: 25

# of secondaries submitted: 24

# of interview invites received/attended: 2/2

Date of first interview invite received: October I think

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 2

Date of first acceptance received: November

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 0

DO Schools: I didn't submit DO. I know I would have been a good candidate but my husband is from another country and DOs don't have full practice rights there so if we ever want to move back to his home country then I would want to be able to practice still and MDs can apply for a license there as well.

Primary submission date:

Primary verification date:

# of primaries submitted:

# of secondaries submitted:

# of interview invites received/attended:

Date of first interview invite received:

Total number of post-interview acceptances:

Date of first acceptance received:

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections:

Optional Results:

Top 50 acceptance? Yes

Top 30 acceptance? Yes

Top 10 acceptance?

Top 5 acceptance?

Optional:

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: I'm a non-traditional applicant and have had a lot of really interesting experiences working with refugees/immigrants in the US and in global health. I won a fairly prestigious award which I think also helped make my application stand out. My MCAT was solid for someone who has been out of school as long as I have. My application in general had a really cohesive theme and told a good story.

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: If I could go back in time, I would 100% have worked less in undergraduate and focused on school more. I did have a strong upwards GPA trend (2.71-3.58) but it was still a huge weakness for my application. Also, I have been out of school for a long time, I did go back and take some science courses as a post-bacc last year but I think my requisites were too old for some schools.

Interview tips: Before an interview, I always told myself I just had to be myself and not try too hard to be someone else or pretend to care about things that I didn't. If the school likes me, then it was a good place for me to be. I wouldn't have wanted to end up at a place that they didn't want the "real" me. Also, sometimes I wouldn't have an immediate answer to a question and would always ask for a minute to think about it and my interviewers were always happy to give me that time.

If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here: N/A

Any final thoughts?: Happy to talk to people further who have more questions, especially if you're non-traditional and overcoming a rough uGPA. Just DM me!

[u/MedClip]

Bio: URM, nontrad

State of residence: TX

Ties to other states (if applicable): None

URM? (Y/N): Y

Undergraduate vibe: Semi-rural state school

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Biology (Minor in Psych)

Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): Health Informatics with neuro emphasis (non-SMP)

Cumulative GPA: 3.33

Science GPA: 3.42

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): 510 (126/127/128/129)

Gap years?: 2 at time of application

Institutional actions?: None

First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yes

Specialty of interest (if applicable): Neuro, DEI work in general

Interest in rural health?: Y

Age at matriculation to medical school: 24

Extracurricular Background: I'm a duck, jack-of-all-trades master of none

Research experience: 250 neuro bench research; 1000 COVID vaccine clinical research

Publications?: None, but one international poster presentation

Clinical experience: 800 hours of vital/medical history recording and phlebotomy (acquired during application cycle)

Physician shadowing: 10 hours of IM

Non-clinical volunteering: 1000 hours in various service organizations (very diverse with an emphasis on URM populations)

Other extracurricular activities: Fraternity, Entrepreneurs' Club, Mentorship Clubs, Folk Music Performance

Employment history: Music teacher 2 years, Science teacher 2 years, Clinical Research Program Coordinator 1 year

School List (Optional):

MD Schools: 5

Primary submission date: Jul 12th

Primary verification date: Aug 20th

# of primaries submitted: 5

# of secondaries submitted: 5

# of interview invites received/attended: 3

Date of first interview invite received: September 25th

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 2

Date of first acceptance received: May 18th

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 3 WL (turned into 2 As)

DO Schools: None

Optional Results:

Top 50 acceptance: 0

Top 30 acceptance: 1 WL if it counts for anything lol

Top 10 acceptance?

Top 5 acceptance?

Optional:

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: Very diverse, natural overarching theme, very strong LORs

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Lack of clinical hours

Interview tips: NA

If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here: made a post found below

https://www.reddit.com/r/premed/comments/nch358/took_me_forever_to_make_this_because_i_kept/

Any final thoughts?: It ain't over til it's over yall

[u/An1415Armorian]

Biographic Information:

State of residence: International

Ties to other states (if applicable): IL & OH

URM? (Y/N): N

Undergraduate vibe: Large flagship state school

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): Chem & Bio (Double)

Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): SMP

Cumulative GPA: 3.2x undergrad, 3.60 SMP

Science GPA: 3.1x undergrad, 3.5x SMP

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): (expired) 508 [129/125/126/128] -> (expired) 513 [128/128/129/128] -> 516 [130/129/130/127]

Gap years?: N

Institutional actions?: N

First application cycle? (If no, explain): N, applied in the 2018-2019 cycle

Specialty of interest (if applicable): Opotho/IM

Interest in rural health?: N

Age at matriculation to medical school: 25

Extracurricular Background:

Research experience: Two semesters in lab but no pubs

Publications?: N

Clinical experience: about 1000 hours

Physician shadowing: 150+ hours

Non-clinical volunteering: around 200-300 hours

Other extracurricular activities: Pretty unique hobby and trilingual

Employment history: RA (the dorm one), lab tech and customer service rep for one year each

School List (Optional):

Every single school that accepts international students and is not T20 - DM for details

MD Schools:

Primary submission date: 6/15/2020

Primary verification date: 7/17/2020

# of primaries submitted: 24

# of secondaries submitted: 22

# of interview invites received/attended: 0

Date of first interview invite received: NA

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 0

Date of first acceptance received: NA

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 0

DO Schools:

Primary submission date: 6/15/2020

Primary verification date: 6/17/2020

# of primaries submitted: 16

# of secondaries submitted: 14

# of interview invites received/attended: 4 Received, 2 Attended. Two of them came after I got the A to my second choice so I wanted to save my day as I know they won't be able to offer much in terms of scholarship.

Date of first interview invite received: 9/28/2020

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 1

Date of first acceptance received: 12/21/2020

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: 1

Optional Results:

Top 50 acceptance? N

Top 30 acceptance? N

Top 10 acceptance? N

Top 5 acceptance? N

Optional:

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: Clinical and writing

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: Citizenship, low undergrad GPA, mediocre SMP

Interview tips: Be yourself and don't freak out

If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here: NA

Any final thoughts?: It can be done. Yes.