Application info:
-Asian American
-Applying as Socioeconomically Disadvantaged (Neither parents attended college, Family grew up on ~24,000$/year, mothers health insurance had been taken care of by government and the medical expenses were the reason why my mother discovered her cancer at such a late stage, been working since freshman in high school to help pay for rent, father struggled with alcohol and lost his job mid high school, parents worked from 10am to 8 pm everyday leaving me to raise my younger sister during most my elementary and middle school days)
-Cali resident (But trying to get out of Cali if possible)
-Strong LORs
MCAT
1st MCAT: 10/6/11
2nd MCAT: 10/8/11
*Consistent science and 2 point increase in verbal after exhausting literally every single verbal book means it's not worth attempting a third try. (I used EK, AAMC, TPRH, GS, Law books, Testing solutions for verbal)
GPA
GPA: sGPA: 3.39, cGPA: 3.39
*My GPA has a huge upward trend. I went to community college for 4 years before transferring to a top 25 public university. During the first 2 years at community college, I failed 2 BCPM classes and had a GPA of <2.0.
3rd and 4th year of Community college: My mother got colorectal cancer. This affected my life as I learned to balance working full time and taking care of my mother. I got deans list every semester from then on.
With grade replacement, my GPA is a 3.7 before I transferred.
Transferred to a top 25 university. The community college F's were semester credit while the university is on a quarter system so I took ~16 units every quarter to try to help improve my GPA. I made deans list almost every single quarter except the first.
My overall GPA from this institution was a 3.67 while taking upper div bio classes.
Most Meaningful
Research (Over 2 years working 40 hours / week): I worked in several different labs. But most were short summer ($4000 grant funded) or 1 quarter long ecology labs where I studied spider interactions all day long. The current lab I am in right now is what matters the most for me (will be getting 2 second author papers). I am not sure if I should even list the others, although I presented a poster for one of them and for the other, I presented my stuff at a symposium.
Volunteering at the homeless clinic (2 years, 100 hrs): I worked as a clinical assistant taking vitals. Lots of good stuff to write and talk about here. Loved every bit of it, from seeing medical records side to actually getting hands on with the patients and interacting with them.
Sunday school elementary Teacher (2 years, >400 hours): Volunteered as a Sunday school teacher. I organized many different events such as game night, movie night, and halloween night. Also served as a camp counselor multiple times. I think this is one of the most impacting things I've done.
Other EC:
-Church Leadership for my University (1 year, >250 hours)
-Habitat for Humanity (2 years, ~70 hours?)
-Afterschool elementary school volunteer (1 year, 50 hours)
-Worked at 3 places: Disneyland barista -> cashier at CVS -> Waiter at a huge chain restaurant (5 years, 400+ hours)
-Tutored High school geometry, Algebra and college Biology (2 years, 50 hours?)
-Participated in Research symposium for one of my Summer research labs
-Shadowed adult Hem-onc, ENT, pediatric Hem-onc, pediatrician (~50 hours?)
-Volunteered at a homeless mission (~50 hours and increasing)
-Hobbies: Basketball (hosted a tournament where most of the prize went to my fundraiser for the homeless mission. I am not sure if I should include this on my application or would it come off as pointless bragging?), Surfing (I taught surfing to a couple of the elementary students for several months)
-Asian American
-Applying as Socioeconomically Disadvantaged (Neither parents attended college, Family grew up on ~24,000$/year, mothers health insurance had been taken care of by government and the medical expenses were the reason why my mother discovered her cancer at such a late stage, been working since freshman in high school to help pay for rent, father struggled with alcohol and lost his job mid high school, parents worked from 10am to 8 pm everyday leaving me to raise my younger sister during most my elementary and middle school days)
-Cali resident (But trying to get out of Cali if possible)
-Strong LORs
MCAT
1st MCAT: 10/6/11
2nd MCAT: 10/8/11
*Consistent science and 2 point increase in verbal after exhausting literally every single verbal book means it's not worth attempting a third try. (I used EK, AAMC, TPRH, GS, Law books, Testing solutions for verbal)
GPA
GPA: sGPA: 3.39, cGPA: 3.39
*My GPA has a huge upward trend. I went to community college for 4 years before transferring to a top 25 public university. During the first 2 years at community college, I failed 2 BCPM classes and had a GPA of <2.0.
3rd and 4th year of Community college: My mother got colorectal cancer. This affected my life as I learned to balance working full time and taking care of my mother. I got deans list every semester from then on.
With grade replacement, my GPA is a 3.7 before I transferred.
Transferred to a top 25 university. The community college F's were semester credit while the university is on a quarter system so I took ~16 units every quarter to try to help improve my GPA. I made deans list almost every single quarter except the first.
My overall GPA from this institution was a 3.67 while taking upper div bio classes.
Most Meaningful
Research (Over 2 years working 40 hours / week): I worked in several different labs. But most were short summer ($4000 grant funded) or 1 quarter long ecology labs where I studied spider interactions all day long. The current lab I am in right now is what matters the most for me (will be getting 2 second author papers). I am not sure if I should even list the others, although I presented a poster for one of them and for the other, I presented my stuff at a symposium.
Volunteering at the homeless clinic (2 years, 100 hrs): I worked as a clinical assistant taking vitals. Lots of good stuff to write and talk about here. Loved every bit of it, from seeing medical records side to actually getting hands on with the patients and interacting with them.
Sunday school elementary Teacher (2 years, >400 hours): Volunteered as a Sunday school teacher. I organized many different events such as game night, movie night, and halloween night. Also served as a camp counselor multiple times. I think this is one of the most impacting things I've done.
Other EC:
-Church Leadership for my University (1 year, >250 hours)
-Habitat for Humanity (2 years, ~70 hours?)
-Afterschool elementary school volunteer (1 year, 50 hours)
-Worked at 3 places: Disneyland barista -> cashier at CVS -> Waiter at a huge chain restaurant (5 years, 400+ hours)
-Tutored High school geometry, Algebra and college Biology (2 years, 50 hours?)
-Participated in Research symposium for one of my Summer research labs
-Shadowed adult Hem-onc, ENT, pediatric Hem-onc, pediatrician (~50 hours?)
-Volunteered at a homeless mission (~50 hours and increasing)
-Hobbies: Basketball (hosted a tournament where most of the prize went to my fundraiser for the homeless mission. I am not sure if I should include this on my application or would it come off as pointless bragging?), Surfing (I taught surfing to a couple of the elementary students for several months)
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