Even though I was not initially listed nor I consider myself a 'senior'(lol), I figured I could try to share some of my little experience here once I've already reached my initial goal of been accepted where I wanted to (UIC).
I can say that it was not easy and felt like it took forever, but it was totally worthy.
Let me start with my "
last years' big time bummer": in 2010 (applying for the 2011 cycle) I was pretty naive, let's put it this way, and didn't quite try my best in every possible way to reach my goals, as I result all I had was rejection letters.
Last year I applied to UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago), UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and UMICH (University of Michigan, which btw didn't open application for 2012). I applied pretty late on the process, really close to the deadline for all of the schools, and didn't put my best effort on the applications. Most of the schools state that it is important to apply as early as possible as we can read here on the forum many of them start send IV's (and even acceptance in some cases) before they reach the deadline, the only exception that I found was UCLA that says that it doesn't matter when you apply as long as it's before the deadline once they only start reviewing the applications after the deadline. So my humble advice on that matter is very simple: apply as early as you can, and to show interest get in touch with the schools before the application process (I'll talk a bit more about this at the end).
Before anyone start asking I'll stress again that stats alone don't tell much, unless they're extremely low they won't get you in or out, schools look for different things and what might be important for one might not be for the other (don't ask me about specific schools because I sincerely don't know, I could tell you what would I look for if I was on an admission committee, but I'm not so...), NO ONE on SDN will be able to tell you your chances of getting in!!! Once again don't get me wrong, high scores are a differential and it's great to have high numbers (which btw I don't...), but it's just a tinny little part of a whole package!!
For the curious ones my stats are on the fourth post of this thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=850556
This year things were very different, I always like to look back at my rejection letters as a wake up call, I kept them and every now and then I looked back at them and kept reminding myself that I'd do everything possible to never have to receive one of those again, and so it was.
This year I applied as early as I could to UIC, UPENN (University of Pennsylvania), UOP (University of Pacific), USC (University of Southern California, Herman Ostrow), UCSF (University of California, San Francisco). And was really happy to receive Interview Invites from ALL of them, and even happier for getting my acceptance at UIC before the IV's at the other schools that I promptly declined (saved me a lot of money in plane tickets and bench exam fees). So I'll now try to describe what I did different from last year putting a little timeline and some suggestions for the newbies.
I started preparing my application for 2011 (2012 cycle) in november/december of 2010, the first thing I did was to take some time (about 2 to 3 weeks) to literally do research and get to know better the schools I was planning on applying. Their requirements in details, fees, deadlines, tuition, establish some initial contact with admissions offices, try not to ask the obvious, don't ask what you can find on school's website, save pertinent questions not to overflow their inboxes with bs, that way they'll know that you that you're interested and you gave some of your important time to learn about the school.
With that in my mind I started as early as possible my CAAPID application. Be careful and pay special attention to details, as I mentioned before we don't know what schools are looking for so try to cover all of your bases, if you think that there's some info that needs to be added to your application seek for the right spot to type it in. Letters of evaluation are very important too, sometimes they can be even more uplifting to your application than your scores, speaking from experience I had the pleasure of receiving copies of my LOR's after they were submitted and I felt really happy reading those flattering lines about myself. Just as important on the application is the Personal Statement, it took me about 2 months to have the final version of my SOP, read it for yourself, make as much changes as needed, include all the info you think is relevant, don't be a show off, but at the same time try to have your accomplishments detailed, and have a professional to review your grammar.
After having it all ready all I had to do was submit and wait, those months of waiting are the worst
There's nothing you can do that will change anything, just wait. For those taking bench exam I don't have any valuable suggestions once I didn't take any.
Well, this was MY experience and that was what worked for ME. My lines were merely for sharing my experience and will not guarantee anyones' acceptance in any school for following what I did, I hope that I could throw some light for you guys and if you think I can help in anyway let me know and I'll be more than happy to do so.
Be fighters, be believers! Good luck for you all!
} ) - UOP, UCSF.
If you need guidance there are lot many well wishers around here. Good luck to you all.
