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- Jul 17, 2013
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Apologies ahead of time for the long post, but please read. Thank you so much!
Any feedback will be much appreciated...
White male, 27 y.o.
Father: MD,PhD Pathologist
Mother: RN,BSN
-ADHD, struggled through school as a child
-special education in middle school
-played guitar since age 10
-first job, sophomore year of high school (cooking)
-Graduated high school 2004, poor grades, little direction, no motivation
-Had no idea what to do with my life, experimented with art courses at a community college for 1 year. Decided, since I was working as a cook, to go to culinary school (in lieu of any better idea).
-Moved out, went to culinary school
-Gained a lot of weight
-Graduated Culinary school in 2007, poor grades
-Got an apartment, lived as a cook
-Living independently as adult, now having been on my own for several years, I had gained some much-needed maturity.
-Felt largely unfulfilled by my career, and resented the choices I had made with my life. Very unhappy and unsatisfied. Wanted to do something meaningful. Wanted to have an impact.
-Late 2008, obtained CNA license and returned to school in 2009
-Lost 100 pounds! Right back to my old slim self from before the cooking days!
2009-2011 - Montgomery College while working full-time as patient-care tech (IMCU/telemetry at a hospital) - bio major, excellent grades (turns out I just needed to gain some maturity and direction), Supplemental Instructor (precalc)(1 sem.), Math Tutor (Alg. - Calc. II)(2 sem.)
Also trained and certified at hospital in dysrhythmia interpretation, allowing me to work as a monitor tech in central telemetry station in addition to my PCT position.
2011-2013 - UMBC (Biochem) still at hospital IMCU as PCT/Monitor Tech, excellent grades
-two years of research in a biochem lab (doing synthetic organic synthesis)
-summer research internship at another, physical chem. lab specialized in fluorescence, (worked on development of an IgE immunoassay)
-TA, 1 sem. Molecular and General Genetics (held 30 student weekly discussion section with no prof.), wrote my own quizzes, prepared my own lectures, helped to grade exams, etc...
Graduated, B.S. Biochem & Molec. Bio., Magna Cum Laude, May 2013
-12 hrs observing procedures of Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiologists (a field that intrigues me, most likely a result of my clinical experience being almost exclusively in a cardiac care setting)
-12 hrs observing cardiothoracic surgery
June '13 - finally left hospital job (with about 5800 hrs +/-, total clinical experience) to begin NIH Fellowship
-Now in 1-year Post-Bac IRTA Fellowship through NIH doing immunological research for U.S. Food and Drug Administration
As you can see, long and atypical, albeit interesting story. Many years of poor performance in early life, but followed by adult life with many years of introspection. Ultimately excelled in school and improved in all aspects of my life having finally set my mind on becoming a physician.
Here's my concern...
GPA at UMBC is 3.86 (not too shabby)
MCAT 36 (V10, B12, P14) (also good)
BUT...
-My "true" cumulative GPA (counting everything from 2004 onward) is something like 3.26 (clearly not competitive), cum science GPA something like 3.75
-However, if calculating strictly based on 2009 and onward (after returning to school to pursue M.D) cumulative GPA 3.85, science GPA about the same.
Question...
Considering my history and obvious transformation, will AdComs acknowledge my steeply upward trend in performance and disregard my "true" cum GPA since it is, in my opinion, irrelevant at this point?
Also, below are the schools I applied to. I tried to blanket across "1st - 3rd tier" schools, so to speak. I know there are quite a few "reach" schools, but like the lottery, if you don't play, you don't win.
What are my chances? Also, do I have a shot at Columbia (first choice)?
Albany Medical College
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Columbia University College of P&S
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Drexel University College of Medicine
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
George Washington University Sch of Med & Hlth Sci
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Jefferson Medical Coll. of Thomas Jefferson Univ.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
New York Medical College
New York University
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Stanford University School of Medicine
State University of New York Downstate
Tufts University School of Medicine
Uniformed Services University of the Health Science
University of California San Francisco
University of California, Davis School of Medicine
University of California, Irvine- College/Medicine
University of Maryland School of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
University of Rochester School of Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
33 total!
Any feedback will be much appreciated...
White male, 27 y.o.
Father: MD,PhD Pathologist
Mother: RN,BSN
-ADHD, struggled through school as a child
-special education in middle school
-played guitar since age 10
-first job, sophomore year of high school (cooking)
-Graduated high school 2004, poor grades, little direction, no motivation
-Had no idea what to do with my life, experimented with art courses at a community college for 1 year. Decided, since I was working as a cook, to go to culinary school (in lieu of any better idea).
-Moved out, went to culinary school
-Gained a lot of weight
-Graduated Culinary school in 2007, poor grades
-Got an apartment, lived as a cook
-Living independently as adult, now having been on my own for several years, I had gained some much-needed maturity.
-Felt largely unfulfilled by my career, and resented the choices I had made with my life. Very unhappy and unsatisfied. Wanted to do something meaningful. Wanted to have an impact.
-Late 2008, obtained CNA license and returned to school in 2009
-Lost 100 pounds! Right back to my old slim self from before the cooking days!
2009-2011 - Montgomery College while working full-time as patient-care tech (IMCU/telemetry at a hospital) - bio major, excellent grades (turns out I just needed to gain some maturity and direction), Supplemental Instructor (precalc)(1 sem.), Math Tutor (Alg. - Calc. II)(2 sem.)
Also trained and certified at hospital in dysrhythmia interpretation, allowing me to work as a monitor tech in central telemetry station in addition to my PCT position.
2011-2013 - UMBC (Biochem) still at hospital IMCU as PCT/Monitor Tech, excellent grades
-two years of research in a biochem lab (doing synthetic organic synthesis)
-summer research internship at another, physical chem. lab specialized in fluorescence, (worked on development of an IgE immunoassay)
-TA, 1 sem. Molecular and General Genetics (held 30 student weekly discussion section with no prof.), wrote my own quizzes, prepared my own lectures, helped to grade exams, etc...
Graduated, B.S. Biochem & Molec. Bio., Magna Cum Laude, May 2013
-12 hrs observing procedures of Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiologists (a field that intrigues me, most likely a result of my clinical experience being almost exclusively in a cardiac care setting)
-12 hrs observing cardiothoracic surgery
June '13 - finally left hospital job (with about 5800 hrs +/-, total clinical experience) to begin NIH Fellowship
-Now in 1-year Post-Bac IRTA Fellowship through NIH doing immunological research for U.S. Food and Drug Administration
As you can see, long and atypical, albeit interesting story. Many years of poor performance in early life, but followed by adult life with many years of introspection. Ultimately excelled in school and improved in all aspects of my life having finally set my mind on becoming a physician.
Here's my concern...
GPA at UMBC is 3.86 (not too shabby)
MCAT 36 (V10, B12, P14) (also good)
BUT...
-My "true" cumulative GPA (counting everything from 2004 onward) is something like 3.26 (clearly not competitive), cum science GPA something like 3.75
-However, if calculating strictly based on 2009 and onward (after returning to school to pursue M.D) cumulative GPA 3.85, science GPA about the same.
Question...
Considering my history and obvious transformation, will AdComs acknowledge my steeply upward trend in performance and disregard my "true" cum GPA since it is, in my opinion, irrelevant at this point?
Also, below are the schools I applied to. I tried to blanket across "1st - 3rd tier" schools, so to speak. I know there are quite a few "reach" schools, but like the lottery, if you don't play, you don't win.
What are my chances? Also, do I have a shot at Columbia (first choice)?
Albany Medical College
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine
Columbia University College of P&S
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Drexel University College of Medicine
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
George Washington University Sch of Med & Hlth Sci
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Jefferson Medical Coll. of Thomas Jefferson Univ.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
New York Medical College
New York University
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Stanford University School of Medicine
State University of New York Downstate
Tufts University School of Medicine
Uniformed Services University of the Health Science
University of California San Francisco
University of California, Davis School of Medicine
University of California, Irvine- College/Medicine
University of Maryland School of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
University of Rochester School of Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
33 total!