38 MD (please DON'T do this)
12 II
3 A, 6WL (but withdrew from one of them), 2 Waiting to Hear, 1 Rejection
Nontrad, white female, 3.8, 520
Three pieces of advice: Even though this cycle turned out well for me (though *not* my wallet), I learned a lot through this process.
1. PLEASE MAKE YOUR SCHOOL LIST CAREFULLY, using the MSAR, advice on here, and your advising office. I cannot reiterate this enough! I made my school list before I got my MCAT score back (because I took it in May) and applied WAY too broadly and to way too many schools. I've been working additional hours all spring to make up for my stupidity. DO NOT spend money on applications for state schools that hardly take any out-of-state applicants (UC Davis, University of Washington) unless you want to give them a donation.
2. SECONDARIES: if a school is not rolling, I really recommend taking the time to really write thoughtful secondaries on why you're a good fit for the school rather than rushing to do a super quick turnaround. I read a lot about submitting secondaries in 1-2 weeks, and, while that's ideal if you feel really confident that your responses are reflective and polished, taking more time to polish your responses won't kill your application and (in my case) I think even helped. The majority of the schools that interviewed me were ones that I submitted my secondaries to later after really formulating my thoughts. More power to you if you can prewrite your secondaries.
3.INTERVIEWS: I really recommend prepping even before you get an interview invite for interviews! I did much better on the interviews I had later in the cycle than the interviews I had earlier in the cycle, and I imagine part of that was having more time to prepare. On that note, I'm was really scared of the MMI going into this process, but in hindsight, interviewing with 10+ people feels like a much fairer process than a single interview (during which you may or may not connect with your interviewer). One interviewer of mine at a school I won't name made some really off-color jokes about a previous student taking advantage of him, replete with livid sexual descriptions...in an MMI, you meet with many people, so if you don't connect with one of them, it won't make or break you! I recommend looking up a list of sample MMI questions and practicing some sample MMI scenarios with friends and doing sample traditional interviews with your career or advising center.
The application process can be very stressful and expensive. It's tough, but you've got this! Try to stay positive, *don't* compare yourself to other premeds or applicants on SDN (easier said than done, I know), keep up whatever hobbies help keep you engaged and sane (working out, sketching, connecting with non-premed friends), remind yourself on a regular basis why you really want to pursue a life's work in medicine, and try to engage in work during your application year that absorbs you and interests you so you're focused on something outside of med school. Good luck!
