I am a white female who started this process at 33, graduating at 39. I went to an ivy league college where I graduated with a 3.3cGPA, 3.0 sGPA. I then did a PhD. My GPA there was ~3.65. I was a lecturer and writer in between grad school and med school.
I did a 2 year DIY post bacc. One summer I took my bio, chem, and physics pre-reqs at a state school. I did OChem, as well as two humanities courses and cell bio, during the following school year. 3.67 cGPA, 3.43 sGPA(got a 3.94 in my sGPA post-bacc). MCAT was a 30 (9/10/11).
ECs: Clinical volunteering was 78 hours in an ED and 120 hours at the VA. Non-clinical 50 hours on a committee, 300 hours planning a massive international event, 100 hours working with my synagogue. Hobbies were writing, animal keeping, and art. Published one paper and a bunch of abstracts.
Applied: 24 MD programs for 2014 year. Two interviews, wait listed at both. Reapplied for 2015 year both MD and DO. Four days after I resubmitted my application, I was accepted off the waitlist to a USMD school.
M1: I struggled significantly and was worried I might have to repeat a year, though I ultimately passed all my classes. Luckily my school is *true* pass fail, with no hidden rankings for M1/M2 year. My fears helped me get things together.
M2: Changed studying habits and also addressed some lingering medical problems that went undiagnosed and untreated for decades. I went from barely passing to comfortably passing. Still, it was so late in my year that I had lost a lot of time and information studying. End result: Step 1: 214 (ouch).
M3: Did well in general and improved test scores. Honors in surgery, emed, and psychiatry, high pass in all others. Scored a letter of rec from my surgery preceptor.
At the end of M3 year, I realized how important it was to nail Step 2. I took off almost four weeks to recuperate and study. I doubled down on the question bank and multimodal learning. End result: Step 2 was 249 🙂
Although I had thought I would go into neurology, I found I liked the intensity of anesthesia and the possibility of critical care. My Step 1 score was a little under average for the average applicant, which is why I applied broadly.
M4: Did three away rotations, one at a very prestigious hospital where I received a letter. Third letter was from my home anesthesia adviser.
Applied to ~50 categorical + advanced anesthesia positions and ~40 preliminary year positions. End result: 20 anesthesia interviews; I attended 17 due to travel and a death in the family. Three preliminary year interviews; I later discovered about half of those were missing documents.
Last Monday: Learned I had matched into an advanced program in my target city but not a preliminary program. I entered SOAP, received 6 interviews, and ended up in a phenomenal preliminary surgical position in a top 10 surgery program.
Last Friday: Matched my #7 program. It is technically more prestigious than 3, 4, 5, and 6 but I liked some aspects of the other programs more. Still, it has good name recognition and excellent fellowship placement. I am VERY happy to go there in two years!
(I was not initially offered an interview by this program. I wrote to the program director and stated I was interested in the program. A few days later, I received an invite. I only did this for two schools and obviously the results were awesome. Don't do this for every school or else you'll look like you're trying to game the system.)
I did a 2 year DIY post bacc. One summer I took my bio, chem, and physics pre-reqs at a state school. I did OChem, as well as two humanities courses and cell bio, during the following school year. 3.67 cGPA, 3.43 sGPA(got a 3.94 in my sGPA post-bacc). MCAT was a 30 (9/10/11).
ECs: Clinical volunteering was 78 hours in an ED and 120 hours at the VA. Non-clinical 50 hours on a committee, 300 hours planning a massive international event, 100 hours working with my synagogue. Hobbies were writing, animal keeping, and art. Published one paper and a bunch of abstracts.
Applied: 24 MD programs for 2014 year. Two interviews, wait listed at both. Reapplied for 2015 year both MD and DO. Four days after I resubmitted my application, I was accepted off the waitlist to a USMD school.
M1: I struggled significantly and was worried I might have to repeat a year, though I ultimately passed all my classes. Luckily my school is *true* pass fail, with no hidden rankings for M1/M2 year. My fears helped me get things together.
M2: Changed studying habits and also addressed some lingering medical problems that went undiagnosed and untreated for decades. I went from barely passing to comfortably passing. Still, it was so late in my year that I had lost a lot of time and information studying. End result: Step 1: 214 (ouch).
M3: Did well in general and improved test scores. Honors in surgery, emed, and psychiatry, high pass in all others. Scored a letter of rec from my surgery preceptor.
At the end of M3 year, I realized how important it was to nail Step 2. I took off almost four weeks to recuperate and study. I doubled down on the question bank and multimodal learning. End result: Step 2 was 249 🙂
Although I had thought I would go into neurology, I found I liked the intensity of anesthesia and the possibility of critical care. My Step 1 score was a little under average for the average applicant, which is why I applied broadly.
M4: Did three away rotations, one at a very prestigious hospital where I received a letter. Third letter was from my home anesthesia adviser.
Applied to ~50 categorical + advanced anesthesia positions and ~40 preliminary year positions. End result: 20 anesthesia interviews; I attended 17 due to travel and a death in the family. Three preliminary year interviews; I later discovered about half of those were missing documents.
Last Monday: Learned I had matched into an advanced program in my target city but not a preliminary program. I entered SOAP, received 6 interviews, and ended up in a phenomenal preliminary surgical position in a top 10 surgery program.
Last Friday: Matched my #7 program. It is technically more prestigious than 3, 4, 5, and 6 but I liked some aspects of the other programs more. Still, it has good name recognition and excellent fellowship placement. I am VERY happy to go there in two years!
(I was not initially offered an interview by this program. I wrote to the program director and stated I was interested in the program. A few days later, I received an invite. I only did this for two schools and obviously the results were awesome. Don't do this for every school or else you'll look like you're trying to game the system.)
Last edited:
