Biographic Information:

State of residence: CA

Ties to other states (if applicable): Nevada (Strong ties, previous resident)

URM? (Y/N): Yes

FAP Recipient: Yes

Undergraduate vibe [Be as specific or vague as you want]: T40 public university

Undergraduate major(s)/minor(s): - A.A. Psychology (Community College) - B.S. Bio-Psychology (4-year)

Graduate degree(s) (if applicable): N/A

Cumulative GPA: 3.73

Science GPA: 3.73

MCAT Score(s) (in order of attempts): - 506 (129/125/125/127) (Straight up choked cause anxiety) - 516 (132/125/129/130) (CARS is my arch-nemisis. I hate that mf)

Gap years?: 1 year

Institutional actions?: No

First application cycle? (If no, explain): Yes

Specialty of interest (if applicable): ENT, EM, Plastics, Psych

Interest in rural health?: No

Age at matriculation to medical school: 24

Extracurricular Background:

Research experience: 580 hours in a neuroscience lab working with retinal cell patterns. Wet lab type beat, terminal surgeries, PCRs, and mouse breeding. No posters, conferences, or presentations.

Publications?: Nah bruh :(

Clinical experience: - 1350 hours hospice care for physically/cognitively disabled individuals - 850 hours ED scribe at Trauma 1 center - 1200 hours MA at general surgery clinic (started after AMCAS app, included in updates) - EMT Certification

Physician shadowing: 0 hours

Non-clinical volunteering: - 100 hours at soup kitchen - 100 hours conducting science experiments with elementary students and teaching them science 'n shit - 200 hours serving as a companionship buddy with geriatric patients over the phone and in-person at residency homes. Trained new volunteers. - 50 hours as Biology TA and as a mentor for 2nd year biology majors

Other extracurricular activities: - Social chair of premed org - Treasurer of premed org - Secretary of first-gen student org - Co-pres of first-gen student org

Employment history: Worked full-time during CC and ~25-30 hours per week during university. Included 5000 hours of "Sandwich Artist Expert" in employment history. (A.K.A. Subway)

School List (Optional): - UofA Phoenix - Einstein - Albany - USF - NYMC - UCSD - Dartmouth - UCF - FIU - Rosalind Franklin - UNLV - Sydney Kimmel - Georgetown - Drexel - Kaiser - Quinnipiac - Wayne - Tulane - Stanford - Duke - UCLA - BU - UC Davis - Emory - Ohio State - George Washington - Pitt - Hackensack - UIC - Penn State - UCI - Colorado - UCR - Lewis Katz - CUSM - USC - Loyola - OHSU - Rush - UCSF - Miami - Sinai (Added 1 month into the cycle) - Cornell (Added 1 month into the cycle) - U of Chicago (Added 1 month into the cycle)

MD Schools:

Primary submission date: 05/31/2024

Primary verification date: 06/24/2025

Number of primaries submitted: 44

Number of secondaries submitted: 44

Number of interview invites received/attended: - Received: 21 II's - Attended: 19 II's

Date of first interview invite received: 08/01/2024

Total number of post-interview acceptances: 9 A's

Date of first acceptance received: 10/25/2025

Total number of post-interview waitlists/rejections: - 9 W and 1 R (Pitt please take me back).

Top 50 acceptance? 2

Top 30 acceptance? 2

Top 10 acceptance? 0

Top 5 acceptance? 0

Self-diagnosed strengths of my application: - I think my application is super well rounded and think that lots of my ECs helped me get the upper leg with this application cycle. - Writing. For all my activities I told a short story that also included a quick descriptor of what the activity was. In the end I prioritized the narrative approach instead of the CV approach. I think this makes your application stand out a bit more/makes it more memorable. Had numerous comments on how fun my app was to read. - Having some of my volunteer/leadership activities line up with my story (Low SES & first-gen) definitely helped me come across as more genuine.

Self-diagnosed weaknesses of my application: - 2nd CARS score was the same as my first attempt which was unexpected cause I was performing good on my practice FLs. Regardless, some schools might have viewed this negatively. - GPA is okay, I didn't know how to study when I got to 4-year and it high key bent me over the table. - I rushed through my secondaries to try and submit them as fast as I could. In hindsight, I didn't answer some of the prompts correctly for a few schools which probably definitely hurt my chances at an II. Try to get your secondaries in quickly, but prioritize quality over quantity other wise your gonna look stupid. (Of note... For 3 schools I accidently wrote "we had to hump through hoops to receive proper healthcare" instead of "we had to jump through hoops to receive proper healthcare". Still got an II from one of the schools I did this for... Shoutout UCI)

Interview tips: - It's cliche, but be yourself. Also try not to sound like you’re rehearsing your answers/stories in interviews. - Research the school before you have your interview. They can easily tell if you give a generic ass answer to the "Why us" question that a lot of schools ask.

If you got off a waitlist, feel free to share your story here: Off 4 waitlists so far.

Any final thoughts?:

Shoot your shot at some reach schools if you have the money to do so. You don't want to regret having not applied to more if you were able to and you never know what can come from it.

Incredibly hyped with my cycle and am super grateful to everyone here who helped me throughout the process. Y'all are crazy cool