Overview of the Series

In this series of articles, I will be sharing excerpts of case studies on several of my former students (with their permission, of course). Names and other identifying information have been changed, but the material facts — MCAT score, GPA, etc. — are unchanged. The full case studies are published in my book, Pre-Med Success Stories.

I’ll present each case study in three parts — an introduction of the student, followed by an in-depth assessment of the student’s profile and chances for admission to medical school, and then finally I’ll explain what happened to the student once s/he applied.

In this article, I be finishing my three-part series on a student of mine, Gwen.

Part III — How Did Gwen Do?

As I expected, Gwen did exceptionally well. She was accepted to eight schools: Weill Medical College of Cornell University, George Washington University School of Med & Health Sciences, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University, New York Medical College, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, University of California (San Diego) School of Medicine, and University of California (San Francisco) School of Medicine.

Nontraditional students have an advantage from other applications since they have more time to work on themselves. Among these group of students, Gwen stands out — she’s multidisciplinary, having been a lab scientist, performer, public speaker, and public servant. Even further, she’s been heavily involved in various fields and has made sure many of these are not the path for her. Gwen is also incredibly self-aware and she knows what she wants in her medical career. Her application shows that she is able to fit perfectly into the two roles required of a doctor: one of intellectual, calculated decision-making and the other of being a caretaker. Through her experiences, she has managed to mend these into one whole which I think made her application especially remarkable compared to her peers.

Want to Hear More about Gwen’s Story?

Gwen’s file is not like most pre-meds, but nonetheless her story is useful to put your own potential in perspective. Even as a career-oriented person with many different interests, Gwen had to plan out her future diligently. If you are further interested in learning about her story, please check out my book Pre-Med Success Stories.