Still waiting on three schools I interviewed at and Penn State, who's ghosted me, but gotta say I am proud of how my cycle came out. 

From what I had seen on Reddit and SDN, I thought my chances were low. My GPA isn't the best compared to others, and my first MCAT left me really questioning whether I’d get into an MD school. Last April, when I got my score back, though, I had some hope lol. 

Took 3 gap years, stacked my clinical hours during this time, and made sure my essays were polished. After a long year, I’ll be going to a school I really love.

Extremely grateful I got a full-tuition scholarship + stipend that covers almost all of my COA. From my quick calculations, I’ll be graduating with less than 25,000 in federal loans, which is far less than I expected, given the horrible bill passed. 

Stats:

Male, URM, LGBT+, low-income, in-state to both Texas and Colorado (finessed the system)

AMCAS cGPA: 3.66 ; sGPA: 3.55

TMDSAS cGPA: 3.72; sGPA: 3.61

MCAT: 503 -> 515

CASPER: 2nd Q

PREview: 5

Hours:

Clinical hours: 11,000+ (MA in cardiology, primary care, and derm)

Research/lab: 200+

Shadowing: 164

Volunteer: 1,400

Teaching/tutoring: 50

Leadership: 720