Name: Margarete Wallner                    Major(s) and minor(s): Neuroscience

Favorite class you took at Michigan: NEUROL 455: For those of you fellow Neuroscience majors out there, this is an excellent senior-level seminar to take during your fall semester senior year! Dr. Leventhal is an excellent instructor. Not only is he a neurologist himself, but he also does applied research related to the causes of Parkinson’s Disease. This class has no exams, which I found enjoyable as many of my science-based classes were solely based on exams. You have take-home quizzes based on assigned scientific articles. During the semester you also have to give a presentation to the class about one of the assigned scientific articles. Dr. Leventhal always pushed us to think critically in class and was a very helpful/supportive instructor. I would take this class again if I could!

When/How did you study for the MCAT: Studied for about 10 hours a week during my fall semester of my junior year. Did weekly Kaplan MCAT course (3 hours/week).

When did you take the MCAT: Mid January of my junior year.

What was your pre-med experience: My pre-med experience was quite fast paced. I took all my medical school prerequisites relatively early. I liked this, because my last three semesters in college I got to take classes I truly enjoyed. I volunteered at Ozone House as a crisis line volunteer, at Michigan Medicine, as well as an academic tutor for local underserved youth. I participated in numerous extracurricular activities related improving academic accessibility at the university and served as a SLC Course Leader for Chem 130 for two years.

Recommendations/advice for current students: If I had to give three pieces of advice regarding my pre-med experience at Michigan, it would be this: 1) It is totally okay to take a gap year, and in fact, I encourage it. If I had to go back and change anything, it would be to take a gap year. Not only do you have an extra year of experience to vouch for in your application, but it is often looked highly upon applicants to take a gap year. 2) Take the MCAT when you are truly ready! I rushed to take my MCAT because I felt I was on a strict timeline in order to apply on time. Although many medical schools will say that they look at your application holistically, (unfortunately, in my opinion), the MCAT will be weighed relatively heavily in your application. Of course, there are extenuating circumstances where this isn’t true. However, if you take the practice AAMC MCAT practice exams and are not scoring where you would like to see yourself scoring, WAIT. Study more, nail down your strategies, and take the MCAT when you get your goal score on the AAMC MCAT practice exams.

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