Rafal is an incoming MS1 at Harvard Medical School. Born and raised in northwest Poland, Rafal was rejected from all US colleges he had applied to in 2015. Following the initial failure to continue his education, Rafal traveled to Tanzania where he spent part of his gap year working for an NGO ministering to HIV-positive women in the Kilimanjaro Region. Armed with a life-changing experience, he reapplied for admission to the same schools that had previously rejected him - this time with greater success. Rafal received his undergraduate B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester in May 2020. During his tenure as an undergraduate student, he was involved in a wide gamut of research activities that included a position of an Emergency Department Research Associate (EDRA) at Strong Memorial Hospital, a position of a research intern in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Sydney, participation in the Undergraduate Clinical Scholars Program (UCSP) at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a summer research internship in the Yale Epilepsy Center. He published 3 first-author papers that pertained to the utilization of hepatitis C (HCV)-infected organs in transplantation and wants to continue his exploration of the policies behind organ allocation in the US at Harvard. In addition, Rafal was a member of the track and field varsity team, worked as an interviewer for the Office of Admissions at Rochester, and served as Director of Health Curriculum of Grassroot Soccer. Following his graduation, Rafal joined the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the capacity of research program coordinator. Outside of school, Rafal is an avid traveler who has visited 45 countries, a devoted Arsenal Football Club fan who has attended over 60 games across the UK and Europe, and a supporter of Australian wildlife through the remote Koala Adoption Program at Port Macquarie Koala Hospital. Talk to Rafal about Medical School Application cycle, research and soccer!