First Post

[rockstarramona]

Hello All,

After loitering for some time, I'm finally taking the plunge and posting.

As an introduction, I'm a 31 yr old enjoying the post-bacc premed curriculum a la carte. I've taken two semesters each of Gen Chem, Organic, and Bio, and one semester of Stats (over the summer). I'll be finishing with Physics I and II this coming year. Due to a full time job and the typical scheduling at my local university--2 nights of lecture and one of lab, with most of the basic sciences offered on the same nights--I've taken the prereqs one at a time. I managed to take concentrated Bio I and II this summer (9 hrs at work and 5 in class/lab, 5 days/week was incredibly fun--I highly recommend it), so this post-bacc "program" will be coming to an end after only three short years.

As I approach the end of this part of the journey, with the application process in sight, I'm finding it difficult to come up with a list of schools.
My mediocre uGPA will do some of the work for me, but it will also necessitate my applying to more than just my state school.

My reasons for liking my state school (or any school) are practical. I would love to not have to sell the house, or leave my family and my husbands interests. I would also love to pay in-state tuition (gasp, what a shocker).

The schools' websites definitely don't provide enough info to differentiate between programs, so how did you learn enough to pick a top school, or a top five? What made you fall in love with the program (not the cost or location)?

Thanks.

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[vc7777]

Hi Ramona! I've never met a rockstar before! Welcome! And boy, do I hear you and your concerns...I don't know what to say. What made you fall in love with your husband (rhetorical question, please do not answer )?

For me, I just knew I LOVED LOVED LOVED my Medical School, the curriculum was important for me, the vibe of the upperclassmen, the setting, etc.

I would caution you to look critically at your "practical" state school too. Find good things to say about it as well. Think of this like asking someone to the prom. You don't want to tell them "I'm interested in going with you because you are conveniently located and cheap..."

 

[rockstarramona]

That's what I get for choosing a username from a 90's movie

I guess I'm interested in finding out how people went about falling in love with a particular school.

vc7777 , you mentioned the curriculum and vibe of upperclassmen. Did you contact/visit current students at every school of interest, or just your top choice?
And as for the curriculum, the outline given my most programs seems very similar. What resources did you use to learn more about each program's curriculum? Word of mouth, admissions office?

I've read so many "I love this school," "its my first choice," etc. on this forum and I'm wondering why and how? What sets your school apart from the rest?

 

[Lacheln]

This is a great question, because it can be really hard to figure out. People sort of know a lot about the top schools, some others are high profile for other reasons, and you might know a lot about your local schools, but beyond that....

Anyway, I would say you should first get together a list based on your stats, location and cost (use MSAR), perhaps narrowing by preference for research vs primary care/social mission (some sense of which you can glean from websites and the listed curriculum), and then throw your list up on SDN (literally or figuratively ) to have people comment. It's extremely difficult to get a sense of the school before matriculating unless you know people there...and even then it can be difficult. The culture can vary year to year, so impressions from current students aren't necessarily useful, and the schools will obviously be selling themselves by putting their best feet forward, so websites/interview day is also to be taken with a grain of salt.

In my experience, going by cost, location and competitiveness works to pick your app pool, then if you get a bad/good vibe during the app process you can weed further. Being a nontrad with a family I'm going to assume location is very high on your list of requirements. Even if you have to move out of state you can still think about how close the nearest airports are, cost of living near the school, etc.

Good luck!

ETA: I realized I didn't directly answer your "how did you fall in love" question - that is like any other romance, in that it's serendipity - you can't plan for it, and most relationships aren't based on love. I happened to have a far-and-away top choice prior to applying, but it was based on a few friends who had gone there and had nothing but excellent things to say, the incredibly low cost, and the acceptable location. In retrospect the cost and location combo would have sufficed to make it a top contender anyway, as long as I hadn't heard bad things.

 

[vc7777]

That's what I get for choosing a username from a 90's movie

I kid because I love, you know!

I guess I'm interested in finding out how people went about falling in love with a particular school.

vc7777 , you mentioned the curriculum and vibe of upperclassmen. Did you contact/visit current students at every school of interest, or just your top choice?
And as for the curriculum, the outline given my most programs seems very similar. What resources did you use to learn more about each program's curriculum? Word of mouth, admissions office?

I've read so many "I love this school," "its my first choice," etc. on this forum and I'm wondering why and how? What sets your school apart from the rest?

I am a people person. I love talking to people. Especially people who are excited/passionate about what we are discussing. This is certainly the case with med students!

No, I couldn't visit ahead of my interviews. I am not sure how useful that would be if the school was not right down the street. Maybe, if that were the case, I would have (maybe) asked if I could sit in some classes/lectures.

Yes, I did contact people for my top choice schools, less than half a dozen...Really, SDN is a great place to connect with people from the schools well in advance of your interviews. I usually spent some time examining SDN posts from previous years and the websites of the schools well before I arrived for my interviews. For my top choices, since I am married, my wife and I discussed location, school districts, housing, job opportunities for her, etc. etc. etc....It's has been my experience that the word of mouth from current students is your best and most efficient source of information. Heck, just yesterday the second years were giving me "the straight dope" on what I should or shouldn't do...so it won't stop once you are accepted either!


A word of caution and as a public service announcement: I get "cold-called" by people I've never heard of asking for things/advice about my school/application/etc...while I usually try and respond if I have time, I really do go way out of my way for people I know from posting. I think you will get warmer responses if you develop a rapport beforehand AND pony up the money and become a paying member of SDN...I eventually did because I owe much of my success to this forum.

Once I was accepted early on, I narrowed my choices down, I did a lot of talking with those same folks and did some soul-searching...one of my later acceptances was CCLCM, by that time I had beat the horse to death and was certain that I wanted to come here!

So, to summatize, when I say I "fell in love" it really took months and months to come to that opinion!