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Hey guys I've been wanting to make this post for a long time. Basically it's a summary of my application process and what not to do to gain admission to a US MD program (apparently). I am writing this mostly for therapeutic reasons so feel free to ignore. I don't want to rain on everyone's well deserved jubilation.
I attended an Illinois state school. I'm from southern Illinois. I knew early on in undergrad I wanted to do medicine, but I underperformed in my med prereqs. Mistake #1. I started off as a Bio major but switched to Chemistry. By the end of my 4th year, my grades took an upturn but due to my bad start I ended up with a 3.59 cum and 3.35 sci gpa (nonsci GPA was 4.0, but I took many sci classes for my major).
I didn't apply to med school right after graduation and took a year off to volunteer at hospitals and shadow doctors, as well as take the MCAT. I took the MCAT in July and scored a 31 (10 11 10 P). So here comes mistake #2. I submitted my AMCAS in August and it wasn't processed until September. I didn't get most secondaries (including SIU's) until October. I interviewed at SIU in November and I thought it went very well. No other schools showed me any love. I didn't apply extremely broadly, just all Illinois schools and several private out of states I thought I had a chance at. I favored SIU from the start so I wasn't very worried about it. I figured it was just "meant to be" and just waited for the AWPA.
The AWPA, along with significant joy for my family and I, arrived in January. Then the Feb batch was released, and nothing. March followed, and worry set in. I called SIU and was told I'm in the 3rd quartile and it doesn't look good. At this point I had to make a decision. I could either sit around and wait for nothing to happen, or take action.
Medicine is my passion. Over the past year, my volunteering at my city hospitals has solidified my desire to enter medicine. Therefore, I applied to St. George's University in the Caribbean and was accepted for this fall. Obviously, if SIU accepts me I would drop SGU in an instant. I know the Caribbean isn't the smartest option in this day an age, but frankly I can't sit around for another year waiting on an acceptance that isn't a guarantee. Actually, the thing that worries me most about SGU isn't the limited residency spots available or the stigma about Caribbean docs, it's mostly just being so far away from Illinois. Far away from the people I know and love.
I still love SIU, and am still almost considering waiting it out another year, but I know I need to improve my application and I don't really know where to start. I would have got to go to medical school only 100 miles away from my family who are the most important thing in my life, in an environment that is greatly familiar to me. But I guess as the old Stones song goes "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find...you get what you need."
So future applicants heed my warnings: Get your crap together and apply straight out of college, keep your GPA up and apply EARLY. I don't think the timing I applied had any bearing on my place on AWPA at SIU, but it probably affected my chances elsewhere.
If, through some twist of fate and/or divine intervention I end up at SIU School of Medicine this year, I will be thrilled. If not, this application cycle taught me many things. I think SIU's application process could be properly described as a roller coaster that for some people ends with you getting off the ride laughing as you saw your life flash before your eyes (acceptance) and others crash landing at the end. (stuck on AWPA).
Anyway, again I'm sorry to be a downer. The last month has been hard for me because acceptance (in the sense of the "five stages of grief" and the med school kind) have still not hit me.
Take care, and best of luck to all of you in the future.
EDIT: I forgot my final mistake. I didn't apply to DO schools. Maybe I couldn't gotten in, maybe not.
I attended an Illinois state school. I'm from southern Illinois. I knew early on in undergrad I wanted to do medicine, but I underperformed in my med prereqs. Mistake #1. I started off as a Bio major but switched to Chemistry. By the end of my 4th year, my grades took an upturn but due to my bad start I ended up with a 3.59 cum and 3.35 sci gpa (nonsci GPA was 4.0, but I took many sci classes for my major).
I didn't apply to med school right after graduation and took a year off to volunteer at hospitals and shadow doctors, as well as take the MCAT. I took the MCAT in July and scored a 31 (10 11 10 P). So here comes mistake #2. I submitted my AMCAS in August and it wasn't processed until September. I didn't get most secondaries (including SIU's) until October. I interviewed at SIU in November and I thought it went very well. No other schools showed me any love. I didn't apply extremely broadly, just all Illinois schools and several private out of states I thought I had a chance at. I favored SIU from the start so I wasn't very worried about it. I figured it was just "meant to be" and just waited for the AWPA.
The AWPA, along with significant joy for my family and I, arrived in January. Then the Feb batch was released, and nothing. March followed, and worry set in. I called SIU and was told I'm in the 3rd quartile and it doesn't look good. At this point I had to make a decision. I could either sit around and wait for nothing to happen, or take action.
Medicine is my passion. Over the past year, my volunteering at my city hospitals has solidified my desire to enter medicine. Therefore, I applied to St. George's University in the Caribbean and was accepted for this fall. Obviously, if SIU accepts me I would drop SGU in an instant. I know the Caribbean isn't the smartest option in this day an age, but frankly I can't sit around for another year waiting on an acceptance that isn't a guarantee. Actually, the thing that worries me most about SGU isn't the limited residency spots available or the stigma about Caribbean docs, it's mostly just being so far away from Illinois. Far away from the people I know and love.
I still love SIU, and am still almost considering waiting it out another year, but I know I need to improve my application and I don't really know where to start. I would have got to go to medical school only 100 miles away from my family who are the most important thing in my life, in an environment that is greatly familiar to me. But I guess as the old Stones song goes "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find...you get what you need."
So future applicants heed my warnings: Get your crap together and apply straight out of college, keep your GPA up and apply EARLY. I don't think the timing I applied had any bearing on my place on AWPA at SIU, but it probably affected my chances elsewhere.
If, through some twist of fate and/or divine intervention I end up at SIU School of Medicine this year, I will be thrilled. If not, this application cycle taught me many things. I think SIU's application process could be properly described as a roller coaster that for some people ends with you getting off the ride laughing as you saw your life flash before your eyes (acceptance) and others crash landing at the end. (stuck on AWPA).
Anyway, again I'm sorry to be a downer. The last month has been hard for me because acceptance (in the sense of the "five stages of grief" and the med school kind) have still not hit me.
Take care, and best of luck to all of you in the future.
EDIT: I forgot my final mistake. I didn't apply to DO schools. Maybe I couldn't gotten in, maybe not.
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