•••quote:•••Originally posted by daveshnave:
•I know your pain... I was on the margin of accceptable for several years before I was finally accepted. I have no doubt I'll be a competent and compassionate doctor, but it was hard to convince adcoms of that, especially when I hardly got any interviews, and the ones I did get were in March/April... Even though I knew my personality was "normal," it didn't matter when I was fighting for a waitlist spot... anyway, I did the post-bacc thing, which turned out to be good for me (despite the sh*tty fact I had to fork out more money...). Not to mention, I should have given up on Cali schools years back... the whole system sucks because there are so many qualified people fighting for limited spots. To be honest, I came to realize there was a luck factor involved... especially when I saw over-qualified people in my post-bacc get many rejections. Anyway, I felt vindicated after I got several acceptances (after 4 years/ 9-10K$ in application fees!), and having nearly completed my first year I have to say that I know medicine has been the right choice for me, even though it took me so long to get here. It's ironic because it took me so long to get in, and at this point I'm definitely in the upper echelon of my class... it just goes to show that even though you can be a mediocre candidate for acceptance, you can still perform quite well in med school... I digress...
As for rankings, I have to say that unlike law schools, etc, there aren't really any bad med schools in the US... just shades of grey. It irks me when I hear people bag on certain med schools, and I've come to realize that certain people just do this to feed their egos. There will always be people like this, and I've realized that while they will always be there, they suck! If you need a certain school's diploma behing your name to feel better about yourself, so be it... you're probably not a person I would like as a friend or physician. Not to knock people at top schools, because I'm not... they've worked hard to get there and they deserve accolades... it's just the people who point out the fact that they went to such and such school that are shadows of human beings. I feel confident in my education and abilities, and that's all I need to feel good about myself. I am well rounded and find a healthy balance between school and my outside life, and if you were to ask me ten years ago what I wanted out of life, this would be it. In my book, I've already won... (now I just need to get back to CA for residency :wink:
)•••••That is the spirit to have =)
Don't let the ego freaks win. Although the interview process is supposed to filter out the socially inept, it doesn't necessarily filter out the egotistical neurotic folks who's self esteem is based completely on their academic success.
Undoubtably all of us will encounter the snobs and elitists. But that doesn't mean we will allow them to subjugate our ideologies. Medicine is about helping others, its not supposed to be an ego trip.
on getting into UCI and UCSD. I really liked the fact that UCSD had an open-ended autobio part to their secondary. I felt that I could explain so much about myself and my life to them. Unfortunately for me it wasn't enough to explain my B+ average from UCLA. It's cool I am very very happy to be going to Howard in the fall. BTW I think J.N. is gpoing to UCSD even if UCLA takes her.