Ended up at your last choice school?

[interviewQ]

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Please excuse the crosspost, I initially placed this in the pre-allopathic forums before realizing I wouldn't get the kind of feedback I was looking for.

I managed to get an acceptance to my last choice this application season and wondered if I could get input from other applicants which were in my situation and how it turned out.

Ultimately, the program that accepted me is a 'good program' (top 40) - but it is located in a very unappealing place, and left me with a poor impression from my interview day - poor enough that had I have known before hand, I would not have chosen to apply. By virtue of being wait listed I did not get an opportunity to go to second look. I am of course thankful for the opportunity to attend, but cannot shake the feeling of disappointment after having interviewed at several other schools that I felt would be a much better fit for me.

I am not planning to rescind the offer - I'm just curious to hear from students who went to their last choice and what their experiences were one way or another - if they ended up disappointed as they had feared of if they were pleasantly surprised.

Thanks for sharing your stories 🙂

 

[adaptation1]

All I can say is this. As soon as you get to med school, you'll discover the reason people actually go to med school: to become a doctor. Does that sound obvious? I don't think it's as obvious as it seems.

Prior to enrolling, you have other things on your mind: the people, the environment, the curriculum, the social scene, the culture, the ease of transportation, and all that good stuff

But you'll realize that's all moot when you're staring at a 500 biochem slides, or a smelly cadaver for the past 5 hours. It'll hit you like a train:

"Hmm, so maybe I didn't come to med school to chill at beach in miami, go hiking in oregon, or run naked in the rain in seattle...after all."

You go to med school to learn and that's that. Most of your learning will be despite the curriculum, the lecturers, and the school environment. Don't overthink the other stuff. Besides, the most important thing is to who suffer with, and you'll make good friends along the way. When you're with good people, you can have fun, no matter where you are. 🙂

Please excuse the crosspost, I initially placed this in the pre-allopathic forums before realizing I wouldn't get the kind of feedback I was looking for.

I managed to get an acceptance to my last choice this application season and wondered if I could get input from other applicants which were in my situation and how it turned out.

Ultimately, the program that accepted me is a 'good program' (top 40) - but it is located in a very unappealing place, and left me with a poor impression from my interview day - poor enough that had I have known before hand, I would not have chosen to apply. By virtue of being wait listed I did not get an opportunity to go to second look. I am of course thankful for the opportunity to attend, but cannot shake the feeling of disappointment after having interviewed at several other schools that I felt would be a much better fit for me.

I am not planning to rescind the offer - I'm just curious to hear from students who went to their last choice and what their experiences were one way or another - if they ended up disappointed as they had feared of if they were pleasantly surprised.

Thanks for sharing your stories 🙂

 

[lrkoehle]

All I can say is this. As soon as you get to med school, you'll discover the reason people actually go to med school: to become a doctor. Does that sound obvious? I don't think it's as obvious as it seems.

You go to med school to learn and that's that. Most of your learning will be despite the curriculum, the lecturers, and the school environment. Don't overthink the other stuff. Besides, the most important thing is to who suffer with, and you'll make good friends along the way. When you're with good people, you can have fun, no matter where you are. 🙂

I definitely agree with the first point. It's really easy during the application cycle to get distracted with all the other BS, but at the end of the day it's about becoming the best doctor possible. The most important thing in achieving that goal is you.

I think you'll most likely be happy as long as you go in with the right mentality. If you treat it like you're "stuck" going to your last choice, you won't give yourself a chance to be happy.

 

[Serotonergic]

I'm almost done with my first year at my last choice school, which is one of the least prestigious/competitive M.D. schools. I do hate it for all the reasons I thought I would hate it. For a number of reasons though, I don't really want to discuss the specifics on this public forum. I really just wanted to stay in my home state and I can't wait to (hopefully) be able to go back there for residency.

Life is rarely ideal. Just gotta deal with what you get!

 

[TexasPhysician]

Keep yourself busy with studying and EC's and you won't even notice what city you are in. 🙂

 

[Jolie South]

This thread is not pertinent to current Allopathic students and is cross-posted in its appropriate location in pre-Allopathic. Closing.