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- Nov 22, 2021
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Huge shout out to the SDN community!! There's a whole lot of information here but once you find the gold, you've found the gold.
Three years ago, I earned my white coat to my dream Top-25 medical school, UCLA, directly because of all that I learned from this pocket on the internet.
And this community is still chugging along today! 👏👏👏
The Premed Grind -- Are you familiar with it?
I used to always feel lost and never felt like I was enough compared to other premeds.
Now, I’m one year away from my MD from my dream medical school.
Here’s how I did it with 6 Simple “Levers."
4 years ago, I had been rejected from one of the most competitive clubs on campus — the Student Stroke Team. They had the most clout on campus, donning these engraved Patagonia sweaters... the same ones actual doctors wore!
I'd end up being rejected by the Student Stroke Team 8 times, not to mention the 30+ shadowing emails and 50+ research emails I sent, only to never get a response.
I felt anxious.
Nervous.
Like I was falling behind and that perhaps, my application didn't have enough substance.
That I wasn't enough.
Just last month, I took the lead in the care of Mr. G. I saw him every morning, posed my very own plans to the senior resident, and participated in his entire surgery.
Mr. G, unfortunately, passed away in the middle of November, but I will forever remember his valiant fight with metastatic cancer.
We didn’t get him home to the son he wanted to make amends with or his lovely granddaughters who he never forgot. Yet, I still feel absolutely blessed that I had the opportunity to give him back weeks of quality, pain-free life.
While we miss Mr. G dearly, this isn’t a sad story.
It’s one to inspire the next generation of healthcare providers.
Yes, becoming a doctor means you'll likely be a part of America's upper class.
Yes, becoming a doctor means you'll earn the respect of folks who are amazed at how long your education took.
Above all else, however, becoming a doctor means that **you really get to connect with other people** — *in ways that no one else can* — and help them through their most vulnerable times.
Getting here certainly wasn't easy, but there are real differences between Michael 7 years ago and Michael today.
I started treating my medical school application completely differently. Here's what I did:
Step 1: Intimately understand EVERYTHING that goes onto the medical school application. I call them the Six Levers:
1. GPA
2. MCAT
3. Extracurricular Activities
4. Letters of Recommendation
5. School List
6. Personal Statement + Interviews
Step 2: Work backward from there to build out a 4-year plan ensuring that you optimize all 6 Levers by the time you plan on applying to medical school (e.g. hey, I need 2 Science LOR and 1 Non-Science LOR, which of these courses would be best to invest my time and energy into?)
Step 3. STOP trying to join all these hyper-competitive clubs, especially if you don't fully resonate with their mission.
It is OKAY to not apply to the Student Stroke Team; you are better off investing your time in extracurricular activities that are true to your personal passions **(e.g. I referee'd IM basketball and I absolutely loved it — medical schools did as well!) **
Again, thank you SDN. You certainly have a bad reputation amongst many premeds circles, but I'm hoping this is one push in the opposite direction. You have changed my life, giving me the opportunity to really make an impact serving these people.
Every day, I grow more confident that I will eventually be trusted with caring for real patients.
For any premed anywhere on your journey, stay true to yourself, know your medical school admissions fundamentals and remember your WHY.
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Good for you!
