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Scholarship Access: Becoming a Student Doctor course
Free access to comprehensive medical school prep. Eligible students include AAMC FAP recipients and HS graduates from underserved areas. Apply today. -
inspiring app stories
- Thread starter moviefreak
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certainly not from me. 🙁
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This isn't med school related but here's an inspiring story for an award that's given to 50 students at my undergrad college (we have 45,000 total students).
I filled out an application for this award that I really didn't think i had a shot at winning. Basically I wrote up the resume-type question and answered all their questions, and turned it in the day before it was due.
Well, I get a call late that night (around midnight), and this lady says, we can't accept your application, you messed up on it. However, you can fix the mistakes and turn it in tomorrow.
Tomorrow...tomorrow, did I mention I was leaving at 8 am out of town tomorrow (and their office didn't open until 8 am), that's why I had to turn it in early. I had another copy of the form to the application that I needed to fill out, said screw it, I don't need the award or the chance to win $100, and I ripped up the only application I had.
I finihsed my homework and just before I was about to go to bed, I regretted tearing up the application. however, all they needed was another copy of the resumetype question answered, as they had the application already.
So I stayed up an extra two hours typing up this application thing telling myself I have no shot in hell of winning, and I still had no way of getting it to their office on time.
The next morning I set it on the table and asked my roomie if he'd be kind to go out of his way to submit the form. I found out the next day he did, it was just confusing trying to explain to the person he gave it to what was going on.
Well four months later I get a surprise call from my parents. Turns out they notifeid them and not me that I had received the award, and $100.
So the moral of the story is: Keep applying even if you think there's no chance in hell.
I filled out an application for this award that I really didn't think i had a shot at winning. Basically I wrote up the resume-type question and answered all their questions, and turned it in the day before it was due.
Well, I get a call late that night (around midnight), and this lady says, we can't accept your application, you messed up on it. However, you can fix the mistakes and turn it in tomorrow.
Tomorrow...tomorrow, did I mention I was leaving at 8 am out of town tomorrow (and their office didn't open until 8 am), that's why I had to turn it in early. I had another copy of the form to the application that I needed to fill out, said screw it, I don't need the award or the chance to win $100, and I ripped up the only application I had.
I finihsed my homework and just before I was about to go to bed, I regretted tearing up the application. however, all they needed was another copy of the resumetype question answered, as they had the application already.
So I stayed up an extra two hours typing up this application thing telling myself I have no shot in hell of winning, and I still had no way of getting it to their office on time.
The next morning I set it on the table and asked my roomie if he'd be kind to go out of his way to submit the form. I found out the next day he did, it was just confusing trying to explain to the person he gave it to what was going on.
Well four months later I get a surprise call from my parents. Turns out they notifeid them and not me that I had received the award, and $100.
So the moral of the story is: Keep applying even if you think there's no chance in hell.
Bad moral if you ask me. Why would you keep applying to med school if you had no chance in hell? Sure, applying to med school has some luck involved. But isn't luck when opportunity meets preparation?
I like the idea of persistence and keeping on applying. I just don't like the no chance in hell part. If one had no chance in hell then they should spend their time improving their application so that they would have a chance in hell.
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I think the story is about not selling yourself short. Personally, I passed on the chance to apply to many scholarships and awards because I did not think my numbers and resume are stellar enough. But it turned out my friend who has comparable numbers to myself and ECs (I think) less stellar than mine had gotten some scholarships and distinguished awards, as in distinquished senior award.
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This isn't really an application story, but very inspiring....
When my brother-in-law was a medical student in the middle of MS-3, his house burned to the ground. He lost EVERYTHING. Notes, memories, everything. He took time off, tried to get back on track but couldn't. He repeated his third year of med school because he wanted to be a doctor so badly.
Moral: Don't let a small (or big!) obstical stop you from achieving your dreams!! 🙂
When my brother-in-law was a medical student in the middle of MS-3, his house burned to the ground. He lost EVERYTHING. Notes, memories, everything. He took time off, tried to get back on track but couldn't. He repeated his third year of med school because he wanted to be a doctor so badly.
Moral: Don't let a small (or big!) obstical stop you from achieving your dreams!! 🙂
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There must always be that negative person here in SDN that takes things totally out of context.
Contrary to what you say to it being a bad moral, I think it is a great moral. Although the original poster "thought" he had no chance in hell, clearly he was underestimating his application which in the med-school application process we like him may also do. If he really didnt have a chance in hell, then he would not have received the award which proves that it is always better to have tried and lost than to have never tried at all.
This also is a great example of how we see threads "Do I have a chance with a 3.8 GPA and 35 MCAT and excellent EC. Most of us, normally feel that our application compared to others might fall short.
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There must always be that negative person here in SDN that takes things totally out of context.
Contrary to what you say to it being a bad moral, I think it is a great moral. Although the original poster "thought" he had no chance in hell, clearly he was underestimating his application which in the med-school application process we like him may also do. If he really didnt have a chance in hell, then he would not have received the award which proves that it is always better to have tried and lost than to have never tried at all.
This also is a great example of how we see threads "Do I have a chance with a 3.8 GPA and 35 MCAT and excellent EC. Most of us, normally feel that our application compared to others might fall short. Anyway, thanks for the post XCanadianRagwee some of us appreciated it.
Sorry not necessarily trying to be negative. I liked the story too. Its just that I think sometimes these "inspiring" stories convey the idea that the medical school app process is a total crapshoot. That its merely rolling the dice and I completely disagree wth that. There are always those stories of the individual who got into UCLA with a 3.4 and a 26MCAT or the individual who got into Hopkins with the same stats but a 29 on the MCAT. I think for every story like this there are a lot of other people with similar stats that don't even get into med school at all. Perhaps if those people had not been jaded by stories like this(granted, the OP's story didn't even have anything to do with applying to med school.) they would have held off a year or two to improve what was weak about their app and get in on the first try.
I do see your point of view. Many people do feel their application may fall short but in hindsight never really had anything to worry about. Stories like this are good for those people. But I think it cuts both ways. "Well, I'm borderline for even the lower tier med schools. Ah well, so and so had a 3.4 and 26 and got in. I should give it a go." That one person who got in with those numbers becomes an inspiring story and gives everyone hope. I just think that sometimes people are given false hope by these inspiring stories.
So in the end I liked the story...Just thought that the moral could have been phrased better. I still disagree with the "no chance in hell" part. I know the OP's story wasn't about med sch apps but if it were, applying with "no chance in hell" isn't very productive. Perhaps it should have been what you suggested, that it is better to have tried and lost than to not have tried at all. At least that implies that one does have a chance. In fact, I liked everyone else's morals too. They also imply that one has a chance.
