- Joined
- Jun 15, 2003
- Messages
- 11
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Man, I found out about SDN after I got into medical school. Just to kill time, I'm looking at the premed forum, there is so much nervous energy in this forum!
A personal story: After high school, I got rejected from every school. The local state school admitted me as a mercy case. I was so angry at people with connections or admissions advantages doing better than I fared.
Until I finally realized that I could have worked harder and could have been a better and more well rounded person. I worked my butt off, transferred to a better school, and only then in my spring semester of my sophomore year, decided premed was for me.
I know, it's a tough curriculum, and its a tough life. Most premeds do have the best intentions. Thats why I took a year off after college because I was afraid I was gonna become a bitter neurotic again. I remember classes like O-Chem, where the first three rows were like the White House press corps, recording everything the prof says, even the jokes. And I remember stories circulating of premeds stealing other people's lab products. I remember people spewing really racist **** too.
I know its not all premeds, but it's the loud handful that give the group the stereotype.
My best friends in college were an East Asian Studies major, a journalism major, a math major, a philosophy major, an astrophysics major, and an English education major. I'm speaking for myself, but it was so much more fun to hang out with people not going nuts over scores and formulas and why such and such a group gets an advantage in admissions and what ECs are gonna get you in.
I think its great and useful to read up on the scores of the MSAR or the Match List at Hopkins and Harvard. But they are only tools and resources, not a reflection of who you really are.
But the bottom line is that medicine is the care for the sick, and it is a profession that people turn to in times of serious need. If you don't feel you have the stomach for the death, grief, bereavement, and the compassion that comes with it then life will not be easy as a doctor.
I know the system breeds a lot of pathos and competition. Realize that we are all in the system, and whatever you want to change most in the system, change in yourself first.
As for numbers, here's another story:
I am Chinese (a demographic that is (stereo)typically seen as having scores through the roof.). I got pretty paltry scores - a 3.52 GPA and a 30 on the MCATs. I pored my heart into writing an honest essay. I picked an EC (not a whole laundry list) that I really like and spent hours every week at an elementary school. I was offered a officer position for the club but declined it because it would have meant less time at the school.
I did fine...I applied to 13 schools, got 9 interviews, and 5 acceptances. There are people who got into much more prestigious schools and people who got more schools with maybe lower scores and fewer ECs.
But you know what? I don't care because I am perfectly happy how this ended up. I tried my hardest and competed only with myself, and helped others when they needed help, and I feel good about it.
Peace.
A personal story: After high school, I got rejected from every school. The local state school admitted me as a mercy case. I was so angry at people with connections or admissions advantages doing better than I fared.
Until I finally realized that I could have worked harder and could have been a better and more well rounded person. I worked my butt off, transferred to a better school, and only then in my spring semester of my sophomore year, decided premed was for me.
I know, it's a tough curriculum, and its a tough life. Most premeds do have the best intentions. Thats why I took a year off after college because I was afraid I was gonna become a bitter neurotic again. I remember classes like O-Chem, where the first three rows were like the White House press corps, recording everything the prof says, even the jokes. And I remember stories circulating of premeds stealing other people's lab products. I remember people spewing really racist **** too.
I know its not all premeds, but it's the loud handful that give the group the stereotype.
My best friends in college were an East Asian Studies major, a journalism major, a math major, a philosophy major, an astrophysics major, and an English education major. I'm speaking for myself, but it was so much more fun to hang out with people not going nuts over scores and formulas and why such and such a group gets an advantage in admissions and what ECs are gonna get you in.
I think its great and useful to read up on the scores of the MSAR or the Match List at Hopkins and Harvard. But they are only tools and resources, not a reflection of who you really are.
But the bottom line is that medicine is the care for the sick, and it is a profession that people turn to in times of serious need. If you don't feel you have the stomach for the death, grief, bereavement, and the compassion that comes with it then life will not be easy as a doctor.
I know the system breeds a lot of pathos and competition. Realize that we are all in the system, and whatever you want to change most in the system, change in yourself first.
As for numbers, here's another story:
I am Chinese (a demographic that is (stereo)typically seen as having scores through the roof.). I got pretty paltry scores - a 3.52 GPA and a 30 on the MCATs. I pored my heart into writing an honest essay. I picked an EC (not a whole laundry list) that I really like and spent hours every week at an elementary school. I was offered a officer position for the club but declined it because it would have meant less time at the school.
I did fine...I applied to 13 schools, got 9 interviews, and 5 acceptances. There are people who got into much more prestigious schools and people who got more schools with maybe lower scores and fewer ECs.
But you know what? I don't care because I am perfectly happy how this ended up. I tried my hardest and competed only with myself, and helped others when they needed help, and I feel good about it.
Peace.
