when you found out you got in, how did you react ?

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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I remember when I first read this thread, it gave me so much hope for getting into medical school. At times, my hope started to diminish because my GPA and MCAT scores were average, and I just kept getting rejection after rejection throughout the months, while it seemed like everyone else was getting interviews and acceptances. When I went home for X-mas, I even retrieved all of my MCAT materials because I thought I would have to retake the test.

But now, I am so happy and proud to actually be able to post in this thread, because I received my first acceptance today! I actually knew about it yesterday because UIC's status page makes it obvious if you got in (it'll say that you will receive correspondence within the next two weeks... and I've heard that UIC rarely gives post-interview rejections.. well, at least in the earlier months, I think), but still, seeing the fat acceptance envelope on my kitchen table this evening made me all smiles. Sorry, though, guys. I don't have any crazy stories to tell you about reacting to my first acceptance (like jumping up and down or whatever... altho that would be interesting to see :) ). I'm usually one who takes personal success quietly and lets the feeling sink in. I have to admit, though, that I just feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders and that I made a big move toward where I want to be in life.

So for those of you who may still be stressing about getting into med school: Keep your chin up!! The most important thing you can do in this process is to be patient. That's how I was (or tried to be) throughout it, and it really wasn't too stressful. I tried to keep in mind that whatever happened was for the best, e.g., if I didn't get in the first time, that would be a great opportunity to do something awesome with the next year, amidst reapplying to med school. Hope for the best instead of fearing the worst. Here's a good story to keep in mind if one is going through the trials and tribulations of the med school application process:

What is Good and What is Bad?

Once upon a time an old farmer lost his best stallion. His neighbor came around that evening to express his condolences, but the old farmer just said, "Who knows what is good and what is bad?" The next day the stallion returned bringing with him three wild mares. The neighbor rushed around to celebrate, but the old farmer simply said, "Who knows what is good and what is bad?" The following day the farmer's son fell from one of the wild mares while trying to break her in and broke his leg. The neighbor turned up to make sure all was well, but the old farmer just said, "Who knows what is good and what is bad?" The next day the army came to conscript the farmer's son to go and fight in the wars, but finding him an invalid left him with his father. The neighbor thought to himself, "Who knows what is good and what is bad?" (Taoist teaching story. Everything temporal passes away.)

And to those who have been accepted: Congrats! Our journey is far from over, however. Lots of work (but rewarding work) ahead!
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My sister and I went to Nevada and California over winter break. I knew my state school was sending out invitations on December 15th so I figured on the 16th my husband could possibly find a large envelope in our mailbox. So I was at Quizno's on the strip getting pissed off because the sandwich guy was charging me extra for lettuce and tomatoes (WTF?) when the phone rang. My husband told me that I had an envelope from UAMS and asked me if he could open it. I knew right away that I had just gotten into med school but I was so upset that it didn't really hit me until later.

I think I will have a totally different reaction if I get a call from Vanderbilt. I think I might start screaming, jump up and down, roll on the ground, cry, etc. wherever I am. Hopefully it's nowhere public :oops:
 
I think this is the best thread I've read on SDN...

I got my first acceptance on a Sunday--a message on my cell phone that I got around 10pm. The message didn't say whether I had been accepted or not, just to call back, but I was pretty sure that the dean of admissions wouldn't call with anything other than good news. I called my mom and burst into tears: "I'm gonna be a...sniff, sniff...DOCTOR!"

I got back to my apartment, cried and drank with the roomates (Monday morning classes...psshhhh)...

And then we all cried and drank again when I finally got to return the call the next morning. :)
 
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When I found out, I was actually interviewing at another school. My dad had already opened the letter of acceptance, so when I called to tell him how my interview went he dropped the bomb.

So, there I was, dancing and shouting, and so on, on Loma Linda's campus for an acceptance at MCO.
 
drguy22 said:
hahahaha..everytime i get upset..i whip out my letter of acceptance and im happy again! :laugh: :laugh:
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Mine is still hanging on my refrigerator (since September). I am happy every morning when I see it.... :cool:
 
My acceptance caught me by surprise. I was expecting a rejection letter since all those SDN ppl alrdy got their acceptance letter and waitlist letter the week before. I drove home, and find a big envelope in my mail, and make sure it was an acceptance. Then, I went back to my car, and start yelling "yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." Didn't want to do it outside, and scare the neighbors.
 
After my interview, the associate dean of admissions told me that it would be 4-6 weeks before I heard anything. About 10 days later, I got an email from him with the subject line CONGRATULATIONS!!!!. I almost deleted it as junk mail before I saw who it was from. I knocked over my chair and just started laughing. Then I went to the local bar and my roommate (the bartender) and my friends closed down the place.

I recieved the letter a few days later. It's still hanging on my lab bench.
 
fakin' the funk said:
played Grand Theft Auto for about 4 hours.
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that's what i am talking about :D
 
For me, I had mixed feeling about getting into medical school.
I’ve always wanted to be a doctor all my life and migrating from Africa to America in 2000 made my journey into medical school more challenging. For the past 5yrs I’ve always though the happiest day of my life will be the day I got into medical school. But all this changed as the secondaries, interview and acceptances started rolling in. After taking the august MCAT, I started having this feeling of confidence in myself that I’ll definitely get into medical school. I’ve worked hard all 4yrs in college and I deserve to get in. All of a sudden, I started having this non-chalant attititude and with time, I got my first acceptance in Nov 2004. I was very happy and disappointed at the same time b`cos that wasn’t the happiest day of my life. The admission was something I have worked for and I deserve it. 2 other acceptances rolled in after that and my reaction never changed. I was proud of my accomplishments and that was it. Now I’m speculating that the happiest day of my life could be the day I graduate from medical school or when I get married and even when I have my first child. At this moment I don’t want to anticipate anything because doing so might ruin my expectation of such great moments.

To everyone else you got accepted and celebrated in a unique way, I just want you say congratulations. And to those still waiting for that one letter, I pray that the day will come and it will be soon.
 
called my parents (tears shed), and then prayed (more tears shed)
 
abraxas20 said:
Mine is still hanging on my refrigerator (since September). I am happy every morning when I see it.... :cool:
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:D I did the same with my undergrad acceptance. :thumbup:
 
sigh of relief
 
I was totally overjoyed, but then it was tempered by my parents who told me to hold out for my state school. When I explained, "Hey, it doesn't matter, I've got my slot!" they sorta kept moaning. But I think half of it is because they just don't want to see me go across the country.
 
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i knew i was getting a decision letter in the mail for ucla today, and made my bf check the mailbox on the hour every hour. when he told me, i was in the library, trying to suppress the inevitable squeals and jumping that i went into upon hearing the news! :D
 
I was on campus when I got a call telling me that I got in. I called my parents immediately (my mom had to pull off the road she was crying so hard). That night I bought a bottle of champagne and a cigar and celebrated the night away with my roomate and gf.
 
I got the call yesterday from the dean. I somehow managed to get off the phone then screamed for 5 mins. I called everyone in my address book and showed up late for work due to that. :D I still cant believe it.
 
I went shopping for legos and maxed out all of my credit cards. After all, what's another $50K in debt for a future doctor?!?
 
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So is mine! :D

abraxas20 said:
Mine is still hanging on my refrigerator (since September). I am happy every morning when I see it.... :cool:
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have a few years till I enjoy experiences like the rest of yours---but as someone in the thick of it I think you all are owed massive celebrations. Soooo, for all of you that found out at odd times of the day (e.g., after the bars, or had closed), or couldn't quite muster the appropriate response I propose a simple solution.

You go to some public place and stage the initial reaction with a group of complete strangers...or those otherwise uninformed of about your current career track.
Here's how it'll go down:
You can pretend your getting the news from a friend/family member on your cell phone, or that you've gotten the good news from an envelope or email, then during the moment of the BIG reveal just go all out. Start screaming crying really get into it: howl, piss yourselves,..for those theater majors a convulsion or two would go along way towards framing the mood. Then announce, through yelps/a pained cry/whatever: I JUST GOT INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL...I'M GONNA BE A DOCTOOORRR!!!!!!! And let the appropriate praise role in.....

Just so you'll remember THIS special occasion, I would suggest you pack a camera/some film/ tisues/extra under pants :D /ect. Really, you all this is huge, HUGE, and you owe it not just to yourselves but to all of us, to make a big thing of it.

Feel free to improvise as necessary. ;)
 
I was in Las vegas right before christmas when I just knew that the letter had arrived. I called my mom back at home and demanded she run out to the mailbox and check. She got back andasked if I wanted to good or bad news first. It turns out that I got a notice for an unpayed parking ticket and a letter from KU. After she opened the letter I was so psyched, and I told my BF who was sitting right there. He was happy for me but said he expected me to et in all along. Like fifteen minutes later we meet his parents in the lobby of the casino and I tell them. His mom starts screaming really loud and jumping up and down! :idea: Everyone was looking over thinking we had won like some huge jackpot. Then we went out to a great big diner to celebrate.
 
I came home from class one night to find a message from my interviewer on the answering machine. Just said to call back, but I was pretty sure that meant that I was in ... I just had to wait till I could breath again and could stop feeling my pulse in my fingertips before I called back. :) I feel like I babbled incoherently on the phone--I'm sure he wondered why they had just accepted someone who couldn't even formulate a complete sentence! Then I told my roommates, called my grandmother (she said, "Maybe now that you've gotten into this one, you'll get into that other one, too!"--I guess one is not enough ;)), called my parents, emailed one older brother, called the other one ...

Then came 24 hours of sheer panic. I felt like my brain was a broken record, repeating over and over, "Oh my goodness, I'm going to be a doctor! I'm moving halfway across the country!" But I think I'm finally starting to calm down ... :)
 
I found out on Thursday.. I got a phone call and I was actually driving in my car from one interview to the next city where I had an interview at on Friday. Anyhow, the Dr. who called me was really nice and sweet but I wasn't excited at all because it's my last choice so even though it was my first acceptance it's not somewhere I really wanna be. Anyhow, then I lost service because I was in east bumblef*ck (I had been interviewing at Dartmouth) so the lady got cut off. Then I kept trying to call my mom to tell her but to no avail thanks to the lack of cell phone towers in that area... ok this story is kind of depressing, lol... but yea, that's my first acceptance story. Hopefully I'll have more happy ones to come.
 
I was in the middle of another med school interview. They were showing us a video about the clinic at that school, and I could feel the vibrator on my cell phone go off. So, i step outside to answer the phone and it's the dean from my dream school. Afterwards I walk back in with a huge smile on my face that I didn't even know I had.

For the two hour drive back to my home, I'm calling everyone I know. Then, for the rest of the trip on PCH (with the weather a perfect 72 degrees), I'm blastin' Led Zepplin and singing along with my windows down.

It was beautiful.
 
Shaz said:
For the two hour drive back to my home, I'm calling everyone I know. Then, for the rest of the trip on PCH (with the weather a perfect 72 degrees), I'm blastin' Led Zepplin and singing along with my windows down.

It was beautiful.
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I actually hope mine is something like that! Congrats :thumbup:
 
Lots of screaming and jumping up and down outside my lab -while still on the phone with the dean. The folks at volunteer services and occupational health were poking their heads out to see what was going on. I immediately e-mailed the dean to appologize for any permanent hearing loss, called my whole family, and bailed out of work early. Four of my 5 interviewers, including my likely future PI, sent me e-mails in the next two days. I have become a substantially happier and substantially less useful employee.

Apparently the squeals of joy left quite an impression since my acceptance was weeks ago and someone stopped me today to say "I believe some Congratulations are in order." She looked a little sheepish and said, "I heard you get your acceptance."

I went out for drinks with some friends and a couple of the med students I mentored for research projects at my undergrad institution are planning a night downtown...
 
I was tutoring this guy to do perimeters and areas and such when I got the call. Afterward I had to really hold it in because I just wanted to start jumping up and down and yelling. My hand was shaking so bad that I couldn't draw rectangles anymore so the guy asked me what was wrong.

So the first person who found out that I got into med school was Abdul Hussein.
 
Already posted about my 1st acceptance, but this one was SOO much sweeter....

It was an online status page so I logged in, expecting rejection, and saw congratulations... and I started screaming, ran into my parent's room and they thought there was a fire in the house but it was just me being excited... then I jumped around my house and screamed like a crazy person for 20 min straight screaming holy **** over and over... then I called all my friends... celebration will be post thesis in 2 weeks.. :)
 
i can't believe what I heard. I gave up on hope already. So had to wait for the mail to arrive. The good news is what I heard is correct :)
 
Texas has an online check system. I was at home in my underwear, I checked, I danced~ :)
 
For me it was kind of a bitter-sweet thing: My first acceptance was way back in December to an osteopathic school. Nothing against osteopathy, obviously, but it definitely didn't provoke any wild-ass behavior in me. Here's hoping that I'll get off a certain waitlist and have something to get DOWN AND DIRTY over! hehe.
 
motioned my boyfriend to stop talking (I was checking voice-mail) even though we'd just broken up, and jumped up and down and screamed. bittersweet day.
 
I came home from work and saw a big white envelope lying upside down. I then saw the USC logo when i flipped it and then proceeded to start screaming and jumping up and down. Then I actually opened it and read like the first paragraph and called my parents up. Eh, thank goodness USC doesn't send waitlist letters in a big envelope or something..otherwise I would have felt like the biggest idiot in the world.
 
I didn't react during the call...I tried really hard to be calm. But after I hung up, I jumped up and down screaming my lungs out. I called my husband and didn't actually say any words, I just screamed (again, still jumping). He's the one who said "You got in?" I could only muster the word "yes". Our "conversation" lasted around 10 minutes with me screaming and jumping and him just laughing. I then had to call all of my family members and friends and past employers.

Later that night friends of ours took us out to a Japanese hibachi restaraunt and then we went home and played spoons. No one got drunk (it was a Thursday) since we all had to work the next day.

I am still so psyched!!!
 
bmcgilligan said:
I didn't react during the call...I tried really hard to be calm. But after I hung up, I jumped up and down screaming my lungs out. I called my husband and didn't actually say any words, I just screamed (again, still jumping). He's the one who said "You got in?" I could only muster the word "yes". Our "conversation" lasted around 10 minutes with me screaming and jumping and him just laughing. I then had to call all of my family members and friends and past employers.

Later that night friends of ours took us out to a Japanese hibachi restaraunt and then we went home and played spoons. No one got drunk (it was a Thursday) since we all had to work the next day.

I am still so psyched!!!
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i :love: spoons.

congratulations!
 
Congrats to everyone! I just hope next year I can post on this thread with an equally exciting moment. Best of luck to you all! :thumbup:
 
I got back from visiting my family for Christmas, pulled a HUGE wad of mail out of my mailbox and walked into my apartment, picked up my cat who was waiting for me at the door, saw the big envelope, opened it, literally jumped up and down and shouted "woohoo!" ... cat clawed the crap out of me. It was a good day.
 
My first acceptance was to an osteopathic school. It was in an e-mail. I kinda just broke into a smile, stared at it for about 10 secs and checked my other e-mail. Interesting contrast b/t that one and my MD acceptance --also an e-mail. I broke into a huge smile, wide eyed and gaping, looked to the heavans, raised both fists in the air, and dropped to my knees. Then I could feel myself doin that weird incessant laughing-crying thing that Beatrix did @ the end of KillBill 2. I remember thinking how strange that looked when I watched the movie.
It was like a whole other emotion though...beyond happiness...more in the vicinity of madness, incredulity and delirium.

Am I dramatic enough for you? :p
 
this thread is amazing. I'm seriously in TEARS reading these explicit emotions brought to life. I really wish all of you guys the best of luck in medical school, and hope that i too will be writing my testimonial on this forum soon. :)
 
Bump! We gotta keep this thread alive in the coming months!
 
zero2hero said:
Bump! We gotta keep this thread alive in the coming months!
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Got a bottle of Veuve in the fridge, just in case :D
 
tchantel21 said:
My first acceptance was to an osteopathic school. It was in an e-mail. I kinda just broke into a smile, stared at it for about 10 secs and checked my other e-mail. Interesting contrast b/t that one and my MD acceptance --also an e-mail. I broke into a huge smile, wide eyed and gaping, looked to the heavans, raised both fists in the air, and dropped to my knees. Then I could feel myself doin that weird incessant laughing-crying thing that Beatrix did @ the end of KillBill 2. I remember thinking how strange that looked when I watched the movie.
It was like a whole other emotion though...beyond happiness...more in the vicinity of madness, incredulity and delirium.

Am I dramatic enough for you? :p
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Wish I could've been there to see that :)
 
i had the unfortunate timing of getting my first acceptance a week before my biochem midterm.... 3 days of continuous drinking later, i think i'm ready for the exam now
 
I got a phone call and tried to stay fairly calm. I got off the phone and called everyone! Then I came on SDN and told everyone. I went to a restaurant and ate a steak dinner. Then I had to go to work and work all night, but I got to tell my coworkers. :laugh:

I'm still pretty freaking high about the whole thing! :D
 
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