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

BU Medical Sciences
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Just made dinner, sat down getting ready to watch a movie. I had been refreshing SDN at least 50 times each day since interviews. It was about 4 weeks after my interview, so I knew a decision would be made within the next week or so. This school was notorious for accepting only a few people right away, and letting the strong majority know they're on hold until May. Before the movie started, I hesitantly checked the portal one more time. My entire application history changed to just one word: accepted. I'm pretty sure that's when time stood still for about an hour, because all my anxiety, frustration, happiness and joy turned into one feeling: closure. I was going to be a doctor.

I never did get to watch that movie.

(a week later, I was leaving a meeting when I saw an email from my dream school-- another school that usually waits to see their entire applicant pool before extending acceptances. I showed it to a colleague, stood up, walked out, cried in my car and sped off to another work meeting. That was the least productive meeting of the year).
 
I looked at my email, saw the acceptance message, smiled, and silently said "yes!" in my head. And I didn't even think I had a good chance of getting in this cycle.

That's honestly how I reacted. I'm a pretty even-keeled guy, so not much riles me up. That said, I was excited about my acceptance for weeks. Heck, I still am. So I'd like to think that I spread my joy out a little bit longer.

I know that's a really boring/un-epic acceptance story, but I'd like to think there is at least a small percentage of people who have reacted and will react in the same way. Three cheers for the future super dull medical school matriculates!
 
When I found out, I immediately wanted to call my mom, but I instead suppressed that urge, waited a few hours, and just casually brought it up during a later conversation.

My mom: Also, I don't know if I told you, but Mr. and Mrs. Smith tried that restaurant we've been hearing about and apparently it's really good.
Me: Hm, that's good to hear. I got in to medical school.
My mom: ...What was that?
Me: Oh, I said "That's good to hear." I've heard good things about that restaurant.
My mom: ...No, the part after that.
Me: Oh, I got in to med school.
My mom: You little.....

I know, I'm such a troll.
 
This thread is super fun lol.

I was asleep that afternoon actually, and woke up because my mum called. She was talking about something I can't remember and I put her on speaker and checked my email and there it was. I freaked and dropped my phone. And then screamed because I'd gotten my top choice first and so early in the year too. I was dancing around my room for like a minute before actually telling my mum what happened.

Then I texted my sister and my two best friends. And exchanged a series of emoticons lol, because we do that.

The next day I emailed the chief of our service, who is also my mentor, who is also my PI and he was super excited. We had a meeting later that morning and he congratulated me in front of the whole team and then everyone had to know the details - it was pretty awesome, I won't lie.

Next day I was in clinic, told one of the attendings, it's his school, and he jumped out of his seat and high-fived me. And then told everyone that came by the news - lol they were almost more excited than I was at this point.

The next day I told my other PI at our 1:1 meeting and we essentially spent the rest of the meeting hypothetically planning my career path lol.

I think the news sharing took around two weeks. And now whenever the attendings say anything it's almost always prefaced with, "and when you're in med school."

I will say I'm super glad it was early, because I'm a big planner and I'm grateful for all the planning time I've gotten. Plus I get to take Biochem in the winter lol!

Sometimes I think, this is really the beginning of this phase of my life. Just the first step really, but it feels like a giant leap. 🙂
 
I was in a meeting messing around on my iPad when I checked my email and saw my first acceptance. In true professional fashion I let out a "there's no f****** way this is real...." and got up (i swear it was an informal meeting) and left the room. Come to find out later from my boss that my "inside voice" is more of an "outdoor voice" 😉
 
I was sitting in the research lab in which I work, waiting for a participant to come in for a study. Suddenly, my phone vibrated, I looked at it, and it turned out to be an acceptance email from a school at which I had interviewed 3 weeks earlier. Because I did not expected to be accepted so early, I pretty much freaked out and called my mom. I am usually a very calm person so I must have looked pretty funny; luckily no one else was in the lab at the time.

About 5 minutes later, the study participant came in. I tried my best to be professional and serious, but it was kind of hard. She was in the lab for about 20 minutes, and the entire time she just saw me with a weird smile/grin on my face whenever she looked at me. She probably thought I was crazy. Oh well...
 
I knew I would hear something on October 15th from one of my top choices. Either I would get an acceptance email at midnight, or I would receive a waitlist or rejection email the following morning from a school that hasn't had waitlist movement in many years. So, I spent the entire 14th panicking--completely unable to focus at work or in class.

By 11 p.m., I was pacing around my house. I took my pulse at 11:40--124 bpm. I might as well have been running.

No email came right at midnight. I tried not to panic, thinking maybe it would take 10 minutes or so for them to be sent out. Then, my phone pinged, nearly giving me a heart attack. I swiped it open, but I didn't get an email; I got a text message. Curses!

The text was from an unknown sender and read, "Are you ready? Come meet [Medical School] at [nearby location] at 12:15 a.m.!"

I nearly cried as I power-walked there... and as I stood around awkwardly, trying to figure out which of the strangers in the area had received a similar message.

I didn't get any sleep that night, but it didn't matter. Two more phone acceptances in the morning made the day even better.
 
I used to read this thread whenever times got tough in undergrad and it would always motivate me to keep busting my ass. I always imagined I'd go insane and hit the bars or something right after I got the call/email. However, once I got the call it was pretty anti climatic... I think if you're lucky enough to get multiple IIs, it becomes more of a matter of when and where rather than if which sorta lessens the excitement once you actually get accepted.
 
I was at my desk at work. I needed to pull up my personal email to forward a document to my work email. We have rules about checking personal email of course, and I wasn't on break or at lunch or anything so I was going to make it quick and just forward what I needed for work... But then my eye caught a word in the subject line of another new email... "Congratulations!"... My first instant thought was "spam" but then I caught another word... "accepted"... and my stomach dropped. I quickly clicked to open the email and barely read the first sentence before breaking down and sobbing like a baby! My coworkers were very concerned haha, but once I managed to blubber "I...sob sob sob... got... sniff sob... accepted!!! sob sob sniff" they were overjoyed.

I took my break and called my mom and we both cried on the phone... she was in a meeting and failed to tell me! Haha. (luckily she also works for a group of doctors so they all completely understood and offered their congrats lol)

I then told a few of my favorite docs that I work for. I can't describe how their proud reactions and sincere congratulations made me feel. It was so surreal. It almost felt like a rare "welcome to the club" moment. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the day and unfortunately I was quite distracted. Least. Productive. Day. Ever. haha

I still can't believe it!
 
I always envisioned opening up the letter then reading it word by word, but the medical school I was accepted at had "acceptance notice" on the front of the envelope. Let's just say that I didn't even open the letter for the next 30 minutes after calling my family and a lot of jumping up and down. I'll admit, as former military, that I still cried because of all the hard work that I had to do to get to that point. Then I thought to myself I can finally not get straight A's for my last semester of undergrad and chill back.
 
Omppu27 said:
I used to read this thread whenever times got tough in undergrad and it would always motivate me to keep busting my ass. I always imagined I'd go insane and hit the bars or something right after I got the call/email. However, once I got the call it was pretty anti climatic... I think if you're lucky enough to get multiple IIs, it becomes more of a matter of when and where rather than if which sorta lessens the excitement once you actually get accepted.
Click to expand...

That would be the case if you get accepted in your first cycle. I had 4 interviews my first time around and just knew I would get into at least 1 of them so I was definitely looking at it from more of a when/where view as opposed to an if view. But then I ridiculously did not get in anywhere that cycle. When I finally received my desired acceptance late in the second cycle, I feel like I probably let out a primitive guttural howl releasing 2 years of stress, anxiety, and disgruntled anger as relief finally washed over me.
 
ProMed13 said:
I always envisioned opening up the letter then reading it word by word, but the medical school I was accepted at had "acceptance notice" on the front of the envelope. Let's just say that I didn't even open the letter for the next 30 minutes after calling my family and a lot of jumping up and down. I'll admit, as former military, that I still cried because of all the hard work that I had to do to get to that point. Then I thought to myself I can finally not get straight A's for my last semester of undergrad and chill back.
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Your last sentence is the only bad part about a gap year. I had to grind out for the best grades possible up until graduation. My friends who are seniors and accepted are living the good life!
 
jqueb29 said:
That would be the case if you get accepted in your first cycle. I had 4 interviews my first time around and just knew I would get into at least 1 of them so I was definitely looking at it from more of a when/where view as opposed to an if view. But then I ridiculously did not get in anywhere that cycle. When I finally received my desired acceptance late in the second cycle, I feel like I probably let out a primitive guttural howl releasing 2 years of stress, anxiety, and disgruntled anger as relief finally washed over me.
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Another reapplicant here--this was pretty much my reaction. Just a weird (victory?) roar and pure relief. It was still a wonderful feeling though.

I did get to share the moment with my partner, who totally deserved it after being so supportive the entire time I've been applying. That morning, I heard him walk back into the apartment after leaving to go to work a minute earlier. I was half-asleep and thought nothing of it until:

"So, you said a rejection would be in a small envelope, right? And acceptances are a little thicker?"
Me: *3...2...1...FULLY AWAKE*

After sending the SO back to work and making a bunch of calls to friends and family, I did a little jig in my bedroom before listening to "I Can See Clearly Now", which I found extremely fitting.

I don't think the impact of what this acceptance truly means has hit me yet though.
 
i was getting ready in the morning at a hotel for another interview. i had just gotten out of the shower and i checked my phone and saw that i'd been accepted. i'm pretty sure i let out some odd sounding shouts/roars while jumping around half naked in my hotel room. that was probably one of the happiest moments of my life. then i called my parents and by then i was a grown man crying like a little baby. the interview i had that day must've gone well even though it felt like a blur because i recently got accepted at that school as well. this application cycle has been amazing and im SO glad i dont have to take the new MCAT
 
Third time reapplicant here.. When I got the call I was on winter break visiting family in West Virginia. I was out with some friends at a tiny, stinky pub and saw the number show up on my phone just as it went to voicemail. I ran outside and listened to the voicemail--as I listened I just cried and laughed. And then I listened a second time. I just couldn't believe it. Then I called my parents in Wisconsin and they cried too. Haha... it was kind of an emotional night.
 
When I got into my top choice I had just woken up and checked my phone. I promptly jumped out of bed and immediately fell into my television, almost knocking it off of its stand. After that I called my girlfriend and she was accepted to it, as well, so more excitement ensued after that. This has definitely been a surreal experience.
 
HCMVresearcher said:
Third time reapplicant here.. When I got the call I was on winter break visiting family in West Virginia. I was out with some friends at a tiny, stinky pub and saw the number show up on my phone just as it went to voicemail. I ran outside and listened to the voicemail--as I listened I just cried and laughed. And then I listened a second time. I just couldn't believe it. Then I called my parents in Wisconsin and they cried too. Haha... it was kind of an emotional night.
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CONGRATS!!!!
 
jqueb29 said:
That would be the case if you get accepted in your first cycle. I had 4 interviews my first time around and just knew I would get into at least 1 of them so I was definitely looking at it from more of a when/where view as opposed to an if view. But then I ridiculously did not get in anywhere that cycle. When I finally received my desired acceptance late in the second cycle, I feel like I probably let out a primitive guttural howl releasing 2 years of stress, anxiety, and disgruntled anger as relief finally washed over me.
Click to expand...


Exactly I got waitlisted at all 4 places I interviewed at last year, so when I got in November this year it was the most incredible feeling/relief I've ever experienced. Without a doubt, there's a level of stress/anxiety that builds up and its so good to have that leave your mind. Funny thing is, I was on the ball with my prmary this cycle but lagging hard on doing a lot of secondaries all over. Boy am I glad it worked out!
 
I found out via phone call while driving home. It's a wonder I didn't crash my car as I drove home in an anxious-excited blur. I celebrated with a bottle of Jameson whiskey and a two pound box of chocolates my girlfriend bought for me as a surprise.
 
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First, I want to say that this thread is very inspirational! I would always read this thread during tough times. My reaction: I checked the mail 2 times on the day that we were told we'd be receiving our notice letters. The last time I went to check the mail, I saw the mailman leaving my complex.. So I knew for sure the letter was in there. I did not know if it was small envelope or big envelope. As I opened the mail box my hand was shaking. As a 3X re-applicant, I was really nervous. I finally got it open and I saw a BIG envelope. Then life..time..everything just froze. I mean just FROZE. I somehow stumbled into my apartment complex and told the first person I saw. I told my mom and sister and we all cried a bit. Mom actually had to leave work because she was crying. It was a good day. We then went for steak and celebrated National Margarita Day with friends. I hadnt cried in years but its something about the process, the hard work, the late nights and the rejections that make the tears flow. It is all worth it!
 
I was at home after just having finished my last final for the semester. Got a phone call from the dean of admissions and I tried to be cool, but I think I probably sounded like an idiot on the phone.
Then I ran around the house (with wood floors) in my socks and crashed really hard which resulted in a bruised tailbone. Couldn't sit right for a week, which was probably fine because I was too excited to sit down anyways.
 
Docteur de l'Amour said:
First, I want to say that this thread is very inspirational! I would always read this thread during tough times. My reaction: I checked the mail 2 times on the day that we were told we'd be receiving our notice letters. The last time I went to check the mail, I saw the mailman leaving my complex.. So I knew for sure the letter was in there. I did not know if it was small envelope or big envelope. As I opened the mail box my hand was shaking. As a 3X re-applicant, I was really nervous. I finally got it open and I saw a BIG envelope. Then life..time..everything just froze. I mean just FROZE. I somehow stumbled into my apartment complex and told the first person I saw. I told my mom and sister and we all cried a bit. Mom actually had to leave work because she was crying. It was a good day. We then went for steak and celebrated National Margarita Day with friends. I hadnt cried in years but its something about the process, the hard work, the late nights and the rejections that make the tears flow. It is all worth it!
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Got chills reading this, congratulations to you!
 
I got the call to tell me I'm accepted.
I paced around my apartment smiling.
My first reaction? To call my pre-med advisor. Not my parents, significant other or anything, my 80 year old pre med advisor.
I then called my mom who said, "You called your professor first didn't you?"
She knows me too well.
 
Docteur de l'Amour said:
First, I want to say that this thread is very inspirational! I would always read this thread during tough times. My reaction: I checked the mail 2 times on the day that we were told we'd be receiving our notice letters. The last time I went to check the mail, I saw the mailman leaving my complex.. So I knew for sure the letter was in there. I did not know if it was small envelope or big envelope. As I opened the mail box my hand was shaking. As a 3X re-applicant, I was really nervous. I finally got it open and I saw a BIG envelope. Then life..time..everything just froze. I mean just FROZE. I somehow stumbled into my apartment complex and told the first person I saw. I told my mom and sister and we all cried a bit. Mom actually had to leave work because she was crying. It was a good day. We then went for steak and celebrated National Margarita Day with friends. I hadnt cried in years but its something about the process, the hard work, the late nights and the rejections that make the tears flow. It is all worth it!
Click to expand...
Congrats!!!! Also, there's a National Margarita Day????
 
I was accepted to an Osteopathic program so feel free to discredit my accomplishment if you must. Anyway, I have been waiting to post in this thread for a very long time so here it goes:

Returned from my third interview by way of 4 airports, 3 planes, a 2 hour bus ride, and a surly uber driver-arriving home just after midnight, only to return to work the next morning at 8am (which felt like 6am to me due to the time diff). Woke up early and had come down with a vicious cold but went to work anyway because I figured my boss would not appreciate me taking a day off after returning from "vacation". Most of my co-workers have no idea I have been applying to medical school so they all figured I was on a strictly pleasure trip. I knew that good news would come by way of a phone call and bad news would come by way of an email. After a terrible day at work, complete with about 20 extremely stressful refreshes of my gmail, I was ready to go home and sleep away the depression of the impending bad news (as I thought the interview had gone poorly and that another waitlist was the best I could hope for) and hopefully recoup a bit due to my cold. Just before I walked out the door my phone vibrated once (text message I thought), then it vibrated again... it was a phone call. As I pulled the phone out of my pocket, I saw that it was coming from the location I had just interviewed. My mind began racing, I knew what this meant, I couldn't believe what I was hearing: I had been accepted! I felt like this:
giphy.gif

I floated home, realizing that I had achieved my lifelong goal. I am going to med school
 
When I got my MCAT scores back was actually much more eventful / crazy than when I got accepted. Nothing better than thinking you did absolutely horrible and finding out the complete opposite. There was a lot of F*** YEAHS and beer involved.

Getting accepted wasn't as "eventful" per se, but I definitely felt a huge weight finally lift off my shoulders... It was tranquil. If my life was one of those chemical reaction graph/curves, I felt like I had finally overcome the 'activation energy' phase and started going downhill.
 
I woke up around 10am to an email on my phone with the acceptance. I looked at it, smiled briefly and went upstairs to hug my mom. I made small talk first then non-chalantly said "Oh by the way, I'm going to be a doctor."

I didn't really have to go telling anyone that I got accepted because I think my mom was way more overjoyed than I was and preceded to call everyone to tell them the news.

I always imagined what that moment would be like for years and how I'd just yell at the top of my lungs or jump for joy... but I guess when you work so hard for something and wait so long to hear good news it made things more surreal to me than what it was. I feel way more excited now than I did when I received the news a few months ago.... To each his own I guess.
 
I was at a restaurant with my wife. Over the course of the past week work had been getting pretty hectic and we were not getting a lot of time together. I had literally just got done saying how special it would be if I found out I had been accepted when we were together. I absently performed my 1x10^8th portal check of the day. After seeing the same screen so many times, you don't really have to read it any more. I had memorized the structure of the webpage. As soon as it opened I saw something was different and I saw the word "accepted", I literally yelled something like "Yarrahahgggh" and jumped out of the booth with my arms stretched out! My wife knew what happened, started crying, and we hugged in the middle of the restaurant. People probably thought I was crazy.

We decided to tell my parents together on Skype later that night under the guise of some other reason to say hi. My dad is a pretty reserved guy, but when I nonchalantly threw into the conversation that I had gotten in he yelled out "You son of a bitch!!!!!" My mom was standing behind him and screamed, and then smacked him in the back. "Son of a bitch? "Where did that come from!" Getting into med school is awesome, dad cussing you out for getting into med school is priceless.
 
I don't think my first acceptance story is anything remarkable but full of neuroticism. In my defense, I was waiting to hear back from my first interview which was in January for Sinai. I had applied to 17 schools, received 9 rejections, 4 holds, 2 silent, and 1 other interview. So, yeah I was banking on my two interviews and for one of them to be a top 20 I just didn't know what to expect. Plus I didn't feel the interview with the second school went well so all my hopes were really on Sinai. Anyway, I want to join in and write it down so I can come back and read it to remind myself of the life-changing moment. Here's my story.

I was waiting to hear from Mount Sinai, which happened to be my first interview and since it was February I was worried I would be waitlisted or deferred. Supposedly, Sinai releases its last wave of decisions in February and previous years there was a flood of waitlists in February. There was no exact day/time that decisions would be released but only a general estimate. So for me each day I felt so anxious that it felt unbearable at times. I knew I would be notified via email and since I gave AMCAS my primary email, before when I was waiting for IIs, each email notification on my phone would make me go "Oh man, could this be an interview invite?" I felt like that added extra stress and anxiety. Instead of going through the process of changing my AMCAS info I decided to filter all my med school emails to a brand new email address. So, for Sinai, I filtered any email that contained "Congratulations" to my other email. I was always checking up on Sinai's thread to see if anyone posted decisions. My idea was that if anyone posts online of decisions then I'll know decisions are out and I'll know my decision based on which account I get the email because I figured only an acceptance email would contain "Congratulations" and the lack thereof would mean waitlist or deferral. This may seem silly because it only takes a second to open an email and read it but to me filtering my email was my way of asking a friend to read it first because I just couldn't do it. Did it lessen any of the anxiety? Nope. Lol.

Anyway, I remember calling the admissions office the morning of and they couldn't tell me when decisions would be out and just to be patient. So, to relieve some stress I went to workout and do some cardio at my local gym. I remember being on the elliptical machine and kept refreshing Sinai's thread page for any acceptances. It was almost 1PM EST so historically Sinai released decisions in the afternoon. So I said if it's today then it's gonna be any time now. I was also texting my gf while doing cardio and we were having a really nice convo, which made me preoccupied that I forgot to refresh Sinai's page. After about 20 minutes, I figured it's time to get off the elliptical and do something else. Then I remembered, "Oh yeah, I need to refresh Sinai's page." I was still on the elliptical and when I refreshed the page I saw two people posted acceptances. So, basically my heart beat went up higher than it was while exercising. I had not received any email notifications to my main account so I refreshed it and I don't know why but it took longer than usual to refresh and I felt my heart was racing so fast. But after refreshing I got nothing. So, I checked for the other account, where if I did receive an email it would be an acceptance. So, I refresh the latter account and there is an email with the subject of "admissions." So, I feel part of me realized since I received the email in the filtered account I had been accepted but the other part just wanted to confirm. So, within a second I opened the email and read "Congratulations" and scanned for the word "acceptance" and once I found that it really hit me... I remember being speechless or mumbling Oh my god and slowly getting off the elliptical machine while getting all teary. First person I told was my gf and so I texted her saying I had been accepted to Sinai and basically she went nuts! Lol. At that point I didn't really know what to do or where to go. I tried sitting down somewhere and responding to the texts but then I was like I need to get out of here and go home. So, the walk home I was basically the happiest guy in town. I went home and both of my parents were home and the first person I told in-person was my mom and I couldn't tell her without breaking into tears like a baby and leaning on her shoulder and mouthing that I had been accepted to med school. She got worried at first and was like what's wrong?! So I told her again and she was understood it was tears of joy. So, next I tell my dad and he gets worried too but then goes I knew you would get in! But yeah, I guess that was the most emotional moment for me because I felt my parents sacrificed so much for my education and one of my motivations in medicine came from them and the illnesses I've seen them suffer so knowing that all they had done would not be in vain was the greatest feeling for me.

They say it only takes one and I guess I'm proof of that. But at the same time, I feel extremely blessed because this process is unbelievably competitive and the thought of reapplying which seemed imminent is something I am more than happy to be relieved of. This was more like a journal entry but I appreciate anyone reading my story and I hope it serves as an inspiration for those with only a few interviews.
 
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I got mine like 20 minutes after I woke up, so I was still kinda groggy and had a bit of a lame reaction. I was watching Mike and Mike in the morning (~8AM) and I heard my email go off and saw it was from the school. I felt like I had rocked my interview, and the school just seemed like it would be a good fit for me. I specifically remember the thought in my head "Oh good, my acceptance email finally came." and opened it up, and I was very nonchalantly like "yep, good that's taken care of." Then I called my mom and she got mad at me for not being excited enough. It didn't really hit me until later in the day, and then I was in class so mine was anticlimactic
 
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