Worst/Best Experience of Cycle

[justscared]

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Worst: Had one interviewer early on tell me I would't get into any Medical school

Best: Acceptance off the WL (in June) to a top 10 school... dream come true!!

 

[AyCaramba]

Worst: Getting progressively sicker during my interview day at my state school and basically having to sprint out of there as soon as I could

Best: Other than my acceptances, getting an interview at Mayo. Never in a million years would have predicted I would get invited and it was pretty special (didn't get in though haha but it's all good)

 

[Esq2MD]

Worst: Getting a bloody nose that WOULD NOT STOP 😱 between my first and second interview at X school, then (with the bloody nose still gushing) being told I was on the wrong bus (I wasn't) and getting off and having to wait 15 minutes for another bus to come, and as a result of the foregoing (plus a restroom stop to clean up) being very late for my second interview (which predictably I proceeded to bomb).

Best: Stand by ...

 

[JokerMD]

worst: ignored by all my state schools

best: first acceptance...😀

 

[justscared]

Thanks for your responses now that it's 90% over it's really cathartic looking back and getting the perspective from others that have come through the same crueling experience....

 

[softmed]

Worst: Getting rejected by two mediocre schools

Best: Getting the first acceptance (from a DO school) and then later getting my first MD acceptance (at my top choice!).

 

[FrazzleSnazzle]

Worst: First post-interview rejection, this came right after 4 months straight of waitlists with no acceptances to balance that out

Best: Accepted off waitlist at my top choice

 

[mt2010]

Worst: Being stranded on a train with no heat for ten hours in a town three hours away from the location of my second interview (and thus also not sleeping on the train before my interview, as it was 40 below outside and my train car had no heat). Oh, and I also lost my debit card the night before I was supposed to interview, so I didn't eat anything for dinner. (Fortunately, I was able to reschedule my interview.)

Best: Being personally called by an interviewer from my first choice school late on a Saturday night as soon as he heard that I was accepted.

 

[Legacy87]

Worst: Waiting.

Best: Getting an acceptance, a new puppy, and going to Vegas all on winter break.

 

[softmed]

Worst: Waiting.

Actually, I'd like to change my answer to this. Waiting IS the worst part. They leave you in suspense for months and months, only to be rejected or waitlisted. Then you wait even more.

Honestly it shouldn't be called the application process. It should be called the waiting process.

 

[TJ87]

Worst: Getting lost in Baltimore waiting for my Hopkins interview

Best: getting accepted to Hopkins

Exception: Going to my state school, because I received a scholarship. (people give me crap for this, so you all might as well, too)

 

[justscared]

Worst: First post-interview rejection, this came right after 4 months straight of waitlists with no acceptances to balance that out

Best: Accepted off waitlist at my top choice

Same as me unbelievably grateful .....top 10 off WL (in June !!!!)👍

 

[justscared]

Worst: Getting lost in Baltimore waiting for my Hopkins interview

Best: getting accepted to Hopkins

Exception: Going to my state school, because I received a scholarship. (people give me crap for this, so you all might as well, too)

Hey... we all understand the angst of debt... you gotta do what you gotta do.... I'm sure you'll do great at your state school and if you want you'll be at Hopkins for your residency or fellowship.....

 

[metallica81788]

Worst: (well there were two) 1 - Getting straight rejected by UVA after I interviewed on their very first interview day of the season. I really thought I was getting in there and it killed me. 2 - Knowing I had no chance after my Vanderbilt interview because the guy didn't even try to get to know me or even talk to me.

Best: All of my interview days, they were just really fun experiences.

 

[hasslefree]

Worst: First post-interview rejection, this came right after 4 months straight of waitlists with no acceptances to balance that out

Best: Accepted off waitlist at my top choice

Congrats on Columbia!!! After you sent back your signed acceptance form did you get a conformation e-mail from Columbia (or how long did it take?) am worried about withdrawing from my other school without an e-mail confirmation😱

 

[waterpolooza]

Worst: Interviewing on my birthday and having the interviewer tell me that he didn't think I had enough clinical experience to know that I wanted to be a physician.

Best: Getting an email the next day from a top 20 (and my top choice) that I had been accepted!

 

[Hifey]

WORST: waiting. Paying ridiculous amounts of money for the honor of being ignored for months and then finally told I'm rejected. There is a lot of self-doubt that comes up during this year but it also makes you question and confirm the reasons you're doing this.

BEST: getting my first acceptance. and my second. and my third (off the WL). Each one was extremely exciting, especially since I thought I would get NONE. The third one especially because it just felt SO RIGHT for me on my interview day. Also, getting to know my fellow interviewees and touring the different schools was pretty awesome. In addition, spending more time with my parents (one of whom always traveled with me).

 

[ButImLETired]

Can I answer even though I'm over a year late? 😛

Worst: the money (thousands and thousands of dollars down the drain, totally painful), and the panic attacks I got every (1) I'd see on gmail. I'm pretty sure I had more adrenaline in me than people running from a cheetah.

Best: a tough choice. The phone call to tell me I was accepted was pretty awesome. I also got a phone call from the dean of a med school (months after I'd gotten in) telling me he had been personally impressed by my app and really wanted me to go there. And the phone call for my scholarship- just a week before Christmas- was pretty damn awesome.

 

[FrazzleSnazzle]

Same as me unbelievably grateful .....top 10 off WL (in June !!!!)👍

Congrats!!! Guess we'll be classmates in August. 🙂

 

[FrazzleSnazzle]

Congrats on Columbia!!! After you sent back your signed acceptance form did you get a conformation e-mail from Columbia (or how long did it take?) am worried about withdrawing from my other school without an e-mail confirmation😱

Different schools do things differently. In Columbia's case, all contact (including confirmation of my acceptance) was done via snail mail.

 

[Appless]

worst : its happening now im waiting on my top choice on the WL, considering how late it is, my chances are next to none🙁.

best: getting my 1st acceptance to a UC school right after new years! It was a great news year present. I really wanted to stay in state and i thought i had no chance!

 

[MaryLennox]

best- finally getting my first interview. it didn't happen til the end of september. as a sort-of non trad with not the best gpa, i was insecure going into the app cycle anyway, so after submitting my apps and not getting any interviews right away (like everyone else on SDN seemed to 🙄 ) with each passing week i was more and more nervous i wouldn't get any. one morning i was laying in bed thinking these things and finally dragged my ass out of bed, checked the email, and there it was. i screamed, then called my mom.

for the people who have been premed all along and have great stats, the first interview invite probably isnt a big deal. but i was so happy that a few times that following week i'd get so overcome with amazement that it was all 'actually happening' that i would start crying 😛 so cheesy.

the other best moment was when i got my acceptance to Rush (my top choice.) More screaming, crying and calling mom.

Worst moment: at my MCW interview, got a veggie burger for lunch. i was so stressed from the interviewing, i wasnt paying attention to the food that much, and took a big bite and started chewing before i realized it was a real burger that had been mislabeled. i was surrounded by other interviewees and knew it would be disgusting if i tried to spit it out in my napkin so i just had to swallow that one bite. on a regular day that would have been bad but in between two interviews- it just totally threw me off and made me really mad. agh!!

 

[mdeast]

Worst Experiences: I have 2.

(1) My first interview. I know everyone probably has noticed my pretty apparent dislike for Einstein (not the students, but some aspects of the institution/location). I just absolutely hated my interview day there, the admissions office staff was rude to me, my interviewer was a stoic downer who actually got me thinking about abandoning medicine in the hope to never become her, and I guess, my general dislike for the Bronx. I remember sitting in my car driving back to Philly thinking..."gosh, I hope they're not all like this, or maybe I'm just not cut out for med school"

(2) Having to choose between two very different schools that I loved for very different reasons. Ultimately resulting in me moving nearly 3000 miles away from my original destination. I'm still flabbergasted at how difficult that decision was. Although, I chalk it up to my 1/2 neurotic jewish person nagging me from inside. I probably didn't sleep for 2 weeks agonizing over so many different compelling forcesm and lost about 6 lbs in the process of being so stressed out about it.

Best experience:
The whole journey. I interviewed at 12 places scattered across the entire US. Some were certainly better than others, but I almost felt enriched by just the experience of meeting so many applicants, understanding the amazing diversity in philosophies across medical institutions, and just having a really fun time in the process. Not to mention the travel. I met random bankers in Manhattan one night and ended up at a cocktail lounge with them til 2 AM. Watched the sunset over the Bridge in San Francisco when re-visiting the Bay Area. Ate a late lunch at a table right next to John Cho, his wife, and kid...at an art museum cafe in Los Angeles after my Keck interview. Had a talk with a Dean at a Top 10 medical school while trying to hide a string of massive hickeys on my neck resulted from a very strange night of drinking....(my that's a long, long story).

It reminds me to lay back, smell the roses, and just remember how fun medicine can be as a life journey. Oh the places it'll take us....I'm just so excited for August.

 

[Mailinator]

Worst Experiences: I have 2.

(1) My first interview. I know everyone probably has noticed my pretty apparent dislike for Einstein (not the students, but some aspects of the institution/location). I just absolutely hated my interview day there, the admissions office staff was rude to me, my interviewer was a stoic downer who actually got me thinking about abandoning medicine in the hope to never become her, and I guess, my general dislike for the Bronx. I remember sitting in my car driving back to Philly thinking..."gosh, I hope they're not all like this, or maybe I'm just not cut out for med school"

(2) Having to choose between two very different schools that I loved for very different reasons. Ultimately resulting in me moving nearly 3000 miles away from my original destination. I'm still flabbergasted at how difficult that decision was. Although, I chalk it up to my 1/2 neurotic jewish person nagging me from inside. I probably didn't sleep for 2 weeks agonizing over so many different compelling forcesm and lost about 6 lbs in the process of being so stressed out about it.

Best experience:
The whole journey. I interviewed at 12 places scattered across the entire US. Some were certainly better than others, but I almost felt enriched by just the experience of meeting so many applicants, understanding the amazing diversity in philosophies across medical institutions, and just having a really fun time in the process. Not to mention the travel. I met random bankers in Manhattan one night and ended up at a cocktail lounge with them til 2 AM. Watched the sunset over the Bridge in San Francisco when re-visiting the Bay Area. Ate a late lunch at a table right next to John Cho, his wife, and kid...at an art museum cafe in Los Angeles after my Keck interview. Had a talk with a Dean at a Top 10 medical school while trying to hide a string of massive hickeys on my neck resulted from a very strange night of drinking....(my that's a long, long story).

It reminds me to lay back, smell the roses, and just remember how fun medicine can be as a life journey. Oh the places it'll take us....I'm just so excited for August.

Time to change that username to mdwest 🙂

 

[mdeast]

Time to change that username to mdwest 🙂

I will forever be an East Coaster despite my physical location 🙂 Mdeast lives on.

 

[sassilysweet]

Worst: Flying into Scranton at 11pm to find that they had lost my carry-on that they MADE me check because they overbooked the flight. Having to literally buy clean underwear (and EVERYTHING else) 2-3 hours before my interview, because none of the stores opened before 9am.

Best: Acceptances at both the schools I interviewed at (the first, maybe a little moreso)

 

[meds8765]

best experience:

getting into my dream school off of the waitlist

worst experience:

getting into my dream school off of the waitlist (and trying to decide whether to go there or to a school in the same city as my SO)

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[mdeast]

best experience:

getting into my dream school off of the waitlist

worst experience:

getting into my dream school off of the waitlist (and trying to decide whether to go there or to a school in the same city as my SO)

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Did you decide yet?!?! I'm excited to hear!

 

[meds8765]

Haha no way, I'm going to take the full 2 weeks! 🙂

 

[secants]

Worst: Realizing that from the 30 or so schools I applied, the only ones the gave me an interview were my state schools or schools in my state (private) therefore making me waste a considerable sum of money on secondaries.

Best: Getting off the waitlist which was not ranked meaning all those updates I kept sending must have had some impact!

 

[gujuDoc]

Worst: Getting lost in Baltimore waiting for my Hopkins interview

Best: getting accepted to Hopkins

Exception: Going to my state school, because I received a scholarship. (people give me crap for this, so you all might as well, too)

Listen a free education is better then expensive debt just for name. The fact that you can get into Hopkins shows that you are one of those smart types that might get the 250s and 260s on the step 1. I know someone who had a chance to go to Columbia and dropped the acceptance to stay close to home at a state school. Still matched into Derm just fine.

 

[gujuDoc]

Bumping up this thread. Please keep 'em coming.

I like this thread and its always fun to see what people have to say on this topic. 🙂

PS congrats to all of you who made it and survived. Good luck on the next chapter of your life.

 

[lstone13]

Worst: It's a tie... 1) Being told that I was definitely going to be accepted at a particular school by my interviewer twice (once in person and once via email) and then not getting accepted and 2) Emailing in an update letter/letter of interest and getting the response that I had already been rejected (even though I had not been notified of this) but they would keep my letter on file.

Best: Getting accepted at my TOP choice!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!! 🙂

 

[gujuDoc]

Worst: It's a tie... 1) Being told that I was definitely going to be accepted at a particular school by my interviewer twice (once in person and once via email) and then not getting accepted and 2) Emailing in an update letter/letter of interest and getting the response that I had already been rejected (even though I had not been notified of this) but they would keep my letter on file.

Best: Getting accepted at my TOP choice!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!! 🙂

Congrats but I must say that is sad that so many schools rejected you. You seem like an absolutely stellar applicant. But who cares who rejected you, you got in an awesome school. I know many people there and they all love it out there. 🙂

 

[call me x]

worst: knowing i was flying into the Midwest in a huge snowstorm and not knowing if I would actually make my interview (add my ridiculous fear of flying to the mix and me basically having a panic attack)....make it to the interview but my first flight home gets delayed so i got to sleep in the airport
(this isn't as bad as most people but if you could see me having a nervous breakdown as they de-iced our plane you might understand haha)

best: my second interview at a school going super-smoothly after a miserable 1st go-around the year before and getting the call that i was in on a friday night at like 6:30pm- i thought the calls were done for the day so i got really sad driving home from work

 

[Warped Apostle]

worst: Logging on the Texas Medical School Application on match day and finding out that I did not match to any school

best:
A) Immediately logging of the Texas Medical School Application and logging back on to discover that I had matched. Turns out it was system glitch that affected all of us.

B) Receiving an acceptance offer over the phone 24hrs before the deadline

 

[jadealer]

Worst: Getting a background check e-mail last Thursday adn thinking it meant I got accepted off one of my waitlists.. only to find out that they were just doing BGCs for late cycle acceptances and I will only be accepted if several people drop out in the next 24 days... :cry:

Best: .... nothing that this point in time...

 

[robu058]

Best: Got accepted to the school that I did my worst interview, ever!!! This guy asked for stuffs i did 14 years ago. Dunno how, but i was accepted.

Worst: Got rejected to the school that I did my best interview. It is still perplexed to me...I was not even waitlisted...oh well!!

 

[justscared]

Worst: Getting a background check e-mail last Thursday adn thinking it meant I got accepted off one of my waitlists.. only to find out that they were just doing BGCs for late cycle acceptances and I will only be accepted if several people drop out in the next 24 days... :cry:

Best: .... nothing that this point in time...

Do not give up!!!! People are still getting accepted, spoke to the Dean of Admissions at a very prominent Med school yesterday and he said that very often there are still acceptances as late as first week of classes...he said generally when that happens it goes to someone who isn't accepted anywhere because others higher on the list have already started somewhere and have committed tuition, rent, etc and can't afford to loose all that money and take on a new set of expenses from the new school....

 

[wolfiemd]

best: getting accepted into a phenomenal medical school that I really like

worst: getting an email from the director of admissions at my top choice university telling me to call his direct line only to be told that the wait list is no longer moving. That one hurt...

 

[jadealer]

Do not give up!!!! People are still getting accepted, spoke to the Dean of Admissions at a very prominent Med school yesterday and he said that very often there are still acceptances as late as first week of classes...he said generally when that happens it goes to someone who isn't accepted anywhere because others higher on the list have already started somewhere and have committed tuition, rent, etc and can't afford to loose all that money and take on a new set of expenses from the new school....

I am trying to not be excited because I don't want to be elated then devastated twice in a row.. I am going to continue with my applications for 2010-2011 and if I get pulled off of a waitlist.. YAY if not.. oh well, at least I will have all my ducks in a row EARLY this cycle unlike last cycle when I was very very late... and if I get in.. what is another few grand tacked onto medical school debt in the end...

 

[PinkIvy08]

Hands-down the worst part of this entire process is playing the waiting game and all the anxiety that accompanies it.

Hands-down the best part of this entire process is that first acceptance - when you can start breathing again

 

[pennstate4life]

Hands-down the worst part of this entire process is playing the waiting game and all the anxiety that accompanies it.

Hands-down the best part of this entire process is that first acceptance - when you can start breathing again

So unique and interesting. What would this thread do without your breathtaking story.🙄

 

[gujuDoc]

So unique and interesting. What would this thread do without your breathtaking story.🙄

wow all they did was answer the original question. What's with the need to get antsy and roll your eyes at her. Get over yourself and get out of the thread if you don't have anything to contribute.

 

[lstone13]

So unique and interesting. What would this thread do without your breathtaking story.🙄

I take it that you haven't gone through the process yet yourself because if you had, then you would know the truth and depth to what PinkIvy said.

 

[anna01106]

great thread, i love reading everyone's experiences! they seemed much more diverse than mine. my application cycle wasn't too exciting but anywho:

worst: the feeling of hopelessness in the pit of my stomach while getting rejection, after rejection, after rejection before my first invite in november

best:
a. receiving the best phone call ever at 6:30am from UMass admissions offering me a seat in the class from the wait list while on vacation in california!
b. my fiance buying us a house near school... he is 25, i am 24, it's a big deal for us 😍

congratulations to all your acceptances, and for those waiting for the "best" moments, they will come to you whether it's this cycle or next. the longer the wait, the sweeter the reward (i can relate, it took me 2 cycles). best of luck!

 

[girlofgrace7]

Worst: During a regional interview, I purposely left my purse at my hotel down the street so I didn't have to carry it (it's a little bulky). The problem was that I arrived at the front desk of the hotel where I was supposed to report to receive the room number of my interviewer and realized that the desk clerk was not going to give me the room number without a photo ID. Luckily, I had arrived about 10 minutes early and was able to have my mom drive (REALLY fast as I nearly had a panic attack in the hotel lobby) down the street to go grab my ID in enough time to make my interview time. Oh, the waiting was awful too (while everyone kept asking if I'd gotten in yet and kept assuring me that I was "smart enough" to get in... not all that comforting).

Best: Getting an e-mail acceptance while on the phone with my mother just as I was beginning to abandon all hope. It arrived while I was working on research I was beginning to despise, and I had just been yelled at by a boss until I teared up for stating that the data wasn't sufficient to draw a conclusion yet. I SO desperately wanted to throw the reams of data papers in the air over her desk and run out screaming and laughing maniacally!

 

[dumbbell]

worst: had the exit interview talk with an OOS associate dean(phd) during my interview.
best: at a different school, my interviewer/associate dean (MD) wrote me an email after i got accepted and would like to see me consider attending his school.

 

[Spoonbig21]

Worst: Applying for two cycles, continually hearing that I was in the top part of the wait list, or that the portion I was in was reached in previous years only to receive no word of an acceptance. To be so close but feel it would never happen after being wait listed after every interview. Enduring the monetary, physical and mental hardships of this entirely unpredictable process...

Best: Receiving my first acceptance and realizing every second was worth it. I would do it again and again if I had to. Nothing will top the feeling of a Dean telling you that they want you to attend their medical school. Except, maybe, the following conversation with my mother and the ensuing excitement! It's very true that once you receive that first acceptance you can truly breath again.

 

[justscared]

So unique and interesting. What would this thread do without your breathtaking story.🙄

If you're so uninterested in other people's experiences then why even read this thread???? Who are you?????