AMCAS submitted: 7/20/07
Primary verified: 8/24/07
I'm one of those middle of the pack/late applicants still hanging onto a string of hope that for some reason things will all work out in the end. This is probably not the most ideal attitude for an md applicant, but we'll see...
Biggest setback: numbers... so I'm not the 4.0/40 candidate. I wish I was even remotely close. Decided to apply anyway because there was no way I wanted to do anything numbers related over again.
Things working in my favor: Undergrad school - I suppose (if this still makes a difference, I've heard it does not always), Leadership (leadership experience up the wazoo), Diversity (perhaps? I lived abroad and am very interested in culture), Research (no, I didn't do four years of intensive research but the quarter or so of research I did landed me into a few major conferences. Quality not quantity...) and a little luck to get me to where I am now.
Summary of experiences:
11/1/07: I was only planning on putting something up on mdapplicants at the very end if/when I got into med school. Considering my numbers, I'm extremely uncertain about how things will turn out. I, however, decided to start posting on this forum as a result of my first two interview invites thinking that things may actually work out =)
11/3-11/05: In Boston for a conference... great experience - would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in research. Still secretly hoping that when I get back on Monday I'll hear back from ANY school...
11/05: BU, Tufts, NYU, NYMC... where are you?? scanning my email..... hmmmm nothing so far... wait.. wait... OSA: Stanford Interview Invitation... what?????? Stanford??? My dream school!!!! oh my gosh!! =)
11/08: Another day...let's check the good ol' email. Junk mail... junk... junk..... Harvard Medical School Interview.. ?!?!... Did I apply to some random Harvard program?.... nooo waaay..... Boston here I come!(?!)
11/19: Stanford interview today :p still hoping for the best... it was really nice being at 'home' though and not having to deal with the traveling - i love it here and want to stay here so badly.
11/27: it's been almost a month since i've heard from my last school and had already given up checking my email since i'd actually wake up early and be excited to check it. the feeling only lasted a few weeks and then it got old. Haha I guess I was so happy with the previous four interviews (ie happy for weeks) that I didn't notice how much time has gone by.
heard from Rush and U Illinois today :) well not actually heard from U Illinois but got inspired to check my status online. good day - happy to hear from some schools that I don't feel are way out of my league.
At this point I'm tempted to calculate how much I've spent so far - but I think that will just make me sad. Just booked my tickets for the east coast and now understand why it's nice to group interviews together - unfortunately not all schools are very understanding.
I'm sooo close yet so far. When you do your secondaries, you feel as if once you get an interview, you'll be okay. However, when you get to the interview stage you realize that you're closer, but really not all that close since anything can still happen.
Dec 07 - spent the first half of the month interviewing
12/10 - UC Irvine. I enjoyed it here. Nice place, great weather, safe area, laid back people. Sure, they are not big into research but I think they match very well considering their rank.
12/14 - Harvard. What else can I say about the top school in the U.S.? I was very happy just to have the opportunity to interview here even just to get a feel for why they truly are the top school in the nation.
12/17 - Yale! FREEZING snowstorm high winds. Students were really quite nice and laid back though! The school itself is very nice but I think I was still reeling from Harvard to pay enough attention to my interview day at Yale :P Students are laid back and New Haven is very close to New York so there's always that option if you want more of a city.
12/19 - Rush med. My entire interview day screemed that this school was not for me. From not really fitting in with the students who I interviewed with to the lack of a good answer for 'why rush?' I was about to leave right after my morning interviews and go shopping on Michigan Ave. Ironically, this was the most brain power-consuming interview in my entire run! I can't think too badly now of them though since they did accept me :p
1/22 - My phone died. All I could hear was the 'hello' on the other end when the line cut. Later on I realized it was the Irvine dean of admissions calling to give me my first acceptance!!!!! Could not sleep the evening after I found out =) I'm going to be a doctor~
1/24 - Letter from Rush - despite all my complaining, they liked me after all. Not going to pick cold chicago weather over Irvine though...
1/25 - and when I thought that Rush would be my last interview... Hopkins comes knocking at the door. Baltimore.... but Hopkins! I am excited.
1/27 - snail mail from Dartmouth - add yet another interview to the pile!
1/31 - Interesting email from Duke-NUS - they're offering me an interview!.... at least it's in the Bay area :)
2/16 - Second and probably last (not necessarily hopefully last) leg of interviewing. One week on the east coast to hit up Hopkins and Dartmouth.
2/19 - Dartmouth interview. Two thirty minute interviews with a faculty member. First interviewer asked one question, tell me about yourself and left the rest of the time open for me to ask questions. Considering I spent $400 to fly into Hanover, I left that first interview feeling very unsatisfied to say the least. Second interviewer gave me a case study on how to deal with a patient with HIV. I didn't think my answers were all that great but the guy started out by saying he was very impressed with my application. I'll take the flattery =)
Hanover is a very picturesque little town. The hospital is beautiful and gigantic considering the size of the town. You feel as if you're living in a Christmas village out there with the snow and the brick houses. If you like the outdoors, this is the place for you. However, if you like chain restaurants, shopping malls or anything commercial, it's a 2.5 hour bus ride to Boston... Going here for med school means that you probably will have very few distractions except for the cold and the wilderness because there really is not much to do.
Did I mention that I spent 9 hours at Laguardia airport the day before my interview because my flight was cancelled and then the flight I was put on got delayed? The ride to Hanover was SCARY. It was turbulent the entire way through. On the way back to New York, my flight was again delayed another 2 hours - no big deal, not that I had anything better to do....
2/21 - on the road to Hopkins...
We help students become doctors. TM
