Once you've taken all of the courses deemed necessary by the med-school admission gods (and of course done well in all of them, right? Even organic chemistry, right? That's what I thought), it's time to take the MCATs....a lovely little tool of the devil standardized test designed to give you premature grey hairs and raise your blood pressure a solid 20 points. It has 3 parts: physical sciences, biological sciences, and (because writing a personal statement for medical school isn't proof enough of your English-proficiency) an essay-style writing section. These days the test is "only" a 4 hour computer exam, but "back in my day" it was a 4 hour written exam.... fun times. Schools won't say they have score cut offs for admission criteria, but most do, so it's important to do well. If, like me, you're not a great standardized test taker, have no fear... you are "allowed" to take the beast more than once should you so choose.
Ahhhh.... once the test is over, and you are more or less reasonably satisfied with your score, you can breathe a sigh of relief. But wait, the fun has only just begun! Now you can work on your applications, and that other tool of the devil - the personal statement. I think Dante missed a level of hell, because in my mind there is a whole special level awaiting me where I must sit and write personal statements of various sorts while a little red goat-man pokes me with a pitchfork for all of eternity....but I digress. In a nutshell medical schools want to know the answer to a question that you will, from this point forward, be asked approximately 6000 times: why do you want to be a doctor? Or, the ever-popular variation: what made you want to go into medicine? And your answer better not be generic..."because I want to help people,"...."my father was a doctor, his father was a doctor, my great, great, grandfatzzzzzzzzzz"... sorry, fell asleep there, but you get the idea. Much like college personal statements the idea is to be memorable and unique, without being so unique that the admissions people are left thinking "what the hell??" Be genuine and honest and let the passion that has sustained you through all those grueling years of pre-med courses help you to write a convincing argument for why you want to be a physician. If there was some magic formula I'd give it to you, but there isn't, except to say (and I can't stress this enough): write it yourself!! Hiring a service to do it for you, or buying a personal statement off the internet is such a bad idea that I won't even waste the space on here to tell you all the reasons why you shouldn't do these things.... if you don't believe me, go ahead and give it a try, you shouldn't be in medical school anyway, so just see how it works out for you!
OK, so, to recap.... MCAT = check, Application (complete with an all original personal statement) = check, all that's left.... interviews! Here's the part of the process where you get to bust out your fancy suit, shine up your shoes, and convince the admissions folks face-to-face not only why you want to become a doctor, but why they should teach you to do so at their school. Be prepared to discuss any research you've done in detail, and to explain any gaps or deficiencies in your record. A med-school admissions favorite: tell us your strengths, and weaknesses...ugh, I hate that one! Men - get a haircut; Ladies - while a black or grey suit is not mandatory, may I suggest that you not wear anything too revealing?
That's all for this round of advice/ education on the process of becoming a doctor. Tune in next time for some highlights of the first couple years of medical school and the next round of soul crushing standardized testing: Step 1 of board exams, yippee!
And now for something completely different - a brief look at how I spent my last weekend of freedom!
Saturday I went to the farmer's market and had a fantastic pear and smoked Gouda crepe....so good! Afterwards I hit the gym, grabbed some Starbucks (I swear they lace those double chocolaty chip cremes with crack), did some grocery shopping and made a delicious dinner of cabbage and ramen noodle salad. It sounds gross, and I don't really care for any of the things that are in it individually, but throw them all together (and cover it in a salad dressing that contains no less than 2 tablespoons of sugar) and I'm sold. After dinner I went to a friend's house and played a complicated game called Ticket To Ride (note: has nothing to do with the Beatles, and a lot to do with geography and trains), which was quite fun, though I'm still not sure I fully understand how to play....
Today I took my bike out for a spin (on a trail, with a helmet Mom, don't worry) and realized I really could use a road bike instead of the heavy mountain bike that I currently have and don't need on the paved trail. Afterwards I went and saw Bad Teacher.... pretty funny, though maybe not worth the $7 I paid to see it in the theater. I capped off my evening with a trip to grab some ice cream with one of my fellow interns (and classmate from medical school... and she also happens to be my upstairs neighbor), which was delish! As I type my faithful DVR is recording the season premier of True Blood, and knowing I have it waiting for me to watch is what is going to get me through 8 hours of orientation tomorrow...4 of which will be on the electronic medical records system..... again....
Nothing too exciting, but that's fine with me. Hope you all had a great weekend as well!
No comments:
Post a Comment