Ask AZK about being Pre-med/Getting into Medical School

[lennytheduck]

I'm applying to medical school right now.

When you interviewed at Maryland did you get your interview right away? I am currently in the "Holding for further review" category at UM and just want to know what the actual likelihood of receiving an interview is. Thanks.

Also I am out of state and applied pretty late in the cycle.

[AZK]

Mr. P - You are absolutely right, for most people doing poker would probalby be a bad idea, my personal statement was not entirely Poker, it mostly just served as an intro. to get the reader hooked. I wouldn't say I received several interviews, the first year I applied really late with late MCAT and got 4 interviews and 4 waitlists, I was interviewing in Jan/Feb when most people were interviewing in Sept/Oct, I probably applied to about 20 schools that year.

The 2nd year I applied much earlier and only about 16 schools, I got 4-5 interviews and 3 acceptances, with me canceling the other schools before they had a chance to reply. The 2nd time around was much smoother, my interviews went a lot better and I was more comfortable

mmb- Fim and it's not even close.

Lenny - I applied to maryland (in state) and they put me on hold waiting for my first semester grades from georgetown (I did a masters there) so that took some time, when I finally got my interview (again way late in cycle I think feb.) I was happy but I was already into 2 schools so the pressure of having to go somewhere was off, that being said, I really wanted to go to maryland, I interviewed and had the best interview I have ever had with one guy here who I think is kinda a big deal, it's really the only reason I think I got in, I mean I was a competitive applicant, but nothing really distinguished me from anyone else. This guy and I just clicked and the interview went really really well. I heard back in two weeks. Normally I'm told it takes a month or 2. They normally make a pretty good effort to interview people if they are competitive, and they don't fill their class early, I've always been told that UMD is behind in general compared to other schools in their admissions processes... so don't lose hope. If you get an interview let me know what day and I can come to your interview luncheon (they normally have M1s talk to interviewees). Best of luck.

[CheckRaise]

AZK

Why did you go through a M.S program if you knew you were going to med school?

[AZK]

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AZK

Why did you go through a M.S program if you knew you were going to med school?

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Short answer: Stupidity.
Long answer: I was worried that I wasn't qualified enough to get in, since I got waitlisted at all the schools from the year before, I needed to do something and I already had 3+ years of research experience, so when in doubt, more school. Of course when I got in in the middle of Oct. and was bound to the MS program I felt like a retard. It was ok though, I mostly just went in to pick up notes and take exams and played poker pretty much the entire time. My class nickname was "ghost". It didn't help that the people at georgetown suck.

[Tablerat]

If you don't mind, would you elaborate a little more on your experience after your first application cycle? Specifically, would you have done anything differently between cycles? It seems like you were overqualified academically for these graduate/postbacc type programs. Did you hesitate in reapplying or were you determined to go to medical school the whole time? Are you now satisfied with your decision to go to medical school? How do you stay motivated in such a rigorous environment, or is that not an issue for you? Thanks.

[thedarknight]

I am not sure why anyone would ever want to go to med school. Being a doctor right now is like getting a punch in the face. I used to be pre med..and I know a lot of ppl who just went to med school because "it was the only thing I could do." If you desire to go to med school, you better come up for a good reason than "my parents told me to."

[tabako]

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Being a doctor right now is like getting a punch in the face.


[/ QUOTE ]

You mind explaining this?

[AZK]

[ QUOTE ]
I am not sure why anyone would ever want to go to med school. Being a doctor right now is like getting a punch in the face. I used to be pre med..and I know a lot of ppl who just went to med school because "it was the only thing I could do." If you desire to go to med school, you better come up for a good reason than "my parents told me to."

[/ QUOTE ]

This isn't an issue for me.

[AZK]

[ QUOTE ]
If you don't mind, would you elaborate a little more on your experience after your first application cycle? Specifically, would you have done anything differently between cycles? It seems like you were overqualified academically for these graduate/postbacc type programs. Did you hesitate in reapplying or were you determined to go to medical school the whole time? Are you now satisfied with your decision to go to medical school? How do you stay motivated in such a rigorous environment, or is that not an issue for you? Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

First cycle was sort of a mess. I decided on premed late, so I had to take the MCAT late, which delayed my entire application, which ultimately resulted in me not getting into medical school that year. It was a good thing in hindsight, because it was also at that point where poker for me was taking off, I was playing more poker than god and only cared about poker, so getting into med school and starting would have been awful, I would have crashed and burned as I was too obsessed with poker to let it go and wasn't mentally prepared for med school. Basically with the late MCAT instead of getting interviews rolling in sept/oct I was getting them in Jan/Feb, by then, a substantial of schools already had active waitlists forming, and being a fairly average applicant, I was [censored]. Between cycles I would have tried to travel more, maybe spend an extended period of time in another country, I wouldn't have done the SMP program, but I probably wouldn't be at UMD if I didn't and I'd rather be here than anywhere else, so it's tough to say. If you don't have to do anything to improve your application I highly recommend taking a year off anyway, just defer your acceptance and go do something crazy. You can still have fun in medical school and do crazyish things, but nothing like the pure freedom after college. It will also help put things in perspective as I know for me and most people I talk to, you have that brief depression stint after college, it's also nice to take a break since the next four years of your life are going to be more intense than any other point in your life. I was a pretty average applicant, 3.5 GPA, 31 applicant, if anything, i was slightly below average at certain schools, if you have a [censored] gpa, I'd go post bac route, if you have a low mcat, retake it, if you are taking a year off and looking to define yourself in some way you can do research but you have to want to do research, a lot of people I know that tried that hated it...I was overqualified for the postbacc program, but I was a bit burned out from all the research I had done in undergrad and I didn't want to do it for another year 9-5, the gtown program looked good bc the classes were med classes, I wasn't expecting it to be that difficult since it was a 50/50 split between med and grad. but it was actually pretty difficult, granted I was playing poker about 14 hours a day and sleeping the other 10, but I barely passed each class once I got into med school and had to really work for a C (I've never had to do that)... That was more of a poker issue than work issue, if I cared enough I could have really kicked it's ass, but I was totally apathetic towards the program/people/teachers...despite being my greatest poker year until my 4 month long tilt session it was the worst year of my life in many ways because of the transition, I had moved back home and was living with my parents, all my friends from school were in other cities, all my friends in the DC area worked 9-5 and I was sort of in a non-drinking phase of my life, so it was hard to party with them. I met no girls and nearly everyone in the program sucked...it was just awful...it's probably why I played so much poker and slept so much. Whatever. To be totally honest, I kept hoping in the first week that some med school was gonna call and get me off the waitlist, I'm not normally naive or an optimist but in the back of my head all of august I was thinking, whatever any day now they are going to calland then I can tell georgetown to go [censored] themselves. yeah never happened. So then I'm in this program hating it, another hoop to jump through and I am bored out of my mind. Then I get in to Tulane first in Oct. and they add a nice little clause like all schools "acceptance contingent upon completion of current grad. program." [censored]. So much for that idea. So yeah...rest of the year kinda went down hill from there...

I didn't hesitate at all in reapplying because despite the poker success I was fairly certain I didnt want to make a career out of it, I was just addicted to the money, the lifestyle was nice, but too lazy/boring/apathy inducing for me, I had thought about a few other job routes, namely being a professor/research, basically going to get a PhD in organic and doing that...but after a few bad lab explosions/experiments and a lot of time in the hood and seeing the lifestyle of grad students I realized I couldnt do this for 5 years and I needed more human contact, mentally the PhD would have been rewarding, but I'm an all or none person, I need the whole package or I'm not running at 100%...so to only have the mental side wouldn't have really worked.

I am now very satisfied with my decision to go to medical school, I have great friends, I have a great class, I'm engaged, I like the material, I like where I am... I'm basically running it now and I can't imagine doing anything else.

I stay motivated because I'm interested, it's postive feedback for me, if I'm challenged and curious I have no problem staying motivated and running it, if I get bogged down, bored, turned off then I crash and burn. I used to be a competitive anal retentative premed, but after freshmen year of college that more or less disappeared, when I realized I'd rather be doing other things with my time then going to the library every afternoon. I still occasionally get that gunner instinct but maybe once a month for a day, the rest of hte time I'm going to the library because I know I have to and I want to do well, I don't need 95s anymore, but I want to know and learn the material.

[Tablerat]

AZK,

Awesome and very insightful post. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

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and nearly everyone in the program sucked...it was just awful.

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What is the difference, you think, between your SMP class and your current class of 1st years? Aren't like 80% of those from your SMP class going to medical school? Is it a matter of perspective, from outside to inside medical school, or do you think you are lucky with your current class? Could it be the school itself?