I had been waiting to post something new until I had something more to report. Up until this morning, that only included two more rejections, which just didn't feel like a great reason to write an update. As of this morning, though, I've received another interview invite, bringing my total to 6. Just to clarify, the "interviews completed" down there is also included in the interview invitations. The only reason for keeping them separate would be so that if I were to decide not to interview somewhere, i.e. if I were to get into a school that made interviewing at some other school seem less necessary, you would be able to tell. I don't actually know how I'll indicate that, except maybe that by mid-April, those two numbers won't match up.
The biggest thing I have to say is this: waiting is awful. Looking back on the application process so far, I've changed my mind about what is the worst part over and over again. At first, it was studying for the MCATs, because how could that possibly be fun? I then thought that taking the MCATs would be the worst, but I had a really good experience with smiling test center staff, and the day felt much better. But then applications seemed like they were for sure the worst part! Only once I had gotten through them, they felt like an accomplishment, and no longer like something dreadful. Leading up to my first interview, I was convinced that interviewing would be awful! But not the case at all. Waiting, however, is definitely awful. And knowing that the suspense could be drawn out for a couple more months only makes it seem worse. That said, it's a necessary part of the process. I'd like to say that I've found a way to make waiting more entertaining, but it is what it is: the slow passing of time. What I can say is this: it will have been worth it. Whatever the outcome, wherever I get in or don't, wherever I end up when all is said and done, it will have been worth all of the schooling, the test studying, the test taking, the applications, the interviews, and the waiting. I would advise people that if they consider this process and it doesn't seem worth the trouble, it probably isn't. I very much felt that way when I was considering law school; sitting for the LSAT didn't seem worth any of the trouble. If passion isn't driving you to stick to it and already rejoice in the end outcome, even though it is yet unknown, you might be doing yourself a favor to reconsider before you end up doing something you don't enjoy.
Maybe that's bad advice. But it's advice that once I learned to follow has seemed to produce good results!
Now, back to waiting.
Uh oh... now that I'm looking at these numbers and actually doing some counting on my fingers, there's definitely a problem... they're wrong! Oops... ignore the other ones and use these instead. Note the bold for changes from my erroneous calculations.
Stop. Hammer time --
Primary applications: 17
Instant rejections: 1
Secondary applications: 16
Post-secondary rejections (i.e. without an interview) to date: 4
Interview invitations to date: 6
Interviews completed to date: 3
Post-interview rejections to date: 0
Acceptances to date: 0
Monday, February 8, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Organization or lack thereof
Disclaimer: If you happen to be reading this AND you're a med school at which I've interviewed (and you may or may not even know who you are), I love you, I loved your interview day, this is all hypothetical, please admit me. And stop reading. Now. I'm serious. You should already have closed this window. Unless you're not a medical school, and then you may continue to read, but I make no guarantees that you won't have regretted wasting your time later.
The scariest thing to me about the interview process isn't so much the interviews themselves, as the way in which the interview day is scheduled. Or for that matter, the way it isn't scheduled. So far, every school that I've visited has done a good job of keeping the interviewees occupied, without making us feel overwhelmed. I'm beginning to get the sense, though, that some schools do not place as great a priority on that. But I may just have a personal bias.
Here's the way that I would think all schools would run their interview days, if at all possible:
First, while I understand why they start the interview day at 8am (okay, so I don't actually, but if I had to guess it would be to see how we handle ourselves at times of day when classes normally occur), I'd love to start an hour later.
Second, interviews should happen at the same time, and in the same place. I understand that physicians and med school students are busy. However, I've also experienced interview days where everyone was in the same place for all of their interviews. The interviewers set aside their entire day just to take care of interviews! I'm a fan.
Third... okay, there isn't really a third. Those first two take care of all of my big interview issues. Actually, forget about the first one, and focus on the second. And maybe add to that how nice it would be if schools provided coffee and granola bars or something similar in the morning for breakfast. I know, I know, it would cost them so much extra to do that, and they should just be spending that money on our education instead, but whatever. I like coffee. If that means they have to give me a plain manila envelope instead of a fancy school-decorated one, I think they should go for it. And maybe pre-printed name tags. They should feel free to use "Hello my name is..." labels, too. I just wouldn't count on my being able to remember how to spell my own name, let alone write it, when I'm sitting there trying to remember how to speak English.
That's all for today. No, wait. Okay, yes. I just had a brilliant thought that hopefully I can write about later. It involves airlines (Alex, remember, write about airlines).
I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there...
Primary applications: 16
Instant rejections: 1
Secondary applications: 15
Post-secondary rejections (i.e. without an interview) to date: 2
Interview invitations to date: 5
Interviews completed to date: 3
Post-interview rejections to date: 0
Acceptances to date: 0
The scariest thing to me about the interview process isn't so much the interviews themselves, as the way in which the interview day is scheduled. Or for that matter, the way it isn't scheduled. So far, every school that I've visited has done a good job of keeping the interviewees occupied, without making us feel overwhelmed. I'm beginning to get the sense, though, that some schools do not place as great a priority on that. But I may just have a personal bias.
Here's the way that I would think all schools would run their interview days, if at all possible:
First, while I understand why they start the interview day at 8am (okay, so I don't actually, but if I had to guess it would be to see how we handle ourselves at times of day when classes normally occur), I'd love to start an hour later.
Second, interviews should happen at the same time, and in the same place. I understand that physicians and med school students are busy. However, I've also experienced interview days where everyone was in the same place for all of their interviews. The interviewers set aside their entire day just to take care of interviews! I'm a fan.
Third... okay, there isn't really a third. Those first two take care of all of my big interview issues. Actually, forget about the first one, and focus on the second. And maybe add to that how nice it would be if schools provided coffee and granola bars or something similar in the morning for breakfast. I know, I know, it would cost them so much extra to do that, and they should just be spending that money on our education instead, but whatever. I like coffee. If that means they have to give me a plain manila envelope instead of a fancy school-decorated one, I think they should go for it. And maybe pre-printed name tags. They should feel free to use "Hello my name is..." labels, too. I just wouldn't count on my being able to remember how to spell my own name, let alone write it, when I'm sitting there trying to remember how to speak English.
That's all for today. No, wait. Okay, yes. I just had a brilliant thought that hopefully I can write about later. It involves airlines (Alex, remember, write about airlines).
I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there...
Primary applications: 16
Instant rejections: 1
Secondary applications: 15
Post-secondary rejections (i.e. without an interview) to date: 2
Interview invitations to date: 5
Interviews completed to date: 3
Post-interview rejections to date: 0
Acceptances to date: 0
Friday, January 22, 2010
Interviewing in the Rain
If you've been reading/watching/absorbing-via-some-kind-of-strange-osmosis the news lately, you'll already be aware that the weather has been anything but bright and sunny in California this past week. Not only not-bright-nor-sunny, but with the added bonus of flooding. The kind of flooding that led the LA Times to refer to several freeways as car pools (hah!). The kind of flooding that shuts down several southland freeways, but fortunately did not affect my travel plans. At least did not affect them in a couldn't-get-places way. But did, instead, make it take more than twice the time it should have taken. This happens when people refuse to drive over 30 miles per hour. Which is probably for the best, all things considered, because driving is kind of scary when the rain is falling so hard that the car which was previously 50 feet ahead of you suddenly disappears in the deluge. This is also the kind of flooding that delays shuttle buses and leaves folks (i.e. me) standing in the rain getting steadily soaked. The interviews were good, though! At least, the parts where I wasn't focused on how the lower 2/3 of my legs were completely soaked. Or the way that my wet socks and shoes tore my feet into blistery messes. Pretty picture, right? It didn't occur to me until I got home that, having been at a hospital, I should have asked for a band-aid or two. Of course, now I'm home, and I still haven't done anything about it.
I'd just like to go ahead and throw a generalization out there about interviews: at least in my experience, just knowing what it is that I've written about in my application tends to be good enough. Sure, the interviewers occasionally throw some crazy questions, but I've found that just telling the truth, while certainly a lot less entertaining than telling outrageous stories about knights and dragons and slaying the o-chem monster, is a lot easier and usually succeeds in conveying whatever point I was trying to make. Of course, if your interviewer opens with a line about dungeons and dragons, by all means, tell some stories!
Anyway. That's my posting for the day. Yes, it wasn't much about interviewing. No, none of the interviewing actually occurred in the rain, per se. And maybe I mostly just talked about how the rain did nothing to improve my week. But you'll live. Somehow.
Where it's at --
Primary applications: 16
Instant rejections: 1
Secondary applications: 15
Post-secondary rejections (i.e. without an interview) to date: 2
Interview invitations to date: 4
Interviews completed to date: 3
Post-interview rejections to date: 0
Acceptances to date: 0
I'd just like to go ahead and throw a generalization out there about interviews: at least in my experience, just knowing what it is that I've written about in my application tends to be good enough. Sure, the interviewers occasionally throw some crazy questions, but I've found that just telling the truth, while certainly a lot less entertaining than telling outrageous stories about knights and dragons and slaying the o-chem monster, is a lot easier and usually succeeds in conveying whatever point I was trying to make. Of course, if your interviewer opens with a line about dungeons and dragons, by all means, tell some stories!
Anyway. That's my posting for the day. Yes, it wasn't much about interviewing. No, none of the interviewing actually occurred in the rain, per se. And maybe I mostly just talked about how the rain did nothing to improve my week. But you'll live. Somehow.
Where it's at --
Primary applications: 16
Instant rejections: 1
Secondary applications: 15
Post-secondary rejections (i.e. without an interview) to date: 2
Interview invitations to date: 4
Interviews completed to date: 3
Post-interview rejections to date: 0
Acceptances to date: 0
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Story Thus Far
So it occurs to me that anyone who was waiting for updates has been waiting for an awfully long time. And that's because so far, I haven't actually said any of the things that I was supposed to. The truth of the matter is that I'm actually not sure what it is that would be safe to share without endangering my chances of getting into any of the schools to which I applied. And I'm not even sure whom I should ask!
Anyway, that means what I'm going to say right now is intentionally vague, and you'll just have to forgive me for it.
First, the application process was unnecessarily painful. In this, I can point a finger at almost every single school to which I applied. The initial application, the one that is sent out to every school, is quite thorough. And it gives a chance to write a personal statement, as well as to explain a little bit about all of the important activities of the last five years. So why, then, do schools want me to list my activities again? Everyone says that one shouldn't repeat anything from the primary application in the secondary applications, but come on! What am I supposed to do? "Well, let's see, I've already talked about volunteering at hospitals... I know! I'll tell them about this new hair product I'm using! Surely they'll think my grooming habits are worth noting." I don't think so. Of course, maybe there's someone out there who has been writing about things like hair products, and they're probably the ones getting into schools.
Ah yes. Getting into schools. Hasn't happened for me, yet. Though I have gone on two interviews! Interview days, it seems to me, are more of a chance for the school to try to impress you, and see whether or not you smell bad and can keep smiling in a room full of other anxious wanna-be-students. I make no guarantee about how I smell, but smiling? That, I've got down. Most of my interviews so far have felt like discussions about... well, about something I know pretty well: me. So far, no one has thrown any curve balls, either. Or if they have, I've been blithely ignorant of them, and that would explain the lack of acceptance letters. Not that there have been many rejection letters, either. But yes, some. I'm not going to list which schools, because on the off chance that someone from an admissions office reads this (hi there! I want to go to your school!), I don't want to give them the upper hand. Except for UNLV. UNLV I can tell you all about. They rejected me. In fact, I'd be willing to guess that any other California resident who applied there also got rejected. As did any resident of any state in the mid west or on the east coast. That's because they only consider Nevada residents and residents of their catchment states, i.e. neighboring states without many med school options. California has med school options. I should know, I applied to nearly all of them.
This brings me to something... well, disturbing, I guess. Many people have already taken out loans for med school. Or at least, for med school applications. That's because in order to really be sure that you have a chance at getting in SOMEWHERE, one has to apply all over the place. For every school added to one's primary application, there's a fee. And then for every secondary application one submits, there's another fee. And then to get to interviews, if they are indeed offered, one has to pay for flights, and typically transportation from the airport, as well as a hotel room. I think, so far, only one school has cost, in terms of all of these expenses, greater than $500, but that's no laughing matter! Unless one finds it funny to already be in debt before med school has even begun. And maybe I do. A little bit.
So why am I writing again, you ask? Because I have another interview on Thursday. And right now I'm trying to find things to do to keep myself entertained instead of packing. Fortunately, I don't have to leave until tomorrow afternoon. However, if it turns out that my suit is all wrinkled when I finally get around to looking at it this evening, I'm going to be a bit annoyed. And by annoyed, I mean run around like a chicken with my head off. To any vegetarian or vegan readers who found that imagery distasteful, I apologize, it's what I've got.
If you'd like to keep track with me, here's the score:
Primary applications: 16
Instant rejections: 1
Secondary applications: 15
Post-secondary rejections (i.e. without an interview) to date: 2
Interview invitations to date: 4
Interviews completed to date: 2
Post-interview rejections to date: 0
Acceptances to date: 0
I'll update this as they happen. And then you can read more if you want.
Or not. =o)
Anyway, that means what I'm going to say right now is intentionally vague, and you'll just have to forgive me for it.
First, the application process was unnecessarily painful. In this, I can point a finger at almost every single school to which I applied. The initial application, the one that is sent out to every school, is quite thorough. And it gives a chance to write a personal statement, as well as to explain a little bit about all of the important activities of the last five years. So why, then, do schools want me to list my activities again? Everyone says that one shouldn't repeat anything from the primary application in the secondary applications, but come on! What am I supposed to do? "Well, let's see, I've already talked about volunteering at hospitals... I know! I'll tell them about this new hair product I'm using! Surely they'll think my grooming habits are worth noting." I don't think so. Of course, maybe there's someone out there who has been writing about things like hair products, and they're probably the ones getting into schools.
Ah yes. Getting into schools. Hasn't happened for me, yet. Though I have gone on two interviews! Interview days, it seems to me, are more of a chance for the school to try to impress you, and see whether or not you smell bad and can keep smiling in a room full of other anxious wanna-be-students. I make no guarantee about how I smell, but smiling? That, I've got down. Most of my interviews so far have felt like discussions about... well, about something I know pretty well: me. So far, no one has thrown any curve balls, either. Or if they have, I've been blithely ignorant of them, and that would explain the lack of acceptance letters. Not that there have been many rejection letters, either. But yes, some. I'm not going to list which schools, because on the off chance that someone from an admissions office reads this (hi there! I want to go to your school!), I don't want to give them the upper hand. Except for UNLV. UNLV I can tell you all about. They rejected me. In fact, I'd be willing to guess that any other California resident who applied there also got rejected. As did any resident of any state in the mid west or on the east coast. That's because they only consider Nevada residents and residents of their catchment states, i.e. neighboring states without many med school options. California has med school options. I should know, I applied to nearly all of them.
This brings me to something... well, disturbing, I guess. Many people have already taken out loans for med school. Or at least, for med school applications. That's because in order to really be sure that you have a chance at getting in SOMEWHERE, one has to apply all over the place. For every school added to one's primary application, there's a fee. And then for every secondary application one submits, there's another fee. And then to get to interviews, if they are indeed offered, one has to pay for flights, and typically transportation from the airport, as well as a hotel room. I think, so far, only one school has cost, in terms of all of these expenses, greater than $500, but that's no laughing matter! Unless one finds it funny to already be in debt before med school has even begun. And maybe I do. A little bit.
So why am I writing again, you ask? Because I have another interview on Thursday. And right now I'm trying to find things to do to keep myself entertained instead of packing. Fortunately, I don't have to leave until tomorrow afternoon. However, if it turns out that my suit is all wrinkled when I finally get around to looking at it this evening, I'm going to be a bit annoyed. And by annoyed, I mean run around like a chicken with my head off. To any vegetarian or vegan readers who found that imagery distasteful, I apologize, it's what I've got.
If you'd like to keep track with me, here's the score:
Primary applications: 16
Instant rejections: 1
Secondary applications: 15
Post-secondary rejections (i.e. without an interview) to date: 2
Interview invitations to date: 4
Interviews completed to date: 2
Post-interview rejections to date: 0
Acceptances to date: 0
I'll update this as they happen. And then you can read more if you want.
Or not. =o)
Friday, July 3, 2009
Taking the MCAT
Now, bear in mind that having signed a non-disclosure agreement, I can only really tell you things that you might have already been able to garner from reading the materials provided on the registration websites; however, I'm still going to try to add a personal perspective to it.
The MCAT is a tough exam. Really. Tough. It isn't exactly impossible to study for, mind you. Just not exactly easy, either. It requires a lot of recall of a lot of material, some of which, especially in the case of college seniors, may be three to four-year-old information. And even then, it isn't until one actually takes the MCAT that one figures out what one should have been studying.
What confuses me about the content of a test like this is that while one of the stated goal of the exam is to test students on those things that medical schools and physicians think it important for incoming students to know, the other goal is apparently to test a student's ability to problem solve in a scientific context; that is, the exam gives a passage and then presents questions that a student should be able to figure out from the passage in the context of basic background knowledge. The score on a test like that shouldn't improve as a result of preparation classes, per se. And the verbal section! As someone who has scored quite well on verbal sections on past standardized tests, let me just say that I'm not entirely sure what it is about this verbal section that makes it so different, except perhaps for its ambiguity. But there is a big point made that sometimes it comes down to which answer is more right of multiple right answers, which may be why there are no penalties for guessing. But apparently some people do extremely well at picking the more right ones, and I may just be griping.
Taking the exam was a breeze, though. The testing center staff was kind, courteous, expedient, helpful, and willing to risk smiling at grumpy students. I'm pretty sure that without them, I'd have been much more nervous, stressed out, and unhappy. But as it was, every break meant having a pleasant, generic conversation that allowed me to sort of reset between each section. And it made me feel so at ease after very short breaks that I never felt it necessary or wise to use the full alotted ten minutes.
Anyway. It's done. Now on to... well, I dunno about better things, but other things anyway! My next goal? Finding some kind of job in healthcare for the next year. Oh boy!
The MCAT is a tough exam. Really. Tough. It isn't exactly impossible to study for, mind you. Just not exactly easy, either. It requires a lot of recall of a lot of material, some of which, especially in the case of college seniors, may be three to four-year-old information. And even then, it isn't until one actually takes the MCAT that one figures out what one should have been studying.
What confuses me about the content of a test like this is that while one of the stated goal of the exam is to test students on those things that medical schools and physicians think it important for incoming students to know, the other goal is apparently to test a student's ability to problem solve in a scientific context; that is, the exam gives a passage and then presents questions that a student should be able to figure out from the passage in the context of basic background knowledge. The score on a test like that shouldn't improve as a result of preparation classes, per se. And the verbal section! As someone who has scored quite well on verbal sections on past standardized tests, let me just say that I'm not entirely sure what it is about this verbal section that makes it so different, except perhaps for its ambiguity. But there is a big point made that sometimes it comes down to which answer is more right of multiple right answers, which may be why there are no penalties for guessing. But apparently some people do extremely well at picking the more right ones, and I may just be griping.
Taking the exam was a breeze, though. The testing center staff was kind, courteous, expedient, helpful, and willing to risk smiling at grumpy students. I'm pretty sure that without them, I'd have been much more nervous, stressed out, and unhappy. But as it was, every break meant having a pleasant, generic conversation that allowed me to sort of reset between each section. And it made me feel so at ease after very short breaks that I never felt it necessary or wise to use the full alotted ten minutes.
Anyway. It's done. Now on to... well, I dunno about better things, but other things anyway! My next goal? Finding some kind of job in healthcare for the next year. Oh boy!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The MCAT Really Drains You
If any of you reading this know me, then you may or may not know, depending on whether or not we've been in any communication (don't worry, most people aren't even sure I still exist), that I'm taking the MCAT in about 48 hours. I hadn't actually stopped to think about just how soon the exam was until the very moment I typed that, and now I'm a little panicked.
Presumably, I shouldn't be panicking because I've been spending all of this time studying for it instead of actually writing anything on here or calling friends, family, strangers, etc. But a point that I'd love to make about this exam is that what it states about its own content versus the content upon which students are tested is not always in line. First, a general statement is made that particularly specific information is not what the MCAT is designed to test. And generally speaking, this is true. But every once in a while, a question is thrown at the test-taker with two answers that are equally plausible; the only thing that makes the right answer correct is that it has been shown to happen experimentally. While this is well and good if the test taker had studied the specific experiment, or even done it anytime recently, it's expecting a specificity of knowledge that seems beyond the realm of testing one's general breadth of science knowledge.
And don't even get me started on the verbal section! I was a political science major. I took writing courses, philosophy courses, English courses, foreign language courses, history courses... I covered the gamut of social sciences and humanities as an undergraduate. I used to rock verbal sections. Now? It doesn't seem to matter how well I do on the other two multiple choice sections of the exam, the verbal section invariably scales itself down so that my overall score doesn't change, even if my science scores go up.
To be fair, I'm basing all of this on official practice exams. But they're supposed to be official, and potentially a decent indicator of performance on the actual exam. That said, I continuously receive the same score, so maybe there's some truth to it.
But I won't even begin to know how I feel about the comparative difficulty until Thursday. And I won't know how they feel about my comparative aptitude for another month after that.
I am drained. And maybe part of what the exam is testing for is the ability of test takers to face the fact that they're drained and to rally onwards. So goes my plan, anyway.
Presumably, I shouldn't be panicking because I've been spending all of this time studying for it instead of actually writing anything on here or calling friends, family, strangers, etc. But a point that I'd love to make about this exam is that what it states about its own content versus the content upon which students are tested is not always in line. First, a general statement is made that particularly specific information is not what the MCAT is designed to test. And generally speaking, this is true. But every once in a while, a question is thrown at the test-taker with two answers that are equally plausible; the only thing that makes the right answer correct is that it has been shown to happen experimentally. While this is well and good if the test taker had studied the specific experiment, or even done it anytime recently, it's expecting a specificity of knowledge that seems beyond the realm of testing one's general breadth of science knowledge.
And don't even get me started on the verbal section! I was a political science major. I took writing courses, philosophy courses, English courses, foreign language courses, history courses... I covered the gamut of social sciences and humanities as an undergraduate. I used to rock verbal sections. Now? It doesn't seem to matter how well I do on the other two multiple choice sections of the exam, the verbal section invariably scales itself down so that my overall score doesn't change, even if my science scores go up.
To be fair, I'm basing all of this on official practice exams. But they're supposed to be official, and potentially a decent indicator of performance on the actual exam. That said, I continuously receive the same score, so maybe there's some truth to it.
But I won't even begin to know how I feel about the comparative difficulty until Thursday. And I won't know how they feel about my comparative aptitude for another month after that.
I am drained. And maybe part of what the exam is testing for is the ability of test takers to face the fact that they're drained and to rally onwards. So goes my plan, anyway.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The weather sucks
I decided not to write anything today. There's plenty to write. But I can barely focus on studying as it is, so I'm thinking spending a lot of time to write something interesting is a bad idea.
Instead, I will show you how the weather sucks.
This is lower Manhattan doing its very best impression of Brigadoon. Pretty miserable, huh?
Instead, I will show you how the weather sucks.
This is lower Manhattan doing its very best impression of Brigadoon. Pretty miserable, huh?
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