Hello From The Newest Contributing Writer For The (Almost) Doctor's Channel

I am very pleased to announce that I was offered the opportunity to contribute weekly for The Almost Doctor's Channel blog (which I've written about before here) and I've accepted! My first piece as a regular writer for them was posted Monday so please take a peek and feel free to comment and/or share. I have to admit, I'm chuffed to bits I get a bio/pic of my own on the contributor page. I absolutely couldn’t have done this without all of your support, dear internet (and real life!) friends, so thank you for following me and reading my articles, you are the best!

A Little Bit Of Positivity For Today

I'm trying to be better about writing more and I thought I'd follow up yesterday's post with a bit of good news - I have my University of Vermont College of Medicine interview next week! 

After getting the news back from Rush that I didn't get in I was so upset it was hard to remember that I'm very lucky that I got an interview at all. Last year there were almost 8,000 verified applicants to the school. Out of that ridiculously high number only 372 were interviewed and 128 ultimately matriculated. It's easy to lose sight of the little triumphs in the face of disappointment but it's reassuring to know that this year, I at least was chosen out of thousands of other applicants to make it through to the interview round.

Now I'm focusing on what's to come rather than what's happened in the past. Not only do I get to go home and visit my wonderful family, I also get another chance to experience the interview process at a new school. I promise to write an update after I return and let you all know how it goes!

I've been missin' these mountains...

And Now We Return To Our Regularly Scheduled Program

Did you guys miss me? I hope so because I REALLY missed you all! I haven't been as active on the interwebs lately because I've been a lot more busy at work and also, honestly, there were a few disappointing events in  the applying-to-medical-school part of my life and I didn't really know how to share that.

I'm a pretty private person (which many of you might have noticed since I don't usually talk about my personal/family life on here) and that extends to things like GPA and MCAT scores and getting rejected from schools. I'm sure that's fairly normal since there's always an element of shame when you don't get in somewhere you really wanted to go or you get your MCAT back and it's lower than you had wanted (and felt like you deserved). I never know if that's something I should share because comiserating helps you feel better and also helps others in similar situations feel like they aren't alone or if I should keep it to myself because I'll feel worse if everyone knows about something I've perceived as a failure in my life. I've also noticed that we all tend to get really competitive when talk turns to concrete things like GPA and MCAT and if the Student Doctor Network is any indication we pre-med folks are sometimes a lot more damaging than encouraging to each other. I hate getting into that kind of mindset because I know enough current medical students that have shown me the importance of  hard work and perseverence over a perfectly competitive application. Because of that, I've always been really loathe to discuss the numbers that I'm less than proud of.

But because of recent happenings I've been rethinking this approach and I guess the decision that I've made is that there should be a balance. Maybe it's not necessary to share exact numbers but it's OK to tell everyone that I didn't do as well on my second MCAT try as I had hoped. Maybe I don't need to feel like it's a sign of weakness if I tell you all that I was crushed when I heard back from Rush and I didn't get in. I think ultimately doing this will help me to feel better about these setbacks and feel encouraged to keep moving forward rather than wallow in the bad feelings that accompany getting this kind of news. Nothing in life works out perfectly all of the time and learning to deal with disappointment definitely helps you to become a better person. So I'm going to try my best to be more open and share these things with all of you because I think not only will it help me, but for those of you out there who might be facing similar distress, it might help to know you're not the only one.

Thanks for reading!

Fall Slump - Am I The Only One??

It's just starting to get really cold in Chicago and while I'm loving being here despite the plunging temps it's making me want to stay curled up in my bed all day with a mug of hot tea. As a result, I haven't been doing much of anything, including taking time to write and I realized today that I miss it. I've slowly started to acclimate to my new job and I'm really enjoying the projects I'm working on but it's still kind of strange to not have to divide the hours of my day between five different activities. Over the last few years in addition to having a job I was always taking a class or two, nannying, volunteering, researching, studying for the MCAT, and trying to fit in time with friends & family. Now I have only have to juggle two of those things and it's not very difficult. It's making me realize that I enjoy the challenge of multi-tasking. I like being busy and spending my time doing useful and fulfilling things and this blog is one of them. So, I'm going to try to start writing more often. In the next few months I'll be posting an update on how the application cycle is going as responses from schools slowly keep trickling in. I'm also hoping to start volunteering at a local family health clinic and will definitely post about that as soon as I'm able. As always, I'm open to suggestions and would love to hear ideas if you have them! 

just cuddling under the blankets, keeping my nose warm

Interview Day At RMC Part II

HA! I'm sure most of you had despaired of me ever writing this post BUT HERE I AM! I am not really sure why it took me so long to get around to it. I think I just lost the momentum unfortunately and have frankly been enjoying relaxing a bit too much lately BUT I finally kicked my butt into gear and here it is: the second part of interview day at Rush. Enjoy :)

I left off on my last post on this topic as the interviewees were being funneled back into the original meeting room for lunchtime. At this point we were all quite hungry and tired so it was nice to take a seat and eat something. I was very impressed with the healthy food choices they had (it's a medical school so I guess that's an obvious one) and the best part was that several first and second year students joined us for the hour! One of my wonderful friends who is currently an M2 at Rush was able to volunteer for my interview day and it was so nice to see a familiar face as I ate my salad with terrifying speed (did I mention how hungry I was?). It was comforting to have a friend there but also really helpful because I was able to hear his answers to several questions posed by my fellow interviewees that I wouldn't have thought to ask.

After lunch the Rush students took us on another tour. This time we were taken through the Anatomy Lab, the Library, Classrooms and Lecture Halls and were able to learn about the academic part of the school directly from the students. It was great to have a first-hand account of how it was to be a student at Rush and ask about things like living on or off-campus, where was the best place to eat out and how much do you have to study in a given week. It was also amazing to see how happy the students were. They really seemed genuinely thrilled to be there and glad to show us around and their excitement was infectious. It was plain to see that, while they were clear about the difficulty of classes and the amount of hard work that goes into doing well, it's not hard to be happy at Rush - which I think is an important distinction and it really stuck out to me. I know students from other schools that don't feel the same way about their institution and I think it's really marred their experience.

The academic tour came to a close all too quickly and we were hurried back to HQ (this is what I'm going to call the home base conference room from now on) for the next set of interviews. I had Dr. Robert Leven who was a professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology next and I was a little nervous because this was going to be my open file interview which meant he would probably ask me more pointed questions.

When I was ushered into the room and met Dr. Leven I was relieved to see that he didn't look incredibly intimidating, which was good. Unfortunately for me, he jumped right into the interview and for the next 30 minutes rapidly fired questions at me. I definitely felt my palms get a little sweaty in this interview, not because I felt like Dr. Leven was harsh or unfair but because I hadn't quite expected the intensity. There were also a few times he asked a question that seemed to not follow from his previous question and I had to take a moment to sort out my thoughts and form a coherent answer. I've heard horror stories from friends who had an interviewer who was outright rude or mean and this was definitely NOT the case for me but I did feel like it was hard to catch my breath and still keep up! All things considered though I felt like it went well and was inwardly throwing punches gleefully into the air when he asked me a question on Obamacare because I had specifically read up on the ACA in advance so I would be prepared (thanks A for the tip!). I also felt reassured towards the end of the interview because, although the overall tone was less relaxed than my morning interview, Dr. Leven asked to accompany me back to HQ so we could talk further after our time was up which I took to be a positive sign and when we parted he seemed quite warm as he wished me luck and told me he had really enjoyed our talk.

After everyone completed their second interviews we were all escorted back to HQ for another set of talks. I feel like at this point I was so exhausted I didn't really properly take everything in but I do remember one of the speakers sharing her interest in pediatrics and community health which I am very interested in so I felt excited at the opportunities available for getting involved. There were several others who discussed their work in community service and outreach and really impressed upon us the importance of these endeavors at Rush (one of the reasons I love this school) and it was great to hear from the many fantastic individuals who are so dedicated to working with underserved populations.

By the time it hit 3 PM I was so ready to head home. Although the day had gone loads better than I had nervously anticipated, it had worn me out and as soon as I walked into my house I gratefully kicked off my heels and sat on the side of the tub and soaked my feet in cold water (and then I took a nap!).

While I'm really looking forward to my UVM interview, it's going to be difficult to top the acceptance and eagerness that radiated from those I met at Rush. The passion and excitement for not just medicine but excellent patient care and volunteer work that I encountered made me fall in love with the school and I'm waiting with baited breath to hear their decision on November 14!

Beautiful new "butterfly" building at Rush Medical Center

Newest Article - Taking Chances

Good MORNING wonderful readers. I had a pretty awful day yesterday for reasons that I may or may not get into at a later date but I wanted a share with you this piece I wrote for The (Almost) Doctor's Channel. Basically it's all about the importance of not letting life pass you by as you work towards that MD/build your career in medicine. I won't say too much else since I want you all to read it but I think it's good to remind ourselves that if we want something, we have to try really hard for it now instead of putting it off till later (and that applies to many things in life, not just studying for an exam). I hope you enjoy and I'd love to get your feedback!

PS I am sure some of you have been waiting (with baited breath, obviously) for part II of my interview day at Rush and I will absolutely be posting that by the end of this week, I've just been hitching a ride on the strugglebus so it's taken me a while and I apologize!

Vote Dr. Georges Bwelle For Hero Of The Year!

Some of you may have seen my previous post regarding CNN Heroes and how Dr. Georges Bwelle, founding surgeon of Ascovime was nominated. Now he's made it into the top 10 and voting has opened up for Hero of the Year. This is where you can help - every day you can go to this link and vote for your favorite to win a total of $300,000! With this money, Dr. Bwelle will have the funds to keep Ascovime running, allowing him to bring healthcare to rural and underserved areas. So please, take a moment every day to vote for such an amazing cause - it really makes a huge difference!