Why You Need to Think Critically about Advice and Who You Get it From
Sometimes I read advice online for medical school admissions from medical students that I think is fundamentally wrong. Of course this would seem counter-intuitive - how could someone be wrong about advice if they got in?
Consider a game of rock, paper, scissors (yah yah, how many times have I used this example now?). Imagine your opponent is playing scissors. Now also imagine that you’ve never played the game before, so you enlist the help of a friend who has. This friend has defeated this opponent before and tells you to play rock because it worked for him last time. If you listen to him and play rock, you’ll win too. Great.
But what if your opponent decides to play paper instead? Of course your friend comes along and again tells you to play rock because that’s what he did last time and it worked for him. But if you play rock, you’ll quickly realize that it doesn’t work this time. So what went wrong, and how could your friend win at this game but fail to help you this time?
Short-Term Success does Not Necessarily Equate to True Understanding
Is medical school admissions basically a lottery?
If you’re an avid reader of this blog, you can probably guess what my answer is. But to me, the answer itself isn’t as important as understanding how we get that answer, because it is only by knowing the process of finding the answer that we will be able to answer similar questions correctly in the future.
In short, the answer is pretty clearly a no, despite what many frustrated applicants might think. Comparing the medical school admissions process to a lottery is not only an insult to the intelligence and efforts of medical school admissions committees, but it shows a problematic perspective to the process overall.
Why this is problematic
Where I’ve Been and What I’ve Been Up To
You’d think that with classes now over and the next three months free, I would be blogging a lot more. That’s what I figured too, but unfortunately, I’ve been under the weather the past few days. Don’t know what it was, just felt very weak, but I’m feeling a lot better today and I am pretty sure whatever it was has passed.
This past week, final marks were slowly put up, and of course I was worried about Molecular Biology 2, which I’ve talked about several times here before. I ended up with a C+ in the course. I was happy that I passed the course (so that my medical school spot isn’t revoked), but I was a bit disappointed because that meant I didn’t do any better than 76 on the exam. I guess I was also a bit disappointed because this is the lowest course mark I think I’ve ever gotten in school. But that’s alright, there’s a first for everything.
The sick thing is how that mark would’ve affected me if I were applying to medical school again next year. That one mark would have brought my GPA for this past year to a 3.66, and would basically have made me ineligible to apply to Ottawa. It just goes to show you the importance of being consistent when it comes to grades in the medical school admissions process. It also makes me appreciative of the medical schools that take into account that sometimes you’re just going to have a few bad courses, and that one or a few bad courses should not destroy a person’s chance of becoming a physician.
Med School Prep
So once you get into medical school, you don’t just click accept and then wait until September for class to start. There is of course the acceptance form. You also have to submit a request to do a police check and take a CPR course.
You also need to get your immunization record checked by a physician to make sure you’re up to date with all of your immunizations, such as for Hepatitis B, because you will be working with many patients and staff at hospitals very soon. So I went to do that yesterday at my local clinic. My appointment was scheduled for 2:30pm, and I arrived there at ~2:15pm, maybe even a bit earlier. I finally saw my doctor at maybe 3:40pm. Needless to say I was a bit frustrated - then again, I can’t really say I’m surprised as I think waiting that long is quite common at a lot of busy practices.
One of the things I’ve always vowed to do if I became a physician was to make sure my patients were given their appointments at the times they were promised. I will be pretty disappointed if I end up making people wait a ridiculous amount of time and find no way around it. I know it’s going to happen sometimes, and it might be unavoidable, but it does seem a bit ridiculous at some clinics.
Interview Advice: The Importance of Being Memorable and Telling Stories
I was once asked in an interview to talk about an accomplishment I was proud of. Prior to the interview, I had come up with a list of practice questions and what my general approach to them would be - the “accomplishment question” was one of them. I had planned on mentioning my TD Canada Trust Scholarship because of it’s prestige, the hard work it represented, and how it has allowed me to continue doing a lot of my volunteer/non-profit work during university without worrying about having to pay for my education. But as soon as I was asked the question, I decided to change my mind and pick an experience that I had spoken about before, but had not planned on using as my answer for this type of question.
Instead of the TD Scholarship, I decided to talk about June 29, 2006. It was 9 a.m., and I was at City Hall in downtown Toronto. I was also really, really tired. I was tired because the previous day was a big day for me. Not only was June 28 my 18th birthday, but it also ended up being the day of my graduation and high school prom (yah, my high school was weird that way). Needless to say, June 28 was a really big and exciting day for me, but also a very tiring one.
So why did I need to be up at so early the day after my birthday, graduation, and prom? The previous fall, my friends and I started a Make Poverty History student banner that was signed by students in over 30 schools and university campuses in Southern Ontario. June 29, 2006 was the one-year anniversary of the Live 8 concert, and so there was a Make Poverty History press conference held at City Hall to commemorate the event, as well as remind world leaders to put issues of poverty on the agenda for an upcoming G8 meeting. To celebrate the work of all the students involved, we were given the opportunity to present our banner at the press conference.
Part of that presentation involved me giving a speech about the banner. It was a really cool experience, especially the chance to share the podium with the likes of Gerry Barr (past-chair of Make Poverty History Canada), Steven Page (of the Bare Naked Ladies), and Toronto Mayor David Miller. The reason why I was proud of that moment was more than because it culminated the achievement of our banner campaign. It was a great personal achievement for myself - if you had told me four years before when I started high school that I would be at that podium a day after turning 18, I would never have believed it. That wasn’t the person I was when I entered high school - I was much too shy. For me, that moment also represented the personal transformation I went through in high school as I opened myself up to more experiences, and for that reason, I was very proud of myself.
Telling Stories
I will be getting my Bsc and graduating!
I have a fantastic science academic advisor / counselor who has helped me a ton since I started the biomedical sciences program at York. Pretty much every time I was paranoid and had a question about something, she was always there for help, support, and advice. You honestly can’t do anything on your own, and if you really think you can, I think you’re underestimating the support you’re probably getting from the people around you.
When I told her I got accepted into medical school, she suggested that I might be able to still get a 3-year bachelors degree. I am currently in a 4-year biology program, and while I don’t have enough biology credits for a 3-year biology degree, I had heard before that getting a 3-year general science degree might be possible if I got in this year, though I really didn’t expect anything. Anyways, she told me last week that she’d get my academic record checked to see what would be possible, and I got this awesome email today:
Hi Joshua,
We’ve taken a look and you are eligible for the BSc (no major)…
So that’s cool. I wanted to be a York alumni, so that’s great. Also, I had the option of possibly getting into this year’s convocation, but I decided that I’d rather do it next year with all of my friends. My name won’t be in the booklet if I do that, but I don’t really care about that!
What’s the deal with cumulative exams?
Medical School Admissions: How important are non-academic components really?
After reading Medaholic’s great post on why grades are the most important component of the medical school admissions process, it got me thinking about how important the non-GPA/MCAT components actually are. And the more I think about it, the more it seems like they are significantly less important than most people realize.
Now, let me make sure there’s no confusion by saying that I do think things like extra-curricular activities, community involvement, travel experiences, hobbies, etc. all have a huge amount of value. But I think their value lies much more in how they help you personally develop and grow, and not so much in really affecting your chances at getting into medical school to the degree that your GPA and MCAT scores do.
And yet it seems to me that a lot of students see to have the perception that you need to have a resume that is a mile long in order to have a shot at getting into medical school. Because of this, some students take on way too much and completely exhaust themselves day in and day out. Not only do I think this is bad for the student’s mental and physical health (and that doing something solely for the sake of applying to medical school is something you will probably regret), but in terms of the medical school admissions process, it’s really unnecessary. And worse, some students take on so many non-academic activities that it seriously hurts their academic performance, without realizing that GPA is always the first step in the medical school door.
Granted, I can’t speak for all medical schools, since there are 17 in Canada and I only know about the Ontario ones. So while I don’t want to make any generalized claims, what I will do is analyze four of the medical schools in Ontario whose admissions process I do know a decent bit about, and the role non-academic components actually play. And from there, you can come to your own conclusions (though it’s pretty obvious what I think).
McMaster University
Acceptance Day - The Whole Story
Cliff notes for those who just want the raw results: I was accepted to the University of Toronto and McMaster University, and was waitlisted at Queen’s University.
As you all already know, I got into medical school on Friday! Unfortunately, I was out almost the entire day so I didn’t get the time to write much in depth. So for those of you interested, I wanted to give a little rundown on how the whole day went.
The night before, I had stayed up till about 2 am before finally just giving up and going to bed. Originally, I figured I would be full of anxiety and would end up staying up all night long - but I wasn’t as nervous was I thought I would be. In all honesty, I didn’t really feel that anxious until I woke up yesterday morning around 6 a.m.
Medical school offers are one of those things that take a really long time. The admissions process itself starts way back in September, and if you’re fortunate enough to be offered an interview, you don’t find out your status until mid-May. And if you consider that many people begin thinking about and preparing for medical school years in advance of that, and some times you end up applying multiple times, the journey can be quite long and strenuous.
I can’t really remember what I was thinking at 6 a.m. But I remember getting out of bed, and checking my email just for the heck of it. I had left my laptop on overnight with my email open so I could check right away in the morning. Of course, I didn’t expect to see anything at that time. Everything I had read and heard pointed to the emails coming no earlier than 8:45am or so. And just as expected, there was nothing there yet. So I proceeded to try and go back to sleep, planning to just wake up at 8:00am and check again. But I ended up twisting and turning in bed, genuinely nervous for the first time about this. To be honest, I was actually more nervous the hours before I got my MCAT score back - the thought of having to study for that beast of a test again is the most scary thing ever in my opinion.
In any case, around 6:45am I still couldn’t sleep, so I decided to go surf the web for a bit. Like I said, my email had been open since the night before, and I had to collect myself for a bit. And staring back at me, in bold font against a white background like any new message in Gmail, were the words:
University of Toronto - Congratulations
So… I’m going to be a doctor!
So I was rolling around in bed at 6:45am, and decided to check my email just for the heck of it….
May 15, 2009
Dear Joshua,
Congratulations!
On behalf of the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, I am delighted to extend to you an offer of admission into the first year of the Doctor of Medicine Program in 2009-10.
An offer package, including your official offer of admission, will be arriving through regular mail shortly.
Didn’t get any other emails yet (since it’s so early and I don’t think anyone was expecting something at this time), but at this point, everything else is gravy as UofT (at least at this point) is my top choice.
Thanks again to everyone for their support! Will be back later tonight or tomorrow to post all the details from the day, how I’m feeling, etc.
Less than 24 hours to go…
So I find out whether I get into medical school tomorrow. To be fair, unless I’m outright rejected, I could still get in sometime this summer off the wait list, though the longer it goes into the summer, the less likely I’ll probably get in.
I’m actually not feeling anything right now. Anxiety, nervous, excitement, etc. there really isn’t much going on inside. There’s a little bit of course, but my heart is not racing and I’m not spending the entire day thinking about it or anything.
I actually think I felt more nervous the days leading up to when interview invites were coming out. Maybe that’s because I could still control my chances then, and now I really can’t do anything but wait. Before, I thought I was going to be really anxious tonight and stay up the whole night wasting time because I couldn’t sleep, but now it looks like I’ll just go to sleep after all.
While emails will go out tomorrow morning, there’s no set time. I think most schools send out acceptances around 9-10am, and rejections/waitlists soon after, but there is still a lot of variability in terms of time within there. I think the latest I’ll leave for school is 9am, as I still have class at 9:30am, so it’s going to be funny if I suddenly get all my emails at once right when I check at school. I would actually prefer to get all my emails at once, so that I only have to experience disappointment once, or any disappointment might get offset by good news.
In any case, going to spend the rest of the day celebrating and having fun (though I’m not really sure what I’ll be celebrating if I get rejected everywhere=P). After class, my friends and I plan on getting some drinks, and then heading over to see the new Star Trek movie. Trailer for that looks pretty sick, and it’s been getting great reviews, so I’m looking forward to it.
After that, my family is planning on taking me out for dinner, obviously assuming I will be getting in tomorrow…
I’m not really sure if I’ll find the time to post tomorrow morning when I find out (I’ll obviously try and at least post something quick), hopefully I will be able to post something.
Before I sign off tonight, I just want to thank everyone who has followed along during my progress this past year. Thanks for all your support and kind words, and hopefully I can make you all proud tomorrow =)
Medaholic.com - Why Grades Matter
The following is a guest post from my good friend over at Medaholic.com. He is currently a first year medical student and is involved in his school’s admissions process. His blog is fantastic, so check it out!
Why do grades matter so much when it comes to getting into medical school? We’ve all seen people obsessed with getting a good GPA, arguing with professors for extra an extra mark here and there, and studying not to learn, but as a means to a better grade. The hard fact is if you want to get into medical school, you need solid academic performance. As a result, many students become mark-mongering paranoid GPA calculators.
But we all know that a high GPA does not necessarily correlate with being a good physician. Intangible factors like compassion, empathy and bedside manner cannot be recorded on a transcript. So why should grades play such an important role, if not the most essential, when it comes to medical school admissions?
There are three reasons why medical schools, and why you too, should put such a big emphasis on grades. (1) Convenience, (2) Objectivity, (3) Indication of future performance