First post and first impressions
Hello World! Since this is my first ever post, I figured that I’ll keep it light, telling you guys a bit more about myself (stuff that wasn’t already covered in About), along with a tangent, and some of my plans with MedHopeful.
Being ‘serious’
Josh and I recently had a discussion about first impressions, and as the topic shifted to our first impressions of each other – we first met at O-Week – he told me that his first impression of me was “serious”. I responded with a “what?!”, but to be fair, I had already known that I had given off that vibe.
On the first day of O-Week, we had a welcome talk delivered by the Associate Dean, where he said something along the lines of: “It’s traditional for the Associate Dean to present statistics about the entering class…This year, we have one 19-year-old student…” A small buzz in the auditorium arose, and I simply shrunk in my seat, thinking to myself, “No one will know it’s me.”
I had gone through the whole medical school application process without disclosing my age, and had no intention of doing so in medical school either. In undergrad, I realized that letting people know that you are younger than your peers is a double-edged sword. On one edge, you felt ahead of the game, but on the other, some will question your capabilities and maturity level.
It turns out that a good friend from high school, who was also in my class, had literally squealed in excitement, saying, “Oh! Oh! I know who it is!” By the end of the day, my cover was blown, and I spent the rest of week overcompensating by pretending to be an overly mature and incredibly serious person, before I couldn’t keep it up anymore.
Different types of impressions
A first impression is most commonly associated with the classic idea where, within the first 30 seconds of an interview, the employer decides whether or not they want to hire an interviewee. This type of first impression explains how I came off as serious. Most people are aware of this type of impressions, and as a result, medical school applicants will often pay particular attention to their demeanour, dress, handshake, and speech in their interviews – especially for the first 30 seconds.
However, if you’ve been reading closely, you’ll notice that we’ve touched upon a different kind of first impression, one that most people often don’t think much about. This is the type where an impression is formed after someone receives concrete information about you. It’s no longer a quick subjective assessment, but rather a slower and more complex ‘evidence’-based assessment. In my story, being known as the youngling can precipitate such an assessment.
So, why is this second type of impression important? In submitting any application, you are handing in concrete information about yourself – be it your prior employment records for a job, your resume for a scholarship, or your personal essay for medical school. Other than the actual information that you are handing in, it is important to consider the impression you are giving the reviewer with the information and its method of presentation. Do you sound sincere? Or are you coming off as pretentious? Do you sound mature? Or does it seem like you’re fooling around? You are giving off an impression before you have even met the interviewer, and this can make or break your application.
To identify these hidden impressions, it’s a good idea to get someone to read over your application and give you feedback as to what kinds of impressions they got from it. Ask yourself whether these impressions match who you really are. Are these the impressions that you want your reviewer to receive? Are there things that you should clarify in your application? How can you rephrase things to prevent yourself from being misinterpreted? Simply knowing that these impressions exist is frequently going to be the first and best step in getting them to work for you.
My affair with MedHopeful
I’ve always enjoyed writing and recounting my stories and thoughts to others. So when I decided to start blogging, Josh suggested that MedHopeful would be a great place for me to do that. As we hail from vastly different backgrounds and experiences, we can offer more wholesome and diverse perspectives, which would be great for our readers.
What will I be writing about? Everything concerning high school, undergrad, personal stuff, life lessons, applying to medical school, the actual medical school, answers to your questions, and everything in between. (The one topic I might not blog about is scholarships, as my co-blogger is much better endowed in that area.)
I’m really looking forward to an awesome experience with MedHopeful and its readers. That wraps up this first post and, hopefully it made a good impression on you guys!
Related Posts:
- Clarification of My Last Post
- I Think I Failed but Maybe it was Exactly What I Needed
- McMaster CASPer Resources and Thoughts
- I’m Back
- Medical School Week 2 Reflection
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Comments
Hey Shelly,
Great first post! Haha, I was wondering…being 2 years younger than those in your grade, were you always seen by friends as the less mature one? I personally am one year younger than those in my grade, and people sometimes don’t take me as seriously 
…I’m trying to grow out of this.
BTW, what grades did you skip?
Hi Shelly,
I’m also a year younger and I’m just wondering if you ever found the age factor to impede on your ability to make friends with your med school classmates? With so many people getting into med school after more than one attempt, or doing graduate studies first, many of your classmates may be that much older. Do you find they’re at a different “phase” in their lives or do you get along with everyone just fine?
Thanks!
I remember when I met Josh in real for the first-time/last-time after already being a fascinated reader of his blog.
I think his first real-impression on me was quite different from the impression I got when I was reading his blogs.
Especially, it is really a glass-shatteringly shocking experiece when you get to hear the actual voice of someone being so different from kind of the voice you were sub-vocalizing/imagining of this person in your head as you read the blog. In my head, the Josh’s voice I have been imagining had a low-tone bassy sound like of a opera baritone, but when I first heard his actual voice, I remember of being it none of like it!
It’s funny how I’m already forming an imaginary vocal image of you in my head, Shelly.
MedHopeful @ Premed101
Nice first post!