Just Your Average Nerdy Person

F--------------------------------- skills clinic.

Don't get me wrong I absolutely love them, the problem is they are almost impossible to get. Here at UTSW skills clinics are put on on by interest groups and not by the school itself as part of the curriculum. If you want to learn how to suture, intubate, use the davinci surgery machine etc the onus is on YOU to find out when an interest group is going to have a skills clinic and sign up for it. Which is actually pretty hard. Timing is sporadic and to make matters worse there are usually only about ~10-15 slots per clinic. Even if you take into account that only first and second years normally sign up for these, that is still ~500 people you are fighting against for a spot. If you aren't sitting on top of your email you are totally screwed.

Anyways, this is a shot of some of my terrible sutures from a plastic surgery suture skills clinic.

This post is in response to afailedhero's question "What do you think made your application stand out to UT Southwestern?" Keep in mind I don't know jack. The following are just my best guesses on why I stood out to any medical school, much less UT Southwestern.

Selection process

First off, I only applied to schools that I felt would give me the best shot. That meant staying locally, which for a Texas resident is a sweet deal. We have 9 schools here, 8 of which are public schools that are required to fill 90% of their classes with Texas residents. Plus they are conveniently all on one application and cheeaaaap. You know, relatively speaking. 

Numbers, numbers, numbers 

High numbers won't guarantee you anything, but you still need to aim high. I had a 30+ MCAT and *4.0 GPA (4.0 is not always better, I'll write about that later). UTSW averages around a 33ish MCAT and a 3.8sh GPA. Keep in mind there is a range, for my class the MCAT scores ranged from 24 to 42 and the GPA ranged from 3.2 to 4.0. In general though, a 30 MCAT and a 3.8 should get you a few interviews for any Texas school.

Essays and LoR

TMDSAS gives you the option to write 2 essays. I only wrote the one. Most people would highly advise you to not do what I did. Why then did I only write one? 3 reasons: I hate writing, I was in a time crunch, and most of all I didn't need to give them a reason to see how bad I am at the English language. I've never been particularly eloquent or articulate. Let it be known, it isn't a death sentence if you don't write ALL the essays.

Letters of recommendation (LoR). Super powerful! Don't underestimate what a good rec letter can do for you. I purposefully went in to certain classes knowing that I wanted a professor to write me a letter. I would sit near the front row, ask the occasional question (don't be a brown nosing suck up), and would stop by their office every now and then so they knew who I was. Almost any teacher will write you a letter, but you don't want that letter to be totally formulaic. Also it doesn't hurt getting the thumbs up from a currently practicing physician. 

Everything else

Numbers ain't everything, but you'll need them to get into the door, but it's the rest of your application that is going to seal the deal. Those seemingly pointless extras that many people seem to neglect is what admissions likes to look at to diversify their student body. 

The following were some of my extras:

Degree: Science degrees are the bread and butter of medical school applicants, but my degree is in international studies with a minor in Japanese. It really helped me stand out. Plus, interviewers liked talking to me about it.

Studied abroad my junior year to Japan

Volunteer experience throughout undergrad and during postbac (both non medical and medical volunteer experience)

Work experience undergraduate -- to pay for school

Scribe experience (technically also work experience)

Clubs: active in two clubs throughout undergrad (Japanese Exchange Club and Japanese Culture Organization)

Hobbies/Extracurriculars: show that you have a life outside of books. I draw, I read science fiction/fantasy, I play table top games. (I actually put down that I played 350+ hours of Dungeons & Dragons... yet not a single interviewer mentioned it). 

Leadership: I did a short stint in ROTC and I was entry level Japanese language TA

Sooooo there you go, the random stuff that I think made me stand out to medical schools and UTSW. 

Want more general advice?

Find a degree that you love, not one that you think will get you into medical school

You should definitely volunteer, but if you have 50 hours built up the summer before you apply to medical school then you aren't fooling anyone. Consistency is key. Medical > non-medical, but both are good. The former can just help show your understanding of the field, and your willingness to commit to it.

Work experience: If you don't have to that great, but having work experience can show a certain level of maturity. Personally I recommend being a scribe. It's a great experience. Not only do you get some great insight, but you will learn a lot. Plus you get paid.  

Clubs: Follows the same rules as volunteering. Pick a couple of activities and be consistent.

Hobbies/Extracurriculars: find a hobby, be happy, enjoy life.

Leadership: self explanatory I feel. Don't over do it.

Can you pick up a general theme? It's all about not over doing it and being consistent.

Good luck y'all!

I don't know how useful my current schedule would be because it is incredibly variable depending on what class I am in, but I have a few general guidelines that I use when I make a schedule. The process is simple, it's sticking to it that can be difficult.

First, I write down everything I need and want to do. Study for class, watch the new episode of Sherlock, buy groceries, volunteer here, work there, invade Canada, etc.

Then I prioritize everything based on my short and long term goals. Meaning... I can't do everything I want. Which majorly sucks. 

Next, I plan my general schedule based on those priorities. The important thing to remember in this step is to also account for "time off." Otherwise you are going to have a psychotic break after a couple of months. I've already seen it happen to a classmate.

An unofficial guide to UT Southwestern.

(List and completed links in progress)

MS0: Wannabe Newb

Housing

Grocery Stores

Things to do

Head start

Research

Checklist

MS1: Total Newb

Study Tips

Getting involved

MS1 to MS2 Summer Plans

Second year officer positions

R.O.A.D.

Biochemistry

Anatomy

Embryology

Genetics

Physiology

Cell Biology

Neuroscience

Human Behavior

Immunology

The last summer of your life

MS2: Glorified Newb

MS3: Exhausted Newb

Why are you interested in medicine?

How did you prepare for the MCAT and how did you catch UT Southwestern's attention?

(sorry for the double post, trying to make my site easier to navigate)

MCAT: The bane of all premeds

This test is a beast, as most people in the know would know. For various reasons, I was not in the know.

When the time came to start prepping for it, I decided to take a mock MCAT to see where I was. I. Was. Horrified. 

I think my initial scores were something like:

physical sciences: 4

Verbal reasoning: 6

Biological sciences: 10

For a grand total of 20! WOOoooooooo /sigh. My ultimate goal was a 30 with a 10/10/10 split. With due diligence and a few a lot of curse words, I came out with a PS 11/VR 10/ BS 12.

I tell you this not because I want to brag or anything like that, but show that it is possible to make HUGE gains in your overall score. In the end, my score was just enough to make me average at UTSW.

Never felt so good to be average.

I’ll share my tactics on how I approached the test, but as you can imagine it is going to dramatically differ from one person to another. AAMC is completely changing the test in a year, so everything I’m about to say is probably going to be useless anyways.

First off, know your weaknesses and strengths

I knew that I was utter crap at physics, and by the time I was scheduled to take the MCAT it had been awhile since I had even looked at general chemistry stuff. (What the flying F is a valence electron?) Therefore, I decided to take the required physics II course at the same time I was studying for the MCAT. Kill two birds with one stone. In the end I think about 60-75% of my studying time was devoted to this one section alone (what can I say, I was really bad at it). If you are anything like me, don’t be discouraged by those “Physics is sooo easy~” people. Intuitive my ass.

Biological sciences was my strength, which is probably true for most people taking the test. I think my initial success (scoring a 10 on the mock) is probably attributable to the fact that I took biology 1 (I never took biology 2), anatomy & physiology 1 and 2, and an upper elective physiology course before I took the mock. Plus, I had excellent teachers and I really REALLY made a point to understand the material from these classes and commit it to memory. Too bad I didn’t do the same with the physical science material. 

*I bought the Princeton Review books, and found their explanations about spot on for what I needed for the physical sciences. They had reasonable detail without bogging me into details. However, don’t do what I did and pay full price for them…  Some random person I knew at the time gave me the Exam Cracker books. They were definitely more concise and I used them as review for biology since I just wanted a refresher. 

Secondly, think about how you learn best

For me, this meant drawing pictures and finding things to listen to. Youtube, especially Khan Academy, was my buddy down in the trenches. The breadth of free knowledge on the internet is outstanding. 

I also made my own review book for physics and gen chem by using a sketchbook I had around. Once I understood a concept I drew it out pictorially with any relevant formulas and so on, that way I could review it faster. If needed I would go back to the denser explanations in TPR or my textbooks. This ended up being really nice later on because I could go through my review book a couple of times in a single day. I find it is always better to review things in your own words.

Also, I think it is vitally important to get a feel for MCAT style questions. They are not kind, they are designed to mess you up. There is a ton of sources out there that can provide MCAT style questions, but I really liked using AAMC’s practice tests. Albeit expensive, you do get one free. Other than using that first test as a general indicator, I didn’t start utilizing practice tests until a month and half before M day. Including the free one I used about 4 or 5 of them. 

Next, make a schedule and keep to it! Seriously! I mean it!

So simple, yet so hard to follow. Discipline is really key, and frankly is something you are going to need throughout medical school. Based on conversations I've had with people I feel that most people take about 3 months to prepare for the MCAT, for me I planned for about 4 1/2 months of preparation. It entailed about 6 hours of study per day with one day off per week. (I was still working 20-30 hours per week at the time)

My general day was 2-3 hours of physics, 1-2 hours of general chemistry and I would alternate the last hour between biology/orgo review and VR practice. 

Lastly, try to prevent burn out

Again, this will differ from person to person. For me, this meant scheduling time every week for friends and family. I would go to the movies, or have a board game night, or go to the zoo, etc. Experiment with the effects of ethanol on the human body…you know, meaningful stuff.

Eating well, exercise, sunlight, hygiene, social activities. All important.

On a day to day basis, if I accomplished certain study goals, such as read x amount of chapters or do x amount of questions, I would reward myself with junk television. I think I watched almost 3 or 4 seasons of Star Trek: TNG, a couple seasons of MLP, and a season of Breaking Bad before I ultimately took the test. Free time, who knew?

Everyone has their opinion about how effective the MCAT is as a gauge for a person’s ability to not F*** up as a doctor, but ultimately it is irrelevant. You are going to have to take it. 

Undergraduate

To Major or Not to Major in Biology...

MCAT

Owning the MCAT

Application

Why Medicine?

My take on the 'extras' and the overall application

Interview

General Advice

Money

General

Hi! 

Sorry that I’ve been so spastic with your ‘answer.’ For the sole purpose of making site navigation easier down the road, I’ve copied and pasted my original response to you to a new post and hyperlinked it below. Obviously I wasn’t thinking clearly, because for such a short question there is so much to talk about!

I’m still working on the second half of your question though, I’ll eventually have it hyperlinked to this answer as well~!

Part One: MCAT prep

I'm feeling really pessimistic about relationships; platonic or otherwise.

Part of the reason I decided to go to UT Southwestern was because my family, friends, and boyfriend live here. Well, turns out it can be a double edged sword, especially when the people on the other side of that relationship just don't understand or choose not to believe you.

On the one side I live fairly close and could theoretically be involved in their lives. On the other side, I have to study. Actually and legitimately study. Unfortunately, they think this is like my undergraduate days when 'studying' meant marathoning Disney movies with a textbook open somewhere in the room. 

When I talk with applicants a really common question I get is "How much do you study a day?" or "How much free time do you have?" My answer is always the same: it depends on your goals. The amount of free time you will have as a medical student really depends on your goals. If you have high aspirations then you can be sure you will have very little free time. 

I have high aspirations...  which is unfortunate for my personal life.

It hurts knowing that people take my absence personally. Even worse is when my boyfriend doesn't understand. We've been together for over three years, and he's always been aware of my plan to get here. Plus, he works as a nurse, you would think he would understand more than most. Alas, as school moves on I feel like we have less and less normal conversations, and more and more arguments over my absence. Will our relationship survive this crucible?

All I can do is hope they will eventually understand.

If you are reading this, and you are considering medical school, just keep in mind that it does involve sacrifice. Sometimes in ways you wouldn't imagine. For me that struggle is between my relationships with certain people and my dreams.

Recently I started listening to instrumental video game music while I study...

Bad idea.

Nearly started crying when I heard Aerith's theme from Final Fantasy VII come on. From an outsider's perspective it probably looked like I was having a mental breakdown while studying muscle physiology at the library.