#fartemis

I knew I wanted to do med school because I loved science, particularly all of my classes where human biology was the focus. I also did some research and benchwork and I knew that I wanted to do something with more human interaction than research allowed. None of the other options for careers in science seemed as interesting to me as med school. The fact that medicine is where scientific discovery meets (and hopefully helps) human life is pretty amazing. And there is a lot of ways to have a greater impact while still being in the thick of some hard science. The best of all worlds! It seemed like a pretty clear winner to me. 

The application process was fairly intense as I recall. You have to take the MCAT, most people recommend doing this early enough that you have time to retake it if necessary. Then there’s the whole AMCAS application and your personal statement and whatnot. You’ll need enough clinical hours (mostly programs want to know that YOU know what you’re getting yourself into). And volunteer work / extracurriculars / good GPA are all important-ish too. A lot of schools will then have secondary applications with additional questions /essays you have to write. Then you will have to go on interviews, usually you’ll have a few faculty interviews and probably an interview with a current med student. I did all of this wrong and it has been several years since I applied so I’m probs not the best person to talk about this. md-admissions’ application tag, cranquis’ FAQ/index and wayfaringmd’s FAQs page have much more useful advice and are great places to start. Also stay away from student doctor network. Medblrs are much more helpful! 

Med school has been totally worth it for me personally. I enjoyed parts of the pre-clinical years and I really enjoyed my clinical years. Still, it is really fucking hard, and I had my most physically / mentally / emotionally exhausted times of my life in med school. Would I do it again? Yes. But I also know several people who have said they absolutely would not do it again. I think a lot of doctors have felts that way at some point. There is a whole discussion to be had about this, and medical training and what it means to be a doctor these days, and this answer is already way longer that I anticipated so I won’t get into it. 

One thing I heard a lot when I was debating whether or not to do med school was the phrase “If you can imagine yourself doing anything other than med school, don’t do med school.” When I was applying I thought it was some self-aggrandizing way to say how hard and different med school is, like people who go into it see themselves as ‘chosen’ or some bullshit, but I see now that (while some people might use it that way) it can be a good piece of advice. Med school is No Fucking Joke. It takes a lot of conviction (and money!) to get through, and when you’re done it’s not even close to the end of your medical training. There is a reason there are a million ‘turn back now’ signs posted along the path to med school. So forget the ego behind that phrase and take it as a call to reflect. Just really take time to get to know the field and more importantly get to know yourself: your interests, your motivations, what you want in a career, what you want in LIFE, and decide if this is your calling. 

sunflower : what’s your favorite quote?

“to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” it’s of course, dumbledore’s quote from harry potter. my grandpa died of lung cancer when I was young, maybe 9 years old, and this was the quote he had on his obituary. it was the first real quote I came into contact with and it’s always left such a deep mark on my heart.

violet : what’s one thing most people don’t know about you?

i stayed up until 3am writing this because i was too invested in it to stop