BCM’s interview day is incredibly special. How many second year students (MS2) even have the opportunity to interview medical applicants at other schools? I’m sure you can think of a few, but for the most part, it’s a relatively short list.

I opted out of interviewing for a PRN (peer-resource-network) student mentor position because I think my enthusiasm for BCM and knowledge about Houston will be far more advantageous to the admissions committee. I also plan to spearhead a surgical coop with Methodist Hospital with several of my classmates starting in the fall, so I should be able to sufficiently balance my time between the adcom and coop without much added stress.

Next year is looking to be great!

Be sure to check out his other blog posts at http://jaewonjoh.com.

A few months ago, a frequent site reader had hypothesized that I didn’t get into UT Southwestern’s medical school because I made Baylor Med out to be my number one choice, and UTSW adcoms may have come across this site. Do I have any regrets? No. I never denounced UT Southwestern as a school. I simply expressed why I thought Baylor Med was a better fit for me. In the end, I guess everything worked out.

This brings to mind my future of discussing medical topics. Upon starting medical school at the end of July, I’ll definitely want to write about things a medical student goes through from day to day; however, some hospitals have restrictions on social media/blogging (to protect the patient as well as the institution). There’s no reason why I can’t discuss my daily routine, right? Also, once I become a practicing physician, what will patients think of my opinions and interests? Since I’ve (gladly) chosen not to remain one of those anonymous online people, these are all things I have to consider and be mindful of when writing.

University of Louisville

• Pros
  • Nice curriculum
  • Small-medium class size, so personalized attention from faculty, increased cohesiveness among students.
  • Nice dissection labs
  • Full ride scholarship
  • Adventure (moving to a new city)
  • Girlfriend may join him at Louisville with a full ride (graduate with virtually no debt)
  • Students seem happy.
  • The school has been around for at least a hundred years.
    • Huge alumni network
    • Track record of solid students
• Cons
  • Weather – don’t like snow/ice
  • Behind on technology
    • No recorded lectures
  • Uprooting myself/property to new city, cost of moving, leaving friends/girlfriend behind, support network is gone.
  • Louisville might not be as fun as Houston

University of Texas at Houston

• Pros
  • Texas Medical Center (TMC)
  • Social network is right here.
  • I know the city, and I love it.
  • Relatively affordable (actually, cheap)
  • Weather is nice all year round.
  • Moving is not so bad (hassle/cost)
  • Collegial atmosphere among students.
    • Laid back
    • Cooperative
  • Technology is on point.
    • Recorded lectures
    • Histology slides on the web
  • Greater chance of a TMC residency
• Cons
  • No full ride (it’s incredibly hard to turn my back on free money)
  • Curriculum is suspect.
    • I am not a huge fan of studying for a bunch of exams at once. Why not one at a time?
  • Relatively new program. They’re still building their name even though Houston seems on its way up, attracting great faculty, renovating the school, etc.

His advisor told him that it’s a better idea to spend less money on medical school while simultaneously securing a great residency. I’m inclined to agree, as I’ve learned that the meat of medical training occurs during residency. I think he should take the full ride scholarship at Louisville and really focus on maintaining high standards to ultimately come back home and train in the TMC. Sure, having attended UT Houston for medical school may increase the likelihood of him staying home for his training, but I really think the lack of a financial burden will allow him to greatly excel and still come back to the TMC. Best of both worlds.

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Applicants routinely use that excuse to explain another individual’s success:

Oh, he already knew one of the adcom members at that school. That’s why he got an interview and will probably get in.

That’s not fair that she gets an internship at her dad’s consulting company when the rest of us can’t find anyone willing to give internships in this economy!

I don’t think any of my friends had “connections”, per se, and they like me still got into medical school. Now am I holding connections to people in higher places as a bad thing – of course not! If you have them, use them! You’d be a fool not to. By the same token, if you constantly find yourself tagging the success of others on the people they know, then you’re too insecure about your own chances of getting in. There are countless routes for getting into graduate school, so focus on using your own strengths to maximize the probability rather than worrying about why others succeed.

I would think you know a little about financing for medical/dental school. I know most people don’t go into the medical profession because of money, but I’ve been reading about how it is going to be hard for primary care physicians to pay back loans. Maybe you can post something about the problem one will encounter trying to finance for medical school, or do you even think there is a problem? Some may say that physicians are making enough, and that they are just living our of their means or expecting too much before they enter the profession. What’s your thought on this topic? I think they should post insane surgeries on TV and pay doctors what they pay professional athletes. Or, fix up the Rockets and receive the same salary as their star athletes.

This really is a great question! Even though getting accepted is usually considered the difficult part, paying anywhere from $20-$30 thousand per year (up to even $50K for some schools!) can be equally challenging. However, there are some opportunities for financial aid at our disposal.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is something more of us are already familiar with or have at least heard of. FAFSA is exactly what it stands for… federal aid. You can read more about the guidelines and requirements on fafsa.com. The only thing they forgot to mention is that it’s a pain-and-a-half to fill out. Stafford loans are a common form of federal aid, but just as with any loan, you’ll be paying interest – actually, lots of it. The fact that the economy is in such a state of unrest doesn’t exactly help federal aid opportunities either.

Institutional scholarships are based on an applicant’s academic merit, service, leadership, etc. This form of financial aid doesn’t have to be paid back and is usually based on contributions to the university. The new medical school at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center gave out a lot of “full ride” scholarships to applicants in its charter year. This is a trend with a lot of new schools, so don’t expect to see it too often. Most medical schools (and I’m sure dental too) automatically enroll all their students in all the available scholarship/loan programs.

I honestly don’t know too much about this topic myself. I probably missed some key financial aid opportunities, and perhaps was even incorrect in some of my statements above. I recommend you ask current medical/dental students (or maybe if we’re lucky, they’ll share what they know by leaving a comment) to receive the most updated information regarding financial aid and how to properly cope with the burden of debt.

As for me, I’m fortunate enough to have come from a relatively privileged upbringing and have been saving money for quite some time to pay for Baylor. Assuming everything goes as planned, I’ll finish BCM with zero debt.

As for whether or not I think this is a problem given the high salaries of physicians, yeah, I think it is. A lot of people who go to medical school take on $100K worth of debt, but never become practicing physicians. Instead, they become researchers, professors, and other reputable jobs which don’t have as high of a salary. I’m sure most of these people also have families they must take care of, so after you tag on interest charges, these people may end up paying their loans off years after their peers who became physicians. It’s a dilemma, but it’s something we’re all well aware of before we start this journey.

As for fixing up the Rockets, well, I’m not quite sure. The second you heal Tracy McGrady, he’ll just end up injuring something else, so he can reap the benefits of his guaranteed contract while sitting comfortably on the bench.

First, we interview. After the interview, we can start receiving “early” offers (ie, acceptances before February 1st). Students who receive such offers are fortunate in that they can start planning living arrangements, transportation, etc. earlier than their soon-to-be peers. Students who interviewed at Texas schools¹ but didn’t receive an early offer must “rank” the schools where they interviewed. These schools, in turn, rank the students they interviewed. Then, some computer program does its magic and “matches” the students to schools. Keep in mind that this doesn’t guarantee everyone a spot in medical/dental school (as there are many more applicants than available spots), so after match day, the rolling admissions process resumes. Unfortunately, by this point, the vast majority of available spots have been filled at all the Texas schools. To be thorough, even if a student holds one or more early offers, they should rank those schools as their top choices for the match.

Eager students are now ready to destroy the TMDSAS servers at exactly 11:59 PM, compulsively refreshing the web page until a glorious “match” is made evident. Gotta admire the mentality of us paranoid pre-health students.

¹Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) doesn’t participate in the Texas match. BCM is on an entirely separate application (the AMCAS), which is why I was able to withdraw my entire TMDSAS application to voluntarily disqualify myself.

I finally know what people mean by having your “dreams come true.” It sounds good on paper or in conversation, but actually experiencing it is something of unmeasurable profoundness. The acceptance came in a weird way. After spending a day running errands at our family businesses, my parents and I went to Fazoli’s in Katy to eat an early dinner. After getting home, I was really lazy and decided to kick back under my comforter and watch some old Fresh Prince reruns. The house phone rang, but naturally, I didn’t bother to look at the caller ID since both my parents were home (I actually thought I gave BCM my cell phone number to call). My dad started yelling my name from downstairs, so I came storming out of my room out of frustration for ruining my Fresh Prince viewing experience, lol. He said that a friend called on line 1, but I was skeptical since I don’t give out my home number. I quickly grabbed the phone in my room, looked at the caller ID, and read: “BAYLOR CLG MEDI.”

I – wanted – to – faint. I didn’t believe it at first. Adrenaline must have flooded my system as I felt my body shaking uncontrollably, my heart racing, and my pressing need to breathe heavily after every word.

Dr. Greenberg: “Hello Rishi! I wanted to be the first to congratulate you on being accepted into Baylor College of Medicine, class of 2013!”

Rishi: “HOLY ******* ****!!!!! (Okay, no, I didn’t say that). Wow! Thank you Dr. Greenberg for giving me this long-awaited privilege!”

Dr. Greenberg: “We’re looking forward to having you join our family! You’ll be receiving some mail from BCM in the next few days, but if you have any questions, feel free to contact us!”

…I still can’t believe that it happened. I keep looking at the caller ID trying to relive that 45 second conversation. Trying to savor the fact that this is the culmination of years of hard work filled with both accomplishments and disappointments – now I have achieved the pinnacle of my success by fulfilling the dreams of a 10 year old boy as I progress into adulthood.

Fortunately, I’m on the last leg of this waiting game. My interviews are finished (unless UT Houston decides to show me some love), and TMDSAS is going to start sending out acceptances in the middle of November. BCM has already started sending out acceptances, so my cell phone has basically become an additional appendage until I receive word, God willing.

…I hate waiting.