I had almost eight months off after receiving my acceptance from Baylor Med to “prepare” for medical school. Caught up in the emotions of having been accepted by my dream school made me all the more determined to be ready. I distinctly remember grabbing my mom’s old nursing textbooks to look through some high yield clinical vignettes even before I understood what the terms meant. As idiotic as this was, I feel others are inclined to behave similarly. With the guidance of upperclassmen and my own first-hand experience after starting school, I quickly learned that there are some things you should do before beginning medical school.

Living

This is perhaps the most difficult task for any incoming MS-1, especially if you’re an out-of-state (OOS) student, but it’s absolutely imperative that you act as soon as possible to find a place to live. Some schools and apartment complexes provide programs to help you find roommates and/or a suitable place to live. If you have a family or plan on staying at the same school for residency, a condo may be a worthy investment. In the case of OOS students at Texas medical schools, you can claim in state tuition after one year of owning property (ie, a condo).

Textbooks/Equipment

You’ll probably receive a list of materials to purchase sometime during the summer. Depending on the school, the items may be labeled as “optional” or “required.” Regardless, it’s always a great idea to ask upperclassmen how many of those materials really are required. Furthermore, you’re likely to come across students who have digital copies of the textbooks and manuals once you start class, so there’s no rush. This also applies to medical equipment like stethoscopes – make sure you ask an upperclassmen!! By not jumping the gun, you’ll save yourself hundreds of dollars and the headache of having to return books/equipment.

Studying

I’ve told this to interviewees before – from my perspective, the individual concepts we cover in medical school are rather easy. It’s just the volume that can be cumbersome. You’ll have plenty of time to learn the material once you start school, so there’s no point in getting a head start. Pre-matriculation is an option at some schools, but for those who choose not to, don’t feel like you’re behind.

Travel

As a general rule of thumb before starting school, you want to pursue things which take more than a weekend. This is a perfect time for international travel, getting married, etc. Once you start the curriculum, it’s nearly impossible to take an extended leave of absence (except maybe in your 4th year, depending on the school).

Paperwork/Second Look

One of the most dreadful tasks in undergrad is filing for financial aid, and depending on your situation, it may still be at the top of your “to-do” list for medical school. Make sure that you fill out your FAFSA, submit any final transcripts, and verify that your paperwork has been completed appropriately and received by all parties. In addition, I recommend attending the second-look (if offered). Now that you’ve been accepted, you’ll be far more receptive to information about the school, meet with the dean(s), and pose questions to current students from the perspective of a matriculant. It’s amazing how much better a tour is when you don’t have to worry about interviews afterwards.

I had my two interviews to be on the admissions committee this evening, and I think they went well! I just find it incredibly refreshing to witness the enthusiasm of pre-meds from time to time. It’s a friendly reminder that I’m lucky to be here.

Hopefully I’ll also have a chance to take some of the constructive feedback I’ve come across regarding the interview day and implement improvements alongside my fellow committee members (if I get in). Time will tell… as it always does.

There were about ten interviewees socializing in the sitting area when I first arrived at the DeBakey building at BCM. After being informed that the room we were supposed to be in was hosting a test, we were relocated temporarily to a student lounge. Seeing some familiar faces made me begin to ease into the interview day with some comfort (or maybe the fact that the student lounge had both a foosball table and pool table). However, we ultimately reached our final destination and began to eat lunch while being welcomed by some faculty and students. This lunch/welcoming/registration lasted from 12:00 to 12:50 PM. Interviews and tours were held between 1:00 and 4:00 PM, and since that’s what most of you are concerned about, let me get right to my experience:

My first interviewer was an internist who worked at the VA. Let me just start off by saying that up to this point, I had six interviewers (2 interviews x 3 schools), none of which made me even slightly doubt my performance; however, this individual was rather different. The way I am used to speaking involves interpreting facial expressions and body language from my interviewer to help me gauge and tailor my upcoming statements. This interviewer provided none of that. He had the ideal “poker face” which made me very uncomfortable in reassuring myself that I did a good job. Regardless, I pulled through and managed to answer all his questions with what I felt were genuine and satisfactory responses. Here are some questions he asked:

• So what have you done today at BCM?
• Where do you see yourself ten years after medical school?
• What have your friends told you about BCM?
• What three traits would your friends say you possess?
• What was the most difficult thing about your undergraduate career?
• What do you think will be the most difficult thing about medical school?
• When did you know that you wanted to be a doctor?
• What are you going to do in your year off?
• If you had to speak to the admissions committee through me, what would you say about yourself?

My second interviewer was a neurologist who went to BCM for medical school, residency, and was now a faculty member there. Naturally, due to his background in neurology and my interest in neurosurgery, we had a lot to talk about regarding BCM’s neurological sciences department and research opportunities. The funny thing is that before he went to medical school, he was actually a full-fledged lawyer. Talk about shifting career goals – from law to medicine. That in itself spoke volumes about his dedication towards pursuing what he felt was his calling. This interview was far more of a conversation as we bounced ideas and concerns off of each other. Unfortunately for you guys, the only specific question I remember him asking was as follows:

• With all the negative things about medicine (Medicare/Medicaid issues, increasing costs, delayed gratification, financial burden, stress, etc.), why do you still want to pursue it?

Throughout the day, I was pleased to run into HBU alumni. Will gave my group a tour of the BCM facilities. Gary gave a tour of the clinical facilities BCM is affiliated with. I ran into David and Humair in the lobby and briefly had a chance to catch up. It’s just great seeing familiar faces. Makes me believe that I too can one day be in their shoes as a BCM student.

Anyways, this concludes my application year. I have completed all my interviews, and if you see another blog post concerning medical applications, it will deal with acceptance letters.

First and foremost, I was very pleased that unlike UTSA and UTMB, neither one of my interviews had to be rescheduled at UTSW. In fact, both my interviewers thought I may reschedule due to the hurricane. Anyways, the day began at 9:00 AM with registration and a brief Powerpoint presentation about the school and Parkland Hospital. Looking around the room, I’d say about 70-80 people were interviewing with me. Then, the interviews rolled around from 10:00 to 11:00. At UTSW, one of the interviewers has read an applicant’s entire application (MCAT, GPA, extracurriculars, personal statement, rec. letter, etc.) while the other interviewer has just read the personal statement.

My first interview (which happened to be the blind interview) was with an assistant dean (ob/gyn by training). Naturally, we joked about the hurricane at first. He inquired about my family’s safety back home, told me a bit about himself, and then started the actual interview by asking me to “tell him about myself.” After describing my experiences in education, business, technology, and my interest in neurosurgery, he asked where I feel I’ll be in the year 2025. Since he was the blind interviewer, I had to draw upon some of the things I outlined in my application to describe the “moment” in which I realized that medicine was indeed what I wanted to commit the rest of my life to. We discussed research opportunities, why I graduated early from high school and college, extracurricular/leadership involvement, urban medicine, translational research, and other topics which I happened to integrate into my responses. Overall, it was a really well balanced “conversation” that we had.

My second interview was with an M.D./Ph.D. pediatrician. She was an extremely sweet and welcoming lady who also inquired about my family’s safety in light of Hurricane Ike. Come to find out, we had a lot in common. For those who didn’t know, I wanted to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. joint degree from an early age, but after realizing that neurosurgery training inherently posesseed a great deal of research, spending more time earning a Ph.D. would be useless. She completely agreed. Also (remember, she had read my entire application thoroughly), she kept describing me as one of the most “inquisitive” applicants who she has met. I was flattered having her appreciate my undergraduate accomplishments (awards, GPA, MCAT, leadership, etc.) and tried to remain as humble as possible in acknowledging the hard work that went into each. The funny thing is that I don’t remember her asking me any specific questions (again, she had already read my entire app). Just like the first interview, the second interview was definitely more of a conversation than anything. We talked about translational medicine, stem cell ethics, politics, etc. I’m sorry that I don’t have any specific questions, but that was just the nature of both my interviews at UTSW.

After the two interviews, I went downstairs to wait for the UTSW tour (given by 4th year students) to begin. Come to find out, my second interview must have run late or something, because the other applicants had already left. This was really a blessing in disguise. Three 4th year students (who were waiting to give tours)  waited for other students to join me before we all embarked on our tour; however, no one came. Instead of touring the campus, I just sat with them and asked all sorts of questions about campus life. Where did they live? Why did they choose UTSW? How does grading work? How do residency applications compare to medical school applications? What was their biggest regret in medical school? Etc. etc. I feel this was exponentially better than touring facilities which I already know are top notch.

Next… lunchtime! After chomping down a turkey sandwich, white chocolate macadamia nut cookie, and double chocolate chip cookie (hey, I was hungry ), I was very pleased to run into an HBU alumnus, Sidra. She took away from her precious study time just to share what she has learned about UTSW with me. The student panel started, but instead of attending that, Sidra (MS2) and her MS1 friend continued to give me a private student panel session. Between their commentary and the insight provided by the three MS4 students in the morning, I feel extremely informed about the UTSW campus and Dallas life.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Now, my last interview looms ahead. The interview to my dream school. Baylor College of Medicine… next Friday… September 19th… for all the marbles. Here I go.

Unlike my UTMB interview where there were two interview sessions consisting of two interviews (either both in the morning or both in the afternoon), UTSA held both its interviews in the afternoon. Similar to UTMB, I  had the worst luck ever. In Galveston, my first interview had to be rescheduled due to the interviewer being ill. In San Antonio, my second interviewer had to be rescheduled for unknown reasons. Oh well, at least it’s over with and I’m home.

My first interview was with a fourth year medical student planning on pursuing an ob/gyn residency. She was also on the student panel earlier in the day, so I had a chance to converse with her. Little did I know that she will ultimately represent me to the admissions committee when ranking students. UTSA’s interviewers are only aware of our personal statement and undergraduate institution; therefore, applicants have to somehow verbalize their involvement in extracurriculars, research, etc. as they respond to the interview questions. Some things she asked:

• Briefly tell me about yourself
• If you have three tests and all those extracurriculars, how do you deal with everything?
• You sound like an exceptional applicant (she was flattering me), so please give me a few sentences which summarize everything you’ve just told me so I can present it to the admissions committee.

I really can’t think of too many questions she asked, because the interview was really more of a conversation. She herself is a student, so I felt comfortable asking her about the “inside scoop” at UTSA, and she presented a convincing argument in favor of the campus.

My second interview (the rescheduled one) was conducted by a psychiatrist who actually went to the UT Houston medical school and had her four year residency at Baylor College of Medicine. This brought up some interesting discussion regarding the differences between UT Houston and UT San Antonio, but what it boiled down to in her eyes was the feeling of “family” that only a small school like UTSA can offer. Anyways, I was a bit worried being interviewed by a trained psychiatrist analyzing every gesture, eye movement, and word choice… but it was really enjoyable. Some things we touched on included:

My first interview was scheduled to begin at 1:15 PM, but I arrived at the secretary’s office by 12:50 PM. This is where I ran into trouble. My interviewer had called in sick earlier this morning, so after finally calming myself down, I feared one thing – time. Come to find out, this was indeed a problem. It took half an hour to reschedule my interview with another doctor (who happened to be across the campus), so my first interview ended up actually starting around 1:35 PM. This pushed my second interview (scheduled for 2:15 PM) back even further. Throughout all this mess, the interviewers I did have were very understanding and reassured me that it wasn’t my fault.

My first interview was with a previous member of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) who now ran an infectious disease department at UTMB. Since she was my rescheduled interviewer, she had no idea she would have to interview me until ten minutes before the event. Consequently, she hadn’t read over my application at all (it was still sitting on her printer). UTMB conducts “blind” interviews which basically eliminates any type of academic bias since the interviewer is not aware of our GPA or MCAT score. This allows them to analyze our personalities to assess how compatible of a “match” the campus and the student are for each other. Anyways, some of the things we discussed:

• Why do I want to be a doctor?
• Biggest obstacle I’ll face in medical school?
• My biggest flaw?
• How do friends describe me?
• Why should UTMB pick me?

We also discussed a lot about her research and medicine in general. Infectious disease is a really interesting field (especially with UTMB’s Galveston Laboratory opening later this year), so I enjoyed discussing current issues regarding the field.

My second interviewer seemed even more nervous than me. His fingers were shaking uncontrollably causing him to drop his page of questions numerous times throughout the duration of the interview. He works as a medical physicist in radiology, so we had a lot to discuss regarding cancer in the brain and noninvasive treatment methods.

Some issues we discussed:

• Based on your application, you could have easily gone to graduate school and pursued research. Why did you choose medicine?
• How would you tell the parents of a four year old terminally ill patient that their son/daughter is going to die?
• If a patient asked to be euthanized, how would you handle it?
• What’s a hospice?
• How should we go about handling the current state of Medicare/Medicaid?
• Where do you see yourself in fifteen years?
• What’s the biggest obstacle you’ll face in medical school?

Last but not least, I received an interview invitation from the University of Texas Southwestern medical school in Dallas scheduled for September 13th. Looking forward to it!

With just under two weeks till my first interview, I find myself doing nothing to improve my interview responses. My days consist of watching movies, studying Spanish, studying for the medical board exams, playing Broodwar, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Super Mario Brothers (old school Yoshi style) and sitting around contemplating life. How do I get away with this? Heh, I convince myself that it’s too hot outside to do anything else.

Behind this relatively laid-back daily routine, I genuinely am looking forward to these interviews. I plan to study each school’s website and corresponding brochures in the next few days, so I’ll have some relevant questions to ask. Though I’m pretty well versed on the current advances in healthcare, the politics behind it are far less interesting to me; however, I suppose I’ll have to catch up on the recent issues “just in case” I’m asked about my stance. Overall, I’m not very nervous at all. It’s actually going to be enjoyable to finally explain to an individual why I want to dedicate the rest of my life to medicine. Hopefully, the admissions committees will be impressed enough to grant me admission to their respective medical schools.

A word of caution. Though I’m not a dean of admissions or an individual with any say-so in medical school acceptances, please stay clear of the following answers:

Q: Why do you want to be a doctor?

A: 

1. “I’m good at science.”
2. “I like helping people.”
3. “I’m good at science, and I like helping people.”
4. “It’z all ’bout ‘dem Benjaminz, naw what I’m sayin’, mang?”
5. “…because my mommy says I write like one. Hmph!”

Since this is a common question that all applicants are faced with, as aspiring individuals, we wish to convey a unique image in the eyes of the admissions committees. By virtue of the question’s nature, this becomes very difficult without sounding redundant. Even the anecdotes of “my grandfather fell sick, passed away, and from then I’ve wanted to fight death as a doctor” become more or less stale after interviewing hundreds of potential doctors with similar stories. I myself have seen numerous ways of approaching this timeless question, some better than others in my opinion, and have sculpted what I will ultimately utilize during my interviews.

I want to be a doctor because it’s the only professional which is universally needed and coincides with my interests, both social and academic. No, this isn’t going to be my opening statement, but it’s what I’m trying to convey. No, it’s not exactly the most original reason for wanting to be a doctor. But yes, it’s genuine.

I surmise that responding with my justification for this statement before actually saying the aforementioned will be the most prudent approach. Let the interviewer know I can claim what I say based on my life experiences. I’ve been in a few very different job positions before, and I’ve studied others. Consequently, I’ve “ruled them out” based on my own assessments. Both my father and mother started their careers in a healthcare profession (medical technologist and registered nurse, respectively); therefore, I had an exposure early on. I’ll keep incorporating things I have actually seen and/or done rather than dwelling on pure conjecture. This way, I’ll be responding in a more active manner. My main concern will be limiting the length of my responses appropriately. Other than that, I’m very eager to tour the UTMB campus (for the third time), meet other applicants, and present the most professional image I can possibly convey.