Now, before you get confused, this post isn't a follow-up of the interview I had last week, but rather the result of an interview that I had late September for which I received notice the middle of last month.
Not going to lie, the beginning of November was a little rough for me. I had a little snafu with the Medical Assitant externship I was in (This is a bit of a private story, so I don't want to elaborate on it at the moment.), I had been feeling uneasy about one of my really good friendships, and my medical school news seemed to be at a quiet halt. To say the least, I felt rather lost. I remember driving home from work one night and just breaking down because I just didn't know what to do with myself anymore. As usual, amidst my frustration I began to pray asking God for something to help me make it through this. I thanked him for getting me this far and asked for the strength to keep positive about the process. Two days later, I was invited to interview at one of my top choices in Chicago ( the interview I had last Tuesday), and a week later I received a big white envelope from the school where I had interviewed at the end of September.
In my self doubt ( and apparently utter ignorance of medical school acceptances), I took the envelope from my father saying, " Oh, this is probably them saying that they had the pleasure of interviewing me, but that they aren't going to consider my application any further." To my surprise, the opening of the letter greeted me with the words that every medical school applicant hopes to read, Congratulations. The letter communicated that after consideration, the medical school had determined that I had the qualities necessary to make an excellent medical student and with great pleasure would like to offer me acceptance into their medical school. I was in shock. This was the moment I had dreamed of from the moment I decided to become pre-med and the moment that helped me push through the obstacles in the past four years. I looked up from the letter and all I could say to my ever curious father was a quiet "I got in." Of course, what followed were celebrations, texts to my best friends, happy tears on my behalf, and the realization that I had made it. I was going to have the chance to be a doctor.
I'm sure you're wondering where all the doubt comes from. Well, in my opinion, my interview with the school was definitely not my strongest. It was the first experience I had with a medical school interview and while I had thouroughly prepared to answer why I wanted to pursue medicine, I felt I wasn't ready to answer the random "character questions" the school threw at me, especially when one of my interviewers ( who was definitely playing devil's advocate) challenged every answer I gave. I had tried my best and I still left the school discouraged in my performance. Also, in chatting with my fellow interviewees of the day, I didn't think I measured up with the competition. There were students who were doing research at places like Yale, graduated from Stanford, and here I was just a Chicago girl who had a passion for medicine. Well, apparently I underestimated myself.
My point of this entire post is to show you that you should never doubt yourself, and especially don't compare yourself to others. Everyone has something that sets them apart and schools do recognize that. Don't think that you need to have a 4.0 GPA, have saved babies in Africa, or have discovered the cure for cancer to get into medical school. What you need is the dedication to pursue your dream and the passion to show others that you can do it. I am just a girl that worked her butt off at a great university, struggled but yet succeeded on the MCAT, and put her heart into her application in hopes that medical schools would recogize her passion. Thankfully, they did.
So, if you are still going through this journey, keep fighting, put your best foot forward, and believe wholeheartedly that you have what it takes. Life may just show you that you do:)
~Genesis<3
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