Accepted Part 2!

     Well, I know where I left off last Tuesday was with my anticipation of news from my most recent medical school interview. If the title didn't already give it away to you, I am happy to announce that what came in the mail was a big packet of good news! Coincidently, the day the post about waiting for news went up, I received my acceptance letter in the mail.

     For me, this is absolutely incredible. My entire pre-med career I knew that I wanted to stay in Chicago for medical school, so now that my chance is here, I am so thrilled! Now, I am most definitely celebrating this, but there are two things that I do want to explain about my acceptance. One, this medical school does have multiple campuses, so there is a possibility I might be sent somewhere other than Chicago, but on our interview day, the dean said that our session was still early in the application process ( I believe they are interviewing candidates through March) and that it is very likely we will be placed at our preferred campus.  Two, for this school I do have to do a pre-matriculation program before starting medical school. I wasn't exactly thrilled to read this in my letter but upon doing more research, it is something that the school apparently emphasizes for underrepresented minorities in medicine. I am a Hispanic woman, so I very obviously fit the bill.

     To be honest, I was tentative about wanting to share that piece of information, but I know I want to be completely honest about my journey to medical school and as I will begin this 6-week program at the end of May, it isn't really something I will be able to hide haha. Also, I kind of want to blog all the cool things I will be learning in the program as from what I read it will preview the classes I will be taking in medical school. Does it suck that I will have to give up six weeks of my summer? Of course! But honestly, I don't exactly mind it. I could be sitting here contemplating about whether or not I wanted to blog about being waitlisted at the school I was seriously excited about, but thankfully instead I am writing about how I was accepted. So, today I am counting my blessings, and deciding that for me this is all good:)

     I hope you are having a great day and that you had a very happy holiday! I will be posting something on Thursday, so stay tuned:)

 ~Genesis<3

   

   

Acceptance!

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