What was the hardest part of getting into med school? What do you like best?

[Dr.Daisy]

To those of you in med school, two questions:

 

1) What was the biggest obsticle/most difficult part of getting in?

 

2) What is your favourite part about it?

[jgray2]

1) fear of failure

2) getting good news phone calls.

 

(in reality, #1 was applying anyway with a crap gpa).

[Julie]

1) For me, there wasn't so much 1 big obstacle in getting in as there seemed to be a whole bunch of little ones, from day 1 of applying to about a month before classes start. I guess I had pictured the process as more of an "applying is easy, it's getting in that'll be hard", but applying turned out to be not that easy, and getting in much easier than expected! I don't know, really it was an adventure, from working 80+ hrs to submit my application to OMSAS, to getting permission to take pre-reqs for which I didn't have the pre-reqs! (ie biochem), to spending about 50 hrs preping for the interview (I hadn't found this forum before I got in, so somehow I imagined the med interview was something you prepared for about 3 hrs! Then I did a research on google and realized what I had gotten myself into:p ), to completing the said pre-reqs by the deadline, and I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of other little hoops I jumped through... so really, it was a process, and I really felt I had to show my determination at every step of the way!

 

2) I think through this whole process, I really got to know myself better (insert corny kittens & flowers here). The sketch takes forever to build, but once it's done, you're like "wow, look at all this!" lol... really tho, it's like a chance to put your whole life on paper, so it gives you a nice global look. The interview preping (and the interview itself) was also good bc I got to analyse my motivations, ethical dillemas, my ec & activities, etc. I mean you know they'll ask you a question in the "tell my about yourself" type, and you really have to prepare something, a way of arranging all that, that'll stand out from everyone and will interest the committee... once you've done that, it's pretty cool... And of course, the best part was the "you're in" email, that came in on a friday night at 8pm, over 4 wks late...! No words can describe the feeling!

 

(hum, I should probably add the next morning's hangover to the worse parts! )

[Kuantum]

1. the stress of not knowing whether or not you will be accpeted

2. the feeling of relief once you log on to your application account and see green

[liszt]

1) I really hated studying for and writing the MCAT. There was also way too much waiting for everything.

2) I also liked getting accepted.

[NLengr]

1) Phoning all over the country trying to track down verifiers for activities I did 5 years ago. That was a pain, although it was nice to talk to some of the people again. I also had a bunch of problems with documents not being received/lost in the mail, universities losing my application etc. My advice for alot of it, use registered mail.

 

2) Best part: Getting to travel around for interviews. I hadn't been to Kingston before, so that was a nice trip. I'm big into military history, so touring around there was great. I really liked the town actually. It was also nice to get back to Halifax for a couple days too. I hadn't been there for a few years.

 

Oh yeah, and getting acceptance letters is always nice. The first one is by far the best and it's a bonus if it's on paper. Email doesn't have the same anticipation. I received an honest to goodness classic paper one from Dal before any of the others.

[antisera]

1) The waiting, waiting, waiting! I'm not the most patient person ever, so it was hard at times. Also, the worry of rejection and the feeling of letting myself & others down. Also, pre-interview jitters!

 

2) Getting to see Ontario for the first time, Toronto and Kingston specifically. Receiving interview offers & acceptance offers. On May 15th I was in Florida staying with my grandpa who doesn't have Internet access...needless to say, I racked up charges checking my email obsessively via cell phone.

[blue_eyes]

1. obsessing about whether or not to rewrite the mcat... then preparing to rewrite, then changing my mind and not studying, then obsessively studying again to make up for the lost time when I changed my mind...(repeat cycle)

 

2. getting in, and not having to rewrite the mcat.

[Kuantum]

definitely going to vancouver was awesome...i had a great time that weekend.

[kaymcee]

1. The biggest obstacle for me was selling myself through my application.

 

2. The best part was, by far, the confidence boost I got when I received my offer of acceptance. It was my second round of applications, and I had only received one interview through both rounds. It was reassuring that one school thought would be a good doctor.

[miss_sunshine]

1. The hardest part was dealing with all the uncertainty. Although I knew that I had dedicated 110% of myself towards getting into med school, nothing is ever certain and after I had submitted my applications, I found I was doubting myself a lot. It wasn't until I sat in the amphitheatre on the first day of orientation that it finally felt real.

2. The best part is sitting in that amphitheatre on the first day of orientation/classes and taking a deep breathe and realizing the adventure is about to begin...

[nowai]

1. Deciding if not applying to the states is something that would waste my MCAT score or not.

 

2. Hearing the comments from my interviewers.