Can introverts get into med school? Should they be doctors?

[Guest rahulai]

First some background about me: I'm 28 with an honours BA in English (graduated in 2000). My overall GPA was 3.63, but if you disregard my first year (which I did 10 years ago!), my GPA is 3.97. Since I graduated from high school I've owned a small business in the service industry, gone to school for journalism (1 year - that was the year I got the crappy marks). Now I work on the business side of the publishing industry. After a LOT of thought, I've decided to apply to med school. First I'm going back to school to do some science courses (I did really well in university-prep science courses in high school, but I haven't even looked at a science textbook since then).

 

Anyway, I just had a meeting with an admissions person at a med school. When we talked about my extra-curricular activities I said that I like to do things alone quite a bit: read, hike, yoga, pottery, paint. The admissions guy then said that an "introvert" would have a hard time at med school because the program is structured around very small groups working closely together. He also said that they'd have to see some evidence that an applicant can work successfully in small groups. I never called myself an introvert during the meeting, but it seemed that he thought I was. I personally don't think I'm a huge introvert because I'm on the phone ALL day and I owned a coffee shop, etc. But I guess I DO have a tendency to need some downtime from working with people all day.

 

I got the impression that my choice of activities would hurt my chances of getting into med school just because they're solitary. I've read elsewhere on this site that people should do what they love when it comes to extra-currics, that doing what you love should be enough. But is that really true? And if I really am an introvert (i.e. sometimes needing time to be alone), is being a doctor the wrong choice for me?

 

Radha

[Guest ThugJaan]

Hey,

 

Well I don't think anyone here can classify you as an introvert; we simply do not know you that well dood. However, I think I will try to help out with the question on the extra-currics.

 

 

Most people (including yours truly) will tell you that you should only do what you want to do with your spare time. For instance, I hated biological research and never spent a lick of time in a biolab. However, I liked computers and spent a lot of time with them.

 

Med schools do not want total keeners; they want those people who can balance a personal and academic life.

 

However, most of the people do come from science backgrounds, which are mainly oriented to working on your own. Extra-currics are a great way for a school to assess if you have the skills necessary to work in a small group setting (some schools like Mac place an added value on this). In my case, working on computer projects required a lot of group work, something which my came up and helped out during my interview.

 

That being said, yes you should do what you want. But, medical school is a LOT of group work, and seeing as how you are a more mature applicant, I assume that you are probably looking at schools such as Mac which prefer older applicants. You owe it to yourself to make sure that you can tolerate the group environment and that you feel comfortable spending a lot of time with people, some of whom you may nto get along with. The best way to do this is probably to get involved in some activities that are run in small groups and see how you like it.

 

Best of Luck!

[Guest gucio93]

Hi there!

 

I have a couple of comments with regard to your description.

First, when you are trying to relax or have a "down time", you should definitely engage in activities you find calming and relaxing. The fact that your hobbies, things you are passionate about, are solitary in nature doesn't necessarily make you an introvert. I would stipulate that it takes an extraverted person to run a small business, especially a coffee shop. So, perhaps the admissions person did not get the full picture. If you feel his assessment was inaccurate, go with your gut and examine how you could portray a clearer image of yourself. Perhaps when describing your lifestyle, you could try balancing your intermittent need for solitude with your rather constant interaction with other people. This way you could bring in interpersonal relationships and communication skills and contrast them with your ability to recognize times when you need to remove yourself from such a stimulating environment and position yourself in one that provides you with an opportunity to reflect and center yourself. Second, I don't think your choice of extracurrics will hurt your chances of getting in to med school, as long as you can portray a sense of balance between these rather solitary activities, and the other interactive and busy aspects of your life (if you have ever done work in small groups, i.e. business meetings, etc. - discussing this, and the skills you have gained from it would also be quite helpful). So don't question yourself! If you want it badly enough, you have the right "pre-reqs", and you are positive it's right for you, go for it! Don't let one individual's impressions dictate your life choices! Cheers.

[Guest Ian Wong]

I think most people have times when they could fit into either category. After a long day on the General Surg ward of seeing patients, handing off info to classmates, residents, and attendings, writing and rationalizing orders to nurses/SW/dietician/whoever else, chasing down radiology results etc, the last thing in the world I want to do after coming home is going back out!

 

In the past 3 weeks of Gen. Sx, I don't think I've been away from home more than 1 hour after returning from the hospital, and those are just to go out for a quick bite out, or to buy food/groceries. Being all social hasn't been a priority these last three weeks. It's all situational, and that's okay.

 

In med school, you'll run across the complete spectrum of people again. Keeners vs slackers, artsy vs jock, married with kids vs no kids never ever, purists vs hardcore coffee addicts, sushi vs whatever's cheap that day at Mc D's, etc, etc, etc. And yes, this includes both people who are loud and expressive as well as those who are more quiet and reserved. You'll find both introverts and extroverts in med school, but as I mentioned earlier, I think most people embody both personalities; it just depends on the situation as to which one you see more of.

 

The key point is that despite all of this, you still need to present yourself as being able to work within the curriculum demands of the school. All of the non-school time is your own, and as long as you demonstrate that you can handle the school demands, no one should fault you for what you do in your personal time.

 

Therefore, if you're looking into a program that uses PBL, you'll need to find something in your background that shows that you can work in a group setting, and show both the leadership and the "grunt" type work ethic and comraderie to function in all sorts of different roles within that group, depending on which role the group needs you to play at that time. Sounds like you already have that.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest not rex morgan]

You're the only one who can answer the question "is being a doctor the right choice for me." I will speak candidly. Admissions is a crazy, archaic, cryptic...process. When you are rejected, the office will retrospectively look at your application and tell you their interpretation of what "went wrong this time." You will run into many people who claim that if you didn't get in, your application must have been lacking something. It might be. I don't know. I have heard many reasons the office gave people. "You haven't demonstrated leadership." was one a friend got. I got "you haven't demonstrated compassion and tolerance." You may be a very compassionate and tolerant person and get comments like that. You have to spell it out for them in your application. You may want to take this opportunity to look for new and interesting things to spend your time doing. Don't do this to impress them. Do this to challenge yourself. Otherwise, consider when writing your essay, really explaining what you learned from certain experiences. Make sure you've covered all the bases. If you believe you are a person who works well in groups, but prefer to spend downtime with yourself, explain how you work well in groups when you ...., and how you are comfortable and confident enough to spend time alone when you... Hope that helps.

[Guest YongQ]

Yes, introverts can get into medical school. And yes, they can make good doctors. But in most specialties, hardcore introverts will be absolutely miserable! Our future professions are by definition extremely social ones. That is the reason all the interviewers will be looking for ease and clarity of communication, and willingness to work in a social environment, as criteria for their final decisions. In my opinion, non-introverted doctors are more suited to their professions than people who shy away from others.

 

Now, there's a distinction between "needing downtime" and being introverted. Heck, we all need to relax, and sometimes that involves needing time alone - it's tough balance to maintain but a good one to have. One general theme that's been stressed again and again in the first few months of my medical education is that medicine can be all-consuming. If you have no solace on which to fall back, you'll either have a nervous breakdown or your hair will fall out, or both! Having downtime is natural, as long as you have that juggling act together. I know this is kind of vague but I hope it helps.