My Unusual Path to Med School | PART 1
I used to be a traditional applicant to medical school until I wasn’t anymore. Let’s start from the beginning.
Undergrad
I went into undergrad completely undecided. I knew that I liked science, math, physics, problem-solving, psychology, medicine… But I really had no idea what major I wanted to pursue. I spent a good portion of freshman year in and out of the career office taking various personality tests that would help me figure out what on earth I wanted to do.
Eventually, I came to a compromise. Since I loved problem-solving, math, and physics so much I was going to continue with engineering and merge that with my passion for all things medical by delving into Biomedical Engineering. This way I kept my options open. If I wanted to be an engineer after graduating, I could. And if I wanted to instead pursue medical school, I could. In all honesty, I loved my studies in engineering. I am so glad I took the time my freshman year to explore and make the right decision rather than rush into a major, just for the sake of declaring a major.
Applying to Medical School: ROUND 1
In the beginning, I was only set on becoming a biomedical engineer. It wasn’t until junior year when I felt a little shift that pulled me more towards medicine. So, on a whim, I decided to start taking on more volunteering hours, more shadowing opportunities and building up for the application cycle.
I was actually extremely eager and excited to put together my application. It was like putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. So, the moment the AMCAS application opened up in May, I was already well prepared to fill everything out. It had been instilled in my head at this point that I must submit my application on the very first day in June. I didn’t want to reduce my chances of acceptance by being late (stay tuned, because this mentality completed changed the second time I applied).
First MCAT
Even though I was on top of the application, I didn’t take the MCAT until June at the end of my Junior year. In retrospect, I should have taken it over the winter break of Junior year to make sure it was done well before the application cycle (and to give myself time to take it a second time in case I didn’t do well).
But let’s be honest. I, like most human beings, despise standardized tests. So, I put it off. At that time, I thought I had studied for the exam, but that wasn’t the case at all. I had no dedicated study period, I was just picking up things here and there, pretending that I was actually doing something productive. My score was reflective of it as well. I didn’t perform like I knew I could have. And because I knew what my potential was, and didn’t want this score to impact my application… you guessed it… I decided to rush in and take it a second time.
Second MCAT
This MCAT was pointless for more than one reason. First, I was spending more money yet again on torture. Second, I decided I needed to retake it as soon as possible so that medical schools would actually take it into account for this application cycle. I made quite a few mistakes here.
I took the first MCAT in June and I took the second MCAT in August. I gave myself roughly two months of study time in between the two tests. This may have worked, if I had learned from the first exam and actually created a dedicated study period with a specific schedule. But alas, young and naive, I didn’t do any of this.
From June to August I actually participated in a medical shadowing program abroad (which was a great experience that I’ll share later on!). But because I was abroad meeting new people, observing different procedures every day, I would just study sporadically. This detracted from my experience abroad and also didn’t do anything for my MCAT score either.
Can you guess what comes next?
I received the second MCAT score in September, and surprise surprise. I did worse than the first time.
