Medical School Saga

Well, having taken the MCAT in April and finished my committee letter application (compiled letter of recommendation that many schools now accept), I must tackle the task of selecting candidate schools to which I plan to apply. I always feel sort of sheepish when asked where I want to go because to be honest, I have not had a frickin’ clue up until a few weeks ago. My observations indicate many future doctors often have their top school picked out far in advance of filing their application, but I have not wished to pin in down (yet). I believe that my mind simply requested a summer off without mention of school of any sort—a long coffee break from the reality of the situation.

With that, I say that I am ready to pick my schools. Using the US News and World Report Top Medical Schools reports (listed in order of either research or primary care authority), I plan to apply to about three in the top 10, three in the top 25 and 4 in the top 50. Granted, many schools on that list are state schools, so I do not envision applying to them given very limited numbers of openings for out-of-staters. As such, the list is narrowed considerably. With the help of a professor friend, this strategy was devised to test the waters near the top, but ensure a rounded out list that has the most potential for successful acceptance. (With a 3.996 GPA, an awesome résumé, and superb letters of rec, I should do well. My MCAT score does give me a bit of pause simply because it is not as high as I had hoped going into the 8-hour test, but it is acceptable and still in a range that warrants my strategy above.)

So, who has made the list? UNR is there. Being a resident and undergrad on campus makes this one a shoe-in. Washington University in St. Louis stands out as my top pick, though. Why? They have an excellent reputation as a great medical school, and they place second on the research ranking. In addition, I received a top of undergrad material from them and the campus looks great. Finally, they have a good track record for accepting students from UNR. Hmm…two out of ten picked—I have work to do I guess. (There are some tentative others, but I am not ready to nail them down yet.)

Stay tuned for my final list and updates during the school semester on how this exciting, time-consuming, my-future-is-on-the-line process is progressing. With each step, I sense myself closer to my goals and the butterflies in my stomach turn into a wave of giddiness that I can hardly control. Choosing a profession is never hard, but being a doctor has been at the forefront of this search for a long time. Until recently I was not entirely convinced that it was for real, but after a long self-examination, this is my future. It beckons me and I long to finally touch it.