"The Fault In Our Stars"

So occasionally I thought it would be cool to write about something not explicitly related to medical school or the application process. Bear with me.

The unlit cigarette that hangs from the mouth of Augustus Waters is inexcusably pretentious for my cynical sensibilities. As was the announcement of his own "grand soliloquy." Even still, I could not help being drawn in by the beautifully written, heart-felt, and philosophical work by writer/YouTuber John Green. The plot centers around Hazel Grace Lancaster, diagnosed with stage 4 thyroid cancer, who begins a relationship with fellow cancer patient Augustus Waters. While Augustus' antics were a little hit or miss for me, it did not take away from the relationship the two develop. More important than the romantic aspects were the very real and honest depictions of the life of a terminally ill cancer patient. 

I am always weary of the movie adaptations of a book I so thoroughly enjoyed. Especially when it is clear that this movie could have easily embellished the areas of how cancer affected the two's relationship while shying away from the reality of the cancer itself. However, "The Fault in Our Stars" gave its target audience what it wanted in terms of a deeply emotional and endearing love story (I have never been so aware of the crying that was going on around me in a theatre) with a strong and likable female protagonist. And it did these things very well. What most satisfied me was TFIOS staying true to its readers who were interested in more than just star crossed love. The books questions of: "What purpose did my life serve?" and "Will I be remembered after I'm gone?" are still examined in the movie, even if in a diminished way. I was thrilled to see that the movie did not pull any punches when portraying the harsh road of chemotherapy graphically exemplified by the Augustus late night break down in his car.

But as someone hoping to study medicine, I appreciated the honesty and realism of the way Green brought to light the isolation felt by the sick and dying. Hazel and Augustus both exhibited disdain for their sicknesses being the "elephant in the room" or being gawked at by strangers. A scene from the book absent in the movie that I really enjoyed was one where Hazel was sitting alone at the mall. A young child with her mother approached Hazel and innocently asked her about her oxygen tank. The mother was visibly mortified but Hazel smiled and allowed the child to try it on. It really showed the way our society wants to ignore the uncomfortable realities that some have to endure everyday. I don't think I could ever relate to living with one foot in the grave like Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters. But "The Fault in Our Stars" certainly helped me appreciate the struggle of those in this situation and that is something I hope to carry with me in the future.

Hi I'm John and I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friends. QOTD: Have you read or seen TFIOS? Thoughts?

I Got Rejected From Medical School!

I mentioned last week that I do not have any insider information on how to get into medical school because, well, I am not a med student. In fact, I was outright REJECTED last year and now I'm giving it a go for a second time. So, while all the advice I have on what to do correctly is second-hand information, I have a WEALTH of information on what NOT to do. And I think that counts for something!

Here are a few bullet points for people who have just dealt with the soul crushing failure that is medical school rejection and now need to pick themselves up off the floor and try again.

1.) Take some time to recover

No sympathy from Emma Stone

Realization that you are not going to matriculate doesn't happen in an instant. Silent rejections and wait-lists (even interview wait-lists) kept me hanging on to hope until late March. While this saves you from a huge knock-out blow, it is still incredibly exhausting. Your application is something that consumed a great deal of your life and approximately half of all applicants walk away without a school to call home. To add insult to injury, your friends and family are all very curious to know what happened and, while they are well-intentioned, force you to dwell on the rejection. It's not fun, it's disappointing, and you need some time to make peace with it all. You must recharge before you can realistically expect to put your best foot forward and try again.

2.) Critically examine your application

When I submitted my applications last year, I believed that it was good enough to be a success (If I didn't I never would have submitted it). Going through the entire application process (especially interviews) put every detail of my application under the microscope. Things I thought were adequate were actually significant holes that I wish I realized needed to be addressed. Maybe it was your GPA, MCAT, or lack of solid clinical experience. Be honest with yourself. If you would like to take this self-examination one step further, then try contacting some schools that rejected you. Try and arrange a meeting or a phone call with someone in the admissions office who can point you towards areas to improve. 

3.) Fill in the holes of your app.

Hang in there, Jake

Now is the time to put this research to use. If you feel your GPA is what's holding you down, consider a post baccalaureate program or graduate school. If your MCAT score is well below 30 consider taking it again. If you are graduated or about to graduate you may find it much easier to study without the burden of undergrad course work. Finally, there is no such thing as too much clinical experience. Contact physicians to shadow or see if a hospital near you has a strong volunteering program. A significant amount of secondary applications will ask you what you have been doing since you have been out of school, and, if you are a re-applicant, many will want to know how you have improved your application since your last attempt. It is imperative that you can answer these questions.

4.) Improve your strategy

Something I believe really hurt me was having bad application strategy. I submitted to AMCAS during a busy period and it took 6 weeks to be verified. I was slow with filling out secondary applications. I did not thoroughly research the schools to which I applied (this hurt me during secondary essays/interviews), and I did not apply widely. Buy the MSAR and DO YOUR RESEARCH! Get organized and submit things early, but DO NOT submit rushed and sloppy essays. Scores on the lower end of the spectrum can be partially compensated for by good writing and good interviewing. That starts with knowing what is important to the schools in which you are interested. Put the time in.

I hope this mash-up of personal experience and advice from others was useful. Hopefully, this work we put in will result in that acceptance we are all looking for. Being a pre-med is hard and the application process is taxing. If you have been rejected and still want to try again, then you must be truly passionate about becoming a doctor. Don't give up.



Hey I'm John and thank you for reading. For any of the true fans who have made it this far into the blog, the question of the week is: Have you applied to medical school in previous years? What are some mistakes you made? Comments are cool. Let's chat.

How to Become a Doctor..... Maybe

I remember a number of times during my pre-med career where the worry of whether I could realistically get into medical school prompted me to stay up all night on Google instead of sleeping. 

I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for. Mostly validation and maybe a little peace of mind. But, if you know anything about the Internet, it is just easy to find support as it is to find discouragement. I would stay up for hours asking the cosmos if my stats were up to par, or if I had the right extracurriculars, or even if I was the right type of person to become a medical student. During my exhaustion, I distinctly remember searching: "how to become a doctor." As you might guess, the results weren't all that satisfying and definitely didn't give the "hey, stop worrying you'll probably be fine" feeling that I wanted. 

So maybe you found this blog by doing this same neurotic Googling I did. 

If that's the case, I should start by saying that I don't have any insider information. I am not a doctor or even a medical student. But, hey, I AM working on it. I am writing to give people a little bit of an idea of what applying to medical school is like. I hope to share with you during this 2014-2015 application season all my successes, failures, and anything I have learned along the way. Maybe you are also applying to medical school. If so, I would love to hear all about it.

But if you're an undergraduate student who is up all night worrying: stop. You're not getting anywhere. Just work hard and everything else will take care of itself. 

If you're still not satisfied maybe this will help.

Hey, my name is John. Thank you for reading. I am new at this so if you could comment that would be great. Not only will comments make me a lot more likely to keep writing, but then we could also be buds or whatever. Are you applying to schools right now? Whats your top choice?
Follow me on twitter: @johnnnycor