So You Want To Be a Doctor...

Hello World of Pre-Med Students, be ye accepted, interviewing, still beefing up that GPA, in the exciting moments of your first college bio requirements, or just toying with the idea of becoming a doctor,

I am a fourth-year undergraduate pre-med student, and given the experiences I have already had going through the entire application process, I have lately found myself answering many questions -- is there a certain GPA I need; do I need to take biochemistry for the MCAT; you have to Interview?!? -- from a variety of people -- fellow applicants, future applicants, friends, parents, peers, "non-traditional" students, even current doctors checking on how the whole process has changed! For the amount of sheer content that an undergraduate has to know to get accepted into medical school, there is a surprising number of people who have no idea what you actually have to DO to get there. Therefore, I thought I might try and rectify the situation. Certainly, I do NOT have all the answers* (note: this is my disclaimer) and will never be able to go through every situation, and my small blog will not spread large amounts of information to everyone. But, I thought that, for those who are searching, maybe hearing at least one person's experience might help to give a better idea about the entire "ordeal" of getting into medical school. Who knows? If both this blog and I are successful, perhaps I can one day be writing about tips to do well IN medical school, or how to apply for residencies, or how in the world to interact with patients!

But I am not there yet, so we will stick to the present situation: getting into med school.

First, let's get this bit over with, so everyone knows where I stand, and you can take my experiences and thoughts with a grain of salt:

I have an overall GPA of 3.7, with a science GPA of 3.8. MCAT=36Q.

I applied to (in no particular order): Duke, Columbia, Northwestern, Baylor, Stanford, University of Chicago, Washington University-St. Louis, UCSF, Harvard, University of Illinois - Chicago, Univeristy of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Columbia, Loyola, Johns Hopkins.

I received interviews at (in no particular order): Duke, University of Chicago, Washington University-St. Louis, Northwestern, and University of Illinois - Chicago (I could "potentially" have more all the way through April, but something in me doubts that)

I have been accepted at University of Illinois - Chicago, and the others told me I would hear back from them in mid-March (which is in 4 weeks or less, but it's not like I am counting...)

For right now, that's it. I just wanted to get down my first official post, but hopefully I will have more soon! I'll probably make each blog about different parts of the process or different experiences/observations. So, if you are at all interested or have a question, leave a comment, and, if I have any sort of answer, I'll make it the topic of my next post!

So, good night future doctors!