MEDICAL SCHOOL: Week 1

It's official, I am official!!! After a whirlwind pre-summer, I can say with great pride that I am officially a medical school student. I have been rejected many times, pre-screened, waitlisted, and finally accepted multiple times over! Now I can say with certainty that I am at an institution where I belong and feel I will thrive and have all of the support I need.

This Monday I celebrated my birthday by taking my first ever Medical School exam as an actual Medical student (last year I took a medical school exam with M1s but as a summer student). I was not originally excited about having a major exam on my birthday but what other way would I want to celebrate my life and have another year to accomplish goals and be with family/friends than by living out a life long dream!! Well lets get to this a synopsis of the first few weeks of school.

Our orientation was at the end of June and class began immediately after the July 4th Holiday. Orientation consisted of faculty and student introductions, class photos, debt management talks, school public safety sessions, learning communities introduction and Ethic dilemma session among a wide range of other things.

The first week of class was a bit surreal, even though it was only a 4 day class week due to the holiday it probably felt like one the longest weeks so far. At that point it still had not set in that I was actually in medical school and that I was in a position that I had envisioned for so long (not sure if it has even set in yet lol).

My school typically has class Mon-Fri first starting at 9am and the end of our day ranges from 3pm to 5pm but once gross lab starts we will definitely be there till 5pm or later. I am accostumed to the long days because I just transitioned from a full time job back to being a full time student, despite that I found myself searching for energy after lunch, during our 3pm session and even sadly sometimes midway through our 9am session. If you have ever heard medical school classes being referred to as like a fire hydrant... its true because the amount of information you are flooding with in a short amount of time can be mind blowing. Being a single parent makes my situation a bit different as well. I have tried to get my feel of things and work on my study schedule, find people that I can potentially study with and those that I can build relationships with, its a work in progress!

Prior to our test on this Monday we had over 25 different lecture sessions (13 actual class days)  ranging from biochemistry, histology, molecular cell, cell biology, fundamentals of medicine, etc and our test was 118 questions. I will go into more detail about the test and what I learned in another post!


Here are a few words that my classmates used to describe there first week of school........

Indescribable, Woaaaah, ugh, Introspective, fun, Crazy, Seriously, Interesting!


           

I am a proud member of the Class of 2020!!!

I'm a Medical School Student ;-D

The time has finally come..... I have so much to share but time is escaping me LOL. I have been in school 3 weeks now!

And at the top of next week I will celebrate a birthday and my first ever medical school exam as a medical school student. I took a brief study break to provide you all with a bit of encouragement.

Your day is coming, patience is hard to practice at times but trust in the plans that God has for you and understand that time is relative in the grand scheme of things, your time is coming and you will do well and be great!

I will try to do a post on my first week of medical school after my test next week!!

 LOL :-)

Just for you!!!!

Re-post from instagram. This message was meant for you!

Are you ready to Apply!!

Happy Spring Everyone!!

This time of year is marked by "Springing Forward" our clocks, crazy pollen (southern states at least), flowers blossoming, graduations and so many more wonderful things. Well it is also a reminder the AMCAS and AACOMAS application will open in a few weeks.

                                                  AMCAS                                        AACOMAS
Application Opens                    May 1, 2016                                 May 5, 2016
Submissions Begins                  June 1, 2016                                 June 15, 2016


Speaking from someone who has applied more than once and both early and late in the cycle, interviewed during more than one cycle and will official begin school this summer: when your advisors, fellow premeds and medical students tell you to apply early, listen and APPLY EARLY!!!

Ideally Early application = Early Secondaries = Early Interviews =  Early Acceptances

Hopefully everyone that plans to apply this year has already taken there MCAT or will take it now in April or Early May test dates. (By no means should you rush to test if you are not ready, test when you a comfortable with where you stand on content, practice test scores, and confidence)

Below is a timeline I have modified by including additional dates and important factors to consider. The original pre-med AMCAS application timeline.

Jan-June--- You are here right now ;-)

• Save as much as you can for primary applications, secondary applications, interview cost, seat deposit fees and so on. 
• If you are eligible Apply for FAP through AMCAS and Fee assistance through AACOMAS.
• Reflect on your interest, core values and desires in a medical programs (locations, specialty interest, extracurricular activities, research opportunities, additional funding available at the school, school/city demographics etc).
• Check out MSAR to learn more about schools and/or also go to the schools direct website. 
• Narrow your list of schools you would like to apply to based on your preferences and based on if you have or will all of the required pre-med prereq before school starts (for instance one school may required 2 semester of math but your school only required you take 1 semester of math). 
• ***Important***Once you have selected your schools pre-write your writing prompts so that you can submit your secondary as soon as you receive them. Check out this website for a list  or visit SDN, or contact people know that attend or have recently applied to the school. Set a goal to have the writing prompts completed no later than mid June, leaving a few weeks to make last minute changes before July 1 when secondary applications open.
• Also it is never to early to look for scholarships, check out the financial aid website of you prospective schools, google, scholarship websites and create a spreadsheet with listing deadlines and other important information.

April-June 

• Prepare for and take the MCAT if you have not already taken the test or need to retake. Take the MCAT in the spring if possible, but no later than early summer in order to have scores submitted to the schools early in the cycle.
• Request copies of your transcripts and check to ensure that there are no errors on them.
• Begin working on primary applications. AACOMAS opens in  early May. AMCAS application is available online in May for applicants to begin filling out, but cannot be submitted until early June.
• TMDSAS opens in early May.

July-September 

• Take/retake the MCAT if needed.
• Continue submitting secondaries that you did not get a chance to complete in earlier.
• Some will come within days of submitting the primary application, others will take a bit longer. Return these to the schools within one to two weeks of receiving.
• Interview at medical schools.
• Some schools notify applicants of acceptances October 15. Notifications continue until the class is full. 
• By April 30, applicants to AMCAS schools should only be holding a spot at one school. They may remain on waitlists for other schools. (Not sure if these rule also applies to D.O schools)

Spring-summer 

• Update schools you are waitlisted at about new activities and accomplishments.

Summer- Fall 

• Take a short lived breather once you're accepted before Medical School starts :-)

Check back for periodic updates as additional tips come to mind!

Upcoming Medical School Information Session!!

Interested in attending a pre-med/medical student conference this fall or spring check out this post

GA-PCOM (Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, GA Campus)

Open House April 15, 2016 5:30pm- 8pm   Suwanee, Georgia

Why you should attend?

• If you have an interest in Osteopathic Medicine or would like to learn more about Osteopathic principles, OMM or anything else, this would be a great opportunity for you to learn more about the school what is offers, the unique of Osteopathic medicine the similarities/difference between D.O and MD training.
• If you would like to attend GA-PCOM: This is a great opportunity to learn more about their campus, lecture structure.. etc
• If you would like to attend GA-PCOM: This is a great opportunity to get to know the admissions staff, state your interest in their program, follow up with emails stating your interest, what you enjoyed about the open house, when you are applying etc.

I have attended several seminars at GA-PCOM and attended their open house as well and I would definitely suggest this event to anyone who will be applying to anyone of their programs, even if you have attended their open house before I would say go again, it shows your interest and it may not be a bad thing when an admissions officer recognizes your name because you frequent their events.

As I come across other open house events at medical schools throughout the US I will post them.

Best of luck to prospective students!