Colorado open house

Around this time of year, medical schools hold open houses to give accepted applicants a "second look" at their program. I was invited to the Colorado open house this coming Friday, April 24. Regardless of my current state of flux (I won't hear back from UCSD for weeks, yet, if not months), I am moving forward with the assumption that I will be going to Colorado for medical school. I am very excited about this open house to meet my future classmates and professors and to get a better feel for the program. Here are some of the highlights of the day:

• Faculty Panel on Tracks/Program Opportunities related to the Mentored Scholarly Activity (MSA)
• Global Health Track
• Rural Track
• Research Track
• Leads Program
• Financing your medical education
• Student panel topics: Maintaining Relationships, Choosing a Track and enjoying it, Managing Debt with good planning, surviving academic and personal challenges as a medical student.
• Student barbecue and ice cream social
• Rockies versus Dodgers game with current medical students

The bucket list

My 81 year old grandfather (who, incidentally, is strong and healthy) told me this afternoon over a couple glasses of lemonade that attending my medical school graduation made it on his bucket list. This is a list of things that one wants to do or accomplish before kicking the bucket. I was touched that my personal journey of becoming a doctor means so much to him.

Drexel: Wait List

Well, I finally heard back from Drexel in a snail mail letter dated April 8. This is a week and a half longer than the long estimate they gave me of 6-8 weeks. It would have felt good knowing that I got into Drexel, but the reality is that I decided almost immediately after getting into Colorado that I would prefer Colorado over Drexel.

Interestingly, Drexel requested that I confirm my continued interest in writing:

• I choose to accept your offer to be placed on the "Wait List."
• I choose to decline your offer to be placed on the "Wait List."

They of course need this information to help them shape their incoming class. The flip side, though, is that I now get the puerile satisfaction of turning down Drexel without even having been admitted.

Jefferson: Rejected

Knew it was coming. Would take Colorado over Jefferson, anyways. No more needs to be said.

UCSD: "Acceptable Pool"

I got an e-mail rather than a phone call from UCSD this morning, which means that I was placed in what they call the "Acceptable Pool" of applicants.

This pool is essentially an unranked waiting list. As the admissions season continues, individual applicants within the Acceptable Pool will be selected for admission – we anticipate that the first acceptances from this pool will occur in early May 2009.

What this means for me is that I have quite a bit more waiting and uncertainty ahead. Although I am obviously disappointed in the immediate outcome, I cannot say that I am all that surprised. It's a tricky business balancing hope and positive thinking with the pragmatism of acknowledging that the odds of acceptance are long in such a competitive process. Regardless of the final outcome, I feel comfortable knowing that I had my fair chance at getting into UCSD and that I did everything in my power to maximize that chance.

Still, though, the game is not over. UCSD will be admitting applicants from the Acceptable Pool starting early May and even up through July. Given that I will be preparing for a move to Colorado in the absence of a UCSD acceptance, I have to consider: At what point do I write off UCSD? Early June? Mid-June? July? Right up until the first day of classes at Colorado?

UC Davis: Rejected

Like Irvine, UC Davis sent me a rejection e-mail (with a typo, even). They probably send e-mails rather than real letters to save costs, which is understandable, but it still comes off as cheap.

At this late stage in the game, I am only waiting to hear back from four more schools: UCSD should notify me on Tuesday (!); Drexel told me 6 to 8 weeks from the interview date, which was January 30; and I expect rejections from both Temple and Jefferson, schools that never invited me to interview.

Tel Aviv: Accepted!

It is with great pleasure that, upon the recommendation of the Admissions Committee, the Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine - New York State/American Program wishes to offer you a place in the Class of 2013

Very exciting!!!

I knew that I would choose Colorado over Tel Aviv even before I got this letter. Regardless, it feels good to have the "right of refusal," as one friend put it, as well as confidence from knowing that I had options, as another friend framed my admittedly enviable position.

My interview with Dr. XXX, an alumnus of Tel Aviv practicing in San Diego County, was even more relaxed than my UCSD interviews. The most probing questions he asked were related to how serious I was in applying to Tel Aviv and how likely I was to complete the program should I matriculate. Can I handle the language barrier and culture shock? Do I have a support network in Israel, or could I function well half a world away from home?

Dr. XXX stated outright, in fact, that the admissions committee understands that Sackler is a backup school for many if not most applicants, and that those who are accepted to a program in the United States tend to stay in the country. Knowing this makes it a bit easier to turn down Tel Aviv. But, if I had not been accepted into any program in America, I would have been thrilled to go to Tel Aviv for medical school.

UCSD Decision: Still Waiting

The admissions committee didn't end up discussing my application on Monday, which means that I have to wait another two weeks. As my friend who is a second-year medical student said, "Boo application process!" I agree. But as agonizing as this waiting is, another two weeks (April 7th) won't kill me.

UCSD Decision: March 24?

If my application was discussed in today's meeting, I will hear back from UCSD tomorrow. I'm nervous and hopeful. Regardless of what happens, and whether I find out now or in a few weeks, I have to keep reminding myself that things usually have a way of working themselves out.

UCSD Interview #2

I had about an hour of free time between my first and second interviews. I used that time to do some research on Dr. YYY - to find out what his specialty is, what kind of research he does. A quick PubMed search in the library gave me a whole list of his publications on alcohol and opioid abuse. It occurred to me that I was able to do this so easily because I have the home court advantage here at UCSD.

Finding Dr. YYY's office was frustrating, but I arrived on time in spite of the rat's maze that is the VA Medical Center. Dr. YYY asked me to wait for a few minutes. This gave me some time to take some meditative deep breaths and contemplate a tropical scenery painting hanging on the wall. Dr. YYY greeted me warmly and apologized for keeping me waiting. Like Dr. XXX, he began the interview in a conversational tone, though not quite as carefree.

Soon, he did start asking me real questions, ones that I have already faced and answered satisfactorily in previous interviews.

• How did you end up at a small liberal arts college on the East Coast?
• What attracted you to that school?
• Since you took all my pre-med courses in undergraduate, did you go into college intending to become a doctor?
• Is this the first time you have applied to medical school?
• Why did you decide to go to graduate school instead of medical school?
• Why did you go to graduate school straight out of college?
• Why did you leave graduate school with a terminal Master's?
• What was your plan when you left your program?
• What made you decide to go back to medicine?

This sounds like a lot of very direct questioning, but Dr. YYY had a way of asking them in a friendly manner, as if it were idle curiosity and not evaluative. These questions were peppered in between mostly unrelated topics. We spent a good deal of time talking about running, not because he is a runner himself, rather because his son ran track & field in high school. I could tell that he was very proud of his son's accomplishments. "Is that your son?" I asked in the middle of a sentence, pointing to a screen saver picture that popped up on his computer. He smiled and said yes, and we continued talking about personal bests and different track events.

At the end of the interview, Dr. YYY asked me if I had any questions for him. I asked him about the impact of the California state budget on the educational experience at UCSD, and he was very good at answering this concern. I also asked him about his own personal experience with UCSD. Dr. YYY wrapped up the interview by giving me his e-mail address and saying "Please contact me if you have any more questions. I'd be happy to help."

That was definitely a good sign, a good way to end the interview. I was impressed that he made himself so accessible. I left the interview feeling good about the intangibles, e.g. rapport and ease of conversation, but feeling less good about the quantifiable aspects of the interview. I felt like I didn't answer his direct questions as well as I had answered them in my Colorado interviews. I am far from objective in this matter, though. It is possible that Dr. YYY had an entirely different perspective of my interview performance.