Decisions

I have now received some form of response to all sixteen of my med school applications. The final stats: Twelve rejections, four interviews.  Of those four, Loma Linda University, Penn State Hershey College of Medicine, and New York Medical College offered acceptances, while the University of Maryland School of Medicine (where I’ve worked for two years) waitlisted me.

It’s time to stop vacillating and make a decision. Despite the plethora of concerned and well-meaning folks that have been asking me about it since I started applying almost a year ago, I’ve been rather taciturn about my thought process to all but a few. Applying to medical school is a frustrating, demoralizing process but I think I’ve finally calmed the maelstrom enough that I can elucidate my decision here with minimal LiveJournal-arity. I won’t be offended if you skip to the end.

Complicating the matter further is my crazy idea of trying to do an MD/PhD instead of “merely” an MD. Because I didn’t simply apply MD/PhD in the first place (a topic for another day), I’ll have to apply once I start med school in the hopes that I’ll be accepted before it’s too late.

University of Maryland School of Medicine

As much as I wanted to go to Maryland, the waitlist is far too uncertain to justify waiting around, hoping they deign to notice me. I’m in the “upper half” of the 192 waitlisted candidates, but with their class already overenrolled, there’s a great distinction between number two (possibly will get in) and number 96 (no chance at all). I’m moving forward as though they rejected me (sorry Maryland friends), and if they decide to offer an acceptance in the next month or so I’ll deal with them at that time.

New York Medical College

NYMC offered me a partial scholarship renewable for each of the four years of med school, and their children’s hospital is impressive. Their MD/PhD program has weaker benefits compared to the other schools and the cost of living in Valhalla is outrageous.

Penn State Hershey College of Medicine

Penn State boasted my favorite campus environment with incredibly friendly faculty, staff, and students. This made the rude and unhelpful financial aid lady more conspicuous than a putrid diaper. The curriculum included a focus on the humanities and surrounding community that I appreciated, and one of their lecture halls even had a piano. Their MD/PhD program seemed excellent, and they would have been on top if it weren’t for…

Loma Linda University

LLU offered me a partial scholarship for the first year, but their tuition is one of the highest. Like Penn State, they have an excellent campus environment and teaching philosophy. The immediate surrounding area is nice but is suffering from the housing slump; unlike any of the other areas Rachel and I might actually be able to afford a house next year. Their MD/PhD program is different than most in that it begins with graduate school, not med school. Incredibly, the application deadline had not yet passed.

The Decision

In addition to being an excellent school I won’t mind spending the next four to eight years of my life attending, there is a chance that at LLU, I will be able to get into the MD/PhD program this fall. Even though that chance is slim at best, it’s better than zero chance everywhere else.

With heavy heart and moist eyes I withdrew my applications from Penn State and NYMC last week. Of course, the relief at having made a decision is tempered somewhat by the fact that I’ll have to defend it for the next several months. Hopefully this post will help somewhat.

It’s still sinking in that I’m moving to California this summer. It’s the germination of an adventure and simultaneously downright terrifying. What with the prominence of the Baltimore skyline in my website design and all.

I suppose there is never a “good” time to leave behind everything you’ve known. There are a lot of people I am going to miss, not the least of which are my family members, but that’s what the internet is for.