The Ups and Downs of Applying for Medical School

Photo by Pat Rioux

Today is a special occasion, because we have a guest post. P.L. has written about his hurdles with what is the main theme of the day on my blog, 24/7/356. Please be kind, constructive and critical - leave comments, so he might write again... (remark by premedc)
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I’m sure most of you have heard the expression “Being a doctor isn’t easy”. Doctors not only have to work crazy hours, not only are they responsible for the lives of their patients, but they have to do all of this and at the same time manage their time effectively so that they can have time with their family and friends. Easy right? Well I’m sure the fact that the divorce rate for physicians is 10-20% higher than the general population is a testament to exactly how difficult it really is. But the purpose of this post is not to dissuade you from wanting to be a physician or to tell you about the hardships that physicians have to face, because the reality is that you are not physicians yet. Instead I’m going to talk to you about the application process to medical school and how some future physicians learn how hard their job is before even being accepted to medical school. I will be talking to you about my own experiences applying to medical school and maybe you can learn something worthwhile from my wild roller coaster ride.


The biggest thing that I have taken away from my experience applying to medical school is that the actual process of applying can affect you and influence you in ways you cannot begin to imagine. Most of the people I speak to about applying to Medical School all have the same thought in mind. They all believe that they have gained valuable life experiences from their ECs and from their time in school. This may very well be true but it’s unfortunate that I haven’t come across many people who tell me that they have learned as much from the application process than I have. Maybe this is because most people haven’t gone through as many hardships as I have during the past two years in my attempt to get into Medical School or maybe it’s because some people haven’t taken away as much as they should have from the application process.

Two years ago I began my adventure. I knew my 3.4/4.3 GPA wasn’t stellar and I knew my 27P MCAT was below average, but I was never the kind of person that gives up easily so I proceeded to continue with my applications to medical schools. Well I don’t have to tell you what the outcome was. I was devastated, but after receiving rejection letter after rejection letter I knew that I wasn’t living up to my potential and that I could honestly do better for myself. I channelled all my anger and focused it on doing the best I could do at school. I stopped hanging out with friends, I stopped watching TV and my entire life became school. In my last semester at Concordia University I accomplished a feat I knew I was capable of but never actually did it before. I got straight A+s and ended my Bachelor Degree with a 3.7/4.3 GPA which was far from my 3.4 GPA that I had a year previously. I knew that this was a glimmer of hope for my aspirations to get into medical school, but by no means did I get my hopes up. I knew that in order to give myself the best chance to get where I wanted to be, I had to do a second undergrad degree instead of continuing upward with my education and doing a Master’s. This was definitely not an easy decision for me, but the thing I kept coming back to was the fact that I knew that I had more left in me and I knew that by doing another Undergrad degree I was giving myself a fresh start to prove to myself and everyone else that I can really do this. So I applied to Anatomy and Cell Biology at McGill and was accepted and thus began a new chapter in my adventure.

But doing another undergraduate degree was not the only obstacle I had to face. I knew that my MCAT score was another big factor in my multiple rejections and I knew that a retake was the only option. So I devoted my entire summer to studying again for the beast. It wasn’t easy to sit inside for the second summer in a row while all of my friends were going out and enjoying the beautiful summer weather. However, I knew that this was a sacrifice I had to make. I took the MCAT in the middle of August and by the middle of September I received my results. I improved my score significantly from a 27P to a 31Q, and although I knew that I could have done even better I was satisfied that my work had paid off and that I had brought my MCAT score to a competitive level.

The next obstacle I had to face was actually applying all over again. I focused myself and really spent a lot of time on my Autobiographical sketch. I got feedback from friends and family and in the end I was extremely satisfied with the final result. I sent it in along with my updated MCAT mark, and updated transcripts, and crossed my fingers. I knew that in all likelihood I was going to receive the same rejection letter that I had received a year prior, but deep down I hoped that McGill would see my perseverance, determination and improvement and that they would at least give me the opportunity to show my face and show them who I really am. Then on February 27th, 2009 I received an unexpected email. “The Admissions Office has reviewed your application as a Fall 2009 MDCM (Quebec) applicant and, based on your overall dossier, has selected you as a candidate for interviews.” I experienced a mix of emotions from shock to joy to crying tears of happiness. I still had another hurdle to get over, but I got another inch closer to my goal and for that moment I really caught a glimpse of what it might be like at the finish line.

As much as I was enjoying the celebration, the party was about to come to an end. I knew that I had 3 weeks to prepare for one of the most important days of my life and I wasn’t sure if I had enough time. From doing practice MMIs to doing mock traditional interviews to meeting with friends over coffee and doing mock interviews with them, I did it all. I searched deep to find answers to the tough questions like “Why do you want to be a doctor?” and “Tell me about yourself”. I gained confidence and my spirits were high. I did the interview and upon initial thought I honestly believed that I did very well. However, these thoughts were very short-lived. On April 7, 2009 I received the exact same letter that I had received a year before. The date was different but the words and the outcome were the exact same. My world came crashing down and now I write to you in the same place as I was one year ago. WRONG! I am most definitely not in the same place. The outcome may be the same, but there is no way I could have learned the lessons that I did without going through this tumultuous experience. I have learned that I have more determination and perseverance than I thought I ever could have had. I learned that by being rejected and making mistakes you can actually learn more than by being perfect. I learned that if being a doctor is something I really want to do then I am not going to let a bunch of people sitting around a little table tell me that I can’t. I learned that only you can be your own worst enemy, I learned that anything is possible if you really put your mind to it. I learned that sometimes short term sacrifices need to be made in order to get something worthwhile in the long term. And last but certainly not least, I learned that the people who said “Being a doctor isn’t easy” were most definitely spot on but failed to read the fine print that said “Applying to be a doctor isn’t any easier”.

By P.L.