My first (and thus far, only) medical school interview is this Thursday. I had hoped that I would have heard from another school by now. I'm incredibly stressed that this may be my one and only chance.
I decided to splurge and spend $30 more on a hotel room within walking distance to the campus.
My aunt- the crazy (in a fun way) one who took me on my first trip abroad (Turkey) wants to go with me. My youngest uncle lives nearby in an institution for developmentally disabled and she wants to visit him while I'm on campus.
I'm torn. It'll be nice to have someone there afterwards to talk about the experience but I'm afraid that she'll be critical of my weirdness beforehand (you know- waking up 4 hours early to obsess over my hair, clothes, review possible questions/answers etc). Besides, she doesn't really sleep. I learned that early during our Turkish adventure. I'm working the night shift all this week and will probably want to rest most of the day before the interview.
One of my favorite patients died yesterday. I found out through the hospital grapevine that he had been readmitted at the other hospital in our system for pneumonia and quickly crashed. He had been a quadriplegic who just conquered all obstacles. He ran his own business, drove and just celebrated life. It breaks my heart that someone so strong and inspirational is gone. RIP Dwayne. You'll be missed.
Good luck! If I can offer one piece of advice as someone who's been on both sides of the interview table, it's to just be yourself. I've seen lots of candidates try to be who they think the interviewer wants them to be, and it just comes off as being phony and contrived. You clearly have a lot of life and work experience that would serve you well as a physician, and I think you'll do wonderfully at your interview if you just let that come out.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you screw up and say something embarrassing, don't sweat it. At my med school interview, I got so nervous that I answered the question of where I wanted to travel to with "South Africa...um...no wait...I meant to say South America. Um...yeah. I really want to hike Machu Picchu. In Peru. Wait...it is in Peru, right?"
Surprisingly, I got in despite that gem.