Med School Confidential Read online

  Overall, I am very satisfied with my career in medicine. I sometimes think, when I am exhausted, that I wish I was doing something less physically and emotionally stressful. But, usually, I cannot think of anything else I would rather do.

  CHRISTOPHER CREAN

  Charlotte, North Carolina

  B.A. Holy Cross (Chemistry)

  M.D. Georgetown University Medical School

  Premed: At Holy Cross, as an undergraduate

  Time off between college and med school: 2 years

  I took two years off between college and medical school. I knew I wanted to have at least one year away from the books, and I believed gaining some life experience would make me a better doctor, if not a better applicant.

  The first year after school I joined a volunteer organization similar to Americorps in Portland, Oregon, working for an AIDS social service organization. It was actually a great year, and I was given a firsthand look at the AIDS epidemic. It was rewarding work, and I think it will make me a better physician down the road.

  My second year, I moved to Boston to be closer to my then girlfriend, now wife. I worked at Boston Medical Center in the pediatric HIV clinical research department. My responsibilities were split between assisting in clinic and data entry. Again, it was a rewarding year, giving me another perspective on the medical field. But after about six months I knew I wanted out of the nine-to-five world and was ready to start school again.

  MCAT prep: Kaplan

  MCAT administrations: 2

  Number of med schools applied to:

  Number of times applying to med school: 1

  Residency: Emergency Medicine

  I spent some time in the hospital as a child, thankfully only for simple ailments like appendicitis and an open fracture. At the time I think I was too young to consider medicine as my future profession, but the time spent in the hospital certainly gave me some insight into one of the basic responsibilities of doctors; they help make scared, sick people better.

  Studying science and mathematics had always been an enjoyable activity for me. As I got further along in my schooling and started looking for ways to become a part of the scientific community, it became obvious that I was not meant to do bench work my whole life. I enjoyed working with people too much. Teaching, at least in a classroom setting, did not seem to be for me. In the end, the more I contemplated it, the more medicine just appeared be a good fit.

  I am exceptionally happy. I love what I do, I look forward to coming to work, and I enjoy the people and the patients I get to work with.

  DEB FAULK

  Longview, Washington

  B.A. University of Denver (Biological Sciences)

  M.S. University of Denver (Biology)

  M.D. University of Colorado School of Medicine

  Premed: At University of Denver, as an undergraduate

  Time off between college and med school: 7 years

  I applied straight out of college and was wait-listed at one medical school but didn’t get in, so I got a master’s degree in biology, and then spent four years as a laboratory technician before reapplying.

  MCAT prep: reviewed on my own, using Flowers and Silver’s MCAT prep book (Princeton Review Series), known as the Flowers book

  MCAT administrations: 2

  Number of med schools applied to: 5 the first time, 1 the second time

  Number of times applying to med school: 2 (seven years apart)

  Residency: Anesthesia

  The road to medical school was a seven-year adventure for me. I actually was convinced in high school that I would be a doctor, and I applied straight out of college. The day the final rejection letter came, I had to shift gears. I decided I would go to graduate school, finish my degree in a year, and reapply for medical school. Well, one year turned into three, and in that time I realized that I was not really that upset about not getting into med school. Was that just my ego protecting itself from the reality of rejection? Maybe. But in any event, I was too tired to go through the application process again. With my master’s degree in hand, I entered the world of research as a lab tech. For four years, I spun test tubes and tortured mice—but I also worked with many an M.D. I actually started to get the bug again. I mean, I realized I couldn’t be a lab tech forever. I wanted to do more, but if I knew nothing else, I knew I didn’t want to get a Ph.D. The whole grant-writing thing just wasn’t for me. Besides, to really do research at that level, you needed to have a burning question, and I had no burning questions to answer. I did have, as anyone deciding to go into medicine has, an inflated sense of wanting to help others. Most of all, I had a mission to prevent others from experiencing the unnecessary suffering that I had gone through.

  You see, in my first year of graduate school, I tore my anterior cruciate ligament in an indoor soccer accident (I am now very pro-grass, anti-turf!). Anyway, I was met in the ER by a friend who cringed along with me as the doc tested the stability of my knee, and who drove me home after being shown the X-ray revealing I had a bone chip broken off my tibia, which would take about six weeks to heal. After six weeks of dutifully keeping on the straight splint they told me to wear, I was frozen in about fifteen degrees of flexion with quadriceps that had atrophied to nothing. Besides which, my leg felt as if it was twisting off every time I turned a corner. Something was definitely not right. I went back to the doctor and saw a physician’s assistant, who again tested the stability of my knee and thought it felt fine. However, with my symptoms and the mechanism of my injury, he thought it prudent for me to get an MRI. Five weeks later, the proper diagnosis was made: “See this large empty space on your MRI? That’s where your ACL is supposed to be.” After four weeks of waiting to see an orthopedic specialist, two months of physical therapy preop, the operation itself, and six months of physical therapy postop, I could finally bend my leg and almost walk with a normal gait again. I knew this could have been prevented, and I thought I was the person to prevent it from happening again! Med school, here I come.

  I am very satisfied with my career in medicine. I am happy to report that I picked the right specialty! I really do enjoy anesthesia. It still feels like I am neglecting aspects of my life while trying to complete my residency and master all of the skills and knowledge I am supposed to master during my three years, but in terms of the specialty and practice of anesthesia I know I made the right choice. I actually had a self-affirmation of sorts this year. I had a baby in March 2004. My department was more than supportive during the pregnancy as well as afterward, while I was out on maternity leave. I was worried that like many of my friends, I would be torn when I had to go back. I was pleasantly surprised to find that while I missed my baby Jake (of course), it also felt great to be back taking care of patients and learning again.

  PETER E. SEDGWICK

  Holden, Massachusetts

  B.A. Williams College (Geology with concentration in Environmental Studies)

  M.S. University of South Florida, Tampa (Geology)

  M.D. University of Massachusetts Medical School

  Premed: As a postbac at Harvard Extension School

  Time off between college and med school: 7 years

  I spent seven years between the two, first figuring out what kind of life I wanted as a person, then figuring out the best way of achieving that life. My first year after school was divided between working as a boat bum in the Bahamas, working on a farm in New Hampshire, and guiding kayak trips in Baja. While the life was good, there was little I was contributing to society, so I went on to get a master’s degree studying the effect of sea level rise on coastal erosion. Here the contribution to society was present but was too abstract and academic for me to want to pursue long-term. Teaching highschool-age kids for the next two years both as a prep-school teacher in the Virgin Islands and as an outdoor trip leader in Australia, British Columbia, and the Western United States provided an excellent outlet for my goals of affecting positive change in the world—but looking thirty years down the road, I knew myself w
ell enough to know that there would not be enough academic stimulation to stick with it. Working as an environmental activist with low-income communities in East Oakland, California, between my postbac and medical school cemented my commitment to social change and reinforced for me the tremendous impact one person can have on a community.

  MCAT prep: reviewed on my own

  MCAT administrations: 1

  Number of med schools applied to: 9

  Number of times applying to med school: 1

  Residency: Family Medicine

  I made the decision to go to medical school while working as a high school teacher. I loved learning wilderness medicine for my outdoor guiding work in the summers, and I was looking for a way to continue to do a career involving community service yet still have academic challenge and personal growth at the same time. I had been out of college five years—one of traveling and working odd jobs in beautiful locations, two of graduate school (master’s degree in geology), and two of teaching high school. It was not until that time that I even considered the option of medicine, even though my roommates in college were predominantly premed.

  I love my work but hate my job. Medicine is the most rewarding and amazing profession to enter into, with magic around you every day. There is a scintillation of life, death, fear, joy, and pure distilled emotion at every turn. You touch people at a level that no one else can really understand. You can be the best thing that ever happened to someone in their life, ever, simply by being capable at what you do and being kind at the same time. Whenever I get frustrated, I think that I could be behind a computer doing finance, or selling something to someone else, or working in middle management, and I realize what an amazing field I have chosen for my life.

  The price for this, however, is high. You lose sleep, gain weight, develop sleep disorders if you are lucky and emotional disorders if you are not. You neglect your loved ones around you at times, at others you neglect those patients in your care. You battle endless bureaucracy and paperwork with little to show for it. You get abuse heaped on you at times by the people you are trying to help. I will never forget the day a senior resident said to a group of interns, “Has everyone had that moment where they have thought about driving into oncoming traffic?” Everyone had.

  BEN SMITH Middlesex, Vermont

  B.A. Princeton University (English) M.D. Columbia University Medical School

  Premed: As a postbac at the University of Colorado, Denver

  Time off between college and med school: 5 years

  I was a newspaper reporter for about a year and a half before making the decision to do premed classes. I loved the job for its intensity and the way you got to learn about so many things in such a short period of time, but I wanted to be able to offer something more concrete in return to the people I was learning from.

  MCAT prep: Princeton Review

  MCAT administrations: 1

  Number of med schools applied to: N/A

  Number of times applying to med school: 1

  Residency: Emergency Medicine

  My decision to become a doctor was a very conscious one, which I made after finishing college and doing other work for a while. I wanted a job that gave me the opportunity to know and learn about a wide variety of people while offering a concrete service in return. It also seemed to me that there was a self-reliance, or autonomy, to the profession that felt attractive. None of my family was in the medical profession, so it was quite a departure in a way.

  Medicine is an incredibly exciting profession. It changes you. But I urge people to consider the time costs, too—eight to ten of the prime years of your life given to this profession, meaning you can’t do other things a lot of the time. Your friends will be surfing at Laguna Beach, tailgating, and hiking to Machu Picchu while you do rectal exams on vomiting cirrhotics who never say thank you. But once in a while, you will also do something that saves someone’s life or makes it better. You might deliver a baby or diagnose someone’s diabetes and change their life. You will learn things about people (both in particular and in general) that few others will know. I think it’s important to be clear about the trade-offs. It is a significant sacrifice to be a doctor. If you understand that and still want to do it, then it is incredibly worth it.

  ADAM SPIVAK Baltimore, Maryland

  B.A. Princeton University (English Literature)

  M.D. University of Maryland School of Medicine

  Premed: At Princeton, as an undergraduate

  Time off between college and med school: 1 year

  I decided during the beginning of my senior year that I was going to take one year off after college and before attending medical school. I found a nonprofit group based in Utah that ran Peace Corps-like programs in countries around the world. I ended up working for them in Bolivia, spending seven months living with the Aymara Indians.

  MCAT prep: Princeton Review

  MCAT administrations: 1

  Number of med schools applied to: 20

  Number of times applying to med school: 1

  Residency: Internal Medicine/Infectious Disease

  As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a physician. My father is a practicing hematologist. He never put any pressure on me to become a doctor, but I think the example he set with his professional life had a very strong impact on me.

  I am very happy with the way things are turning out. It is the best job in the world. One of my professors told us that if you are in medicine for the right reasons, you are in for the time of your life. I am looking forward to an academic career in Infectious Disease.

  KATE DRUMMOND Conway, New Hampshire

  B.S. Bates College (Biology with a secondary concentration in French) D.O. University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine

  Premed: At Bates, as an undergraduate

  Time off between college and med school: 3 years

  I took three years off after college. I felt that it was important for me to gain more experience, to live in the real world and save some money. I worked as an EMT paramedic for the local fire department, taught EMT classes, worked at an emergent care clinic, and was on the local ski patrol. These experiences helped me make sure that medicine was truly a lifelong career for me. I was also able to get out in the real world and away from being a full-time student. I matured as a human. I strongly recommend taking time off—it will not jeopardize your chances or choices. MCAT prep: prepared on my own, using A Complete Preparation for the MCAT (Betz Publishing Co.), known as the Betz guide

  MCAT administrations: 1

  Number of med schools applied to: 3

  Number of times applying to med school: 1

  Residency: Emergency Medicine

  I can’t say exactly when I decided to become a doctor, though I do recall coming home from kindergarten and watching Emergency . . . I was fascinated by Johnny and Roy. My early inklings became more concrete in high school. I began to teach for the American Red Cross and became an EMT shortly after graduation. I began volunteering and working as an EMT immediately, and continued this through college and the three years before medical school.

  After college I was working in an emergent care clinic staffed by both M.D.s and D.O.s. I found that D.O.s had a little something extra to offer to their patients—manual manipulation. I learned more about this technique and the theories behind it while working at the clinic. This provided me with the exposure that I needed to make the decision to pursue an emergency medicine career as a D.O.

  Overall I am very satisfied with my career. I honestly cannot picture myself doing anything different. True, there are days when I wish I was bagging groceries and my only worry was bruising produce or breaking eggs. But then I step back and look at how far I have come and what an honor it is to play a role in very vulnerable moments of people’s lives. The one downside is the litigious society that we live in. It can be challenging going to work each day knowing that a mistake can end your career. So practice wisely.

  CHAPTER 1
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br />   Thinking About Med School?

  Think Again . . .

  Know thyself.

  —SOCRATES

  CHOOSING A VOCATION, particularly one like medicine, is a daunting task. Our social programming starts early in childhood, through role modeling, media portrayals, and questions like: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Some people have an early, seemingly innately directed passion for a particular field that they pursue headlong from day one. For the rest of us, the path is more circuitous. Whatever your own course has been thus far, if you now find yourself contemplating a life in medicine, you must take the time to consider how it is that you got here.

  Find a quiet place where you can be undisturbed for the next twenty minutes or so. Turn off your cell phone, your MP3 player, and anything else that can disturb you. We’re about to ask you a series of very serious questions, the answers to which will reveal much about your readiness for medical school. After reading each question, write in stream of consciousness, in the space provided, everything that comes to mind. Do not organize, filter, or censor your thoughts. And don’t worry about writing in the book! This book will be your tool and your guide through medical school and residency. Break it in and make it your own.

  Get everything down on paper. You may be surprised at what you’re about to learn.

  Take a deep breath and try to relax.

  Ready?

  Go.

  THE FOUR QUESTIONS TO ASK TO ASSESS YOUR READINESS FOR MED SCHOOL