First off, let me just say how great it is to be writing my first column for the Asian American E-Zine. I was first told coming from an Iraqi heritage that I was not “Asian” enough, but then I promptly unzipped my pants, pulled down my boxers, and revealed the contents therein, which being microscopic fit the Asian definition pretty well. 

Seriously though, I’d like to talk about becoming a medical school applicant, both to share my experiences and to give some guidance to those who are thinking about taking the plunge, so that they have some idea what they are coming up against. 

First, before applying to anything, you have to decide if becoming a physician is what you really want to do. Like many others, I had a great deal of pressure from my parents, who “suggested” it was a good career but ostensibly left it up to me, and I know of others who faced more overt coercion. Please remember here that this is your decision and yours alone to make, with decades worth of repercussions, so do not take it lightly or merely to please someone. That said, to me there is no better job in the world. Well, unless I was paid to play video games all day, but this would be a close second. 

Seriously though, where can you get a job that is stimulating enough to give you a new experience every day, that lets you interact with real human beings who need your help, where you apply your time and effort to make others feel better and cure them of their illnesses and treat their injuries? I know of no better feeling than that of making others happy through your efforts, and to have that as a job would be brilliant. You are also not going to starve doing this, and while there are a few other professions where you might make more money, the prestige and feel-good factor are all priceless.  

These are great advantages to me though, but might not be to others. If you like consistency in your job, if you dread the sight of ill people, and if you do not think you are capable of overcoming the immense obstacles (which I shall shortly describe) then there is no shame, none at all, in picking something better that makes you happy. Numerous other careers let you help people, each in their own way. For instance, to a prisoner no one in the world is more precious than a defense attorney, or you might have a real passion for becoming an accountant.

The key is to believe in your potential to succeed and you can help your self best by finding something that you will enjoy doing for the next few decades of your life.  If all else fails, seek the wisdom of this poster:

That taken care of, if you are truly interested in becoming a physician (feel free to change your mind at any time,) then you have to take care of a few basics. 

First, you must ensure that you take the right classes. Namely, you must take a year of general chemistry (CHE 131 and 132, or if you are feeling smart, 141 + 142,) as well as the corresponding labs; a year of organic chemistry and the required lab(s); a year of physics and the labs; a year of math including at least one semester of calculus; a year of biology including the labs (essentially this will be BIO 202+203); and finally a year of English, typically this means will be your required writing class and a semester of some other English class, commonly a class that will also fulfill a DEC requirement. By combining a DEC and a req you can knock out two birds with one stone, as the ancient saying goes, or as this staged photo suggests:

(The adults moved slightly to the sides after taking the picture, causing much hilarity)

Depending on where you are in your undergraduate career when you make this decision, the requirements can be a manageable addition to your schedule or turn your life into a mess. For instance, I decided later on that I wanted to pursue medical school, so I was forced to take Biology, Physics, and Organic Chemistry at the same time. It was not easy, but certainly not impossible, especially if you have the willpower to follow through.   

Before I continue, it is useful to hover on this point for a moment. There is nothing in life that cannot be done when there is an iron will and die-hard determination. As any reader of the Count of Monte Cristo can readily attest, a man may transform from being an uneducated, forgotten, and condemned inmate on an island prison fortress, escape, and then perform awesome deeds. There will be many occasions in the process in which you will question the wisdom of your decision, and many will simply give up, but if you are truly destined to be a healer, then you will overcome each obstacle and become the stronger for it. 

At any rate, you should aim to take the required courses above by the end of the fall semester for your junior year. This is important primarily so that you will have been instructed in the major areas covered by the MCAT exam before taking that test. More on the MCAT soon, but before I continue, there are a few other considerations that you must take care of.   

First, you must pick a major. It really does not matter what you major in, so long as you find it interesting, and most importantly, you can get good grades in it. I for one am a Chemistry major, a decision I once dreaded, but in reality has taught me so much about the universe that I have come to appreciate my choice. So whether it is Chemistry, Art History, English, or Math, or whatever, pick something that you like and will do well in. 

There are a few other considerations, however, that a pre-med advisor might not address to you in making this decision. First, while it is true that some majors (mostly biology and chemistry) include some of the required courses, it is absolutely not worth it to take those majors on that sole basis. Second, some students like to “hedge” their bets, covering themselves in any eventuality. If you do not get into medical school or later decide that it is not right for you, you will still be left with your major, so you may wish to pick something that in addition to being enjoyable to you is a useful tool on the job market, and here some majors, such as Mechanical Engineering, are worth more than Basket Weaving.
 

Furthermore, you should try to get some “medical experience” under your belt as soon as possible. On Stony Brook there are some opportunities for this, with SBVAC (Stony Brook Volunteer Ambulance Corps) being ideal, though only if you have the time. Besides being taught some basic skills, such as taking someone’s pulse and blood pressure, as a “probie” you are forced to attend a few hours of class on a weekend and are of course obligated to learn a great deal on your feet, everything from signs of shock on a patient to the location of equipment on an ambulance. The only downsides are of course that this is a major commitment, in time and effort, and that you cannot merely join on a whim, as there is an interview process and fees that you must pay as well.

If SBVAC is not your spot of tea, as the Brits put it, you can try volunteering at our famous (or rather infamous, government-probed) hospital, but the competition is rather heavy and you will not benefit from a job as a cashier at the hospital gift store. The key thing to look for is patient contact, and part of what I did was to volunteer at a local hospital when I got home during the summer. Most hospitals have some requirements for volunteering, and will want you to fill out an application and perhaps even show up for an interview, but on the most part they are all too happy to give you a shot, just be sure to insist that you have some patient contact, as this will not only benefit you (in testing your resolve to be a doctor) but also will be more valuable when you put it in your application and when you discuss it in interviews. 

You will also likely be trained in doing CPR, which I found out was different for babies for than for adults:

Yes, this is infant CPR, I am not even kidding

There are other ways to get this experience as well, as you can either join or start a club with a medical or humanitarian theme to it, or you can also find opportunities for research, which may or may not involve medicine. Keep on the lookout for such opportunities, as doing some research is helpful to your medical school application, particularly if it involves something like anti-cancer drugs (of which there are several groups on campus.) 

Another matter that you should have your mind on (heh, now you are beginning to see how difficult all this is,) is to get in touch with the pre-med people, if only so that they can answer some lingering questions you have, put you on the mailing list for the various seminars and presentations intended for pre-med students, and tell you where to send paper work to (like letters of recommendation.) Speaking of letters of recommendation, you are required to get at least three by the time you apply, and are better off with more.   

Getting letters of recommendation was perhaps the most painful experience that I had, for many reasons, but it need not be that way. For one, I felt awkward doing it, but in reality, professors get these requests all the time and while they are not thrilled with extra paperwork, they will be happy to do them as a professional courtesy to you. 

When asking professors for letters of recommendation, try to build up a relationship with them beforehand. Do this in a smart manner. For instance, do not make it a point to stay after class every lecture to ask an asinine question that is already obvious to you. The professor will not be impressed that you are wasting his/her time and will likely secretly loathe you. Instead, ask intelligent questions, occasionally, on topics that you do not fully understand or on some aspect that was not directly dealt with in class. You will benefit by the expanded explanation and the professor will enjoy the intellectual stimulation.

You can also visit professors at their office hours, though again in moderation and with a purpose. A foolish student does this by trying to be “buddies” with the professor and visiting at every available office hour while the professor is trying to read the paper or check their e-mail. The better way to handle this is to go with a defined purpose, for instance, if you require some further explanation or did not understand a new concept and needed more than a few seconds at the end of class to discuss it. 

Also, if you ever miss a class (which is bound to happen,) use that as an opportunity to e-mail the professor, apologize for not being there, and request a few moments from their time to get any handouts or go over some material. They will be happy with your diligence. Eventually, as the professor sees you a few times, either you can ask a friendly personal question (Your son/daughter looks cute in that picture on the desk, how old is he/she?) or more likely the professor will take the initiative and ask you a little about yourself. Take this as an opportunity to be congenial, not too serious, and to express yourself a little. Before long, you will have some excellent recommendations by professors who actually know you.

Feel free also to get recommendation letters from your supervisors at work or from extracurricular activities that you have done, but be sure to have at least two of your letters come from Professors, and at least one of those to be from a science class.

By now, you should have all of your required courses taken, some recommendations completed, some medical experience and hopefully also some research, while at the same time taking care of the course requirements in your major, keeping on top of your DECs, participating in some extracurricular activities, and generally not pulling your hair out. If that is the case, you are getting closer to the end game. 

You should now think about taking the Medical College Acceptance Test (infamously known as the MCAT). Before, a great deal was made about when you should take the test, because it was only offered twice a year, once in April and another in August. With some 22-test dates this year, that great debate is laid to rest, but you should keep in mind a few considerations when picking a test date.

First of all, you should be completing or have completed the required courses or at least be very confident that you can study what you have not yet taken expeditiously. Second, you will want to watch for medical school deadlines. Previously, the MCAT would take some sixty days between test taking and getting the results, but with the new format, I am not so sure. So your best bet will be to go over this question with the pre-med advising people, in order to pick the best time for you. 

Above all, you must study, study, and then study some more for this test. You do not need to take an incredibly expensive Kaplan (or other company) course, though some benefit by such programs, as all you need is that iron will we spoke of earlier, a review book (either by Kaplan or the other companies,) which could be borrowed from your local library or purchased from any bookstore or online, and a great deal of time and effort. There is no set time as to how long you will need to study for the exam, as this depends on how fresh the material is in your mind and how well you did taking those courses the first time around. At a bare minimum though, you should allocate some six weeks of study, and preferably twelve weeks. 

Once you register for the MCATs, you will be given a link to a website which will give you a full practice exam, which you can take and then assess the results, or you can just follow this link: www.e-mcat.com and register right now. You get one free practice test and can get some rather detailed solutions, allowing you to then spend more time on the areas that you may be weaker in. 

One important tip is to not ignore the verbal part of the exam as it is easy to get a few questions wrong and your verbal score will dip. Historically, this is where Stony Brook students perform the worst, and for good reason as the questions are tough. An average score that you wish to shoot for is a “10” on each part of the exam and a mediocre writing grade, though certainly the higher you get, the better. If you score below a 24 overall you are probably better off not applying, at least until you retake the test.

You will also want to apply for medical school using the AAAAAMCAS website (extra A’s added for emphasis,) which you can easily do by googling “Medical School Application” and feeling lucky. Here, you will be asked to fill out your life story, including where and when you were born, how old your siblings are, and also to transcribe your transcript (but also to send one along so they can verify that you did this correctly.)

After you get through the busy work, you will have to decide on some very important questions. First, to which schools will you apply? Personally, I applied to every NYS “public school”, as well as to some half a dozen other schools in the Northeast and surrounding areas. Of course, you can theoretically apply to only one or two schools, but unless your application is stellar, there is a good chance that you will not get into medical school. Similarly, you can apply to every school in the book, but beyond the exorbitant application fee upfront, you must consider that you will have to fill out secondary applications to most of those schools (requiring considerable time and money) as well as actually going to some of those schools for interviews if you progress that part, requiring taking time off from school and more money. You are best served with applying to ten schools, or perhaps fifteen at the most, with the general rule that you apply to more the less confident you are with your application.

Finally, you must also write a personal statement (three if you are applying for M.D./Ph.D. programs, but that is another story entirely) and here your writing skills must shine. I would even say that your essay here is worth more than your MCAT writing score, because here you have a very special mission. You must tell the reader about yourself, find some story or some means of distinguishing your essay from the hundreds of others that the reader has had to go through, and be convincing and genuine in your desire to go to medical school and become a physician. 

The kicker here is that you must do all of this with a set character limit. For people who love to bloviate, like myself, this is a distinct challenge, but there is a certain perverse pleasure that you get from chopping down your 10,000-character essay to half its size while still retaining the essence of what you are trying to say. Don’t worry… you’ll get to try doing it before long.

Wow… well this is where I am right now with my application. Now I just need to go through with a Stony Brook interview, in which the Pre-Med advisor asks questions to put in their letter of recommendation.

Then before long you (and I) will receive secondary applications, with their own special essays, sections, and fees, and finally (hopefully) some interviews and some acceptances.

I do not know if this long story which you have endured will turn out to have a happy ending, both for you and for me, but I hope you have an idea with what you are facing and that if you are willing to meet this challenge that you will succeed in the end. Sadly, statistically speaking, only about half of those who go through this process ever do. Good luck though!