Georgetown- hold

I got an email from Georgetown's SMP saying that they're putting me on the "hold" list. They go on to talk about how a lot of people get accepted off of the hold list but they end by asking me to send them any updated mcat scores or spring semester grades. hm. hopefully all four SMPs won't fall through....

good news and bad news

Good news- Drexel's SMP called me for a phone interview on Thursday. That was quite exciting and unexpected. I was just hanging out at the Newman Cafe when they called so I went into the private dining room where I had a 20 minute phone interview. I suppose the interview says that they've gotten my files and I'm going to be reviewed by their committee soon.

Bad news- Wright State University rejected me on Wednesday. That's the school that my job shadow doctor went to and I was hoping that having a recommendation letter from her would pull some weight but apparently it didn't. Oh well. Who wants to be in Dayton, OH anyway???

SMP apps almost complete!

Three out of the four SMPs that I applied to (Rosalind Franklin, Georgetown, Loyola) are at complete status. Drexel has yet to contact me about whether or not they got my application but hopefully they will soon. Please keep praying for me and for the 9 med schools I am waiting to hear from!

***make that 8 schools- just got my rejection letter from Chicago College of Medicine/Midwestern University***

Letters gone missing?!?!

Both med school and the SMPs require recommendation letters to be sent as part of your application. At U of I, we use a program called LEO that stores your letters and sends them to the schools you designate on the LEO website. I figured, "hey, I did this once for med school so it'll be easy for the SMP" and I sent the letters even before I submitted the application. Loyola's SMP emails me today and says that they don't have my letters yet. I check the LEO website and the UPS tracking website which both say they were received on 3/2/09. Hmmm...So I called Loyola and had them search high and low for them and they couldn't find it. I ended up spending $18 on next day shipping to re-send them my letters. I bet you anything they will find my letters tomorrow- that's how these things go, I suppose.

another rejection

Just thought I'd update you all- I got another rejection from George Washington University. I think I'm only going to be upset if i get rejected from u of i. Nine more to go!

med school application status

Hi everybody! I decided that I was going to ditch my old blog (xanga) and start this one and record the ups and downs of the journey on my way to becoming a doctor. Here's what's been going on: I applied to 18 medical schools- 17 allopathic medicine, 1 osteopathic medicine (look them up on wikipedia) and I have yet to be invited for an interview from any of them! I applied to Virginia Commonwealth University, Creighton University, Medical College of Wisconsin, St. Louis University, New Jersey Medical School, Albany Medical College, University of Chicago, Rosalind Franklin University, University of Illinois, Loyola University, Northwestern University, Rush University, Chicago College of Medicine, Wright State University, Drexel University, Jefferson Medical College, George Washington University, and New York Medical College. I've been rejected by the first 8 of that list and the rest of them are more or less in the order of my preference.

Most medical schools interview through the end of April and usually they give you at least two weeks notice before an interview so come the end of March, I'm going to be pretty panicky. However, I have several back up plans lined up. I recently applied to four special masters programs. These are one year masters programs that are especially designed for students who want to go to medical school but have slightly sub-par GPAs (that's me). I've applied to SMPs at Georgetown, Loyola, Drexel and Rosalind Franklin. If I get into one of those, I will apply again to medical school to start Fall of 2011. If I don't get into any medical schools OR SMPs, I plan on getting my nurse assistant certification and working for a year and then applying again. What's really frustrating about all of this is that the rest of my life (aka getting married) can't move forward until this part of my life gets figured out. Ironically, my blog is titled one step at a time because as much as I want to plan out every little detail of my life right now, I need to just take a deep breath and take things one step at a time. That doesn't mean I won't be prepared but I definitely need to stop freaking out at the prospect of not knowing what my plans for the next five years are yet. Anyway, I'll post on this blog if anything new or exciting happens.