The legend of the vacuous matriculant.
Something happened last week that spurs me to make a few more comments concerning matriculation. A buddy stopped me in the hall and mentioned that quite a few people from my former graduate institution matriculated this year. During the litany, I recognized a name. I had several classes with this person and also knew that their MCAT performance was abysmal, <20. Yet this individual waltzed into the class of 2010. So good reader, the previous post, while my contentions are usually correct, didn’t consider the outliers.
Legends abound. Sometimes it’s the 2.0 warrior whose parent is a MD. Another, the minority who didn’t even have to fill out a paper application after completing the institution’s minority MCAT preparatory course. My favorite, the sexy applicant who slept with his/her interviewer. These urban legends bounce around campus and are usually quelled by premed advisors, professors, and current medical students. Make no mistake friend; mythology sometimes creeps into real life.
Legends abound. Sometimes it’s the 2.0 warrior whose parent is a MD. Another, the minority who didn’t even have to fill out a paper application after completing the institution’s minority MCAT preparatory course. My favorite, the sexy applicant who slept with his/her interviewer. These urban legends bounce around campus and are usually quelled by premed advisors, professors, and current medical students. Make no mistake friend; mythology sometimes creeps into real life.
posted by Theogenes at 11:01 AM
1 Comments:
Theogenes,
I am white male and will be matriculating this fall, entering the class of 2010. In your previous post you are hell-bent on the numbers game necessary for admission into medical and then in this post you talk about how race, sex, etc. can play into the issue. However, I think you forget how important character, extracurriculars, and radical experiences have on the admissions process. Imagine that I have 3.0 and a 24...and what if I start my personal statement with this: The moment I realized I wanted to become a doctor was the same moment I saw a grenade fall into my barracks while aiding a soldier in Iraq...etc. Or perhaps you've established an organization at your school that has been successful at increasing the number of blood drives and the amount of donations to certain charities or research efforts. Finally, and the most pertinent to myself, was the ability to talk with the interviewers and show-off my personality. So many people are nervous and insincere...genuine character will also help you get into medical; interviewers can see past a lot of things.
The whole reason for my post is to remind applicants that medical school isn't all about numbers. Pure numbers make Law Students (sans Northwestern); intelligence and character make Med Students!
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