I Love Doc McStuffins! I wish this show had been around when I was younger, she (is) would have been my Idol!

Exactly 7 days before Christmas, I received the best early Christmas gift I could ask for. The e-mail came when I was at work, and immediately my palms began to sweat. It was a vague e-mail that simply read "see the attached below", and I slowly began to panic until I hovered over the attachment that was titled "Offer Package". Breathlessly, I read the e-mail and then excused myself to restroom, afraid I would start to cry at my desk. Then, I returned to my desk to re-read the e-mail 5 more times, making sure I read it correctly, I did. After the holidays, I had two more interviews and last week I received my final decision from the last school I interviewed for and was Accepted. All in all, I interviewed at three schools and was accepted into all three! 

As you know, this is my second application cycle after unfortunately not making it off the waitlist of two schools last cycle. It was a scary decision to reapply immediately after a unsuccessful cycle. I feared that I would be rejected again, and worse not even get interviews because I was a fresh re- applicant. I worried that schools I applied to last cycle would see my application and  say "well, we didn't want her last year, why would we want her this year?"  I ultimately decided to reapply the following cycle after seeking advice on my first application and added shadowing, volunteer and clinical experience with my full-time job as a phlebotomist. I was confident in my first application, but I believe that this year I walked into my first interview even stronger. Unfortunately, with acceptances, we never really get the chance to discover why they said "Yes", but I'd like to think that my research on why they said "No", the year before, helped me this time around!

It still hasn't fully sunk in yet that next fall (really this summer!) , I'll be starting medical school and in four years I will officially be doctor! A dream of mine, since I was three years old is on its way to becoming a reality. This is to say, NEVER give up on your dreams!

It's April 30th and for many people, it's simply just the last day in April, but for hundreds of Pre-Medical Students, today holds a different significance. Today is what is known as "Traffic Day". According to the rules of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), admission officers and advisors are able to finally see Accepted Applicants and Accepted Applicants that have multiple acceptance should release holds at other schools. For students that have been accepted, the time to finally choose the school they will be attending next fall has arrived. For waitlisted students, like me, the hope that a released spot might become an acceptance is a possibility.

This was a long year for me. The Medical School Application cycle is LONG, and there is a lot of waiting. And after waiting for so long, I was waitlisted at 2 of the schools I interviewed at and told to wait some more... It happens. My first post-interview decision was a waitlist, but I kept hope... and then a rejection (it hurt, but again I stayed positive and optimistic for my final school to decide), and was waitlisted again. I am a glass-half-full kinda girl, but this medical school application process can cause even the most confident person to take a blow to their self-esteem. I told myself  I had 1 day to feel sorry for myself, and I took it... 

Perseverance and Passion, "Ariel, you have to have Perseverance and Passion, and if you have those, you will be a doctor", one of my interviewers told me. And I told him "I have them both". Although I am still waiting, my journey is not over. The day after my sulk day, I got busy! NO DEFEATIST ATTITUDES! I e-mailed my advisors and asked about next steps. Many schools even offer exit interviews for unsuccessful applicants, so if you're like me and you aren't sure where the weaknesses lie in your application, your best bet is the schools that told you "no". This is a unique opportunity...accepted students just get accepted so in truth, they never really know "why" they were chosen, but knowing why you didn't, gives you an opportunity to improve and strengthen.

This is exactly what I did for the one school I was rejected at... and it sucked to know that I was so close, but didn't have an awesome interview, but also helpful because interviewing skills is something that can DEFINITELY be improved (also it was my very first interview at one of my top schools, so I'm sure nerves got the best of me... but something I can work on)

My number one tip you're going into an application cycle is to always be prepared to re-apply. The sounds like you accepting failure before trying but, last year 51,680 applicants applied to medical school and 21,338 matriculated. As optimistic as I try to be, I am a realist so until I have an acceptance e-mail, I will continue strengthening my application and myself with more volunteering, clinical experiences and any opportunities that help will help me grow as a person and hopefully succeed as a medical student and eventually a Doctor!

**My number two tip is to take really take the time to improve your application, it's tempting to get the ball running again, but make sure that you not only discover your weaknesses but correct them!

My interviewer spoke to me of Passion and Perseverance, which I knew I had both, but more importantly, I knew I had Purpose, a true feeling of what I'm meant to do with my life. I know my Purpose (the reason behind it all) is to help and heal others, and my Passion (my drive and desire) for science and medicine fuels it, but my Perseverance (my strengthen and will to carry on in times of adversity) will get me through all!

Thanks for following along with my journey and hope to share good news soon!

Shadowing is great, but once you further into your journey to medical school, more admission committes are looking for hands-on clinical experience. This means hands-on patient contact in a clinical or medical setting.

Medical school is long and can be daunting, admission committees want to make sure incoming medical students really know what they're getting into and a committed to pursuing medicine. Shadowing is an awesome way to gage your interest in the healthcare field, but once you make the decision that you seriously want to apply to medical school, hands-on clinical experience is INVALUABLE. I've heard many stories of stellar applicants with 3.9 GPAs, volunteer experience and shadowing hours get rejected from medical schools because their applications lacked sufficient clincial experience.

Shadowing can be very passive. Most like you are like a shadow in the room, standing back and just listening to the doctor interact with his/her patient. This is experience is valuable but real medicinie is hands on and messy and requires a lot of face-to-face patient interaction. Medical Schools want to make sure applicants have some background before admitting them. So...

•  CNA
• EMT
• Medical Scribe- this is awesome and becoming more popular. It's basically shadowing but you get paid for it!
• Medical Assisting
•  Phlebotomy (the people who draw your blood and what I did!)

• Clinical Research- this also looks amazing on applications 

I personally received a great on clinical exposure from my work-study on my college campus. My university was affiliated with the state hospital, so I worked as an Office Research Assistant in the Gynecologic Oncology division. I was able to learn about medical records, run errands for administrative staff and doctors at the hospital and even work on a study with an attending physician!

Hi Guys,
It's mid-November and it's been a while since I've written a post about my journey to medical school so I thought I'd give an update.

The wait to hear back from medical school is just as excruciating as the wait for a new GOT season!

I wrote a post about my recent summer experience at UNC School of Medicine MED program (you can find the post about it here). The medical school application opened in May and submission was allowed in June, but I wanted all my focus on doing well in the program so I held off until I returned home in late July, but I didn't officially submit my AMCAS application until mid-August.

This was NOT the plan, but life happened... such as my dad getting a bad wound infection that developed into necrotizing fasciitis (faint of heart: don't google) that required him to be hospitalized for 5 weeks and other 4 weeks of rehabilitation, so I ended up working on many of my secondary applications in his hospital room. He returned home about a month ago but he still needs daily wound care and at home rehab... so I took longer than I liked to submit many of my secondaries. But in spite of setbacks in my timeline and life events, I got all my applications in and received 2 Interview Invites so far! Both are my interviews are scheduled after Thanksgiving so I'll let you guys know how they go!

Wish me luck!

Hi All!

I finally submitted my application to medical school! To be honest, my application was ready to be submitted at the end of May, but I got swept up in my summer program and kept putting it off. I think the idea of submitting finally made it REAL. But in today's post I wanted to discuss letters of recommendation. Did you know, you don't have to wait for LORs before submitting your app, so if you're holding out, there's no need! Letters can be submitted and received before or after your primary application is submitted, but that's not to say procrastinate... early is always best!

Like I said, my primary application was ready to submit at the end of May, letters and all! I made sure ask my letter writers in advance, so all my letters would be received or in the process when my app was ready to go. Before I started the medical school application process, I had always heard tales of how hard it was to get letters of recommendation... my advisor once told me of a student, who had a school offering an interview invite, but couldn't officially because one of her letter writers had yet to submit their letter! Apparently, the student drove all the back to their school and camped outside their professor's office until they agreed to submit the letter ASAP! Fortunately for me, the LORs was the easiest part of my application and I wanted to give you guys some tips!

How to find Letter Writers:

Freshmen, Sophomore or even Junior Year are the perfect times to find letter writers! Chances are you'll be taking a professor more than once, and if you do, they'll be one of the people you want to write your letter! Since I did a post-bacc, the majority of my letters are from instructors I recently took classes with, but I had a instructor in which I had 3 classes over my four years with my home institution, and even though I had graduated and she moved to another university, she was more than willing to write me a letter! (she even wrote me two!: one for my summer program and med school!)Tip: Don't be afraid to contact old instructors, and ask for a rec! Just shoot an e-mail, reminding them, and offer some background and most should repsond!

How to develop relationships with Instructors: 

Simple, go to office hours...consistently! Honestly, it's that easy! But cautionary tale: make sure you make yourself known when you go to office hours! During my post-bacc I went to office hours, maybe 3-4 that semester for a class, and I thought my professor recognized me enough to write a good letter of rec for my summer program, apparently she did not! When I asked, she told me she didn't know me well, but you write to my good performance in her rigorous class... I said okay (DON'T). Come to find out, she put the wrong name on my letter and only wrote a paragraph! Tip: If you ask a person to write you a STRONG letter and they seem hesitant at all, run! It's not worth your time or theirs. 

How to ask for Letters of Recommendation:

If you found potential letter writers and have good enough relationships that you feel like a STRONG letter can be written on your behalf, it can still feel intimidating to ask! I always felt like I was burdening my instructors or doctors, asking for a favor. DON'T! Tip: It's the job of faculty members to write letters of recommendations... they do it all the time, every year! And remember, someone had to do the same for them, once upon a time. So one day, when you and I are doctors, with our busy lives, let's remember the same when some shy pre-med comes up and asks for an LOR!

When asking for a letter, I would suggest like my advisor suggested to me, have a Letter Writers Packet/ Folder for each of your letter writers. In my Letter Writer Packet, I included the AAMC Letter Writer guidelines to help "guide" my writers in what should be mentioned in my letters. I also included a draft of my personal statement (it can be rough, just a little background so they have more to write about), my CV/ Resume, and a letter of gratitude! They'll probably ask for your CV and Personal Statement anyway, but isn't nice to just have it ready to go before they even ask! And ask early, and when I say early... 2-3 months is usually warning time! (I asked in January, and sent reminders in March and early May when AMCAS opened, but if you haven't asked yet...you've still got time!)

Interfolio vs AAMC for Letter Submission:

I personally opted for Interfolio (an online dossier service) to house my letters until submission to the AAMC (a couple of my letter writers preferred to send directly to AAMC). Interfolio's service will hold your letters until you are ready to submit, so you don't have to wait until the AMCAS app opens to ask for letters and if you're worried that your professor will forget you...ask directly at the end of the semester and have them submit to Interfolio. Once all my letters arrived in Interfolio, I submitted them to AMCAS and they were received 24 hours later!


Asking for letters was the simplest part of my app, writing my personal statement was another story! I hope this post was helpful!

Today was the most unique, amazing and humbling experience! I dissected my first human cadaver! I have dissected worms, frogs, pigs, mice and cats, but this was first time ever cutting into human flesh. The MED program allows us the opportunity to take Gross Anatomy in the medical school in the same labs the medical students use throughout the year!  In previous anatomy classes, we were presented with human tissue and organs that had already been excised, but the experience a fresh cadaver was completely new to me. I was both excited and nervous.

On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to "greet" our cadavers before we began dissection. We walked into our lab room to see blue body size bags that held the cadavers that our groups would be dissecting for the remainder of the course. I stood slightly anxious, as my group mate unzipped the bag and revealed our cadaver. The face and genitalia were covered with cloths and I took it all in, as I looked over the body that I would eventually be cutting open the next day.

In Anatomy Lecture, we discussed the history of human dissection and where our cadavers came from. In lecture, we learned about "grave robbers" and how centuries ago, it was forbidden by the church to dissect human bodies... how is one someone supposed to learn anatomy without ever inspecting the anatomy?  We learned that only willingly donated cadavers are used in our labs. Learning this, I realized the amazing gift that someone had given us! The ability to advance our medical education! The donor and donor's families gave us opportunity to learn.

I also realized the humbling experience of cutting into human flesh and how it is a special privilege shared by few. As a future medical professional, I will have to opportunity to poke and prod in any other context would be completely inappropriate and very well illegal... (I once read a quote about how doctors essentially get away with assault and battery). How many people in their lifetime will ever say they saw what the inside of another person looked like or actually held a heart or brain in their hands?

All in all, it was a great experience! At the end of the day, I was elbow deep in cadaver, one of my group mates even had fascia on her neck, we all smelled of formaldehyde and were in desperate need of a shower, but I can't wait to get back to lab to see and learn more!

Hey Guys,

Hey Guys,
It's been a while since I posted about my journey to medical school, so I thought I would update and fill you in!

A couple of weeks ago, at the end of April I sat for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) for the very first time and boy was I nervous. I've been planning to take this exam since my freshman year of college and I always put it off because I didn't ever really feel prepared. The MCAT is a major component of your Medical School Application and I always had a fear it would make or break my application. If you know from reading my Pre-Med story, I struggled in my physical sciences in undergrad (biology, chemistry and physics) and the MCAT was basically all physical sciences until 2015 when they added a psychology and sociology section. Many of my peers felt rushed to take the old MCAT before the changes occurred and I did too, but as a double major in psychology and biology, I'm glad I waited. To be honest, the new changes were necessary and I have no idea why psychology and sociology weren't on an exam for future physicians in the first place when psychological and social situations are MAJOR influencers on health!

I originally prepared a MCAT study plan that would consist of 5-6 months of studying, but unfortunately life just gets in the way of our plans sometimes... I did spend 4-5 months studying and was able to take 6 practice Full Length Exams instead of the 10 I was planning. I honestly wish I was able to strictly stick to my study schedule, but I don't think I was ever going to feel completely prepared for it and it was time to put doubt aside and take the test!

Full Length Exams and the Section Bank and Question Packs from the AAMC are the best way to prepare for the exam. Content Review will only take you so far and you'll never know if you're absorbing all that content if you don't test yourself!

Before the test, I took 3/6 Full Lengths under complete testing conditions, in which I woke up at 6:30, ate breakfast, and started my exam at 8:00am like I would be doing on test day! I made sure to find my test center the weekend before my test, and watched the Prometric Test Center video on the AAMC website, so nothing on test day would be a surprise. )They actually fingerprint and wand you each time you leave the test room and for some odd reason the computer always had issues with my fingerprint! I was like "I swear it's me!" LOL)

In the end, I felt like my exam was more difficult than any of my practice material, but that could have been the nerves of test day...now that it's over, it's been the 30 day wait for the results that makes me anxious, so I'm trying to stay busy to keep my mind off it!

Today we learned about gram staining in my microbiology lab. The cell walls of different bacteria determine how well the stain will adhere and thus determine the color. Gram positive bacteria have a cell wall with a thick layer of peptidogylcan and stains love them, but gram negative bacteria have thin layers of peptidogylcan with an extra lipopolysacarrhide outer member and don't take stain well (this alps makes them more resistant to certain antibiotics). It's important as a doctor to know which type of bacteria your patient might be infected with in order to treat the condition properly!

It’s that time again, another 365 days has come and passed. Every year it seems as if the year has gone by so quickly and yet although I can’t believe 2016 is ending so soon, I definitely feel the world and I need a fresh start that 2017 will bring!
Every year we make New Year’s Resolutions of what we hope to accomplish in the new year and while there are a few determined souls that actually stick to theirs, most of us already have either broken or given up before Groundhog’s Day!   Most of the time, I know when I make New Year’s Resolution I always have a little thought in the back of my head that I won’t really accomplish them, but it’s the thought that counts… well this year feels different! By writing my resolutions and sharing them with you all, I feel as if it will keep me accountable and really help me accomplish my goals for 2017!

MY 2017 GOALS AND RESOLUTIONS:

1.To stop doubting my abilities and trust my educational background and skills and take the MCAT. To be honest, I probably should have taken the MCAT a while ago but somewhere I lost confidence in my science ability and became afraid of a test that would “determine” whether I or not I go to medical school. *update I’ve pushed my test date back to April* I have realize it’s just exam, the right answers are on the page, and if I don’t get the score I want, I can try, try again!

2.This resolution falls in line with my first one: To stop being afraid of rejection and apply to Medical School. I’ll never know until I put myself out there!

3.Take a Vacation… I honestly haven’t been on Vacation since my spring break trip my senior year of college. My family has never prioritized vacations due to finances, but I’ve decided to travel in 2017, so it’s time to start a fund

4.Pay off all my credit cards… I unfortunately was one of the young ones that got trapped into the lure of credit when I turned 18. Although it’s not a lot of debt and I could have paid it off by now, I never prioritize it. But I’m an adult and eventually I’ll want to buy a house or another purchase that will require a loan and I would love to have Good Credit and be financially responsible

5.Treat myself at least once a week… I know I just said that I’m trying to save for a trip and pay off my credit cards, but I want to treat myself to something small at least once a week. We all need a pat on the back from ourselves!

6.Organize my house and immediately put things back where they belong when I’m finished with… some of you may already do this but I live in organized chaos and I really want to just organized peace!

7.Become a conversational speaker in Spanish… I took Spanish for 8+ years and even placed out of it for college, but haven’t studied it since my senior year in high school. I’m pretty good at reading and writing, but I can barely hold a 2 minute convo with a native speaker and although I can pick out a few words, I feel like too much of a fraud to try to actually speak it myself. I know it takes years to become fluent and nothing is like full immersion, but I hate that all knowledge has gone to waste and want to use more of Spanish in my everyday life!

8.Find a piece of beauty and happiness in each day and record it. I’ve never been a big fan of journaling but this year I really want to appreciate something good in each day and make sure to write it down so in 365 days I can look back and realize just how wonderful 2017 was!

If you ever wondered what Aud Lang Syne means, it translates to Times gone by in Scottish!

Hope you all have a start to the new year filled with Happiness, Joy, Gloss and of course a pop of a Champagne Bottle!

Happy Friday guys!

Yesterday, I completed my last day of clinicals for my Phlebotomy program, and I actually took (aced!) my final for it on Wednesday, so I'm officially done, so I thought 'd share my experience learning and performing venipuncture with you guys!

I really enjoyed the experience and personally love drawing blood and can't wait to enter the workforce and get some really good clinical experience under my belt. If you can handle blood, which if you're looking to enter the medical field, you will definitely have to learn to, I think Phlebotomy is a great way to gain some clinical experience, earn some extra money, and really get a feel for what it is like to work in the hospital or doctor's office.

The Course:
 I took my course through the college associated with a major hospital in my hometown. The college offered a 10 week course that would consist of 5 weeks in the classroom and 5 weeks of clinicals actually sticking and drawing blood on patients.

The Classroom:

For 5 weeks, I learned in the classroom about the technical procedure of venipuncture, basic anatomy, medical terminology and health and hazard safety. For me, the information that we learned in class was basic review for me and I barely struggled because I had already been exposed the to most of the information we were learning from my previous educational background of being a pre-med student for 5 years. What I did have difficulty with was the technical and hands-on part of learning how to draw blood. In class before we would be exposed to actual human flesh and blood, we practiced learning to stick on dummy arms... and I can say I struggled at times,


The arms we had in class were definitely a little worn and had a few track marks, so they didn't necessarily imitate the true experience of drawing blood, but the repetitiveness helped us becoming comfortable using a needle and learning the proper steps in the procedure.

Once we were all comfortable with sticking the dummy arms, we practiced on each other... yes, we had to be each others Guinea pigs and there was some fainting and blood spattered and spilled but we all survived. My first time ever, I was so nervous that when I found the vein and inserted the needle, I freaked out and immediately removed it and blood ran down my classmates arm! (But I was happy that I had successfully found a vein...)

Although I was nervous, it was great that we had the chance to practice on real people and get all our nerves out before going into clinicals with real patients that might not be so understanding about us making mistakes.

Clinicals:

The night before clinicals, I was anxious because I had no idea what to expect or how patients would react to my being a student... I was essentially worried that although I knew the anatomy, the order of drawing the tubes, and the medical terminology, that I would be no good and actually performing. My worst fear was hurting the patients. This fear truly resonated with me in that I felt in I couldn't perform venipuncture well, then maybe I wasn't cut out to go to medical school and perform more complicated procedures like surgery one day...

When I arrived at my first clinical rotation, my preceptor was great. She always wanted to make sure I knew I could ask questions and to make sure I felt comfortable, she even volunteered to let me stick her first thing in the morning before any patients arrived. Having a great preceptor, I believe is key to success in hands-on learning experiences like these. She really helped established my confidence and gave me use constructive criticism without making me feel incompetent. The comfort and confidence I learned in my first week stayed with me throughout my clinicals.

On the other hand, having a not so great preceptor can really shake your confidence and your ability to perform and just really make the experience difficult. In my third week of clinicals, I had a preceptor that although was knowledgeable and overall a nice guy, his teaching style was too aggressive for my personality. He would undermine and critique me in front of patients and essentially coerced me into using his method vs. what I had been taught in class. It was a difficult experience for me, and but it was important for me to not let him take the enjoyment and soil the experience of treating patients for me.

In healthcare, it's always important to not let upset patients or staff, make you forget why you are there... because you truly love helping and taking care of people! It was hard and sometimes emotionally and physically draining, but after each patient, I was always excited to see the next!

Overall, I love venipuncture and I'm glad it was a skill I learned now (apparently doctors and nurses aren't the best phlebotomist because they don't take specific course designed to teach it), and I believe if you can make a patient like you while sticking them with a needle and drawing tubes of bloods... you're golden! If anyone is looking to gain hands- on clincal experience or entry into healthcare that doesn't take , phlebotomy is a great field, and nowadays they even participate in more laboratory work if you're interested in what happens to the blood after it's drawn!

According to my pre-med advisor, when students ask what counts as clinical experience... he says anything allows you to get close enough to smell the patient... I definitely think getting bled on will count lol!

Hope this was helpful and feel free to leave any questions in the comments below!

Hi Guys,
It's the Tuesday after Labor Day, this is the Mondayest Tuesday by far! I love 3-day weekends, but the struggle is real when trying to return to the actual work-week. Once I managed to drag myself out of bed, I tried to get some studying in for the MCAT. I must admit, I have been slacking lately, and I am behind in my study schedule, but I know myself and accounted for this and that's why I decided to stretch my studying out a little longer than the average student.

Anyhow, I took my first practice exam this evening, and I'll admit, I was nervous and I had been putting it off for weeks, but I knew I needed some baseline score to really know where I stand in my strengths and weakness.

Here it is:

Today marks my last day of freedom before I divulge into studying for the dreaded MCAT! I've been putting this test on the back burner because honestly I wasn't comfortable enough with material and although the MCAT is a major portion of every student's application to medical school, in my situation, I placed an extreme amount of weight on it... but I'm deciding to enter the mindset that this is just a test, and like every test, there are right answers on the page and the key to choosing the right answer is A)Knowledge (which comes with proper preparation) and B) Confidence, which comes from successful practice!