FSU Honors Medical Scholars Program 2011

sunnyflorida
Sun, 03 Apr 2011 17:25:29 +0000

Look, you would be surprised at how much one can tell from an application. One can tell quite a bit about attitude, about humility, about people skills. For those of you who do not know, I will repeat what I have stated here before. I am a physician on the clinical faculty of FSU’s College of Medicine. I am not, however, involved in the admissions process.

And again I must state: The med school at FSU is different. They are looking not for scientists but for humanists. They are teaching with just as much emphasis on the art of medicine as they are the science of medicine.

There is more to getting into certain med schools than scores, GPA’s and hours volunteering/shadowing. And for a combined BS/MD program, there is also the important of maturity.

If you want to be a physician bad enough, you will make it. Just keep applying and working towards a goal. I know where from I speak. I left high school after junior year and enrolled in a LAC under an early admissions program. There were no AP courses in my small parochial school. And back then, not much in the way of dual-enrollment classes. So I enrolled full time in college, and was given my high school diploma after I successfully completed my freshman year at college. I was in a hurry. And during my freshman year away at my LAC, I applied to several 6 and 7 year combined BS/MD programs, explaining that I was still earning my HS diploma. I was not accepted. I just kept applying. During my second year of college I applied to a program at Johns Hopkins that was --at that time-- accepting students after two years of college for a 5 year program where, at the end of 5 years, you earned your BS and MD. i made it to the interview. They interviewed 100 for 30 slots. NO GO. During my junior year of college I applied early admissions to several state U’s in Florida. Notta. During my senior year, I was accepted to multiple MD programs.

Why was I rejected from the accelerated programs? I have no idea. But I just kept applying. Finally it worked. Just work hard and persist and you will be rewarded. Sometimes programs know better than you that you are not yet suited or just not ready for their program.

There are also plenty of med students who did not get accepted the first time around, even waiting to apply during senior year of college. Some go to grad school and reapply. Some work for a year, taking classes and reapply. Just work toward your goal. If you never give up you will get there.