For my second meeting, I met with Dr. Rodriguez again, this time to discuss more concretely my application to FlexMed. When I scheduled the meeting, I was hoping to have a first draft of my essays done so that we could review them together. Unfortunately though, the meeting was during the last week of classes, and of course life and school work gets quite hectic at the point, so I did not quite have many thoughts on the paper at that point. However, the meeting was nonetheless pretty helpful.
First, we brainstormed ideas for what I can write the essays about. There are three essays in the application–one that asks you to write about an accomplishment in you life, a similar one about a disappointment, and a third that asks why you want to be a physician and specifically why FlexMed would help you accomplish your goals. Based on what we discussed, I think I will write the second essay about my experience in my introductory biology class from the fall of my freshman year.
The disappointment I was going to focus on was the first midterm of that class–I studied really hard and came out of the test feeling really good about how I did, and I ended up scoring C. This was the first test I took in college, so it was pretty disappointing and a bit discouraging. I remember feeling like I had no idea how to succeed if putting in what felt like my best effort only really got me half way there. However, I decided not to let that thought fester and rather that I could completely turn that idea around. I went to office hours consistently during the rest of the semester, asked questions more frequently, changed my study strategies based on the professor’s recommendations, and I ended up improving my score by over a letter grade on the second midterm. By the time the final rolled around, I had really hit my groove, and I ended up getting a 98! Because of that, I had the unique opportunity to TA for that professor this past semester, which was an absolutely incredible experience that I really learned a lot from. Dr. Rodriguez agreed that this example would be a great way to show how I do not crumble in the face of failure or disappointment but rather that I take it in stride and figure out how I can learn and improve from it.
For the third essay, simply talking out with Dr. Rodriguez why I wanted to apply to the program in the first place really helped me get an idea of what to write about. I explained how because I don’t want to major in something pre-med related (like biology, MB&B, or chemistry), fitting in my pre-med requirements really restricts me in what classes I can take. For example, if I major in astronomy, I have almost no space to take classes outside pre-med and my major. Additionally, I have been thinking about actually majoring in physics on the astrophysics track instead, which, since that requires even more classes than the astro major, restricts me even more. However, if I am accepted to FlexMed, I wouldn’t have to take all of the pre-med requirements, thus giving me space to take other classes I’m interested in, like classes in religion, sociology, anthropology, or even more Spanish classes. Dr. Rodriguez noted that it would be especially important to then talk about how my being able to take those classes would specifically make me a better physician. I think I could easily do this by talking about how they’d give me a more well-rounded and diverse view of different peoples and their cultures–an essential trait to have in a profession that works so closely with people of all different backgrounds.
Overall, this meeting was really helpful in giving me the confidence that I can create a good application and that I should apply to this program. As daunting as it is, it’s too good of an opportunity to pass up.
