Just Like Grade School!

http://tinyurl.com/kqdo7h

If you run the numbers it's like starting 1st grade all over again.
You graduate high school and start back over at 1st grade. It is an additional 12 years before you get a real job. If you are lucky and go straight through!
Four years of undergradute training, then 4 years of med school, and then a minimum of 4 years of a residency. (More if you opt for specialties and sub-specialties.)
I remember my dad talking to me about my choices when I decided to be a doctor. He said I was going to get the B.S. and was on track to start a Ph.D. program. He told me an M.B.A. would help in whatever I did. Now, son, you are telling me you want to be an M.D. All I want to know is, when are you gonna get a J.O.B.

Restart the clock.

Great article about med students getting back to school.
http://tinyurl.com/kqdo7h

iPhone Applications now available on iTunes.com! Shop Now!

I just found some apps for the MCAT on iTunes!!

I haven't used any but would love to hear if you have.

Check 'em out and let me know.

iPhone Applications now available on iTunes.com! Shop Now!

You Have a 50/50 Chance of Getting Into Med School

Great article about the admission process (on the surface.)

http://www.sj-r.com/health/x772314451/Clout-no-help-at-SIU-medical-school

At first glance it states that there are 1200 applicants and only 72 spots. That is a crazy 6% chance of getting into this medical school.
But the admissions committee will kick out a large portion of that because they don't reside there or don't look good on paper.
It gets widdled down to 300 people that actually have an interview. Then they send out 150 acceptance letters for 72 spots. They send some out and some accept and some refuse. Then they send out another batch. And so on. Until the 72 spots are filled.
What if you are the 150th acceptance letter of the 300 people that got an interview?
Then you have a 50/50 chance of acceptance--if you are the target market for this med school!

Each medical school will have its own set of selection criteria, but the biggest is if you reside in the area. (Of course, you have to look good on paper--GPA, MCAT and personal statement.)
More later about the the ability to get into medical school if you want to practice where you are trained!

the mannequin, I think his name was Chester

It was always the best to be able to ask students questions while the blood pressure went right down the toilet. It was a fake patient, a mannequin that looked as such but had all the right orifices and monitoring devices. You could sit and talk about it, and in the end ask if they were going to let this patient die while they decided what to do.

Never a problem to reset the computer.

http://www.wndu.com/mmm/headlines/53071607.html

Now, I have to correct it and talk about it at the same time. Real patients need real answers and real medicines.

The White Coat Ceremony

The ceremony of the white coat is "nice." I think it does, in retrospect, make a psychological contract of professionalism and responsibility.
I never got to partake in a ceremony.
Moreover, I don't remember any other formality than an upper level student pointing and saying, "pick up your white coat over there."
It was next to the coke machine next to where they handed out the free stethoscope with a comment, "They're crackin' down on freebies, so this is the last year they give 'em out." She was refering to the stethoscope which had been funded by a pharmaceutical company.


http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2009/08/14/local/29287940.txt

It always comes back to the basics--Aspirin

No matter how much you know or how many new drugs come on the market, it always comes back to the basics. Aspirin is a wonder drug and new things are being learned even at this stage in the game. It can be a life saver and it can kill you. Every now and then I hear of a person or organization wanting to make it a prescriptive drug.
But it is just aspirin you say.
Yes, aspirin. So very complex after all these years.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/health/13aspirin.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-08-12-voa55.cfm

Is the GRE like the MCAT?

We all laughed the morning of our MCAT when a friend said, "I'm glad I spent all night cramming those vocabulary words." Because we knew he was kidding. This is not the SAT. This is not the GRE or the LSAT. The MCAT test is totally different. His joke broke the silence and the stress.
Don't waste your time studying for the GRE if you are going to take the MCAT!
The MCAT is over a specific set of information--chemistry, physics, biology, and has a writing sample.
Admission Optimization helps!
http://www.admissionoptimization.com/


http://the-gre.com/would-a-gre-preparation-course-help-with-the-mcat.html/comment-page-1#comment-177

Everybody has a Story to Tell

Everybody has a story to tell. You have to let the admissions committee be entertained by your personal statement. They read many that say the same thing--my name is XX, and I want to help people. But the one that stands out is the one that goes to the top of the stack.

Interesting quick tid bit at...

http://today.ucf.edu/blog/2009/08/10/the-coms-first-41-speak-johnathan-gullet/