On this past 17th, I had a pretty good day. I had an interview with Dr. Nyirady, the Dean of Admissions at Loma Linda SOM. It was basically our interview before our real one next semester. It went remarkably well, and he said in so many words that he doesn’t want me to apply to any other school but Loma Linda. Since where I go also depends on where Brittany gets in, I really couldn’t confirm that at all. But he really liked my stats, and more importantly, he loved the mission work I’m a part of. There are still a couple of things that are slightly unsettling to me about Loma Linda. I’ve heard just a little too many stories about prejudiced people there. My Aunt graduated from there, and she said that the only way she survived med school was by banding together with the rest of the black med students. I have a play uncle who is now an emergency medicine doctor. When we was applying to med school (this was back in the early 80s), Loma Linda told him that maybe he should consider another profession because they didn’t think he could handle medicine. Well, 2 weeks later he was accepted into Georgetown University’s School of Medicine, so I guess he wasn’t too shaken up about it. But too many people have given me the impression that Loma Linda only accepts Oakwood students because they need black people. Honestly, I think more highly of Loma Linda than that, but it troubles me that so many people have this mindset. Anyway, I’m still applying, and I will still be excited if I get in. School next year is going to be pretty crazy. The only way I and 3 other juniors were able to take Gross Anatomy was because we promised to be lab instructors for the class next year (something that the teacher rarely has, since its usually a class for seniors). Well, I guess because of the number of lab instructors they have this year, they teacher expanded the class size from 27 to like 50!!! On top of that, our lab coordinator (the lady who runs the lab) is leaving to get her Ph.D in anatomy. It doesn’t look like they are bringing anybody else in, so its looking like it will be up to us 4 lab instructors to set the quizzes, tests, practicums, to help students dissect, and to dissect whatever students don’t get to. This is pretty exciting, because right now I’m learning the information, next year I’ll be teaching it and helping other students learn the information, and 2 years later I’ll be taking it in medical school! This past Friday was so tight!!! For OBMA (Oakwood Bio-Medical Association) we had a panel. The panel consisted of a Internist with a DO, a General Surgeon with an MD, two graduate students from Yale, a recent Oakwood graduate in her first year of graduate school at UAB, and a recent Oakwood graduate in her first year of medical school at University of Cincinnati (Nicole Haughton, who is a new diarist on the Med School Diary page). This panel was so inspiring and so informative. To point out a few things that happened…I was really enthralled with the General Surgeon. He was actually late because he had just gotten out of surgery, but the guy was very down to earth. He’s one of the only two black surgeons in Huntsville, AL and he explained some things to us. First he told us about his day yesterday. He told us that his day started at 5 a.m. on Thursday, and ended at 4 a.m. Friday morning. He told us that at 4 a.m., he went home, snuggled with his wife, slept for about an hour and a half and then had to be back at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. He told us this to tell us that you can’t go into fields like surgery and expect to have a 9 to 5 lifestyle. He said that you must be willing to make the sacrifice and truly love what you are doing. As stressful as the day was, he said that he loved every second of it. Someone asked him if they should major in business instead of Biology, and he told them no, but he did say that he wished that he had asked more doctors about the business side of medicine more when he was coming up. That would have helped him understand more about the difference between running a solo practice or working with a group. He said that the main problem with most black surgeons is that they don’t want to band together in practices. All of them want to be solo, and that means overheads for all of them, personal to pay for all of them, etc. The med student, Nicole Haughton encouraged us a lot. One of the most encouraging things she said was that at Cincinnati, when people asked her what school she was from, and she said Oakwood, they automatically pegged her lower because they had never heard of the school. She also said that many of her classmates had scored 39s on their MCATs. With all this though, she was one of the only students out of her whole class that had seen and worked on a cadaver before they got to medical school So when they started dissecting, and she knew where everything was, they started showing her much more respect. This is encouraging, because its showing me that all this studying I’m doing now for gross anatomy will pay off in medical school. It also shows me what a privilege it is for Oakwood to have 4 cadavers for us to dissect and learn on. I’m just really excited about getting this whole medical school app process started. I’ve already hit up my current World Literature teacher for a recommendation, and Monday I’m going to give her the Interfolio sheet so she can upload it online or send it in. My plan is to have all my recommendations submitted to Intefolio before the summer starts so when it comes down to secondary time come July, I won’t be held back at all. I have some advice for those that are trying to get a non-science recommendation; its better to get it from a teacher who is teaching a class you are currently taking. That way you are fresh in their minds, especially if you are doing well in the class. Since my school doesn’t have a Pre-Med Committee, my two science LORs will come from the chair of my department, and another faculty member.
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