Needless to say, it's been a longg time since I last updated this. I guess my attempt to blog my journey hasn't been as fruitful as I expected. Regardless, I will continue to write when I get a chance (or remember) to keep a memoir of my experiences.
Anyways, school has been pretty crazy. With all the work/research/gsi stuff going on, it definitely feels difficult to stay on top of everything. Luckily though, I was able to submit all my medical school secondaries at the beginning of October. That was definitely a huge relief. In total, I applied to 17 schools, two of which have already rejected me (UPitt and Mayo) and had one interview this past week. The interview was at Wayne State and it went alright. In retrospect, I should of been more prepared and realized that they would of asked me a lot of personal questions. Instead, I was expecting more of a technical interview like in engineering so I was somewhat caught off guard. The interview started a little rough but got better as it wore on. Overall, it was a 30 min interview so not sure if that's good or bad.
Now, I'm just waiting for schools to get back to me. Most of them take anywhere from a month to three months, so I'm not really expecting anything happen. I guess it's good then that school keeps me busy so I don't need to think about this too much. Honestly though, school has its own challenges as well. Luckily though, God has definitely been blessing me amidst a difficult/challenging semester so I'm beyond grateful for that.
I think that's really all I have to say for now. I'm pretty tired after having all my doctors appointments on the same day. Fall break probably could of been a little more restful/relaxing, but in the big picture that's really nothing to complain about. See ya later!
Monday, October 14, 2013
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Med Apps + School = Suck
Dang it's been quite a while.. I really am doing a poor job of keeping this up to date haha. Sorry about that :p.
Anyways, I ended my internship at Bosch on August 16 and flew out to Cali soon after. I was visiting my girlfriend and didn't really get much done with my med school apps. But I wasn't really bummed about that, Cali was basically a mini vacation after all the hard work I had done.
My primary application was verified on August 28 which basically means a ton of schools started sending me their secondaries. Within the first couple of days, I had already submitted like half of my secondaries. What sucked though was that fell right around when Labor Day weekend was about to start so a lot of schools didn't process it until after. The only problem with that is that my application starts review a little bit later than it normally would have, but not much I could really do about that.
What I've come to realize though is when you're applying to medical school, you really come to hate when schools ask a secondary question that's different than all the other schools. Most of the time, schools will ask "what can you contribute" or "why this school". There are some other variations on the questions, but usually I can recycle my essays. Every now and then though, you get a school that will ask some out of the blue question like, "how do you define respect?" It's at those moments I'm like wtf?!?! and begin to question whether I even want to apply. For the most part though, I think I've overcome most of those situations. Honestly though, I'm just ready to be done with all the secondaries. It's such a long process. With school starting now too, I really want to get all my secondaries in before school picks up. It's gonna be a crazy semester so I don't think I'll have much time in a couple weeks to write solid essays.
Luckily though, I'm almost at the end! Originally, I was applying to 20 schools (i think) but now I think i'm only applying to 17 (not including the two cali schools that pre-screen). I dropped three schools basically for the reason above, they asked different secondary questions. Also, they were located in areas that were sort of remote/didn't really see myself living there for four years. I'm currently at 14/17 with Stanford and UPenn almost ready to go (hopefully, fingers crossed!)
Anyways, that's pretty much it for now! Thanks for checking in! :D
Anyways, I ended my internship at Bosch on August 16 and flew out to Cali soon after. I was visiting my girlfriend and didn't really get much done with my med school apps. But I wasn't really bummed about that, Cali was basically a mini vacation after all the hard work I had done.
My primary application was verified on August 28 which basically means a ton of schools started sending me their secondaries. Within the first couple of days, I had already submitted like half of my secondaries. What sucked though was that fell right around when Labor Day weekend was about to start so a lot of schools didn't process it until after. The only problem with that is that my application starts review a little bit later than it normally would have, but not much I could really do about that.
What I've come to realize though is when you're applying to medical school, you really come to hate when schools ask a secondary question that's different than all the other schools. Most of the time, schools will ask "what can you contribute" or "why this school". There are some other variations on the questions, but usually I can recycle my essays. Every now and then though, you get a school that will ask some out of the blue question like, "how do you define respect?" It's at those moments I'm like wtf?!?! and begin to question whether I even want to apply. For the most part though, I think I've overcome most of those situations. Honestly though, I'm just ready to be done with all the secondaries. It's such a long process. With school starting now too, I really want to get all my secondaries in before school picks up. It's gonna be a crazy semester so I don't think I'll have much time in a couple weeks to write solid essays.
Luckily though, I'm almost at the end! Originally, I was applying to 20 schools (i think) but now I think i'm only applying to 17 (not including the two cali schools that pre-screen). I dropped three schools basically for the reason above, they asked different secondary questions. Also, they were located in areas that were sort of remote/didn't really see myself living there for four years. I'm currently at 14/17 with Stanford and UPenn almost ready to go (hopefully, fingers crossed!)
Anyways, that's pretty much it for now! Thanks for checking in! :D
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Medical Applications = Marathon
It's definitely been a hectic couple of weeks since I last posted. Work picked up for a bit as I raced to finish my project and the pressure of endless secondaries began to weigh me down. However, things have gotten better since then.
Although med school secondaries are definitely challenging, it's not terrible since a lot of them are asking the same question. It's just a matter of adapting each prompt to make sure I answer the question. What's really annoying is when two or more schools ask the same question but they have different word counts.. Then the whole process of figuring out what to delete/add gets a little bit cumbersome, but it's honestly a good problem to have. The worst is when a me school will ask a completely new question. For instance, the NYU secondary asked me how I defined respect. I didn't think it would be too hard until I started trying to actually write. I'm pretty sure I've never thought that hard about respect but I'm pretty happy with the definition I came up with (thanks Caleb!),
Otherwise, I've actually been enjoying this process (up to an extent). It's been interesting learning about all the different med schools and it feels like every time I research a new one, I add another "dream school" to the list. Maybe I'm lucky and all the schools I picked somehow magically align with what I want to do, or all the schools just do a really good job at selling themselves. If that's the case, then I'm really gullible... But I'll assume that's not the case until proven otherwise.
Anyways, I'm going to keep it short and sweet on this one. My brain is mentally fried and my end of internship presentation is tomorrow. I'll write a longer post on the weekend on how God (I think) affirmed my pursuit of medical school. As for a quick progress update, I currently have two secondaries submitted (Washington University in St. Louis and Dartmouth).
See you all later!
Although med school secondaries are definitely challenging, it's not terrible since a lot of them are asking the same question. It's just a matter of adapting each prompt to make sure I answer the question. What's really annoying is when two or more schools ask the same question but they have different word counts.. Then the whole process of figuring out what to delete/add gets a little bit cumbersome, but it's honestly a good problem to have. The worst is when a me school will ask a completely new question. For instance, the NYU secondary asked me how I defined respect. I didn't think it would be too hard until I started trying to actually write. I'm pretty sure I've never thought that hard about respect but I'm pretty happy with the definition I came up with (thanks Caleb!),
Otherwise, I've actually been enjoying this process (up to an extent). It's been interesting learning about all the different med schools and it feels like every time I research a new one, I add another "dream school" to the list. Maybe I'm lucky and all the schools I picked somehow magically align with what I want to do, or all the schools just do a really good job at selling themselves. If that's the case, then I'm really gullible... But I'll assume that's not the case until proven otherwise.
Anyways, I'm going to keep it short and sweet on this one. My brain is mentally fried and my end of internship presentation is tomorrow. I'll write a longer post on the weekend on how God (I think) affirmed my pursuit of medical school. As for a quick progress update, I currently have two secondaries submitted (Washington University in St. Louis and Dartmouth).
See you all later!
Monday, July 29, 2013
Do I really trust...
Welp.. My attempt at posting every week failed quite miserably haha. Hopefully I'll be better at keeping you guys up to date!
Anyways, not much has really changed since I submitted my primary application. I'm waiting for my application to be verified (basically meaning I'm a legit applicant) before I can really begin the next phase of the medical application process. Luckily though, I stumbled across a forum that lists a lot of the schools secondary application questions so I've been trying to get a head start. If anyone wants to edit my essays, I'll gladly offer a free meal :p
This has definitely been a spiritually challenging process though. With medical school, I feel like there's so much uncertainty. Even though I feel like God has affirmed this decision, I still can't help but feel a sense of doubt. Will schools be interested in my application? Will I even get an interview offer? I mean I hear all these statistics: 5000 applicants to a school, 600 interviews offered, 200 accepted students. So out of the original total number of applications, I have essentially a 4% chance of getting into a school (darn you engineering, making me care about numbers). Some may say (probably just myself), "well Andrew, you got into graduate school at U of M! That's gotta count for something right?" Honestly, not really. With engineering at U of M, if your grades are high enough, you're basically automatically qualified for the one year masters program. The application process is more of a formality than anything really.
So why am I so scared about the application process? I guess it's not often I face such statistical odds. Let's face it, I've grown up in a relatively safe neighborhood, have a solid group of friends, and have a top notch education. God has definitely blessed me and I don't in any way take it for granted. But you could basically say that I haven't faced any real sort of obstacle/life-threatening moment (except that time I fell off a long board going down a hill...) that has required me to place all my trust in God. I mean, I always tell myself that "yea I trust in God 100%! my life is in His hands!". Let's be real though, we all struggle with holding something back. It might be our grades, our relationships, maybe even our family. There's always that one thing we just can't quite let go to God. For me, it's always been school.
My fear with med school is that God won't get me into the school I want. That if I don't get into some top 20 medical program, I won't get the education I need to change the world. Then, when I dive deeper, more issues arise. What if the med school's prestige isn't high enough, will I even get a job after I'm done? If I don't get into a top 20 program,will I be stuck in the middle of no where with no friends and no social life. Heck, there probably won't be even be ultimate and I'll become fat and lazy. Over exaggerating much? Definitely. But these are the types of questions that race through my mind, for better or for worse.
Which brings me back to the original point, I just don't trust God enough. I've been wired by our world to look at rankings. Where does U of M rank as a public school? How high/low am I above the average? Am I within the standard deviation? How much money am I going to make? These are the questions that I feel like have been ingrained into my head, but the questions that God doesn't want me to ask. Rather, God wants me to ask, how can I love, serve, AND obey Him (Hole in Our Gospel - Richard Stearns). Everything else will fall in to place if I keep asking that question over and over again. I won't have to worry about what school I get into; I won't have to worry about how prestigious the school is; I won't even have to worry about whether I'll make friends. As long as I love, serve, and obey God, I'll be at the center of His will and everything else will fall in to place.
Trusting God sounds so easy, but it definitely isn't. But I take comfort in knowing that it wasn't easy for other Christians. Was it easy for Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, even the disciples (just to name a few) to trust God? Definitely not. Regardless though, God still finds a way to work in their lives and show them He is trustworthy. I think medical school is definitely part of that process for me. I really need to let go of my fears and trust that God's plan for me is good, wherever it may lead me. I need to trust that by loving, serving, and obeying Him, everything else will fall in to place. What it all comes down to is, I just need trust God with everything.
Anyways, not much has really changed since I submitted my primary application. I'm waiting for my application to be verified (basically meaning I'm a legit applicant) before I can really begin the next phase of the medical application process. Luckily though, I stumbled across a forum that lists a lot of the schools secondary application questions so I've been trying to get a head start. If anyone wants to edit my essays, I'll gladly offer a free meal :p
This has definitely been a spiritually challenging process though. With medical school, I feel like there's so much uncertainty. Even though I feel like God has affirmed this decision, I still can't help but feel a sense of doubt. Will schools be interested in my application? Will I even get an interview offer? I mean I hear all these statistics: 5000 applicants to a school, 600 interviews offered, 200 accepted students. So out of the original total number of applications, I have essentially a 4% chance of getting into a school (darn you engineering, making me care about numbers). Some may say (probably just myself), "well Andrew, you got into graduate school at U of M! That's gotta count for something right?" Honestly, not really. With engineering at U of M, if your grades are high enough, you're basically automatically qualified for the one year masters program. The application process is more of a formality than anything really.
So why am I so scared about the application process? I guess it's not often I face such statistical odds. Let's face it, I've grown up in a relatively safe neighborhood, have a solid group of friends, and have a top notch education. God has definitely blessed me and I don't in any way take it for granted. But you could basically say that I haven't faced any real sort of obstacle/life-threatening moment (except that time I fell off a long board going down a hill...) that has required me to place all my trust in God. I mean, I always tell myself that "yea I trust in God 100%! my life is in His hands!". Let's be real though, we all struggle with holding something back. It might be our grades, our relationships, maybe even our family. There's always that one thing we just can't quite let go to God. For me, it's always been school.
My fear with med school is that God won't get me into the school I want. That if I don't get into some top 20 medical program, I won't get the education I need to change the world. Then, when I dive deeper, more issues arise. What if the med school's prestige isn't high enough, will I even get a job after I'm done? If I don't get into a top 20 program,will I be stuck in the middle of no where with no friends and no social life. Heck, there probably won't be even be ultimate and I'll become fat and lazy. Over exaggerating much? Definitely. But these are the types of questions that race through my mind, for better or for worse.
Which brings me back to the original point, I just don't trust God enough. I've been wired by our world to look at rankings. Where does U of M rank as a public school? How high/low am I above the average? Am I within the standard deviation? How much money am I going to make? These are the questions that I feel like have been ingrained into my head, but the questions that God doesn't want me to ask. Rather, God wants me to ask, how can I love, serve, AND obey Him (Hole in Our Gospel - Richard Stearns). Everything else will fall in to place if I keep asking that question over and over again. I won't have to worry about what school I get into; I won't have to worry about how prestigious the school is; I won't even have to worry about whether I'll make friends. As long as I love, serve, and obey God, I'll be at the center of His will and everything else will fall in to place.
Trusting God sounds so easy, but it definitely isn't. But I take comfort in knowing that it wasn't easy for other Christians. Was it easy for Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, even the disciples (just to name a few) to trust God? Definitely not. Regardless though, God still finds a way to work in their lives and show them He is trustworthy. I think medical school is definitely part of that process for me. I really need to let go of my fears and trust that God's plan for me is good, wherever it may lead me. I need to trust that by loving, serving, and obeying Him, everything else will fall in to place. What it all comes down to is, I just need trust God with everything.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
The Journey Begins
Hey all!
It's been a crazy two months ever since I got out of school. I went into summer with a pretty solid idea of what the next couple years of my life were going to look like. I would work as an intern at Bosch, hopefully get an offer, finish my Masters degree, and then return full-time at Bosch. Everything seemed to be going according to my plan.
Obviously, God's plan was different.
This has been a couple years in the making, but this internal struggle really came to its climax the beginning of June. I won't get in to too much detail (probably will write a post about it at a later date), but basically, I've been debating engineering versus medicine for quite some time now. While working at Bosch and Medtronic last summer, I really questioned whether I could see myself as an engineer for the rest of the my life. It's not that the work was especially challenging (although there were certain moments), I just felt like my passion wasn't always there. If I am going to dedicate a significant portion of my life to a career, I want to be doing something that lies at the intersection of my passion and the world's needs. Now please don't get me wrong, I believe engineering has its purpose. I can list off a ton of examples where engineering has improved the lives of millions. The problem for me is that I don't think engineering is where my God given passion truly lies. It's something that I'm good at, but not something I'm completely passionate about.
That's where medicine comes in. For those of you who don't know, I was technically both a Pre-Med student and Mech. Eng student. If you want to know how it was, words can't even begin to describe how much it sucks. Luckily though, amidst the many times I almost quit Pre-Med, my dad forced me to finish the MCAT, which I'm now very grateful for. I'll be honest, I don't have tons of experience in the medical field. Besides the 40+ hours volunteering at the hospital (which really is nothing) and shadowing Robert Chang, I'm pretty much new to the medical field. Regardless, this brief glimpse of the medical field was enough to convince me that this was something I would be completely passionate about. When I add in the medical missionary testimonies at Knox and Urbana, I felt like medicine was something that would enable me to passionately and purposefully serve God's kingdom. Throw in the fact that my girlfriend wants to be a nurse, I felt like God was basically saying, "Andrew just choose medicine."
Anyways, that's pretty much a quick overview of what's been going on in my life recently. I wanted to start a blog as a way for me to record my thoughts and practice my writing skills. I already submitted my medical school primary app and writing the personal statement was one of the most difficult things I've done in a long time (over 9 drafts). It definitely doesn't help that Mech. Eng has basically turned me into a technical writer, one who gets straight to the point and is devoid of emotions. Hopefully through blogging though, I can improve my non-technical writing as well as address many of the questions I will likely come across in secondary applications and interviews.
In one year, my life will be radically different. Maybe I'll be in medical school, or maybe I'll be trying to find a job (more on this later). Regardless, thanks for following my journey! Can't wait to see what God has in store for me
Andrew
It's been a crazy two months ever since I got out of school. I went into summer with a pretty solid idea of what the next couple years of my life were going to look like. I would work as an intern at Bosch, hopefully get an offer, finish my Masters degree, and then return full-time at Bosch. Everything seemed to be going according to my plan.
Obviously, God's plan was different.
This has been a couple years in the making, but this internal struggle really came to its climax the beginning of June. I won't get in to too much detail (probably will write a post about it at a later date), but basically, I've been debating engineering versus medicine for quite some time now. While working at Bosch and Medtronic last summer, I really questioned whether I could see myself as an engineer for the rest of the my life. It's not that the work was especially challenging (although there were certain moments), I just felt like my passion wasn't always there. If I am going to dedicate a significant portion of my life to a career, I want to be doing something that lies at the intersection of my passion and the world's needs. Now please don't get me wrong, I believe engineering has its purpose. I can list off a ton of examples where engineering has improved the lives of millions. The problem for me is that I don't think engineering is where my God given passion truly lies. It's something that I'm good at, but not something I'm completely passionate about.
That's where medicine comes in. For those of you who don't know, I was technically both a Pre-Med student and Mech. Eng student. If you want to know how it was, words can't even begin to describe how much it sucks. Luckily though, amidst the many times I almost quit Pre-Med, my dad forced me to finish the MCAT, which I'm now very grateful for. I'll be honest, I don't have tons of experience in the medical field. Besides the 40+ hours volunteering at the hospital (which really is nothing) and shadowing Robert Chang, I'm pretty much new to the medical field. Regardless, this brief glimpse of the medical field was enough to convince me that this was something I would be completely passionate about. When I add in the medical missionary testimonies at Knox and Urbana, I felt like medicine was something that would enable me to passionately and purposefully serve God's kingdom. Throw in the fact that my girlfriend wants to be a nurse, I felt like God was basically saying, "Andrew just choose medicine."
Anyways, that's pretty much a quick overview of what's been going on in my life recently. I wanted to start a blog as a way for me to record my thoughts and practice my writing skills. I already submitted my medical school primary app and writing the personal statement was one of the most difficult things I've done in a long time (over 9 drafts). It definitely doesn't help that Mech. Eng has basically turned me into a technical writer, one who gets straight to the point and is devoid of emotions. Hopefully through blogging though, I can improve my non-technical writing as well as address many of the questions I will likely come across in secondary applications and interviews.
In one year, my life will be radically different. Maybe I'll be in medical school, or maybe I'll be trying to find a job (more on this later). Regardless, thanks for following my journey! Can't wait to see what God has in store for me
Andrew
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