Early April and the near future - part 2

So, finally, here's part II to my stories and thoughts. If you only want to hear about the interview, look for the brackets [ ].

I left off talking about the first weekend in April. At this point, I wasn't too concerned for my Drexel interview, so my research wasn't as in depth as it was for the other medical schools ... can you blame me, having been accepted already? I remembered enough about the healthcare system, etc. from my other interviews, so I didn't think it necessary to reread that information. Regardless, I had enough to talk about the school and felt that it was enough. Hence, I went to bed Sunday night ready for a 4 hr drive the next morning and a relatively stress-free stay in PA.

I woke at a good hour and found myself cleaning up the apt a bit before beginning to head out. But before I could do so, maintenance people came by to fix the lights in our bathroom. It wasn't the circuit breaker, so they spent some time checking wiring and other things. I left before they had finished, and prayed that they would have it fixed by the time I came back on Tuesday night. I went to fill my car up with gas, turned on my trusty (well, most of the time) Tom Tom GPS, and headed down to PA. The drive went pretty well - stopped by Allentown to get coffee to fuel the rest of my ride, and brought me back to the good ol' days of HS marching band finals being held at the infamous J. Birney Crum Stadium, where my marching band won 1st place during my junior year of HS. Anyway, turns out there's absolutely NOTHING between Scranton, PA and Allentown, PA ... which was horrible for highway hypnosis and having to pee. I wouldn't recommend that stretch of 100 miles to anyone - I urge you, especially if you're driving alone, to stop and stretch before this span of road.

I eventually made it to Corey's house with no real problems, and in good time. I took a slightly silly way into her town - oh well, lesson learned. I got there to find Corey and her mommy dying Easter eggs. Albeit one week early, it was still fun. It's not too often I get to be artistic, so it was a nice break from the monotony of driving I had just broken out of. Soon after dying some pretty cute eggs, Corey and I set out to what she described as an amazing mall in King of Prussia, PA. I told her that being from Jersey, I would be the judge of that. Turns out she was right. I was impressed by the size and selection of stores in this mall. It rivalled the Willowbrook Mall, if you can believe it, and perhaps had a greater variety of stores. Granted the WM has changed drastically over the years to put in a greater selection of stores, including Delia's, but still. I ended up buying two key chains, a shirt, and a trendy vest. Growing up with malls all over, this was a nice treat and break from the horrible lack of real malls in upstate NY. The only acceptable malls I've been to in NY were in Syracuse and Rochester. And those are 1 and 2 hours away from Ithaca, respectively. How did I survive? I'm not too sure, but I think the outdoorsy activities surrounding the local area had something to do with it.

Returning from the mall, Corey's parents had made dinner, which was lovely, so we ate it! This was followed by ice-cream plans which were foiled, so instead we chatted the night away and headed to bed. I woke up 6 hours later to get ready for the Drexel interview. [So, surprisingly, or maybe not so much, all of my medical school interviews have been radically different. I think both the NJ ones, though slightly different, were the most 'traditional,' in the sense that they asked about my course-work, research interests, thoughts on politics regarding healthcare, etc. - basic med school interview questions. Stony Brook's interview was a friendly, yet pointed conversation about who I am and how firm I am with what I believe, perhaps as a test to see how I handle stress and pressure, and if I was able to effectively communicate my points despite slight antagonism. In the end, that one was different, but I felt pretty good about it. This interview was different. The doctor I met was a vascular surgeon who worked in an orthopedics clinic. The first half of the interview was spent seeing patients for follow-up visits. The cases and patients were pretty neat, but unfortunately, I was unable to ask questions or find an appropriate time to interrupt, especially because there were two other MDs in the room providing second opinions and expertise. The second half of the interview was the traditional med school question interview. Though I was slightly annoyed at the way he phrased some questions. In regard to my low grades during the first half of my Cornell career, he asked, "So, tell me what happened to you at Cornell?" In my opinion, that was rude. His tone was always flat, and his facial expressions were nonexistent. Unfortunately, I could not gauge how the interview went at all because I felt I had little to no control over it - I was unable to tell what he thought of my responses to questions, except at one point where he thought the idea of a public and private sector of healthcare, like in El Salvador, would be good, yet then provided a counterargument almost immediately after showing approval. It was a pretty unnerving experience, actually. After this, I spent the shuttle ride back to the Drexel Med campus listening to music and attempting to shake off the strange, uncomfortable feeling that the interview had left me with. Ah well.

But the interview was only part of the Drexel experience. The day started with the arrival to the admissions office. The Drexel Med campus is actually really nice. The buildings and labs look pretty new, with a new wing currently under construction which will have a lot of simulator-type facilities for upcoming med students to use. The downside about the campus is that it's split into two halves. The hospital isn't connected to the school, like the other schools I visited, but is a 20 minute shuttle ride away. Though it is set in Philadelphia, with the dorms nearby, though the students live all over. It's a slightly scattered campus, but the student body and faculty seem to be quite cohesive.

Upon arrival, we were given our schedules and general information about the college of medicine. We then went around introducing ourselves. I found myself with ~10 other students interviewing for a spot in Drexel's Med School. The others were from random colleges that I hadn't heard of. The only one I knew was UC Berkley - other than that, I had no idea where these people were coming from, except that most were from PA (makes sense). Aside from the Cali girl, some dude from Utah, and myself (coming from NY/NJ), everyone else was an in-state applicant. When it came time to introduce myself, I mentioned my study of biology and lab tech/manager position in entomology, and that I had graduated from Cornell. At the mention of Cornell, the others in the room froze over for a fraction of a second. I'm not exaggerating ... the girl directly across from me dropped her jaw slightly while widening her eyes and making a slight "woah" mouth motion without making noise. The room's atmosphere suddenly felt slightly uncomfortable, and remained that way through the presentation that followed about Drexel's history and program. No one talked to me during the presentation or during the tour that followed afterward.

Despite the strange animosity, the tour was pretty informative. We managed to sit in on a 2nd year lecture, as well as a 2nd year discussion group. Both were highly informative and engaging, the latter reminding me of an episode of House MD, which made me that much more excited about entering medical school. We then went to the gross anatomy lab and found a room full of lined cadavers under transparent sheets (Side note: It was really creepy to see human bodies without auras >_<). At this point, the admissions officer spoke about the courses, especially anatomy, and then, to my surprise, used the word 'irregardless.' I know this highly irks a lot of my close friends, and honestly, I didn't listen to what she said for the next two to five minutes in disbelief and shock. I could not get over her use of that nonexistent word. I eventually came back to reality and stayed with the group for the rest of the tour, whereas two members left for their interviews. The tour went on a bit longer to show us the finer parts of Drexel Med's facilities.

In addition to the guided tour, the admissions officer gave us each a piece of yellow paper with an ethical question on it, which we were to answer. That's right ... I had to write an essay for the interview process. How strange and unexpected. Guess I should've read the StudentDoctor forums after all. Either way, I was able to construct a logical and sensible argument. Luckily, I still remembered how to write well-enough, and felt pretty comfortable and proud of what I turned in. Though that was a curveball, it didn't seem to faze me, thankfully.

My interview followed after the tour and essay writing process. After the interview, I went back to the main campus to have lunch with my student interviewer. She was a 4th year student, 5th year, technically, doing a dual MD/MPH program at Drexel. She told me about the highlights of student life and extracurricular activities, including a "Doctor's Orchestra," at Drexel and in Philly. It seems like it'd be hard to be bored at school here. She also told me how she loved the curriculum at Drexel, which can be catered to two types of learning styles - small group discussions vs. large lectures, which is one of the main reasons I applied to Drexel. The community service opportunities at this school also seemed endless, which was also a big selling point. After a bit of chatting, we had to wrap it up, but not before she told me that all spots for the incoming class had already been filled. Apparently the admissions dept is urging its accepted candidates to decide whether they're coming to Drexel ASAP in order to move people off of the ever-growing waitlist. So while my chances may be fair, I'm not too hopeful about gaining acceptance to Drexel. All in all, I would consider matriculating at Drexel if accepted, but because the financial aid question is a high priority, Stony Brook wins. I was also waitlisted at UMDNJ, so that's that. If both Drexel and Stony Brook offered the same type of aid, then I might have a tougher time deciding, but that's not the case. So ... Stony Brook, here I come!]

I left Philadelphia feeling slightly frazzled from the interview, but generally content from the experience. It was nice to get out of Ithaca, visit a new school, and show them what I'm made of. Whether it was enough to gain acceptance this late in the game, I'm not sure, but I gave it my best, and that's that. I returned to Corey's house, packed up my truck, and began to drive back to Ithaca. We were concerned about the snowstorm that might have hit Ithaca that night, but turns out we had nothing to worry about. The drive was incredibly tiring, especially after my interview day, so a coffee stop was necessary. We made it back in pretty good time and relaxed for the rest of the evening. I was so beat that I wanted to fall asleep upon arriving, circa 9pm, but rememberd that my Woot toys came in, and I needed to play with them.

During a recent Woot-Off, I purchased two tap lights, an awesome headlamp with 7 different light settings and pivoting light source, and a new digital camera. I have yet to try out the latter device, but plan on doing so very soon. So thus ended my trip to Pennsylvania. I returned to work the next day to find that some things can and do fall apart in my absence. But luckily, the stressful work environment only lasted a few days - love shortened work weeks. It ended on a high note, with a successful series of experiments for me, Adam (my labmate) turning 25, and my sister turning 16 (:'D). The Easter Triduum was also in full swing, which made me go into a fervent mode of personal reflection, which turned out to be very healthy and informative. Friday's fun was followed by a lab trip to Buttermilk Falls for hiking, followed by a potluck picnic. I managed to make chirimol, which turned out pretty good. Rodrigo kept gobbling it up. Luckily, I mad plenty. After a few laughs post-hiking and food, we had hot chocolate and parted ways. Later that night I went to go see the Dragonball movie with Corey and Matt. It was hilariously bad, and I feel somewhat guilty for being semi-excited for a possible sequel. And that brings you all to present day. Happy Easter to you all! Later this week I'll be heading home to NJ for my sister's sweet sixteen party, which should be a lot of fun. The week after that will take me to a re-invite to Stony Brook for more information sessions and such. Let's hope I survive the work weeks in between!

Sorry for the long post, but thank you for those who made it this far!