MedTalk Series: It's Not Just About The Money: Why Scholarships are Important

A reader recently emailed me this question:
"While you were a premed, did you apply and win awards and scholarships? I was wondering if the awards and the scholarships help boost the ABS? "

The answer to the first part of this question is "Yes" - during my high school as well as undergrad, I had applied to many awards and scholarships and was fortunate enough to be the recipient of quite a few of them.

The answer to the second part of the question is that while scholarships enable students to fund their education, the other underlying advantage to applying (and winning) a scholarships is that it can also help shed a positive light on one's application for professional school - in this case, medical school.

For anyone who has applied for scholarships and awards in the past, you would know that the application process can sometimes be very long and detailed depending on the prestige and amount that the scholarship is offering. The point of scholarships is to award those applicants who've fulfilled its criteria, whether it be volunteering a certain number of hours, achieving a certain GPA, making a difference in the community etc. These eligibility criteria all showcase an applicant's initiative in their academic and/or social life which can further support and validate one's achievements when applying for professional school. For instance, if you were part of a student association and made a large impact for that association or even for your school at large, having won a scholarship that recognized your work would further help your interviewers see the kind of person you are - one that is hard working and concerned about his/her school community. It can also showcase your ability to juggle your academics and extra-curriculars which is also an important trait that most medical school interviewers look for. Winning scholarships also gives one the ability to speak about their achievements during the interview process.

On the OMSAS application, there is a section whereby applicants can indicate if they've won any awards and if they did, the size of the applicant pool. Depending on the prestige of the scholarship/award, the competition might be very large or small. Even if one didn't win a scholarship and only ended up as a finalist/semi-finalist, it is important to indicate this as it shows that you had taken the initiative to apply for the award and advanced in the selection process. If you had won the scholarship, then the size of the applicant pool gives the interviewers can idea of how difficult it was to win that scholarship which can work in your favour during the interview process.

One thing I haven't talked about is research awards. Most students are aware of NSERC but there are also various research grants/funding offered by the department that you're carrying out your research, by major companies/government organizations (ex: Heart and Stroke Foundation). Furthermore, various hospitals offer summer research studentships that pay students to do research in an academic hospital. Depending on the medical school that you are applying to, the reviewers might look heavily on whether or not you have any research experience. Thus, having any sort of research award/grant/bursary would enhance your application.

When applying for scholarships:

Know your Strengths

• Do you very high grades?
• Do you play any sports?
• Do you write plays? act? dance?
• Do you do many extra-curricular activities?
• Are you part of any student associations? unions? governing councils?
• Do you volunteer anywhere? hospitals? senior homes? day cares?
• Can you speak more than one language?

You get the point. By knowing your strengths, it will be easier to narrow down which scholarships you can apply for. 

Know your Resources

If you're a high school student, try speaking to your guidance counsellor about where to look for scholarships. It's their job to assist you in looking for awards and scholarships for post-secondary schools. They also usually have a binder full of various awards that students can apply for.

If you're a university student, your Registrar as well as Academic/Career Centre should also have the necessary resources for you to find the various scholarships that your university has to offer. Often times, your Registrar's website should show the various scholarships available for each department and its deadline so be on the lookout for these.

Another resource one may look into is your parents' company/organization that they work for. Sometimes, awards and scholarships are available only to the children of employees.

A good website to look for scholarships is http://www.scholarshipscanada.com/

Prepare in Advance

The worst thing that can happen is you find a scholarship that you think you would be the ideal candidate for but you miss the deadline. Scholarships often have a lot of requirements and paperwork that one must submit such as transcripts, reference letters, and essays that you must write. These all take time to get into order especially for documents out of your control (ex: reference letters). Thus, it is imperative to prepare ahead of time to make sure that you don't miss the deadline. Also, keep in mind whether the scholarship can be submitted via email or regular mail as mailing it in can take some time and this can also impact whether or not your application is received by the deadline.

What Should You Do The Summer Before Medical School?

Medicine is a life long journey - a marathon and not a sprint. Within the first week of medical school, you'll probably be bombarded with so much material akin to that of a fire hose of water being shot at you. With this in mind, it's important to utilize the 3 months before medical school to relax, pursue your interests, and to tie up loose ends. 

1. Getting Your Paperworks in Order

As the excitement of getting that acceptance email/letter dies down, now it's time to get the logistics of getting settled into medical school in order. Many medical schools will send a lot of paperwork that you must fill out in order to enroll in their classes. Check your acceptance letter and see what kinds of forms need to be filled in, picked up, and submitted. I believe all medical schools will require a police check which can take anywhere from 2-8 weeks so make sure to get this done as soon as possible. Updated immunization records are often required as well especially with TB testing and Hepatitis B vaccinations. Some schools also send scholarship information/applications so be sure to apply for these if the deadline is during the summer months.

2. Living Arrangements

Whether you are in the city or moving across the country, finding a place to live during your medical schooling is going to be a task that one has to look into as soon as possible. There are many questions to consider when finding a place and deciding what kind of a living arrangement you'd want to have:

• Do you want to live by yourself or with a roommate?
• How far from school would you be willing to live/commute?
• What is your budget for rent? Many places near campus and a busy downtown core can range anywhere from $800-$1700
• Do you want to live in a condo? apartment? townhouse? on campus housing? basement apartments?
• What furniture do you need to buy/transport?
• What are the lease requirements? Are you able to sublet your place?

3. Finances

Medical school is expensive. Combined with tuition costs, rent, groceries, bills and other miscellaneous spendings, a medical student's debt can quickly accumulate. Thus, it is important to see what types of financial aid is available at the medical school you are going to. When do they give out bursaries? Are there  any applications involved? What scholarships are available and when does one apply for them? What types of government loan programs are available in the province that you're attending the medical school? Can you transfer loans from one province to another? 

Most students will be applying for a Professional Student Line of Credit. In Canada, some of the most popular banks that students use for their LOCs include RBC, ScotiaBank, and TD. Depending on the branch, most will require a Proof of Enrollment which the school can provide. Others sometimes only require your acceptance letter/email. Most students set their LOCs up in the summer in order to access the funds that they will require in order to put a down deposit on a place, for vacation, etc.

Other students will also choose to work during the summer in order to  alleviate some of the costs of medical school. Whatever the case, figuring out how you will be funding your medical school education is something to look into during the summer months.

4. See the World

I've been asked by some of my friends who've gotten into medical school this year whether or not they should be studying and preparing ahead for the material being taught in medical school. DO NOT STUDY! You will have more than enough studying opportunities once medical school starts. I'd highly recommend travelling and seeing the world. This is one of the few summers left in which you'll have 3 months of freedom to do anything and go anywhere in the world.Take advantage of this! 

5. Finishing Up Old Projects

The start of medical school is really a new journey that you'll embark on. If you're in the midst of finishing up a research project, try finishing that up in the summer before school starts. Have a paper you need to write? Try to do it and submit it before school starts. This way, you've tied up all your "loose ends" so to speak and it'll feel like a fresh start once medical school begins.

6. Spending Time With Family

I never realized how much of my time medical school ate up until this year. Even though I lived about 1.5 hours away from my family and still visited them every weekend, I still often missed them. I'm fortunate enough to at least be able to see them once a week whereas some of my colleagues who moved from a different province only had holidays to go back home. Thus, use this summer to spend time with your family and friends. 

Congratulations to the newly admitted medical students! 

1/4 MD

I officially finished my last exam of my first year of medical school yesterday which makes me able to declare that I am 25% done my MD! It's a strange feeling knowing that a year has already passed and I've learned so much (how much I'm going to retain when second year hits is debatable) both inside and outside of the classroom. My first year of medical school definitely had its ups and down with me moving out of my parent's house and living on my own for the first time, the death of my grandmother, and integrating into a new environment. Needless to say,  I've met some pretty stellar people in medical school who've made this transition a lot easier.

Here are some of the interesting "things"/"quirks" of medical school:

1. Stock up on binders - preferably the bigger, the better - you'll have so many notes that at the end of the year you're going to wonder how in the world you managed to study everything.
2. Pass/Fail is my saving grace
3. Our feedback about the curriculum seriously matters and causes change
4. Clinical skills are my favourite part of medical school. My stethoscope, BP cuff, reflex hammer, tuning forks, penlight, and vision card make me feel like a doctor but in actuality, I still have so much to learn
5. When looking for a place, telling the landlord that you're a "medical student" would almost seal you the deal (and sometimes even score you a discount in the rent!)
6. Medical students party a lot more than I thought - but we still manage to squeeze in studying
7. Everyone is so helpful in the class - creating flow charts, providing journal articles to clarify ideas, and much much more. I love my classmates
8. There are always going to be the gunners in the class who are aiming for ROADS. 
9. There is always going to be 1-2 people who ALWAYS ask questions during class
10. Weboptioned lectures are also my saving grace - it gives me the flexibility of 1) sleeping in 2) shadowing 3) watching lectures on 1.5X-2X repeat to get twice the amount of work done 
11. I love how all the medical students across Canada get the same coloured backpacks so we can automatically identify our friends/colleagues. My friend was actually identified by a senior medical student with his backpack when we were vacationing in the Bahamas this year! Talk about a small world.

And that's a wrap for first year! I can't wait to see what second year has in store but until then, it's summer vacation for me!

MedTalk Series: Tips On Completing The OMSAS Application

In this MedTalk Series, I'll be giving some tips on completing the Ontario Medical School Application Service (OMSAS) application. For applicants interested in applying to medical schools within the province of Ontario, this is the application service that you will be using. You can visit this website: http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/ for more information as well as downloading the 2013 OMSAS information booklet.

The two most important aspects of the OMSAS application is 1) the autobiographical sketch (aka. ABS) and 2) references. I'll be giving some tips on how I went about completing these sections.

1. Autobiographical Sketch

According to OMSAS, the ABS is a "comprehensive list of the pertinent details of an applicant's activities since the age of 16, within the categories that apply to the applicant: Formal Education, Employment, Volunteer Activities, Extracurricular Activities, Awards and Accomplishments, Research, and Others...Applicants should include all experiences, both structured and non-structured that demonstrate an ability to determine needs in their community and a willingness to play a part in filling those needs."

MedTalk Series: MCAT Prep Courses VS Self-Study

For those of you who read my blog, you'll notice that I don't always write about medically relevant material. For the benefit for keeping my blog organized and easier to navigate for those who visit wanting to get more information about the medical school process/my experience in the application cycle, I've decided to initiate a series of posts where I'll be writing and giving advice about various aspects of the medical school application process. In the MedTalk Series opener, I'll be discussing on the pros and cons about studying for the MCAT using preparation courses versus studying the MCAT on your own.

I'm going to be a doctor!

Now that I've relatively calmed down from this morning's excitement, I'm here to tell you guys my whole acceptance story:

Medical school decisions are one of those things that take a very long time to finalize if you consider how applications begin as early as July and eventually culminate in decisions being released around the 2nd-3rd week of May, the following year. Even more so, many students who apply to medical school begin the process many years before (I knew I wanted to do medicine since I was 11 so for me, it's been a decade long dream that I've been working towards). You can imagine then, why many premeds are filled with anxiety, excitement, and even dread come Decision Day.

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favour

I finally had the chance to watch The Hunger Games tonight with my sister. I had never read the book so wasn't sure what to expect but I believe the movie definitely lived up to its hype. Jennifer Lawrence was brilliant  in playing Katniss Everdeen (she was Mystique in X-Men First Class as well) not to mention, Josh Hutcherson's portrayal of Peeta Mellark (did you know he was only 19?!) was exceptional as well. Since I never read the book, there were times where I felt that there was something "missing" in terms of the story line but that's expected when Hollywood adapts a screenplay from a novel. *SPOILER ALERT BELOW*

The Hunger Games

And then there was 1...

My last final for undergrad will conclude this Saturday at 4 pm. Am I excited? Heck Yeah! Though, I do have to admit that I think it'll feel nostalgic once I walk out of the examination room. I can't believe 4 years has gone by so fast! I remember my first day of university like it was just yesterday. It was an 8:00 am Organic Chemistry class and let me tell you, going to your first class ever in university for a second year course is kind of daunting. Fast forward to 2012 and I've written too many midterms to count, stayed up too many nights to study to remember, and made so many lasting memories that I'll never forget.

I'll be keeping myself preoccupied until the BIG day for medical school decisions come out by visiting a close friend of mine in Montreal, planning for my brother's birthday party, hanging out with my friends, and shopping! I actually found a dress I really really liked from Zara that I would love to wear to my graduation. I just hope they'll have it in my size once I visit later this week! I'll probably post some pictures later on ;) 

Golden Ticket

What did I find in my "chocolate bar" today? A golden ticket. 

Medical School + Chocolate Factory

Remember the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (the 2005 remake being called "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter) where Charlie gets the coveted GOLDEN TICKET to tour Wonka's ultra secret chocolate factory? As weird as an analogy it might seem, I think medical school and the movie have a lot in common. Allow me to break this down for you:

Charlie = Premeds
Chocolate Bar containing golden ticket = Regrets or Invitation emails
Golden Ticket = Invitation to Interview and ultimately an Acceptance
Willy Wonka = admissions committee/reviewers/interviewers
Chocolate Factory = Medical School

No News Is Good News...for now.

For the readers that frequent my blog, my title is in reference to the "anticipated" and "assumed" release of interview invites and rejections from the Ontario medical schools within the next couple of weeks. I know that a couple of my friends and I have caused ourselves unnecessary stress by checking either the twitter pages of admissions websites (*cough cough U of T*) or checking our emails at least 5 times every day ( I haven't hit the "refreshing-every-10 secionds" phase just yet) thinking that we might hear something. But like I said, no news is good news for now. It's a bit daunting to think that the past 10-11 years of hard work have come down to this. It's funny too that I'm graduating this year and have only applied for medicine and not anything else which is not characteristic of me because I usually have a backup plan in case Plan A backfires (which I hope will not this time).

When "Bad" First Impressions Don't Screw You Over

You know how people always tell you that first impressions are so important? That when you meet someone for the first time, it usually takes them about 10 seconds to create in their mind, an impression of you? I totally agree that making a positive first impression is very important when meeting new people, especially for interviews (jobs, professional school etc.), which brings me to my story of how, in my opinion, my "bad" first impression worked to my advantage.

It was the summer of my second year of undergrad and I had made a goal that I was going to become a volunteer in a research lab. The reason being, I had never set foot in a research lab prior to second year and I never experienced what it was like to do "research". As a student on OSAP, I qualified for the Work Study program whereby I could apply for research/lab assistant positions posted by various professors that were uploaded to a centralized website. To boot, I would get paid for this work. One of these professors had a posting that piqued my interest and I decided to submit my application to him. The requirement was that I had to hand in my application in person. Now, looking back, I realized I probably should've emailed the professor to arrange a time where I could drop off my application but I didn't, so for an entire week, I went to this professor's office to see if he was in but he was not. Fast forward about a week later when I had the chance to meet with the professor, I told him that I was there to hand in my work study applications - mind you, this was before the deadline.

This was how the conversation went down:

Me: Hello Professor X. I'm here to drop off my work study application that you posted on the Careers website.

Prof: *intimidating look x100* Well, you're kind of late. I already hired someone.

Me: Oh...well do you think I can still hand in my application? I'm willing to be a volunteer if your graduate students need any assistance.

Prof: Well, I guess you can give me your application and I'll put in the pile with the rest of the volunteer applications.

Me: Ok, great! *looks through my folder only to realize that what I thought was a cover letter and resume turned out to be a rough draft of a cover letter and resume with scribbles over it.* Umm..well it appears that I don't have my cover letter and resume with me today.

Prof: *looks up at me with the most intimidating blue eyes I've ever seen* So, what are you saying? You're not prepared?

----DEAD SILENCE---

By now, I could've sworn all the colour from my face disappeared. I was thinking "Crap! There's no way I'd ever have a chance to do research with this prof. He probably thinks I'm a complete idiot and disorganized person!"

Me: *trying to redeem myself* Well, I thought I had it and truth be told, I came to your office every day last week to try to hand it to you in person but you weren't there. I wasn't sure if it was ok for me to just slip my application under your door.

Prof: Well, just bring it tomorrow and if I'm not here, just slip it under my door.

As I exited his office, I was mentally kicking myself for being so disorganized. I was so sure that this first impression would work against me.

But of course, as you might've guessed from the title of this blog post, it didn't. In fact, the next day after I had slipped my application under his door, I received an email from this very professor who wanted me to come into his lab so he could train me to be a volunteer. Was I surprised? Most definitely. You might be asking me why I'm bothering with a story that happened 2 years ago. Well, I'm currently doing my honours thesis project with this same professor and I've come to realize that he really isn't THAT intimidating after all. I asked him why he decided to hire me as a volunteer that day and he told me that since he had a bit of spare time that day, he read over my cover letter and was impressed by my writing and resume. I guess the lesson learned from this is that first impressions don't always give the most ACCURATE representation of an individual as we all know. It's funny how things worked out in the end. This professor has become a mentor of mine and it was through this initial volunteering position that he was able to teach me many molecular techniques and know me as an individual. In fact, he's one of my referees for my medical school applications this year. Just goes to show that even if you think you made a bad first impression, it won't necessarily work against you. And if there's one thing I learned from this experience, it's to be proactive in searching for research opportunities whether it be an actual paid position or a volunteer one. Most importantly, don't be afraid to approach professors and if you make the same embarassing mistake I did, don't give up but rather follow up later on!

Until next time,

LL (aka Cass)

And so it begins...

So I've decided to jump on the premed blog-o-sphere bandwagon. I think blogs are a great way for people to communicate their thoughts and ideas and personally for me, I'm planning to use this blog as a creative outlet. Come to think of it, this blog will probably serve as a personal online journal for myself and my journey in applying to medical school (and hopefully becoming successful in my applications!). I'll probably also throw in some non related medical stuff occasionally (a cooking/baking section is on my to do list at the moment).

At this particular instant, I realize that there's exactly 10 days left before school starts for me. One part of me is quite excited as this will be my last year of university but at the same time, I'm nervous because with graduation in the distant future comes the thought of having to actually plan for my future and what I'm going to be doing. Obviously, I hope to be successful in my medical school applications such that by this time next year, I would be mingling with all the awesome medical students of my graduating class =D (what's the term for first year med students attending orientation as opposed to first year undergrad "froshies"?) I've started several applications and I've realized (in my opinion at least) that there are 3 reactions when it comes down to filling out the "autobiographical sketch" on these applications:

1. The "Man, I didn't do as much as I'd thought in the past [insert however many years] of my life" reaction
2. The "I think my activities are well rounded. I should have a good shot" reaction
3. The "Wow! I can't believe I did all of these things in the past [insert however many years]. *Gives self a big pat on the back"

There is something quite enlightening and yet daunting when an applicant has to list every single activity they've done since the age of 16 (I'm specifically referring to the OMSAS application) - it does give you quite the reality check when everything is typed and organized right in front of you. However, regardless of how many or how few items you are putting on your sketch, just keep in mind that sometimes it's the quality over quantity that counts and as I've learned from other premeds, it all comes down to how well you are able to articulate what you have learned from your activities that will make the most impact on the admissions committee.

Wishing all premeds who are applying this cycle the best of luck!