Last year at Columbia; Pre-Medicaments

Well, that was more than three years ago. And here I am, thinking about graduation, applying to medical schools, and finding a job in the meantime. I’ll leave answers to these questions as well as all other sentimental thoughts for one of my post-graduation blog posts, once it is more appropriate. Now instead, let me tell you about what I’ve been up to for the last few months!

First of all, I spent the entire summer working in one of the best (if not the best!) hospitals specialized in cancer treatment and research – Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center here, in New York. It was an amazing experience. I was able to conduct research on spinal tumors treatment, and shadow a neurosurgeon. That included following him to the clinic, interacting with patients, but most importantly, watching four full surgeries right in the operating room. For the rest of my life will I not forget those – three of them were spine tumor surgeries, one of them was an open brain tumor surgery. And I was standing right there – staring under surgeons’ hands, not further than one meter away from the scalpel. I learned a lot during that summer. Many things surprised me and most things I had had no clue about. This is a great job. I want to be a neurosurgeon. And this was a highly motivational experience.

The problem is, I have to be extremely good. These job spots are not up for grabs and advertised in the local newspaper. One’s results need to be outstanding – both GPA and MCAT (Medical College Admission Test). And your recommendations and your essays and your extracurriculars and your personal story. Undergraduate admission process all over again – just more competitive. And less foreign-students friendly.

In fact, only about a half of all 140 medical schools in the US admit internationals. And of those, about ten (literally, “10”) give out financial aid to foreigners in any shape or form – a scholarship or a loan, that is (as a foreigner, one cannot take a loan for their studies in the US, other than from the school they’ve been admitted to). Without external financial support, then, all one can do is to apply for one of these 10 top medical schools. Considering the competition among pre-meds that is in place already, all of the above amplifies the competition for internationals tenfold. But hey, it’s always better to have higher goals. You never know – sometimes you might end up achieving them! (This philosophy got me to Columbia anyway.)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been writing my blog for international pre-medical students in the US. After one of my guest posts at Student Union, Voice of America’s student blog, was published, I was contacted by the Kaplan test-preparation company. In fact, they offered me their full online MCAT preparation course – in exchange for writing a review of it on my blog. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to afford this course on my own, and so this was, I hope, a great boost for my MCAT preparation. I will take the test pretty soon, so wish me good luck!

Most of my thoughts this semester, therefore, have been revolving around medical school applications, MCAT preparation, and school, of course. I have become a teaching assistant for an introductory biology course and with my friends, I started the Columbia University Central and Eastern European (CUCEE [I hope you appreciate the pun]) Club – so I haven’t been bored at all.

But let me tell you more about that in my next blog post…