Medical School, Finally – All Inclusive

This is what I have been working so hard for, the entire time – and now, it’s here. After 13 years of secondary education in the Czech Republic and 4 years of American college, I finally started the medical school. But let me pick up where I left off last time…

In my previous blog post, I summarized my successes from my recent college graduation and the article was concluded by the information about finishing up my medical school applications, while working in Dr. Hynek Wichterle's neural stem cell research laboratory at Columbia University. That was in July 2014.

At that moment, I had already sent out my applications to Czech foundations (namely Kellner Family Foundation and Bakala Foundation), where I was hoping to obtain scholarships for my medical studies. In fact, this was my second attempt with these institutions - in the fall of 2013, after a personal interview with Bakala Foundation, I ended up being unsuccessful. I did not give up, though, and so I decided to send another set of applications one year later, this time updated with results from my undergraduate degree, as well as the MCAT exam.

Only a few days later, I indeed sent out 19 medical school applications, the average in the US being 14 per applicant. Because the admission process to US medical schools is extremely competitive, especially for international students (as I described in one of my previous blog posts), I wanted to increase my chances of acceptance this way. Five of these applications were to traditional medical school programs (four years of MD degree), the other 14 to MD-PhD, combined physician-scientist programs (eight years). During the summer, I ended up receiving and filling out secondary applications to all 19 of these programs, which meant that I had fulfilled all the formal admission criteria for these schools - endlessly exhausting wait for personal interview invitations was just about to begin, though.

In the meantime, I was selected to the second round of admission processes for the above-mentioned foundations, and so in a very short period of time last fall, I attended two personal interviews in Prague. Thanks to my academic results and their belief in my potential as a physician-scientist, I was awarded partial scholarships to study medicine and biomedical sciences in the USA by The Kellner Family Foundation and Bakala Foundation, which I am exceptionally grateful for.

During that time, I also started receiving first interview invitations, 9 of which I attended by the end of the admission cycle. Each of these interviews meant a trip (by train, bus, or airplane) to the school in question for at least two days (though most MD-PhD interviews take three days) and included personal meetings with the faculty and scientists at these universities, campus tours, and sleep-overs in their dorms. Schools at which I was invited to interview included the likes of Johns Hopkins University, Yale, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, or Cornell. All of this traveling with interviews was unbelievably draining both mentally and physically, though at the same time very enriching and educational – I definitely will never forget a personal meeting with Dr. Pomahač during my admission interivew at Harvard. Moreover, every single interview invitation meant a great satisfaction and confirmation of the correctness of my previous endeavors.

The waiting for admission results that followed was no less energetically demanding, but I prevailed: I was admitted to an eight-year MD-PhD program at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, where I started this fall. First, I will attend 2 years of medical school here, followed by 4 years of biomedical research and a PhD thesis, and then I will conclude my studies by two more years to obtain an MD degree. Similar to most MD-PhD programs in the US, I was awarded a full stipend from my university for the entire length of my studies. Expenses exceeding this scholarship will be covered by contributions from Kellner Family Foundation and Bakala Foundation. I consider this admission to be one of my greatest achievements and I am very grateful to my school as well as to the aforementioned foundations for their ceaseless support and belief in my personal potential.

At this moment, I have just finished my first trimester at Geisel. Although I have not even had a chance to look around Hanover and I am still unsure whether I have met each of my 91 classmates yet, I can happily report my excellent results I achieved in all graded classes: Anatomy; Cells, Tissues, and Organs; Physiology; Biochemistry; and Improving Health and Healthcare. The work and knowledge obtained during this single trimester are hardly comparable with any of my previous academic experiences both in their quantity and complexity, and so I am glad that I have been able to keep up my standards even in such a highly selective crowd.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize how grateful I am for the support by The Kellner Family Foundation and Bakala Foundation. In no way do I take their help for granted (which I was reminded of especially during my unsuccessful application in 2013) - though my hard work and endurance apparently do not remain unnoticed. This support is helping me not only during my studies, but also likely played an important role during my admission, which makes it all the more valuable to me.


Konečně medicína – se vším všudy

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