Getting into Medical School, aka Holy of Holies (the F-1 version)

My adventures as an international student trying to get into a US medical school as a prestigious MSI student!

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Location: East Coast, United States

I am a 22 yr old Foreign lady trying to get into an American med school. The journey has been "rough" to say the least. So join the band wagon and let's see if they think I'm good enough to become a doctor. I hope my story encourages someone, maybe you. Not necessarily to become a doctor, but just to follow your dream. Leave your comments as you read...I thrive on feedback. And if this is your first time here, catch up on what you missed, cus every post IS important...well almost all. So forget that board meeting(at your own risk) or skip that class (again at your own risk) and lose yourself in my archives. REMEMBER: "If it aint ROUGH, it aint RIGHT" - Richard Hamilton, Detroit Pistons Guard

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

BOOK IN REVIEW: "Gifted Hands"

So after a few nudges, I ordered my copy of Ben Carson's book.

I got those few minutes of "if a 'ghetto' kid from Detroit can do it, I definitely can too"

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But I also got the few scary moments- One of these was his very point blank statement about how it was his gifted hands (aka "extraordinary eye and hand coordination") that made him a great surgeon and even though there were many surgeons out there, just as many who didn't have (or learn) this skill were plagued with complications in their surgery.

The scary thing was the fact that you didn't have to have this gift to become a surgeon, so you might very well hustle all the way for 10+ years of your life all for you to find out you're just average and could have been better at something else? As in there's no conspicuous gnome with a big bright red flag on the way that yells out "WRONG DIRECTION!!!"? Or maybe there is and we just ignore it?

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Also very comforting were his words about putting competition aside and just trying to be the best you can be. I was forced to learn this at work because it's not class where you know there's going to be an exam and you can actually aim to be the best in class. There's no one else in this class but you. And the goal is simply to be better than the person you were yesterday. A much harder task because there is really no finish line.

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There was also the part when he was in med school and had pretty much digested his text books so much that he knew more than the neurosurgery residents. Apparently, a few of them ended up handing over their pagers to him and getting him to answer their calls while they caught up on sleep. Like he said, some people would call this being taken advantage of, but really, it's a textbook case of a symbiotic relationship - Partner A benefits by getting extra sleep and Partner B by gaining extremely useful hands on experience.

So here I am a few more months to finishing work and I remind my boss that I would be checking out early summer and starting my three month fun-albeit-broke-vacation before I start med school. You can imagine my surprise when he comes back to me in a few minutes and starts to attempt to arrange for me to stay longer. I'm trying to explain that it's not a choice but rather a necessity seeing as my work authorization would be ending. Even more to my astonishment, all sorts of wheels started rolling to make a legal stay extension possible. For a few minutes I had to catch myself and put it all in perspective...Dear GOD, is this the same me that was always mad at myself for not being better at my work and thought they were probably counting down the days till my depature? I remember talking to one of the kind people helping me with the paperwork and she expressed that they were just probably trying to use me as much as possible before I left etc. Call me ignorant, naive, insecure or whatever but the fact that I am even considered "skilled" enough to be "used" is kind of a big deal and can we exactly call it USING if I'm learning more and simultaneously smiling all the way to the bank every Friday? My word for it - symbiosis good people, S-Y-M-B-I-O-S-I-S. I'm the crocodile bird giving the croc a free tooth pick and simultaneously getting my dinner.

We'll see if the paper work comes through. And even if it doesn't, it's the thought that counts.
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All in all, Gifted Hands was a good and inspiring book, some parts were so cliche though that I felt I could predict what would happen. But I guess cliches are cliches for a reason-most knowledge really is hidden in books all over the place, and hardwork and faithfulness to GOD really does pay off eventually.

Has anyone else read this book? What did you think about it?
Thanks for recommending it "Aunt" I really needed it.


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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You are most welcome niece :-)
You can tell those people who wait and check daily to see if you have updates. Well at least for the workdays I'm here. I'm happy the experience of Gifted Hands was a blessing. I'm happier to see the Lord answering prayers and showing you just how hard he's willing to work for you if you just ask. They wanting you to stay is his way of showing just ask for those monies for Med School, and I'm willing to provide the way. Stay sweet, and I know you're blessed. Aim higher and you'll never be sorry.
Everyone's Aunt

March 21, 2007 3:29 PM  
Blogger Bubbles said...

I love Ben Carson. I actually read Think Big back in 2000 and it was inspirational. I got gifted hands in 2004 and it's pretty good.

March 21, 2007 7:21 PM  
Blogger ABBEY said...

Yes Aunt...gonna keep the prayers going. Really waiting on some kind of miracle now!!

Thanks for stopping by bubbles, I'll be looking into his other books too.

March 22, 2007 12:03 AM  
Blogger ABBEY said...

oh and aunt, thanks for being a faithful reader (I'm sure it's hard to keep up with all the posts with the rate at which I update these days ;))

March 22, 2007 12:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aunt says you're welcome, and it's no trouble. Either early in the AM when I first get in, mid day or now when I'm about to go home. You help to inspire me also.

March 22, 2007 4:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah I read both right after high school. Excellent books...

March 23, 2007 11:06 PM  

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