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Sunday, November 15, 2009

AMSA

American Medical Student Association (AMSA) has been established for a long time. I remember running by Premed-AMSA student group on campus. The only vivid memory I had is that they require you to pay money before you can join. Being a broke college student that I was, I never did.

Well, now I've just joined AMSA as a medical student. I guess AMSA isn't so bad based on 1 day of being a member. They aren't just out there to take your money. They do a lot of collaborative projects with other medical schools in the U.S. and across the globe. You can get special discount on credit cards, hotel rentals, and other offers. One reason I joined AMSA is because of their IFMSA international medical student exchange program. If you'd like to travel abroad cheap, IFMSA is a great program. It matches up you with another fellow medical student from other countries and you get to do research abroad for 1 month, 2 months, or longer. The program application fee is barely over $200, which is considerably very cheap compared to medical schools' international programs which could be as expensive as $3000-$5000. I will keep on investigating what AMSA has to offer, to find out if $75 I spent for membership for 4 years of med school is money well spent.

Blog title to change to Medical Journey

So I've been accepted into a medical school in the U.S. I shall start changing this blog into Medical Journey instead of Premed journey. It wasn't easy getting into med school; the struggle involved fighting with killer MCAT test twice, getting frustrated with my inability to score well on standardized tests, planning plan B and Cs, doing a lot of volunteering, banging my head against a wall, running countless research experiments, and being anxious with uncertainty. "Is it worth it?" I asked myself the minute I entered the orientation of medical school. The answer was a thousand times YES. If I would have to give up anything in my life for this step, I can't think of any. I enjoy learning human physiology all over again. While wearing a white coat, I enjoy interviewing patients. The challenges and wonder of human body are amazing so much to me that I did not cringe having to study so much for classes. I have a purpose in life. There is so much certainty that I forgot how stressed I used to be. I think premed journey is so draining that at times, you might forget why you are doing all of this. You know, if you are in for sure and if you enjoy medicine, you'll realize this is THE career for you. Becoming a medical student is so much easier than competing for that spot. Just keep fighting. Once you get in, it's all worth it.