Improving Critical thinking/Test taking skills

"Critical Thinking Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day - Lauren Starkey" is a decent book. It gives you a Pre-test and you can figure out your weakness. I don't know if it can improve anyone's Verbal Reasoning score or test taking skills in MCAT, but it has potentials. Link to the book

The top 10 reasons why general surgery is a great career

I've been thinking a lot about which speciality I wanna go into, and I went to a talk hosted by Surgery Interest Group at school. A surgeon talks about the top 10 reasons why general surgery is great and gave us a link to the article. It's a great article, so I've included the link at Pubmed.

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.

How to prepare for interviews

1. There is this book a friend of mine gave me called "The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success" by Jeremiah Fleenor. It's small and concise but lists the main things interviewers are looking for; the author calls it "Big 3". It's good b/c you can see through interviewers' questions and respond in the way they want.

2. Read SDN Interview Feedback. Fellow SDNers list interview questions they got.

3. Rehearse or practice in front of a mirror. I didn't practice in front of a mirror b/c i'll end up looking at my own beauty and forget that i'm preparing for an interview. Rehearse your answers. Last cycle, i wrote my answers, which is a big mistake b/c i sounded like i memorized my answers. If you rehearse, it's good.

4. Google common med school interview questions. There are like 100; if you have time, rehearse your answers to those. Speak out loud while practicing. If you just think inside your head (during that time, you'll probably you know it all), you'll stutter in ur interview.

5. Do a mock interview. If you are in school, career center or premed office may have mock interviews. Pray to get a challenging mock interview or tell your interview that you want to take a step further. (That'll really set you up for the real one.)

6. Research the school; check their curriculum, mission statement, and school's websites. You need to show during interview that you are interested. Prepare a set of questions to ask the interviewers. At the end of your interview, interviewer will ask "Do you have any questions?" Make sure you have at least 2 or 3.

Note: 1,3,4, and 5 can be done for your first interview. Then, just do 2 and 6 for next interviews. i usually copied SDN feedback questions and printed them out; then i practiced it on the plane to interview. (I just don't have much time. If you have more time, do it before hand.) Research the school before you go.

Med School Interviews never make or break

I've been going to a lot of interviews lately. I got waitlisted from 2 schools aldy. It hurts to know that at first, but i realized that interviews don't make or break. Schools are greedy like you too; they want the best student, as you want the best school. So if school thinks you are good but still wanna see if there is a great student out there, they'll waitlist you.

It's all a matter of probability. You need to go to a lot of interviews, so apply to a lot of med schools. Don't care so much about money b/c money never stays long in your pocket anyway. I've spent up to 10k aldy in this med school process (2 cycles). If u think primary is costly, wait until secondary. Then, wait until interviews.

Used Med Books

There is a website designed to help you find used medical books. It's convenient and perfect for health students.

www.usedmedbooks.com

Resident Swap Site

www.ResidentSwap.org allows residency programs to post notices of unexpected vacancies. There is no fee or sign-up required to post, and the website can instantly send alerts to dozens of residents who have previously indicated interest in your specialty and geographical location.

According to the website,
"ResidentSwap.org works in four ways

1. Lists currently vacant residency spots.
2. Anonymously lists spots currently filled by residents who would like to swap places with you.
3. Frequently monitors websites that publicly advertise residency vacancies and immediately sends alerts to your email or cell phone whenever new spots open.
4. "Together Anywhere" mode, designed for couples, locates two spots in close geographical proximity to each other."

NY Emergency Medicine

NY Emergency Medicine
"Adam Rosh, MD, is a big believer in the power of the Web for enhancing medical education. As an emergency medicine resident in New York City, he collects and shares information on a site titled simply, New York Emergency Medicine. The content of the site is anything but simple, however. It includes more than a dozen columns by different authors, as well as cartoons and interviews with pioneers in the field. Another popular feature is the weekly quiz, which offers a cash prize for the first correct answer. I recently spoke with Dr. Rosh about his efforts." (from MedScape.)

There are cool videos on how to perform some medical procedures.

SDN

I'm sure any premed would know SDN forum. If not, you are lucky and I suggest you remain that way. It's an effective way of communicating between fellow premeds. You can get suggestions about interview processes, what to wear, letters of rec, or any strange thing related to medical school you can think of.

When I didn't do well in my last MCAT, first thing I think of is "will I get into med school with this? what do others get" I made the worst mistake of checking SDN. You'll see many posts full of complaints about MCAT score, but they are not bitching about getting below 30. They bitch about getting 37, instead of 40. Come on, if you are achieving that much, be considerate.

We need suggestions when we are confused, uncertain or insecured about MCAT score. SDN is great but don't check out that website unless you feel secured about yourself.