I visited this blog for the first time in a while--not having posted or responded to any comments since 2014. There were several times I thought I should respond to some of the comments trickling in, but prevented by:
1) Lack of initiative/energy during med school/residency
2) Fervent desire to keep this cringe-worthy clusterfuck of a blog hidden deep within my subconscious.
I couldn't sleep--while browsing Reddit I saw some premed-related content, and found myself reading through this blog. Embarrassingly, I lol'ed at my own posts and memes.
I suspect hardly anyone reads or follows this blog since the majority of the traffic originated from Premed101--also another place I've almost never gone back to.
Regardless--this is for my own amusement, sanity check, and update for anyone who may be remotely interested (i.e. long term outcomes of an average premed student).
Where Am I Now
Since my last post in 2014 (nearly a decade ago, wow)--finished med school in 2018, and started 5-year residency. Currently in my last year and studying for exams--hence the disrupted sleep cycle. Life has changed, rather substantially since then.
Responding to unanswered comments
For shits and giggles. For the purposes of reflecting. In case it is helpful to someone.
"hey, the people want part 3!"--person, Apr 2, 2016
Don't got time anymore. Plus, my MMI answers were/are probably shit so you don't want any of that.
"What could you have possibly said to make the situation upside down!?"--Hanna, Mar 29, 2016
Who fucking knows. Fairly sure I froze and uttered whatever that came to mind which was probably incoherent and/or possibly morally bankrupt--at a midpoint of the interview, then progressively got worse from there. It may have been a scenario-type of question.
"Just wanted to say your blog is awesome! I am wondering if you did anything different in terms of preparation for your last round of interviews? I have been struggling with interviews that really seem to hinder me from being accepted...btw hope you put up more postings under the Korean category as I am a Korean premed myself :)"--weenieholic, Jan 19, 2016
For the first round of interviews, I prepped a "reasonable" amount I think, can't recall.
For the second round, I prepped way too much.
For the third round, fortunately, I ran out of fucks to give and did not prep (1-2 hours at most probs). With each interview, I progressively gave less fucks--by the time of the last interview (the one that accepted me), there were 0 fucks given.
The trick, I guess, is to give minimal fucks with very little prep ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
"Hey Mat! Why was applying to US a bad idea?"--person, Oct 16, 2015
"Hey Matt! Great blog! I was really curious about your experience applying to those 14 US Medical Schools. I always thought of it as a backup to Canadian Medical Schools but you make it seem like it's 10000X more difficult to even get an interview. Do you think you could make a new post about which schools you applied to or shed some light on why those 14 applications went so poorly? Thanks!"--person, Sep 27, 2014
Rushed, costly, last minute decision with little prep/research that ended up being a giant money sink than anything else.
"Hey Matt, Haven't check in on this blog for a while, but I wanna say congratulations! I am also a first year MD student in Ontario, and I gotta say your blog posts helped me so much on my MCAT and gave me the confidence to take the exam. I really related to some of the struggles you had and loved the humorous spin you put on them with your memes and comics. Wish you all the best and hopefully we will run into each other around the wards some day. Cheers."--person, Jun 21, 2015
The wards were cool.
"I don't know you at all lol I'm just a grade 12 students but I'm very happy for you! You went through all these rejections and I know many people would give up and quit but you didn't and I like to say that your experiences have inspired me! Thank you!"
"Your rage comics are hilarious! And your "life cycle" into medial school was very similar to mine, right down to getting off the wait list (third round for me). I hope you keep up the blog in medical school, and good luck!"
"Hey, I got rejected from UofT last year (first time applying) and am currently applying to US schools and UofT. I felt pretty bummed out about getting rejected last year, but after reading your post I feel much better. It's amazing how you were able to psychologically win yourself over and continue applying. Thanks for the post and giving me the motivation to continue on."
Comments like these give me courage to live on.
Finally, the single non-positive comment in this blog:
"As a current medical student, I have one advice for you: please stop this blinded pursuit of med schools. There are so many better things in life. You're just wasting time and money. Honestly, try other pursuits. Maybe nursing? Maybe PhD/Master's? Medicine is not worth all the trouble you're going through, and, most importantly, the fact you're wasting your best years in life just wandering around is painful. Best of luck this cycle, but time to face the music, Matt."--?angry med student, Apr 27, 2014.
Holy shit--am I glad I never "face(d) the music", as the world around me burns with a slow descent into a recession of some kind.
Until the next time I find myself not sleeping.
Matt
