Enslaved by brains: a ragecomic representation

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Cerebral_lobes.png

I previously mentioned that I started work in a research lab after graduation. People have asked me, both on the blog and email, what I actually do at work... truthfully, I wasn't completely sure of what I was doing until recently. Simply put (without being specific and compromising anonymity due to some recently published work)- I look at brains. I look at a lot of brains. Different kinds of brains. My work consists of:

1. Look at brains.
2. Make cool & pretty pictures.
3. Draw dots and lines.
4. Look at more brains.
5. Repeat 1-4

To illustrate, here is what a work day looks like for me (for those who's familiar with this line of work, of course I don't work with all imaging modalities- just a few from below):

Figure 1. Enslaved by brains.

I look at brains at work, commute home, then look at more brains... up to a maximum of 13 hours a day. Craploads of brains. Clearly, I like brains. This has been going on for ~1.5 years now.

Something important to note is that I initially started this job mostly as a back-up plan... but as time passed, I started to really enjoy working in research. So much that I applied for PhD programs, not as a back-up (especially considering I'm terrible at interviews by consensus, and truly not hopeful for anything in May) but as an alternative path for me to choose. Throughout undergrad, I barely considered research at all since it didn't seem interesting- so I ruled it out altogether.... but I happened to find the perfect supervisor & lab & field, all at the same time and things fell in place. At this time, I can say that I'm a little more passionate about research than medicine, and will be continuing research regardless of what happens in the near future. Funny how things change.

Lessons learned: 
-Science is hard, but cool. Brains even more so.
-Don't rule out possible opportunities and paths in life. Med school really isn't everything.
-From my biased, entirely personal point of view (entirely due to the fact that I've been having a hard time with interviews): if you're bad at med school interviews, you might enjoy research more than medicine. More on that later.

Matt

Big List of All Med School Interview Questions- Part 2: Multiple Mini Interview (MMI)

Figure 1. A hauntingly accurate, single-meme portrayal of the MMI.

As promised- here is the compilation of MMI interview questions... and arguably the largest collection of MMI questions in a single document.

Link: Big List of All Med School Interview Questions- Part 2: Multiple Mini Interview (MMI)

Why this collection is useful:

1. As with the panel/traditional format, interviews can only cover so many topics of discussion and from a limited number of questions. Although this might be less applicable for the MMI, one could argue that there exist some limitations in how the questions are structured.
2. Medical schools tend to organize their interview questions based on certain categories- although the categories here are slightly different from the panel/traditional format.
3. The sheer number of questions & comprehensiveness of areas covered allows for a thorough understanding of the interview process, while at the same time acting as a large reservoir of practice questions for applicants.

This collection is currently organized into the following categories:

• Section 1. Ethical decision making
• Barely addressed in Part 1 (Panel/Traditional).
• Section 2. Critical thinking
• Section 3. Problem solving & conflict management
• Section 4. Communication skills (acting)
• Section 5. Current healthcare & societal issues
• Section 6. Standard interview questions (redundant)
• Small section, possibly redundant- however MMIs tend to ask different types of standard questions than the panel/traditional format.

Things to note:

• Please note that this is only the first release, before the majority of the interviews start in Canada.
• This is considerably less expansive than Part 1- due to many reasons:
• A lot of material I had to withhold until further notice (many issues dealing with compromised confidentiality agreements, possible copyrights, etc).
• I've been more swamped than ever at work.
• Despite having said that, this compilation will get updated from time to time with the addition of more questions and such.

Release info:

Version 1.0 (January 2^nd, 2014): Initial release

Acknowledgements: this collection was based on more than a dozen sources, anywhere from premed101, SDN, multiple schools' admissions websites etc.

Terms of Use:

In accessing the documents and its content ("Materials") on this site, you agree to the following terms and conditions:

1. Permission is granted to electronically copy or print portions of the Materials for your own personal, non-commercial use. Any other use of materials on this site without our prior written consent is strictly prohibited.
2. You must not modify paper or digital copies of the Materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way.
3. You must not use any part of the Materials for commercial purposes.
4. In no event, unless required by law or agreed to in writing, will "The Average Korean Premed" (krnpremed.blogspot.com) be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the Materials.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please feel free to share your opinions/concerns/comments/criticism/etc.

Part 3 will be a collection of solutions/answers to some of these MMI questions (not provided by me, of course). This will take some a lot of time.

Happy New Year.

Matt

Life and other things with random musings

Without even realizing it, this blog has passed 100,000 views. Which is pretty cool.

Fig 1. Wow I'm so happy to have reached 100k views for this blog.

This is an unexpected surprise. In case you haven't noticed, I've added a small poll on the right side to see how many people actually visit this blog regularly. If you do visit this blog regularly, thank you for your support(?) and please do vote in the poll.

Incidentally, here's a graph showing blog viewership since I started in 2011:

Fig 2. Number of hits, 2011-current.

Random rant 1:

To be completely honest, I've lost my way in terms of what to do with this blog. To be even more honest, it's probably because I've been having doubts about medicine. Yeah that's right, I said it. I'm sure many applicants (especially those not accepted after many cycles), and even those who are already in med school, in residency, or practicing, have had doubts at some point... and I'm sure there are a lot of others in similar situations as mine.

Random rant 2:

I think I speak for a lot of people with this rant... I applied again this cycle. It feels like everyone around me (sometimes literally) is getting accepted and moving on, while I'm stuck in the same loop. I'm just tired at this point and on the verge of giving up and doing something else. On average, premeds apply 2.9 times before getting accepted... which kind of sucks.

Random rant 3:

I've ran out of things to rant about... but I've developed a sort of addiction for research. Here is an artist's depiction of what research looks like (stealthily borrowed from the MNI):

Fig 3. What research really looks like.

Nevertheless, I (by I, I mean we) will keep trying/applying, although I may fall off the bandwagon at some point.

So that brings us to this: what am I going to do? I've (temporarily) ran out of steam for admissions, medicine, med school, and all things related including this blog... you may have noticed that the last time I posted was in June. However, I still plan on finishing off/continuing a few things for the blog:

• Big List of All Med School Interview Questions- Part 2: MMI/ethical
• I will get this out in the near(?) future... it'll be nowhere as organized as Part 1, but nevertheless still useful.
• Big List of "Back-Up" Plans
• I hope to continue this, albeit at a much slower pace.
• Comics & memes
• It's like I've turned off whatever controls my sense of humour in my brain.
• Answering comments & emails
• I've always replied to comments & especially emails (I'm more accessible by email- those of you who've emailed me would know... my apologies if I've forgotten to reply at any point though). Feel free to email me your sympathies.

Other than that, things will continue to move along. Good luck to all the applicants applying this year.

Matt