Opening that Email.

 CONGRATULATIONS!

WE ARE PLEASED TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED INTO OUR PROGRAM, TO STUDY AT THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, COLLEGE (DEPARTMENT) OF OUR INSTITUTION XXXXXXXX FOR THE PROGRAM OF CLINICAL MEDICINE (MBBS) FOR THE DURATION OF SEPTEMBER 2021 - JULY 2026.

The notice, that was sent to me via email on the 10th of August, brought a great sense of relief and content. I was finally at peace knowing that I have been accepted into one of the medical programs in which I had applied for. All the countless sleepless nights leading up to this day, was well WORTH it.

The process that took me to apply for this program was a long, tedious and filled with great uncertainty. Was I good enough? Does my background count for something? Did my years of extracurricular activity count for the consideration? Will my results reflect what I can achieve in this program? Did i do a good job in my personal statement? Did i stand out as an applicant when i went through the interview?

If you were in the same boat as i was for the application cycle... TRUST ME. You have had at least one of these thoughts circle your mind at least twice in a week. 

The sheer competitiveness of application into medical school was daunting, because deep down we know that, EVERY one of the applicants that apply for the cycle are individually GREAT, UNIQUE, DIFFERENT and FILLED with PASSION for the healthcare. Scrolling through Google, and the endless webs... you can see that the average rate of acceptance of med schools can range somewhere between 7% - 15%. 

THAT is a SIGNIFICANTLY low number. YES, I know. 

The big question during this time would be, will REJECTION put you down?  To be honest, YES it will. With each REJECTION, it kind of eats away at your confidence. How many times was I rejected? It was too many, I lost count. This was not the first cycle of application that i had applied for, in fact... it had been 3. 

That however did not stop me, I applied to 4 schools this year, out of which i was offered a place in 2. The take of this is, no matter the bad outcome, if THIS is your CHOICE, and THIS is the DECISION you had made. KEEP TRYING, PERSEVERE.

I am not your usual traditional student that scored straight As, excelled in every extracurricular activity, had a list of referrals under my belt and have had tons of shadowing opportunities. I am in fact the latter. The choice i had to make to get into this program was a journey, but THIS is a path that i had long decided for. And hereby, i am declaring that I will stick to it! 

For those of you that are trying, KEEP doing so! You will get there!

And for those of you that are at the beginning of med school, CONGRATS, we made it. The GRIND starts now..... (let's virtually hold hands and suffer together in support of one another). 

Yours Truly,

Deanna