UNMC update

The big update is here!

As you may recall, I interviewed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center back in October 30th, 2015. I am pleased to announce that after literally more than 100 days of walking up to my mail box right after work to look for the beloved and wanted letter that would ultimately make me or break me, I finally received it this past weekend. February 27th, 2016 will be a day that will go in my books and that I will forever remember as the day when my dream turned into a reality as I was accepted to UNMC College of Medicine!

Now, words cannot describe my current feelings. I feel astonished, shocked, happy, teary. It is just a combination of all these and many other feelings as I have finally achieved the dream of becoming a medical doctor so I can serve my community. All the hard work that I put in throughout college-- sleepless nights, working full time in a fast food restaurant, an irrigation company, and a roofing company to sustain myself and maintaining good grades-- has finally paid off. At that time all this hard work really seemed irrelevant as I was an undocumented immigrant. No matter how hard I worked, I couldn't go anywhere in the professional world. I was undocumented, I was a shadow, I was invisible but the sad truth is that I needed to be just that. I couldn't let anyone know of my immigration status as it was a taboo. Most importantly, I was embarrassed and ashamed, not even my friends knew (with the exception of a few).  There were plenty of times were I wanted to give up because I was financially and emotionally stressed. I had no one to talk to, no one to vent to, no one to rely upon when I got sick and certainly of great significance, there was no one to guide me through the educational system nor financially support me. It was all me, only me and my desire and passion to fulfill my dream of one day serve my community as the people's doctor. This is why it is hard for me to explain how I currently feel, all my life's work and mission are sum up in a letter with less than 160 words.

The acceptance letter states that they have accepted me but unfortunately they have no seats left for the 2016 class so they will place me in the alternate list for admission. This means that someone needs to drop their seat so I can enroll this year. On the other hand, If I do not enroll this year, I have been given an automatic admission into the entering class of 2017. Either way, I am in! To be honest with you, I am not in a hurry to start as I know that the moment is finally here, whether it is this year or the next, I will start the journey to M.D.

I must also state that this journey has not been fought alone. I have had great mentors throughout my life that have supported me in one way or another. My first mentor and the one that really pushed me academically is my high school ESL teach- Ms. Kennedy. She was the one that saw something in me and pushed me hard academically, she was tough on me but now I realized that I needed that. She was also the one who advocated for me to obtain a small scholarship, which I got and paid for part of my tuition. My last mentors are the physicians who I worked with, the ones who wrote letters of recommendation and did mock interviews with me. I am eternally grateful because amazing people such as them are very hard to find. They went above and beyond to help me, they got me connected with people at UNMC before I started the process, they did a lot for me and I will never forget that. I have thanked them many times and gave them written thank-you notes because I know that their time is valuable. Now, I only mentioned a few mentors but believe me there have been a lot of great people that have influenced me one way or another that I am grateful for. I am aware of the importance of having mentors, of having someone to guide you which is why I plan on returning the favor someday and everyday to our future generations.

I have a full agenda this year; a trip to Mexico in March to visit my family, a trip to CA for a Mexico vs Jamaica in Copa America game in June, I also get married in July in Guatemala city to my lovely fiancée, who has supported me all throughout this process and who witnessed the moment that changed my life, and hopefully the journey to the M.D. road will be starting soon. Although with such agenda, I must say that I do see the benefit of matriculating in 2017. We will see, in the mean time I am just going to relax and enjoy this moment of my life. Although, I should start looking into how I am going to pay for this.

What better way than to end this post with such an appropriate quote...

"Life ends when you stop dreaming"

My dream became a reality. There is no stopping me now. From DReamer to Dr.

"Healing" in front of the Sorrell Center

 

University of Nebraska Medical Center

 

 
 
 

Medical Schools Update

Well, it has definitely being a wild ride to say the least. This whole medical school application process and the waiting phase in particular can be very stressful because literary, your future is in the hands of doctors.

It is leap day today, it has been a while since I have written any post but unfortunately I did not have any updates for the most part. But here I am today, meaning I finally have some updates.

Let's recap on the schools I applied for this past 2015-2016 cycle. I applied to three Jesuit schools and my state school; Creighton University, St. Louis University in Missouri, Stritch School of Medicine and University of Nebraska Medical Center. So far, I have had an interview at UNMC and that is that. My luck stops there as no other schools have offered me an interview and probably won't since it is already March. In fact, I received rejection letters from Creighton University and St. Louis University in February 8th and February 15th, 2016, respectively. Stritch has given me the silence treatment, which I believe it is unfair as I put a lot of thought in the secondary application. Stritch almost reminds of my a previous relationship, no matter how thoughtful and courteous one is, one single misstep and you are done. They should of have at least taken some time to write me a rejection letter, so I think. I am not going to lie, receiving those rejection letters via email and the silence treatment had a significant psychological impact on me. Not only did I feel rejected, no pun intended, but I felt that all my hard work was for nothing and perhaps I was not meant to be a doctor. Perhaps I should reconsider the career. Now I am aware that my GPA and my MCAT score were at the bottom 10% percentile of accepted medical students at all these schools (my GPA not so much though) but that does not mean I don't have what it takes to take on the medical school curriculum, graduate and become a successful medical practitioner. MCAT score (anything above 24 per research I have read) does not correlate significantly with success of medical school. As long as someone meets the "minimum" standards, that person is just as successful as a person who got a better score given everything else is the same; family and socioeconomic support i.e. But obviously, medical schools want only the best because their reputation matters. Unfortunately, sometimes the best cannot be extrapolated from GPA and MCAT or your curriculum vitae, sometimes personality and getting to know someone is just as important.

Those are just my thoughts on that subject.

Boo to CUMC...


 Boo to St. Louis University...
 

and finally Boo to Stritch school of Medicine...
 

University of Nebraska Medical Center- Interview Experience

Good afternoon everyone,

It is Monday morning, the day after Halloween and my first ever medical school interview! I had my interview last Friday, October 30th 2015 at UNMC and it was quite an experience to say the least. The day before the interviewed, I went over the agenda that they had e-mailed me to make sure I showed up at the appropriate time and location. After that, I decided to read a little to get motivated and inspired, I am currently reading Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights and the New War on the Poor by Dr. Paul Farmer. This book is a must read for all those wanting to understand how social inequality affects the health outcomes of people. I am half-way through the book and I love it! Dr. Farmer talks about his experiences as a physician in Haiti, Mexico and Russia and even though these places are thousands of miles apart, have different languages and cultures, they are all plagued by a common threat-poverty. Reading this book just enforces my desire to go into medicine, be a primary care provider and serve those people who have been marginalized by society for so long. After my reading, I finally went to bed around 11:30PM.
                              
I woke up Friday around 6:00AM, my usual wake up time during the week. I brewed some delicious fair trade coffee from Chiapas, Mexico. I showered, got dressed with your typical black suit, white shirt and black tie, got a cup of coffee to go and headed out the door around 8:10AM. Traffic was not as bad at this time and I arrived at UNMC's parking garage around 8:35AM and headed towards the Sorrel Center which was a good 5 minute walk. As I was walking, I saw another person heading towards my same direction wearing a black suit as well and thought-- another prospect student, this should be interesting. He stopped at the lights and I eventually caught up to him, he was friendly which surprised me as I was expecting prospect medical students to see one another as their rivals, their competitions as this is a wolf race and only the best and more fierce make it to the top. We talked for several minutes and eventually arrived to our destination--Sorrel Center 4th floor. We got our name tags, interview times and went inside a big conference room where there were a lot more students. I counted 29 students total, 30 with me. While sitting down, I heard my name, one of my friends/acquaintance was in the room. I sat right behind her and we were excited to have one another for moral support. Gigi Rogers, the coordinator, finally started speaking around 9:00AM. She introduced herself and went over the agenda. The financial dept. director was up next, she talked to us about how affordable medical school is...NOT... for UNMC, the total cost of tuition, interest, plus whatever else they add (sometimes I think they would even charge for the oxygen we breath if they could...capitalism at its finest) adds up to a whooping $50,000/year. I am not going to lie, it sounds a little scary. I come from a family where if you don't have the cash for pay for things upfront then don't buy it because you can't afford it so $50,000/year x 4 on student loans do not seem very appealing right now. The presentation went on, I kept listening but could not avoid to wonder what it would be like to be almost a quarter of a million dollars in debt. I could not grasp that idea, it was out of my reach.

After the few speakers, it was time for our school tour. Fourth year medical students were the chosen ones, the ones who would sell the school to us-- or to them as I already knew that UNMC is where I needed and wanted to be. The tour lasted about a good 30 minutes, the student we had made the right decision to go into medicine because his tour guide skills were off but that's okay because I know that he had other things to worry about--he is preparing for his residency interviews, he wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. We got back to the conference room, I had 30 minutes to spare--my interview was scheduled for noon.

                                    
This piece of art and pure genius named "Healing" sits in front of the Sorrel Center. Such a beauty!

 I saw this tall, slim person, wearing a lab coat entered the room, he looked intimidating and I was praying that he wouldn't be my interviewer. He looked down at his piece of paper, it took him a few seconds to gain confidence before he could yell out that name. From previous experiences, this was a clear sign for me that the name written on his paper was mine and in fact, it was. I thought to myself--why him?-- but I took a deep breath and made my way where he was standing. We shook hands firmly and introduced himself, we went down the hall where we entered a smaller conference room. He again introduced himself, told me a little bit about his professional and personal life and told me about the close-file interview process. Dr. R (as we will call him) was young, maybe around mid to late thirties and is an anesthesiologist. After a few minutes, we got down to business. "Tell me about yourself", those were the words that came out of his mouth and luckily for me, I had heard them before. I kept silent for a moment, I was nervous but I thought to myself, "This is it, you are the best that my Latino community has to offer, you have to make an impression and represent, don't let them down, don't let yourself down." Dr. R noticed that I was silent and perhaps that I was nervous so he reassured me that he wasn't here to put more pressure on me and said, "...tell me where you come from, where you grew up." I took a deep breath in front him, he smiled almost as if he had found my action a little unusual but then I began to speak. My words were coming out very eloquent and I seemed genuine, my nervousness had gone a way. I was that person, that confident, powerful, genuine but well rounded person who had a flame inside, a flame that has been lit for quite some time but never had the space or opportunity to expand, to increase its intensity so at that moment when it was finally given the opportunity to breathe, I let it all out. My passion, my drive, my life experiences all came out to light after been hidden in the darkness for so long. I kept going , I was non-stop but my words were not boring him, he was intrigued, he was engaged and he had the look of a person lost in thought--almost as if he was wondering how this Mexican kid who grew up alone in the U.S.A., with no parents, with no social support, low income and with no academic guidance made it all the way to being the first one in his family to graduate from high school, go on to college and graduate with honors and now to being the first one to pursue a professional career in medicine. After twenty minutes I finally had answered his first question. The interview kept going for several more minutes, he asked me what my hobbies were and his last question was, "Are there any yellow flags that I should be aware of on your application?." As far as yellow flags, the only thing that really concerns me is my MCAT score which I have already shared with you guys but asides from that everything in my entire application is as good as it can be at this point in time. I may not be your typical pre-medical student with a 4.0 GPA and a 36MCAT but I have the heart, the determination, the work ethic, the passion and I am proud of my life and what I have accomplished. These qualities are what got me through college and it is because of them, along with the support from my fiancée and mentors at work that I have made it this far so if one is doubting if I have what it takes to be a doctor, have no doubt, the fire is still lit in me and will keep burning until I fulfill not just my dream but the dream of others--the dream of those who are hungry for dignity, hungry for social justice and I made sure Dr. R would remember me, remember my journey. We went over time, the interview is supposed to last 30 minutes only but we went 5 minutes over-- I guess I am just too passionate about medicine and the underserved populations.

Overall, I feel like the interview went very well. I am 100% confident that I would be accepted if admissions was solely based on the interview...but it's not. The waiting game begins again, Gigi said that the earliest date we could hear from admissions is mid November but from what I have been reading from previous threads on Student Doctor Network, it looks like we will be waiting until mid December at least. In the meantime, I will just stay positive and see if I get an interview invites from the other schools.

Next time you guys hear from me will be when I have the good or bad news so it may be next month, unless I have an update on one of my medical schools. Feel free to send me any questions!

Preparing for Interviews- Mock sessions

Happy Thursday everyone!

It's been a tough couple of weeks at work so today I decided to take some time off and write about my mock interview experiences. My interview at UNMC is this Friday Oct. 30th, 2015! ah, less than 24 hours away!

As you may all know, this is my first medical school interview. I am pretty excited yet nervous because I do not know what to expect, this step will determine (partially at least) whether I am going to medical school or not next fall. I don't have a problem with public speaking or speaking in general, I am very sociable and friendly guy that talks to almost everyone at work. I have done formal presentations at work, informal presentations at various organizations throughout the area and I really like talking about my passion and what I love doing but when it comes to interviews, I get nervous and I tend to stutter a little.

I had my first mock interview with our Chief Medical Officer two weeks, she was one of my LOR writers. It was a Thursday afternoon, I went to her office and waited for her a few minutes since she was working on something else--she does many things around here and is very respected around the community. After a few minutes, she received me and we sat down. After a few moments of catching up, we got serious and got down to business. She asked me the typical questions, "Tell me about yourself and why medicine?". I have contemplated this question for quite some time and even though I always come up with different wording, it revolves around the same theme- social justice and equality for our underserved populations. You see, I come from a low income, uninsured, immigrant family. I know what it's like to be angry at life, be angry at people because you were given a "bad hand" in life. I went through the same problems many people are going through: cultural barriers, language barrier, no medical insurance and socio-economic barriers but I was also granted with determination, work ethic, passion and these qualities have been and still are my driving force which is why now I am here--moments away from trying to persuade the admissions boards that I am a good candidate and that I have what it takes to go through the rigorous medical school curriculum and one day be a great doctor, a doctor who understands social inequality, how that impacts the health of people and that I am willing to advocate for those who society has marginalized and neglected.

The mock interviews went okay. I must admit I was nervous but half way through it, I got a little more comfortable--perhaps a little too late. The two physicians that interviewed me said I did okay; I have the right motives, the right experience and even though they could tell I was nervous, my answers were genuine. Tomorrow is judgment day and I feel comfortable and confident, I will just do a little more practice by myself, gain confidence and get a good night sleep-- I am planning on arriving at UNMC around 8:40AM tomorrow.

Right before I enter the building, I will do what I always do before an important moment--get inspired and motivated. I owe it to myself, I owe it to my people, I cannot let them down.

Med Schools Apps (continued...)

It is Thursday Sept 17th, 2015 3:22PM and the clock just keeps ticking... I am trying to be patient...

I really have no updates on my medical school applications. Last week, I was sort of freaking myself out because I had not received any updates on any of the schools I applied to--Creighton and St Louis University. I was even considering finishing up the secondary apps for KU and UIC to add more statistical chances to my pool but decided not to. The reason is, as stated in another post, because my stats are not too impressive for KU (in-state oriented) and the tuition at UIC is outrageous and I am not feeling the school either. I realized that applying to medical schools is quite expensive, one must really plan ahead because MCAT, AMCAS, Secondary apps and transcripts all add up. This is not including the travel expenses once you get invited for an interview! I am also planning my wedding, I am getting married in Guatemala next year :) I really haven't discuss much of my personal life. Perhaps on a different post.

I do have one update, after waiting a two weeks of not receiving a secondary app from Loyola, I decided to call the admissions office. It turns out they had send me one back on August 27th but for some reason I just never received it. The lady was kind enough and e-mailed it to me again and got it a few minutes later. The secondary for Loyola was tough! I completed the secondary and submitted it on Sept 14th.

Now it is just a matter of waiting, I just hope that Creighton, SLU, Loyola do not take their precious time as I can be patient but everyone has a limit. Come to think of it, all those are Jesuit schools!! Hopefully I get some love from the Jesuits ;D

In the meantime, I will just continue on with my life and prepare for next month's interview at UNMC.

AMCAS and Med Schools Apps.

It has been some time since I have published anything on my blogs, my apologies. I do have some excited news to share though!


As I had stated on a previous post, I am a DACA recipient which comes with its advantages but also with a handful of challenges. Well, recently (early Aug 2015) I was granted permanent residence status!!! That changes everything because what that means for me is that I am finally able to apply to any medical school in the country (along with other perks of course)! ahhh the excitement!!.


I submitted my AMCAS application on August 4th, 2015 and I was verified at the end of August which had me a little worry since I wanted to apply early rather than later. Due to costs, I was only able to apply to my 2 state schools; UNMC and Creighton University, and 4 out of state schools; KU, Stritch (Loyola), SLU, UIC (Chicago). I started receiving secondary applications a few days after I was verified by AMCAS so around late August with the exception of Loyola--I am still waiting for it--bummer. The first secondary I submitted was to UNMC and a 3 days later I received the interview invite! I was so happy since I had always dreamed of this moment. In addition, I submitted my secondary app to SLU on Sept 1st and to Creighton on Sept 2 so I am trying to be patient. I have yet to finish my secondary app for KU and UIC since KU is mostly an in-state school and my stats are not that impressive so I doubt they would consider me and UIC's OOS tuition just scares me.


I am mentally preparing for the UNMC II which is on Oct 30th, 2015. Two of the physicians who I work with were kind enough and offered to mentor me and help me prepare for the med school interviews--I have had a lot of great support from these fantastic persons. I should also mention that those two physicians have been of tremendous help and support--they were the ones who wrote LOR for my med schools application--- I cannot thank them enough!


I am really excited yet scared for the UNMC interview as they will be the deciding factor whether or not I get into medical school (at least for this upcoming year). My hope is that I do get in at UNMC since this is the community that has seen me grow both professionally and personally. My hope is that one day I can give back to my south Omaha community as much as they have given me.

From the beginning

Okay, well in order for you guys to find my blog helpful, you guys need to know about where I come from. So here is a little background...


I am 26 year old Latino male, I graduated from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2013. I received a B.A. in Foreign Language and Lit and a B.S. in Biology with a chemistry and Latino/Chicano studies minor. I graduated with a 3.52cGPA and a 3.42 sGPA, upon graduation, I started working in a community health centers in Omaha,NE-OneWorld. I am a case manager for our diabetic population as well as the healthy families coordinator which is a childhood obesity prevention program for our Spanish speaking families. Omaha is a very diverse, yet segregated community. We have a large latino population concentrated in south Omaha so our demand for bilinguals in the health care field is high!



I took the MCAT twice!!! Yes, twice! and to be honest with you I did not do that well. My first MCAT was in June 2014 and my score was a ........23... Yup! Michael Jordan's # although for score purposes, I must say it is a not so hot number! My second and last MCAT was in Jan 2015 and I scored a pretty significant number as it is the number of years I have been alive aka 26. The breakdown is as follows: June 2014   7/6/10   &   Jan 2015   7/8/11.


I know that my stats are not impressive at all, especially if you compare me to a traditional pre-med student but then again I am not your traditional premed student. My grandma brought me to the USA in 2000 when I was only 12 years old, I took ESL classes up until my sophomore year in high school. My high school did not prepared me for college because that was not their plan, their plan was for me to be able to read/speak English which was accomplished! I enrolled in college in 2006 and yes, it took me 7 years to finished! It took me that long not because I failed out of classes but because I had nobody to guide me through college courses so I ended up taking many classes that were unnecessary for the pre-medical track. I was also paying my way through college and almost dropped out because I was unemployed at one point and I was having major financial issues since I had been sustaining myself since I was 16 and did not have money for rent. Luckily, I applied to a few private scholarships and got them! :)


I am also a DREAMER and a beneficiary of DACA which was was made possible by President Obama! Needless to say, it has turned my life a whole 180 degrees (I have heard people say a whole 360 degrees but that would put you back to where you started so don't make that mistake!). I went from working as a dishwasher, construction worker, cook to what I do now-community health worker. If it wasn't for DACA I would of have never been given the opportunity to work at OneWorld Community Health Centers and I would of never met the incredible people and physicians who work here.