Graduation Week 2018: A Letter to My Future Self

A Letter to my Future Self

During medical school orientation week four years ago, the staff had each of us write letters to our future graduating selves. They held onto these sealed letters, and on the first day of graduation week, the staff gave them back to us. My letter was super uplifting and made me smile. I even loved my super positive outlook on surgery back then, and how I knew that despite how match would go, surgery would remain my passion to this very day. Since I didn’t write anything too personal or crazy about myself, I figured I would share. Dated 8/15/14, it reads:

Hey Dr. Ward,

Guess what? You’ve made it! You finally accomplished your dreams of becoming a doctor and you are now on the way to the residency of your dreams. Despite the many obstacles you faced including raising a young child throughout school, you persevered and didn’t let anything stop you. I am so proud of you! Tiana is proud of you too, and she appreciates the sacrifices you made to get to this point and raise her to be the most independent and strong-willed pre-teenager that she has become.

At the time of this letter, you feared you would fail and disappoint those who believed in you. Med school was probably one of the hardest things that you have ever done in your life and you survived! You are now on your way to becoming one of the world’s best surgeons, and hopefully you matched into an amazing plastic surgery program that will take you far. If you changed your mind on plastics, I know you are still going into surgery regardless of the specialty and YOU WILL BE GREAT! I love you and take the time to enjoy this moment, because another long hard road lies ahead. But guess what, you will succeed and I’m proud of ya!

 -Danielle M. Ward

P.S. The cheddar cheese stains are from that awesome popcorn at orientation! LOL

There you have it! Even though the road ahead will be long and hard, I look forward to the ride and eventually achieving my goal of becoming a surgeon. I just might even write another letter to myself before beginning intern year in a few weeks to see if my outlook has changed a year from now. Up next, I’ll share highlights from day two of graduation week.

Finished with my 4th Year of Medical School!

My last rotation as Student Doctor Ward

Happy Monday! Since I’m backtracking on updates, I figured my last physical rotation of 4th year would be a good place to start. I was fortunate to finish back in March since I never took a vacation month to study for boards, and I am so happy to be done. My last actual rotation was an online course, but prior to that, I ended my stint of having to wear the short white coat with an Emergency Medicine (EM) elective in Tennessee. It was an elective that I applied for through the Visiting Student Application Service (VSAS), and probably one of my favorite. EM is a required 4^th year elective at my school, but since there weren’t any available slots open in any Georgia hospitals, I had to apply to out-of-state programs. I definitely wasn’t upset though, seeing as the program I went to not only put me up in a hotel for free for the month, and provided a nice food allowance, but the residents and attendings were some of the friendliest and down-to-earth people I had ever met. It’s just too bad they don’t offer a general surgery residency program, or I’d be all over it! 

I’d have to say my favorite part of the rotation was all the freedom I had. As a 4^th year student, I’ve found that residents and attendings place a lot more trust in me to get stuff done. At this particular location, once they knew I had an interest in surgery, I was the go-to for all the laceration repairs, and I loved it! There’s something about getting my own supplies, walking into a patient’s room introducing myself and letting them know that I will be fixing them, proceeding to do it unsupervised, and having great results that completely made my day! It also freed up the attendings to do other work, so they seemed to enjoy it as well. It was kinda bittersweet when the rotation ended, but I couldn’t resist having the attending take a picture of me on my final rotation of having to wear the short white coat.

Safari Park in TN with my daughter and little sister

Another awesome thing about being in Tennessee was it wasn’t so far that my daughter couldn’t come for a visit. We visited a place called Safari Park where we literally got to drive around and feed zebras, giraffes, camels, kangaroos, and other exotic animals by hand! My daughter was slightly freaked out at first, but she eventually warmed up to it and participated. I also had the chance to visit Memphis for the first time, and I even discovered that my aunt, who I hadn’t seen since childhood, literally lived down the street from the hospital I was working at! I was so happy to have the chance to visit relatives and have people around that made me feel less alone during my rotation.

My first time in Memphis was a great one!

Now that I’ve been finished with rotations for a while, I’m in such an awkward place. I don’t quite feel like a medical student since I’m done, but I’m not exactly a doctor either since I haven’t graduated. I’m also excited for graduation, but I kind of like the security of still having the student title with no major responsibilities. I’m just one confused soul, LOL. Either way, it feels good to be done, and there’s only 17 days left until graduation!

Counting Down to Graduation!

Almost Dr. Ward!

I'm back!!!! So much has happened since my last post. I had a successful SNMA Annual Medical Education Conference in San Francisco, ended my term as SNMA National President, treated myself to a week long solo vacation in Cartagena, Colombia, and took selfies with Congressman John Lewis and Congresswoman Maxine Waters in Washington, DC. I've definitely reached the light at the end of the medical school tunnel, and in the coming days, I will have posts reflecting back on all my experiences over the past month and a half.

As for right now, I officially finished all of my medical school rotations, so most of my time has been spent living my best life or gearing up for graduation and residency. It feels so good to not have as much on my plate as I did before, and since it will be back to reality next month, I am thoroughly enjoying every last second of freedom right now.

It seems like it was just yesterday when I was celebrating finally getting accepted into medical school, and now I am just a few weeks away from graduating. It's both scary and exciting at the same time, but in 22 days, this girl will be a doctor!

Anyway, I only wrote this post to show off my graduation announcements :) I'll have a lot more posts over the next few days (yay for having free time to write), so stay tuned!

The back :)

When Failure Becomes Opportunity – My #Match2018 Story

***Disclaimer: This post starts off pretty bad, but there’s a happy ending!***

On February 5, 2018 at 7:54am, my worst nightmare happened. I found out I did not match. I was in the process of driving to my rotation when I received the above email. I immediately turned my car around, texted my attending the news, and headed back home. I was beyond devastated, and just wanted to crawl into a deep dark corner and remove myself from the world. I think for about the first 30 minutes, I just sat on the couch in silence and in shock. Then I called my school to figure out the best way to proceed. They let me know that the list of unfilled programs would be available in a few hours and to start making calls at that time. The next thing I did was call a good friend of mine.

The friend I called was someone who despite now being a surgical resident, did not match the first time either, so I knew he would have good advice for me. His advice was “take about an hour to cry and be in your feelings, then suck it up, take the depression out of your voice, and get your ass on the phone!” So that’s what I did. I hung up, cried a few tears (an extremely rare occurrence for me), and when the list became available, I was calling and emailing programs. There were only two categorical surgery programs available, and a ton of internships, internal medicine, family medicine, and other categorical spots available. My heart just wouldn’t let me apply to anything that wouldn’t get me to my end goal of becoming a surgeon, so I only applied for surgery and internship positions. 

Feels so weird seeing those initials after my name

The calls turned out to be successful because by the end of the day, I had completed a few phone interviews and was offered multiple different contracts at programs around the country. The only problem was some of the programs wanted me to sign their contracts right away (I’m talking within an hour of receiving), and others wanted me to consider taking a spot in their other unfilled categorical programs such as internal medicine. This completely stressed me out! The only program that actually took the time to consider what I wanted was the one at my home institution. They not only offered a general surgery based traditional rotating internship, but they said that they would hold onto the contract and give me a few days to think about it. So, to make a long story short, I happily accepted the contract for a Traditional Rotating Internship (General Surgery Specialty Track) at PCOM, and will be starting my first Resident Physician job in Philadelphia this summer.

I do it all for her :)

For those who are unaware, there are actually two matches that take place. The AOA (DO) match typically occurs the first week of February, and the NRMP (MD) match occurs around the second or third week of March. DOs can participate in both matches, but if a student matches in the DO match, then they cannot match in the following match. MD students only have the option of one match. I was registered for both matches and had ranked programs for both, but after receiving the AOA email, it forced me to think about what would happen if the same thing occurred in March. The NRMP match includes MD, DO, and IMG students, so the pool is a lot larger and it’s easier to end up not securing a spot anywhere. As a single mother, and someone with a ton of student loans, I could not afford to take a year off after graduating from medical school. It was crucial for me to secure a position and the salary that comes along with it. I held onto the contract until the last week before it was due, but after having an unsuccessful interview with one of the programs with an open categorical general surgery position (they were more concerned with the fact that I have a child rather than my abilities as a future resident), I mailed in my contract and now there is no looking back. I don’t have to worry about how I am going to feed my child next year, and she’s just happy that her mom is going to be a doctor :) 

I originally struggled with the idea of writing a post about my match day woes because I didn’t want the extra attention. I haven’t exactly been a low key medical student, so it felt extra shameful to be someone who recently received the highest award given by my school, has multiple newspaper articles written about me, and serves as national president of an organization, but apparently wasn’t good enough to match into a general surgery program. When I told my friend about this and wanting to just stay quiet and pretend like it never happened, he said something that I found to be so profound: “Your failure is not for you.” He then went on to explain that if he hadn’t previously shared his story with me, then I wouldn’t think I could go on to accomplish my dreams as well. He was completely right. So I wrote this post with the intention to not only share my story with those who might have similar circumstances, but also to give me something to look back on when I do finally become a surgeon. I might have added an extra year to my training, but I see this as an opportunity as opposed to a failure. I will accomplish my goals of becoming a surgeon, and I look forward to taking this year to kick butt as an intern whiling proving that I would be a valuable asset to any surgery program. I just hope you all will stick around for the ride.

For those who matched this week and last month, congratulations, but please remember that it didn’t come as easy for some folks as it did for you, and that there are others still out there struggling to scramble into a spot. For those currently in the SOAP/scramble process, please keep your head up and know that you are not alone. Utilize your school, mentors, and resources to secure a spot. You will get through this and end up where you are meant to be. And for those like myself, who did not match into their desired spots, but managed to secure a position, rejoice in the fact that you are blessed have a job! Finally, to all my fellow fourth year medical students, we’re almost to the finish line! Graduation is literally right around the corner!!!! Congratulations on making it this far in your careers, and I look forward to having you as my future colleagues.

When Dreams Start to Become a Reality

Surgery with Dr. Velma Scantlebury, the first balck female transplant surgeon in the US

In my previous post, I promised I would do a quick recap of my experiences in Delaware last month. This was an exciting month not only because I was finishing up the last of my general surgery audition/away rotations, but because I was blessed with the opportunity to meet some amazing individuals while having awe-inspiring experiences. If you follow me on my Instagram or other social media accounts, then you already know my most memorable experience was being able to assist Dr. Velma Scantlebury, the first black female transplant surgeon in the United States, with surgery! I’ve had so many great moments during my time as a medical student, but this has probably been my favorite thus far. It was definitely something that I will never forget, and it really gave meaning to all the long nights spent studying, the constant sacrifices, and the many times I began to doubt if I was even on the right path. It was just what I needed to further drive my passion to become a surgeon, and I will forever be grateful that I even had the chance to experience this.

Blessed to called her both a friend and mentor

Speaking of great individuals, it’s one thing to have role models in life who you aspire to be like, but to actually meet them and have them be even more fantastic in person is simply amazing! Not only did Dr. Scantlebury open her home to me for the entire month I was in Delaware, but she always made herself available to answer my millions of questions and she gave the best advice. It was so cool being able to hang out with her and I am so blessed to have her in my life as both a phenomenal friend and mentor. I also got the chance to finally meet some of my other mentors while I was in Delaware, and it was so nice to have a support system while I was busy making it through the surgery grind. The hours were rough (especially during the first two weeks I spent in the SICU), and it was stressful at times, but receiving texts and visits throughout the day from some of my mentors made me feel super loved :-)

Some the the University of Delaware SNMA MAPS members

Another highlight of my month in Delaware was getting to interact with some of my SNMA family. I had the pleasure of attending a diversity event where I met some awesome pre-medical students from the University of Delaware who also happen to be the Student National Medical Association’s Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students (MAPS) chapter members. It was a pleasure being able to get their insights and discuss medical school and the admissions process with them. A huge portion of my agenda this year as SNMA National President focuses on inspiring our youth and encouraging students to pursue medical school, so it is good knowing that my efforts are not going unnoticed. Speaking of which, the next SNMA National Leadership Institute will be held in New Orleans, LA January 26-28, 2018, so if you’re a pre-medical student interested in workshops designed to provide you with the knowledge to successfully get into medical school, or a medical student interested in building your leadership skills, click HERE to apply today! I look forward to meeting you and seeing some old faces.

I think this pretty much covers everything I wanted to say about last month. I still have to pinch myself sometimes when I think back on how much of a struggle it was to just get into medical school to now where I am getting opportunities to perform surgeries with legends. It is a true reminder of how far I have come, and it reminds me to not forget to bring people up with me along the way. I will continue to share these moments with you all because I want everyone to know that no dream is impossible, and that everything works out and happens at the right time. Just keep pushing, stay determined, and don’t let anyone tell you that you aren't capable of achieving your goals. Anyway, I’m beginning to rant, so I’ll end here. I hope everyone reading this has a great week!

Greetings From Ohio!

General Surgery Essentials

It has been entirely too long since my last post, so time for another update! After my general surgery audition rotation in Philadelphia, I landed right back in Georgia for a required 4 week rural family medicine rotation. I had a lot of autonomy, nice hours, an awesome preceptor, and plenty of relaxation time, so I was really happy. Plus, I really enjoyed my time back home, and I was able to spend time with my daughter who I hadn't seen in two months. We both enjoyed much needed mommy/daughter bonding time, and it made me really happy that she is still doing okay despite me being away so much for 4th year auditions.

Selfie with the Georgia Family Medicine crew

After a pretty chill month, it was time to get back into the operating room, so I hit the road to Ohio where I am at now for general surgery audition #3. Today marks the start of week three, and so far I am enjoying my experience. As with any surgery program, the hours are long, but here, there are a huge variety of surgical cases every day, the residents and attending physicians are all super nice, and I enjoy working alongside the other auditioning medical students. Plus, over the past few months I have become super comfortable with suturing, hand tying, and patient management, so everything is a lot less overwhelming now.

Snagging in a little extra study time in between surgery cases

In addition to being on the surgery grind, I also had to fly to Philadelphia last weekend for the Student National Medical Association's (SNMA) National Leadership Institute hosted by the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. As National President of the SNMA, I was responsible for securing the location, finding speakers, putting together all programming, and making sure the weekend ran smoothly. To say I was stressed would be an understatement! Thankfully, I had the help of amazing individuals who helped me with everything from planning these past few months to handling minor things during the event so I could tend to meetings and such last weekend. Team work truly does make the dream work, and I continue to be reminded every day that I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything without the support and help from the fantastic people who surround me. I am super blessed, indeed!

Thank you to everyone who attended the SNMA September 2017 NLI!

Lastly, in terms of general 4th year updates, I have submitted all my residency applications, and now I'm just praying for a decent number of interviews. This waiting game is sooo stressful! The good news is I have one more general surgery rotation after this one, and then I'll be able to head back to Georgia and breathe again.

I think that covers everything for now. The next time you hear from me, I should be in Delaware finishing up the last rotation of my fourth year general surgery grind. I hope everyone reading this is doing well, and I look forward to updating everyone again soon!

General Surgery Audition Season in Full Effect!

First day of general surgery audition selfie :-)

The grind doesn't stop, and I am currently in Oklahoma for the month on my first general surgery audition rotation. In case you're not familiar with this, auditions are where medical students go to residency programs they are interested in and "act" as a resident for four weeks. It helps give the programs an idea of who you are as an individual, how you work with and get along with the current residents, and it allows you to not only shine, but get a feel of a program to see if it is worth applying to. In the MD world, these are known as away rotations, but they don't tend to carry a lot of weight. In the DO world, auditions are a big deal (well, at least when it comes to surgery anyway). Some programs will not even grant interviews to students unless they have auditioned at their program, so I would say it's super important. I will pretty much be in a different state every month until December, and super busy, but I will try my best to keep everyone updated.

So far, I am really enjoying my experience. I started last Monday and it has literally been non-stop since orientation. I was so glad that I brought my gym shoes with me the first day because right after orientation I was throwing on scrubs and getting straight to work! I've only been here a week and a half, but have scrubbed in on everything from debridements to below knee amputations to laparascopic cholecystectomies and hernia repairs. This morning I even got to scrub in on a few plastic surgery cases :-) There is something new and exciting every day and I absolutely love it!

My typical day starts around 430am, and I get to the hospital around 5am to round on my patients, type my progress notes, and then meet up with the resident I am assigned to. From there we might round again, and then we usually head to the OR for the procedures scheduled that day. After surgery, we round again, go see new consults, and if we finish early, I go find other surgeons and ask if they need help with anything or if I can scrub in on their case. On Tuesday mornings before surgery, I attend Grand Rounds, and on Wednesday and Friday mornings at 6am, I attend didactics with all the residents and attendings. Thursdays are clinic days. At the program I am at right now, I am the only student auditioning in general surgery this month, so I am definitely taking advantage of this and trying to get in as much face time with the residents and attendings as possible. At around 530pm, if there are no new consults, then I go with the residents to do handoff to the night time residents, and I am pretty much free to go.  My evenings are filled with studying for the next day's cases and reading up on things I might have been questioned about earlier in the day. I also make sure to video chat with my daughter, which is always a great way to end the day. After that, if I don't have any conference calls or anything important to do, I either watch a quick show or read, shower, and then go to bed. This is pretty much how it goes every day, and that includes weekends and holidays. This weekend I have to fly out of town to handle some SNMA business, so I am kind of looking forward to being able to sleep in a for a couple of extra hours on Saturday, but kinda sad I might miss some surgery action.

With that being said, I haven't had much time to explore the area I am in because I literally go to the hospital and then my AirBnB location. Oklahoma is definitely way different from what I imagined, but in a good way, and both the weather and people are pretty great. I also ran into two of my classmates who are here auditioning for other specialties, so it was a pleasant surprise to see some familiar faces.

That's pretty much it on my end. The past month has been spent moving, transitioning, traveling, and dealing with a ton of changes, but luckily I adapt to change pretty well. Right now, my main focus is performing my best on this rotation and learning as much as I possibly can without getting in the way of the residents. I am also in the middle of applying to osteopathic residency programs and will be submitting applications in the next day or so. The next few months will probably be the busiest time of my entire medical school career, so please keep me in your prayers. I'll make sure to update everyone as I go, but if you don't hear from me, you know why. Until next time!

Goodbye Vacation, Hello 4th Year!

That 4th year glow!

Vacation time might be over, but I'm officially a 4th year medical student, and couldn't be happier!!! I'm one week into my first rotation of the year, but I'm still feeling the effects of a wonderful two-week break that was filled with relaxation and happy vibes. Plus I found out yesterday that I passed the COMLEX Level 2 CE exam I took on May 8th (and scored higher than my Level 1 exam), so I'm pretty much on cloud nine. I officially passed all of the medical board licensing exams required for graduation which means I'm going to be a doctor, y'all!

Chicago fun!

But to rewind, I finished my third year with a great rotation in neurology that gave me the opportunity to really develop my examination skills, but I was ready for a break! So a few days after my rotation ended, I took a short trip to Chicago and had a blast! I finally got to see the play "Hamilton" (an amazing experience!), checked out the Rolling Stones exhibit at Navy Pier, and I got my fill of super delicious foods. I even took some time to stop by the American Osteopathic Association headquarters. It was great meeting the content editor for The DO magazine, who gave me a tour of the building, let me hold an autographed copy of A.T. Still's biography (he was the founder of osteopathic medicine), and she even hooked me up with some awesome freebies. I was one happy lady :-)

Weekend Girl's Trip

After Chicago, I made a trip to Mississippi to drop my daughter off with my dad since she had just finished school, and then it was off to Louisiana with my mom and two of my sisters for a girl's weekend getaway. We enjoyed the spa, watched a movie, danced, saw Smokey Robinson perform live, and somehow in the mix, I even ended up holding a baby alligator. It was a great time!

More Excitement to Come!

But now, it's back to reality as I'm currently back on the rotation grind. This month, I'm taking it somewhat easy with a family medicine rotation since next month I'll be starting my general surgery audition rotations. I'll be spending the next few weeks packing up and getting ready to live out of my car for a few months, but I'm excited for new adventures. I'll make sure to update everyone on all of that later, along with the other posts I promised, but for now I gotta get back to work!

Breaking Barriers and Excited for What’s to Come!

My excitement at becoming SNMA National President!

It has been a while since my last full post, and sooo much awesomeness has occurred! I’ve officially made it to my 4^th year of medical school, am currently enjoying the tail end of a very much needed two-week vacation, and probably what everyone is most aware of is the fact that I recently became the first osteopathic medical student to serve as National President of the Student National Medical Association! Life has been a complete whirlwind for the past 2 months, but I’ll focus this post on the SNMA, and leave my upcoming posts for school, vacation, and mommy-mode updates.  

Extremely blessed to have my daughter and sister attend the conference

On April 14^th, I ended my term as President-Elect of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), and was inducted as National President during the Annual Medical Education Conference that was held in Atlanta, Georgia this year. It was such a blessing to have the conference where I live because I was able to bring my daughter to my induction which meant so much to me. Most people don’t realize how much she goes through this journey with me, and despite knowing she’s proud of me as a mother, I wanted her to get the bigger picture and really see why I’m always on conference calls or traveling when I could be spending that time with her. I also brought my sister to the conference, because if it weren’t for her coming all the way to Georgia to take on the job as nanny this past summer, life would be a lot harder and way more expensive (still have to pay her a ton, but a lot cheaper than a stranger LOL). My daughter still talks about the event, and I am extremely happy that I could expose her to thousands of individuals on the path of becoming physicians and let her see her mommy in action at the same time :-)

I attend the best medical school ever!

I was also pleasantly surprised at the amazing support I received from my school during the conference. Not only were both the Philadelphia and Georgia campuses of PCOM well represented at the conference, but the administrative staff even put together a small party to celebrate my new milestone. There was cake, great people from my PCOM family, and I was even surprised to see my picture in an ad in the program book. It was equally great meeting fellow students from my main campus and forming new bonds. I couldn’t attend a better institution and I continue to remain grateful for all the support.

Love my PCOM family!

I am looking forward to my year as president and I’m excited to take you all along on the journey. The SNMA is an organization I am extremely passionate about, and my goal is to use my position to continue the mission of the organization and focus on my passions of inspiring youth to become physicians, supporting my fellow non-traditional students, breaking barriers, and representing the osteopathic medical profession. I hope you all will stick around for the ride!

Featured in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution!

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while since my last post, and soooo much has happened since then, but I'm currently traveling and will have to share all of the exciting updates next week. Until then, please check out my most recent feature in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that can be found HERE. I am super honored to have my story shared, and I hope it inspires some of you. Wishing everyone a very happy Memorial Day weekend!

Updates on an Exciting Month!

Daniel Hale Williams Pre-Medical Honor Society at UVA

It’s getting harder and harder to post frequently, but I’m still here! The past month has been a complete whirlwind, but I have enjoyed every last bit of it :-)

My most notable experience this past month was being invited to the University of Virginia to be a keynote speaker for the “Path Toward the White Coat” event hosted by the SNMA MAPS chapter Daniel Hale Williams Pre-Medical Honor Society at UVA. It was an amazing experience being able to connect with some of the organization’s pre-medical students, and their hospitality was top-notch. They showed me their beautiful city and campus, and even took me on Monticello and vineyard tours. I was impressed by the students, and it was a great reminder of where I used to be. I was happy and honored to offer my advice and be a part of a great program. Thank you, UVA!

Not a doctor yet, but thankful for the invite!

As for rotations, when I last left off, I was just finishing up my Family Medicine / Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (FM/OMM) rotation. Since that time, I completed an ambulatory internal medicine (IM) rotation, and I am currently on an inpatient IM rotation that includes pulmonology, critical care, and some outpatient care. The patients are definitely a lot sicker on this rotation, but I am really enjoying the experience. My preceptor allows me to see all the new consults and do charting on my own, so the autonomy is a plus. It forces me to develop good assessments and plans, and I like being involved with patients from day one. I am also rotating at three hospitals in the northeast Georgia area, and while the drive is a bit far, it’s actually one of the best commutes I’ve had so far. I just have a straight 40 minute drive in the morning with virtually no traffic, so it’s quite enjoyable. Definitely beats sitting in up to two hours of traffic when driving towards the Atlanta area! Plus, the hospitals are in pretty scenic rural areas and I just love the country feel (and the super sweet tea in the cafeteria!). The picture below is the view from a patient room in one of the hospitals I am in…Sooo pretty!

Gorgeous view from hospital room

In my last post, I wrote about recently completing my COMLEX Level II – PE exam. I am happy to say the results are in, and I passed!!!! Sooo happy to have that over with and now it’s on to the next one. Right now, I am registered for COMLEX Level II – CE on May 8^th, but I am considering pushing it back a few weeks if I can find a testing center that isn’t too far away. I’m 27 days away, and I’ll be missing a few days of study time this week due to the SNMA AMEC conference, so if my practice scores aren’t where I want them to be in about a week or so, I have no problem taking more time to study.

Study Grind!

This week, the biggest thing on my plate is the Student National Medical Association’s Annual Medical Education Conference (AMEC). On Friday, I will officially become National President of the organization, and I am sooooo excited! I can’t wait to re-connect with our members, attend awesome workshops, and present my executive agenda. A lot of hard work has been put into making this conference a success, so I’m looking forward to another great conference and an exciting new year. So for those of you who will be in attendance this week: don’t be afraid to say hello when you see me and I look forward to seeing you all right here in Atlanta!

See you in Atlanta!

Family Medicine, “Dirty 30” Celebrations, and Another Board Exam Completed

I can’t believe it has been more than a month since my last post!!!! Life has been ridiculously busy and there has been so much I wanted to share with you all, but not enough time to sit down and do so! I’m even super behind on emails and comments, but I'll make it a priority to get through everything by the end of the week. Tonight, I’ll try my best to do a quick recap of everything that you all might have missed, and include what I consider to be the most important highlights :-)

Best Birthday Cake Ever!!!! (Yep, it even tops my 27th cake)

For starters, I recently celebrated my birthday and officially joined the “Dirty 30” club. I think I celebrated every night the entire week of my birthday, which was rough considering I started a new rotation, but sooo worth it! I partied alongside Cam Newton (technically he was just sitting in the same section as me in the club, but I’m still counting it LOL), was surprised with the most amazing cake ever, and even got a chance to enjoy a Sips Under the Sea event one evening at the Georgia Aquarium. Thirty feels awesome and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the decade has in store!

Sips Under the Sea at the Georgia Aquarium...Drinks, fish, and no kids!

As for rotations, I finished my family medicine rotation last month, and I really enjoyed the experience. It made me feel a lot better about writing notes and presenting patients, and it was nice being a part of a dually accredited MD/DO program with some residents who had graduated from my school. I also got the chance to do and observe a couple of procedures, so that made me happy.

Having fun with the FM residents and attendings

This month I am on my Family Medicine / Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (FM/OMM) rotation, but my preceptor doesn’t really do any OMM, so it is basically a repeat of family medicine in the outpatient setting. I’m definitely not complaining though, because we see at least twenty patients per day, the pace is non-stop, and I am learning a ton! Plus, I had the chance to do OMM during my rotation last month, so I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything. The cases have a lot of variety, I am constantly looking things up, and I am pretty sure I have a solid list of ICD-10 codes memorized at this point. Today, he even let me do two I&D procedures back-to-back since he is fully aware of my love of surgery, which definitely makes up for the 10+ hour work days with only five minute lunches with the drug reps if I’m lucky.  

COMLEX Level 2 PE = Complete!

I think the final update on my list is the completion of my COMLEX Level 2 PE medical board exam. This is the physical exam portion of our boards where we get eight hours to see 12 patients, do their physical exams, and write up SOAP notes on them. This is a requirement for graduation, and for osteopathic medical students, the exam is only offered in Philadelphia or Chicago, so I made my way up to Philly a couple of weeks ago and took my exam. I won’t know the results for a few months, but I’m hoping it went well. I immediately starting thinking about all the mistakes I made after taking the exam, but hopefully I passed and now I'm ready to move on to the next one. The bright side is I only have one more board exam to go during my medical school career, and I got the chance to explore my school’s main campus and FINALLY eat a philly cheesesteak!

Visiting PCOM's main campus for the first time

I think that sums everything up! Right now, I’m finishing up the last week of my FM/OMM rotation and then next week I start my Internal Medicine Ambulatory rotation. Right now, I need to go study for Friday’s OMM COMAT exam, but I hope everyone reading this is having a great week! I’ll try my best to not go so long without posting next time, but you can always keep up with me through my Instagram pics and stories (@LSUsweetheart). Until next time! 

A Post for the Pre-Meds: Low GPA? Low MCAT? There’s Still Hope!

A couple of people recently contacted me freaking out about the new AACOM Repeat Policy Coursework change that was recently announced, and it prompted me to write this post. I’ve always been transparent about the fact that I had extremely low undergraduate GPA and MCAT scores when applying to medical school, but outside of the MCAT, I never actually revealed how low my actual GPA was. I think now would probably be a good time to reveal those scores and explain why I think this new policy change is something that really shouldn’t be stressed about in the grand scheme of everything, especially when it comes to applying to osteopathic medical schools.

My AACOM GPA

My AAMC GPA

I graduated from my undergraduate institution with a 2.2 GPA and over 150 hours. No amount of retakes was going to raise my GPA above the 3-point-whatever GPA that everyone thinks you absolutely need to have when applying to medical school. Additionally, my school had a rule that you could not retake a course that you received a C or higher in, and the main reason for my low GPA was the fact that I made a lot of C’s in my courses. It was an absolute requirement to retake any course with a grade of a D or lower, and I will admit that I did have a few retakes in there. Additionally, I entered into college with a low GPA to start because I attended a full-time joint enrollment honors program at a university during my senior year of high school, didn’t take it seriously, and later found out that any and all college coursework would be included in my application. As you can see above, I barely scored above a 2.5 on my AACOMAS application with the retakes included, and my AMCAS GPA was absolutely abysmal! My graduate GPA was a huge saving grace for me (my GPA was higher when I graduated, but at the point of my application it was as listed), but even with that included, my AACOMAS GPA only went as high as a 2.7.

With that being said, I was still able to gain an acceptance into medical school, so it just goes to show that some schools really do more than just screen based on numbers. There are both MD and DO schools that will look at the last 30 or so hours of your coursework and only focus on that as your cumulative GPA which will still give an advantage to students taking post-bacc or graduate coursework. If you have been retaking courses and were counting on the DO grade replacement policy to help you get an acceptance, I wouldn’t give up hope. As stated on the AACOM website: “Osteopathic medical schools may continue recalculating and weighing applicant GPAs per their established admissions practices. The scope of this policy change is limited to the AACOMAS verified GPA calculation.” To me, this pretty much means schools will continue to look at applications in the same way as before, although now they might have to make a few adjustments. Just focus on continuing to improve both your GPA and overall application, and everything will work out the way it should in the end. Also, if you are applying to DO schools, keep in mind that the majority of them tend to focus on the entire applicant and not just the stats, which is a major reason why I applied. If every other part of your application is stellar, but your GPA and MCAT scores are lacking, just be able to explain it and prove that you would be able to excel in medical school despite your shortcomings.

My MCAT Scores

Speaking of the MCAT, this post wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t throw that in here as well. I know there is a new MCAT with a completely different scoring system than there was when I took it, but as you can see (and also as I previously mentioned HERE) my scores were even low with that! I was seriously a true underdog when it came to applying to medical school, but my passion wouldn’t let that stop me from pursuing my dreams.

To those of you applying to medical school, I think it is extremely important to avoid the negativity and continue to push hard and work towards achieving your dreams. I remember reading posts on SDN that said someone with my stats (and especially a single mother) would never make it through the first year of medical school or pass their board exams, and now I am sitting here as a third year medical student who not only made it through my first two years without any major issues, but managed to pass the first part of both my MD and DO board exams, and to date, I have not received less than an honors evaluation (with some final grades as high passes after the shelf exams LOL) on any of my clinical rotations. I say this not to brag, but to be a source of encouragement and inspiration for those of you who have the dream of becoming a physician, but do not think it’s possible. I still have another year and a half to go, along with more upcoming board exams (please pray for me!), but even I have the faith that if I continue to do my best, keep the faith, and push through, everything will fall into place as it should. I’ll end here, but I truly hope this post helped motivate, inspire, and put some of you at ease.

"Go confidently in the direction of your dream and live the life you've imagined" - Henry David Thoreau

SNMA January 2017 NLI Recap – Dallas, Texas

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Student National Medical Association’s National Leadership Institute (NLI) and Third Quarterly Board of Directors meeting which took place in Dallas, Texas. It was sponsored by the American College of Emergency Physicians, and like every NLI, it was a very productive and enjoyable experience.

One thing I was not expecting was for Dallas to be so cold! It was actually 24 degrees and snowing when I landed on Friday, which was way colder than Atlanta was that day. Despite the freezing temperatures, the trip started off with a reception and evening meetings not too long after I landed. The next day was filled with guest speakers with topics ranging from understanding your personal brand to setting S.M.A.R.T. goals and developing leadership skills. We also attended a discussion on “setting a vision that others can follow” with Dr. Stuart Flynn, the dean of Texas Christian University School of Medicine (accepting its first class in 2018), and it was interesting getting his take on board exams and effective learning environments for medical students.

For me, the best part of this NLI was having the opportunity to present my 2017-2018 executive agenda to the SNMA Board of Directors. This has been something I have been working extremely hard on over the last few months, and I was excited to unveil it and receive great feedback. I’ll be equally excited when I get the chance to present it to the general SNMA membership at our annual medical education conference that will take place April 12-16, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia (registration is now open for all those interested!).

But to keep things short, I really enjoyed myself this past weekend, and it has me completely ecstatic for the year to come. SNMA leadership works very hard to make sure all of our membership is supported, and it is always nice when we are able to come together and discuss our progress and goals. If you are a pre-medical or medical student who has not joined SNMA, then I suggest you do by clicking HERE, because it is an amazing organization! That pretty much sums up my weekend though, so I hope everyone reading this has an awesome week :-)

Cheers to a Great 2016!!!!

2016 was an amazing year for me! I celebrated 29 years of life, became National President-Elect of the Student National Medical Association, passed step 1 of both the MD and DO medical board exams, delivered my first baby, assisted with operations, had the ongoing support of my awesome family and friends, met many new wonderful individuals, and continued to raise the BEST daughter ever! The #2016bestnine app didn't do my year any justice, so I created my own, but even this collage really doesn't convey the awesomeness of the year. Why? Because I consider every moment of the year that I was living, able to inspire, and still on the path to pursuing my dreams a great moment. Every year gets better and better, so I can't wait to see what 2017 has in store! 😄

My Instagram caption says it all, and I can’t believe we’ve reached the end of another year! 2016 flew by fast, but it was filled with so many amazing moments. It’s interesting when I see social media posts talking about how horrible the year was, because honestly, for me, it was a great year! I was able to get out of my comfort zone, challenge myself, explore new heights, and wake up every day thankful and blessed for another chance to get it right. I hope those of you reading this were able to find the positivity and joy within the year as well. 

2017 is looking to be yet another busy, but fulfilling year, and I can’t wait to share it all with those of you reading this. New milestones will be accomplished, many connections will be made, and hopefully I will continue to inspire and show my love and appreciation to all those around me. Wishing everyone a very safe and happy New Year’s Eve, and a mind-blowing 2017...See ya next year!