Hello, friends, hello! I have been extremely silent the past month, partially because it’s been an exceptionally busy one, but also because I wasn’t quite sure what to say next or how. As the title suggests, I’ve been struggling with myself over where to go to grad school. I didn’t want to write anything else until I’d decided, and it was a very multifaceted decision, so here we are a month later.
A couple of you already know some about the situation, but for the vast majority of you who don’t, I’m about to catch y’all up right quick (in bullet-point format, because I looove bullet points):
- The last time I updated y’all, I had been accepted into the M.S. in Medical Physiology program at Loyola University Chicago. I was thrilled at the news, and I immediately accepted and began making plans to move myself to the Windy City come August. That was probably 2 months ago? I don’t remember exactly. Anyway, Loyola has such a beautiful med school and the program director was so incredibly helpful, not only in terms of grad school, but also in terms of advising me on my medical school application and timeline. To put it briefly, I was sold.
- I submitted my FAFSA and waited to hear back from the school about possible financial aid. About a month ago, my financial aid info came back from Loyola, and the school apparently does not offer any scholarships or assistantships for my specific program, though I could get everything covered by student loans.
- In all, the year in Chicago would cost me about $60,000 in loans. Factor in the loan interest I would need to be paying throughout medical school (actual loan payments can be deferred until after med school graduation, but interest would accrue continuously starting next summer), and that’s another $18,000-ish up front. Not daunting at all, nope, not one bit.
- [REWIND ABOUT 5 MONTHS] Around when I had begun to REALLY suspect (correctly, as it turned out) that I wouldn’t be accepted to med school for Fall 2014, I found a 2-year M.S. in Biomedical Sciences program at East Carolina University, which is (a) in my home state and (b) one of the two medical schools to which I gained an interview this past cycle. So, I took the GRE, whipped out the checkbook once again, and applied. I had completely forgotten about that application by the time graduation and everything else rolled around in May.
- [BACK TO THE PRESENT] Not a day after the financial aid shit hit the fan with Loyola, ECU’S M.S. program director called to tell me that I had been accepted for this fall.
- The very next day, he called me back because he had forgotten to tell me that they wanted to give me a $12,000 assistantship towards my first year (I didn’t ask to be considered for anything like that, so I was more than a little shocked), which would entirely cover tuition and even a good chunk of my estimated living expenses. As it turns out, they offer these assistantships to five applicants per year. FIVE. Including all of the current medical students who choose to pursue this degree during their time there. So there was that.
- The second year is of minimal cost anyway, because it is predominantly spent in a research lab and the tab would be picked up by my future P.I.’s grant money.
- It was a real dilemma I had for myself.
- The dilemma stemmed from these two programs being different in almost every way possible. Loyola’s is one year long, lecture-based, focused exclusively on human physiology in its coursework, and offers an interview to their medical school to any student who maintains a certain GPA. ECU’s is two years, thesis-based, focused on biomedical and clinical research that is supplemented by lectures, and does not offer any such interview incentive. The pricetag difference is comical. Loyola has a more prestigious name, but ECU would allow me to further my interests in research with this time before medical school. Loyola would allow me to get to medical school potentially a year sooner, but not necessarily, depending on the way the application-cycle-cookie crumbled. I just wasn’t sure if Loyola’s pros, as awesome as they are, outweighed its significant cons (the cons being $$$, being farther away from home, and no research opportunities).
SO, after a good assortment of prayer, long talks with family and close friends, and lots of thought, I chose ECU! As such, I’m not reapplying to medical school quite yet. Now seems like a good time to throw out another huge thanks to Z and doctororbust, both of whom are wonderful people and generously edited the personal statement that is no longer being used for this application cycle. Your feedback was immensely helpful and I owe each of y’all a beer! 🙂
But in all seriousness, having been to visit a couple of times since reaching this decision, I’ve realized more and more how fantastic of a fit this program is going to be for me.
OH ALMOST FORGOT: my MD/PhD lab mentor from undergrad defended his thesis about a week after I was accepted to ECU. As I watched him elegantly and succinctly condense all 4 years of his work, including the 18 months’ worth of my contributions, into a one-hour presentation, I realized I truly wasn’t ready to be done with research. That was rather conveniently timed in this whole thing as well.
So, there you have it! Now that I’ve gotten all that off my chest, I feel much better and able to blog regularly again. I hope y’all have been having fantastic summers! Good luck to everyone starting a new school year of any variety next month!
Getting to the M.D. 