Being Denied Entry Into Med School Twice And Why Pre-Meds Need Strategic Planning. #460 Part 2

The longer hours can take a toll on my studying , but cutting back hours is not possible due to my financial responsibilities . Do you have any suggestions on how to balance working while studying ? My story

was I applied to medical school while I was in college , the first time . We can talk about specifics about how bad my strategy was , but I didn't get in and I didn't make a plan for what I was going to do when I graduated . I was just that devastated .

And the other reason too is I was on a wait list up until like June or July of finishing college and when I possibly could have gone into medical school . So I was just kind of had all my eggs in that basket and when it didn't come through I was like all right , well , I got to find a job .

And I'll tell you right now y'all like I was looking for a job everywhere Like I worked at . Compusa doesn't exist anymore , but I was selling computers and computer warranties . If you want to know what my job was like , go watch the 40-year-old virgin . Hit it , alfred .

If you don't take this Michael McDonald DVD that you've been playing for two years straight off , I'm going to kill everyone in the store and put a bullet in my brain . Get back on the floor . Seriously , that was my job . Right , like in the morning . You know you're setting up and it's the same soundtrack from the morning until the evening .

There's all this inter-departmental politics and people dating each other and who's going to sell the most extended warranties , and all this . I'll give you a free printer if you buy this warranty . It's just , it's crazy . People hanging out after . It was crazy , but I realized I was like I don't belong here .

Then I worked at Sports Authority selling sneakers and dunking on a basketball before people . You know people are coming in . It was , it was nuts . Oh yeah , no , you weren't . Listen . We lowered the basketball hoop .

And then at the same time , my sister was working I think she was working at AT&T . I forgot what she was doing with them , but she tried to get me a job with AT&T and you have to take this test . I failed this test . I remember there was time where I was trying to take a test with Sears and , like these , I failed to get a job at .

So I struggled , you know , I didn't know what to do and eventually I reached out to because I knew that my college , like my coach , they did something called graduate assistant work where you can go back and you can be a graduate assistant where you can help coach , whether it's track , whether it's football , whatever sport it may be .

I decided to go track and cross country and then they would pay a significant portion towards your classes that you took . So for me , I didn't Coach .

My rent was like two hundred and ninety bucks a month and I had a closet . Basically it was really small and I was with most of the people who were . I lived in a house , a track house that had , you know , all of the people who I knew when I graduated , you know , weeks before or months before . So I knew all these people and I did that .

And I did it for about a year and a half and I was kind of moving in a direction of getting a master's . And then , you know , I was applying to med school .

I got way more strategic and I got in , you know , and I look back at those two years and you know , and I look back at those two years and you know , for me same thing , like I just decided that look like I got to figure out something , but I got to get a job that's going to pay me enough that I can take care of a little bit of expenses , but also

, at the same time , I got to focus myself on getting towards the goal . And that's what we're saying to you , jay , is that listen , man , like , if you really want this , you're going to have to do something completely drastic , right , and you're going to have to really make this work . I don't know if you want to add anything

else . I made a little bit of a list , um , other things I have on here is protect your time and energy , right . So I have , like you , gotta be very strategic with how you say no . I'm talking about social events , even with you , jay . Extra work shifts they ask you for that . You have to say no Commitments that don't align with your goal . You got to .

You got to limit those . Be super , super smart about that . Avoid burnout , right . Schedule at least one rest day per week Right , and you got to get sleep Right . So I get it . You got to study for this test . You got to study for getting into med school , but you also got to get it . You got to study for this test .

You got to study for getting into med school , but you also got to remember that you got to be smart about it and don't burn yourself out and things like eating right , like sometimes creating or making dinner can be a big deal that it kind of demotivates you . Yo sundays or saturdays meal prep , you know , keep your . Keep it very simple .

Follow a simple menu every week and go from there .

The difference with her , though , was that , at one point , she was kind of living on her own , and she didn't want to have to have that reliance on her mother right to go and live with her mother , and you know she . I asked her . I said well , is your mother supportive ? And she's like oh yeah , my mother's supportive . She tells me come home all the time .

I'm like then what you're doing ?

You know , and I know sometimes you know you feel like , well , no , I'm a certain age , I should be able to , I should be this , I should be that . You know what no one is too old to get help .

No one is too old to get help , and that's something that you're just going to have to learn and because that is not just a lesson for now , while you're trying to get into medical school , that is going to be a lesson for the rest of your life , but certainly you are going to see this in medicine .

I think that you know this graduate assistant job . Is it possible that I can ? I could fit into that , right , if I didn't mention that to her , yeah , I would have still been working at these different jobs and , to be honest with you , my goal of becoming a doctor would have been prolonged , right ? So , yes , I have to shout her out .

You're right , renee , like we got to shout her out . I got to shout her out because if I didn't ask for help in that situation , I would have just been like standing on my pride and I would have been still trying to figure all this stuff out . So , I'm sorry , go ahead , you're right . You're right .

things like that right , sharing , sharing your story , sharing your plight with people who you know care about you . You know and would be willing to help you , but you have to be able to ask for that help . You've got to ask for that help . So I would say you know to Jay . Look around you , say Jay .

So I would say you know to Jay , look around you , say Jay .

And , like Nita said , you're going to have to do something drastically different . If you want drastically different results , jay , check this out . That's just what it is .

Three things Join a study group , Jay , you know you got to figure it out Something that you can someplace , somehow , somebody , something that's going to be able to make sure that you can check in and do something to keep you motivated , Right .

Then I don't know if you need to use a coach Renee's on my left-hand side , I think or mentor , Right , so that you can continue to discuss your goal of moving forward . So one thing I didn't let you know also is my , your goal of moving forward . So one thing I didn't let you know also is my . My nephew was an Alpha Phi .

Uh , was it Alpha Phi , Alpha ? He's a , he's an Alpha um , and very , very successful people in that . So when he finished from college , he kept in touch with a lot of folks who you know were very successful in that fraternity , a lot of them being lawyers and judges . So he was letting them know about his progress and they were keeping him accountable .

A lot of them would give them , would allow him to have some jobs where he could , you know , do some work and make some some money doing that type of stuff in the law field .

So basically , what I'm saying is you know , see if you can find someone who can keep you accountable or something that can keep you accountable , and then you need to be able to track your progress .

Renee , I don't know if you want to talk about that , but he needs that , Like he can't just say I'm just going to take , you know , one job , slow down and really focus , but how do you make sure , how does he make sure , that he's progressing towards the goal right , the deadline , you know ?

That is extremely important , you know , and I think we've kind of lost the art of that , but that's what I would suggest Get yourself a notebook of something .

in cyberspace somewhere . Right , write it down , go back , write out what's going on , journal it , you know , figure out what you need to do , but I would strongly recommend that you write down your plan . I wrote down my plan . I would go back to it . I had a notebook that I would use . I would check things off , I would write how I felt about things .

I manifested it and it happened . So that's what I would . That's what I would recommend to Jay and all the other pre-meds out there who are listening .

Use a calendar , set weekly goals .

But the realistic study schedule let's talk about that really quickly , because if you don't have a realistic study schedule then you're essentially engaging in an exercise in futility , Right , yeah , I've had people jam-pack their schedule with work and then say I'm going to study here and it's like okay , that's great . When are you going to sleep ?

When are you going to eat ?

Let me ask you a question Can you work overtime , Let me ask you a question Real quick .

So , guys , I had the opportunity to go to medical school at the osteopathic medical school in New Jersey and I lived in New Jersey versus go to medical school at the osteopathic school in Kansas City , kansas City University right now .

At the osteopathic school in Kansas City , kansas City University right now , and I was really . They even offered me a scholarship to stay home in New Jersey and I deliberately said that I was going to go out to Kansas City .

The one main reason was I didn't trust myself being close to home and studying for something that I always wanted to do for my entire life . Seriously , that's what it boiled down to Shout out to your sister . Oh , my sister also . The school in Kansas city accepted me first , Right ?

So she was like listen if they want you , and they were able to let you know so quickly like I think within 48 hours , they let me know that I was accepted , Whereas the school in New Jersey , I think they had me on wait list , right , I don't remember if they had you on waitlist , but it took a while .

They had me on waitlist or it took a while , but eventually they said you're in and here's a scholarship and it's you know now it wasn't like don't get , don't get Dr Nee wrong .

I just knew that if I was in New Jersey and my friends wanted to go out , they want to go to Atlantic City , where I , where I would live , where I would be in med school , they going to stay at my place and then go , you know . So how are you going to come party with me while I'm trying to study and then I'm not going to go with them .

I'm going to go with them , right , or ? Um , just all these different things . So I deliberately or family stuff and I deliberately said no , let me do Kansas city for four years . And it was great , you know . So , um , there's some small little sacrifices that I had to make , but it was worth it . My family really helped me during that time .

Me and Renee became really close . She became my family , so to speak , you know , and it was a great decision . So , yeah , there are times where you just have to really take . You know you have to limit how people can get to you in order for you to really study . I'm not saying become a monk , but you may have to , right .

Yeah , I mean , your MCAT study plan is probably not going to look the same . My MCAT study plan was a very long and ongoing study plan very long and ongoing .

I remember being at Hunter College and I'd have like , let's say , if I had a class in the late morning but then my next class wasn't until , you know , four hours later , right In the late afternoon , I would use that time , right , I would use that time very wisely .

I'd go down to the library , put my head down , you know , and just focus , figure out what I needed to learn , do some content . Then I started doing , you know , practice questions .

I would do practice questions all the time , Right , and that's one of the things that I recommend to all my pre-meds , right , Don't wait until you finish doing all of your content to start doing practice questions , Do your content .

So I'd probably do like maybe an hour or so of content and then , you know , maybe I'd go get something to eat really quickly , Then I'd come back do my practice questions , you know , and I became so efficient actually at doing that that there , there was at one point in time that I joined MAPS , right , Minority Association of Pre-Med Students .

Right , the SNMA portion , that's the pre-med portion of the SNMA and I became so efficient at being able to study and just figuring out my schedule that I was actually able to join MAPS , start to do activities , you know , even became the MAPS chapter president at one point , and so it didn't disrupt my studies , Right .

So you know , once you get into the groove and you start realizing what your priority is , it becomes easier and easier , Right , the learning curve of how to do that becomes very you know , is very steep at first , but after a while you're just kind of cruising and you know you

can do it . Jay , you can do it . You're just going to have to make them some tough decisions .

So , but listen , jay , this is a great question . Thank you for writing in anybody else who wants to write in . Um , you know how to right , renee , you want to tell text us or you can go to our website docs outside the boxcom and leave us a question . All right , y'all , we'll catch you guys in the next one . Peace .