I’ve long had an interest in the admissions process, not just to medical school, but to any level of education. Part of this stems from an irrational obsession with the general institution of higher education, one I developed late in high school in part simply through applying to colleges and in part during a road trip I took with my dad to visit several reputed colleges of a certain reputed group of colleges on the east coast. I didn’t get into any of them, and I was temporarily heartbroken, but my preoccupation with their history and existence remained strong and expanded into a broader interest.

In general, I am fascinated by the application process—by the lengths to which applicants will go to gain admission; by what causes an applicant to become attracted to a school; by whether that attraction is sincere or merely feigned as fodder for one’s own individual attractiveness; by the rumors that arise from the frenzy of freakouts and breakdowns and success stories; by how the process changes and stregthens a person and teaches him or her about himself or herself; by the types of people one meets both as an applicant and as an evaluator; by the basis for which a student is accepted, whether on merit, or on personal ties, or on goodness-of-fit or demonstration of potential or on gut feeling or on some combination of these or something else altogether.

It is because of this interest and because of the difficulties I personally had during my own applications to college and to medical school that I’ve started the podcast, edited personal statements, and participated in interviews for medical school as much as possible. The more you know about a school, about how you’d fit in at that school, and about what not to do while applying, the better off you’ll be as an applicant, and I like the fact that I can contribute to that. I also like that idea that I can take part in shaping the next generation of students that come to my medical school and improve the student body. This is especially true for me since I won’t be returning to medical school for a few years, and some of those I interview now will inevitably end up being my classmates and colleagues. I’d be doing myself a disservice by not putting any effort into their choosing whatsoever.

So, it is with enthusiasm that I direct you to this UCSF MD/PhD student, who, even as a second-year student, is able to serve on the admissions committee there (at Pritzker, only fourth-years are allowed to do this, while pretty much anyone can conduct interviews). She also has some good advice for applying; considering where she ended up, I’d trust her.