MD/PhD Summer program
Alright Alright Alright
In my last post I talked about how bad everything was going for me, particularly due to the fact that I was getting rejected from all the programs I applied to. My last chance to do something very interesting over the summer other than working in my lab and taking classes was to get into Penn State College of Medicine’s MD/PhD summer exposure program for Schreyer scholars. This 10-weeks long program is only accessible to 4 Schreyer scholars each summer, either Freshmen or Sophomores, and consist of working in a research lab under the supervision of an MD/PhD faculty member.
I submitted my application on March the 1st and I was offered an interview on Friday April 8th. I showed up to my interview, suited up, and saw all those extremely smart Schreyer scholars that I had to compete against. I met with the interviewers and I think everything went pretty well for me. They asked me a lot about my research, my motivations as to why I want to become an MD/PhD, as well as my background in science.
I would say I was pretty confident about this interview. The next step though was to attend the MD/PhD retreat at Nittany Lion Inn, Penn State’s highly ranked hotel. This retreat is set every year at the same time for Penn State’s MD/PhD students and its faculty members to come and give presentations about their research, Ted talks, ect. So I attended this pretty formal retreat which went on from 11am until 9pm on Saturday and 7am until 12pm on Sunday. On Saturday, most students showed up because they knew we were supposed to if we wanted to have a chance in getting into the summer program. I got to talk a lot with current MD/PhD students and all of them were very extroverted compared to what I was imagining. I did my best to be the last student to leave the retreat on Saturday to show that I really wanted to participate in the program. I came back to my dorm, exhausted and went to sleep as soon as I reached my bed. I was not sure if it was worth it to show up on Sunday morning, but since I woke up at 4am on that day I thought that if I gave everything I had then I would not regret not getting in the program. I showed up, had a great brunch and MD/PhD students in their last year of Medical school spent the entire morning giving me advices on what to do in undergrad to become successful. This weekend was extremely valuable for my personal growth and even if I did not get into the program, I would have been glad I participated in this retreat.
I was supposed to hear back from the directors of the program the following week. It turns out that I had an answer on Monday afternoon: I got in! I am one of the four honors students offered the MD/PhD internship at Hershey and I am even offered a 4,000$ stipend for the duration of the program! I could not be any happier, especially because this program could directly lead to an MD/PhD student position at Penn State’s College of Medicine. Finally one good news. I am going to spend the summer doing research both in my lab and at Hershey and I could not be more excited. All I have left to do is to survive through this tough semester in which I have been taking 21 credits, and everything will be alright!!