Maybe I should count sheep.
No.. that won’t work.
I wonder if I should research MUSC more.
A quick glance at the clock read 11:23 PM. I couldn’t fall asleep. I had to be up at 6 AM, which is 3 AM PT.
Maybe I’ll go back to the sheep.
BZZZZ BZZZZ BZZZZZZZ
I dove at my phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is Sandy from the Southwest at Charleston airport?”
“Oh, uh, do you guys have my bag?”
“Yes! Would you like to have it delivered? Or pick it up at the airport for a $50 travel voucher?”
I’ve spent more than a few paychecks on plane tickets, so I took the $50 voucher.
Finally, relief.
One sheep..
Two sheep…
..
In the morning I put on my carefully tailored suit. It’s dark grey with pin stripes. From an outlet. Man, I look good.
I’m not sure why we need to wear suits to these interviews. All it does is make us stick out like sore thumbs. The only other thing I can think of – ties lightly choke you, and make you tense, as if you’d make fewer mistakes if you’re tense.
Still unsure, but looking sharp, I head down to the lobby to meet a crowd of nine other well-dressed young people. I participated in the obligatory nervous chit chat with some of the other applicants. They already knew me as the guy who lost his luggage. For that guy, I didn’t look half bad. Thank you Forever 21, and smart phones.
We crammed into a shuttle that ushered us to the bright and sunny campus. We were less than a mile from the Atlantic Ocean. I could get used to this. As our anxious chatter wound down, we arrived at the campus and filed in to begin our days.
--
“So Ken, is it? Tell me what you know about a transpositon of the great arteries.”
“Excuse me?”
“You shadowed in a cardiac intensive care unit right? You should know this.”
“Yeah, uh, I can tell you how it made me feel to see those sick kids.”
“Yeah, yeah, but what about medically? Tell me what was interesting medically.”
“I guess it was interesting to see the power that modern medicine has to treat these kids that would otherwise be left to die. I watched a surgeon literally cut open a baby’s heart. It was the size of a pea!”
“Hm, ok.”
Shit.
I walked out of that one feeling stupid. I would have spiraled into self pity except I was almost late for my next appointment. I checked my schedule to make sure.
--
8:00 AM: Breakfast with the Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program
9:30 AM: Interview with a Pediatrician
10:15 AM: Interview with student member of admissions committee
11:00 AM: Interview with the Chair of the Department of Biostatistics
12:00 PM: Lunch with students
12:45 PM: Campus Tour with students
1:45 PM: Interview with the Director of Proteomics
2:30 PM: Interview with potential PhD mentor
3:15 PM: Interview with another potential PhD mentor
4:00 PM: Wrapup with Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program
6:30 PM: Dinner with students
--
As I scrambled across the unfamiliar campus to my next appointment, I recalled my past interviews.
At every school there’s one or two interviewers that you have to forget about. Some guys want to grill you, others are just disinterested. But on the whole, the professors are approachable and encourage a dialogue. And as expected, the day eased up from there.
I’m a firm believer that attitude reflects leadership, so I tried to key in on anyone who had a leadership position to get a read on the heartbeat of MUSC. The best thing I heard – my department is like my family.
Before I knew it, I was barreling down the home stretch. Zoning out in a conference room listening to one last sales pitch from the director of the program.
“So before you leave, does anyone have any last questions?”
The only one on my head:
Can we loosen our ties now?
See you on the other side,
from ken
Feel free to comment! I would love to hear your thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment