ANTOINETTE: Musings from belligerANT

Hey everyone!  First things first, a little background…  I’m Antoinette Nguyen and I hail from the Lone Star State.  I (gladly) left home for college at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL (right outside of Chicago).  During my undergrad years, I toyed around with being pre-med.  Even though I completed the pre-med prerequisites, I was more about getting a solid liberal arts education, focusing on my history degree, and assuming that things would eventually fall into place.

I first applied for Fall 2005 entry, but I really wasn’t sure if medicine was the right path for me, which was transparent in my admissions essays.  While the rejections – and there were plenty of them – were crushing, they were truly blessings in disguise.  I had some new letters behind my name and a degree in hand, but I still had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.  Call it an early quarter-life crisis.  Yes, rejection was humbling but ultimately, it drove me to step back and reevaluate my life.  I ended up taking two years off after graduation.  During that time, I worked in the Vascular Surgery division at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.  I studied for upper-level biology classes and the MCAT (Round II).  I spent a month at a free clinic in Bolivia.  A year after that, I once again fed my addiction for travel and backpacked through South America for two months.  And through it all, I realized that I wasn’t ready to call it quits on medicine just yet.  Now, here I am, more than halfway through my first year of medical school at Emory.  I hate rehashing my AMCAS, but my point is: we all get here from different paths.

Now, on to the crux of this blog.  Interviewees are constantly bombarded with “Do you have any questions?” but I know I always had a few that I just didn’t feel comfortable asking in large groups with everyone dressed to impress.  Are the students liberal, conservative, apathetic, or just plain crazy?  How much time do you really spend studying?  What do you hate about Emory?  What do you love?  Does everyone say “y’all?”  What about Emory has surprised you?   What do you really do for fun?   How do you feel about living in the South?   Do you eat grits every day now?  How many married folks are in your class?  And then there are the nitty-gritty questions about the curriculum… You’ve got questions.  I’ll do my best to answer them.

Medicine is a long, hard road but it doesn’t have to be an unhappy one.  And being at Emory shouldn’t mean being a student 24/7.  Free time is a tad more scarce, but I still do the things that keep me sane and grounded.  Rather than wax poetic about the amazing students, faculty, and curriculum (not to mention the beautiful new building that is my second home), I’ll just say: I am happy at Emory.  The application process is a ten-ring circus and you’re jumping through hoops left and right.  I don’t really envy your position but we’ve all been there.  So, best of luck to everyone!

over and out scout,
Antoinette