Michael's Musings #5 (28.July.2020) - Redoing the Premed Years
Speaking Requests, Fundamental Premed Resources, J. Cole's Audacity, How to do what you love and make good money & Refereeing Basketball
Preamble: I’m looking to support student communities—college clubs, high school career centers, volunteer programs—in any way I can. I’ve recently done a couple of presentations on my journey to medicine as well as Q&A’s and have found them quite enjoyable. If you are the representative for a student body or know someone else who is, I’d love it if you could introduce me. A simple text/e-mail (mmle@mednet.ucla.edu) would be great, or if we want to ~ formalize ~ it all, feel free to forward them to my Speaking page.
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Meeting new people has been a highlight over this last summer and I’d love to keep that momentum going! Of course, everything is free (if that was even a question).
Source: Kelly Sikkema
In 0.80 seconds, the Google query for “How to get into medical school” generates about 3,580,000,000 results—3.6 B hits. Steven Spielberg’s net worth is $3.6 B dollars.
I scrolled to page 10 and found actionable, interviews from University Career Centers, lengthy slide decks from Premed Advising Offices, and personal anecdotes from the folks over at Reddit.
That’s good information that’ll never see the light of day. I’ve spent more time researching ink cartridges for printers than I have outside Google’s 1st page.
I don’t even have a printer.
I’d bet good money I’m not the only one who feels this way …
If the 2nd page of Google doesn’t work for you, you should also consider the 1st page of Yahoo’s search engine. In fact, the dead body may be safer there.
This doesn’t even include all the information you get outside the internet. Integrate those search results with the advice of your uncle who got into medical school 42 years ago, your Organic Chemistry professor who has a vendetta against all premed students, your well-meaning mentors who guide you down paths meant for them, but not quite you.
Or Karen. We all have that Karen in our circles who is a bit too tuned in to premed facts and figures. Her neuroticism inevitably rubs off and by the second week of school, you’re stress because you don’t know how to spell resaerch, what the third section on the MCAT is and how you’re going to get a letter of recommendation amidst the many hundreds of other students sitting beside you in Molecular Biology.
To this overwhelming maze of information, I lean on the authority of Michael Scott. You will not fall into this sinkhole. Not over my Page 2 Google dead body.
Source: efitz11
To this end, I have transported myself back in time. Back when I was a bright-eyed 18-year-old stepping foot onto UCLA for the first time. Back when I played League of Legends incessantly and had an unhealthy obsession with onion rings. The only difference is that I’ve brought my psyche with me—I know exactly how I’d navigate the entire premed process.
And I want to share that with folks that need it! This series will be a curation of the internet’s best resources on fundamental premed concepts. Everything from the prerequisite coursework, preparing for the MCAT and arguably most importantly, the studying skills you need to build to earn perfect grades in less time.
I’m confident that these fundamentals will save many premeds hundreds of hours of researching and debating whether one resource is better than another. It’ll be a one-stop-shop for students with absolutely zero understanding of medical school admissions.
If you would benefit from a resource like this, please get in touch (via e-mail is best—mmle@mednet.ucla.edu) and let me know what topics you would like covered! If you know someone who would benefit, please share this post with them and encourage them to submit what questions they have. This resource builds off the collective brains of our community so I’m counting on you all to help me help you!
🤔 3 Thoughts
Source: Angela Caruso
The Audacity - J. Cole
My good friend Alex put me on this article by J. Cole. Y’all know him for 2014 Forest Hill Drive, 4 Your Eyez Only, and KOD amongst his other musical masterpieces. What’s less known is just how good at basketball J. Cole is—he was asked to return to the second round of tryouts as a walk-on for Division 1 basketball program St. John’s. Of course, we don’t associate J. Cole today with a jersey number and this article he pens for The Players’ Tribune explains what happened that fateful day.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
“Oh shit. You about to fuck around and make this team,” I thought. When my name was called as a part of the 10 players invited back the next day, things got real for me.”
“The mountain I saw before me that day stretched much higher than being a D1 walk-on. In my heart I knew that if I did make that team, it would reignite my lifelong dream to one day reach the League. I saw myself putting in countless hours to get better, and to hopefully get a small amount of playing time by my senior year. Next, I saw myself graduating and becoming the underdog journeyman, fighting for roster spots in overseas leagues, all with the goal of one day making it to the ultimate mountaintop, the National Basketball Association.”
The audacity of J. Cole is refreshing and reminds us all that it’s disrespectful to sell our dreams short. If you’re willing to work for it, then nothing is impossible.
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How to do what you love and make good money
Source: Derek Sivers
I love Derek Sivers. I spent the entire weekend reading through his new book “Hell Yeah or No,” a compilation of his best articles over the years.
Derek’s thoughts on balancing work and play really resonated with me. I’ve been struggling this summer heavily with this see-saw.
When I’m not studying medicine, I feel guilty. Instead of consuming so much content, I should get up and create something.
When I’m not creating, I feel guilty. I should be studying medicine. I signed up for 7-12 years of that, didn’t I?
Here’s how Derek thinks about this:
“Don’t try to make your job your whole life. Don’t try to make your art your sole income. Let each be what it is, and put in the extra effort to balance the two, for a great life.”
There’s something freeing about this. Let art be art. Let work be work. There is no need to have that “perfect” blend where one profession can be both. Do you agree?
“That’s how you feel, Ref?”
I’ve found that having different perspectives is an amazing way to connect with amazing people from various walks of life. It can be as simple as looking at the same thing from a different lens.
I watched basketball with my father sooner than I could crawl. I played Youth Basketball in Chinatown, Los Angeles every Saturday. I went ahead and played high-school basketball and continued in college with intramural sports. At the time, I also coached youth basketball and was obsessed with books about basketball—biographies, playbooks, you name it. The perspective I learned most from, however, was refereeing basketball.
Every time I put on the stripes, basketball shifted from a 5-on-5 game to a 10-on-2 game. All the players had it out for the referees—a missed hand-check here and a shove below the waist there and soon, I would hear it from the players.
I remember vividly the first technical-foul I dished out. It was to a player who had let his mouth run far too long despite two prior warnings.
He looked me dead in the eye and spoke to my soul:
"That’s how you feel, Ref?”
I had never felt so out of control in my life. Even though I dished out the technical foul, I was constantly worried about missing a call. I knew every miss would be another ding on how he thought of me—a terrible referee.
Basketball had always been a meditative escape for me—I can vividly remember most plays, even months after they happen. I still remember green shirt’s up-and-under and yes, how could I forget the one-handed collect by UC Riverside shorts (I remember folks by the clothes/shoes they wear).
For the first time, this player made basketball feel stressful for me.
After the game, we spoke again—I wanted to know what set him off and what he wanted out of a referee. Surprisingly, we saw eye-to-eye. I recognized a couple of calls I had been too scared to make early and he understood how that snowballed into the chippy game that inevitably came thereafter.
We understood each other.
I’ve incorporated that perspective into my own game. I recognize that calling fouls involved near-impossible split-second decisions; when I was frustrated with a referee as a player, this perspective reined me in.
You better bet that I also use it to my advantage. Like Kobe, I know where the refs have limited visibility and where I can get away with just a little bit more.
How can you get more perspective on something you love?
💬 2 Quotes
On Revealing Our Perspectives:
“We see the world, not as it is, but as we are—or, as we are conditioned to see it. When we open our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect describe ourselves, our perceptions, our paradigms.”
- Stephen R. Covey
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my great friends, Hannah, Angela, and Ed, about whether humans have free-will. It’s a lengthy discussion that involves defining a million and one different terms, but this quote from Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People captures one key sentiment in that conversation—that we are products of our environments and upbringings.
On Assessing Clarity of Thought:
“Writing is nature’s way of showing you how sloppy your thinking usually is.”
- David Perrell
The more that I write, the more I pick up on the days where my mind is foggy, but also when my mind is clear. It’s the same when I hit the weight room. There are days where you can tell that the back is just a bit stiff or when the weights feel like feathers.
I want to be more conscientious of this and am considering taking on the 750 words or Morning Pages challenge. It’s a morning dump of your thoughts that tries to stretch your writing muscle and give some room for your subconscious to breathe. I’ve struggled with daily journaling, so I’m a bit tentative about this but I’m hoping to start in the coming week.
❓ 1 Question For You
What’s keeping you from your most audacious dreams?
🙏 Infinite Gratitude
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Anonymous
Medical school starts up again next week and I’m grateful to get back into the swing of things. I haven’t missed the late nights, but I have missed the structure—it feels good to slowly progress through this mess of the human body.
My younger sister has turned 19! She’s a bonafide Korean fanatic so I’d appreciate any and all K-Drama, K-Pop, K-Skin Care recommendations as a belated birthday present add to the gift I already got her (the app Notability HAHA).
You. We’ve amassed a small following thus far and it’s heart-warming to know that I am but a small piece in all of your days. Thank you for reading and for your attention! I really don’t take it lightly.
🎙️ This Week on Pass the Mike
Pass the Mike is my solution to information asymmetry in the premed space. This podcast demonstrates to aspiring doctors that medical professionals are just like them. Not only have they failed exams and tore their hair out writing late-night essays, but they also enjoy lives outside of medicine—some referee basketball games and others are on quests to engineer the best chocolate chip cookie.
Every Tuesday at 5 AM PST, a new episode will drop! Subscribe to the newsletter and our YouTube Channel to be the first to find out!
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Justin Nguyen - Florida Medical Student Talks About Founding UCSB’S Founding Phi Delta Epsilon Chapter (#009)
In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Justin Nguyen, my blood cousin and an incoming Florida medical student. We talk about:
Our respective upbringings in families where gratitude isn't the norm and how we hope to change that narrative going forward
How he came about to found the first chapter of the international medical fraternity Phi Delta Epsilon out of rooms that UCSB may have forgotten they even had
His experiences—wins and losses—as the president of a growing fraternity
His experiences at UCSB is a real Wild-West story fueled by pizza, a ragtag bunch of 18 UCSB students, and a desire to create a community to support premedical students. He would eventually serve as the President for the fraternity and the stories he shares gave me a different perspective on what being a leader really entails.
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Marco Rivas - UChicago Medical Student Shares tips on successful application cycle and principles of habit formation (#008)
In this episode, Nick had the pleasure of interviewing Marco Rivas, a first-generation rising 1st-year Medical student at UChicago Pritzker School of Medicine. They discuss:
Navigating the premed path at a small liberal arts schools alongside
How to find mentorship within a small liberal arts community
The secret tips to a super successful application cycle
Creating more/less friction for yourself when breaking or starting habits
Nick and Marco have an uplifting energy about them and I had a lot of fun listening to this podcast. We know you’ll enjoy it, too!
Thanks for reading!
P.S. Be sure to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for even more of my thoughts. I encourage you to reach out and ask me anything!