In March, I celebrate my birthday and reminisce on when I was accepted into medical school. After 4 years of undergrad, one year of a post-bacc and 3 summer programs later (Meharry HCOP->University of Miami Motivation & MCAT prep) I was finally accepted to medical school!

Two months prior (In January 2017) to my acceptance I was traveling to the Dominican Republic for a medical mission trip. I was sent an interview invite from MSM, one of my TOP choices with a weeks’ notice to decide on attending with no available alternative dates. Me being me, I tried to finesse and explain that I already had a prior trip and would be in DR and asked for another date. It didn’t work, so guess who dropped $1000+ to book it to Atlanta from Santo Domingo. This girl.

It was all worth it though. This was my first time coming to Atlanta. My cousin picked me up from the airport and I was on a high. As soon as I came in I wanted to visit the memorial for Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. We passed by the birth home of MLK Jr. and it was like driving through a time capsule. The next morning I woke up trying to decide on pulling my hair back into a pony tail or leaving it out. My cousin told me to leave it out because it showed character, so I did.

After I finished my interview, I really felt like it went well. It was my first interview with diversity among the applicants, students and faculty. The environment made me feel comfortable and at ease. I flew back to the DR, finished volunteering with the pediatric team and hit it back to Miami.

I remember when I first saw the envelope, I was just staring at it. It was in a large manilla envelope. All I could think was, this can’t be a rejection. Why mail a rejection and why mail a rejection in a large manilla envelope?

I opened it, read the first line and just started screaming. I became so weak I literally dropped to my knees and started crying.

MSM was the very first school that rejected me during my first application cycle. Within one year of doing my post-bacc and retaking the MCAT, the first medical school that rejected me was the first to ever accept me.

The next step-> telling my family. When I told my mom we recorded her reaction. We told her my little brother ordered something unintentionally off of the internet and the bill just came in. She was so upset at first but she literally takes off when she finds out:

The next step was telling my mentor. The first mentor that reviewed my medical school application, told me what I needed to do to get in and every word of his advice got me where I am today. The whole office was in on it, we told him a student had an emergency and just ran in and left him a note.

 

For those of you still holding out in this application cycle. There is still time to get accepted, don’t let Student Doctor Network freak you out. If you’ve been wait listed, you should consider sending a “Letter of Interest”. When traffic day hits, which I believe is April 30^th, there should be a lot of movement on the wait list. Remember: No News is Good News. Wishing everyone all the best this application season!

-Yours truly, Future Dr. Nikki Jones ❤