Choosing a Med School......dundunduuuuuuuuun

Ok...now we're getting somewhere.

I took up the NMAT last December 4, 2011, and I have say...two months of studying on your own will not prepare you at all. Well, it was pretty difficult for me since I had no background at all in the hard sciences. A whole day of feeling dumb, sleepy, and hungry, in a cold room with a thousand other students vying for those top  spots that can admit them to any school in the country.

By 5pm, the test was done, and I was ready to go home, my stomach turned upside down with dread because I knew that my score wasnt too good, but I did my best.

Anyways, after 1 week, the results were out. Tadaaaa! My results werent that bad, somewhere in the middle. The lowest score I got was in Biology (that was cruel sonofa-----). But its all good, the scores were good enough for me to qualify for several good schools.

I applied for the following schools:
1. UP College of Medicine

2. UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery

3. University of the East Ramon Magsaysay  Memorial Medical Center (UERMMMC)

4. De La Salle Health Sciences Institute (DLSHI)

I applied specifically to these schools because they were the only ones who  didnt require additional units. I actually wanted to apply to St Lukes, PLM, and Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, but there were waaaay to many units lacking on on my part (lets just say that it would have taken from 16-26 units of hard sciences).

Well, after seeing my score, I knew UP was out of the question. Hahahaha. But there were other equally great schools to go to.

I was actually tormented with which school I would actually go for, even though their results weren't out (or even starting), I just wanted to set my mind on a specific goal. It always helps to set your mind on a specific school so that your thoughts arent all over the place.

Anywho, after finding myself lost, hopeless, and all over the place, I asked advice from my cousin who is practical, objective, and methodical when it comes to decisions (being the manager of one of the largest fast food chains, she was trained to be that way).

She told me: when deciding on something, I use a 5 point system. I list all the factors that I can think of that would have bearing on my decision. In my case, which med school should I go to? Well, the factors that I listed were (and in no particular order):

• Location
• Accessibility
• Tuition
• Availability of Scholarships
• School reputation (yes, Im still a sucker for this one)
• Safety
• Availability of Dorms
• Dorm costs
• Environment inside the school (is it conducive for learning?)
• Professors
• Affiliated hospitals
• Board Passing Rate

And under each school, I rated them between 1-5 (1 being the lowest, and 5 being the highest). And voila! an objective decision made.

My cousin also told me that if it still seems a little too subjective ( in terms of rating), I should list down facts to support the score/rating against each criteria.

Well, hope this helps you with your decisions!