Twenty-five percent

Hee hee hee. So I finished the AMCAS application the other day. For all of those uninitiated in medical school applications, AMCAS stands for the American Medical College Application Service. Most of the 120+ schools in the United States use this service, and it's a way to serve the blanket. I've been complaining about it somewhat, but it's good to get this thing in. Now I just have to wait for the AMCAS verifiers to make sure what I put in my application is true.

I did my best to avoid any lies. I applied to around 18 schools, which is a lot (I believe the average is 12-15). It's also quite expensive, since I also have to pay each school that likes me for their secondary application besides the $700 I just laid down to send in my AMCAS application. So for a little bit (say 30 years), I won't be able to get anything new. But perhaps I will begin to total the cost up so I can begin worrying about my future.

To date:
Kaplan MCAT course: $1500
MCAT: $200
AMCAS: $730.00
North Atlantic School 1 Secondary Application: $100
North Atlantic School 2 Secondary Application: $75
Mid-Atlantic School 1 Application: $100
_________
$2705

And this is just twenty-five percent of the way there. I anticipate about $1400 in further costs with applications, and I'm thinking $2500 more then with schools that give me interviews. Of course, this money is nothing to what some kids may pay for tuition and room & board (or gasoline). And this is nothing compared to what I will be paying for medical school, I seriously got light-headed when I looked at one school's estimates of tuition plus living expenses.

I suppose the purpose of this post is to tell anyone who is thinking about becoming a doctor, you had better be serious, and you had better be seriously prepared to pay for it.

No school has said "OTHAN, YOU'RE IN. CONGRATULATIONS! "No school has even said, "Hey Othan, come talk to us for a bit. This is still a competitive process, but you have a better shot." At this stage I'm just waving outside of the their window, hoping that they'll see me, and let me in.