Senior year in college means many things to many people. For some seniors, it is the last year of education before entering the job market.
But for the members of the Class of 1995 applying to medical schools, senior year signifies endless hours of applications, dozens of essays, expensive application fees and cross-country plane trips for interviews.
According to Dean of Graduate Advising Susan Wright, fewer than 10 percent of seniors are applying to medical school this year. But she said the process is very stressful.
Most pre-med seniors agree that the application process is stressing, to say the least.
Amy Naparstek '95 said for her, the most stressful part of the process is the timing. "Admissions are on a rolling basis, and there is an immense pressure to file as soon as possible. Your goal is to precede the deadline," she said.
Cynthia Kelmenson '95 agreed. "You start saying to yourself 'I wasted another week, so my chances of getting in just got slimmer'. You know you should get it done sooner, but it's very time consuming," she said.
Susannah Schlichter '95 said the stress was more because of anxiety of competition than time pressures. "It all comes back to, 'Will I get in?'" she said.
Wright said such feelings are natural. "There are so many people applying to medical schools, that I think the anxiety is very real. Everyone is very concerned with 'Am I going to get in?'" Wright said.
In addition to the issue of timing, many pre-meds lamented that the application process was inefficient, and at times unfair.
Kelmenson explained that a medical school applicant first fills out a primary application, and sends it to a central agency called the American Medical Colleges Admissions Service.
AMCAS then processes the primary application and sends a copy to every school to which the applicant is applying. Then, each school receiving a primary application sends the applicant a secondary application.
Shauna Lorenzo-Rivero '95 said, "The secondary application asks usually for the same general information already stated in the primary application. The whole process is very inefficient."
"More than anything, it's volume," said Clifford Weiss '95. "It's so repetitive, it becomes silly after a while," he added.
Another concern several students expressed is the high cost of applying. Lorenzo-Riviero said the primary application costs around $50 per school to which the applicant applies, and the secondary applications can run anywhere from $40 to $90.
"The entire process in and of itself can run up to about $3,000, which seems completely outrageous," Naparstek said.
Others said the cost of applying didn't matter in the long run. "Applications can run you anywhere from $35 to $75 each. But, if you look at how much med school costs in general, which can be anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000 a year, the applications don't really cost that much," John Jones '95 said.
A few of the applicants said another problem is missing class time for interviews.
"What I find very inconvenient," Lorenzo-Rivero said, "is that you can only interview Monday through Friday during business hours, and they make you get there at 8 in the morning. In one instance, I have to miss two days of classes."
Wright said the application process is extremely well-organized and structured by the medical schools, but time consuming and expensive to the students.
"One of the greatest challenges is this procedural challenge of managing the applications. There's an information overload," she said.
The applicants had mixed feelings about leaving Dartmouth, but most said they were excited about studying medicine.
Derek Pollard '95 said, "There's that sense of loss, leaving Dartmouth after four great years here. I'm leaving a lot of good friends and times behind here, but at the same time I'm ready for the challenges and responsibilities of med school."
