6:00 PM

Christian's journey to medical school + med school announcement!

 

I'm so excited to finally share where Christian got into medical school at! I also thought it would be fun to share his journey and how he got here. I'm so incredibly proud of him and all of the hard work he has done to get here. Going into the cycle, Christian thought he'd be lucky to get into one medical school and would go there even if it meant moving several states away. He never thought that he would have five to choose from, including his top two choices!

After a very long application cycle consisting of long nights studying for the MCAT, applying for schools, virtual interviews, and playing the painful game of waiting, we are SO happy to announce that Christian has committed to going to Wake Forest School of Medicine this fall! 

I always knew the journey to medical school wasn't easy, but after seeing Christian go through the process firsthand, I have a whole new appreciation for those who dedicate their life to medicine. The application process is not only mentally straining, but financially as well. I remember most of our conversations for the second half of 2020 primarily consisted of interview prep questions and the pros and cons of each school. Through all of this, it's been so rewarding to see how hard Christian has worked for this despite all of the obstacles that he had to overcome, especially through the pandemic. If you've ever met Christian, you know that being a doctor has been a dream of his ever since he was 12 and it's amazing to see him get one step closer to making that dream a reality. 

I had mentioned back in March that we were moving, and that after hearing back from all of the schools Christian interviewed at, he's made a decision on where he wants to go to school. So why did it take us so long to announce? We had originally planned to announce Christian's acceptance in early April, but as financial aid and scholarships were being given out, we decided to hold off and evaluate all of his options. 

Going into this application cycle, Christian had always had his heart set on Chapel Hill for medical school. He'd express that was his dream school, but that with his stats, it was a reach school for him. So he went into the application cycle with the mindset of he'll go to any school that would give him an acceptance (I had always known he had what it took to get into UNC, but that's another story, lol). A North Carolina school had always been his top choice so he could be close to family, but we also both went in knowing there was a high possibility of moving to a different state. September rolled around and Christian got his first interview invite, and then the following week, another. We were ecstatic and quickly started interview prep for him.

In midst of helping Christian perfect his answers and be prepared for all the possible scenarios, the thought of what he was actually going to wear for the interview had completely slipped our minds. It wasn't until the weekend before his interview that we went out to the mall to try to find the right suit that would make him stand out, but still look polished and professional. It took us a solid hour to decide on what tie he was going to wear!

Because of the pandemic, all of the interviews were virtual. At the time, I was still working at my old job and would go into the office a few times a week. To help ease Christian's nerves and prevent me from eavesdropping during his interview I decided for his interview days I'd go into the office an hour early. 

Two weeks after his first two interviews Christian got his first acceptance! We were both so happy and it meant he was for sure going to school this fall. Shortly after he received a phone call and got his second acceptance for a school that, at the time, was his top choice between the two. Even though it was pretty early in the application cycle we had made a trip out to KYCOM in Kentucky, Christian's top choice at the time to tour the medical school. As we booked our hotel and scheduled our tour date for KYCOM, Christian got another interview invite to Campbell, his first North Carolina school. 

We couldn't be more excited that there was now a possibility of staying in North Carolina, but Christian still didn't want to get his hopes up too high (again, I always knew he'd kill any interview he was given, lol). KYCOM was still on the table and we had made the six-hour drive to scope out the school. I even shared on my Instagram that we had made a quick trip out, but didn't disclose too much information on why! 

After we had toured the school and town, Christian was set on this being the school he'd attend this fall, between his two acceptances at the time. Later that night he opened up an interview invite to Chapel Hill! We were both in shock and couldn't believe the words we were reading. While we were still running on the high of the Chapel Hill interview invite, Christian received an invite to interview at Wake Forest. Over the next three weeks, Christian had three medical school interviews lined up at three North Carolina schools and we couldn't believe it. 

The second half of November was filled with interview prep, setting up a make-shift studio for Christian's headshot, and perfecting his background for his interview. It was a whirlwind, to say the least. His last interview was the first week of December and from there we had to play the painful waiting game. Both of us had stalked the SDN forum religiously to see if there were any news of waves of rejections or acceptances coming out anytime soon. 

One month later Christian had found out he had gotten into Campbell. He was officially going to be able to stay in North Carolina! As the trend of this application cycle seemed to be, while we were riding off the high that Christian now had the option to stay in North Carolina, he received his Wake Forest acceptance letter. We were both ecstatic and since Wake was his second choice at the time, this had meant his application cycle was over. 

We were thrilled and were now anxiously waiting for the Chapel Hill decision. The decision for Chapel Hill took a lot longer than the other schools Christian interviewed at and the longer it took for the letters to come out, the more he started to get worried. By now he had started to look more into Wake Forest and started to really fall in love with the curriculum, what the school stood for, and all the resources that were available for him. He said if Chapel Hill didn't accept him he'd be happy to attend Wake.

And then, he got the call.

"are delighted to offer you a place in the class entering the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in July 2021." We screamed, we hugged, we danced, we were SO happy! All of his years of hard work and determination had paid off, he had gotten into his dream school.

So why did he end up choosing Wake Forest?

You'd think that after all of this hard work and finally getting into this number one pick, it would be a no-brainer to choose Chapel Hill, right? Shortly after the acceptance Christian started doing more research on the two schools just to ensure he was making the right choice. Christian's dream had always been to go into surgery and although Chapel Hill is an amazing school, it was better suited for primary care. After making several pros and cons lists and researching the two schools, he found out Wake had better opportunities for those who want to get into more competitive specialties, such as surgery. 

After going through this long application cycle, Christian actually had a hard time accepting that he enjoyed the interview process of Wake Forest more. We decided to make a trip out to Winston-Salem to tour the school and town and both fell in love with the area. Another big deciding factor between the schools was the cost of attendance. There was a major price difference and he was waiting to hear back on financial aid and scholarships to help make his decision. 

It was a really tough decision for him going back and forth between the two schools, but ultimately it came down to his gut telling him that Wake was the best choice for him. It's been a crazy whirlwind and I'm so happy to finally be able to share the news with you all! Back in January we actually toured an apartment just to see what our options were in Wake and ended up falling in love. We signed in February as a gamble knowing that there was still a chance that Chapel Hill was on the table, but we didn't want to risk losing this apartment. In hindsight, it worked out well in terms of the apartment because after Christian submitted his commitment to enroll to Wake, we quickly found out his fellow classmates are having a hard time finding a place to live as most of the two-bedroom apartments are occupied now. 

I wanted to document Christian's journey to medical school as a way for him to look back and see how far he's come. Check the video down below on his journey and his parent's adorable reactions to him getting into school!

Thank you all so so much for taking the time to read this post and we're so excited to share this journey with you all! I've been vlogging all of the behind-the-scenes of our apartment hunt, move and am excited to finally have them posted on my YouTube channel for you all. Thank you all again, and be on the lookout for more moving content!

xoxo,

Amy