Get ready to read about Dr. Mareková, a med school intern who blogs about life and medicine at Dr. Mareková. Thanks Doc for sharing your med school experience with us!
Accepted: First, can you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad?
Dr. Mareková: First of all, I am from Czech Republic. Born and raised in a multi cultural and multi ethnic family and home schooled part of my life. I’ve been living in Canada for years, because my parents were born here from immigrant parents and their decision to come back here was to give us a better education that has a better value world view.
Helping others is a big part – or at least I’m trying to make it a big part – of my life ever since I was younger but I never knew what to really do. So when I came around to college I signed up in natural sciences and arts just to get by and sign up for university 2 years later. When the time came, I applied to every university that had a medical faculty in Québec (I’ve always done my education in French so I picked a university that was French). Choosing the right university was hard after being accepted to all of them and I went with the best offers and the best ranked one.
Where I got my education, we don’t have undergrad school and then med school. We have high school until 17 then college until 19 (college here is general in a field a little more specific but nothing like premed and such). And then, you can go to university and the program can be completed in 2 years (all year long) to 5 years (smaller semesters and only 2 semesters for classes) and then another 2 years are in the field before the one year intensive internship. So it’s a 4 to 7 year process once you get there depending on your motivation.
Accepted: What stage are you up to in med school?
Dr. Mareková: Well, I finished med school…technically. I have been an intern since November 2012.
Accepted: How many med schools did you apply to? How did you select your current program?
Dr. Mareková: I applied to 4 med schools. And picked the one where I had the best of everything. The staff and the facilities are amazing and we have 4 different hospitals with so many specialties to pick from. Ever since I was younger, it was my dream university so that kind of helped too.
Accepted: What is your favorite thing about med school? Least favorite?
Dr. Mareková: My favorite thing about med school are the labs. Getting to touch and see all sorts of things, I just love it. I wouldn’t say I have a least favorite thing about it.
Accepted: What is your biggest challenge? How would you advice incoming students so that they have an easier time adjusting to or overcoming that challenge?
Dr. Mareková: The biggest challenge is to adjust yourself. Get used to everything really fast. All I can say is never give up. Never get discouraged; you’ve already made it this far.
Accepted: Do you know yet what you plan on specializing in?
Dr. Mareková: I know I want to specialize in surgery but I am still unsure about which kind. General surgery is amazing because you get to touch a little of everything but neurology amazes me.
Accepted: Can you share some med school admissions tips with our applicant readers?
Dr. Mareková: The best tip I can give to anyone applying or passing exams for med school admission is to just be yourself. Don’t over dress but don’t be too casual; just be comfortable. Being calm is the key to the interviews.
Do you want to be featured in Accepted.com’s blog, Accepted Admissions Blog? If you want to share your med school journey with the world (or at least with our readers), email us at bloggers@accepted.com.
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