Voices: How to Get Accepted to Stanford Medical School

Danqing is one in a million. Actually, this is incorrect. The statistical odds are actually much more daunting than that. As a foreign national from China,  she faced staggering odds coming to the US in hopes of getting accepted to medical school. Any medical school.  Many medical schools in the US take only a literal handful of foreign nationals. She is currently enrolled at Stanford.

Her narrative outlines how she did this. She is too modest, as her academic accomplishments and sheer brilliance are almost uncommented on. She is modest and yet tenacious. She took advantage of every opportunity she could. And she did what virtually every student I have known who has moved on into the top graduate schools has done: found a mentor. In her case, she found several. They nurtured her talents and gave her research opportunities which are open to a very select few. These opportunities come only to active learners. She embodies this.

I wish to thank Danqing for sharing her wisdom. In addition, I would also like to thank Biyuan, a student who took a great deal of time and effort to translate this beautifully from the original Chinese. She embodies those who give freely of themselves in order to help others. She too has a very bright future ahead of her.

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A Letter to the Prospective Students and Families

As an undergraduate, I attended a major research university. The advantages of making such a choice are many but the most important are: having not only distinguished faculty members but scholars as well. The university also provides an open learning environment with favorable conditions and abundant resources to each of its students. Before the first semester even begins, the university already sends, electronically, its thick course catalog flying into students’ email boxes. Typically, first-year students are not required to declare their major until further on in their college careers. This freedom allows them the chance to peruse the list of offered classes and select courses from a variety of areas. This freedom is both delightful and troublesome: delightful because it gives you the chance to explore your options and experience new subjects, and troublesome because the broad range can be simply overwhelming. 

My three years at university have led me to truly appreciate the importance of course selection. Ideally, a good course selection involves a balance of classes. Selections that only involve high-level, area-focused classes will be too demanding and difficult to cope with, and you will run yourselves ragged. On the other hand, selections that only comprise easy, light-workload classes will not be flattering on transcripts and résumés. Hence, it is vital that new students take precautions when selecting classes--they must be aware of the required courses for the major in which they are interested, and they must also carefully plan their semesters early to ensure that they are making progress towards their intended degrees. Furthermore, a distinction is also made at the time of graduation between a regular and an honor degree for some at some undergraduate colleges and universities. 

Graduating with distinction is perhaps one of the most precious assets for future studies and jobs, and those who want this distinction should realize to strive for it as soon as they can. A final note about course selection is that it may be beneficial to take courses to have interaction with specific professors. For example, I took a couple of classes with some well-known professors in different fields. Not only did I benefit from their lectures, but I also received an incredible amount of guidance that helped me in the subsequent graduate school application process that I experienced. Such professors have acted as the most integral resources for some of my important life decisions. With their assistance, I was able to receive full scholarship offers from many elite schools, a few of which included Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University.

The most essential lesson I learned in university is not the importance of simply studying. Rather, I learned a few: 1) that one must understand his or her own cognitive processes to determine the optimal way of acquiring knowledge from learning and studying; 2) that one must figure out how to clearly express his or her own point of view. In my first year, my outstanding academic achievements helped me to be one of the fortunate people who were able to do research in my advisor’s (Sean Agnew) laboratory. Under his guidance, I conducted a series of research that was centered on the properties of metal materials. Such an opportunity is rare for first-years, and even more so for me as I had never had any previous experience in scientific research. Through this laboratory I learned about technologies like material polishing and etching, electron microscopy scanning, and single-crystal x-ray diffractions—none of these were even presented in the typical classroom lectures. From this experience I also realized the rigorous nature of science: the experiments were difficult and repetitive, and they tested both my knowledge and patience. Scientific research is definitely not an easy job—the tiniest bit of reluctance and carelessness could easily lead to failure. At the end of the summer, though, I was able to participate and contribute in the publication of my first scientific paper under the guidance of my advisor, thus drawing a successful conclusion for that year’s research.

At the end of the first year summer, I started to seriously consider my real interests. Although I had learnt a great deal of useful knowledge and had met and interacted with many outstanding professors from that one year of metal material property research, I realized that that was not necessarily the path that I wanted to continue on. Thus, in my second year, I decided to try for a biomedical laboratory after a thoughtful discussion with a physiology professor, James Milton Adams. Soon enough, I realized that I had fortunately found my niche—the biomedical lab with Professor Edward Botchwey, whom I extremely admire, was the perfect fit. I can still recall the time when I first joined the lab: at first, I was scared of the little rats that were in the laboratory; however, over time I learned to conquer my fear. Now, I can operate multiple transplants and image-guided surgery on rats smoothly, something that I thought was inconceivable when I began. 

Some people say that the university experience is a full one—everyone finds their own self and they experience a wonderful and unique life. In university I have also become better acquainted with how everything changes with the flow of time. From the past three years I am still able to vividly remember many emotions: the feeling of joy of the first time I walked on campus, the feeling of excitement when I first solved some of the most difficult questions independently—there were many, many first times. Perhaps in the eyes of many, it may seem that I spent all of my college life in the rush of academic achievement and exhausted myself. Although my college experience may not have been as fun as a typical student who was my age, I have no regrets about it. I have always known that the first step to achieving my dream always was to stand out through my determination and efforts—this is precisely why I will forever keep all my laboratory data. These heavy records represent the culmination of all my efforts, of all the precious time that I actively chose to dedicate to my field. Although I may have sacrificed some things, these experiences that I had have helped me to grow— they are imprinting experiences that I will always be proud of. For all of this, I sincerely thank my university. 

During my three years, I also participated in a variety of social engagement and public service activities. A few examples are volunteering at the emergency room for the university hospital and tutoring local elementary and middle school students.  I was also involved with events that focused more on academia. I was part of an organized research exhibition, and I was a representative for the school laboratory in the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. The feelings of growth and change that these experiences inspired in me are unquestionable: the endless possibilities that I was provided with and was able to explore assisted in determining the direction of my future. 

A large part of that future was influenced by my participation in the Science and Technology Policy Internship Program in my second year summer. This internship was the first opportunity that was provided for the engineering students. It is meant to help students experience the field in the real world and to broaden their horizons. Each year, ten students are selected and assigned to study different departments of the government, and I was one of these fortunate ten. It was a distinct feeling, wearing black uniform with high heels and traveling back and forth between government buildings in 35 degree Celsius weather every day. My supervisor was very nice to and supportive of me—he always took me to participate in different hearings in places such as the Ministry of Health, and even Congress. Even at the end of the internship, he still occasionally took me to different cities to join policy planning meetings of the government. After these meetings, I would always take the opportunity to present my topic of interest to many of the medical professors and health policy experts. These opportunities were invaluable—I was able to gain tons of first-hand information regarding America’s public health policy and also hear the opinions of many authoritative experts. The telephone and face-to-face communication that I had with such people were also significant and would later play important roles in my research papers.

I think that I am extremely lucky that I sought out and took advantage of what seems like unlimited opportunities. I was provided with challenges that I never knew I would face, and they have contributed to my life. I miss that period of time that I spent in Washington,
DC—going to work in the morning, eating lunch with impressive colleagues and interns in other departments, experiencing the culture through various concerts, casual city strolls, and Frisbee games with friends.  It was a comfortable life that made me happy for a long time. After that period of internship, though, I found myself liking scientific research more and more. I circled around the idea and decided that I was quite suitable for academic research as I love learning and thinking and relished at the idea of performing experiments, doing data processing, and writing laboratory reports. It was this idea that strengthened my desire to pursue higher education in graduate school.

It was the third year of university when the busy application period began, In addition to the day-to-day tasks and laboratory works, I often found myself staying up late doing research on a variety of graduate schools and beginning to write my applications. Those days were indeed hard. As others were enjoying their days, I was often in a hurry to finish my homework and my graduation thesis. My undergraduate university had one of the nation’s better biomedical programs, with professors having an extremely strong academic backgrounds and an extensive personal network. With the recommendation of my mentor, Edward Botchwey, I was able to narrow down my options of a few schools and also to contact the relevant professors to inquire more about the direction of their research. I put in a hundred percent effort into my applications because opportunities never take the initiative to knock on the door—they are only given to those who are prepared. Hence, since this January, I have started to receive many admission requests and interviews from many different schools. In the next two months after that, I became Superman, traveling around different university campuses across the United States for interviews. My final choice was Stanford University, my dream school, partly because of the reputations of its School of Medicine and School of Engineering, but more importantly because of the academic freedom and the research atmosphere characteristic of the school. Before, I always focused on becoming the youngest at a particular field. Now, this does not matter anymore. I believe that the most meaningful thing is to do what you like and work with the people that you admire. A life like that is ideal, and it is priceless.

I sincerely wish all of you to cherish the wonderful time that you will have at any selective research university, or for that matter, selective liberal arts college.  Take full advantage of the resources and opportunities provided, and study hard not only to get good grades but also to have a solid academic foundation and develop comprehensive skills.

Sincerely,

Danqing