I am going to be a doctor in USA | My NEET journey, State Rank 1 to USMLE
Summary
TLDRDr. Rashi Mahajan shares her inspiring journey from aspiring medical student in India to matching into her dream Internal Medicine residency in the US. She discusses her early struggles, academic achievements, and the decision to pursue USMLE. Rashi's story highlights her dedication, the importance of hard work, and the value of following one's dreams, offering a motivational narrative for future medical professionals.
Takeaways
- 🎓 Rashi is a doctor from India who successfully matched into her dream residency in Internal Medicine in the US.
- 🌟 She credits her journey to the support of others and her own determination to achieve her goals.
- 📚 Rashi always had a strong desire to be a doctor and focused her education towards this goal from a young age.
- 🏆 Despite initial struggles, she excelled in her studies and topped her state in her 12th board exams.
- 🏥 Rashi chose to attend GMC Nagpur for medical college, which she considers one of her best decisions.
- 🧐 In medical college, she engaged in extracurricular activities and gained a broad educational experience.
- 🌐 She decided to pursue the USMLE to take advantage of global opportunities and further her medical education.
- 📈 Rashi found the USMLE process challenging but rewarding, noting the importance of perseverance.
- 📝 She emphasizes that the USMLE is a viable option for those considering it, even during final years of medical school.
- 🌉 Rashi completed her clinical electives in Chicago, which solidified her decision to pursue a career in the US.
- 🎯 After passing her USMLE steps, she successfully matched into a residency program, fulfilling a significant part of her journey.
Q & A
What was Rashi's initial struggle when she started preparing for medical college entrance exams?
-Rashi's initial struggle was with physics, where she scored poorly in one of her early tests, which was unusual for her as she had never received a bad score before.
How did Rashi cope with the intense competition during her school years?
-Rashi coped by dedicating herself to studying, waking up at 5:00 a.m., attending classes, studying, doing homework, and repeating this cycle. She filled numerous notebooks and solved many questions.
What was Rashi's score in her 12th board exams, and how did it place her regionally?
-Rashi scored 97.8% in her 12th board exams, which was enough to top her city, region, and eventually the entire state of Maharashtra across all streams.
Which medical college did Rashi choose to attend and why?
-Rashi chose to attend GMC Nagpur because it felt like home and she had zero regrets about her decision. It was her top choice of college.
What was Rashi's experience like during medical college?
-During medical college, Rashi found subjects to be tough but interesting, made friends who became like family, traveled, participated in extracurriculars, and interacted with inspiring professors.
Why did Rashi decide to pursue the USMLE?
-Rashi decided to pursue the USMLE because it offered world-class training, research opportunities, a license to practice almost anywhere in the world, and the possibility of unlimited fellowship opportunities.
How did Rashi prepare for her USMLE Step 1 exam?
-Rashi prepared for her USMLE Step 1 exam during her final year of medical college and internship, which occupied most of her time. She found the process challenging both academically and personally.
What was Rashi's score on her USMLE Step 2 exam?
-Rashi scored 265 on her USMLE Step 2 exam.
How did Rashi handle the interview process for her residency application?
-Rashi prepared for her interviews by reaching out to programs and expressing her interest. She found the interview process to be one of her favorite parts, as it allowed her to interact with brilliant people in medicine.
What was Rashi's feeling when she found out she matched for her dream residency?
-Rashi felt a mix of relief, happiness, and a sense of fulfillment when she found out she matched for her dream residency in internal medicine.
What is the purpose of Rashi's YouTube channel?
-The purpose of Rashi's YouTube channel is to create a space where medical students who know nothing about the process can come to learn about exams, discuss the process, and get insights from her journey.
Outlines
🎓 Journey to Medical College and USMLE
Rashi, an aspiring doctor from India, shares her journey from childhood dreams of becoming a doctor to preparing for the USMLE. She discusses her challenging academic path, including moving to a new city for higher education and the intense competition she faced. Rashi emphasizes the importance of hard work and determination, recounting her grueling study schedule and the emotional challenges she overcame. She also shares her success in achieving top marks in her 12th board exams and her entrance exam, which led to her admission into her dream medical college, GMC Nagpur.
🏆 Topping State Exams and College Life
Rashi recounts the surreal experience of discovering she had topped not just her city, but her entire state in the Maharashtra board exams. She expresses gratitude and joy at this achievement, which was a testament to her dedication and hard work. Rashi then delves into her enriching college life, where she engaged in extracurricular activities, made lifelong friends, and was inspired by her professors and peers. As her college years neared their end, she began to contemplate her next steps, which led her to consider the USMLE as a path to further her medical career.
🌐 Exploring USMLE and Preparing for Step 1
Rashi shares her decision-making process for choosing the USMLE, a path less commonly taken by her peers. She discusses her research and consultations with various individuals to understand the process better. Rashi found the prospect of world-class training, global practice opportunities, and the potential for further specialization appealing. She describes her preparation for Step 1 of the USMLE during her final year of medical school and internship, highlighting the academic rigor and personal growth she experienced.
📚 Step 2 Success and The Match Process
Rashi details her preparation and success in passing Step 2 of the USMLE, emphasizing the pressure and importance of achieving a good score. She then describes the application process for residency programs, including writing a personal statement and gathering letters of recommendation. Rashi discusses the interview season, her first experience with interviews, and the valuable connections she made. She shares the excitement and anxiety leading up to Match Day, when she found out she matched into her dream residency in internal medicine. Rashi also talks about her YouTube channel, which she created to document her journey and help others who are considering the USMLE and a career in medicine.
🌟 Reflections and Excitement for the Future
In her final paragraph, Rashi reflects on the entire application and match process, expressing her relief and happiness upon matching into her top choice for residency. She anticipates the start of her three-year program and becoming an MD in Internal Medicine. Rashi also shares her gratitude for the support she received and the messages from her audience, which motivate her to continue creating content. She looks forward to her next chapter as a resident in the US and the opportunity to inspire and assist others on their medical journeys.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡USMLE
💡Residency
💡Internal Medicine
💡Medical College
💡NEET
💡Match
💡Step 1 and Step 2
💡Electives
💡Personal Statement
💡Interviews
💡Adrenaline
Highlights
Introduction to Rashi's journey as a doctor from India pursuing USMLE
Rashi's dream to match into Internal Medicine residency in the US
The importance of early education choices for Rashi's medical career
Challenges faced during the transition to a new city and school
Rashi's strategy for overcoming academic struggles in school
The significance of determination and hard work in achieving academic goals
Rashi's experience with the competitive nature of medical entrance exams
The emotional impact of exam results on Rashi's life
Achieving top ranks in state exams and the subsequent media attention
Rashi's decision-making process for choosing a medical college
Memorable experiences during medical college and extracurricular activities
The introspection process leading to the decision to pursue USMLE
Rashi's approach to gathering information and preparing for USMLE
The challenges and growth experienced while preparing for Step 1
Rashi's experience as an international visiting medical student in the US
The importance of the electives in solidifying Rashi's career path
Preparation and success in passing Step 2 of the USMLE
The process of applying and preparing for residency interviews
Rashi's interview experiences and the value gained from them
The anticipation and outcome of Match Day 2024
Reflections on the journey and the creation of Rashi's YouTube channel
Rashi's excitement for the next chapter as a resident in the US
Transcripts
hello everyone I'm Rashi I'm a doctor
from India currently on my USM journey
to apply to my dream residency of
internal medicine in the US I mashed
into my dream residency of internal
medicine in the United States it's it's
been a dream come true for me and U
thank you so much for all your wishes
your support and being a part of my
journey so today I'm just going to talk
about all of my journey starting from
getting into say Medical College in
Medical College and then deciding to
prepare for usml and finally matching so
let's get started okay let's start from
the beginning so I've always wanted to
be a doctor and I cannot imagine like
I've never imagined myself as anything
else and um all of my school life I've
spent towards this goal somehow um
passed my 10th and um got like a 10 GPA
whatever and then move moved to a new
city a bigger city for my 11th and 12th
and basically my further education uh in
11th and 12th I picked physics chemistry
and biology as my subjects because I was
very sure that I wanted to pick medicine
moving forward this was probably one of
the most challenging times I've had in
my entire life the insane competition
just the transition from you know moving
from school to this and being placed
with so many students who are incredibly
smart and preparing for the same top 100
ranks as you is just crazy uh this was
back in
2014 so start with
preparing it was a struggle initially
especially with physics uh I still
remember it was one of the earlier tests
and I came home crying because I had
just gotten a terrible score and I had
not seen like a bad score in my entire
life but that just told me that okay
this journey is going to be tough these
couple of years will determine my life
at least a tangent of my life for the
next four or five years and um I want to
give it my all so I give it my all my
15-day work days began there woke up at
5:00 a.m. went to class ate in the car
came back went to another class then
studied did my homework slept and
repeated this cycle over and over and
over a dozen notebooks were filled too
many questions were solved all these
tests but I had this one thing that I
just want to be Dr Rashi Mahajan and
nothing else mattered and this was also
a time where I felt
like I didn't know how much I had in me
to give to something that I really
wanted but being placed in that sit
situation where you don't really have an
option I mean it is it is what it is you
just have to study I give it all more
than I had in me um and the score
started becoming better and better the
subjects started to see more familiar
physics became easier chemistry I could
finally remember how the P block works I
don't know it now but just generally I
knew how it works bio was always my
favorite so it was comfortable for me um
around you know the end of dece it was
like December is 2015 boards were just
around the corner and um I had to take a
break to start preparing for my boards
then and I still remember I had this
huge fight with my mom about you know
taking a break to start preparing for
boats because I'm like my goal is just
to get the best possible marks that I
can and get into my dream college and be
a doctor
but um reluctantly took a break prepared
for boards for like 12th boards and
wrote them the boards ended and the
exams went well but then the real prep
started neat and the entrance exam back
then that I Was preparing for called
msct it just makes me sound old I'm not
that old I promise but uh I started
preparing even more intensely as if that
was even possible for my entrance
I had around four or five 4ish months in
my hand to really you know consolidate
all of the work that I did over the last
2 years and gave it all did not I I
think I've been the most productive I
ever was in my entire life during that
period test after test every single day
every single question nothing was left
for the last minute and it was just
revision on revision on
revision come May 20 14 that's when uh
my neat was and also my m c the exam
that I Was preparing for the exams that
I Was preparing for for the past 2 years
and I want to say my entire life really
but um the exams were went well you know
nobody really prepares you
for how intense the experience is to sit
in an exam hall for 3 hours
and give it your all like I said but um
the anxiety was at Peak it's not easy no
matter and I've realized that no matter
how much you prepare for it nothing can
prepare you for the actual feeling of
giving the exam but so if you're going
through this or experience the
experiencing the same thing then you are
not alone I think everybody goes through
it it's very difficult and at that age
it's just a lot of
responsibility uh to have but uh
yeah tried to keep myself as
level-headed as possible went into the
exam Hall and I still like get
goosebumps when I think of that feeling
um exam was smooth I came back and I
cried more because I just felt like I
could have done better and uh nothing
days passed anxiously waiting for the
result but uh a few weeks later the
result came first the board's results
and the most unexpected thing happened I
opened my result the site is slow per
usual which is just so annoying because
you know that your result is here but
the SL site just won't open anyway I
opened the site and I read my result
it's
97.8% I'm like okay great I had gotten
like a 97.2 in my 10th so I'm like okay
that's an upgrade and I go about my day
slowly slowly the call started pouring
in and I realized that I might have
topped my city and then I realized I to
might have topped my region and then by
the end of the day You' realize that I
might have actually topped the entire
state of Maharashtra across all streams
and uh it was it was Unreal I I I was so
grateful extremely happy and it was just
the experience of a lifetime to
interview with like newspapers and talk
about my journey my struggles and just
you know the the part the process the
entire process and um it was it was
amazing it was an amazing experience
going through that experience made
me believe in the fact that if you put
in enough work enough heart into
anything you know it's doable it is
doable
um a few days later the entrance result
results came in I got like a double
digit state rank and I was happy that I
would get into the medical college that
I dreamt of going to my top choice of
college which was GMC nagpur it was home
it always felt like home and um I have
zero regrets of picking my college it
was the best experience of my entire
life and uh I am just happy that 18
years old Rashi chose to go to GMC and
it every decision you take I know that
it is a very big decision to take but
every decision you take has its pros and
cons but GMC nakur just felt like the
perfect decision for me and then Medical
College started things rolled around
subjects were tough interesting friends
became family I traveled a lot I did a
lot of extracurriculars that I kind of
missed out on since the past 2 or three
years with the whole competitive exam
scene I got to take part in quizzes win
quizzes become friends with new people
meet the most amazing smart professors
work with these incredible people and uh
it it's been a very inspiring experience
overall but around say final year I
started to think about and really
evaluate and introspect about what I
wanted to do after this because as much
as college is fun it's it's not for
forever and I could see that okay it's
ending and I need to think of something
that would be the perfect fit for me
going moving forward career-wise like
professionally and um USMLE is not the
commonest option that people in my
college and my city pick so I did not
even consider it in the beginning but
then the more I read about it the more I
talk to people about it I just contacted
everybody left right center people who
are even remotely associated with it
people who are like friends of friends
distant relatives just everybody to get
to know about this process and
understand how it all works um and the
more I delve deeper into it I just
realized that it was the right decision
for me it was seeming like it had
everything that I was really expecting
for the next part of my journey amazing
worldclass training research
opportunities having a license to
practice almost anywhere in the world 3
years of MD in the US and I would be bo
certified and I could practice
practically anywhere in the world that
possibility was something that I just
found very exciting the opportunities
for Fellowship it was just Limitless and
I felt like it was a challenge that I
wanted to take up I had gotten a little
too comfortable in medical college so I
was missing the adrenaline of again
writing a big exam and then I started
preparing for my step one but the sole
process took up pretty much all of my
final year and during my internship is
when I started preparing So for anybody
who's you know still undecided or maybe
in the final year or internship and
still considering USMLE I just want to
say that it is doable I mean it is
always an option if that is something
that you feel is your calling I think it
is worth worth pursuing it's never too
late so internship rolled around and I
started
preparing I gave my step one towards the
end of my internship so uh 2022 summer
is when my internship was like ending
and then I also gave my step one it was
definitely a very challenging experience
academically and it made me push myself
once again and I felt like um
15-year-old Rashi again learning to
adapt to like a new thought process and
new set of questions is always always a
challenge getting used to Step One the
type of questions like this big
questions and like more than four
options to choose from the endless
syllabus and the way the questions were
framed and how they were rarely even
ever memory based I felt like my my fire
for you know that adrenaline exams
medicine everything was just reignited
and I it was an amazing experience it
was stressful yes but it was really
amazing and I felt like it it made me
grow as a person overall so after I
finished my step one the next step was
going for my electives uh Co was still
around and there were a lot of travel
restrictions but I was very fortunate to
get into a very good University and go
there over the summer as um
International visiting medical student
and that's uh that was in Chicago and
that's where I did my clinical electives
doing my electives during my electives I
really got to see and experience the
system firsthand see the day-to-day life
of residents experience the EMR and you
know how their day-to-day interactions
work how my life would look as a
resident as a fellow and then an
attending and it reinforced and again
told me that this is the right direction
for me and this would be the right fit
for me came back from my electives and
started preparing for step two right
away I was doing more things on the side
working research just a bunch of
extracurriculars on the side as well
then in uh summer of
2023 I gave my step two now with step
one going pass and fail step two def
definitely became the most important
exam and uh if you are very new to this
process you might not know that you
cannot just repeat and repeat your steps
so if you get a bad score in a step that
is basically just stuck with you for 7
years and only after 7 years you can
retake the exam and that is a tremendous
amount of pressure to have to just ace
an exam in one go and um just first pass
it in one go and then as an exam in one
go those 12-hour work days returned uh
so I passed my step two got my score I
scored at
265 I was very very happy with my score
treated myself to a little holiday
because I just desperately needed a
break and then came back from my holiday
and started preparing for my
applications um the way this whole
system work is You in September every
year you apply to colleges and hospitals
for your PG like your md and then you
have to put together your application
you write your personal statement you
write your application itself you get
your letters of recommendation and um
put it all together and send it and the
programs review it holistically put they
look at your entire application your
academics your scores your
extracurriculars and just your
personality overall and then they send
you interviews interview season starts
in around October so October 2023 is
when it started for me I started getting
interview invites in October and um it
was a very anxious time I would say
because once you you submit the
applications it's pretty much
all that you can do you can definitely
reach out to programs letting them know
that you're very interested in them and
I did that I started preparing for my
interviews now being like raised in
Indian system I had never ever given an
interview in my entire life I just knew
to get into colleges you had to give an
exam get a score and based on your score
you just get in but system is not like
that in the US you get interviewed and
the way interviews work are since Co
they've become virtual so programs send
you invites and then you get one-on-one
interviews with the Le program
leadership so the program director
associate program directors and the
faculty the chief residents the program
coordinator sometimes and you also get
to interact with the residents and when
you're done with all of that and you do
all that so that you get a feel for the
program you get the vibe of the program
and the program uh gets to know you
better and uh the questions and
interviews are very interesting they are
not academic and I think the interview
process was probably one of my favorite
parts of the entire process I got to
meet and interact with amazing amazing
brilliant people in medicine and talk
about medicine patients life life
outside medicine and um it was a great
experience I got to learn a lot from
every single person that I talk to and
after every single interview I would
just be like in awe of the people that I
had just met interview season went on
till January and uh once that was done
it was just pretty much wait and watch
till March March is when we get our
results 11th of March 2024 was match day
so on Match Day you find out if you've
matched which means that if you got
selected for a PG position and uh March
11 2024 I remember
7:27 p.m. Indian Standard time I opened
this I got this email and I was just too
scared to look at it but I got a
notification I said congratulations
and I don't know
I it's it was a feeling of relief
happiness and just knowing that all of
my life's
work finally meant that I was getting
into my dream residency of internal
medicine it was still a a little bit of
wait till the Friday of that same week
to find out where I was going to go but
uh I was very fortunate and I feel so
grateful to have matched into one of my
top programs even during my interview I
I got along so well with everybody and
everybody seemed so warm and welcoming
and uh yeah I read the email and ever
since life has just felt unreal I'm very
excited to start this next chapter it's
a three-year program so by the end of
three years uh I will become like an MD
in Internal Medicine which is the
equivalent in India as well and another
amazing thing that came out of this
entire process is this YouTube
channel all throughout my med school I
just felt like I didn't know enough
about the process and I didn't even know
that it was a possibility for just
normal people and that it is doable but
having gone through the process
having struggled a little bit made
mistakes which would have been avoided
completely had I known better uh I feel
like I wanted to create a space where
people and met students who basically
know nothing can just come here we can
talk about exams we can talk about the
process we can you know discuss every
single thing I can document my journey
and this hopefully helps anybody who's
uh who wants to make a decision to
pursue us a mil and then uh pursue the
EMES and consequently train in the US um
and I and I am so grateful to even have
this opportunity and to receive all your
messages and emails and comments on my
videos and my post saying that okay
something that you've you are doing is
helping us and that is really all I want
to hear and all I want to know so yeah
I'm very excited for the next chapter I
am so excited that the next time I'm
going to film a video it's going to be
as a resident and from the US so bye-bye
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