MS1 at UC Davis School of Medicine

Karina Cernioglo

First Generation Immigrant

2 Gap Years

First in Family to Attend Medical School

TL;DR

Refugee from Moldova
Community college transfer student
Much of my journey to medicine was filled with self-doubt
Took two gap years to take the MCAT and enjoy life
Took a huge risk during my application cycle that paid off

Update: Jan 2021

My first few months of medical school have been an absolute whirlwind. This week I spent one day trying to figure out how Anki functions, one day watching the storming of the capital of the United States, and one day lining up to receive the COVID vaccine. I can with all honesty say that I have absolutely no idea what tomorrow will hold. Despite this uncertainty, the biggest lesson that I have learned over and over again is how little I know. I often feel like I know nothing about studying, about medicine, about the world we live in...even about taking time for myself. My journey through medical school has been nothing short of a cycle of trial and error, and I’m slowly learning that this is okay. I am coming to terms with the reality that it’s okay to not be the best as long as I am trying my best.

By far the best parts of medical school so far are what I like to call the “golden nuggets”. These are the little things you never realized would make the world of difference: a classmate sharing photos of their pets, a patient thanking you in a student run clinic, vegging out in front of a TV and watching Survivor with your cats and significant other, a classmate reaching out after you mention you’re struggling, even simply learning something really interesting. Although this new block has me feeling like pulling my hair out, I think I’ve finally reached the point where I realize I can survive it.

If you talk to my dad, he’ll sum up the entirety of my journey to medical school in a single statement: “The American Dream”. I like that phrase because it makes me feel invincible; it makes me proud of the hard work I put in to get where I am today. But to be honest, there were many times when my path to medicine felt more like a nightmare than a dream.

Background

I was born in Ceadîr-Lunga, Moldova—a country where believing in God often leads to persecution and can rob you of opportunity. In 1999, my family and I arrived in Sacramento, California with all of our belongings crammed into four plastic bags and a new title: refugee. At two and a half years old, I had no clue of the life that awaited me.

For most of my childhood, my family was low income, but I don’t remember this time negatively. The tiny apartments that matched ours weren’t filled to capacity; they were filled with friends. The neighborhood park that offered free meals during the summer wasn’t for families that struggled to put food on the table; it was a place to get delicious chocolate milk. Learning English at the same time as my mom wasn’t a weird way to do my kindergarten homework; it was our “one on one” time. Thinking back, I think my greatest disappointment from my early childhood was going grocery shopping and learning that food stamps are nothing like the stamps used for mailing.

During this time, my mother went to our local community college, eventually receiving an Associates degree while my father worked several jobs. When I was eight years old, my father became a truck driver. Although his new career allowed our family to join the lower-middle class, it severely limited the amount of time my siblings and I were able to spend with him.

Eventually we were able to move out of the apartment that was much too small for our family of five. However, the move did not provide better access to education; I had no idea that science was even a subject until middle school. Around this time my mother found a job at a local Welfare office (the same office we went to when we were receiving government assistance!). With three children that each attended different schools (elementary, middle, and high school), I was often dropped off at school two hours before it began. Although this was not the most enjoyable aspect of my upbringing, using the school library as shelter from the weather helped develop my love for reading which contributed to my academic success.

The recession of 2008 contributed to a local housing market crash which enabled my parents to move our family into a “nice” neighborhood in 2012. My father soon became a car hauler to help afford the significantly greater cost of living in a nicer neighborhood, resulting in us seeing him less than before. However, he now had a more stable work schedule enabling us to spend more holiday’s together.

As an incoming junior, the new high school I attended was a stark contrast to my previous one. My former high school offered few honors and advanced placement (AP) courses, and of the ones that were offered, few prepared students for the end of year AP exams. At the new high school, a myriad of AP classes were available and they were extremely successful in preparing students for AP exams.

Despite the change in scenery, I was still incredibly shy and hesitant to come out of my shell. With the encouragement of my calculus teacher, I slowly began tutoring students in math and eventually became a member of our school’s Mathletes team. I graduated high school with a 4.67 GPA and I was in the top 20 of my class, but I still had major doubts about applying to a university. I worried that I was not intelligent enough to be accepted into a university. I worried that my lack of extracurricular activities would be my downfall if I applied. I mostly worried because I had no clue what I wanted to study and I knew I couldn’t afford the large bill that comes with attending a four-year university. Eventually I decided to attend community college so that I could find some direction in my studies.

Community COllege, Transferring, & Undergrad

Shortly after graduating high school, I began working in a retail store to save as much money as I could for school. I applied for local scholarships and financial aid and was able to attend a local community college with very few out of pocket expenses. I decided to work towards completing general education education requirements that would allow me to transfer to a four year university while I figured out what I wanted to study. I spent hours scouring the community college’s course information page so that I could take introductory classes that simultaneously fulfilled my general education requirements and were in topics I found interesting. Specifically, my anatomy & physiology and introductory nutrition courses helped inspire me to pursue a Bachelor of Science in nutritional biology.

My time at community college was the most enjoyable yet difficult part of my undergraduate journey. The courses I took helped me build a strong foundation in the basic sciences due to the ability to connect with my professors on a one-on-one basis. One of the most critical aspects of my pre-med (and now medical school) journey was having a solid basic science foundation and I am grateful that I completed this portion of my education at a community college because it allowed me to excel in my future science courses. However, this period of my premed journey was also highly discouraging. I met with several community college counselors that told me it would take a minimum of three to four years to complete my general education in order to transfer to a four year university. This is because many courses at my community college were impacted and registration priority was given to students that had been enrolled at the college for a long period of time. My solution to this was to join every possible waitlist I could. After the first class, I would introduce myself to the professor, explain that I needed to take their course to transfer to a four-year university, assured the professor that I would not enroll in the class only to later drop it and showed up to every single class and laboratory (even though I often was not allowed to stay for the labs since they were at capacity). Nine times out of ten, the professor would add me into the class (often on the last day this was possible) due to my persistence.

Knowing that I wanted to transfer to UC Davis and that I wanted to study nutritional biology, I researched UC Davis’ graduation requirements. Using assist.org, I created a community college class schedule that fulfilled as many prerequisites as I could. After only two years, I completed all of the general education requirements required to transfer, as well as additional courses my major required. In 2016 I applied to UC Davis as a transfer student and was accepted into the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science.

Upon transferring, I felt stark differences in the academic demand between community college and UC Davis. While my community college operated on a semester system, UC Davis utilized a quarter based system and I was grossly underprepared for the associated academic challenges. During my first quarter I was working in retail, taking four science classes at UC Davis, and an additional science class at a community college. Between work and school, many of my weekdays began at 6 am and ended at midnight and my 4.0 community college GPA dropped to a 3.3. Over time, I slowly learned how to develop a work-life balance and recognized that achieving good grades would take significantly more effort than it ever did before.

Many of the major-specific classes I took at UC Davis incorporated concepts related to medical diagnosing, such as looking at laboratory values and determining if they could be caused by a nutritional deficiency, and the latest nutritional research. Through these courses I realized that I wanted to either pursue a career in the medical field or to work in research. I began asking classmates for advice and decided to explore any opportunities offered to me.

Internships + Decision To Pursue Medicine

In order to explore the medical field, I applied to volunteer at three local hospitals. I only heard back from one hospital, but after completing an interview, I received radio silence. When voicing my frustrations to a classmate, she introduced me to our university’s health related internship program which allows students to volunteer in several departments at the UC Davis Medical Center (UCDMC). These internships typically lasted one to two quarters and were extremely simple to sign up for, with the only major requirement being attending one to two mandatory information sessions. Through this program, I was able to work as a clinical intern in the operating room, where I helped clean operating rooms and observed surgical procedures, and in radiology which was closely associated with the emergency department, enabling me to observe both radiologists and emergency physicians.

During my junior year, my biochemistry professor was seeking undergraduate students to assist with a basic science research project. He encouraged all students that did well in his course to apply for several intern positions in his lab. I spent a lot of time debating whether or not to apply, finally deciding it would be worth looking into. I was soon accepted into one of the positions and began working on a metabolomics project related to Type 2 Diabetes. Working in the laboratory felt a bit lonely at times. Most of the other interns were pre-medical students and the environment felt very cut throat—everyone seemed to be competing with one another which made it difficult to work as a team. The mentorship I experienced was very hands-off and I often felt like I spent more time pipetting than I did learning anything new. Moreover, I found myself more curious about the individuals our samples came from than the metabolites found in their plasma. Over the course of a year, I slowly realized that I was not a fan of basic science research.

Around the time that I began my internship with my biochemistry professor, the nutrition department emailed students about several nutrition related internship opportunities. One opportunity that caught my attention involved clinical research related to the infant gut microbiome. I applied for the position. However, on the day of my interview I considered canceling. I had just begun my basic science internship and I worried that I may have too much on my plate. I did not like children and was not enthusiastic about working with them. I also worried that I was wasting my time and would not even be offered the position.

On a whim, I decided to attend the interview and I was absolutely floored by the experience. The principal investigator on the project was so passionate and enthusiastic about her research that I immediately wanted to be involved. Initially, my position only involved data entry and literature reviews; however, the principal investigator (PI) served as a phenomenal mentor and began to teach me about infant health and development, the microbiome, and how to design and run a research study. I slowly began taking on more and more responsibilities and eventually began to work directly with research participants and helped write grants and design research studies. As my responsibilities increased, my internship slowly evolved into a paid position and provided me with a job during my two gap years.

Throughout my time in my clinical research position, my PI constantly encouraged me to further my education. She spent a lot of time with me as I discussed the pros and cons of pursuing a career in medicine or pursuing a career in research. I even spent a lot of time looking into combined MD/PhD programs. After a lot of reflection on my undergraduate experience, I realized that I felt most fulfilled when I was able to interact with patients during my health related internships and when I worked directly with research participants. I also recognized that my favorite people to interact with during these experiences were children. Around the time that I graduated from UC Davis, I realized that what interested me most was translational research related to the health and development of children. I ultimately decided that a career in medicine would allow me to achieve this goal.

Gap Years

After graduating from UC Davis, I decided to take some time to enjoy life before taking the MCAT and applying to medical school. I continued my clinical research job which was extremely flexible, allowing me to spend a lot of time with my family and explore new hobbies. I also helped teach the laboratory portion of the cadaver-based anatomy course at UC Davis and eventually spent a summer serving on a dissection team. I even ended up working as a part-time diabetes health educator at a local federally qualified health center for a few months. My background in nutrition allowed me to help develop new materials for health education and I was able to work closely with pediatricians to provide basic nutrition counseling to children. I also used my gap years as an opportunity to get more involved with my church’s Sunday School program. Although all of these activities eventually benefited my medical school application, I chose to be involved in them because I enjoyed them! By choosing to do things that interested me I was able to have both a satisfying gap year and to stronger application.

MCAT + Application

Before I discuss the MCAT and my Application cycle, I would like to encourage every reader to apply for the Fee Assistance Program offered by the AAMC. This program provided me with access to numerous free MCAT practice questions and exams and significantly reduced my cost of applying to medical school.

Studying for the MCAT is one of the most challenging things I have ever done. For several months, I was stuck in a cycle of studying and subsequently giving up. A part of me wanted to abandon my pursuit of medicine after receiving the results of my first practice test. While teaching anatomy, I stumbled across someone stuck in a similar cycle of studying and giving up and we decided to motivate each other as we studied for the MCAT. Having someone by my side as I studied was immensely helpful for not only clarifying any questions I had but for keeping me accountable.

Even still, I often found myself being overwhelmed by the massive amount of test content and I would find myself coming home from the library in tears. I would avoid doing practice problems because I felt like I didn’t know enough content and constantly doubted my ability to conquer the MCAT. It took me far too long to realize that there is no way I’m going to know all of the answers, so I just needed to do the practice problems. This approach helped my weakest section become my strongest!

Regardless, studying for the MCAT was still both emotionally and mentally draining. I had such severe anxiety that it was affecting my sleep and I would have a break down after nearly every practice exam, even if I had scored really well. I was so worried about my testing scores that I even pushed back my MCAT test date several times and eventually had to test a few hours away from my home due to a lack of available local testing dates.

The only highlight to my MCAT experience was that my boss was extremely understanding and allowed me to be flexible with my schedule. She constantly reminded me to take time for myself and she’s a big part of the reason why I spent the night before my MCAT taking a bath and drinking wine instead of cramming flashcards. She helped me understand that the MCAT is just as much a test of mental endurance as it is of information. After finally taking the MCAT exam, I was extremely anxious and my first thought as I walked out of the testing center was what my new study plan should be. I took the MCAT mid-May and decided to wait until I received my score before beginning the medical school application processes. After a dreadful month of waiting, I was surprised to have scored a 514, doing the best in the subject I typically struggled with.

As I began the medical school application process, I only had one school on my mind: the UC Davis School of Medicine. Sacramento has been my home for most of my life and I didn’t want to leave the community that had become my family. Moreover, I wanted to maintain my connection with my boss and I wanted to continue working with her throughout my medical school education. Still, I submitted a primary application to 25 schools. I ended up submitting only 11 secondary applications to schools that enabled me to stay close to my family and my soon-to-be fiance’s family. The secondary application that I focused most of my time on was my application to UC Davis. A huge portion of this part of my medical journey was guided by faith and prayer. I admit that it was extremely risky to submit a secondary application to such few schools and to my efforts on UC Davis; however, this decision worked in my favor. I received one interview which was shortly followed by an acceptance. I am now a first year medical student at the UC Davis School of Medicine.

Extracurricular/Employment

Primary Applications: 25
Secondary Applications: 11

Cumulative GPA: 3.79
Science GPA: 3.82
MCAT: 514 (131/128/128/127)

Disadvantaged Applicant

Teaching/Tutoring/Teaching Assistant: Human Gross Anatomy, 2 instances (225 hours); Biochemistry laboratory (90 hours)
Physician Shadowing/Clinical Observation: NICU (8 hours); Radiology (8 hours)
Presentations/Posters: Second author poster; Second author presentation; Manuscripts in preparation: one as a 1st co-author and another as a 2nd author (400 hours)
Research/Lab: Basic science internship (365 hours); Laboratory manager (990 hours)
Community Service/Volunteer – Medical/Clinical: Radiology health-related-internship through my undergraduate institution (70 hours); Surgery health-related-internship through my undergraduate institution (140 hours)
Community Service/Volunteer – Not Medical/Clinical: Working with the local homeless community, 2 instances (60 hours); Volunteering at a local church as part of their worship team and a Sunday School Teacher/Nursery Leader (900 hours)
Paid Employment – Not Medical/Clinical: Customer experience manager at a craft store (700 horus)
Paid Employment – Medical/Clinical: Clinical research coordinator (1720 hours)
Leadership-Not Listed Elsewhere: Chemistry Club President at community college (200 hours)
Hobbies: Knitting, cross-stitching/embroidery, rock-climbing (600 hours)