I
graduated public high school in the top 5% with 1410
SAT in 1998. I originally planned to attend Rice University
(parents lived in Houston), but decided to go to Texas
A&M because I obtained scholarship money for that university. I
am an Iranian American and I expected to be somewhat
of an outcast at what I perceived to be a
white conservative institution. Fortunately I was wrong. The people are
very friendly and there is more diversity than you might
expect. I cannot express with words how much I miss
playing indoor soccer at the Rec center, one of the
best physical fitness and recreation facilities I have ever seen.
I became good friends with other students who enjoyed soccer
from Germany, Czech Republic, Turkey, Jordan, India, Pakistan, Brazil, you
name it. As for education, I received a stellar one,
but this is something that will depend on the student's
ability and motivation. TAMU will provide the right environment: there
are solid professors (my biochemistry proff trained at Harvard and
helped me get into medical school, philosophy proff from Yale,
etc.) and opportunity for research (I did research at a
microbiology lab on campus and actually got to take it
as a class, you have opportunity to get your name
on publications as a co-author). My science and engineering classes
prepared me very well for the curriculum in medical school.
The office of professional school advising helped me get on
track early on for medical school, and I was accepted
straight out of college. They have meetings for students interested
and spell out exactly what medical schools are looking for
and what you should be doing by what date. I
am graduating medical school in less than two months and
have secured a residency at the University of Southern California
in Los Angeles starting this June.
I am not making
money now as a fourth year medical student, but after
residency/fellowship I expect a salary of six figures. The average
salary for an interventional cardiologist is $320,000. If I had
the choice of picking a college again, I would not
hesitate to attend Texas A&M University.
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