Detroit Receiving

There are two hospitals in America that I find to be absolutely iconic. They are the types of hospitals that get a constant flow of bloody, drunk, and miserable people; and somehow the staff maintains their sanity enough to keep on doing their medicine. The hospitals are the types that people make TV shows about (and no, not Cook County Hospital and ER...real-life TV shows). One of those hospitals is Baltimore Shock/Trauma. This hospital leads the world in trauma and emergency care. It helps that Baltimore is a horribly violent city.

The other iconic hospital is Detroit Receiving Hospital. It is a real goofy-looking building, having been built in the shadow of Star Trek fame. It is shiny-silver on the outside with tiny square windows. It has little gardens within that have modern art that looks like scaffolding. The pathologies, though, are wonderful. As a second-year student put it, "these people are sick." Detroit is pretty legendary for its lack of personal safety, and all of the lower and lower-middle class folks who can't pay their bill end up at Detroit Receiving (though it's trending toward Sinai-Grace, according to Dr. Schwartz).

My interview yesterday was inside Detroit Receiving. I got a good feeling from the start when I walked into the med school (which is literally a stones throw from Detroit Receiving, or an exaggerated fall) I told the security guard I was there for an interview. From down the hall I hear "Good Luck!" The girl who said it stopped, turned around, and followed with "you're going to do great, everybody here is real nice!" Apparently they are. She was right, everybody was nice. My tour guide showed me and a group of med-applicant yuppies around, and between outbursts of "I hate this place" he spoke rather highly of the school. My interviewer was an ER doc at Detroit Receiving, and he mostly just asked questions filling in gaps in my application -- mostly about switching from BU to GVSU. All went fairly smoothly.

I still can't honestly say if I want to go to Wayne. I'll know on April 22 if I'm in or not. I am wondering, though, if I were to re-apply again for next year. With my MCAT already done I would have a better shot at higher-tier schools (Duke, UNC, Standford, etc.). I guess the question remains, what makes a good doctor. I'll let you know when I figure it out.