Can a self-proclaimed “poor-performing” student still do well in a top-100 ranked medical school? Yes! That is, if you “seize opportunities rather than being afraid of failure” like fourth-year medical student Anthony Mompiere. He shares why rejections aren’t the end of the world, and why pushing past them can actually make you a better clinician. Read on to find out how a promising young soccer star forged his own path to becoming an anaesthesiologist—all without letting rejection hold him back.
Atypical Med School Applicant
To tell you the truth, I was a bad high school student. I was a student-athlete with some rather promising potential in the field of football (soccer). At the youth level, I played with the notable likes of Timothy Castagne (Leicester City, Belgium national team), Gerson Rodrigues (Dynamo Kyiv, Luxembourg national team), and others.
Naturally, although I was (slightly) less gifted than them, I was driven and would aspire to be called up for the Luxembourg U21 team before my high school graduation in 2014. At 19 years of age, I needed to repeat a year when I moved from Belgium to Luxembourg, to the French school of Luxembourg also known as Lycée Vauban. My mother took two jobs for this. I remember being one of three Black students at a mostly white private school.
Choosing between academics and athletics
This national team call-up objective of mine led me to neglect my academic obligations which negatively affected my grades. My days consisted mostly of waking up at 6 AM, being at school at 07:55 AM, finishing at 5 PM, practicing from 6 to 8 PM, getting home at 9:30 PM, eating and using whatever time and energy I had left to do my homework and maybe study. At some point, I even went to practice twice a day and had two games per week: one with my U19 team, one with the men’s reserves team. I had no study skills and my teachers considered me to be both a waste of potential and time. I couldn’t blame them.
One person at the school did believe in me: my maths teacher. I’m grateful to him for seeing something in me even when my other teachers would embarrass me in front of the entire classroom. My history teacher said I didn’t belong at the school. His tone seemed to imply that he meant to criticize more than my academic performance. It felt personal and I was offended—he didn’t treat the wealthy white students in my class like this, even those who were performing similarly academically.
At the end of the season, when I narrowly missed my chance for a call-up, I called my coach and asked if I should try again next season or go to college. I’ll always be grateful for his honest reply. He said “Tony, my boy, you’re the only one in this large group who might actually have an academic future. A future of a constructive life that lasts longer than your natural physical prime. Go to college, be someone”.
Thank you, Coach Carlo. I appreciate that now.
Accept your failures, start with the heart
Having graduated from a French high school in the summer of 2014, I determined to attend a French university: Université de Caen, Basse-Normandie. 1,500 of us enrolled in the infamous program known as Première Année Commune aux Études de Santé or PACES. This is equivalent to the pre-med and first year of medical school combined together.
The pre-med components (i.e. Organic Chemistry, Cellular Biology, Molecular Biology,) and MS1 components (Histology, Basic Anatomy, Basic physiology) scores select and rank the top performers at two high-yield test moments at the end of each semester. The final rankings allow 200 of those 1,500 students to complete the academic year and move onto medicine. Other rankings allow placements into Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Midwifery, and also Physiotherapy.
The infamy of this program revolves around the toxic competitiveness of these rankings and students (actively) antagonizing one another. After all, these rankings could determine the rest of your life. Your neighbour could “ruin” your life. It is oddly similar to The Hunger Games.
In my first year there (2014–2015) I ranked a poor 870th at the end of the first semester, and 521st at the end of the second. I tried again and ranked 300th at the end of the first semester and ended up 282nd after my second. I was just 0.03/20 away on my general average from ranking 200th and passing to the second year of medical school.
The rules were clear: the doors of the country’s medical schools had slammed shut for me in France. I was devastated until I realized that I didn’t have to stay in France. I could leave and try abroad.
The following year (2016–2017), I enrolled in biomedical sciences at the Free University of Brussels ((Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB) in Belgium . This year allowed me to confirm that I wasn’t interested in biomedical sciences, work on medical school applications, and finish the components of pre-med. That year was filled with instructive rejections teaching me that rejection actually does not matter and showed me I should seize opportunities rather than being afraid of failure.
“Everything negative—pressure, challenges—is all an opportunity for me to rise.” – Kobe Bryant
Being accepted into medical school
The following year (2017-2018), I obtained a spot to study medicine at Maastricht University, in the Netherlands which at the time of writing this blog is ranked 60th worldwide in the field of Medicine according to QS Top Universities. To top it off, I’m also invested in education and work with a leading medical education platform in Osmosis. Not bad, for a “waste of potential and time” isn’t it?
My journey should inspire you if feel like your back is against the wall and it seems like life is over, especially if it’s about medical school applications. A rejection is not the end of the world: it might in fact be a sign that something better lies ahead. Don’t ever give up!
“Two roads diverged into the woods and I – I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost
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