{"id":2499,"date":"2021-03-01T18:23:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T18:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/?p=2499"},"modified":"2025-10-08T09:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T17:14:09","slug":"my-non-traditional-journey-into-a-top-100-ranked-medical-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/my-non-traditional-journey-into-a-top-100-ranked-medical-school","title":{"rendered":"My Non-Traditional Journey Into a Top-100 Ranked Medical School"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_80 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">In This Article<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/my-non-traditional-journey-into-a-top-100-ranked-medical-school\/#An_Atypical_Med_School_Applicant\" >An Atypical Med School Applicant<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/my-non-traditional-journey-into-a-top-100-ranked-medical-school\/#Choosing_Between_Academics_and_Athletics\" >Choosing Between Academics and Athletics<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/my-non-traditional-journey-into-a-top-100-ranked-medical-school\/#Accept_Your_Failures_Start_with_the_Heart\" >Accept Your Failures, Start with the Heart<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/my-non-traditional-journey-into-a-top-100-ranked-medical-school\/#Being_Accepted_into_Medical_School\" >Being Accepted into Medical School<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Can a self-proclaimed \u201cpoor-performing\u201d student still do well in a top-100 ranked medical school? Yes! That is, if you \u201cseize opportunities rather than being afraid of failure\u201d like fourth-year medical student Anthony Mompiere. &nbsp;He shares why rejections aren\u2019t 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\u2014all without letting rejection hold him back.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"An_Atypical_Med_School_Applicant\"><\/span>An Atypical Med School Applicant<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vauban.lu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lyc\u00e9e Vauban<\/a>. My mother took two jobs for this. I remember being one of three Black students at a mostly white private school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Osmosis Around the World: The Netherlands\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XSXUqFnOq6Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Choosing_Between_Academics_and_Athletics\"><\/span>Choosing Between Academics and Athletics<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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\u2019s reserves team. I had no study skills and my teachers considered me to be both a waste of potential and time. I couldn\u2019t blame them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One person at the school did believe in me: my maths teacher. I&#8217;m grateful to him for seeing something in me even &nbsp;when my other teachers would embarrass me in front of the entire classroom. My history teacher said I didn\u2019t 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\u2014he didn&#8217;t treat the wealthy white students in my class like this, even those who were performing similarly academically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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\u2019ll always be grateful for his honest reply. He said \u201cTony, my boy, you\u2019re 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\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you, Coach Carlo. I appreciate that now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Accept_Your_Failures_Start_with_the_Heart\"><\/span>Accept Your Failures, Start with the Heart<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Having graduated from a French high school in the summer of 2014, I determined to attend a French university:&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/welcome.unicaen.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Universit\u00e9 de Caen, Basse-Normandie<\/a>. 1,500 of us enrolled in the infamous program known as&nbsp;<em>Premi\u00e8re Ann\u00e9e Commune aux \u00c9tudes de Sant\u00e9<\/em>&nbsp;or PACES. This is equivalent to the pre-med and first year of medical school combined together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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 \u201cruin\u201d your life. It is oddly similar to&nbsp;<em>The Hunger Games<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In my first year there (2014\u20132015) I ranked a poor 870<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;at the end of the first semester, and 521<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;at the end of the second. I tried again and ranked 300<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;at the end of the first semester and ended up 282<sup>nd<\/sup>&nbsp;after my second. I was just 0.03\/20 away on my general average from ranking 200<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;and passing to the second year of medical school.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The rules were clear: the doors of the country&#8217;s medical schools had slammed shut for me in France. I was devastated until I realized that I didn\u2019t have to stay in France. I could leave and try abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The following year (2016\u20132017), I enrolled in biomedical sciences at the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unipage.net\/en\/564\/free_university_of_brussels_vub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Free University of Brussels<\/a>&nbsp;((Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB) in Belgium . This year allowed me to confirm that I wasn\u2019t 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.&nbsp;<em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>\u201cEverything negative\u2014pressure, challenges\u2014is all an opportunity for me to rise.\u201d &#8211; Kobe Bryant<\/strong><\/em><em><strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" src=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/09\/my-journey-should-inspire-you.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2502\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/09\/my-journey-should-inspire-you.png 700w, https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/09\/my-journey-should-inspire-you.png?resize=300,200 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Being_Accepted_into_Medical_School\"><\/span>Being Accepted into Medical School<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The following year (2017-2018), I obtained a spot to study medicine at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.maastrichtuniversity.nl\/education\/bachelor\/bachelor-medicine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Maastricht University<\/a>, in the Netherlands which at the time of writing this blog is ranked 60<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;worldwide in the field of Medicine according to QS Top Universities. To top it off, I\u2019m also invested in education and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/omef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">work with a leading medical education platform in Osmosis<\/a>. Not bad, for a \u201cwaste of potential and time\u201d isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My journey should inspire you if feel like your back is against the wall and it seems like life is over, especially if it\u2019s 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\u2019t ever give up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>\u201cTwo roads diverged into the woods and I \u2013 I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.\u201d \u2013 Robert Frost<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/09\/image_249307.png?w=700\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/09\/image_249307.png 700w, https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/09\/image_249307.png?resize=300,107 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013<\/em><br><strong><em>Try Osmosis today! Access your&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/login?type=create\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">free trial<\/a>&nbsp;and find out why millions of clinicians and caregivers love learning with us.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can a self-proclaimed \u201cpoor-performing\u201d student still do well in a top-100 ranked medical school? Yes! That is, if you \u201cseize opportunities rather than being afraid of failure\u201d like fourth-year medical student Anthony Mompiere. &nbsp;He shares why rejections aren\u2019t the end of the world, and why pushing past them can actually make you a better clinician. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":2500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,35,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medicine","category-osmosis-health-leadership-initiative-ohli","category-student-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>My Non-Traditional Journey Into a Top-100 Ranked Medical School - Osmosis Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.osmosis.org\/blog\/my-non-traditional-journey-into-a-top-100-ranked-medical-school\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Non-Traditional Journey Into a Top-100 Ranked Medical School - Osmosis Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can a self-proclaimed \u201cpoor-performing\u201d student still do well in a top-100 ranked medical school? Yes! That is, if you \u201cseize opportunities rather than being afraid of failure\u201d like fourth-year medical student Anthony Mompiere. &nbsp;He shares why rejections aren\u2019t the end of the world, and why pushing past them can actually make you a better clinician. 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