Originially posted on wordpress- July 25, 2010...
Ok, so I totally went to my first open house. It was a total accident as I didn’t have a clue that there was one on Wednesday.
I walked through the halls of the medical school side, feeling like I totally belonged. I did. Everytime I think of med school, it feels exciting and I am so ready to do it already. I was lucky enough to crowd the halls while the students were wrapping up with classes and walking to another laboratory. A lot of them looked like they were in their mid-20′s and into their own thing, but sociable with one another, as though they were the only people who would understand their dreams, frustrations and fears.
My guess is medical school is a community. A group of people who decided to embark on this long and painful journey and who happen to meet other people like them, with similar ambitions, ready to understand them. Sometimes, I feel like that with my pre-med friends/advisaries/acquaintances , although I don’t think it is a strong enough, as deep enough as those in a medical school setting.
I also saw the numbers and profile for the medical school and I sort of felt my heart sink. Gosh, how lovely it is to find out that your 3.0 science GPA isn’t enough to make the cut, but perhaps borderline GPA. With exception of one lady there, who was standing near the research jobs desk, everyone pretty much ruled out the low GPA- and don’t even consider other circumstances.
I also had the opportunity to sit down and chat with a fourth year medical student whose name, for her own security will be Rose. She seemed very nice and diplomatic despite my inconveniencing her during her lunch break (a plain cheesecake and a strong coffee) to ask her questions about her experiences in medical school. She told me that unless I was passionate about medicine and I knew that that’s what I woke up in the morning for, that I should do it and that nothing should stop me from achieving this goal. For the first time, someone (a stranger) told me that I shouldn’t be a podiatrist or something that I really didn’t want to be. Although she strictly emphasized onto me the importance of busting my ass this semester to achieve a 3.3 which is still totally possible. And if my math is correct, it should be dangerously close to a 3.3 if I get straight A’s. Will I get them? Only friggin’ time will say.
I also asked Rose about her thoughts of the medical program she attends and would she ever go through medical school all over again. While she didn’t give a flat “no” to me, she didn’t say yes either. She also emphasized on the big sacrifices I was about to make for the sake of medicine. This was something I already knew and I am already expecting. It doesn’t surprise or scare me that I would give up to some extent my already non-existing social life and my current interests to pursue the rest of life for the following 7-10 years. I just wish it could come sooner. I even asked Rose if she was thinking of starting a family in the next few years and she told me that she didn’t know either. I highly doubt that Rose will though. Her specialty of interest is emergency and internal medicines. These specialties, from what I heard and read, are 24/7 on-call jobs so when will she have time for a family if the hospital is understaffed of doctors on one night she would have to care for her babies? She is only 27 and already done with some of the hardest stuff- so there may be hope for her still, but I just DON’T see it. Now she needs to find a residency… but she was starting her fourth year of medical school next month, so maybe she applied for several already? I regret not have asked her if she already applied for a residency already.
After our little chat, I had to go to the physician’s assistant open house and couldn’t speak to her any longer. She was kind enough to even offer her email address in case I had questions about the medical school. Boy, I really underestimated the whole medical school atmosphere. Allright…!!!
Luck of the draw. My friend told me I should take some more classes. And I guess that’s what I am going to do.
Anyways, done with this post. Much to update in the hours to come.
God, I wish I was more on top of this blog…
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