Less than a week to go

June 2nd is when the AMCAS, otherwise known as the American Medical College Application Service, officially opens for submission. It made the application available online on May 5th for fellow medical school applicants such as myself to have a head start at completing it. The AMCAS website has been at the top of my "Most Visited" for the last 3 weeks as I have gained full profiency at navigating it. And yet, as the days count down, I still feel very, very, nervous. I have reviewed the application several times, printed it out and reviewed it again fearing that something is mispelled or incorrectly indicated. I keep thinking that once I press that submit button on June 2nd, that there is no turning back but just rolling down a very steep hill. I will only have 3-4 weeks of breathing room during which I should be researching the schools and coming up with answers to possible essay questions in the secondary applications.

Secondary applications you ask?

Why, yes, 23 secondary applications from 23 different schools. You see, the AMCAS application serves as a common application where it collects all of your demographics including coursework, extracurriculars and MCAT scores to make them available to all of the schools that you must indicate an interest in. I have indicated 23 schools. Upon verification of the application, which happens during the 3-4 week break that I mentioned, each school then sends out its own application through which they are trying to get a more complete picture of you as a candidate. These secondary applications are more often than not sent out automatically without a screening process. Therefore, your full application is not considered complete until the AMCAS is submitted, the secondary is completed and your recommendation letters are sent out.

All of this must be done ASAP. This is due to the rolling admissions that each school participates in which means first come, first serve. So, there is a lot of work ahead to be done in a very short amount of time. But first, I will be enjoying my 3 week break with a trip to Boston/L.A. and then an adventure in NYC with my best friend! And also, thinking about the dreadful secondary essay questions.

Home sweet home

Once considered a true New Yorker with the attitude and all, I find myself not wanting to take up the New York pace and walk busily down the streets that I once was so proud of. Now, I find myself strolling down busy intersections as I search my way towards the DMV to renew my learner's permit. After a few moments of being slightly lost but refusing to ask for directions, I finally ended up stopping near a law office and stealing their wi-fi so I could look up the address again, which I initially refused to write down. The DMV is very comparable to an immigration office, 4 different lines to wait on for at least half an hour, a multitude of foreigners conversing in their native tongue and a slew of angry, uptight government workers who have the power to ruin your life forever. I, thankfully, only stood in line for two hours and was greeted by the friendlier workers and received my interim permit without any delay.

After leaving the DMV, all I wanted to do was go home to Queens. I did not want to stick around the city or go shopping or grab a bite to eat or meet up with friends. All I wanted to do was to go back to the peaceful and calm streets of Queens without the hustle and bustle of the work day. This never happened to me, especially after spending 40min on the train just to get to midtown; I never used to be so "lame". Thanks Boston.

Or maybe I'm just getting old and lazy and really just want to enjoy the outdoors which do not include busy sidewalks and people trying to sell me something at every corner. I am not sure how long it will be before I start hating Queens, which I do know will happen sooner than later. But for now I'll take in some fresh air and the sweet sound of birds in the morning rather than the sound of morning rush hour traffic.

Looking back

I love re-reading older posts that I have written because it gives me a chance to look back at what my thought process was at the time and where my priorities in life lay. I came upon one thought that I sort of put back in the back of my mind and hoped that it would resurface at the opportune time. Here it is:

"I would like to do something completely different and cool, something I will not get a chance to do once I am in Medical School. So I am on yet another mission, a mission to something absolutely fabulous during my year of freedom. Ideas are welcome." -published in Co-op kills the human spirit

I am determined to something fabulous during my year off, whether it means traveling or learning a new language or having some odd job, I want it to be cool.

A week of revelations

It's time to take care of business. Things have a way of working themselves out and as a painful as some of them might be, I suppose all lessons, good and bad, are a part of life. I have decided to move back home to NYC and work on some unfinished business like finally get a driver's license and enjoy some time with my family while I still have the time. I also will work full time on my applications to med schools which are time consuming and important to complete as early as possible. So far, I have narrowed it down to 30 schools which I am thinking about and that means 2 or 3 additional essays are required as part of the secondary application for each school. I suppose I will become really good at writing. I am ready to take whatever necessary steps to get myself into medical school because medicine is the only thing I want to be doing.

A high note

Today, I was told or written to again, via email that I am brilliant and will make a "damn fine doctor someday."

I like the sound of that much better. Let the journey continue then to doctorville...

What a low blow

Today, I was told or rather written to, that I need to work on my people skills. That I can be "caustic in my attitude" and need to soften my bedside manner if I want to succeed in medicine.

I refuse to conform in order to stroke others' ego.

There's a reason why Ayn Rand is one of my favorite authors. Please refer to Atlas Shrugged for more details.

How I loathe public transportation!

Since relocating to JP, I have been resigned to taking public transportation to get to my daily destinations. I, no longer, can go to class for an hour, come back to my apt within 15min walking distance, grab lunch, go back to class and jet to yoga for the 545 session with Gregor. No, I can no longer to do that. Instead, I wait for the orange line train for 15 min only to be greeted with an out-of-service train and then resort to waiting another 1omin for the next available train that may or may not be in-service, arrive to class late, then come back home hopefully within 30-40min, attempt to go to yoga but instead arrive late after passing 30minutes on a bus ride that should take 10min with 2 screaming children yelling at the top of their lungs.

I spend a lot of time on a train or a bus thinking about how I really need to get my driver's license and get some wheels.