What has happened up until now...

I WANT YOU! (To be poor, rack up debt and then have to give up a good chunk of your 20s.

What was I expecting? A cakewalk? Hardly! So here is the quick and dirty about Medical Education.

1. What you learn in Medical school is easy!
-but-
2. It is damn near impossible to remember what you did learn though!

Medical education is an exercise in stamina more than anything else. It is proven by the fact that they use the MCAT to choose who gets in. Here is a test full of stuff you are not going to need to know to be a successful medical student!!! I did not use Organic Chemistry, the physics of friction or my ability to read a paragraph about post modern existentialism and then answer a multiple choice question that says Suzy really was not herself but a being about herself at all so far. But I had to know it to get here. That stuff is completely irrelevant, but a huge hoop to jump through. Which is what medical education seems to be....A series of hoops to jump through. Its just when you get to the hoops that are on fire and decreasing in diameter that panic sets in. So let your stamina push you through and you are good to go.


That being said. Med School is fun at the same time. Everything from the Ron Burgundy mustache contest first-year to the Horrible Holiday Sweater Party second year. ( I won the sweater constest by having to stay plugged into the wall all evening to power the massive amount of christmas lights I pinned on to my sweater!) Plus you get the opportunity to do things that the vast majority of the populace does not. Take cadaver dissection, which is an enormous privilege. You are given permission by a person to learn real human anatomy on their body and it is one of the most beneficial learning opportunities that I have ever been given. I recall most of my anatomy in the clinic from my time spent with the cadaver and I greatly appreciate the privilege I was given.

So if you are interested in pursuing a medical career, be sure that you are able to enjoy the ride to get there. It is fun. You just have to let it be fun for yourself and be able to set up some boundaries.
Check back here to learn more about what I am doing in my clinical rotations.