Low Tide

'Tis a sad day for this crustacean,

My brother who was accepted to the same school I was was offered a position at his school of choice this past week, which he accepted. For those of you who don;t know, applying to medical is quite similar to applying to college. You fill out an application (2 in the case of medical school), send in some money, interview, send in some money, receive a letter detailing how you fared for said interview and then have the option to send in more money or cry yourself to sleep. Being granted an interview for medical school is one of the greatest hurdles in the application process. By receiving a request for an interview your school of choice is telling you you have what it takes on paper to enter our halls and become a physician under our guidance. A very proud moment indeed. You then interview to show you are more than just words on an 8x11 piece of paper, but a person who shows zest for learning, compassion for humanity and a sense of humor. After the interview, the admissions committee (adcom) meets to discuss your overall application. This includes all the essays, demographic information and impressions you made at your interview. After they debate, then render a decision an snail mail it to you. *In the case of some schools, they don;t let you know at all...those bastards*. There are three possible options they render, rejection, wait listing, or an acceptance.

Everyone wants the acceptance, duh, its kinda why we applied to your school, but most of the time you will be wait listed. Never fear my humble readers, wait listing isn't all that bad. Some schools have an unwritten policy in which students who are wait listed for one year and don not matriculate are given acceptances next year if they choose to apply again. More on the application process later. However, if you choose to be wait listed you wait, grinding your teeth and biting your fingernails until either the academic year starts and you're out of luck, or they call. Oh the call, nothing like the call of the wild but it's still a glorious moment. In the case of my brother, he was accepted to my current school while currently wait listed at another school, Tufts School of Medicine in Boston. He received the call and after careful deliberation, seeing that he and his brother would run the show at NYCOM, he decided it would be in his best personal interest to attend Tufts.

Can I blame him? Sure! Should I? No.

He had to do what was best for his professional career. I do feel we are equally benefited in our educations but my selfishness cannot trump my brothers future. It's just not the way futures are made. Am I gonna miss him? Hell yeah, to have my best friend go to medical school with me would be a treat unlike anything else, but alas its not meant to be. Its true I will more likely receive a better education because I am in a better city (Go Yankees!) but I am sure we will be in constant dialogue helping each other out with many of the problems we will face in our medical educations. Beside, now I have an in to St. Patrick's Day in Boston, who is gonna complain about that?! I do wish him the best of luck and I will miss him but I have to work hard and study on my end so I won't have too much time to think about "what if...?"

Until Next Time

Whoop Whoop Whoop

Zoidberg

2 Weeks Notice

Good day to you all! Zoidberg here at a very difficult time in his medical school career. In two weeks time I will move to school. My brother has been dreading this moment, for he loathes moving more than I loathed coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death. I understand his point though, if I were to drop all my possessions in front of a starving Ethiopian child, he/she would mostly likely give me the finger and kick me right in the crotch. It's absurd the amount of stuff I have, moreover the amount of stuff my mother and sister recommend I acquire on top of all my crap (Metal wall art?, wtf mate!). I recently returned from a family vacation to cape cod. Not a bad time was had at all. It was a week of sun, incredible surf, great beer (delirium tremens <-- best beer in the world, magic hat summer variety pack and a Westmalle Trappist ale) and family fun. I would guess that our family is unique in the fact that us kids like, actually LIKE, going on vacation with our parents. Its time for us to kick back, simplify everything, and enjoy the beach. Before our vacation I resigned from working. Its true I loved my job working in endoscopy. I may have worked with he best nurses, doctors and staff anyone could. Yet, it was time for me to relax and kickback before I devote my life once again to textbooks, slide shows and Mozart flowing through my iPod headphones.

My major fear in these two weeks revolves around my study habits. I have been out of school for over a year now, counting senior year that's a little over 20 months without caring about academics and really "studying." I really do not have a plan to get back on track, and with two weeks to go this poses a great problem on my end. My strategy at this point is to devote at least 2.5 to 3 hours to sitting down, turning off all electronic devices (sans iPod) and reading. Doesn't matter what I read and that I switch media, just that I read. Now I am not a reader. What I mean is I do not read for pleasure, I read for work such as texts etc. This approach under my own volition has made me a slow reader as compared to my brother and sister. Will my strategy fail, we'll see after the first test. Right now I am not worried about it. Next post in two weeks when I move in.

Whoop, Whoop!

Zoidberg