I’ve been neglecting to focus my entries towards premed students. So I’m going to give some advice to other premed students now.
Do research. Even though I don’t like it at all, they pay you a lot of money, and it helps you to unequivocally decide between medschool or gradschool. So, I’ve been doing research for the past 6 weeks at the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine Cell and Molecular Biology lab. At the end of basically every research program you enter lies a poster presentation. For me, I not only have to do a poster presentation, but I also have to do a powerpoint presentation. Praise God that they agreed to print the poster off for free. You see, when you do a scientific poster presentation, you usually make it on this humongous powerpoint template, that when it is sent off, it is printed on a poster printer. The problem is that it usually costs about $100 to use a poster printer, so if you can, try to get your program to pay the printing costs for you. If you’re rich then you can pay the $100, but those aren’t your only options. You also have to option of just buying a normal poster board at Wal-mart and pasting papers on there. It definitely looks less professional, but it gets the job done; and in the end, you have more money in your pocket. Although most premed advisors would encourage you to do something simple the summer after your freshman year like shadowing or just working, I think its important to have this experience as early as possible. That way, you don’t have to waste your other summers, in something you won’t enjoy.
I was up till like 2 a.m. this morning working on my poster in order to send it to the printer this morning. It took forever, but its done and I can sleep soundly’.not really. I still have a bloody powerpoint presentation to do. I can’t wait until I can go back home, even though I’ll only be home for like 2 days. This program ends on the Friday, the 13th, then I fly that same day to Maryland. I stay in Maryland till late Sunday, and then we drive down to Huntsville, AL because registration is Monday and Tuesday; on Wednesday school starts. Part of me feels like I’ve had almost no summer at all, because I haven’t been home, and another part of me just praises God because I gotten a chance to get all this valuable experience. I’ll also be happy when this program is over because I’ll get a chance to see my girlfriend. She’s been doing research too all this time in Pasadena, California. I haven’t seen her for 8 weeks, but I guess they say that distance makes the heart grow fonder. You know something I noticed? How come so many premed students about to graduate are usually engaged or married already. I mean, honestly in my mind I plan to be engaged before I graduate college, but is this a recurring trend. My girlfriend also plans to go to medschool, so she can’t be after my future earnings. But for those relationships that involve a premed and non-premed, do you guys sometimes think that they are formed for the wrong reasons. Do you think that maybe the non-premed partner is more interested in marrying a doctor than the actually person? I don’t know, it’s just something I’ve always wondered.
Today was the last day of trauma rotations for the surgeon I’ve been shadowing. I actually felt kind of sad, he was like a big brother to me. He goes on vacation for 2 weeks, and then goes back on his general surgery rotation at Christ Hospital. The other guy on the trauma team is an emergency medicine doctor, so I might get a chance to see what an ER doc does compared to a trauma surgeon. I’ll keep yall posted on those possibilities. As soon as I finish writing this entry I’mma head to the hospital to see if the ER doc is there, so I can shadow him.
I had a presentation yesterday about the mission work I did in Africa this past summer. It went pretty well, hopefully they will donate to the cause. The advice I gave them, is some advice yall should probably hear too. Get out and do mission work. I am almost 100% sure that I will get into medical school. Not because I think I will do well on the MCAT, or not because of my GPA, but because I have shown (through my mission work) that I truly have a passion for helping others. I truly believe that if it is clear to the addcoms that you truly have a passion for helping people, and its evident through more than you just volunteering in the hospital, then they will let you in. Please don’t lie to yourself and say that you will do mission work once you become a doctor. You’ll almost assuredly have no time to do it then, and if you didn’t instill the passion when you were young, what makes you think you’re going to do it now, when you have a nice house, kids, and a really good salary. Do it while you’re still young, I promise that it will change your life.
I think I’ve babbled enough. If you want to learn more about my mission group, just click HERE.
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