Was on my way to an early bed time when I got an email from UIWSOMs financial aid director. As part of the VA HPSP, I have to provide a full cost breakdown of my tution and fees for medical school. Wow. Seeing it makes it a lot more real to me. I will be a medical student starting in July. I have a scholarship that covers 100% of my costs. Medical school is EXPENSIVE. I am blessed and highly favored.
I've been on a bit of a hiatus as of late. I was granted IRB approval to start my dissertation data collection at the end of February/beggining of March. It took me a solid six weeks to collect my data but it required sitting at my desk for eight hours daily emailing, calling, bribing, and begging every physician, PA, and APRN that I could find, to take my survey. I finished collecting data almost two weeks ago and am now in the data analysis phase. I'm also cleaning up the first three chapters of my dissertation and I've had several research presentations as well. Translation? I've been BUSY. Over these next few weeks, I'll be working on completing my data analysis and finishing writing chapters 4 and 5. Unfortunately, I won't be able to schedule my dissertation defense for May 17th and instead, it will have to be scheduled for sometime in early to mid June. I'll be away from here for a bit but I'll be back...
This is a continuation of a post that I started on April 1st, before life got all kinds of busy...
Yesterday, my wife and I spoke with one of our mentees who has reached somewhat of a crossroads in her educational journey. She applied to medical school this cycle but was not successful at gaining admissions. At the moment, she is considering what her options should be. Should she attend a post bacc or SMP program, retake the MCAT, and then reapply in the next cycle? Or, should she take time out to really think about what it is that she really wants to do with her life? She explained to us that she is 22 years old and since high school, she has been on a pre-med course. WIthout prompting, it became clear that our mentee's career choices are being heavily driven by her parents, academic advisors, and other family and friends. She shared with us that she's only had one opportunity, since high school, to experience anything outside of the usual pre-med academic and career track. She said that she worked in the admissions office of her undergraduate university assisting students with the admissions process. She told us this was the only time that she'd been happy as an undergraduate and that she had spoken with the University of Kansas about enrolling in their master's program in higher education administration and student affairs.
The process of earning your DO or MD is long, expensive, and incredibly grueling. Its not something to be undertaken lightly and if your heart isn't fully vested in the process, you would do well to take a step back and consider what it is that you really want to do. In fact, I believe that it would be a good thing, particularly if you are young and have not had the opportunity to "live", to spend a few years exploring what your interests really are. If medicine is truly your passion, taking a few years away from the well-worn path to medical school won't change your mind about that. If you decide that medicine is not really what you want to do, understand that there are many ways that you can serve your community both within and outside of healthcare. Whatever you ultimately choose to do with your life, just remember that it is YOUR life. You have to live it. If you attend medical school, you are the one who will be stuck with the late nights, missed family events, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt on the way to earning your DO or MD. Make a decision that you will be happy with. People have asked me how I am so sure, particularly at my age, that earning my DO and practicing medicine is what I want to do. My response? I have lived enough life to know what I want to do and how I want to do it. I've had so many careers that I have lost count by now and while all of them, particularly being a university faculty member, have bought me great joy, none have been as fulfilling as those times when I've worked in direct patient care, particularly in emergency medical services and family medicine. The only way that you will get to answer this question for yourself is to take time to do some exploration. Whatever you decide, just make sure that you make a decision that you can live with.
Earlier today, I learned that a friend, a guy that I’ve known for a little over a year, passed away suddenly on 10-April. Out of respect for the family, I won’t say his name here, but I will say that he was a bright soul who LOVED helping students, particularly underrepresented students in healthcare and medicine, achieve their goals. When he found out that I was applying to medical school as a 49-year-old non-traditional, he was excited, maybe even more so than me. When I got that first acceptance, he was one of the first to congratulate me. Personally, I was thrilled to see a Black man, my age, inhabiting the medical school admissions and consulting space.
His passing is another reminder for me to not allow myself to be consumed by my goals. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to speak to my friend one last time a few weeks before his passing and I’m glad that I’ll have the memory of that conversation forever. To anyone reading this, please take time to enjoy your lives and the people in it. While striving for our goals is a necessary and commendable thing, those whom we love may not always be there to celebrate with us. When they are gone, they are gone. Make the most of the time that you have with them while you have it…
