It Begins!

Wonder of wonders - I have recently been informed of my admission to medical school. I type that, I say it, but still I cannot believe it. I am not sure whether to capitulate to the impulse to chronicle the entire process of my deciding to pursue a career in medicine.

I was an English Major (nod to Garrison Keillor). I love to write (though I am woefully out of practice and feel I've forgotten every bit of useful ruthlessness I learned in college). Of the entire litany of hoops one jumps through to apply to medical school, I dreaded the personal statement the most. Once I began work on the thing, it became so distasteful to me that I almost couldn't bear to look at it. The problem was, it was all about me and it had to fit in everything I needed to say to the app committee and it needed to fit within a character limit and it needed to ring true to the heart of who I am and why I am pursuing this.

I will sum up:

Science is wonderful.
I like people.

And there is so much more - so many people who have helped me, some PROFOUNDLY. But I realize that I'm (in theory) writing for an audience, so I'd like to avoid navel-gazing here and stick to what edifies, what informs, and what amuses.

I spent a year or so thinking about health professions, a year or so getting my feet wet with science again, and a year or so in outright pursuit of medicine.

I could not have done this without help. Help from my husband, from my church, from my family, from advisors and professors, and from some who will remain unnamed but who know who they are :).

So I write in gratitude.