Originally posted by Lecular:
•Failing isn't falling, it's staying down
••</blockquote>Word.
Before I applied, I figured that I would either get in on my first try or have unbridled stamina to reapply as many times as it takes. Boy, was I wrong!
It takes a lot out of you to have med school after med school tell you that you are unfit to be a doctor, which of course was the career that I've had my heart set on. Now, it's starting to look like I might need a backup plan, but we shall see. I don't want to be too melodramatic, since I still have an interview or two left and I might be pleasantly surpised. However, I don't feel that eager to reapply next year. I have been incredibly fortunate to have my parents helping to support me financially, but I feel very guilty about wasting their money on exorbitant app fees, AMCAS (boo!
), and fruitless interview junkets, and I don't want to stolidly keep throwing their money and mine down a hole. Nothing has changed, so I see little reason to immediately reapply. If I do end up rejected everywhere I applied, I hope I'll be able to pick myself up as Lecular's quote alludes, but again, we shall see.
If I do get rejected everywhere, I've thought about moving to Texas (where I have some family) and getting state residency there since they have so many state schools. My uncle suggested that I come to Houston with him and presumably he or my cousin (a Baylor COM grad student) could set me up with a lab job somewhere. This is somewhat tempting, moreso since there's some
great road biking down there. However, I'm not so sure that I'll want to do this med thing, at least not right away.
Dentistry has been a thought. I'm really excited for a good friend of mine who just got into dental school a few weeks ago. That's what he's wanted to do basically all his life, and the way he described the profession (laid-back lifestyle, low stress, autonomy, satisfaction, etc.) makes it pretty tempting. I'd probably have to shadow a dentist or do some pre-dental extracurriculars (?), but if I had a year anyway, this might be a possibility.
Another option, and one that I'll probably do, is to try to work for the government. I don't exactly have a broadly marketable degree, but some government agencies are hiring in my major, and I think that would be a good time. If I don't get one of these jobs, the next step is to become a military officer, or failing that, to simply enlist. I was actually thinking quite a bit about joining the military before 9/11, and even more so now, so I wouldn't exactly be broken up about this. Plus, I think I would enjoy that environment and the travel. I don't want to do grad school, at least not at this point. I'm burned out on undergrad school and jumping through all the premed hoops. Don't get me wrong, I would enjoy more school if it were med school, but my heart just wouldn't be in to getting a grad degree simply to get into med school, and I'd rather do something I enjoy instead of being miserable for 2 to 6 years locked in some lab somewhere. If I don't get into med school, I'm going to say no to more school and more premed hoops to jump through and try to get a job and hopefully marry my girlfriend, which would only be possible if I had a job or serious prospects for the future (like an acceptance), and not if I were whiling away my time in Texas or living in my parents' basement. Then, maybe in a few years, I might try this med thing again. Maybe in a few years I'll love what I'm doing so much that I'll never look back. And maybe I'll get into med school after all.
But again, we shall see.
