Oh Kay

So quick blurb: While in my masters program at TCOM, I joined this organization called MIND (Mentality Initiative to Nurture DOctors). This organization focuses on advocating for the emotional, mental, physical, holistic health of medical students, and the faculty and staff at SOM. With their permission, I was able to bring this organization to UIWSOM and start it at my own medical school. One thing I was particularly excited to do was to help plan events that would facilitate a deeper connection between the students and the faculty/staff on campus. Yesterday, we had our introductory meeting (open to all) and ended with our very first Clark Reflection Series. Much like one of the reflections I've posted on my blog before, we were given a prompt and an opportunity to write. After writing, we sat in small groups and read our work aloud (the hardest part for me), followed by positive feedback from our partners listening. The reflection topic was Crises and Epiphanies , and we were...

Dear UIWSOM peers, If Eric Cassell is accurate with respect to the nature of suffering, then I know what suffering is. Cassell describes that suffering can come from a loss of self in relation to the world, whether it be things, events, or relationships. His description of suffering most resonated with me in the aspect of loss of relationships, more specifically the relationship with myself. During my junior year of college, I began working on my application to medical school – MCAT, essays, applications, more essays. After what seemed like constant and continuous year of working and applying towards my lifelong dream, I didn’t even get a single interview. I failed. And this failure was somewhat of an identity crisis for me. I knew how to fail on the soccer field, how to let my teammates down, how to get problems wrong in the classroom, but I had absolutely no idea how to fail at what I had considered my life or how to let myself down. I hated the idea of failing, and as my ow...

A  month ago (sorry it's taken so long! -- med school), I posted a blog about all the things that I wish I had known when I applied to medical school. In that blog, I promised to go into a little more detail about the things that I did to improve my MCAT by over 35 percentile (like 11 points).  So, I'm going to give y'all  a short little spiel on the 5 gems that I used to jump my MCAT score. 1. Kaplan Course I said this in my last blog, and I'll say this again: just take it. Just fork over the money. It's expensive, yes. But it is worth it. One of the biggest struggles that I had with this exam (besides just simply reviewing content) was that I didn't know how to really take the exam i n the first place. The small c lass size of my undergraduate university facilitate higher order thinking and allowed for essay and open-ended question based exams. So, I became very good at explaining my thinking process and ideas behind my answers but not so good at t...

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a doctor. Seriously. Like as a child (according to my parents), every time someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said a doctor. I (apparently) would take it even further and say that I wanted to be a brain surgeon and not a heart surgeon because my tiny little self thought that messing with someone's brain vs. their heart would be less scary and detrimental. Yeah, I know. Weird. Anywho, this idea of going to medical and becoming a doctor has been a life long dream of mine.  My exact expression every time I imagine myself as a doctor. Since I always knew that I wanted to be a doctor, the decision to be a science major in college was an easy choice. College was a whirlwind. I had 3-4 jobs at all times, did a crap-load of community service, did research, held an internship, studied abroad, played soccer all 4 years, all while double majoring in Molecular Biology and Chemistry with a minor in Math. Yes...

Since I'm coming up on the 4yr anniversary of this very unfortunate event, it is time that I finally tell y'all the story about what clearly wasn't actually my first fart, but more-so the first fart that exposed me for who I really am to my boyfriend and some of his closest friends. It was March 2013, just a couple of weeks into our relationship. It was the beginning of spring break. This was our freshman year SB and we wanted to go big, so the six of us were heading off to SPI for a few days. On the way down, we decided to pit stop and stay the night at my parent's house. Like the cool kids we were, we decided to pass some time playing on the XBOX -- mostly with Dance Central on the Kinect. If you don't know how that works, basically 2 people dance battle each other to see not who can actually dance better, but who can match their hands and feet movements best to the game. This all involves videos, pictures, loud music, etc. while the rest of the crew sits a...

Ok, it's about time that I at least attempt straighten all of this out -- partially for myself and my own better understanding, and partially for everyone who keeps asking me/criticizing certain medical practices over another. Disclaimer: I did not include dentists, opthalmologists, pharmacists, podiatry, etc. My main goal was to stick the general ideologies of differently trained and praticing physicians. So basically this blog will be dedicated to a little run down of each of the following types of doctors. Hopefully, both you and I will have a better understanding of each thing after this. If not, I apologize for being a terrible explainer/writer. Generally, we have 2 different types of physicians: allopathic and osteopathic. Both of these physicians are trained to diagnose, treat, and prevent illness. Allopathic Physician Allopathic physicians are your classical doctors whose names end in MD (Medical Doctor). Allopathic physicians start out by taking the MCAT, attend 4 y...