Recipes?
The First Two Days of Being a Big Boy
Day 1
I arrived at 9 o'clock. I had to go through security in order to enter Fort Detrick. They took my driver's license and had me open all of my car doors. I forgot to open my trunk and I had a army man yell at me. He made me feel stupid, and subsequently, I now hate him. He told me off and seemed annoyed that a "civilian" was entering his home and domain. Ugh! I hate the military there already. After security, I arrive to building 376 about 9:30. I am greeted by Melinda, the chemical biology building secretary. She is really nice and got me started on my paperwork. Then Dr. Gildersleeve (below is a picture of him) came in the office I was working in and talked to me for a bit about the project I am working on. Then we headed off to meet everyone in lab. There are five of us total in the lab, and I'm the only post-bacc. The rest are post-docs or research associates. It's weird to be the youngest one in the lab by a lot of years. After meeting everyone, I headed off to finish my paperwork. I finished my paperwork and then went to the clinic to set-up a physical that is required for everyone. Then I went to get me official government ID for NCI (see the picture above). I will be receiving an NIH badge soon.
To become fully official, I have to have my car registered and decaled as a government car. This allows me access to NIH parking lots and Fort Detrick (I don't have to go through security). I went to the military guy and he got up in my face. Yet another military man in my face... awesome! He went off about how I can't register my car as government because it isn't in my name and that I was essentially stupid for trying. Ugh! I really started hating the military after that. After that, I went into the lab and went to lunch with Olaf and Chris. Then we started some of my training. I have read many papers so far and have done homework, maybe that's why I feel like I'm not completely missing school. I left work about 6:30 and then stayed up until midnight working on my homework for today.Day 2
I arrived to Fort Detrick at 8:30. I had a doctor appointment at 9. The same security guards were there, and the man still treated me like a stupid "civilian," even though I did everything right this time. I get the feeling that they like having power over the civilians and can do any checks they want if I want to get on the base. Ugh! I can't wait for the letter from my parents to come in the mail that will allow me to make my car a government car. It again took me about 30 minutes to get on base. I ran over to my appointment and had a general physical. I have 20/15 vision, great hearing, great reflexes, great heart rate, and great blood pressure. I'll get my blood work back next week, and hopefully all is ok there too! I then headed to the ID/Fingerprinting Center to get fingerprinted in order to receive my NIH ID. Once I finished that, I headed to lab. I went over my homework from last night with the post-doc, Chris, training me. I did almost everything right, but I had a few mistakes. They were easily changed though and I passed the assignment. After that, he gave me a beast of an assignment today. I had to analyze the results of four sets of data that had over 7000 points. Let's just say that it took me forever. I started going and then kept getting the wrong answers for 3 hours. It is all done in excel with complicated equations. I'm not good with excel, so I did not excel on this assignment. I finally took a lunch break, but the cafeteria was closed. So I bought a water and poptarts... what a great lunch! After lunch, I headed back into lab and worked on the assignment some more. I was still not getting things to work, which made me want to leave and go home. Finally, things started to work, and I finished everything about 6:30. I then learned that everything I did today was essentially pointless because there is a macro excel program that does all of that for us, but my post-doc wanted me to understand what the macro was doing. So about 8 hours later, I finished what a macro could do in 10 minutes or less... awesome! Then I headed home and did some shopping.
It's been fun, hard, frustrating, and challenging so far. I hope the frustration goes away, but the rest stays!
Oh, I also have a monster friend on base. I have yet to talk to it, but it lives in this, hence the danger sign. I walk past it everyday and it makes hissing and gurgling noises at me. I hope it's a friendly monster to "civilians" and eats military folk, especially the jerk at the check in gate.
Love Me Some Hospitals
This love of hospitals came to me as a child. I absolutely loved visiting people in the hospital. I loved watching doctors move around from room to room, ambulances pull up with their sirens blaring and light blazing, people coming out of the operating room, and the nurses taking vitals or doing lab work. I just loved it all. This love progressed when I was in the hospital for severe appendicitis during spring break. After my operation, I walked up and down the halls. I tried to see everything and would get in trouble for going into places that I wasn't allowed. It was so much fun! Then as I was touring hospitals during my visits to medical schools, I felt the same sense of awe and giddiness. It was where I was supposed to be. That's all I felt. Hospitals love me and I love them.
Currently, I am in a hospital. I wish I could explore it and see what is going on. Tragically, I am tied to an IV station to receive my Remicaid treatment for Crohn's Disease. However, just being the hospital makes me very happy! I'm weird like that, I guess. I was so giddy as I was walking up today. Secretly, I wanted to start skipping, but thought that it wouldn't be proper for me to do that.
Anyways, I'm not sure why I am writing about this. It might be because I'm bored, and because I am happy to be in the hospital. It might also be the fact that just being in the hospital gives me a sense of calling. It feels like home to me. So if you ever go on a vacation or trip with me, expect me to become very giddy when I see a hospital, especially if it is a big one!
Love me some hospitals...
Welcome to the Future!
PS If you want to read my application essays, I posted them before this.
PPS I was recently diagnosed with Spasmodic Torticollis.
Columbia and Baylor
Last week was my first medical school interview. I headed off to the wonderful city of New York. I stayed there for five days (thank the Lord for a three day weekend) with a good friend who is working for Goldman Sachs, which was nice because my expenses were very low. All that I can say is that I love New York and would love to live in that city. It was magnificent. While I was there, I saw Wicked (amazing), the Financial District, Wall Street, the Wall Street Bull, the Meat Packing District, Chinese New Year in Chinatown, Little Italy, Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Art Design, the Museum of Modern Art, and so much more! There was so much to do and I highly doubt I would ever get bored.
I thought that I would be overwhelmed with the city, but I wasn’t. When I first arrived at JFK, I was overwhelmed with getting on a bus to Manhattan and then getting my way to my friend’s apartment. After dropping off my suitcase, I navigated the subways to Columbia all by myself. I was very nervous about that, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I became quickly acclimated to the city.
Columbia is a beautiful place (I’m a sucker for huge hospitals). There was so much going on there that I loved. I loved the curriculum, the service opportunities, the free homeless shelter/clinic, the school, the people, the diversity, and again, much more. My interview was probably subpar. The reason for this was because the first question the interviewer asked me was why I wanted to become a doctor. I told him about my desires to help others, but I also told him about my desire to earn an MD/PhD. He then looked me straight in the face and asked me, “Why are you here then?” The reason he asked me is that an MD/PhD has a different application and interview than an MD. I told him about how my desire to earn a PhD recently developed. I then felt like I was fighting my way back from the grave for the rest of the interview. He was always questioning my motives of being there. I think that I had a decent interview, but not an amazing one. I hope that it works out so that I could go to Columbia, because I loved the school and the city.
I just barely returned from my trip to Baylor. I didn’t spend much time in Houston, but from what I saw, it reminded me a lot of Salt Lake City. This isn’t a bad thing, but I much prefer a bigger city and I prefer something that wouldn’t remind me of home. Don’t get me wrong. I do love Utah, but I am ready for a new place and a new adventure. Houston, being the fourth largest city in the US, didn’t seem like a big city. I still had a good time.
The interview was yesterday and I felt like I rocked the two I had. The first one was with a doctor. She was an amazing, strong woman from Germany (I’m a sucker for strong women). She and I had a lot in common and so the interview flowed very naturally. I had a great time talking to her and she seemed to enjoy our conversation. At the end of the interview, she told me that she was planning on giving me a very strong recommendation to the admissions committee. I’m really stoked for this! The second interview also went well. This time it was with a fourth year student. He asked me some ethical questions and my opinion on health care reform. He agreed what I said in my responses and told me that I gave a good strong response, whereas other interviewees gave lackluster comments. This made me extremely happy. After the seven hour long interview session, full of interviews and tours, most of the applicants headed to an Irish Pub paid for by Baylor. We had free food and some good times. I enjoyed my time there, but I was surprised how many people were getting hammered and smashed. I thought that people in the medical profession would know better, but I guess the socialization of the norms for my age group is still there. It made me uncomfortable so I left, especially because all of the people that I made friends with during the interview session were completely drunk.
I really loved Baylor too! The school was amazing and beautiful! It had basically everything the same as Columbia, except it was in Houston. I really like both Columbia and Baylor. I’m not sure how things are going to work out, but I’m not sure if I would go to Baylor because of Houston. If it were between Columbia and Baylor, I would definitely go to Columbia. I would be happy at either place, but I would be happier at Columbia. I still have one more interview at The Ohio State, so things might change. I still haven’t heard back from the NIH either and that will definitely change what direction I go. If I get into the NIH, I will definitely reapply as an MD/PhD, which I am currently working on.
What happens next year still scares me because my future is still a mystery. I can’t make long-term goals to achieve because I don’t know where I’ll be, but wherever I end up will be the best for me and it will be the best route for me to take in life.
Second Interview
Currently, I am working on my primary medical school application again. This includes writing another personal statement and boosting my resume with more activities, research, service, leadership, shadowing, etc. This will hopefully make me stand out as a candidate. I am also working on an application to do a post-baccalaureate at the NIH (National Institute of Health) in Bethesda, MD (near Washington D.C.) this upcoming year. My research professor believes that I have a good chance of getting into their post-baccalaureate program since I have a lot of research experience and good grades. We will see what happens. If I do get into this program and by some miracle get into medical school too, I will postpone my matriculation to medical school and do my post-baccalaureate at the NIH. This might give me the chance to for sure decide if I want to only be a M.D. or a M.D./Ph.D. I've seriously been considering doing a M.D./Ph.D again and if I receive the post-baccalaureate, I will probably head the M.D./Ph.D route.
Anyways, there is a quick update on my life. It's good! :)
