The real question is whether I can get away with wearing these with scrubs in the emergency department....
A Family's Cry...
5 years ago
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My journey through medical school, thoughts on medicine, ethics, specialties, pre-med perils, and advice for those who want to do the same.
If You Are Looking For a Reason Not to Throw In the Pre-Med Towel...
....or to not throw yourself under a bus after your MCAT results...Click the "pre-med advice" tab.
(scroll down on the right side to categories)
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Trying not to flunk out of medical school. Trying to keep the rest of my life from being a shit show. So far, so good.
About Me
- Ella
- The "doctor" part is a bit of a misnomer, as I am currently just a medical student. I'm semi-anonymously journaling my entire 4 years of medical school (maybe even beyond that) so that I can see how medicine has shaped me. I began medical school in July 2009 and I will graduate in 2013.
Ella's Quote of the Day
I came to med school to save the world. But frankly, dermatology is looking pretty good right now...
Pulmonary Physiology is much more enjoyable when pinot noir is involved
HOLY SHIT! I'm going to be a F@#&ing DOCTOR!!!!!
Things just don't seem so bad when you can say that for real.
Contact Me....
doctorella2013@gmail.com
All Those Things I'm Supposed To Say
So if you have selective eyesight, are a skimmer, or have all-around questionable intelligence and haven't deducted it from my posts, I AM NOT A DOCTOR... just a wee med student. My opinions are, well, opinions. Not to be confused with the legitimate and litigable advice of real physicians. On that note, none of my stories reflect real names ... nor do they contain enough details to fully nor partially identify anyone.
Character List
Lolo - epidemiologist girlfriend I met while getting my Master's
E - close girlfriend one year ahead of me in med school at my school. We also got our master's degrees together
Kiluam - volcanologist/geologist guy friend from Phoenix. We used to work in an insectarium together
Eli/Mr. Psychiatrist - ex-boyfriend of 3 years
Analiese - med/neuro resident at my school
Leslie - friend, resident, supermom
Dr. J - friend, mentor, attending, scatterbrain. I used to work with him, but now we're just friends.
Lizzard - getting her PhD in epi, she and Lolo and I met in school
M - Lizzards boyfriend, aka bow-tie guy, although I met him through work, new fellow at my school
Dr. Kenton-Hadley - superhero chick/obsession #1, former chair of IM, rockstar
Dr. R - superhero/obsession #2, female EM resident at the discount school down the street
Panda - anatomy lab partner, aka cutie patootie
Luke - my hound dog, aka love of my life
Lucia - FMG from Colombia, just got residency spot in Psych
Mr. Stupidly Gorgeous - Harvard EM doc, who is, in fact, stupidly gorgeous.
Down the street boy (aka boy #1) - we're friends. we date sometimes. sometimes not. it's complicated but worth it.
Netter - god of anatomy, if you don't know him now, you will
Robbins - god of pathology
Rew - lab partner #2, aka guy that generally saves my ass by reminding me of all the shit I forget to do
Rin - lab partner #3, she and I are on the board of the student clinic together
Teve - lab partner #4, aka Mr. Stupidly Smart. Ugh... wait a minute...
Rica - girlfriend in my med school class who lives by me. we hung out pretty much every day second semester of MS2
Ritt - friend of Rica.
B1- aka dollface boy (who ah-hem might go to the same school as me) that I occasionally get lucky enough to go out on a date with
B2 - friend of Lolo's who is applying to med school and we are all cheering for him (right??)
MB - my artist/boxer guy friend who gives me the best advice ever
Anthony Michael Hall(AMH)-- me, MB and AMH are a trio. Total doll of a friend.
Doc Awesome - my FM attending
R - my soulmate girlfriend & soon to be doc. we were out of each others lives for a few years... but recently reconnected and its like no time has passed.
P-brain - actually has the opposite of a pea-brain. Probably one of the smartest guys I know. We met on Peds. He's going to be an amazing neurosurgeon.
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Love Affairs of The Week
1)Emergency Medicine XOXOXO
2) Family Medicine - best experience in med school thus far
3) Anesthesiology bumped to #3 by fam med? wtf? who knew??
4) Cardiology we did break up... but you're still just so cute...
5) PEDs?????? Kids good, parents, BAD. Very Bad. Its a nogo
6) Orthopedics - DIVORCED. Papers signed.
7) IM.... on second thought... not so much
8) Surgery (surgery rocks. surgeons suck.)
Ella's Favorite Posts
Topics By Ella
- About Ella (16)
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MED SCHOOL CLASSES
Microbiology - DONE!
Clinical Diagnosis - DONE
Pharmacology- DONE
Pathology - DONE
Inflammation - Done!!
Neurology - DONE
Histology - DONE
Physiology - DONE DONE!!!!!!
Metabolic Biochem - DONE!!
Cellular Biochem - DONE!!!!!!Anatomy - DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Genetics - DONE!!!!!!!
Nutrition - DONE
Embryology - DONE!!!!!
Foundations - YEAR I and II DONE
ROTATIONS
#1 Internal Medicine DONE!
#2 Surgery DONE! (barely survived)
#3 Radiology DONE!
#4 Study break...Step One passed!!
#5 Peds... DONE!
#6 Family Med... DONE!
#7 EM....DONE!
#8 Anesthesiology.... DONE!
#9 Breast Surgery...... DONE!
#10 OB/GYN..... in progress.....
Some Other Cool Blogs on Medicine
REAL PROFILES
I've started listing everyone I personally know who has journeyed to med school, law school, dental school or nursing school.... and a few details about them. Some are traditional students, some non-trads, and some are REALLY non-trads. The point is to see that there are WAYYY more who've had difficulty getting in than those who breezed in with perfect grades and scores directly out of undergrad. And some with perfect scores and grades who never got in at all. As I remember more, I'll add to the list...
1. 31 MCAT, 4.0, researcher at UCSF, went directly from undergrad to Irvine med school PS: NONE of these are students in my med school class. They are all from my previous life.
2. Strong grades at Top Tier undergrad, MCAT unk, rejected from all US schools out of undergrad, accepted to Ross, didn't go, re-applying to US schools
3. From high school directly to med school/undergrad combined 7 year program, didn't have to take the MCAT, finished IM at an awesome institution (that white stuff that goes on sandwiches)
4. and 5. Master's students with me. Didn't do exceptionally well on the MCAT, both went to the Caribbean and seem to have liked it. Now doing rotations in the US.
6. Waited until her husband graduated from med school, at 27 just finished her pre-reqs and is taking the MCAT in a few weeks.
7. Smarty smarty from small liberal arts school. 30 MCAT, 3.9 in biology major, went to a sister-linkage program in Nebraska directly from undergrad.
8. Graduated undergrad at age 30 after a career in pro baseball, applied several times to med school and got accepted in a linkage program school in Nebraska.
9. 29 year old pro-wrestler, Masters in O-chem, Neuroscience researcher, 3.8 GPA, O-chem TA, 40 MCAT. Denied from med schools twice, currently PhD candidate.
10. Bio major at Arizona State University, HIV counselor, public health work, research, 3.5 gpa, took Kaplan MCAT course, took MCAT twice, low scores, repeated ENTIRE Kaplan course. Status unknown.
11. Masters student with me, took a couple years off after undergrad, strong masters grades, 31 MCAT, accepted at state school
12. Horrible undergrad GPA with way too many units to ever make a difference by re-taking classes. Got Masters degree in science based program, 36 on the MCAT, accepted at state med school after 2nd application.
13. Good but non-stellar undergrad, got Masters degree with excellent grades, published a legit paper, MCAT 24, got accepted at DO school.
14. Naval academy guy, got Masters degree in Neuroscience, got 30+? on the MCAT, went to a great med school at age 30.
15. Age 27, Chemistry TA and chem major at Arizona State, applied twice to dental school, graduated this year
16. Young biochem major graduated from Arizona State, decent grades, wants to go to dental school but can't seem to do well on the DAT
17. Undergrad took 10 + years to finish, repeated science classes over and over, terrible MCAT, accepted in the Caribbean. Married with 3 kiddos.
18. Graduated science bachelors and masters from Ivy League, retook the MCAT to finally get a 27, after 1 re-application got accepted to top-tier med school.
19. From undergrad at small liberal arts directly to law school
20. Age 45+ engineer decided to go to med school, completed Harvard PBPM, accepted to Yale Medical School
21. Married 5 years ago, mom with 3 children under the age of 5, just started nursing school.
22. 36 MCAT. Above 3.0 GPA. Denied from med school 6 times (S-I-X)... finally accepted at top tier. Ouch.
23. Marginal scores, accepted to medical school in Tel Aviv, Israel, completed 2 years, transferred to a decent US medical school 3rd year and graduated.
24. Non-trad, applied US several times and got denied, lots of research experience, mediocre grades and scores, accepted in Tel Aviv and really likes it.
Followers
Doctor Quotes and Jokes
“"Virus" is a Latin word used by doctors to mean, "Your guess is as good as mine”
"The difference between an itch and an allergy is about one hundred bucks."
"A patient going to a doctor for his first visit was asked, ''And whom did you consult before coming to me?'' ''Only the village druggist,'' was the answer. ''And what sort of foolish advice did that numbskull give you?'' asked the doctor, his tone and manner denoting his contempt for the advice of the layman. ''Oh,'' replied his patient, with no malice aforethought, ''he told me to come and see you.''"
"He's the best physician that knows the worthlessness of the most medicines" Benjamin Franklin
A man speaks frantically into the phone, "My wife is pregnant, and her contractions are only two minutes apart!"
"Is this her first child?" the doctor queries.
"No, you idiot!" the man shouts. "This is her husband!"
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Of course you can!!! They'll blend right in with the hemo, goo, and goop flying around.
ReplyDeleteReal question is:
Why would you want to ruin a perfectly AWESOME pair of shoes in the ER?
BTW, I'm 6'1" while only slightly taller than you, it does make it difficult to not tower over others... just ask the physician I shadow. He is my father's doc, never met me. First day, I show up, he had to stretch his neck to see me... thankfully, he has absolutely NO problems with taller people (and he is very well beloved in the small town, as he should be... I only hope to be so lucky)... /digression off
Last, did you SEE the ones I pointed you to?!? OMGosh - I LOVE them (now to find a tall boyfriend for an excuse to buy).
Last, last:
If you could do your pre-reqs over again, knowing what you do now, NOT what the med schools are requiring, what would you take more of?
Thanks, cheers, hugs to a fellow shoe lover (it is a sick obsession, isn't it???)
Ad2b
Ok, dear...
ReplyDeleteFirst... thank you for loving shoes
Second... If I could do it over here's what I would do...
1) I would major in photography or art... just because I love them
2) I would ONLY take my pre-med classes and make sure I REALLY understood everything presented to me.
3) If I had to waste time taking ANY extra classes (I probably wouldn't... but if you MADE me) I might take a basic anatomy class (without dissection... yuck!)... so so I didn't feel so overwhelmed during the first few weeks.
Other than that, I would not spend 1 minute doing anything related to med school... you'll get it ALL there. I'd spend time with my family, reading books I loved, or developing a talent or hobby I could do for fun while in med school.
Also, I would have skipped the calculus nonsense. It was too painful and you don't need it. Really really... you ONLY need the basic pre-reqs (not biochem) for med school.
http://www.christianlouboutin.com/
ReplyDeleteClick on "Collection" above the weirdo dude, the shoes are at the bottom - bright red.
Click on the shoes and it brings up a whole collection of similar types, and far to the right, is the Sweet Charity replete with 12 cm heels!!! (haha)
Must have!!
As an aside, the University's med school pre-reqs are WIDE open... seriously... so I must decide what to take... and yes, I'm skipping calculus.
What are the actual pre-reqs listed?
1 semester biology
1 semester general chemistry OR organic
4 semesters some other sciences
1 semester humanities
2 of those courses need to be UD.
Given I already have a degree (or two) and that gchem 2 is pre-req for organic which is pre-req for UD biochem, I'm taking:
1 biology (general)
2 gen chem
1 organic
1 biochem (UD)
2 physics (MCAT prep)
1 physiology (UD - organic & biochem prereqs)
1 research topics biochem (UD)
and applying. Unfortunately, that path really does settle me on one med school... because every other med school requires 2 gchem, 2 orgo, 2 physics. I have the humanities well covered with my 1st degree and my hobbies?
Well... I'm venturing into showing great danes.
Let me know your thoughts (BTW, I HATE gchem II - love the math part, love the teacher, but honestly, I could not give two... about rate law... does that ever come up in med school!??! Seriously, patient presents with sloughing skin, swelling ankles, deep abrasions, slight cough, blurry eyesight and a physician is going to use rate law in prescribing meds and treatment plan?? haha... not!)
Cheers!
Ad2b
Those shoes are hot... but if you look, they are called Fifre. Sweet Charity is the purse. That's why I couldn't find them!
ReplyDeleteOk, I'm not sure if you've had biology in the past, but if not you will need 2 semesters which will give you the strongest foundation in as many aspects of biology as you can get. Most schools break this into 2 semesters Gen Bio I and II. If your school has that, I would DEFINITELY take both of those. If they just have Gen Bio I, then I would take that and then pick the most diverse upper division class I could find for 2nd semester. You don't want JUST genetics, or JUST physiology, or JUST embryology.
The topics you need to hit at least once are cellular structure, proks/euks systems, genetics, enzymes and metabolism, a little microbiology, evolutionary bio, embryo, developmental, and a little anatomy and physiology.
Are you taking biochem to substitute for 2nd year O-chem? Be careful bc only some med schools will let you do that. You might be limiting yourself quite a bit. Plus, both semesters of O-chem are on the MCAT (probably more 2nd semester) and biochem is not.
Like I said before, I would leave the biochem till med school.
Unfortunately, you'll have to suffer through Gen Chem II, and while rate LAWS might not be used in med school, there are lots of rates, kinetics, pH, pKa's, and lots of stuff in pharm I haven't seen yet. You'll be glad you learned it!
Good luck! Keep it up.
The med school I'm primarily interested in doesn't require anything but what I listed. I am considering only applying to that one first time but then I'm scared as well... just... things I can't discuss lead me to believe that I will be accepted if I get the solid grades (A, A-).
ReplyDeleteThe 1 semester bio is the one and only semester unless you take calculus and organic.
I'm taking orgo 1 for biochem because our orgo is only a 2xxx class, not a 3xxx and therefore, does not qualify as UD.
IF I were to apply at other schools, yes, I'd need the full two orgo with labs (our lab is separate from lecture and a completely different credit load). BUT, I really just want to do rural... cannot imagine anything else anymore.
My biology... well? In 10th grade, back in 1979, I was in the regular bio. Then because I rapidly moved through all offered science classes, they added an advanced biology for a year as well as advanced chemistry. I took both and was done with all my science/math by end of sophomore year in high school.
College biology was too easy for me during my first go 'round. I think that's why I slacked off so much - science and math came 2nd nature... bit me in the behind later (hence why I'm traipsing down this path now). Our one semester of biology includes all that you mentioned, sans the calculus.
Biochem is a class I love. Plus it fills the requisition for UD credits. With Physio also on the list, I need that biochem, biology, and orgo to take it.
With orgo two, I sat through it and took the tests in it last semester. I think without studying and without trying, I was able to get about 60% on tests (silent auditor). And the MCAT has changed according to those who took it this year - they said the limited orgo that was on it period, was not worth taking the classes if I didn't have to. I think that's why my research institution changed it's med school pre-reqs (but then, what do I know?!) I have a solid to advanced grasp of pKa, pH, kinetics, rates, acid/base, equil knowledge... quantitative chemistry has never been my downfall - so thank you! for telling me I will need it again.
If the EK and Kaplan books are to be believed and are proportionate to what appears on the MCAT, I don't need anymore o-chem II... not that I'd mind taking it for credit, I actually like the class, it's just a waste of money since it is only at the 2xxx level.
Last (non med school related) - your eyes are better than mine. I still cannot read that name for those shoes... Going back to the site, I looked at it again... Nope! Still looks like a calligrapher got a fancy pen in hand and drew "something"...
Thanks for tips ... I will get there... I have too many people behind me (look at the post http://adoc2be.blogspot.com/2009/02/sometimes-we-all-need-little-help-from.html Kind of how this works, isn't it...
Cheers, fellow shoe obsessionaire!
Well, it seems like you have a good grasp on what you need to do... and really, a solid plan is all you need. One word of caution... I don't know what is leading you to believe that you have an "in" at one specific school.... maybe you do.. but please be aware that NOTHING in medicine is 100% a sure deal. I have had Deans and presidents and higher-ups tell you one thing and make promises and yada yada... and I'm just saying nothing is for sure. I've known TONS of people who have been promised residency spots in certain places, and actually moved to a new city and then a PD backed out of a promise... You'd think it doesn't happen... but anything is possible in medicine. Medicine has its own set of rules... which you'll soon see. The point of all this? Please don't put all your eggs in one basket. That's way to risky in this business.
ReplyDelete