The End of Third Year

It feels like only yesterday I was standing at a podium in front of hundreds of people, giving a speech at the end of my Senior year. I was 16 then, and I'm 19 now. My last exam was yesterday, and now I'm facing 4th year head on.

But before that, I have the summer to get through. I have 2 med school pre-requisites left, biochemistry 300a and 300b. I was going to take 300a this summer, but as it turns out, the class was canceled for lack of a professor to teach it. So I'm taking 300b, and depending on how that goes, I'm either taking 300a in the fall or next summer again if I feel that would increase my chances of getting high marks. Sonia, my friend and roommate, just took biochemistry 200, and from the looks of it, it's a tough, tough course. One of those courses where a ton of it is just strict memorization, bits and pieces of info that I'll have to structure somehow in my head. I think that's a big mistake alot of people make. They try to memorize bits and pieces like bits and pieces, without sticking them together in any meaningful way. If you don't try to stick them together (or more likely in my case, don't leave yourself enough time to do it), then little chunks are going to leak out the side of your head. That's why mind maps are so great. They stick pieces together in a way that's logical for your brain. The brain doesn't work linearly, it works like web, with little nodes of information and little highways connecting the nodes... but I digress.

Biochemistry 300b. That's one hurdle. The next hurdle is much bigger, much scarier, much more responsibility.

The MCAT.

For those not in the know, this is the official Medical College Admissions Test. The only objective way for medical schools to compare undergraduates from all different walks of life, university and life experience, etc. It is a 5.5 hour computer based test that not only requires your fluency and expertise in biology, chemistry, physics, verbal comprehension and writing, but requires you to apply it in ways you've never seen before under strict time constraints. In other words, it tests you on exactly the stuff a good doctor is great at. And I plan to rock its socks off.

There are 2 main schools of thought when it comes to MCAT preparation. One is self-study, where the prospective med student gets a couple of the commercially available tomes of MCAT preparation, makes friends with the local library, and prepares to live and breathe the finer points of of the basic sciences and whatnot. The other is where said med student reaches deep, deep down into his or her pockets and takes out about $1800. He or she then forks it over to a company who is offering in exchange one of the oft-heard of "MCAT courses." These are, according to myth, alot like regular classes, except much more goal oriented, and much more intensive. It is designed solely to increase your chances of getting a higher score on the MCAT.

As for me, I'm with the first school. Mainly because I have more will power than money.

And that friends, is my summer. Wish me luck!