AMCAS

So I'm guilty of leaving the blog in the dust for five months. My excuse? I felt I needed to save my creative energy for my med school personal statement. The reality? I didn't write it until a couple of weeks ago. Further, it was one of the toughest things I'd ever written, and that may well have been because my writing wheels were rusty. So here I am, the prodigal blogger.

I was inspired by a blog I found by a med student recounting her (his?) experiences and thought I should follow suit. Why not? It'll keep me from getting rusty and maybe I'll sell it and make a fortune. Ok, maybe not a fortune.

I'm here in my second to last quarter of college and it's a little bittersweet. I haven't really followed the traditional path of the undergrad, but it's been fun all the same. I got a taste of sorority life, went through the drinking-in-the-dorms-then-go-to-the-bars phase, was humbled through a little taste of failure, and empowered by getting back on the collegiate horse. Now that I'm staring that B.S. practically in the eye, I cringe at the thought of entering the real world and leaving the bubble of academia. Sure, school can be stressful, but at least I'm not sitting at a desk for 8 hours every day or asking for some douchebag's order (never again. I hope.) Please let me be a student forever.

I got a little taste of that officey real world during my internship/practicum. It was enlightening, but not much fun.

Post-MCAT, I'm living in the final days of the AAMC medical school application. Polishing my words and trying to iron creases over my bad grades are all I have left before I kiss it goodbye. Of course, I still have to recreate the application for the AACOM, but the deadline is much less pressing.

What is there to know about the AAMCAS?

It's long. Longer than you think. So do yourself a favor and start it early because if you wait until the week before it's due, you'll be a giant, tearful ball of stress. Trust me, I know. Because like most things, my dear husband left his application 'til the last minute and now we're both paying the price. Also, the personal statement is a toughie. There's not a lot of room for you to divulge everything that's important to you, so you have to pick and choose, and it needs to be awesome. This is the last thing that I've yet to finish; people are looking it over with tough criticism and as a signature first-draft-Sally, editing (Ok, and criticism) is a tough pill to swallow. I ship the whole thing off tomorrow, so I am spending most of my day between the Microbiology lab and this dreaded application. With luck, this will all be worth it.

Stay tuned, I'll be a better blogger.