The Day After That Fateful Day...

So, my wife and I talked about my decision to pursue medical school. I fully expected her to tell me I was completely insane and that we needed an immediate divorce. However, that was not the reaction I received.

A little background on my wife and I: we are polar opposites regarding almost any topic you could imagine except for how to raise our son (for the most part). I say black, she says white. She says up, I say down. So, when she said that she absolutely backed me up on this and she thinks I'm fully capable of getting into medical school I almost shit a brick.

I've started working out how I'm going to accomplish all of my prerequisites in a strategic fashion so that I can maximize my success rate. So far, I've figured out that I'll start volunteering now at the AIDS Project and a local place called Tap In that provides a variety of things for needy families. I'm aiming for 400 or more hours of volunteer service. God knows I've got the time.

I'm going to be attending undergraduate school part time initially. I'll go to the local Community College to knock my freshman general education requirements out and then transfer to the local state University for my main undergraduate courses, where my major will be Microbiology. I want to get some research time and experience in, and I think I'll take care of that while an undergrad. I also am supposed to do some shadowing of doctors. I haven't a clue how or when I'm going to do that. Hopefully somebody at URI will be able to hook me up at some point. Then, there is the question of GPA...oh boy. This one is the deciding factor of whether I even get looked at by medical schools. I intend on holding a minimum 3.8 GPA. My MCATS should follow suit with my GPA if I do my job right. It will be very interesting.

-Merlin