From comment to post, July 2014

"Seriously though? I freaking love your blog!!!! Always a good source of the realities of life, humor and information......................I know all too well about being one of few women of color and also the surface support that we sometimes receive from people. You know the kind,  where words are encouraging but actions are not. People giving you the side eye when you are successful in an area where they underestimated you.............
..............................Ive been stressing myself out about the whole med school process. It is taking so long  for me to get there it feels as if its never ending. The journey is always easier when it feels as if there are others traveling with you. Thank you for posting so consistently and so honestly."

So I recently received  an email from a reader which makes up this month's "From comment to post" post, redundancy noted. :). Okay, it's not really a comment per se, but I thought I put it out there anyway. I sincerely hope the person who sent it, doesn't mind me sharing, because I think it's good to share these kinds of perspectives especially given that the numbers of URMs pursuing STEM and medical fields is shrinking. YIKES!!!!

That said,  I've thought about that "surface support" comment a LOT especially as I consider my current academic department and doing so, reminds me of my first college experience. I matriculated at a southern university with a still dismal record of producing URM STEM graduates, but that year they admitted a record number of Black students. Not long afterwards, they "dumped us" and left us to our own devices to "survive". Now in their defense, I did not seek the support I needed like I should have. However, that's where the diversity office at this school should have stepped in. You see the one thing I noticed about my clients who are mostly Asian/Indian is that both the parents AND grandparents are ALL up in their kids academic business. ALL. UP. IN. 'DERE, and stay there until their kids finish college. So it's not a surprise that kids from these families excel academically. But for folks who come from families where there's very little support for whatever reason, those folks need help. 

Movin' on, I've tentatively decided on an MCAT test date for next year, April 17, 2015 and I say tentative because I have no idea how "mad" the rush is going to be to sign up for this first test date. I also added a ticker tape to my blog and the character I choose is a kid with a baseball bat. I choose this icon because my plan is to ""knock the MCAT out of the park", hence the baseball metaphor!!!

Well, I'm going to end this post with this song by TLC, because when it comes to pursuing the MD/DO, PhD, or MD/PhD, you really need your friends to make it through!