Maybe I'm not "chasing my tail" afterall...but then again............

So earlier this week, I met with a research group focused almost completely in Computational Biology (CompBio) and Data Analysis, and I have a second meeting to schedule with them after they take a look at some of my code at a popular website for computer programmers. The research with this group is in Infectious Diseases which is what I've wanted to "switch into" for a while now, and it's also at a different medical school from the other interview I mentioned. But there's no patient contact component, so while I'm going to hear them out (especially since I'll be compensated MUCH better due to the CS flavor of the gig), I'll be praying real hard to make the best decision in the short and long term.

Movin' on, I'm now leaning toward taking the MCAT next year after I get some better feedback on: 1) how the test will be scored and 2) how to prepare for the test. Knowing that it's normalized to fit a bell curve concerns me for a first time exam.

And that brings to me my position of not being in a hurry to start med school even though I think it's VERY risky from an acceptance point of view to apply when you're over age 50 (of course, most people think it's absolutely insane, LOL!!). But then I remind myself that I choose the username Doc201X which in itself is problematic because it didn't force me to mentally stick to a timeframe to matriculate. Of course, I think that's FAR easier to do when the only person you have to worry about is yourself, because having a family can often complicate career decisions. More so, if you let them and I think these past 2 years, I've let my family be more of an excuse for not matriculating than I should have allowed it to be. That said, my thoughts about delaying med school now have to do with the goal I set of having the "Dr" title by the year 201X. And at some point, no matter what my goals are, I feel like I need to force myself to stick with a plan. PERIOD!!!

What I also find highly ironic is that most people don't start blogging about med school until after they've decided to matriculate and I'd guess that if one looked at the blog "drop out" rate among nontraditional premeds, it's probably pretty high owing to the fact that most folks never do matriculate into med school. Then there's that ugly reality about dealing with humans that became crystal clear to me by the message a reader (anesthesiologist?) left me regarding why I hadn't matriculated yet. Just plain mean spiritied and uncalled for since by blogging I open myself up to ridicule by coward idiots who by nature of leaving anonymous and discouraging messages on my blog, probably wouldn't dare put details of their likely sorry assed life on display for critique/criticisms by strangers. But I digress, the point is that this path is difficult for any nontrad student owing to a large part of deciding on a "best time" when other people are depending on you and your support system is not so great. So regularly ignoring stupidity and discouragement, simply becomes passe' and par for the course for a future Scientist/Physician like me especially when there are so many wonderful opportunities at medical schools on the horizon!!