…I think that’s the best way to summarize what the past 12 months have been for me.
This time last year, I had registered for the MCAT and was studying to take it during the summer. Then came the month-long wait for the score. Then, AMCAS came and went. Another month went by before secondaries began flowing in, and those were sent back out over the course of three-ish weeks with money tacked onto the ends of each. Interview invites, and interviews, and rejections have all come and gone across the span of 8 months. It’s now April again, and one last school has yet to send me their final decision.
As it turns out, the medical school application process is nearly unsurvivable without patience. And, were we to make a list of my virtues, patience would definitely NOT be on that list. I can say for a fact that I have never before been on an emotional roller coaster the likes of this one, and it’s taught me a lot.
As I have watched others succeed this cycle in gaining admission to a medical school, my heart has done a juggling act of fully, sincerely rejoicing for them while also longing (IMPATIENTLY being the key word) for a success of my own like that. One of my friends from the Orgo Dark Ages a couple years ago was accepted to med school this afternoon, so I was feeling that impatience pretty strongly while sitting around in the lab and refreshing myself on tissue culture protocols; that’s when I came across the following verses:
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
– Psalm 37:7-8
How I read it: “I’m still working on you. Things will happen for you when I decide it’s the right time. Do not compare yourself to others who have been accepted before you [not the part about carrying out evil devices because all of you medfam people are super awesome, just FYI]. That worry, defeatism, and envy will be of no benefit to you, now or ever. I will provide for you, your goals, and your future. Trust me, wait for my timing, and HAVE PATIENCE.”
(If God were the kind of being to snap his fingers in a Z formation, I think this would be one of those times.)
Getting to the M.D. 