The Race is Not for the Swift!

So I have shared with my readers my goal to reach and complete medical school. It has been a long and arduous semester but i'm nearing the end of my first of four laps. I began the semester taking pre-calculus and Bio 102 which includes a lab segment. I have enjoyed dissecting the fetal pig (once I got over the swine factor - no offense to my "other white meat" eaters out there), flowers and even the crayfish. I could have done without the punett squares but i've been told genetics is a major part of medicine... Go figure... LOL! 

Now math on the hand has taken it's share of jabs at this sistah but I refuse to give up. I have not done fantastic on my quizzes but as my professor said to encourage me, I always come to class and complete all my assignments and the final is 40 percent of my grade. You're right if you said I need to rock the final. Tuesday is my last day of class and the day of my bio lab final. After this, I have a week to prepare for my bio lecture and math finals. I have felt like a fish out of water next to all these recent high school graduates who were just taking this stuff last year! I on the other hand took a math course in 2006 and b4 that 1994! I did attempt to get math tutoring but alas a room full of unknowing students and three tutors didn't quite fit my much lacking math skills. 

Over the last month or so, I have found a classmate and a calculus tutor who have been a help to me. The Calculus tutor hasn't seen pre-cal in a while so it's a refresher for him and he keeps a fire under me so that's good. One day, my husband offered him a slice of my pumpkin bread (minus the walnuts, half the sugar and addition of raisins) and let's just say we worked out his compensation!

I am attending my alma mater, the City College of New York to complete my premed classes. This is mainly because they have a post-bacc premedical studies program geared to help degree holding students complete med school requirements. I decided to apply to the program to help my chances in getting into a good med school and to simply provide solid support on my way there. I reached out to a friend and ex-employer at City as well as my mentor for recommendations and prepared my application for the deadline of Dec 1st @ 5pm. 

Unfortunately, preparation of my personal statement was delayed to the weekend before... and needless to say I didn't finish until 4:30 that day! I put everything in order and walked it over to the office. I handed my package (although not too happy with my rushed and so I felt lengthy and possibly even unfocused statement) to one of the assistants. After five minutes of him teasing me about the fact that if I missed my train I would have missed the deadline, he took it and delivered it to the director. I was then told to wait three to four weeks for a response. You can imagine my shock when I opened my mailbox two days letter and found my ACCEPTANCE letter to the program. It is a small step but it did something so big inside of me. I saw progression and felt once again like I can do this. I have since met the director and some of the incoming and outgoing post-bacc students. I'm excited about the next year and a half. It will take time and lots of work but I'm patient and up to the challenge.

Lap two, GET READY!