With the second semester of the second year of premed underway, the time has come to think ahead. Really, really ahead. After first year, the core premed courses - chemistry, biology, organic chemistry and physics - were halfway through. I'd taken biology and chemistry and their respective labs. That in itself felt like an accomplishment. It still felt as though there was time.
Now, with chemistry and biology out of the way and organic chemistry more than halfway through, I've begun to think about what's ahead next year, apart from physics. I'm getting out my copy of "Medical School Admissions Requirements" and planning courses out - genetics, calculus, statistics and biochemistry.\nMedical schools are somewhat like picky eaters. One insists on one semester of biochemistry. Another wants X number of credit hours in the humanities. Yet another needs two semesters of calculus.\nTheir preferences are vastly different and terribly difficult to keep track of; without my MSAR book's black-and-white tables of what is required, recommended or suggested, I'd be at a loss. It's like having a baby-sitter's cheat sheet for when you can't remember which kid likes the crust cut off his PB&J.
For now, though, the medical schools are the least of my worries. The MCATs loom. I first heard about the MCAT from a physical therapist who worked with me when I was 12. He said the test was an eight-hour nightmare. I was terrified. I think maybe I still am.
Since then, I've heard the test is remarkably shorter thanks to computers. This is a relief - the SAT was long and drawn-out enough.
Before that test, though, I told myself I only had one shot. I studied countless hours with my fat blue review book on the patio furniture on my deck. I carried an SAT vocabulary book on the bus from my Governor's School class to a neighboring high school every day. The boys in my class made fun of me, but the comfortable margin by which I beat all of them on the test made it worthwhile.
I figure I'll do the same with the MCAT. Hiding in my desk drawer below assorted binders and stacks of unsorted papers are my shiny purple MCAT subject review books
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