This does not bode well for a career in medicine

I recently began refereeing rugby because I know my days as a player are limited and I need another way to stay involved in the sport.

Yesterday, I helped with an all-day tournament during which I refereed 14 games of 14 minutes each (7s, for those who know rugby). I left home before sunrise and got back well after sunset. By the last game of the tournament, my back hurt, my legs were sore, and I was in a generally foul mood.

It was simply exhausting, and a day later I'm still feeling the effects. I dragged myself out of bed this morning at 10 am just so I could fall asleep tonight. I spent the rest of the day in the hammock reading and now I'm waiting for it to get late enough so that it's acceptable to go to bed.

I don't remember tiring so easily last year when I had so much on my plate. I got a lot more accomplished with a lot less sleep and rest. So I'm hoping this is just the vacation version of me being mad that it had to do something, and now needing some time to recuperate.

Because if spending an entire day on my feet wipes me out for the entire next day, I am so screwed in medicine.

First interview invitation

I just got an email inviting me to interview at my DREAM school!!! There are so many good things about this (one of which is that all of my letters of recommendation are positive...what a relief!). But there is also one bad thing about it: the date they assigned me is the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

I don't think I have any vacation plans for the week of Thanksgiving, which is different from other years when we've gone on vacation to Mexico with the family since we don't celebrate Turkey Day. Regardless, I would like to keep the option of going somewhere fairly open and not being able to leave until Sunday would put a damper on those plans. On the other hand, it'll be nice to have the distraction of a vacation right after interviewing at my dream school.

Like I've stated numerous times before, I cannot make decisions for myself, which is why this is a real dilemma for me.

Other than that, happy days!

It's the little things in life

I was in a funk yesterday because I got another medical school rejection and now I'm a little paranoid that one of my letters of recommendation will indeed bury my application. On the other hand, the latest rejection was from a school that required family connections to the region, which I didn't realize until after I submitted my secondary so it's not exactly surprising after-all. But it still stings.

Regardless, I was in a funk and on the way back from my volunteering gig at the hospital I stopped by Target to see if they had heat blankets in stock yet. We were due for a dusting of snow this weekend and our house doesn't have insulation, so it's often unbearably cold. And I really wasn't looking forward to shivering all evening.

Shamelessly stolen photo from a friend's Facebook from this morning.
It had all melted by the time I woke up (at noon).

Well, I couldn't find any heat blankets, but when I asked one of the Target ladies if they had them she said they're back in storage waiting to be put on display. She then offered to look to see if one was easily accessible to pull out for me and came back with one in a color that I actually approved of. My frown suddenly turned into a huge smile. I wish she knew just how much she had made my day.

So I went home, plopped on the couch with my tea and new heat blanket, and spent the evening doing logic puzzles. Suddenly, all was well with the world.

As cliche as it may sound, good customer service can really brighten somebody's day. I didn't believe it until something as simple as finding a heat blanket turned the entire day around for me.

First rejection

It came in the form of a slim white envelope and was from a school that had yet to send me a secondary. Without even opening the letter I knew I was being rejected.

But it was my reaction to their decision that surprised me: I was completely at peace with this result. It was a top 10 school and while my MCAT was in line with their median, my GPA was woefully low (as it is for 95% of the schools I'm applying to...stupid undergrad!). All in all, my chances were really slim anyways and I wasn't really set on going there, so I guess I wasn't too invested in the result. That, and not even being offered a secondary didn't bode well for me and kind of set me up to expect rejection.

On the other hand, when I dreamt about being rejected from my in-state/DREAM school before even being offered an interview, I kinda sorta panicked when I finally woke up. I really hope I at least get a shot at interviewing, because I'm amazing at interviews.

All in all, I'm slowly starting to freak out a bit about this application process. Quotes like these from SDN don't help:

It sent a pretty strong message to the students to apply early (and also let them know what "early" meant -- basically be "complete" by the end of August and you're good as there is no difference in chances b/w June, July and August, but if you wait 'til September, your chances are basically cut down by like 1/3 and then another 1/3 by October with just a couple percent chance if you're complete in November and no chance after that).

That's because I wasn't "complete" at most schools until early to mid September and I need all the help I can get. I know I should've slacked a little bit less but I'm terrible when there aren't any hard deadlines and that's the best I could do.

So yes, I know it's early in the application season and I know people who apply when I've applied still get into medical school, but I'm not a regular applicant and it scares me that my procrastination will result in me having to reapply. And if I do have to reapply, the only thing I can really do to significantly improve my application is submit it earlier. That's not a convincing application argument.

Ay ay ay!