It's not what happens in life, it's how you respond to it

Yesterday, I purchased some fresh lemons from a local flea market that look a lot like these. And I was thinking about how much these lemons could be a microcosm for what's going on in my life right now. Then I reminded myself of how blessed I am to not be working and still have all my families necessities plus a little more being met. I then decided to stop licking wounds permanently and start thinking about what my next plan needs to be.

First, now that moving away is on the table, I've decided to attend open houses at two local DO schools this summer since over the past few years which I've taken the MCAT and requested my scores be sent to DO schools, I always received the invite to both apply to and visit the schools. What it comes down to is what a person is willing to do to become a Physician and for me, the answer is anything I have to.

Second, I considered again for a hot minute applying to PA (Pathologists Assistant) school because I'm obviously attracted to the focus learning in Pathology but I shot that down because 1) getting admitted there is far MORE competitive then medical school and 2) I don't want to spend the rest of my life kicking myself for not giving medical school 1000% effort.

Third, I'm still thinking about which classes I want to take this Fall with the idea that I don't necessarily want to take rigorous medical school classes twice. I'm now leaning toward taking some fun and interesting classes in the Pathology department at another local university (one that I've attended before) since my school doesn't offer much in the way of pathology classes and I could save money by taking them at another school. Today, I have to say I'm leaning strongly in this direction since given how hard I've worked these past few years, I deserve doing something "fun". Along these lines, I also thought about taking the classes at a school I'd need to relocate to to attend you know, be a visiting student somewhere I've never lived before, since I can transfer 8 credits from ANY US grad school to my program. Of course, I'd have to consider many, many, things in selecting such a school such as the probability of me being competitive for med school(s) in the area and good pathology course offerings as well.

At this point, I'm taking my rejection in stride because as I think about all the possibilities for how to spend the next school year besides applying very early to MD and DO programs, I'm excited about the lack of predictability of what may come knowing it will be a great learning experience and bring me one step closer to becoming a Physician.

Now, I'm off to have a tall, cool, glass of lemonade!