Gigs, Jobs, and Careers

It was an entrepreneurial female cousin of mine that broke down for me the difference between a gig, a job, and a career. A gig is something you're skilled in, but you take only when it's absolutely necessarily. Your enjoyment level of said gig is best qualified as "meh". Gigs I've had in the past include working at the mall, grocery store, and at fast food joints. Today, a gig for me would be employment as a Histologist, and so far, that's primarily all I'm interviewing for these days (and I'm NOT complaining). And here's a perfectly good example of where having ADD (aka a lot of professional "variety") of the career has been a VERY good thing!! A job for me would be being employed as a Scientist because while I've thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the Scientist jobs I've had, it's not what I've always wanted to do, the thing I could do well no matter how tired I am, or how crazy I felt my family life had driven me (DON'T ask, LOL!!). The very good thing about jobs is that they tend to pay well, with good benefits, so folks tend to be satisfied with having one and stay there until retirement. Or as I like to say, MANY folks "settle" here for reasons which are especially obvious in a recession. Then there's a career which is obviously how I see medical school and residency. And when I think about med school, I think about the 2 summers I spent attending a local med school, taking classes with med students and how exhausting yet exhilarating it all was!! And it's these memories of having 21 lectures on ONE test for example, that keeping me plugging away at my goal!

Speaking of goals, I've thought a TON about Mi's question to me and one the thought I've had a lot is the "what if" conversation in my head. For example, what if I applied to the post bacc biomed program of the DO school that has recruited me every time I've taken the MCAT (the past 10 years), boosted by the positive feedback I received from them this past Tuesday? Of course, their question to me was like Mi's, "why don't you apply this year", and my response is the same, "I ain't ready" this year. But a few classes taken part-time with med students might be something I could seriously consider if the opportunity presented itself but realistically speaking, it's VERY late to try to get accepted for this Fall. However, if I applied and were accepted, I could start in the Spring of 2012 if a seat came up.

The question now becomes is the fact that this school just happens to be located in one of the 2 cities my family has narrowed down our relocation to, just a coincidence????? Things that make you go Hmmmmmmm.

Moving on to the MCAT, I didn't get much done this week science wise though I did do well with what I did get through, but my verbal is still looking VERY good, "9's" on the EK exams, and "11's" on the AMCAS exams. I'd also always heard that generally speaking, you can add 2 points to your EK exam for a measure of how you'd do on the real thing, and I'm consistently finding this to be true. But as far as my overall studying goes, I was feeling a little burnt out again, so I'm not beating myself up about the fact that I took it easy study wise this week since I can't learn a thing when my mind isn't "right". But I plan to make up some ground this weekend, so I'll be all good by Monday!!! :)