Just got back to Atlanta from my break up in DC. I learned a few things, made a few decisions, got a few presents, and had a pretty fun time until I got sick in the last week. But such things happen.
The big decision I came to is that I'll try to go to medical school for an actual M.D. I think I'd enjoy it more than nursing. Doctors have much more responsibility and make the critical decisions in patient care - they also get to do the diagnosing, which is a big part of medicine's draw for me. There's also extra research opportunities I might be able to get as a professional. This is a bit tricky though, since most medical schools have an admissions rate of about 5% (excluding in-state student admissions at state schools, which can get much higher). A bit over 50% of medical school applicants fail to get into any medical school at all each year. So.... excitement.
Also, I don't have any of my science or math courses from college that I'd need to apply. The good news is that these courses are much more standardized prereqs than the courses I'd need for nursing school. I'll have to take Calculus, Gen. Chem, Organic Chem, Biology, and Physics. A very small amount of medical schools will want Bio Chem as well. The bad news is that I'll /need/ A's to be competitive, and that these courses will take me twice as long to finish as the prerequisites for nursing (they're year-long courses, so I'll have to split this into two years).
I'll start by taking a course in Calculus this Summer. I was never good at math, so if I can take this course in a condensed summer session of 6-7 weeks and still manage an A - the odds are decent that I can handle the rest. If I do terribly, I can go right back to working on nursing. No big loss other than one summer. I think it's a worthwhile risk. (The /real/ risk though is that I do my two years of prereqs, and still don't get accepted... then I'm in a really bad position). But still. If I'm going to be dumb and quit law to shoot for a career I really want, I might as well go all the way.
So I have lots of work to do.
First, I need to more or less relearn precalculus/algebra/trig. I haven't done any math in over six years and while I vaguely remember having gone over these classes, I don't remember how to do any of it. I bought a sort of teach-yourself-precalculus book as a self-gift for Christmas. I've got roughly five months to manage to get all of it down perfectly, or I'll have no chance of passing calculus this summer.
I'm going to start working on this pretty much immediately. I also bought a new pair of running shoes, and hope to start using those pretty much immediately as well (once my cold goes away, at least). A future doctor has to keep in shape, right? I also have to find a moving company, start packing up all my stuff, cancel my utilities in Atlanta, and get my address changed for the companies I'll want to keep forwarding me mail. I'm going to be super busy. More ramblings from my vacation to come tomorrow.
