Monday, May 14, 2012

What Next?

Looks like Google changed the design behind the scenes, and I haven't taken the time to figure out how the new set up works. Hmm. Anyways...

I'm going to be finished with my Job in roughly two weeks now, and I'll get to move back up to DC. I'm happy about that, since I've realized I like living there a good deal more than out where I am now. I'll miss my job a bit  - it really was fun and neat - but I won't complain about the extra sleep/time. I'm sure I'll be able to eat better and, as fun as being on the night shift was, I'm not going to complain about going back to a regular schedule either. It makes it a lot harder to take care of basic things like getting groceries, cook meals, or exercise when you're up all night and asleep all day. It was fun, but a bit harder to keep up than I'd expected.

I'm probably going to have surgery on my right shoulder to fix that up at some point in the near future; that's the main reason I'm finishing my job now, although I have various other less legitimate reasons as well. At any rate, I decided I didn't really want to stick around for the new company taking over our contracts, so I'm off.

What happens next?

Well, I'm becoming more and more anxious over the MCAT. I'm close to ready, but not quite there yet. There's too many equations that I memorize, and than realize I've forgotten two weeks later. I've certainly made progress, and can probably get an average to slightly above average score at this point. The problem with that is that an average score is too low to get accepted anywhere in most cases. So, I have to decide if I want to take it as scheduled, or put it off two months or so (no way am I putting it off a whole year again, I'd just get lazy and stop studying if I had that much time. An extra two months would be very helpful though, and I feel confident I'd do well enough with that time).

The problem is that if I put it off two months, I pretty much can't apply this year.

I don't want to put my application off another year. I really really don't. And I don't want to deal with the feeling that I failed to get ready in time (although, apparently, I sort of have. And it's probably best if I can just come to terms with that). The upside is that if I apply next year with a score from this year, I can apply at the very start of the application cycle. That would help out because most schools have rolling admissions, and I'd be at the very front of the line before any spots were taken up. If I take the test as scheduled in June, I'll be close to the back of line. Then again, it doesn't look that great on my part if I've taken two years to get this test over with - even if I do get a nice score on it. I'd have to get a really nice score to make people gloss over that fact entirely.

So, looking at all of these facts, I went to talk to my premed adviser who said.... nothing.

Yep. That's right. I've still been trying to get in touch for nearly a month now. I've been leaving e-mails, and physical papers. I've been trying to drive up to DC to stop by in person. No luck on any count, I just can't manage to get in touch. I'm not sure why. It definitely leaves me feeling like things have dropped through the cracks somewhere, somehow. That alone makes me lean towards taking the MCAT a bit later. I have no idea how my committee letter is going, or if it's even being done as I was told it would be. I'm very hesitant to send out an application not having a clue what's going on with the people I need to back me up behind the scenes.

I can't really explain how frustrating this is, but you can probably guess.

Anyways, I /think/ the last day to change my test registration is June 7th if I understand what I've read correctly, so I have enough time to try getting in touch with people a little bit more. If I can't get in touch with anyone before June 5th, I'll probably postpone the test by default. If I can get in touch, I'll see what they think should happen. I'm still leaning towards putting it off two months, since there's really no reason to take the test if I'm not positive I'll do well on it (there are even good reasons to not do that, since it would stay on my record).

I'm just so unhappy at the thought of putting it off more. But we'll see. Maybe that's the best choice, unpleasant as it is.