Weeks 2 and 3: In the swing of things

This last week has been fun--I feel like I am actually contributing to the lab. I am rotating through the lab with another grad student (she's from Jamaica and is really nice. Our lab is pretty interesting with all the different accents going around sometimes) We both started in this lab the same day and both felt like we pretty much would have got more done sitting at home watching soaps all day those first couple of days. But now, we are both more confident in what is expected of us and what we can do. In fact we are getting really good at collecting cell samples. The first day we collected data, it took about 4 or 5 hours. Today, we got all we needed in about an hour and a half.
If you haven't noticed, I'm being just a little incredibly vague in talking about what I actually do. You can guess at the reasons why I am doing so, but really, this blog is to help future MD/PhD students out, and the more vague I am, the better that the sciencey, abstract-thinking nerds like myself will be able to understand and relate.
So anyways, I am out of stuff to talk about, and seeing as how this post was pretty dry, I'd better stop before it gets worse.

Week 1

Week 1: Getting to Know You

My first week in Wisconsin was pretty good once it actually started. My wife and I took who knows how many days to pack up all our stuff, and on Monday, June 30^th, we started our cross-country road trip to Wisconsin. Too many hours and gallons of gas later, we arrived at our apartment. Luckily, I had made contact with some friends I met previously and members of the church I attend here in Wisconsin, so we had plenty of help unloading the truck the night of July 2^rd.

The next day, I met with the program administrator and went over paperwork (can’t get enough of that fun stuff) as well as the researcher I would be working for in my first lab rotation. Both the administrator and researcher are just as friendly as they were during interviews, so that’s a good sign that they really are as happy here as they said they were during interview season. It was incredibly exciting to get a description of the project I would be working on, although I had a slight case of imposter syndrome. Luckily, it was a 3-day weekend with Independence Day, so we were able to get our apartment in some sort of order before I headed out for my first day in the lab.

The first day was just about what I expected—I watched the researcher and grad students doing cool-looking stuff and listened to them explain a lot. I had a decent idea of what was going on, but only a slight clue as to why. I didn’t do much because the rats that I’d be working with weren’t scheduled to arrive until later in the week. So, the second and third days had more of the same—lots of reading and getting more excited thinking about my project, my classmates, my future…

Last thoughts before Week 1

A six hour test covering every topic from three years of college science classes. A primary application requiring letters of recommendations, essays, summaries of up to 15 learning experiences, a list of every college course taken including the grades received. 17 Secondary applications, many requiring more letters of recommendation and different essays to be written. 11 letters of rejection from schools unwilling to grant an interview. 6 trips to prospective schools for interviews, some of which had 6 interviews lasting an hour each, tours, speakers, lab visits, and question/answer sessions. 3 letters of rejection from schools that granted the interview, 2 letters indicating I was “on hold.” 1 acceptance letter. Years of anticipation finally over.

These are just the formal things required to get into the medical scientist training program—a 7-year (minimum) long program designed to train future physician-scientists. The list does not include the hours of volunteering in hospitals, the years working in labs, studying for exams or doing papers for classes to get good grades—all the things vital to make an application shine. It does not include researching potential schools, pouring through pamphlets or websites, emailing faculty and students about their institutions, and the long days of soul searching.

Why then, did I put myself through this mess? Why not? It was a chance to fulfill a life-long ambition to do something great with my time here using my talents and abilities. It was a chance to do medical research and hopefully improve the way doctors save lives. It was a chance for me to make the world a little more pleasant in my own way.

Finally, I arrived, and am going to start my first lab rotation! All that anticipation was worth it!