Tag: KCU

Attending a Master’s part 2

Prior to leaving for my master’s program I was in the middle of training about 5 people between 2 different offices, and working in between 3 clinics. It was very hectic, incredibly stressful, and I tried to make it so I could fit in as much training with me (as the trainer) before I left. I had it planned out to a tee…

Let’s just say at least 2 of the people I was attempting to train as scribes before I left were not getting it very well. It happens. Not everyone who wants to be a scribe is actually good at it. But at the time we were very short staffed and a main Junior Project Leader/trainer (me!) was leaving for good. But I had planned to have my last training day on July 31st, to travel on August 1st, have one day to settle in at my (now) ex’s sister’s house, and be ready to go for orientation on August 3rd.

I had to cancel the last 2 days I was supposed to work because I couldn’t fit my packing schedule in during the time I gave myself. I definitely got an earful from many people, and it made trying to transition out of my position way harder in the next coming days to weeks. I did leave early in the morning on August 1st, but the Uhaul truck we picked up was very difficult to drive and trying to hit 70 mph was a bit difficult to do without the truck vibrating like the gates of hell were trying to shake you into its hole and swallow you up.

Bonus points for this! I couldn’t drive the truck either. It was too much for me to handle so my ex had to drive it the whole way down, which meant we weren’t getting there on my pre-planned timetable. The drive should have taken us 12 hours. It took us almost 20 because of how much slower we were going than anticipated and additional things that kept popping up along the way. We thus kept having to stop to sleep in awkward positions because we were exhausted, and didn’t have the money to get a hotel.

I got to Kansas City on August 2nd at about 1pm. I was able to sleep when we arrived, but had no time to fix my room up to try to feel somewhat settled in this new place. Although this story isn’t uncommon; I noticed a lot of my roommates still trying to find a place or weren’t able to move in right away when they arrived, so they were living either out of their car or in a hotel for the time being.

Orientation for the master’s program is only 2 days. I didn’t feel we needed the whole 2 days, although I understand why they had us there in person for 2 days. I think a lot of us would have benefitted from either an email afterwards of some of the higher yield information, or a way to directly walk us through where to find it. I know I didn’t really remember much walking away due to the amount of information presented, and it took me awhile to learn where I could find it later on in the year. There are a lot of introductions and a couple of break the ice things you do to fill up the time, and most of us were ready for orientation to be over within the first half a day. For me personally, I just really wanted to start the program as I was pretty excited at this new direction in my life.

For the first 2 months I drove 45 minutes to get to campus at the expense of free housing. Don’t do that to yourself. Do not drive 45 minutes to campus everyday because in morning traffic it always turns into an hour + . You will be exhausted just from having to get up super early to be to class on time and too tired to do much studying by the time you get home. I usually left by 6 or 6:30am to get to class on time and grab some coffee beforehand, and waited until after 7pm to miss the rush hour traffic to get home. Also, just because your rent may be free or very discounted doesn’t mean the roommates you live with are going to be decent human beings.

Just don’t do it to yourself.

Attending a Master’s Program Part 1

I didn’t want to do it.

I refused.

I hated the thought of having to do a master’s program when I already worked so hard on re-taking my MCAT, trying to keep my undergrad GPA, and all of my clinical experience.

But it was the only shot I had of getting into medical school. The first year I tried applying I had one interview, and I was placed on the hold list.

The second year I only received one interview and ended up on the waitlist. While attempting to get off the waitlist, I was given more information on their master’s program. My parents told me to apply. My ex-boyfriend told me to apply. Hell, the universe was telling me to apply. But being the stubborn woman that I am, I didn’t even want to consider it.

Time passed and it was about late May when I still hadn’t heard anything. My choices would have been to just have the school transfer my D.O application to the master’s application while re-applying to medical school, just re-apply, or change my dreams. I did just re-take my MCAT at the time, but I didn’t have my scores back yet.

There was this annoying little voice in the back of my mind that just said do it. What could it hurt? You already applied for their D.O. program and wouldn’t have to pay anything! You don’t need any additional letters! You’ll likely get into this program and get pulled off the waitlist, so it’s a win-win!

Wrong.                 

I think I was the only person who got waitlisted into the COB program at KCU. Or at least it felt that way.

Thankfully a few weeks later my MCAT score returned, and once the school received my new scores they offered me a seat. I was in St. Maarten at the time of receiving the call, but other than the hefty price tag of an international call, I was happy that I finally got a seat. Since I still had no word on whether I was being pulled off the medical school waitlist, I decided to take my chance and go.

It was the best decision I could have made.