Welcome to my med-life crisis

I decided to create an archived account of my thoughts on life because I would like to have a central place for my musings and a means of catharsis. But more importantly, I hope to guide and inspire others who relate to my endeavors in any way. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes, teach me a couple of things about life, or find some entertainment in my journey.

Let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Cris and I consider myself a non-traditional pre-med. "Non-traditional" in the pre-med realm typically means that you have taken an indirect path toward medicine instead of going directly from high school to college to medical school. Many non-traditional pre-meds are individuals who have decided to change careers, take some time off before applying, or enroll in (formal or informal) post-baccalaureate programs before applying to medical school. I had a non-science major in college and took my time fulfilling prerequisite courses for medical school. I decided to take my MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) after graduating, and then take some time to work and earn money for the application process, which is fairly expensive. I applied last year (2007, for 2008 matriculation) and was waitlisted unsuccessfully. So here I am, a re-applicant, planning to apply again next year after enhancing my application. Though time, energy, and money are factors, I welcome this extra year that I have been given to spend more time with loved ones, as I know the real challenges are further down the road.

Not only am I a "non-traditional" pre-med in that sense, I have also always considered myself 'non-traditional' compared to other pre-meds. Well, we all like to think of ourselves as unique, don't we? I imagined the typical pre-med to be a competitive, driven perfectionist with a type A personality and fervor for traditional sucess, i.e. money, power, respect, prestige. Whether or not this is true, I don't identify with this kind of character. Even when I discovered my passion for medicine, I was apprehensive about telling people I was "pre-med" because of the negative connotations I associated with the term. Let me just add that while there are people who fit the description (they're affectionately labeled 'gunners'), I have met plenty of warm, helpful, friendly pre-meds (my kind of people). And yes, I wholeheartedly believe that you can be competitive without being a b!tch or an a$shole about it. Anyway, enough of the rant. What I want to say was that I'm okay with not being perfect and not burning myself out taking hurried and calculated steps, so long as in the end I become the most skilled and knowledgeable physician I can be.

I enjoy reading personal finance, frugality, relationship and life hack blogs and I plan to draw from all these topics and many more as they relate to my life. I aim for balance in order to live my best life.

Thank you for visiting my site, and welcome to my med-life crisis.