It's Enough to Drive Ya Crazy!

Those of you who've been reading this old blog for any amount of time know that my youngest son is trying to get into medical school. So far, he's had several interviews but hasn't landed anywhere. Needless to say he's on pins and needles waiting to find out if he will be accepted, wait-listed, or (yep, it happens) rejected in this cycle. The whole thing is incredibly stressful.

Tomorrow, he will have his second-to-last interview. It's one of his top choices, right here in California, and he's feeling the pressure. I don't think I have to tell you that he is hoping to knock the ball right out of the park on this one, and his family is hoping right along with him.

Becoming a doctor is a uniquely hard dream to fulfill. Usually, when a young adult works for a goal the way a hopeful med student must (putting every spare minute into studying and volunteering in labs and hospitals to become the kind of candidate a school will accept), a parent can sit comfortably in the background knowing that his or her child's dream will come true. Not so with medical school. In this waiting game, having a 3.96 science GPA and a 3.85 overall is just a drop in the bucket of what needs to happen to get where you're hoping to go. Multiple essays and letters of reference, MCATs, invitations, plane flights, campus tours, interviews, letters of interest and intent, thank-you notes (all while taking the hardest classes imaginable to graduate) are only part of the mountain you climb. Even worse, reaching the top is as much a matter of luck as anything else. I've never seen such stiff competition among so many over-qualified people in my life.

It is a major strain. And going through the whole thing all over again because you didn't get in anywhere is not an outcome you want to envision. What's even crazier is this: In the event you aren't accepted by the end of March, you need to begin the process once more so you can be an early applicant for the second go-round, with everything ready to go (application-wise) by June 1st. Of course, you could still be accepted during the spring or summer, before school starts, by coming off a wait-list. I guess, when that happens, you're so thrilled to be "in" that you don't mind having gone through all the work it takes to complete and submit that nightmarish application a second time, for no reason.

But I'm rambling. And venting.

thanks for "listening"

We still have lots of hope that Todd will get accepted somewhere, and we're praying that he really clicks with his interviewers tomorrow and stands out in their minds as the rare young man that he is. I hope you won't mind my requesting (not for the first time) your prayers and/or good wishes as he meets up with these people who hold his immediate future in their hands. Not surprisingly, he is nervous, so he can use all the good energy he can get!

Thanks to all of you. I can't tell you how much the support of friends means to all of us who love him.

=)