Whew. I might have my ducks in a row for fall and summer now. I thought I did before, but I kept uncovering new problems.
First, Bio 2 was only during the day in fall. Got confirmation today that I don’t have to have ONLY Biology of Organisms. . .I am going to take anatomy & physiology to fulfill that second bio prereq, which IS offered at night. [note: this is a specific thing for me and my target med school. . .may not be true for all.]
Just when that was resolved, the chemistry issue reared its ugly head again. When I was a freshman, I enrolled in a special chemistry for kids in the 5 year bachelors/masters program, which was an accelerated chem 1 & 2 in one semester. It’s been a b*tch to transfer this stupid credit around ever since. I verified with the med school that this was OK to fulfill inorganic chem 1 and 2, so I thought I was good to go. THEN, I realized my CC transcript doesn’t show that course as fulfilling their CHE 1 & 2 courses. I was completely freaked out that I would not be able to enroll in Ochem. Thank goodness I emailed my very calm and rational (and awesome!) advisor, and he said if I just get him my CC transcript, he can mark Chem 1 and 2 as waived. Yay!
Then the last freak-out came when the med school hospital volunteer coordinator didn’t want to interview me. They only have one unit that takes evening volunteers and take no weekend volunteers. They also have no volunteers at their urgent care facility (even though the website says they do.) She was really weird about the whole thing, like if I absolutely insisted on volunteering there, she would interview me, but would I please please please check with other places first. She thought it would be better for me, since I have so much going on. I hate that. Lady, I am a master juggler. I’ll show up for every shift. Don’t worry about me. I thought that was weird for the University hospital in an urban area to essentially turn away a volunteer.
Anyway, I did check around for other opps. After 3 no answers/no phone call or email returns at other hospitals, I found something that is going to work out swimmingly with my so-called over-extended fall schedule. The biggest/busiest suburban hospital out here just opened a new 24/7 ER offsite, and they just opened up a volunteer position yesterday. There are six weekend shifts open! The facility is like a step up from an urgent care, so I am not expecting a lot of really cool stuff (like observing surgeries), but I figure it is still a good opportunity, and maybe I can also work at their main hospital next summer when I have more time to volunteer. (I could go to the main hospital now for weekend ERs, but this new place is close to home, too). Of course I have to start over the app process & beg my refs to fill out another form, but hopefully this one will work out.
I am a little surprised that out of all the hospitals, this is the only one who wanted me (well, three wouldn’t even call me back). You would think with “these tough economic times” they would be jumping at the chance for free help.
Anyway. I’m on back on track for now! Vent-OVER!
Thats great AliJ! Keep up the great work…
AJ,
Awesome! You are doing a great job. Hang in there. I am taking Physics 1 and 2 over the summer. I just registered today and am trying to find a review book to go over before classes begin. I start on May 15th.