(Also known as “Get Your Shit Together.”)

Hi!

I’ve decided to start this blog as an outlet for the inevitable stressors, complications, hilarious stories, and small victories associated with a major life change – a career shift that will hopefully result in an M.D. Those of you that know me well know that becoming a doctor has always been a super-long-term, back-burner idea of mine, but until as recently as six months ago I had my sights set firmly on a different future.

Around the beginning of 2011 (likely conceived during a late-night New Year’s Eve conversation with my ex-boss and current close friend Ali), all that began to change.  The next few months – a story by itself – would lead me to apply, interview, and accept a spot in a post-baccalaureate premedical program. For the uninitiated, a “postbac,” as it’s called, is an intensive one- or two-year course of study designed for people who have decided their future and passion lies in medicine, but who didn’t take the premed track as an undergraduate.

After some international traveling to Greece, Chile, and Argentina – the highlight of my life so far – I started with general chemistry in early June. I’ll be here until summer of 2012, slogging through organic chemistry, physics, and biology, while picking up volunteer and shadowing opportunities at a world-leading hospital.

I’m going to try to do three things with this blog:

1)   Keep it mostly funny and light, excluding this unfunny first post.  If you’ve ever met a premedical undergraduate, you know their chief occupation besides studying involves complaining and telling everyone who isn’t on the premed track how horrible and busy their lives are until you simply want to scream SHUT UP I DON’T CARE THAT ORGANIC CHEM IS HARDER THAN MY PSYCHOLOGY CLASSES OR THAT EVERYONE HAS A 34 AVERAGE. You’ve heard that before, but you probably haven’t heard the lighter side of forcing 28 people to spend an entire year under what amounts to one roof while being hazed with said organic chem and physics. Unless you’re my parents, you definitely don’t care about a woe-is-me narrative about how I have three tests next week; I suspect you’ll instead be interested to hear the story about my fellow postbac who accidentally hooked up her Bunsen burner to a high-pressure sink faucet and created an eighteen-foot-high waterspout.

2)   Keep it largely anonymous. Many of you know where I am and the names of my friends and professors, but I’d prefer to keep this a little lower-key to protect the privacy of others. I’m sure I’ll slip in places, but hopefully the narrative is strong enough to carry itself without needing accurate names or places.

3)   Keep you updated. Many of you also know that I’m notoriously phone-averse; this blog provides both a selfish avenue for self-aggrandizement and keeping those I care about in the loop at the same time. Win-win.

That’s enough “keeps” for now. In an ideal world, I’ll be able to update with a couple of funny stories before classes start up again on Tuesday; stay tuned, and welcome to the blog!

PS: If you were wondering, the title of this inaugural post is a reference to our summer chemistry teacher, an adorably brilliant and quirky teacher who has been drilling “Step One: Get Organized” into our heads for three non-stop weeks. I’m sure there will be plenty of stories with him involved; for now, consider this my organizing step.