Tuesday, February 26, 2013

California

Madison and I ditched the cold and hopped a plane to California to spend some time with my family. She did so well on the plane, I am so impressed with my little girl. She is the most social little kid I have ever met. Every one on the plane talked to her and just loved all the smiles and coo's she was giving them. Not a single cry the entire time. I was lucky... this time. We were originally planning on going to spend spring break there, but my Mom had surgery and we decided to come down early to take care of her. Also, my Grandma Murray was in town and it was a chance for her to meet Madison. Zach will meet up with us in a couple weeks when he is on spring break and then we can party!

We are working on sleeping through the night right now. Yes, my almost 6 month old still wakes up 3-4 times at night to eat. This. Needs. To. Stop.  She still sleeps in our room so I know that contributes to her not sleeping so well but really that's our only option right now. So we are letting her cry it out a little longer and just comforting her when she wakes up at night. I think it will talk more long nights of trying but I'm praying it really works. I feel like I have tried everything.

On the plus side, we have moved to TWO solid food feedings during the say time.. just to see if shes waking up because shes starving. This kid loves food. Sadly, there were no goofy faces when she tried green beans or anything else. She just wanted food and she wanted it now. She is getting so big! Still no teeth yet but will chew on anything. Her hair is finally starting to grow back and its super light blonde (who is this kid?). Her newest talent is blowing raspberries. Its adorable, but slightly annoying when she tries to practice them while eating. Gotta start wearing a raincoat to meals.

I love her more every day. Sometimes its rough to be a Mom, but I don't think I would trade it for anything.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Medical school. How many? How do we choose?


The decision to head on to medical school is the easy one.  Then comes the application. Whether you apply to MD only, DO only or both, the application process is filled with much stress, anxiety, anticipation and at the end…relief! 

With 141 MD schools and 29 DO schools in just the United States, applying to all of them would break the bank!  The hardest part thus far in the process, is choosing which schools to apply to and how many.  You can Google “how many medical schools should I apply to?” You can check out Student Doctor Network, but there really is no right answer.  Applying to only 1 or 2 probably isn’t the best bet.  But then again, there are people out there who apply to only 1 school and get in.  I once read somewhere that the average applicant applies to 15 schools. 

It’s important to realize too, that with every application comes a secondary application.  Some schools screen for secondaries and only send them to select applicants.  From what I can tell, most schools just automatically send secondaries.  Each secondary usually was a few more essay questions and more general information plus a fee of $20 up to $150. FOR EACH ONE!  There were a few dream secondaries that were just fill in the blank information.   So if you apply to 20 schools that have secondaries that are $100…you’re in for another $2,000!  Just something to keep in mind.

Here is what is we need to consider and what is important to remember when applying…of course this is my list so your ‘important things’ might differ.

·         Location.  Can you handling living there for 4 years? Is it close to family? Is it far from family? I would hate to live East Coast and be so far from family. But its only a few years, is it worth it?

·         Ease of Travel.  Can you get to and from an airport without driving for 8 hours? Close to a bigger city or airport is HUGE.

·         Weather.  I hate the snow.  Definitely something to think about. ... just sayin'

·         Size.  Do you want a small campus or a large campus?  Do you want a class of 300 or a class of 50?

·         Public Schools.  Are we close to a good one? Madison will start preschool and or kindergarten during that time, depending how long we are there. 
.
·         Cost.  Even though student loans are accessible, do you care if you pay $40,000?  $60,000? Cost might be a factor.

·         Religious Affiliation.  Many private schools are associated with a religion.  Are we comfortable with that? Are there a lot of members where we are going?

·         Public or Private?  State schools tend to take most applicants from their state.  Being from out of state and banking on a state school, may not be the best plan.  Not to say it doesn't.

·         Cost of Living. The financial part of medical school is hard.  It’s expensive and often times involves moving to a new place.  Checking out cost of living might weight heavily for you, as it did us.  Being able to rent a 4 bedroom house for $950 compared to a 2 bedroom apartment for $1500 made a difference when we chose schools.


The journey to just get into medical school is stressful and full of anxiety.  But trust me, that first “yes” from a school will make it all worth it! I just can't wait. 

Pray for us. Wish us luck. We could use all the blessings we can get. 
Ill be sure to update when we decide where to apply.