Fifteen months...

...'til I'm an actual doctor. As in, ostensibly capable of making life-and-death decisions. Yikes.

The months leading up to graduation are packed solid with stressful/fun plans. I'm finishing up my research at MGH by the end of June. For anyone who cares, and even if you don't (this is my corner of the universe, after all), here is the schedule from July onwards:

July '07 - Perinatal Medicine, UMass Memorial
August '07 - Gynecologic Oncology, UMass Memorial
September '07 - OB/Gyn Sub-internship, Beth Israel Medical Center, NYC
October '07 - OB/Gyn Sub-internship, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Medical Center, NYC
November - December '07 - Residency interviews
January '08 - Neurology Sub-internship, UMass
February '08 - Clinical Anatomy, UMass
March '08 - Medicine Sub-internship, Worcester Medical Center (St. Vincent's)
March 20, 2008 - Residency Match
April '08 - Himalayan Health Exchange, Dharamsala, India
May '08 - Travel
June 1, 2008 - Commencement!

The New York rotations are still tentative because I have to fill out all this paperwork to assure other schools that I'm an upstanding American medical student in good health (as opposed to an illiterate, parasite-infested farmer). But everything else is pretty much set! I am a bit apprehensive about going back to clinical work after 12 months away from it, but the research I've been involved in at MGH is fairly clinical so I'm not as rusty as I could be. It will be tough leaving behind a 9-5, Monday to Friday job for the indentured servitude that is the low rung of the medical hierarchy.

I am planning to apply to residency programs primarily in the Northeast but, for the first time in my life, I'm opening my mind to the option of going to the West coast. This is huge for someone who has stayed within a 50 mile radius of her parents' house for the past 25 years. I've only been to California once and I did enjoy it but I'd have to be sure I could survive the laid-back, earthy-crunchy Pacific attitude since I am a card-carrying Masshole. That being said, the thought of not having to shovel three feet of snow off my car in the winter and risk getting frostbite every time I expose bare skin to the elements is quite tempting. But there is time to decide about these things. Chances are pretty good I'll stay in the frigid, unfriendly, don't-f#@!*-with-me region that I call home.