Sunday, April 29, 2012

Is This Real Life?

   A few days ago, I got my USMLE Step 1 score.  A bunch of my classmates and I got "the email" saying our scores were up while we were at orientation for third year clerkships.  While several of my classmates couldn't hold out any longer, and looked up their scores right then and there, I decided I could hold out a little longer until I got home.  I wanted to look at my score in private, so in case I started crying, no one would see.
   I finally mustered up the courage to look on my walk home (gotta love smart phones).  As I logged into the website, I started to breathe faster and feel my heartbeat.  I took a deep breath, and as I repeated "please please please..." in my head, I clicked the button to see that much anticipated number.
   When I saw it, I was shocked.  I thought to myself, "Wait, is this MY score?!" I double checked the name, double checked the score.  Yep, this is for real!  I started crying tears of happiness and smiling uncontrollably as I walked down my street.  Seriously, if anyone driving by saw me, they probably thought I had escaped from the looney bin down the street!  I called my mom, and told her my score.  She goes, "Wait, is that a good score or bad score?!" Hahaha!
   I set a goal score range for myself, with the intention of motivating myself to work hard.  I didn't actually expect to score in that range - I was really hoping to get about 10 points below my goal range, and I still would have been satisfied with 20 points below my goal range (luckily, OB/Gyn residencies aren't TOO competitive when it comes to Step 1 scores).  I ended up passing and scored in the upper range of my goal range.  I still cannot believe it.  I keep checking and rechecking to make sure I read my score report right.
   I never would have thought I would score as high as I did, so it feels amazing to surprise myself this way.  In fact, I am still super interested in OB/Gyn as a specialty choice, but now I think I would like to find out a little more about Anesthesia.  I had a small interest in it before, but now that it could actually be a possibility, I want to know more about it.  Don't worry, whatever I end up choosing, I'm going to make sure it's something I absolutely love.  I don't want to go into anything just for the lifestyle.  I want to go into a specialty where I "live and breathe" it.
 
 

5 comments:

  1. Well, congrats on a super score. Isn't that a wonderful feeling to do better than one anticipates... Good for you.

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  2. congrats! it seems like you got it super quick... we had to wait a month! I checked my score during surgery clinic while i was waiting to present my patient to the attending. bad idea, I was shocked and almost passed out haha.

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  3. Congratulations! Isn't it great to surpass expectations? You've been working hard -- you totally deserve it!

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  4. Congrats!! Thats amazing!! and congrats on starting 3rd year! Already half way done with med school...crazy.

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