So What are These Big Dreams?

Medical School and What The Hell I Plan to Do With My Life.

I have been going back and forth with myself whether or not I wanted to write about my journey applying to medical school. I have decided I will (obviously).

What has been holding me back is the feeling that if I don’t get in, which is a possibility, then having talked about it online means that its out there for everyone to see.

But I have decided to say screw it, as writing about the process seems to keep me on track and hopefully someone else can learn a little bit more about what the process is really like.

Anyways, I am currently working on my applications (like I literally have them open in another tab on my computer right now) and my brain needs a break.

So this little series ‘Big Dreams’ is going to be a collection of posts following my progress that I plan to update on a monthly basis. Let’s start off by talking about what started me on the path to medicine.

Fun fact: from the time I was about 12 or 13 up until I was 16 years old If you asked me what I wanted to be I would have replied “I don’t know yet, but definitely not a doctor”. Yes you read that right, NOT a doctor. The biggest thing that made me say I didn’t want to be a doctor back then was the fact that I hated hospitals, mostly because I found them rather depressing. I still don’t love hospitals but I am much more comfortable in them now.

I have always had an interest in science and I knew I wanted to do something that was in that direction but I didn’t really know what yet. When I was really into the show Bones I thought being a forensic anthropologist sounded really cool but never really pursued it (I knew reality was going to be nothing like TV). Around the time I entered high school was when I changed my mind, and decided I did in fact to be a doctor.

I started out with an interest in medical research but that then morphed into an interest in surgery. My mom had been diagnosed with cancer and she wanted to know more about her surgery but was terrified to watch any videos on it. I on the other hand was quite fascinated by them, and I eventually decided I wanted to be a surgeon.

My parents have definitely encouraged my choice, but the honest truth is that if they had their way I’d probably be going into dentistry (More money and better hours Michaela). And as my mom so morbidly puts it “Why would you want to cut people up anyways?”. No that is not how I would describe my interest in surgery.

That’s the basics of how I decide to go into medicine. Once I knew that that’s what I wanted to do with my life I had to decide where I wanted to apply. It turns out that choosing where to apply is not actually as easy as it sounds, and I will go into more detail about how I did in a later post. But what I did decide is that I would apply to multiple schools in Canada, and in addition, and to my mother’s dismay, to some schools overseas (the United Kingdom to be specific). Going to school overseas is my first choice (sorry mom). But lets be honest who would pass up the chance to study in London?

So in short that’s the Big Dream, to be a doctor more specifically a surgeon (and fingers crossed get into school in the UK).

Next post I am going to talk about the realities of applying to medicine and what the process is actually like so keep checking back or subscribe to my mailing list to get notified when it’s out!