March Update

Volunteering

Monthly service hours: 4 hours, 30 minutes                                                                                                      Cumulative service hours this semester: 11 hours, 35 minutes

Yes, more sweet potatoes!

Curricular Reflection

March was a really busy month for me. I had two medical school interviews, a birthday, and now we're two exams and a couple of presentations away from wrapping up the program. I've mentioned this a couple of times in my posts, but it's really unbelievable how fast the year flew by. I applied to this program fairly late before it began, so I really never thought I would be in the position I am right now, being a sort of mini-expert, or "master," if you will, on hundreds of drugs and systems.

I've been studying for the NBME shelf exam the past couple of days, and I'm very nervous. I'm currently feeling like a mix between "I don't know anything" and "I've got this," but I think that's just due to anxiety. Hopefully, I will fully mentally commit to that latter statement, and things go well on exam day. Even though it's a modified version of the NBME, I think it's really great that we have the opportunity to get a glimpse of what the shelf exams will be like in medical school. This is a huge advantage that the pharmacology program offers to us, especially because the first time you experience something new is usually always going to be a little uncomfortable or accompanied by fear. It's comforting to be able to get these "firsts" nerves out of the way now before being a real-deal medical student having to take several of these in the future.