US Navy Medical Corps Gold Collar Device

I will be documenting my journey (no matter if it ends in a month or in 8 years) to becoming a Navy doctor.  It seems strange that, after floundering for so long, I now have a solid goal that I can work towards.  I’m not saying that the last several years have been a waste.  On the contrary, I have grown closer to God, my family has prospered, and we have enjoyed our time in Indiana: the kids’  school and our church have been amazing. But career-wise it has felt  a little like treading water (expending a lot of energy to stay where you are with no real progress).

Today we told the kids about the current plan. They seemed excited about the possibilities. Becky was most excited about the possibility of living in Florida (one of the possible posting sites for me).  To a seven-year-old, Florida is where Disney World and the ocean are.

I have been studying for my MCAT.  The test has four components:  an essay component (about which I am not worried), a verbal reasoning section (which should not be a problem for me), a biological sciences section (for which I need to learn organic chemistry), and a physical sciences section (for which I need to learn chemistry and physics).   The funny thing is that I have never taken any college “Math” courses.  I took courses that required math (like Chemistry, statistics, nursing, etc).  My trigonometry is rusty, since I haven’t cracked a trig book since my junior year of high school (wer’re talking 1992 here, folks).

So here’s the plan:  brush up on algebra.  Then brush up on trig and chemistry.  Then teach myself physics and organic chemistry.  All in the next five weeks.  Yaaay!

The good news is that, if I am successful in teaching myself physics and organic chemistry before I take the MCAT, I should do well on the MCAT, and then this school year will be much easier (more of a fine-tuning of the stuff I’ve learned).

I looked around at several schools in the area (and some in Iowa…just in case that was an option).  I only found one school where I could take these two classes this school year that didn’t require me attending class five days a week:  Indiana University’s Kokomo campus.  I am currently talking with them to find out what I need to do to register for these two classes for the fall.  And that’s where we are right now:  studying, preparing, and praying.