A Black Female Medical Student

Hey! I’m back home… I’ve missed this city so much. Even all the weird and awkward ppl that walk around my campus.

This year I’m applying for residency. Ahhhh! Crazy right? I’m applying in Emergency Medicine and I think I’m gonna try to match in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic area. Part of me wants to just make the move down South or out West where its warm and sunny all the time, but I don’t have enough connects in those place. I would be happy and blissfully warm, but I would be lonely :(.

So… things I’m looking for in a program.

I want good, solid, broad clinical training. I want to see everything and wanna learn how to manage everything cuz being a excellent clinician is important to me.

I also want to be at an academic program b/c I want to have that option open to me when I’m done with residency. Even though private pays a heckuva a lot more money than academic (like a $100K difference), I like the balance and the intellectual challenge of academia.

I want to be in a urban medical center b/c I like urban health, I think its interesting. I’m also really interested in immigrant health, and it’ll be easier for me to get exposure to those sorts of issues in a urban area. I want to be in an area where I have friends and family to call on when I have a minute or a wknd off.

And I also want to be in a good area where I’ll have decent chance of getting married. Black women know what I’m talking about lol.

So… yeah, there’s what I’m looking for in a program. I’m excited about being an EM doctor, I think its one of the coolest fields out there, I think its very fulfilling, cuz you help a lot of ppl, from all walks of life. I like the pace of it, I like the fact that its a younger field, its a little more laid-back than the typical high-powered fields, so you don’t have to deal with as many egos. I like the way its structured, I feel like I’ll be able to use all parts of my brain and work with my hands. I live the variety of what you see, and the fact that the pay is pretty good.

I think its a great field for ppl who see themselves transitioning outside of medicine later on in life. I honestly don’t know if I want to do the doctor thing for the rest of my life. What else would I do? I dunno. There are so many options. I’m thinking about going back to writing. Maybe advocacy work… I dunno. I sent a couple of e-mails out to some non-profits in the area. I want to get back into volunteering no that I have the time. I’m interested in human rights stuff (yes, I’m a typical bleeding heart lol). But seriously, I’ve been reading more and more about how human trafficking is becoming a larger and larger issue in the US. So I would like to become more involved, so I’m going to start volunteering with one of the orgs in the area.

But yeah. That’s what going on with me. I might disappear again… I’m starting MICU in about a week, which I think will be cool? I dunno, you do a lot ICU stuff in EM residency so I thought I’d get an early look at it. Its an actual sub-internship, so I’m supposed to be involved in direct patient care… aka actually managing patients. Fun fun fun. Scary scary scary.

After that I have my EM rotation in Aug, which I’m extra excited about and then I might be traveling for a research project in early Sept, and then I will be doing my away somewhere across the country in Oct. It’ll be a busy next couple of months, but I’m looking forward to it.

I’ll keep you guys updated :-).