Hello everyone! I’ve really missed being able to blog over the past year. I had a post in draft waiting for a different post that I wanted to publish first, and that one didn’t happen until this past week haha. I thought I would update you on where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing!
So when I left off last, I was in the midst of posting a series about the admissions process to SJSM. I was in my second term of four that comprise the basic sciences program, so I still had over a year left on the island. Life got really busy after that time, as I had run for the position of President of the Student Government Association and was the successful candidate! So for the summer and fall terms, and into the spring term this year, I had presidential duties to tend to, as well as my position on the curriculum committee, which was a one of the president’s responsibilities, as well as my position as Training Director on the SJSM Anguilla Red Cross, on top of all of my coursework! Those months are definitely a blur, looking back. Some days I don’t know how I made it through, but somehow I did!
I wrapped up the review term of basic sciences at the end of April, and passed the NBME CBSE – cleared to schedule Step 1! My class had our White Coat Ceremony the following day. My school does things a bit differently in that we have our White Coat Ceremony at the end of basic sciences to celebrate our accomplishment of having made it through, as opposed to celebrating at the very beginning of the degree program. I actually like it this way – it really does feel momentous that we’ve made it that far.
I was asked to speak on behalf of my class since I had been our class representative on the Student Government for three terms, and president for two. That was super nerve-wracking, but I’m glad that I did it. After the ceremony, my parents and I headed over to Sint Maarten (the Dutch side of Saint Martin) for a few days of vacation and then we flew back to Canada! From there, I studied hard for about 5 weeks and took the USMLE Step 1 on June 3rd. I can definitely write a post about my general experience with the exam. It was the waiting period after the exam that was anxiety-inducing like no other! But, at long last, I received my Pass score report on June 18th – I can’t describe how big a relief that was!
Since then, I’ve been submitting paperwork and waiting for my third year clinical rotations to be scheduled. I will be starting with Internal Medicine on August 26th! I’m super excited, and nervous. I’ve been planning out how I’m going to study – Reddit has been a major reference for me in finding the trends among high scorers on Step 2. I plan to write about my study resources after each rotation, so stay tuned! I will also be writing about my study routines leading up to taking Step 1, and how I prepared throughout basic sciences.
Comment below or message me at slp.to.md@gmail.com. Talk to you soon!
