If I closed my eyes I could walk through the school without bumping into anything. The judges score cards would read 10.0, 10.0. 10.0, 9.9. You know where the good places to eat are and the ones to avoid because they give you the runs. Most of the questions asked by first and second semester students are answered with little hesitation and pure confidence. Talk about a 180 from first semester which consisted of hands trembling sweating like a Hyperthyroidism patient under a light bulb. You start to become comfortable in an environment that was once anything but. However this final semester in the Caribbean has a different feeling from the rest. It seems there is a sense of urgency entangled with the hope of someone pulling the e-brake.
You see my final semester here seems to be the most daunting. After this is all said and done, the only thing left is pretending to be Robbie Knievel (Evil jumped the Snake river not the Grand Canyon) trying to jump the Grand Canyon. The jump isn’t your biggest worry, in fact you’ve been looking forward to it for a while, but it’s the landing that scares you. Land with a 85% or below and kiss your chances of practicing in a competitive field that you enjoy down the drain (I heard Iowa is a great place to practice). Land with less then a 90% and kiss your first choice good bye without help from outside sources (the world revolves around knowing the right people unfortunately/fortunately). Land with less then a 95% and that three month of preparation will seem like an ultimate failure.
Yes it is true 4-5 years from now no one will care where I went to medical school or what I got on step 1. In fact the question then asked will probably be where did you do your residency? However for now USMLE Step 1 is the ultimate test of how much effort you’ve put in the first two years of medical school. The task does seem daunting yet challenging at the same time. Am I ready for the task ahead, of course. But you see its landing I’m worried about. BTW is Iowa even a state?
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