The Gum Tree for 2005 June

(3) Wed Jun 15 18:04:12 MST Summer commings and goings:

Well, I realize that I need to get back to the world of crummy so here I am back after my writing sabbatical.

Things are going well for us. We just have to line up our finances, property, schedule, and obligations in order to make the move to Louisiana. It will be a trip to remember--traveling through the heartland of America. We are also planning a trip to San Francisco for Mom's Seminary reunion and to pick up the Girls for their visit with Dad.

Looming in the background are my Applications to med school. I find out my MCAT scores soon, and I feel that my life is hanging in uncertainty. I hope I do well.

I am also increasing my running schedule. I finaly bought some new running shoes after having my old ones for more than a year and a half. I was starting to get foot/ankle pains, blisters, and leg muscle pains. My new shoes are wonderful, and Today I ran for 60 min (probably 8 miles). I am really enjoying this summer weather.

Francis, Are you going to be in San Francisco July 14-19th? I'll Call if I don't get a reply.

Let us know, I would love to visit Bakersfield as well--if that works out with Lorna and Michelle.

(3) Thu Jun 16 12:02:56 MST The verdict is in:

I finally got my scores back (being a little early). I am satisfied at what I got. I was really worried because I didn't really plan my day well, for test day, but it has all turned out well. I was really nervous about the result of the test. The day before I had run about 6 miles, and I was a little dehydrated by the time morning on test day came. I drank a lot of water thinking that I would have time to go to the restroom just before the test was supposed to begin. To my chagrin, they closed and locked the doors when we arrived for processing at 7:30 a.m. The test was scheduled at 8:30 and that part lasted for 100 minutes. To compound the problem I had taken some caffeine--Bad idea.

Anyways, the result was that half way through the test I was feeling very uncomfortable, and eventually had to leave to go to the bathroom. I ended up having to blindly fill in the bubbles to 18 questions out of 80 or so. I though that I was a gone-er. As it turned out I still got a 9 in my lowest section and that is still about the top 50th percentile. My biggest pleasant suprise was the Verbal Reasoning section where I scored in the 90th percentile. That is good because it is weighted the most heavily by the admissions boards. With 15% of people from BYU who had excellent MCAT's and 4.0 GPA's not getting into medical school I am glad that I did well in the section that the schools claim to look at as an indicator of good bedside manners and interpersonal skills.

This will also make applying to med school much cheaper. I wont have to go on the U2 American tour of medical schools in order to get enough numbers to be safely accepted into one of them. That is a relief.

All in all, I think I did well considering the time I put into studying (not as much as I would have liked), and the other obligations that I had that stole my attention.

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