Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself and give you a whirlwind of background information.

My name is Melissa and I am a first-year medical student at an osteopathic medical school. I have a husband, daughter, and menagerie of pets. For almost 7 years I have been a working SAHM (worked part-time: evenings or at home), teaching college classes and working for a local medical organization.

Like many others, my road to med school has been longer and more convoluted than I originally anticipated. In brief: I finished college, got married, and began teaching middle school science. My plan at that time was to go back to get a PhD and teach at a medical school. By the time I had my daughter I had decided that I would be better off completing a medical degree so that I could treat patients and still entertain the option of teaching med school. I continued to hold on to the notion of a PhD ("Hey, I can complete one while my daughter is young," I thought), but reason eventually won out. Instead I found a Masters in Public Health program designed for people working full-time. It turned out to be a very good choice for me.

When my daughter started Kindergarten I felt that the time had come to get the ball rolling. I took the MCAT in April 2001 (boy, it had been a long time since I'd taken things like physics!) and had my application to the school in before July. My interview was in October and the letter of acceptance came in November. It was such a big relief to have things settled so early! Since then it has been a waiting game, although now it seems like it has gone quickly. Summer is nearly over--not much time left to get everything done that I won't have time for later--but I'm looking forward to what I have ahead of me!

• Read more of Melissa's Diary Here
• 8-16-03 - Vacation & the ER!
• 5-12-03 - Melissa is now an MS2!
• 5-02-03 - Finals Schedule.
• 4-11-03 - More Tests.
• 3-21-03 - Spring Break is Waning.
• 3-14-03 - Some days in med school are better than others.
• 2-23-03 - Seventh Week of School!
• 1-26-03 - A Different Kind of Semester
• 1-11-03 - New Year, Back to School
• 1-6-03 - Reading, relaxation and ready-to-heat!
• 12-29-02 - Shadowing an ER physician
• 12-26-02 - How did the Semester Go?
• 11-29-02 - End of the First Semester
• 10-28-02 - Anatomy, Smell and Professors...
• 10-8-02 - Classes and The Effect on My Family
• 9-9-02 - Survived My First Exams
• 9-1-02 - Anatomy Lab...
• 8-25-02 - The First Week
• 8-18-02 - Orientation Week
• 8-7-02 - Time is short, so I've been tying up loose ends
• 7-26-02 - Just over two weeks until class starts....

Melissa's Bio

Melissa's Diary

Chat with Melissa!

More Diaries...

Would you like to keep an online diary at MomMD? We'd love to hear your story. Visit this page and start your own!

*Some names have been changed.