Whew!!!
After about 3 weeks of being missing in action, I finally posted to LJ again. A lot has occurred in the past three weeks, but I think I have closure now.
I completed Unit 2 last week, so now I'm officially done with half of my course. I've saved all my writings in my e-mail account and I have completed all the journal entries. This was quite a feat with all the distractions I've faced in the past 3 weeks.
Finally, I logged into LJ and posted my journal entries. :-)
My baby cousin died at 9.5 months within these past few weeks. His funeral was held yesterday; I now have closure on that issue.
My on-line subscription for 10 MCATs ends in December, so I have to take all 10 exams by then. It doesn't make sense to take a test without reviewing first, so I created a new study schedule. All's well so far, and I will be ready to begin taking the computer-based practice MCATs under real test conditions within the next week.
Since last week, I have decided to complete a M.Sc. in Epidemiology. Since we're moving to Canada, I am planning to complete the program there. Hence, I've been doing research on Canadian schools, focusing primarily on schools that do not require the GRE (with my MCAT deadline, I won't have time to take the GRE before the early 2008 deadlines). I narrowed my schools to those that also have med schools, and then narrowed them to schools in Ontario. I now have 4 schools on my list: U Ottawa, McMaster U, U Western Ontario, and U Calgary (this replaced U Toronto, which has a Nov. 15, 2007 deadline). My first application is due on Jan. 15, 2008, so I have begun to work on my statement(s) of interest, which I will share with my recommendation/ reference writers. For the past 2 days, I have been doing more in depth research on each of the 4 programs so that I can tailor each application to the program. My top choice is McMaster U for both the M.Sc. and medical school. Once my M.Sc. is complete, I'll have satisfied the residency requirements for medical school.
Since I want to start my M.Sc. next summer-fall (2008), I have to complete my Core Principles in Public Health graduate certificate by next summer. This means, I'll need to double up on classes for the remainder of the program. Next semester, I will take Biostatistics and Environmental Health. This semester will begin in January and end in May. The next semester (summer) is 10 weeks long (just like Dartmouth) and during that time I will take Epidemiology and Health Behavior and Health Education. The summer semester begins in early May and ends in late July. If I start the M.Sc. in July of 2008, it's going to be a loooooong summer, so I'll need to focus on my classes alone. The pros of completing the graduate certificate early is, it will strengthen my application to M.Sc. in Epidemiology programs, especially since I will be completing the certificate before the Master's program begins.
Oh, before I forget, I need to change my language setting in Word to reflect Canadian English spellings.
Now back to my research for my statement(s) of interest. It is of utmost importance to complete it/ them early because I may need to share them with my reference writers.