A New Direction
So, right now, I'm a nursing major. But this will change in the next few days as I go through the official steps. Three questions I'm sure you have: 1) To What? 2) To do what? 3)Why?
1) To what am I changing my major? Well, my major is changing to Clinical Laboratory Science. Question 1b is "What the heck is that?" Well, Clinical Laboratory Science is a major that focuses on the very small-scale aspect of health care. When the doctor draws your blood and says, "We'll wait for this test to come back," who is it coming back from? Why the Clinical Laboratory Science majors of course! I'll be taking a lot of chemistry, a lot of biology and a boatload of microbiology and molecular biology. At the end of undergrad, I'll be certified to work in a hospital, analyzing that blood (and urine and other bodily fluids you don't want to know about) and also to tell the doctors what the heck any of it means. I still get to take pathophysiology and stuff, but just the "molecular/microbiology level" of it. There are other things that fall into what I can do with this, but we're getting to that.
2) What am I going to do with this major? Well, I'm going to go to 7 years of graduate school! I'm going to go to an MD-PhD program and become a medical research scientist. That's right, an MD and a PhD at the same time. It goes like this. You go to Med school with all the med students, but you're going to graduate school too, doing research, and getting your PhD in some other field (usually biochemistry, or molecular biology, or neuroscience, or genetics, or public health, or epidemiology or something like that). This is what I want to do with my life. So, I'll be a double-doctor. A doctor of medicine who "knows" how to surgery and diagnose and all that (knows in quotes because I'll have done the classes and the clinicals, but not the internships or fellowships), but a doctor of some other subject to research. I'll probably end up doing the PhD in molecular biology or genetics, because I really want to work in bleeding disorder research, most of which are genetic, and coagulation kind of belongs in the molecular bio subject. But thankfully, I don't have to decide that right now.
3) Why? Well, I'm just feeling like I belong in research. Being on the clinical side of everything is important and all, but I just strongly feel like with the particular way my mind works and what I'm good at, I have a lot more to offer in research. I love finding the answers and I love looking for all the data. It intrigues me, and after thought, prayer and making the decision, I can safely say that this is where I belong. I feel more comfortable about this decision than probably any other decision I've ever made.
The follow-up question I'm sure you're all thinking about: What about your family? I'm not going to throw having children out the window. I will still have children, maybe a little bit later than many people, but I will not even say I'll put them off until after school. I don't know all about this, partly because I have to find a father for said children before I can think about when I want to have them, but I feel comfortable through prayer that this is the right way to go with my life.
Another follow-up question I'm sure you're all thinking about: How are you going to pay for those 11 years of school (4 undergrad+7 grad)? Well, thankfully, these MD-PhDs are in short supply--they're not too common, so the NIH will pay for everything. And give you an annual stipend. Maybe they'll be broke by the time I get there, but for now, that's what they do, and if they are, I'm sure there are private research labs that are willing to cough over some cash to train some MD-PhDs.
Another question: Where do you do this graduate work? Well, there are good number of universities that have this option. Obviously, I haven't decided on a place for me, but I wouldn't mind joining my family up in New York where they have a program at the University of Rochester--a fairly prestigious one that loves BYU students.
It's tough to get into these programs, but I'm ready to work hard. I want to do this and I want to make a difference. Sure, nurses can make a difference, but I feel like I personally am capable of making a bigger, better difference through this because of the way I am.
1) To what am I changing my major? Well, my major is changing to Clinical Laboratory Science. Question 1b is "What the heck is that?" Well, Clinical Laboratory Science is a major that focuses on the very small-scale aspect of health care. When the doctor draws your blood and says, "We'll wait for this test to come back," who is it coming back from? Why the Clinical Laboratory Science majors of course! I'll be taking a lot of chemistry, a lot of biology and a boatload of microbiology and molecular biology. At the end of undergrad, I'll be certified to work in a hospital, analyzing that blood (and urine and other bodily fluids you don't want to know about) and also to tell the doctors what the heck any of it means. I still get to take pathophysiology and stuff, but just the "molecular/microbiology level" of it. There are other things that fall into what I can do with this, but we're getting to that.
2) What am I going to do with this major? Well, I'm going to go to 7 years of graduate school! I'm going to go to an MD-PhD program and become a medical research scientist. That's right, an MD and a PhD at the same time. It goes like this. You go to Med school with all the med students, but you're going to graduate school too, doing research, and getting your PhD in some other field (usually biochemistry, or molecular biology, or neuroscience, or genetics, or public health, or epidemiology or something like that). This is what I want to do with my life. So, I'll be a double-doctor. A doctor of medicine who "knows" how to surgery and diagnose and all that (knows in quotes because I'll have done the classes and the clinicals, but not the internships or fellowships), but a doctor of some other subject to research. I'll probably end up doing the PhD in molecular biology or genetics, because I really want to work in bleeding disorder research, most of which are genetic, and coagulation kind of belongs in the molecular bio subject. But thankfully, I don't have to decide that right now.
3) Why? Well, I'm just feeling like I belong in research. Being on the clinical side of everything is important and all, but I just strongly feel like with the particular way my mind works and what I'm good at, I have a lot more to offer in research. I love finding the answers and I love looking for all the data. It intrigues me, and after thought, prayer and making the decision, I can safely say that this is where I belong. I feel more comfortable about this decision than probably any other decision I've ever made.
The follow-up question I'm sure you're all thinking about: What about your family? I'm not going to throw having children out the window. I will still have children, maybe a little bit later than many people, but I will not even say I'll put them off until after school. I don't know all about this, partly because I have to find a father for said children before I can think about when I want to have them, but I feel comfortable through prayer that this is the right way to go with my life.
Another follow-up question I'm sure you're all thinking about: How are you going to pay for those 11 years of school (4 undergrad+7 grad)? Well, thankfully, these MD-PhDs are in short supply--they're not too common, so the NIH will pay for everything. And give you an annual stipend. Maybe they'll be broke by the time I get there, but for now, that's what they do, and if they are, I'm sure there are private research labs that are willing to cough over some cash to train some MD-PhDs.
Another question: Where do you do this graduate work? Well, there are good number of universities that have this option. Obviously, I haven't decided on a place for me, but I wouldn't mind joining my family up in New York where they have a program at the University of Rochester--a fairly prestigious one that loves BYU students.
It's tough to get into these programs, but I'm ready to work hard. I want to do this and I want to make a difference. Sure, nurses can make a difference, but I feel like I personally am capable of making a bigger, better difference through this because of the way I am.
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