I've been accepted!

So it was about 2pm on Monday June 4th when I was startled by the buzzing sound of my cell phone, which was on the vibrate mode. In my daze I saw a number that I didn't recognize but answered anyway. Damn glad that I did. It was my admissions advisor from AUC calling to tell me that I had been accepted. So you may have two questions by now:

1. What is AUC?
2. Why the hell were you passed out at 2pm?

Now to answer the second one first because I am a rebel without a cause. I had gotten home at 8am after my 12 hour overnight shift at the sleep lab, and 2pm was prime sleep time. It was fairly muggy though and I found it difficult to fall back asleep, mostly due to the excitement. But I forced myself to pull off a few more hours so I could better reset my cycle to do day shifts after my next few days off. The quirky part of the acceptance was that I had to send in my enrollment fee before all the spots filled up so I was still slightly worried. Either way I had the interview for Ross University on the coming Thursday so I still had hope if things didn't work out at AUC; although AUC was my second choice and Ross was third. The hell with it though, at this point whoever gives me the chance to become a doctor and help people will get my money.

Now to question the first. AUC stands for American University of the Caribbean, which is a an "offshore" medical school located on the island of St. Maarten/St. Martin depends on who you ask. The U.S. considers it an international medical school although the curicculum is geared to have studnets practice in the U.S. and the clinical rotation sites are ACGME certified and blah blah blah. Basically it is the last chance of students from the U.S. who want to attend medical school and practice in the U.S., although there is a large stigma associated with having attended a "foreign" medical school. And it seems in terms of the eyes of the powers that be in the medical community the hierarchy falls as the following:

M.D. (US schools) > D.O. (US schools) > M.D. (foreign schools)

Such hierarchy exists in obtaining residencies, social status, and I'm sure employment opprotunities and pay (I'll find out soon enough). My only problem is with the first thing I mentioned - obtaining residencies - since that is the only thing that could prevent me from practicing in the U.S.

I could really careless if other physicians or institutions look down upon where I learned to be a physician, as long as I get to help those in need. And society can keep it since the only people that truly matter to me don't see me as a failure because I didn't attend an Ivy Leauge school (even though I might do that to myself from time to time).

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June 7th: The Ross University interview left much to be desired, the interviewer was kind enough and we had a good time (translation: I talked his head for 1 hour 15 mins). The short version of the story is that with 'my grades and applying so late in the cycle' I would most likely get accepted but be deferred till the January semester. Little did he know I had been accepted to my 2nd place school for the fall.

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June 18th: The Registrar's office contacted me and confirmed the acceptance for the fall semester. NICE! And now to get everything setup to get down there, sounds like fun.

I am sure there will be some more fun posts between now and the time I am actually down there...await some fun!

P.S. I will probably NEVER write a post this long.