Am I getting Cold Feet?

With about a month to go before I leave for Freeport, I am starting to have second thoughts about this whole process.

I heard from a current student on Dominica who asked if I had looked into a post-bac program at LECOM.  This program is still accepting applicants and upon successful completion, if you earn a 3.0 GPA and then retake the MCAT and earn a 23 or above you will be granted admission to the 2012 incoming class.  For me this program is attractive for several reasons.

First, I will be in the US and be a drivable distance from my friends and family.  It is about 7 hours from where I live now.

Second, with LECOM being a US medical school (DO) I could possibly join the navy and they will pay for my education.

Third, I will have all the conveinences of being in the US, grocery stores, electricity at normal rates, my car, etc...

 Fourth, graduating from a US medical school will make it easier, (not guaranteed) for me to get a US residency.  While it is true that many foreign med school grads, and ross students more so, do get US residencies; it is always easier to do so from a US school

Fifth, I can start getting US Federal student loans immediately and not have to pay for the first $30k of ross out of my retirement money.

Sixth, If I choose to do a primary care field LECOM has a 3 year program so that I would not be behind my Ross compatriots.

While I think that Ross and Dominica are valid options and I will go if not accepted to LECOM, I think that all of the things that come along with being a foreign medical graduate and going to a foreign medical school (even if it is one that has a good track record of finding people residencies) will make going to Ross just that much harder.  Don't get me wrong; I am all for going to a tropical localle for 2 years, but I just think that the extra stuff that comes from being a ross student will somewhat detract from me learning what I am supposed to learn.

The overall goal here is for me to absorb as much information as possible so that I can be helpful to my patients.  So, I applied to LECOM on Monday and I am also scouring the web for other similar post bac programs.  I would like to apply for 3-4 to give myself a decent shot at some of these.  If I am not accepted I still have Ross as a fall back.  None of the other schools have a 3 year to DO/MD program like LECOM so I would be looking at an extra year. Perhaps it will be best for me to be stuck on an island far away from everything.  I don't know.....

I feel like I am really relying on External Locus of Control here.  I am basically putting my fate into a bunch of other people's hands here.  Namely Admissions committees.  Am I somehow deferring my own decision making power to these committees because I don't want to make a decision?   Or, am i being pratcical in the understanding that even the postbac programs are very competitive and I am still not guaranteed admission even with them.

I do still mean to provide you readers with a concise accounting of all the costs associated with my start-up into Ross and the MERP program.  I am sort of sticking my head in the sand regarding all of these costs. 

Speaking of money, all of you readers out there are welcome to look at some of my eBay auctions to see if something out there I am selling might be of interest to you.

All of my eBay auctions....

I have also thought of adding a donations button to this blog.  I can assure you that any donations given to me would go to my med school education.  [If every reader out there put $1... Now I sound like public radio]

I sort of feel like I'm on the "BUS" do being a doctor, but just trying to get an upgraded seat.  Does that make sense?

on that note, i'm out....