#medschoolmaybe

[source]

My career goal is to become a registered dietitian. To become a registered dietitian, one has to complete a DPD program and earn at least a bachelor's degree and then go onto complete 1200 supervised practice hours before you are eligible to sit for boards. Easy enough, right? Wrong. Only about 50% of people that apply for an internship, gets accepted. In California, that percentage is even lower.

I finished my Bachelor's in four years. At a state school. There were major hurdles involved and I'm pretty sure I didn't go a semester without having to "crash" a course. I guess my point is that I am a determined woman. I wasn't going to sit around for a year to reapply to internships and then spend a year doing an internship. "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

There are graduate programs that combine the supervised practice + graduate school work into two years and eliminate doing a year of an internship and then another two years of graduate school. I was sold.

Another main factor in my decision to attend graduate school: I wanted to learn more.
My Bachelor of Science is in Food and Nutrition. So my program was split into food science courses and nutrition courses. I came away with a great deal of knowledge in both fields, but felt that if I ever wanted to be a great RD, I needed to learn more.

I couldn't have picked a better school + program to apply to. Loma Linda University is a medical oriented school and the Loma Linda University Medical Center is our "lab." I get to walk around the hospital in my white coat, with my multiple badges on, on a daily basis. I am totally in my element when I walk through that hospital. I love nutrition and the role it plays in the health care setting.



But I feel like I can do more. [insert MD dreams here]

NEVER have I ever been more inspired in my life to do something, than I have these last couple of weeks. I have this unexplainable passion to do something great with my life, to give back to others, to help others. And I thought that I could fill that satisfaction by being an RD. Honestly, I don't feel there will be a big enough challenge for me. I have always been fascinated with the field of medicine and everything it encompass. I walk around the med center and come across a group of resident physicians discussing their patient and it takes all my might to not jump into their discussions. Attending Loma Linda University I have been truly inspired to attend med school and becoming a physician in the next 5-10 years.



I can do this. I will do this.