It Never Ends

Just because some of us are breathing a collective sigh of relief that senior year is over, graduation parties have all been had, and the source of the last year of angst is now heading out the door, doesn't mean it's all over.

Oh, no.

The competition just accelerates, affecting those who dream of professional careers requiring graduate school. A young woman I know, a bright college senior named Dawn, is facing reality as she prepares for the MCAT.

Pragmatic girl that she is, she's recognizing that her 3.75 GPA , summers doing research in the chemistry department, volunteer work at a local hospital, and years as a Personal Care Assistant may not mean much against the competition for the few spots available at the University's Medical School. Or any medical school.

She's wishing she'd never gotten that B in Chemistry, she's wishing she had known to go overseas summers to work in a hospital, she's wishing she was just plain smarter so that she could count on acing her MCAT.

As she spends countless hours between her research and PCA jobs, and prepping for the big test, she's also conjuring up Plan B.

Several of her pre-med classmates have already incorporated their own versions of Plan B, recognizing as college sophomores and juniors that they stood little chance of making it through the rigors of med school admissions. Dawn held tight and worked hard, convinced that she could beat the odds.

Maybe she will, maybe not. But it's good to have a Plan B.

A friend of mine wonder s why her daughter should bother with the honors program at the university she'll be starting this fall. I cluck, roll my eyes and tell her that if the kid wants to be a pediatrician then she damn well better take the honors route. The mother doesn't see the point. The daughter hasn't decided.

Maybe they should know that graduate school enrollment has gone up 67 percent since the mid seventies and that enrollment in first professional programs (like Law, and Medical schools,) has gone up 41 percent. Enrollments are expected to continue to rise.

And competition will continue to be fierce as grad school and professional programs become increasingly necessary to land that elusive first job.

It just never ends.