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Today, my older son graduated from medical school. He starts a residency in Family Medicine in a month's time - happily, he's able to do that residency right here in Fredericton, where the rest of us live.
It's been an incredibly long road for him - like many, he wasn't accepted to med school the first time he applied. Or the second. So he took the time to get a Master's in biochemistry, and while doing it to volunteer in 3 different settings doing medical care for homeless people, for people in palliative care, for kids with disabilities.
COVID sharply affected how med school occurred - and made it very solitary. While he had to live far from us in the University town where he studied, after the first 3 months all of his classes were virtual. The student body never really developed a sense of itself, or the kinds of friendships that often arise. Except for the physical labs, it all happened within the walls of his 1 bedroom apartment.
2 years of clerkship followed, in clinical rotations split across 3 cities. With physicians and patients, but the co-students with him always changing. A few friends re-connected, but still very solitary. Though he found a serious girlfriend last Fall ...
He's been finished his various exams and evaluations for 4 weeks now, living in an apartment in his sister's house. He's become just a lovely, solid, thoughtful man - and will be a remarkably caring physician. I couldn't be more proud.
It's been an incredibly long road for him - like many, he wasn't accepted to med school the first time he applied. Or the second. So he took the time to get a Master's in biochemistry, and while doing it to volunteer in 3 different settings doing medical care for homeless people, for people in palliative care, for kids with disabilities.
COVID sharply affected how med school occurred - and made it very solitary. While he had to live far from us in the University town where he studied, after the first 3 months all of his classes were virtual. The student body never really developed a sense of itself, or the kinds of friendships that often arise. Except for the physical labs, it all happened within the walls of his 1 bedroom apartment.
2 years of clerkship followed, in clinical rotations split across 3 cities. With physicians and patients, but the co-students with him always changing. A few friends re-connected, but still very solitary. Though he found a serious girlfriend last Fall ...
He's been finished his various exams and evaluations for 4 weeks now, living in an apartment in his sister's house. He's become just a lovely, solid, thoughtful man - and will be a remarkably caring physician. I couldn't be more proud.
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