Ouachita Stories

YEAR 1

First Day On Campus: Ten tiny doctors move to a campus previously only occupied by football players and cheerleaders. Everyone is slightly terrified about “Biomed Boot Camp,” slightly spoiled by the available parking, slightly amazed by daily availability of soft serve in the cafeteria.

First Day of Shadowing: Suddenly there is blood. That is a real life baby that just got birthed. The hospital smells weird. This doctor might be the smartest/kindest/funniest adult to ever exist. Secret selfies are taken in the scrub caps and masks because they just look so darn cool.

Simulation Lab: First road trip together. Someone volunteers to deliver the fake rubber baby from the fake screaming mother. Someone does a perfect fake spinal tap on the first try. Someone gets a little woozy after inserting a fake central line. Someone gets fake blood on their scrub top. Incredible day.

Phage Lab: No one has any idea what they’re doing.

Med Term Final: A bright Tuesday morning. The first official college final for the online Medical Terminology Course. Coffee abounds. The first to finish wait outside and contemplate life. When it’s over, 10,000 flashcards are ceremoniously disposed of. Celebratory Taco Bell run optional.

First Tunes: Those who choose to participate mourn a few points on the ill-timed General Chemistry test. Those who don’t participate watch their costumed friends have a blast on stage.

Phage Lab 2: No one has any idea what they’re doing. Still. Except that one group that's already working on their final project. Really? How?

Christmas Party: All the biomeds draw names and trade gifts in the Jones Science Center lounge one night in between studying for finals. Cat costumes, homemade cake, bison wall decor, booklets of inspirational professor quotes. Merry Christmas.

Rush and Pledge: Biomeds invade the world of social clubs to share the good vibes and meet people who talk about something other than how no one knows what’s going on in Phage Lab.

Study Abroad: Biomeds invade the actual world and absorb all the good vibes, global expertise and a little bit of foreign language to treasure forever.

YEAR 2

Beginning of Organic Chemistry: WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE. WHO INVENTED SCIENCE AND WHY. WILL THERE EVER BE A MOMENT NOT SPENT STUDYING.

End of Organic Chemistry: Where did Year 2 go? Oh look! A rubber tire! Rubber is a conjugated diene monomer naturally made of isoprene but synthetically produced from various dienes like … oh okay. I see where Year 2 went.

YEAR 3

MCAT: As a result of knowing all the organic chemistry, some medical terminology and a little bit of Phage lab, the MCAT is aced. Tears are shed. Vows are made to never take it again. More flashcards destroyed.

Research: The coolest version of learning. More desserts are brought and more discoveries are made. Cancer, antibiotics, solar energy, water conservation. A summer with the best professors, the best research dinners, the best posters at the conference.

MCAT Score Release Celebration: It goes well. Dessert, pats on the back, talking about anything but the MCAT.

Applications: The professors are editing 1,000 personal statements per week. Practice interviews with the Health Professions Board leave dress clothes soaked in nervous sweat. Dang that application looks good. Look at all those hours!

Counseling the Freshmen: Don't worry, Phage makes sense eventually. The MCAT wasn't THAT bad. Organic ended up being one of the best classes ever taken! Wanna buy this book?

Global Healthcare Seminar: Learning how little everyone actually knows about healthcare. Sharing ideas about medicine, debating policies, getting excited to make a difference in the world. Gaining perspective, clarity.

Last Tiger Serve Day: Last breakfast of sausage and pancake sticks, sitting on the curb in matching shirts. The sixth and final morning of raking or cooking or scrubbing side-by-side.

Acceptance: The professors were actually right! That application was irresistible. Goodbye, Plan B; pro surfing would be fun, but not as much as medicine.

Senior Dinner: This seems soon?

Graduation: Yeah, this too. A lot of work went into this. Does this hat look funny? Can’t believe it’s already been three years! Only a bazillion left to go! Then I’ll be a doctor. Then my friends will be doctors. They’re going to be really good. We’re going to be good. This was good.

By Morgan Lynch, a senior biomedical sciences major from D’Hanis, Texas.

 

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