I am so smart. S-M-R-T!

Someone had that quote from Homer Simpson as their signature on a medical student bulletin board I have been secretly frequenting. Some people go to bars to drown their sorrows. Me, I lurk in on-line geek boards. And let me tell you, I like it. These people are just as, or sometimes even more neurotic than I am.

Last night our MCAT scores were posted on-line. A few people were keeping vigil starting Tuesday to see when the scores would be posted. These people were all freaking out and sharing their best/worst case scenarios. I am paraphrasing, but I swear to you these were some direct quotes:

• Summary of a conversation between two posters: "I need to relax, I'm so nervous about getting my score tomorrow!" Response: "Go to the gym, take a walk, have sex." Response to the response: "Wish I could, but I'm saving myself for marriage."

• "If I do well, I'm proposing to my girlfriend tonight!"

• "I wrote a Perl script that logs in to the site every 15 minutes, checks if my score is available and then will text message my cell phone with my score when it's posted."

I am content with my score; it was right in the middle of my expected range. I was completely wrong in my assumption of score breakdown though. I walked out of the exam thinking I aced the verbal reasoning, and that I had some problems with physics and biology. My actual score report revealed that I did well in science, and OK in verbal. Which goes to show exactly what I was saying the night before I took the test. English me no good. I better start prepping for that TOEFL, know what I'm sayin?

Overall though, I'm so glad to be done with the anxiety of waiting for my score. There were so many what-ifs: Would I need to retake the test? Would I need to seriously reconsider the schools I had in mind? Luckily, I can take a breath and continue on the path. Not that I'm smooth sailing or anything ... I am struggling with my essay. Writers block is no fun. I really mean it - why can't I just include a blog entry? It's more entertaining than your formulaic essay which begins: "I have wanted to be a physician since I was a mere fetus." Actually, that would be kind of funny.