Pocket Sized Books
I like to try to keep my shopping down to a minimum by only buying things that I need. Sometimes that's pretty hard - especially when it comes to academically related stuff. Does it pay to be cheap when it comes to textbooks and resources? I decided to pick up a couple more books online that I think might come in handy over the next few years.
They're both referred to as "pocketbooks" but I don't even think the side pockets on my cargo shorts can hold these. Nevertheless, I plan to carry these around with me and read them whenever I have a break or I'm on the go (ie. the bus). There's a fairly heavy focus on pathology this year and I'm finding myself reading Robbins on a weekly basis. So I thought that this pocket companion might be handy to have around since the big Robbins is heavy enough to kill someone and at about $25-30 a piece, not a bad investment IMO.
Lately I've had some discussions about the post-grad future. There seems to be three major options to explore: head back home to Canada (which is definitely numero uno), head to the US, or stick around here in Australia. Staying here in Australia would require me to gain permanent residence status and that shouldn't be too difficult as my degree alone will basically be enough points to qualify. Securing an internship position might be a bit trickier but also shouldn't be too bad considering the physician shortage here in Queensland. The Aussie option will definitely be worth choosing especially if I fail to match anywhere in Canada or the US and have to wait another year. The timing of the different programs might be a bit tricky to work out though...
All this revolves around the big question of whether I should gear up to write Step 1 of the USMLE sometime after 2nd year. It's a huge undertaking that will cost me a lot of time, stress, and frustration. The only reason I can think of for going to the US would be for a more competitive specialty that would not be available to me in Canada. But the more I think about it, I would choose basically anything in Canada over pretty much anything in the US. So maybe that's the answer to my question? Forget about the US and just focus on home? This is going to require a LOT of prayer...
They're both referred to as "pocketbooks" but I don't even think the side pockets on my cargo shorts can hold these. Nevertheless, I plan to carry these around with me and read them whenever I have a break or I'm on the go (ie. the bus). There's a fairly heavy focus on pathology this year and I'm finding myself reading Robbins on a weekly basis. So I thought that this pocket companion might be handy to have around since the big Robbins is heavy enough to kill someone and at about $25-30 a piece, not a bad investment IMO.Lately I've had some discussions about the post-grad future. There seems to be three major options to explore: head back home to Canada (which is definitely numero uno), head to the US, or stick around here in Australia. Staying here in Australia would require me to gain permanent residence status and that shouldn't be too difficult as my degree alone will basically be enough points to qualify. Securing an internship position might be a bit trickier but also shouldn't be too bad considering the physician shortage here in Queensland. The Aussie option will definitely be worth choosing especially if I fail to match anywhere in Canada or the US and have to wait another year. The timing of the different programs might be a bit tricky to work out though...
All this revolves around the big question of whether I should gear up to write Step 1 of the USMLE sometime after 2nd year. It's a huge undertaking that will cost me a lot of time, stress, and frustration. The only reason I can think of for going to the US would be for a more competitive specialty that would not be available to me in Canada. But the more I think about it, I would choose basically anything in Canada over pretty much anything in the US. So maybe that's the answer to my question? Forget about the US and just focus on home? This is going to require a LOT of prayer...
posted by Matt at 9:05 PM
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