Mankato State University ... Picking a Major

minnesota state - mankato
Originally uploaded by goatopolis

This is where it all began. I began my college career at Mankato State University as a "pre-med" major. But since there wasn't a major called "pre-med," I had to choose something else. So I started with Chemistry, then I switched to Biology, then Environmental Science, then Chemistry, then Math, then Chemistry, then Biochemistry, then English. (But I minored in Chemistry after all that!) The reason for all the switches? I was interested in too many things! With each class I took, I could see myself majoring in that field.

But I was still interested in medicine through it all. (I still am.) So interested that I applied to the Medical School at the University of Minnesota through its Advanced Admissions Program, a program targeting college sophomores. (I think medical school admissions were down at the time.) You could apply at the end of your sophomore year of college. They looked at your grades, your activities, your writing sample, and your interviews. If you were accepted, that was it. No MCAT! You had to complete your B.S. or B.A. degree, of course, and keep up your grades and activities. But you were in!

My interviews were a dream! The first interview was with a professor of public health whose brother played the trombone. And since I knew of his brother because I played the trombone myself, we started talking about music and the interview took off from there. It couldn't have gone any better. The second interview was with an ophthalmologist who turned out to be the assistant of the ophthalologist who had performed three surgeries on my eye when I was about 2 years old--I had remembered his name through my mother's stories. So that interview was more about my eye and him digging around for my file--but he also asked the questions he needed to. Again, it couldn't have gone any better.

And so I was accepted to the U of M Medical School. And then things changed. And it was all their fault! Part of the acceptance agreement was that I could major in anything I wanted, as long as I completed all the Medical School requirements--they wanted well-rounded physicians, not all science drones. So I changed my major, one last time, to English. Another part of the acceptance agreement was that I was assigned a mentor to "shadow" once a month for my last two years of college. He was a professor of Radiology and I met with him for a full day, once a month, for two years. But in talking to him and his residents, it became clearer and clearer to me that the "culture" of medical school and I weren't going to "jive." (Especially when most residents, when I asked, said they wouldn't do it again.)

And at the same time, I was having a blast in my English courses. I had always wanted to teach, and I knew that by going to Medical School, I wouldn't be able to teach for at least 6-8 more years. Then, a bulletin board outside the MSU English Department office caught my eye. Teaching Assistantships were being offered for incoming graduate students. To make a long story short, I applied to the graduate school at MSU, in English, and I applied for a Teaching Assistantship, in Composition. (I didn't know at the time that, usually, one does not go to graduate school where one was an undergraduate--but it made little difference in the end.)

When I received my graduate school acceptance letter and my Teaching Assistantship contract, I applied for a one-year extension from the Medical School ... just in case the English gig didn't work out. But it did. I was having a blast, both with the teaching and with the coursework. So the next year, I notified the Medical School that I wouldn't be joining them after all.

I haven't looked back. And, I have wonderful memories of Mankato State--now called Minnesota State Mankato. Fancy!

NOTE: This photo has a "Creative Commons" copyright.