Fun with the Medical School Interview
In Perfectly Reasonable, Trace is applying to medical school. With a little help from Margo, he plans to ace the dreaded medical school interview. Now he just has to convince Margo to help him! I had the inspiration to write this story from my experience teaching clinical skills to medical students. As part of that job, I wrote a lot of scenarios for standardized patients, who are actors portraying a role. The actors could simulate an angry patient, one in medical distress or mental crisis, one facing a moral dilemma, or any of those combined! Standardized patients are used in scenarios to teach medical students how to handle the situations before they face them in real life. They are also used to test students and as a tool to assess applicants in medical school interviews. I thought it would be fascinating to give the reader a glimpse into the breadth and depth of the medical school application process – and sweat along with Trace as he heads into the interview. We’ll see if Margo really did help him!
Love what you do and do what you love. Sounds perfectly reasonable, but chances are, you’ll find your passion in the last place you look . . .
Margo MacMillan finished medical school, but in the process, her self-confidence and self-esteem took a beating. So for the sake of self-preservation, she’s stepped away from medicine to re-group. In the meantime, painting soothes her soul and pays the bills.
Trace Bennett set his sights on a medical degree and has to prepare the perfect medical school application. His big plan is to paint his condo for a little feng shui divine luck. When Margo shows up to paint, he realizes he’s found exactly what he’s looking for. He just has to convince Margo to share more than the art of medicine.
She’s got it. He wants it. It’s Perfectly Reasonable.
Buy link (free with Kindle Unlimited): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0143ZW2P8
Enjoy an excerpt from Perfectly Reasonable ~
“So, you’re a doctor,” Trace said slowly.
Jeez. Back to that. “Yup.”
“How come a doctor is painting my living room?”
“Because you’re paying twice the usual fee,” Margo said with a cheeky grin.
“Shouldn’t you be…doctoring?”
Her smile slipped. He sounded like her mother. All that time, all that money, blah, blah, blah. “I could be, but at the moment, I’m painting.” She pointed to the paint sample hanging on the wall. “That’s the color I chose.”
He looked over. “I like it. Hopefully it will work.”
“I think it’ll work. Blue’s a neutral color. Looks good in this lighting and it’ll be a great backdrop with your metal furniture.”
“Hm-mm. I’m hoping it’ll be lucky.”
“Lucky?”
“Feng shui. Water and metal elements, á la blue paint and metal furniture, in the west and southwest rooms are supposed to bring divine luck this year. Good bye beige and wooden antiques.”
She smiled at him. He wants to get lucky? Look at those abs. Really, any color would do. “Sounds like you’ve researched this.”
He took a sip of coffee and set the cup down. “I have. I’m applying to medicine. Again. I’m giving it one last chance, and this time I’m doing it properly.”
“Medicine.”
“Yes.”
“And you think feng shui will help?” She reached for a small tool in the outer pocket of the tote bag and used it to pry open the lid from the first can of paint.
“Couldn’t hurt. And I want to cover all the bases. If I can get a little divine luck on my side, I’m all for it.”
She smiled at him as she stirred the paint. Hopefully he had more than feng shui up his sleeve. “I’ll get this done and get you started. I’m happy to help.” Especially if it meant her bills would get paid.
“Are you? You could be handy.”
“Oh I’m definitely handy,” she said with a smile.