I communicate with the people I work with professionally via email and face-to-face daily. To continue to develop this skill I need to learn how to communicate with other professionals who I am not comfortable with. Over the next few years I need to learn how to communicate better with professionals in an interview type setting to better prepare me for graduate school.
So far I've learned that even though I really enjoy my internship, I don't want to do research as a career. Next, I need to decide if oncology is my passion. While I think that cancer is very interesting I don't know if my current experiences have persuaded me to stick on this path. Over the next few years I need to look into other subjects and determine if I truly want to work in oncology.
Currently I've been able to discuss medical school and get advice from the medical school student who works in my lab. Based on her advice and after some deep thinking, I want to look into PA school. I'm not entirely sure whether I want to go to medical school, PA school, or some other graduate school, so over the next few years I need to figure out what route is the best for me.
As of right now, my ultimate career goal is to work in the medical field with patients. I have always thought that I want to be a doctor and go to medical school, however, currently I am considering PA school as an option. I'm not entirely sure what the best fit for me is yet. As previously mentioned, I want to have the opportunity to help people, work with patients, and be able to have some leadership. Having some sort of career in the medical field will allow me to accomplish all of these things and make an impact in people's lives. Next semester I will be taking a shadowing class where I will get to better explore different careers in the health field which will really allow me to get a feel for which path I'd like to follow, and which career choice my strengths are more geared towards. I can continue to explore different career options in the medical field for the rest of my time at IUPUI, as well as continuing to get advice from people who have gone or are going through similar experiences as me.