My so called life

My So Called Life
a glimpse into a third-year med student's world
by: Julie Nelson

Journal 1996

Table of Contents

JULY 8

JULY 16

AUG 10

AUG 25

SEPT 4

SEPT 11

SEPT 12

SEPT 16

SEPT 28

OCT 13

Medical Center Review Archive

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We approached Julia Nelson with an idea: write down your impressions during your first weeks as a third-yer medical student. What it's like on surgical rotation, what it's like to be on call answering a concerned parent's questions, what it's like to eat breakfast out of a vending machine for three straight days? We chose a third-year student because it's the year the medical student moves from doing most of their learning in the classroom to hospital rooms, operating suites and examination rooms in clinics--all the while reading textbooks and journal articles in thier "free time."

Medicine has always been Nelson's first love. It just took her several years to get to medical school. After growing up in southern California, Nelson majored in pre-med at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and began a Ph.D. in microbilogy/immunology at St. Louis University. "I soon realized that medical research was not for me," she said. She went to work for AT&T in the St. Louis area and earned a master's degree in business administration from Webster University. After promotion to San Franscisco and then AT&T's world headquarters in New Jersey, Nelson decided she was ready to "leave that rat race" and moved to Oriental, NC , where her parents operated a bed and breakfast. She ran a local seafood restaurant there for three years before heading to Duke University to work in research. "That's when I decided to go to medical School to pursue my first love, medicine," she said.

The fact she is on average ten years older than most of her third year classmates makes her often feel like a "big sister" to the class; in real life, she's the oldest of four daughters; one is an ECU School of Medicine graduate practicing family medicine in Wilmington. When Asked for advice from some of her younger classmates, Nelson said she relies on her many years of "rich life experiences." She's energetic, personable and visibly excited about her future helping others.

The note attached to Julia Nelson's journal entries read, "Well, here are my ramblings. I went back over them, and it's amazing to me the trasnformation in myself that I see ...starting out very scared and a little depressed 14 weeks ago, and now finding my stride ... adjusting to life as a third-year ... and finding daily joy in what I do!" What follows are excerpts from her journal entries.