The Right Stuff

This very bloody morning as i am bumbling around my dark room confused as to what city i am in (Fresno) or why i am in a carpeted room (University housing) or who is that dark body in the distance (roomate), and i think to myself, you know what--all those personality tests are WRONG. I am introvert. I want to be alone. I am neurotic. I want be a misanthropic hum bugging micro-scholar and pshaw to being a warm blooded creature.

I finally sat down to read the paper a mere 40 minutes later, and as the coffee melts the ice in in my veins (and withdrawal in my brain), the NY Times apparently writes an article called: "Do you have the 'Right Stuff' to be a Doctor".

This is of course a sore spot. For all intents and purposes, if i just keep showing up for the next 4-6 years, the state of California will in fact license me as a physician. But what a big bloody if. Showing up is hard, particularly when its between 4-6 am.

The article proceeds to outline a study that indicated that personality testing was a better predictor of how well students did than other variables, like MCAT.

"The investigators found that the results of the personality test had a striking correlation with the students’ performance. Neuroticism, or an individual’s likelihood of becoming emotionally upset, was a constant predictor of a student’s poor academic performance and even attrition. Being conscientious, on the other hand, was a particularly important predictor of success throughout medical school. And the importance of openness and agreeableness increased over time, though neither did as significantly as extraversion. Extraverts invariably struggled early on but ended up excelling as their training entailed less time in the classroom and more time with patients."

There is a caveat of course: “If a medical school is all about graduating great researchers, then I would tell them not to weigh the results of the personality test that heavily,” Dr. Ones said. “But if you want doctors who are practitioners, valued members in terms of serving greater public, then you have to pay close attention to these results.” Research monkeys need not be nice, or really even sober. Just very OCD.

That was upsetting as i was just beginning to really embrace my future as a curmudgeon.