Who are you and why am I reading your Blog?

If you've stumbled upon this blog you are probably wondering who I am and why my life is blog worthy. The truth is I never intended to blog about my life or my career. I had your typical frum girl from Brooklyn upbringing, went to a good Bais Yaakov, played the shidduch game etc. I've just always had a little extra ambition and a 'don't tell me what I can and cannot do' attitude. This lead me to the field of science and medicine.

After high school instead of heading to seminary in Israel I went to CUNY and attended a NY based seminary at the same time (all ready out of the box as most girls from my class went to Touro, did correspondence or stopped their educations at high school). Somewhere along the way, perhaps because I was excited by the challenge, I decided to pursue MD-PhD training. Why I chose to subject myself to that many years of schooling and how I successfully got into one of the countries top programs from a CUNY school are matters for another post. What concerns this post is that almost immediately I started receiving e-mail from young Jewish girls interested in the sciences but unsure if this was the right path for them and their families. 

The questions were many and varied. Some wanted to know what GPA you need to get into an MD-PhD program. Others wanted to know if pursuing an MD degree would make them persona non grata on the shidduch scene. Still others wanted to know if they should be MD's PhD's or both like me. While I was happy to answer their e-mils I realized that these pleas for information were a sign of a more serious problem. Girls in the frum community do not have many professional role models to look up to. I decided to start this blog to help spread information about women in science to the Jewish community.

This blog is not meant to recruit you to a career in science and medicine. It is merely here to give you a look at what the day to day life of an MD-PhD student is like. Many of the questions I receive have to do with personal lives and family choices. Hopefully, reading this blog will give you a better perspective on what it is like to be frum and an MD-PhD student. 

If you are a frum woman in the sciences who maintains a blog, I would love to link your blog. Please drop me a line so I can include you in my blogroll.

If you are a Jewish girls interested in learning more about being a scientist or doctor please stay tuned to the blog! Feel free to post your questions in the comments section. Or you can always e-mail me with more personal questions at seminarytoscientist@gmail.com