this goal, she also had to sacrifice her dreams of romance. In her journal, she wrote, "I feel more determined than ever to become a physician, and thus placed a strong barrier between me and all ordinary marriage." Now that she was resolved to go against society and scandalize the masses, she had to work hard to fulfill this dream. Her first obstacle was a dearth of financial resources, so she searched diligently until she found a school in Asheville, North Carolina, where the principal would overlook sexual prejudice and hire her and let her use his medical library. Later, she went to Charleston, South Carolina, where Dr. Sam Dickson gave her some rudimentary medical instruction. After applying to nineteen medical colleges in Philadelphia, she was furious enough that she seriously considered dressing as a male and attending, saying that "if the path of duty led to hell, I would go there!" On November 6, 1847, Elizabeth Blackwell was admitted to Geneva Medical School by a unanimous vote of the student body. One obstacle of sexual prejudice was overcome, but there were many more ahead.Despite her acceptance to medical school, Elizabeth Blackwell had to work very hard to achieve her dream. The staff disapproved of her admittance and went as far as to request that she stay out of classes that would be embarrassing with mixed genders. Despite her refusal to follow this request, Elizabeth starved herself so she would be pale enough to not blush during class discussions of anatomy. She struggled through certain classes and recorded in her journal on November 22, 1847, a few of her difficulties in dissection:That dissection was just as much as I could bear…My delicacy was certainly shocked…I had to pinch my hand till the blood came, and call on Christ to keep me from smiling.She also had difficulty overcoming the sexual prejudices of members of her own sex. In a letter to her sister, she described some of the visible s...
