Boss mom Sarah Merrill, 41, a mother of nine, started medical school when her youngest child was 4 years old. She graduated this month with her medical degree from the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in Phoenix, Arizona. And she’s not done yet. Merrill plans to be a neurosurgeon. She got to graduate with her husband and nine children by her side. Her children currently range in age from 8 to 20 years old.
Merrill and her family are now moving to Indiana, where she will begin her residency in neurosurgery at Indiana University next month. Merrill’s dream has been a long time in the making, with the best possible detour ever. Merrill told Good Morning America, “It’s going to be a new challenge, a new adventure,” of her upcoming residency. “But everybody is on board and I think we have a great support system.” Merrill’s dream has been a long time in the making, with the best possible detour ever. Merrill told Good Morning America, “It’s going to be a new challenge, a new adventure,” of her upcoming residency. “But everybody is on board and I think we have a great support system.”
Merrill had nine babies in 12 years. The first time Merrill took the Medical College Admission Test she was pregnant with her first daughter and had every intention to continue straight to medical school. But after having her little girl, she changed her mind and decided to be a stay-at-home mom while her daughter was little. Then, the Merrills decided to grow their family.
Merrill told GMA, “We weren’t necessarily going for a large family, in particular, in our planning, but that is what we did,” she said. “We ended up having four daughters and five sons, and we had all nine of those kids in 12 years.” The best of both worlds. Merrill decided to have the best of both worlds and stay close to her dream of being in the medical field while raising her kids by doing some part-time work in medical research.
She decided to go back to school when her youngest child was 2 years old. The thought had crossed her mind to go back to school part time to get a master’s degree, but she ultimately decided to follow her original dream and attend medical school. Merrill told GMA, “I was 34 and I decided to go back and start taking some more recent coursework and I had to retake the MCAT.” She added. “I remember studying for the MCAT when my two youngest were 2 and 3 years old and my 2-year-old would climb on me like a mountain while I was trying to take practice tests.”
It takes a village. Merrill and her entire family relocated from Pennsylvania to Arizona when she was accepted at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. “Before I even applied to medical school, we had a big family meeting and everybody got to voice their opinion about it and we explained to them what it would mean,” she said. “They all gave it a big vote of support at the time.” Medical school is a lot of work at any age, but adding nine kids to the mix makes things a little more challenging.
Thankfully, Merrill had a village of support, including her mom, who moved to Arizona to help with the children, and her husband, who was able to work remotely from Arizona. The sky’s the limit for this inspirational mom. “A lot of times my teenage daughters would say, ‘Hey, mom, let’s have a homework party,’ so that’s what we do for fun,” Merrill said. “We’d have snacks and they’d be doing their homework and I’d be studying for medical school.”
Merrill has gotten to see her studies inspire her children, as her 11-year-old daughter now wants to become a surgeon. And once, Merrill overheard her teenage son tell his friends, “My mom’s so cool. She’s going to be a brain surgeon.”
