Edited: January 26, 2012
Biology 342 - Human / Mammalian Physiology
Biology 370 - General Genetics
Biology 370 - General Genetics Lab
Chemistry 441A - Biological Chemistry
Kinesiology 109A - Fitness Walking
Psychology 370 - Abnormal Psychology
Right now it's a toss up between human physiology lab, abnormal psychology, and fitness walking again. I'm excited about this semester. I walked into my physiology class and fount out its just an upper division human physiology class, so things keep getting even better. As a few of you may know I've been in the process of switching my major back to physiology from general biology so I'm taking a slight different set of courses. I did the math and found out there were only three classes that were different and those classes I take can be neurobiology, endocrinology, and immunology rather than taking plant-based courses. I'm just waiting for approval from enrollment services.
Harder courses this semester but more applicable to what I'm doing so we'll see how the semester pans out. I'm already starting on my physiology, going to go through the notes and get ahead in the reading. Get a week ahead and stay ahead, best thing we can do for ourselves in these classes.
I hope everyone else is doing well and getting a good head start this semester. Let's make it an excellent one!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Logging Hours of Activities Done
My first post to Pre-med Hell was a post about logging the hours of things you do in a day and did that for two weeks to show how much time you spend in certain areas and where you can cut the fat so to speak to increase efficiency in your day. I just updated and revised my curriculum vitae (CV) and one of the great ideas I brought up to other people and they agreed was to log the amount of hours that you did a specific activity. A few months back I posted an article that said about 80% of all applicants either lie on their application or over-exaggerate what they write. Also, take for example someone does an activity for 6 months and puts in 15 hours of work for their extra-curricular and another person puts in 150 hours in that six months. If the only thing you put on the CV is the years of activity done there could be a discrepancy with how much time you've actually put into the activity. The person that did 150 hours did a ten fold difference comparing to the first person.
I told myself months and months ago that I needed a better system to log the hours that I do specific activities because the one I had was really tedious and it came to the point where I just didn't want to do it anymore. I'm pretty certain there are some activities that I'm missing anywhere from 25-50 hours, which you all know is a lot of hours especially when you're working so hard to get everything you can.
Yesterday I came up with a better system. I set up an excel spreadsheet to give you the day that you did something, the date, what activity it was in the day, and, and the amount of hours you did in the day. I think it's important to have a description as well so you can remember what you did during that day if you need too. Then the outlines of the sheet total up the hours you spent during each day and during each week. During the day will log all the activities and during the week will log a specific activity throughout the week. I thought about putting time the activity was done but I didn't have enough room and I realized that a year later it doesn't really matter what time you did something, not for a CV or a resume. The cells may seem a little small but they provide the max amount of space for the font that its at and to be able to print on to one page.
Of course this won't matter as much if you're a senior on your last semester but if you're a freshman or sophomore, and this is something you want to do, it could help a lot. What I'm going to do is make 52 of these files in a folder and change the dates on all of them before the semester starts so when the semester comes it's not tedious at all, just type a number for the hours, and a description if I'm up to it. All numbers will round to one decimal place, because why do you need 3.56 hours? I don't log minutes because jokingly that would be borderline OCD and not joking it's just too many numbers to deal with. There's only 24 hours in a day, it's easier to work with.
You're more than welcome to use it, that's why I'm making it available to you. I hope it helps and I hope you're able to log better than I did for the last 3 years. All you have to do is change the dates and the activities that you do each week.
Logging Hours Spreadsheet (.xlxs)
I told myself months and months ago that I needed a better system to log the hours that I do specific activities because the one I had was really tedious and it came to the point where I just didn't want to do it anymore. I'm pretty certain there are some activities that I'm missing anywhere from 25-50 hours, which you all know is a lot of hours especially when you're working so hard to get everything you can.
Yesterday I came up with a better system. I set up an excel spreadsheet to give you the day that you did something, the date, what activity it was in the day, and, and the amount of hours you did in the day. I think it's important to have a description as well so you can remember what you did during that day if you need too. Then the outlines of the sheet total up the hours you spent during each day and during each week. During the day will log all the activities and during the week will log a specific activity throughout the week. I thought about putting time the activity was done but I didn't have enough room and I realized that a year later it doesn't really matter what time you did something, not for a CV or a resume. The cells may seem a little small but they provide the max amount of space for the font that its at and to be able to print on to one page.
Of course this won't matter as much if you're a senior on your last semester but if you're a freshman or sophomore, and this is something you want to do, it could help a lot. What I'm going to do is make 52 of these files in a folder and change the dates on all of them before the semester starts so when the semester comes it's not tedious at all, just type a number for the hours, and a description if I'm up to it. All numbers will round to one decimal place, because why do you need 3.56 hours? I don't log minutes because jokingly that would be borderline OCD and not joking it's just too many numbers to deal with. There's only 24 hours in a day, it's easier to work with.
You're more than welcome to use it, that's why I'm making it available to you. I hope it helps and I hope you're able to log better than I did for the last 3 years. All you have to do is change the dates and the activities that you do each week.
Logging Hours Spreadsheet (.xlxs)
- Click the link, go to "File" and go to "Download Original"
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirements)
- Buy the book as soon as you can.
- Read requirements and statistics with a grain of salt.
- Buy book again your applying year.
- Breathe
I've spent the time to go through the book because I didn't want to misread or overlook anything I was going over, I want to make sure I understand what's required now so when the time comes I will know a little more of what to expect. And my opinion is that it's a great, well-written summary of everything you need to know about how to get into medical school. There is a reason it's the one recommended guide to admission requirements for medical school, everything I've heard from doctors and residents, people in the field, medical students, other well-read premeds is in this book. The only difference is that I had to learn everything the hard way, I asked around for months and months to know what the real scoop was.
The reason I recommend the book as soon as you can or before college if you know that early is because you'll know what you're getting into and you'll know how to plan accordingly. Research is highly recommended for applicants so you know to look around for a research opportunity that you find interesting and worthwhile. Clinical experience is highly recommended, start looking around for a doctor's office that would be great to work at or a hospital to gain experience in the field. Club leadership is recommended, start looking for a club that you enjoy being in and agree with the goals of the club. Hobbies are also great to put on there. Staying in one thing for 4 years is better than going from one thing to another for 4 years so find something you really love and enjoy and stick with that.
I'll say a few words about the previous comments. I don't like doing things just for a resume and I have stuck to that my entire college career. Yes, you have to tailor your activities to a certain degree, odds are you can't put mastered couch potato on a resume for 8 years running now, probably not what the committees want to hear. I've always tried to find something that I love and that I am passionate about for extra curriculars. Three examples: my clinical experiences started before my pre-med track, I have loved the job since day 1 trying not to fall asleep at the 10th hour (those were the days); my running events that have come about over the last year and a half is actually a culmination of events since I was 16 when I started working out because I was overweight and I could feel my heart beat through my chest after walking up the stairs; my personal blog and my pride and joy, premedhell.com (with the help of my colleagues / friends) is the aftermath of just under 10 years of writing / journaling / blogging. I had no idea I wanted to be a doctor when I was 14, 16, or even 18, I thought it was something for smart people, but I digress for a different blog post. I hope that helps you find extra-curriculars that you enjoy, I'm not sure if it's something I can put on there but I sure hope so because I enjoy them way too much.
Read with a grain of salt in that there are a few things they don't put in there to emphasize the importance of some diagnostic tools for admissions and I agree with other views. Along with that the stats provided are merely a loose marker for who was accepted and who wasn't. Every applicant is different and every applicant will be reviewed accordingly. Each year provides a new wave of applicants in which there stats have a chance of being extremely off the stats provided from the previous year. You never know, they could do an MCAT score of 18 and GPA of 2.4. You just never know; is it practical? From what I've heard the stats stay relatively the same but take it with a grain of salt.
And because the stats stay relatively the same I wouldn't buy the book again until before you apply so you know a general idea of what schools to apply too. You could apply to all 134 recognized schools as well as international schools but how many people have the money for that? If you do, go for it! But most apply to anywhere from 15-25 schools depending on GPA and MCAT scores.
Breathe. My last piece of advice before reading this is breathe. Don't get caught up in all the requirements and which ones you're fulfilling or not fulfilling. There are a hundred different ways to get into medical school, just because it's recommended doesn't mean it's penalizing you enough to lose admission to medical school. As another great premed said: how many people do you know applying to medical school have a Nobel prize? While it might feel like it at times, you don't need to dodge bullets, save the world, or cure cancer to get into medical school. So breathe.
A great quote for the admission process and your pre-med career: "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." - Vince Lombardi
Friday, January 6, 2012
Graduation is Sooner than it Ever Was
I've spent hours over the last few weeks checking my course work for my major to see if everything adds up and I have ten courses left. It hit me. I'm going to be a college graduate. Not only am I going to be a college graduate but I'm going to be a college graduate in biology. Even if the worst case scenario happens, I don't get into medical school and I don't become a doctor, I will still have achieved so much already. Me? A college graduate, me graduating with a major in biology. How incredible that will be for me. That day I will have achieved so much for myself. And while this incredible seven year journey will be coming to a close and a year and a half more of learning still, the beginning of the rest of my life will start then. How incredible that will be.
My journey of the MCAT, MSAR, and AMCAS have begun in the respect that I need to figure everything out about them as I possibly can this Winter break and then conquer them as soon as I possibly can. So, I will definitely be providing links I find useful and helpful. And I hope it helps you as much as I thought it helped me. I'm going to set up another link called Medical School that's going to have important MCAT and AMCAS links specifically. It will make it easier for readers to come back to and for me if I forget.
Thank you everyone for your continued support. I know some of you are waiting on the edge of your seat to see me get in and I appreciate that so much. The time to fall on the floor in awe and amazement is sooner than it ever was. Keep on the edge!
My journey of the MCAT, MSAR, and AMCAS have begun in the respect that I need to figure everything out about them as I possibly can this Winter break and then conquer them as soon as I possibly can. So, I will definitely be providing links I find useful and helpful. And I hope it helps you as much as I thought it helped me. I'm going to set up another link called Medical School that's going to have important MCAT and AMCAS links specifically. It will make it easier for readers to come back to and for me if I forget.
Thank you everyone for your continued support. I know some of you are waiting on the edge of your seat to see me get in and I appreciate that so much. The time to fall on the floor in awe and amazement is sooner than it ever was. Keep on the edge!
Friday, December 30, 2011
An Inevitable Turn of Events
I have spent the last year working on myself and it has been the idea behind many of the posts, tweets, and Facebook updates. Since the storm has settled, it is time for a new direction in life, it's time for a new outlook, and its time for a new and improved determination. It's time to create goals and do them without excuse. It's time to remember my old goals and continue them to completion, continue them with excellence, continue them to the best of my ability.
It's time to find again my absolute love of learning scientific concepts; to be able to live and breathe the words in my coursework. It's time to not only achieve but to overachieve, to do the best that I possibly can and then push a little more. To meet deadlines far in advance. It's time to look forward not just with a magnifying glass or binoculars but a high powered telescope or an electron microscope. It's time to expect nothing but excellence from myself because I know I can achieve such a high standard and then some. It's time once again.
No one ever said this path was going to be easy. They said it was going to be difficult, they tried to lead you away from it, they said it would be nearly impossible. You never let that get to you before and with even less time to go to see the light at the end of the tunnel, this is no time to give in to sub-par pleasures. You know the greatest pleasure of all to yourself is graduating with you bachelors in Physiology knowing that you did everything possible to get into medical school.
What's in store for the New Year? I have a research opportunity that I hope will go through, one that I found interesting from the website so far. I'm hoping to jump into that full force before the semester starts and get to see what it's about. I need to start MCATing for the inevitable test of all tests for premeds, I've been looking into books, I've been asking everyone, trying to get tips of the trade before I start studying. I made a couple sheets comparing the physiology major to the general biology major and I found out the same course work and time is required for each so I'm doing the paperwork and letters necessary to switch back to the Physiology option, I strayed from it for reasons I never should have, mistakes were made, lessons were learned, and no regrets will be needed. I'm going to be a Rock Legend in a few days. My determination is coming back more than ever. I'm going to get back on a regular workout schedule. Going to somehow learn Spanish, starting with Rosetta Stone and I'll go from there. I'm reading up on schools and I'm getting ahead in my courses before the semester starts (and working a lot more).
No one ever said this path was going to be easy. They said it was going to be difficult, they tried to lead you away from it, they said it would be nearly impossible. You never let that get to you before and with even less time to go to see the light at the end of the tunnel, this is no time to give in to sub-par pleasures. You know the greatest pleasure of all to yourself is graduating with you bachelors in Physiology knowing that you did everything possible to get into medical school.
What's in store for the New Year? I have a research opportunity that I hope will go through, one that I found interesting from the website so far. I'm hoping to jump into that full force before the semester starts and get to see what it's about. I need to start MCATing for the inevitable test of all tests for premeds, I've been looking into books, I've been asking everyone, trying to get tips of the trade before I start studying. I made a couple sheets comparing the physiology major to the general biology major and I found out the same course work and time is required for each so I'm doing the paperwork and letters necessary to switch back to the Physiology option, I strayed from it for reasons I never should have, mistakes were made, lessons were learned, and no regrets will be needed. I'm going to be a Rock Legend in a few days. My determination is coming back more than ever. I'm going to get back on a regular workout schedule. Going to somehow learn Spanish, starting with Rosetta Stone and I'll go from there. I'm reading up on schools and I'm getting ahead in my courses before the semester starts (and working a lot more).
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Lunar Eclipse
Woke up after three hours of sleep at 5:00 AM to see the lunar eclipse at the library. A few study partners woke me up to see it. Doesn't look all that bad. Though, I do like my moon pictures a little more.
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