hSDN Class of 2012

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AntiHouseMD said:
How are you guys spending your summer right now? A majority of the scholarships I've looked at so far are only intended for the graduating class this year, and college admissions start up in August. Sort of stuck in terms of what to do for college right now, except for work on AP Chemistry stuff and earn some money with work.
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You have summer AP chem homework too?

Edit, no one saw the humor in my last post. "Q = MCΔT and MCΔT=MCΔT"? :(
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Yeah C/O 2012! Thrilled to see some other motivated students in a similar boat as I am :) I've been mostly lurking in the veterinary forums, so it's nice to meet you all! My senior year is going to be a bear. I am taking AP Lit, honors physics, and a computer class at my high school (I still need a technology credit :/ ), then I will leave after 3rd period to take classes at a nearby university (post-secondary, anyone? :) ). This will be my second year of doing so, but my first year at this college. There I will be taking Calc 2 and Spanish 4 during fall quarter, Bio 1 during winter quarter, and Bio Bio 2 during spring quarter. I'm a bit nervous, but I am also looking forward to the challenge. :)

Hm, what else... well, I just took the ACT for the second time on the 11th. I scored a 30 the first time back in Feb.

As far as how I'm spending my summer, I am working at a horse barn and doing an immunology focused summer science program. I'm also working on getting some shadowing opportunities with an equine vet and a wildlife vet. :xf:
 
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Cephal0pod said:
Yeah C/O 2012! Thrilled to see some other motivated students in a similar boat as I am :) I've been mostly lurking in the veterinary forums, so it's nice to meet you all! My senior year is going to be a bear. I am taking AP Lit, honors physics, and a computer class at my high school (I still need a technology credit :/ ), then I will leave after 3rd period to take classes at a nearby university (post-secondary, anyone? :) ). This will be my second year of doing so, but my first year at this college. There I will be taking Calc 2 and Spanish 4 during fall quarter, Bio 1 during winter quarter, and Bio Bio 2 during spring quarter. I'm a bit nervous, but I am also looking forward to the challenge. :)

Hm, what else... well, I just took the ACT for the second time on the 11th. I scored a 30 the first time back in Feb.

As far as how I'm spending my summer, I am working at a horse barn and doing an immunology focused summer science program. I'm also working on getting some shadowing opportunities with an equine vet and a wildlife vet. :xf:
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Exciting! Aside from some irritating non-compliant owners, my companion animal vet shadowing has been fantastic. :) Congrats on a good ACT score. I got a 30 my first time last October and a 32 my second time in February, and several of my friends were able to pull up at least 2 points, so I'm sure you did wonderfully!

Where are you planning on applying this fall?
 
Hey guys and girls,

I just finished with my last day of finals on Monday and I'm looking forward to spending this summer looking at various colleges. Right now I'm considering Baylor, Merrimack, Pitt, UTexas (Austin), and some others. My dream school is Boston College but I lack the grades and what not to get in there (though I will throw an app their way for the sake of it.) Not sure what I want to major in as of right now, but probably sports management or criminal justice. Reason being if things don't work out with medicine or I change my mind then I won't be totally screwed (like most people who major in biology then change their mind.) I will be on the Pre-Med track however no matter where I go.

As of right now I'm leaning towards Baylor as the campus is big and beautiful and there is a good amount of students, roughly 15,000. I know someone who goes there and he said they're really close with professors and they all know the students on a first name basis. That's good and would lead me there rather than a huge school with 50,000 students like Texas as there is no direct focus with students when professors have 300 kids in their class versus 30. That friend of mine did say Waco was a lousy city though so I'll have to see how things are before I make any decisions. Pitt is another top choice as they have a top 15 med school and I read something about guaranteed entry if you do really well freshman year and maintain it. The major downside to it is that there's no "campus" perse like Baylor. I'm not a huge fan of city schools.

I took the SAT once so far and will take it again in the fall. I did really really bad on it my first time as I didn't take time to prepare for it but I know I'll do better my second time and I got the official SAT guide with 10 practice tests which I'll be using this summer. I also just took the ACT for the first time on the 11th and I think that went pretty well. I'll also retake that in the future but as of now I'm excited to see my scores. My GPA isn't very good either as that currently sits at a 3.1 and my class rank is 93/393 which is also below par for what I'm shooting for. Both should go up as I did pretty well especially to round out the year and next year I'm taking a really rigorous course load (for what my school offers.) I'll be taking AP Euro History (summer homework for it), Honors English (Journalism and Media), Honors Anatomy, Honors Physics II, Math, and a couple electives. Math is my one weak point and I've been working on improving it.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this if you did. :)
 
Connell MD, first of all, welcome! You'll find good advice on these threads.

I have to agree with you on a lack of campus. That's why I ruled out most of the colleges in Boston early on in the process.
 
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Shadowing in ~2hrs... I'm really looking forward to hearing his opinions on medicine and Princeton...
 
GammaKnife, hope everything went great with your shadowing.

Tomorrow is SAT score result day, so tomorrow will be an interesting day for me, hopefully for the better.
 
Thanks, it was great! I was there for about 5 hours, but it felt like 2, man that guy does clinical fast! Can't wait to go again.

5 more days until possible ACT score day... :(. I'm sure you did great on the SAT.:)
 
Gamma Knife said:
Thanks, it was great! I was there for about 5 hours, but it felt like 2, man that guy does clinical fast! Can't wait to go again.

5 more days until possible ACT score day... :(. I'm sure you did great on the SAT.:)
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You probably did great on on the ACT as well. What type of doctor was the guy you shadowed (specialist, internist, etc.)? You probably already mentioned it somewhere, but I can't seem to find it.
 
Looking forward to my ACT results, SAT Subject Tests? Not so much.

The English Subject Test was the hardest thing I've taken. US History wasn't bad but was rather lengthy.
 
AntiHouseMD said:
You probably did great on on the ACT as well. What type of doctor was the guy you shadowed (specialist, internist, etc.)? You probably already mentioned it somewhere, but I can't seem to find it.
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Thanks, hoping for < or = 32.

He's an Orthopedic Surgeon who does trauma and joint replacements. He's also a bit of a workaholic, his schedule is ridiculous, probably works <70hrs a week. He's really good at it though, and there's no doubt he loves what he does. I may be able to eventually sit in on a surgery, but there are a LOT of hoops you have to jump through at our hospital. Still, even clinical was interesting.
 
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My 160lb Great Dane is scared of my half pound chameleon... :smack:

Anyone watch Franklin and Bash? DVR'd the marathon and it's pretty good so far... It's like House for lawyers.
 
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Doxorubicin said:
Exciting! Aside from some irritating non-compliant owners, my companion animal vet shadowing has been fantastic. :) Congrats on a good ACT score. I got a 30 my first time last October and a 32 my second time in February, and several of my friends were able to pull up at least 2 points, so I'm sure you did wonderfully!

Where are you planning on applying this fall?
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Nice to meet another vet hopeful! *high five* I am actually still working on figuring out where exactly I will be applying. I have it narrowed down to a few places I am looking at in depth, but for the sake of internet anonymity (and possibly paranoia :D) I think I will refrain from sharing exactly where for now. :) I will say that I am considering a couple state schools (yeah for instate tuition!), two private schools, and one Ivy League. :xf:
 
Cephal0pod said:
I think I will refrain from sharing exactly where for now. :) I will say that I am considering a couple state schools (yeah for instate tuition!), two private schools, and one Ivy League. :xf:
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Narrowed mine down to three: My state school(UNL), my decent chance school (UMich), and my reach school (Princeton).
 
I'll save the $50,000+ tuition for graduate/medical schools.

I could neither afford or get into one with my current status.
 
Connell MD said:
I'll save the $50,000+ tuition for graduate/medical schools.

I could neither afford or get into one with my current status.
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It's closer to 60k now with all costs and fees :eek: That's THREE years of undergraduate education at my school!
 
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JChait said:
It's closer to 60k now with all costs and fees :eek: That's THREE years of undergraduate education!
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Hey JChait, you shadowed a doc right? I forgot what specialty, but I was wondering which one, and what you thought about that specialty when you were shadowing him/her?
 
Gamma Knife said:
Hey JChait, you shadowed a doc right? I forgot what specialty, but I was wondering which one, and what you thought about that specialty when you were shadowing him/her?
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I've shadowed two. One was an EM doc and the other (whom I am currently shadowing) is a plastic surgeon who does a lot of hand, reconstructive and Mohs procedures with some cosmetic stuff on the side. EM was cool, but due to hospital bureaucracy and HIPAA ****, I couldn't see much. I have full access with the surgeon, but it's not really up my alley. From his surgeries, I've met his anesthesiologist who is cool and has definitely turned me onto gas.

I read your post about shadowing the orthopod -- shadowing in a hospital can definitely be tough, hence why I turned to plastics guy who does mainly private practice stuff (although he's chief at a hospital -- he's only on call once per week).
 
I think my best bet as a HS student trying to sit in on a surgery would probably be at the Surgery Center by their office, they mostly do General Surgery, but it would still be a great experience. I was actually interested in trying to shadow an EM doc, but I didn't think I'd be able to see much (and I guess I was right, thanks).

Edit: I love the phrase HIPAA **** btw.
 
Gamma Knife said:
I think my best bet as a HS student trying to sit in on a surgery would probably be at the Surgery Center by their office, they mostly do General Surgery, but it would still be a great experience. I was actually interested in trying to shadow an EM doc, but I didn't think I'd be able to see much (and I guess I was right, thanks).

Edit: I love the phrase HIPAA **** btw.
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EM is definitely cool, but I guess I will either have to find somewhere I get can real up close or just wait an eternity until rotations. A lot of EM, unless you're at a trauma center, is filled with the uninsured or people who are sent by their PCPs so they don't have to deal with them.

Surgery is definitely cool, too, but I'm not sure if plastics is what I'm necessarily interested in. The lifestyle is definitely a cool aspect, and so is the broad nature of the practice, but I don't like it all too much. Next specialities I'm aiming for are gas, endo and neuro. :xf:
 
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I know how they say that they like dedication in EC's for college (Clubs, research, volunteering, etc.), but does that apply to shadowing? Because I would shadow as broad spectrum as I could in college, and I think that would be much better than shadowing the same specialty for x amount of hours...
 
Gamma Knife said:
I know how they say that they like dedication in EC's for college (Clubs, research, volunteering, etc.), but does that apply to shadowing? Because I would shadow as broad spectrum as I could in college, and I think that would be much better than shadowing the same specialty for x amount of hours...
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To an extent, yes, but you don't want a million hours of shadowing because 1. it will get boring after a while and 2. an adcom isn't going to care between 5000 and 10000 hours. Do it a few hours per week, maximum and try to make a good connection where you can shadow again in college or over the summers which may lead to a letter... That's what I am doing with the P&R guy, plus he has a lot of connections as chief.
 
I see, that makes sense. I looked over the benefit of making connections with a doctor. I still think that it would be cool if hospitals could have a program in which you shadowed a few different docs for a few hours, then could pick the field that you found most interesting, and shadow that specific doctor long term.

Related question: Has anyone not in medical school shadowed a Psychiatrist, or is that sort of impossible?
 
Gamma Knife said:
I see, that makes sense. I looked over the benefit of making connections with doctors. I still think that it would be cool if hospitals could have a program in which you shadowed a few different docs for a few hours, then could pick the field that you found most interesting, and shadow that specific doctor long term.
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My school has a program where you shadow a physician two hours a week and then rotate to new specialties every three weeks. This is only due to the fact that the clinic where such takes place is a part of the medical school where medical students see patients directly on campus. There is no hospital board to get by, which is nice.

Probably the best way to shadow is through connections, but if you don't have any, try cold calling practices. Ask your ortho guy after establishing relationships if he has any friends or colleagues open to shadows in the ______ field. Explain you're looking to get a sense of as many fields as possible and maybe you can find what you're looking for.

Offer to take care of filing, copying or any other stupid work while shadowing, and you're more likely to get somewhere than at a hospital. When not shadowing the surgeon, I help out his office staff with paperwork and mindless scut and they LOVE me. It's a pretty fun environment, and I actually enjoy going there, although I don't particularly like plastics.

Gamma Knife said:
Related question: Has anyone not in medical school shadowed a Psychiatrist, or is that sort of impossible?
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I highly doubt it just due to the nature of psych, but I could be wrong. Psych is not something that interests me at all so I really haven't looked into it.
 
Your school sounds awesome. If I ran a school, I would definitely do that, it sounds like a great idea.

I probably don't need to cold-call people, but I would never discourage it for people that don't have connections to the medical field. It's a great way to show people you're interested in what their doing, and will more than likely land you a shadowing opportunity.

That actually sounds like a great idea. Next time I shadow him, I'll definitely offer to to some of the grunt work for him. Like I said, he has a really busy schedule and would probably not object to it. Plus I'm hoping to get a LOR from him, so that wouldn't hurt at all. Thanks for the advice! :)

I thought so. Psychiatry seems like one of those specialties where additional people viewing could only be detrimental to those types of situations.
 
I'm going to try and talk to my Senator and see if I can get into the Dana Farber Cancer Institute as he is a big supporter and I was told by an Oncologist that works there to try that or have my dad write to him. I really want to volunteer there and help with the pediatric cancer unit as I've always wanted to. Plus, I figure volunteer there and maybe meet an Oncologist that wouldn't mind having me shadow.
 
Gamma Knife said:
I thought so. Psychiatry seems like one of those specialties where additional people viewing could only be detrimental to those types of situations.
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I would agree with this for the majority of situations. For example, you will likely not be able to shadow a psychiatrist while he/she is doing any type of one-on-one work, as this will likely only make the patient uncomfortable and unwilling to share what could potentially be vital information. Unfortunately, psychiatry is a field without blood tests, biopsies or imagining equipment to assist it in diagnosing and treating patients; it is primarily based on observation and reports from the patient and family. Thus, for good reason, most doctors would not want to risk any negative impact that having someone shadow them could have on a patient's willingness to be open about what they are experiencing

There are situations, however, where you may be able to find an exception, if you are interested enough. Emergency Psychiatry, though dealing with patients in immediate crisis, does not involve as much relationship and trust between doctor and patient. As with most ER situations, the patient has likely never seen the doctor before, and will not see him/her again. Thus, having someone shadowing will likely have the least impact here, and, considering the amount of nurses and other health professionals (read: strangers) the patient would have seen in the past few minutes, you will likely not be noticed much at all. Liaison Psychiatry, which operates under similar conditions, is also an option. You may also be able to convince a psychiatrist in an inpatient setting to let you shadow him/her at certain points during his/her day, such as when he/she is just generally checking up on things in the actual unit/ward (there is usually some patient contact; but it is brief, and non-personal). As with any specialty, they will greatly appreciate any offer to do clerical-type work in addition to your shadowing; however, psychiatrists may appreciate it a bit more than others, as, though insurance companies have been known to be awful to every type of patient, the discrimination and hassle they put psychiatric patients and their treating professionals through is unmatched (and wrong, so incredibly wrong).

If you are truly interested in the field and can't find a psychiatrist to let you shadow him/her, you could always choose to volunteer (or work as a staff). What your actual responsibilities would be vary depending on the hospital; but you will generally have the opportunity to participate in room checks, escorting patients to various activities/other locations on hospital grounds, group therapy and activity, some one-on-one situations (for example: it is the staff and volunteers that are assigned to patients on constant observation status; many times, as staff and volunteers are the ones actually on the unit, distressed patients - especially child and adolescent ones - will seek them out for support/comforting; you may be assigned to supervise and try to calm down a patient placed in seclusion and restraint; etc), expressive therapies (psychodrama, art therapy, etc), attend meetings with the clinical team (including the psychiatrist) to report on how a patient seems to be doing (staff see more behavior and expressions of emotion than most anyone else, and see it more frequently) and even involvement in case conferences. You would have more say than you might assume (especially on privileges the patient is allowed to have and what level they are placed on). Psychiatry is one of the few fields where, I believe, you learn more about the actual ins and outs of the patients and diseases that afflict them by volunteering, than by shadowing a doctor. Obviously, however, the combination of experience is best.
 
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Thanks Starlight, I have some interest in Psych, my grandmother was a psychologist( I know it's not the same, but eh..), and has some pretty interesting stories about her line of work. I probably won't shadow, but I still think I'll research it a bit.
 
Gamma Knife said:
Thanks Starlight, I have some interest in Psych, my grandmother was a psychologist( I know it's not the same, but eh..), and has some pretty interesting stories about her line of work. I probably won't shadow, but I still think I'll research it a bit.
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No problem.

Psychiatry is a passion of mine, and that comes from both interest/fascination and knowing many who have walked through it as patients. No two patients are alike, and those with the same diagnosis can - and will - present completely differently. It can also be incredibly intensive. Though many/most psychiatrists have gone to only or primarily doing 15 minute medication checks (managed care = awful), many still choose to do the combination of medication and 45-minute therapy. Volunteering with these patients has truly been an amazing experience, on so many fronts.

And the idea of doing research sounds awesome, especially now (a lot of interesting stuff is coming out). Let us know if you get involved with any.
 
Starlightembers said:
And the idea of doing research sounds awesome, especially now (a lot of interesting stuff is coming out). Let us know if you get involved with any.
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I've always been interested in personalities (Myers Briggs) and intelligence type things. Personally, If I could do my own social science research, It would be how different personality types react in different social/environmental situations.
 
Gamma Knife said:
I've always been interested in personalities (Myers Briggs) and intelligence type things. Personally, If I could do my own social science research, It would be how different personality types react in different social/environmental situations.
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Personality theory is fascinating, and Myers Briggs has been the most accurate I have found.

Opportunities will always be more or less limited in undergraduate; however, you are also hoping to go to Princeton, correct? If you are accepted, their senior thesis requirement may offer that opportunity (my school has the same undergraduate requirement). Either way, if you end up pursuing that to any extent, that would incredibly, incredibly interesting.
 
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I'm going to have a good day with my SAT's. 670 for critical reading, 620 for math, and 670 for writing. That's a total of 1960, and it's 251 points beyond the average accepted score for my top choice. :soexcited:
 
Congrats. I did really bad my first time around. But I bought the official study guide for the SAT and plan on reading through that over the summer and taking the practice tests inside to hopefully help me improve drastically. I'm shooting for a 2000 but I'd be satisfied with an 1850+.
 
I used the Barron's book, and it was pretty helpful. I think you'll do fine when you retake the test. Good luck!
 
Congrats on your score AHMD, 4 more days until ACT. +pity+

That would be an interesting thesis idea, but I'm not sure what I'm going to major in. If I majored in something like sociology or psychology, I'd probably do something along those lines. If I majored in Chemistry or physics, my thesis would probably look a little different. I'm pretty sure most students that have a senior thesis requirement tailor their thesis to their major.
 
AntiHouseMD said:
I'm going to have a good day with my SAT's. 670 for critical reading, 620 for math, and 670 for writing. That's a total of 1960, and it's 251 points beyond the average accepted score for my top choice. :soexcited:
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Congrats!! :thumbup: That's great!
 
Gamma Knife said:
That would be an interesting thesis idea, but I'm not sure what I'm going to major in. If I majored in something like sociology or psychology, I'd probably do something along those lines. If I majored in Chemistry or physics, my thesis would probably look a little different. I'm pretty sure most students that have a senior thesis requirement tailor their thesis to their major.
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That is true. I know that the way my schools runs it is that you have to complete a senior thesis for each major you take on (if somebody double majored, they would have to complete one for each) and it, therefore, must be related to that major. I am unsure as to what I am going to major in, as well. Right now, I'm debating between Psychology (clinical, counseling or neuroscience focus/track), Human Rights (focusing on human rights violations in mental health treatment or health care in general, undecided if I would focus nationally or internationally), or Biology (Global Public Health Concentration). I am lucky in that I would not have to choose until the end of my sophomore year at the college.

Is there any specific major that you leaning towards more than others, or is still pretty much undecided?
 
Starlightembers said:
Is there any specific major that you leaning towards more than others, or is still pretty much undecided?
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I'm leaning towards Physics, it's a pretty diverse major, and I really liked my HS physics class (even though the teacher was terrible). I really liked the higher level physics talks (quantum mechanics and relativity), and it has applications in almost any science related field.

Second would probably be chemistry. I had a teacher who was kind of forced to be terrible (people seem to either be really really good at chem or really really bad at chem, so the class was rather slow). Nevertheless, I found the class to be interesting, and our teacher had great things to say about AP chem, so I'll see how that goes.

Third would probably be psych. Like I said I'm really interested in personality theory, and would have loved to take psychology in HS, but I really have no room for it...

Fourth would be engineering. I't seems interesting but there are no classes to compare it to at least in my HS, and it's a huge GPA killer, so unless I take an intro class and fall completely in love with it, then I probably won't pursue it.
 
Need an opinion from you guys. Would it be worth it for me to retake the SAT's in the fall? I think that my score of 1960 is fine, but my parents told me that I should retake it. I just want to get some outside opinions from those who've been through the process.
 
AntiHouseMD said:
Need an opinion from you guys. Would it be worth it for me to retake the SAT's in the fall? I think that my score of 1960 is fine, but my parents told me that I should retake it. I just want to get some outside opinions from those who've been through the process.
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Definetly re-take if you can spare the cash. I jumped 100 points by doing a retake (I didn't prep for the first one at all though, so if you prepped you may not see such a dramatic jump. Nice math score! I gotcha on Crit reading though ;) (overall you're still higher :thumbup:)
 
AntiHouseMD said:
Need an opinion from you guys. Would it be worth it for me to retake the SAT's in the fall? I think that my score of 1960 is fine, but my parents told me that I should retake it. I just want to get some outside opinions from those who've been through the process.
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You said you scored 251 points higher than the average of your top choice so it's really up to you but I don't know if it's necessary or not. Do you have any reach schools you were looking at and wanted to apply to? If so, then it may be worth retaking it. Talk to the admissions office at that school and see where you stand.
 
You may also want to see what the minimum SAT score is for scholarships at the school(s) you are applying to, it could be worth taking it again for that as well. That's the primary reason I took the ACT again.
 
That didn't even come to mind. That's a really good tip. I personally havn't done as much homework as I should on scholarships and requirements.
 
What are the cut-off scores for your in-state school's regent scholarships? Is it generally the same for all schools (30+, SAT equivalent)?
 
Yeah I have to agree with everyone else, I personally got a 1920 so great score, but if you're only 40 points away from a scholarship then consider retaking. As for me, I think I'll just focus on the ACT because once you get past the time restrictions, it's an easier test. If there's no scholarship however, then I would just stop with the 1960, SAT's are too cumbersome to retake just for the heck of it.
 
Thanks for the help so far. At my top-choice, the description for the largest scholarship reads "B+ average in a college preparatory high school curriculum. Students who do not wish to submit test scores should understand that they will be competing with other applicants who do submit test scores that are minimally 1800 combined from all three test areas." It's a test-optional school, so I'm debating whether my score is adequate or should be somewhat larger.

At my second choice, the minimum for their scholarship is a 1200 from math and critical reading, which I meet.

Someone told me that I should retake it in case I don't get into my top choice, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me since I meet my top choice's score requirement.

Thanks for the advice so far. Apologies for taking up the hSDN thread with this. It has helped me with this.
 
No problem, it's kind of a like a getting ready for college thread anyways. I should probably start looking at scholarships. Unfortunately, there are not many Out of State scholarships at most schools.
 
I spoke with a local vet who went to Cornell for both UG and vet school, and she re-interested me in Cornell. I'm thinking about throwing in an application, but I don't think I'd get accepted. Are any of you familiar with Cornell?
 
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