How did you're fall semester go?

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Depends on how my finals turn out. They are all worth ridiculous portions of the final grade this semester so all my hard work could be undone in three hours. This was so stressful I didn't study yesterday for three hours because I was just laying on the floor calculating the possible outcomes. It was just a way to avoid doing work because I was (am) afraid to fail. Woke up early to study all day today tho.
 
Bio 211 the one I thought I got (would get) a C in my first semester back. Turns out I'm probably going to end up with a B- or B. I think I learned my lesson. (Also, I realized that part of the reason my grade was so low was because I was getting a 0 on the participation points worth a ton in this class, by virtue of not going in the middle of the semester. It's like I failed, got a 0 on, a test & a half.) After being out of school for so long I can see why I was advised not to take the 21 credit hours I was going to. I had to relearn study habits and create new ones.
 
Did enjoy biochem and my psych classes were super fun. Got to directly assist in a few surgeries and became a staff member at the clinic where I volunteer. Tutoring HS students was a joy. Excited about physiological psych and doing wind symphony again in the spring.

@Lucca, high stakes finals make no sense whatsoever. I've had a few classes in my time where the final was worth >70% of the grade. What's the point?

EDIT: Final grades back. Straight As!! Woot!
 
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J Senpai said:
Did enjoy biochem and my psych classes were super fun. Got to directly assist in a few surgeries and became a staff member at the clinic where I volunteer. Tutoring HS students was a joy. Excited about physiological psych and doing wind symphony again in the spring.

@Lucca, high stakes finals make no sense whatsoever. I've had a few classes in my time where the final was worth >70% of the grade. What's the point?
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It's really very pointless. I like finals (in spirit, I hate actually studying for them and doing them) because they punish binging and dumping and it's nice to feel that you learned a lot in a semester (or terrifying that you didn't) but idk why some profs want finals to essentially be a game of Russian roulette
 
JTMD said:
Since most people are finishing up or already finished with the fall semester how did it fare for you?
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This semester was more annoying than anything. Annoying classes, annoying roommates, annoying campus food, annoying leadership commitments, annoying mcat studying, annoying amounts of burn out, annoying that the girl I like is taken, the list keeps going on.

So basically I was/am/will be annoyed until I dominate this mcat. Because that annoying exam has been ruining (and running) my life for months. And now I'm annoyed that I used this word so much that I'm starting to laugh since it sounds funny to me now
 
Albino Dino said:
First semester of my undergrad went pretty well... SO glad to have this break though. I just had basic first year classes
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The first winter break of college is like finding an oasis in the desert and knowing that you will always have that oasis whenever your in that desert.
 
TexasSurgeon said:
This semester was more annoying than anything. Annoying classes, annoying roommates, annoying campus food, annoying leadership commitments, annoying mcat studying, annoying amounts of burn out, annoying that the girl I like is taken, the list keeps going on.

So basically I was/am/will be annoyed until I dominate this mcat. Because that annoying exam has been ruining (and running) my life for months. And now I'm annoyed that I used this word so much that I'm starting to laugh since it sounds funny to me now
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I know most of these feels /hug.
 
TexasSurgeon said:
This semester was more annoying than anything. Annoying classes, annoying roommates, annoying campus food, annoying leadership commitments, annoying mcat studying, annoying amounts of burn out, annoying that the girl I like is taken, the list keeps going on.

So basically I was/am/will be annoyed until I dominate this mcat. Because that annoying exam has been ruining (and running) my life for months. And now I'm annoyed that I used this word so much that I'm starting to laugh since it sounds funny to me now
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Hugsies. Hang in there, bud.
 
I'm in the middle of finals, but I should be getting a 4.0 this semester! Those are so rare!
 
Pretty good, I procrastinated a bit with Physics so I bet I could have avoided a lot of silly mistakes, oh well.
 
Pretty good, got ~3.9 (highest yet) with the max number of credits. Definitely glad it's over
 
It was fun, super chill since I don't have to worry about acceptance anymore, and I liked most of my classes. I may have pulled a 4.0 for just the second time in my undergraduate career.

A nice long break never hurt anyone, though.
 
Anyone on the border between grades? Monday (grades) cannot come fast enough so I can just know and move on lol.
 
Kochanie said:
Anyone on the border between grades?
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No.

Ricky-Gervais-Hysterical-Laughter.gif
 
Kochanie said:
Anyone on the border between grades? Monday (grades) cannot come fast enough so I can just know and move on lol.
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The worst apart about undergrad for me is checking my grade when I'm near the border. Am I the only one who has severe heart palpitations when I go to check and then wait for it to load? Rationally I know it's just one grade and not a huge deal but physically it's terrible.
 
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freemontie said:
The worst apart about undergrad for me is checking my grade when I'm near the border. Am I the only one who has severe heart palpitations when I go to check and then wait for it to load? Rationally I now it's just one grade and not a huge deal but physically it's terrible.
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I use to be that way, but simply accepted the fact that I'm wasn't perfect and realized it was still possible to counter less than stellar grades with other parts of the application.
 
Biochem and A&P finals Monday. Freaking out, especially for biochem. Just don't feel prepared enough 🙁
 
J Senpai said:
What did y'all cover last in biochem?
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We had kind of a mish-mosh of topics for the final few weeks... drug development strategies, nitrogen metabolism, basic immunology biochem, photosynthesis...

I'm just in the survey course, by the way, but it's cumulative and there's just so much to know. The pace was quick! I should be sleeping, but I just wanted a couple hours of (awake) down time.

I'll get this emoticon out of the way so I sound like less of a serious whiner: +pity+

On the bright side, it'll be break soon! :claps:
 
AspiringERMD said:
We had kind of a mish-mosh of topics for the final few weeks... drug development strategies, nitrogen metabolism, basic immunology biochem, photosynthesis...

I'm just in the survey course, by the way, but it's cumulative and there's just so much to know. The pace was quick! I should be sleeping, but I just wanted a couple hours of (awake) down time.

I'll get this emoticon out of the way so I sound like less of a serious whiner: +pity+

On the bright side, it'll be break soon! :claps:
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I guess that it's a survey course explains why we didn't get into any of that stuff, but it sounds neat. We ended with lipid bilayers and membrane rafts along with all associated proteins. If I could give a hint, it would be to remember your thermodynamics basics and all the non-covalent interactions. "Hydrogen bonding" was a pretty safe go to answer all semester long!
 
J Senpai said:
I guess that it's a survey course explains why we didn't get into any of that stuff, but it sounds neat. We ended with lipid bilayers and membrane rafts along with all associated proteins. If I could give a hint, it would be to remember your thermodynamics basics and all the non-covalent interactions. "Hydrogen bonding" was a pretty safe go to answer all semester long!
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Thanks! Yep, sounds like we got a ton of breadth, but you got a great deal of depth. 🙂
 
Just finished Analytical chemistry lab last week. Seriously the WORST class I've ever taken, and am ecstatic that it's over. So far I've almost aced every exam and quiz in lecture, but there's a very good chance I'll get a B+ in the class because of the lab. I've said it all semester and I'll say it again, F*** ACHEM LAB.
 
Completely tanked my 3.65 I had coming out of Freshman year to a 3.37 by making a 2.7 this semester. Went into finals with a 3.2, which I was fine with given my circumstances of pledging alongside numerous other EC's, but then bombed two of them.

Disappointment and regret don't even do my emotions justice right now :lame::bang:
 
I just withdrew from this semester because of health issues...
 
Possibly my most stressful semester of undergrad. Took physical chem and quantum chem along with a couple classes for my minor and it wasn't a good combo. 9 interviews didn't help by missing almost 1/3 of lectures. Exhausted flying east coast-west coast, studying on planes, studying the schools, coming up with questions, studying for exams all intertwined, eating crap food out of airports. I can't imagine those who do 10+ interviews while still taking a full course load....

I thought that once I was accepted I would just relax and not care about grades anymore but that's totally not true :laugh: Still have finals this week I'm hoping to end up in the A- range.... it will be such a relief to have this fall over with!
 
Might finally have a 4.0 semester even though I took the two hardest upper-level bio classes at the same time. Everyone including my adviser (who teaches one of them) said I was crazy to take them both, but I knew I could pull it off. What a difference actually putting in effort makes. Too bad it took me 6 semesters to recognize that...

We'll see after finals though. Last one's tomorrow. We don't get our final grades until after New Year's though ugh.
 
Gen Bio 2 - organ anatomy/phys was awfully difficult with the terrible exams
Bio lab I was pretty easy, really liked the material
Orgo 2 was fun, a couple more questions right and i would've gotten an A
Orgo lab - hard, but kinda fun towards the end of it, the actual synthesis that you learn in orgo is nothing compared to how it's actually preformed
Physics 2 - lots of stressing out, but I think I did well overall
Physics 2 lab - ehh, didn't like the stuff, easy-ish I guess
Econ - pretty easy only cause it was intro
first semester of research was exciting. I loved being able to apply what I learned in bio into actual practice.
 
Time Table said:
Gen Bio 2 - organ anatomy/phys was awfully difficult with the terrible exams
Bio lab I was pretty easy, really liked the material
Orgo 2 was fun, a couple more questions right and i would've gotten an A
Orgo lab - hard, but kinda fun towards the end of it, the actual synthesis that you learn in orgo is nothing compared to how it's actually preformed
Physics 2 - lots of stressing out, but I think I did well overall
Physics 2 lab - ehh, didn't like the stuff, easy-ish I guess
Econ - pretty easy only cause it was intro
first semester of research was exciting. I loved being able to apply what I learned in bio into actual practice.
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You took 3 labs in one semester? Wow. When did you eat?
 
Best semester of college. I'm a 3rd year BME and didn't really take college seriously in the beginning or think about medicine so I tripped up a bit in some classes and finished freshman year with a 3.28 but I started to put in more effort sophomore year, took a slightly lighter course load to start repairing my GPA and then this semester, I maxed out my credits, taking organic chemistry I, two upper level BME courses and 2 humanities and I achieved my first 4.0 to pull my GPA up to a high 3.6!

Next up is the MCAT in January.
 
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Made all A's, studied for the mCat, shadowed, and continued my research. Then, police found some weed in my apartment after a they "smelled" some. My friend was smoking inside and am now being charged with possession. Not my weed and I havent smoked since highschool. Possibly the end of my medical career, very depressing.
 
Lucca said:
You took 3 labs in one semester? Wow. When did you eat?
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Tuesday and Thursdays were bad, 8:30-3 and 10-5 respectively. No time to eat meant I had to eat junk food in class while taking notes. 1-3 physics lab, 1-5 orgo lab. So damn time consuming. M/W/F weren't as bad because of only 2 classes: econ and orgo and bio lab on wednesdays. Bio, physics on tuesday/thursdays made them a huge pain. If I could do it over again, I really wouldn't change a thing. It was a helluva semester, 22 credits, but I was able to hang out with friends. I think the thing that really helped was my support group. I was never really down until this past week. 4 finals within 3 days, orgo physics on the same day, the night before, I was struggling. But, I got really close to a girl, which didn't work out, but it gave me a huge confidence boost which I rode on for 2 weeks. I'd say the stronger your bonds with your friends, the easier it is to get through tough times like what I went through. How did your semester go?
 
4.0, spent 60 hours last 7 days studying for finals. on top of working 20 hours and several volunteer gigs. We had a few a holes in one of my science classes who would ask 10000000x question each class. made us fall way behind shedule. The two midterms covered 5 chapters each, the final covered 12. hate people that talk too much.
 
MI3PEO said:
Made all A's, studied for the mCat, shadowed, and continued my research. Then, police found some weed in my apartment after a they "smelled" some. My friend was smoking inside and am now being charged with possession. Not my weed and I havent smoked since highschool. Possibly the end of my medical career, very depressing.
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doubt it. just explain it in app if needed.
 
Time Table said:
Tuesday and Thursdays were bad, 8:30-3 and 10-5 respectively. No time to eat meant I had to eat junk food in class while taking notes. 1-3 physics lab, 1-5 orgo lab. So damn time consuming. M/W/F weren't as bad because of only 2 classes: econ and orgo and bio lab on wednesdays. Bio, physics on tuesday/thursdays made them a huge pain. If I could do it over again, I really wouldn't change a thing. It was a helluva semester, 22 credits, but I was able to hang out with friends. I think the thing that really helped was my support group. I was never really down until this past week. 4 finals within 3 days, orgo physics on the same day, the night before, I was struggling. But, I got really close to a girl, which didn't work out, but it gave me a huge confidence boost which I rode on for 2 weeks. I'd say the stronger your bonds with your friends, the easier it is to get through tough times like what I went through. How did your semester go?
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Yah my freshman year I never had time to eat because of physics lab. I always had to be eating while the experiment was being explained. I found it rude but it was that or eat nothing from 8-5.

I just finished my finals. I am waiting on the grades now. Things are very borderline for me right now. On the one hand, if all of my finals go well I will have a 4.0 this semester. On the other hand, I could have a 3.3. Anywhere in between is also possible. I think I performed really well this semester and next semester is only going to be harder. The only thing that is stressing me out currently is how heavy the finals I took are and how difficult they were. They were both much harder than the semester exams.

In spite of that, I am moving research labs next semester. The new lab is working on projects closer to what I actually want to be doing. Im excited to start working there next semester.
 
Lucca said:
The only thing that is stressing me out currently is how heavy the finals I took are and how difficult they were. They were both much harder than the semester exams.

In spite of that, I am moving research labs next semester. The new lab is working on projects closer to what I actually want to be doing. Im excited to start working there next semester.
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What do you mean by "heavy finals?" And I have a question regarding changing labs. Do you think it's better to stick to a lab that you initially got into or change if you think it might be better somewhere else?
 
Time Table said:
What do you mean by "heavy finals?" And I have a question regarding changing labs. Do you think it's better to stick to a lab that you initially got into or change if you think it might be better somewhere else?
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I mean they are worth 40% of your total grade. They are "heavily" weighted. It really depends on how things are going in your lab and what your responsibilities are.

I learned a lot in my first lab and enjoyed my time there. My work resulted in a poster but the project I was working enough was not very "big" or "important" in the sense that the lab would really be invested in seeing it work out or not. That was the first reason I wanted to switch out, I wanted a more important project because I realized I very much enjoy research and want to be more serious about doing it - those bigger opportunities just weren't available in my first lab at my current education/skill level. I'd be tackling problems that are way above my pay grade or ones that I have outgrown in my time there (run simulation, interpret data). Before my first lab I didn't know anything about research. Now I have a strong enough skill set that I can move on to something else. Second, it was the types of projects. My new lab will continue to be in the department of Biochemistry but will be more closely oriented with the life sciences (my last lab was more oriented towards energy and materials).

It is very hard to say what is better without being you. The first thing I did was have an open conversation with my PI about my opportunities in the lab going forward. When it became clear that they were limited, I told the Pi the kind of problems I wanted to work on (protein interaction, computational + experimental mix but more computational) and he gave me the names of some of his colleagues that were working on similar projects. I met with a couple and made a decision based on some offers. The transition process was a lot more painless than I originally thought. If there are opportunities for advancement in your lab, you like the people and your Pi, you like the work, and everything seems to be going well then I see no reason to switch.

I definitely wouldn't switch just for the sake of switching, an if I didn't end up liking research I would've quit this semester.
 
Pretty good......could be better, but certainly could have been worse: 3.66 for the quarter, got to be a Teacher's Assistant for a laboratory, and I volunteered a bunch. I ended up with a B+ in Physics........and I wanted an A-. Oh well.
 
TexasSurgeon said:
This semester was more annoying than anything. Annoying classes, annoying roommates, annoying campus food, annoying leadership commitments, annoying mcat studying, annoying amounts of burn out, annoying that the girl I like is taken, the list keeps going on.

So basically I was/am/will be annoyed until I dominate this mcat. Because that annoying exam has been ruining (and running) my life for months. And now I'm annoyed that I used this word so much that I'm starting to laugh since it sounds funny to me now
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Dude, I hear you! I just found out the girl I've had a crush on for like 2 years got a boyfriend.........I'm pretty sad, but I'm hopeful that they'll breakup! :laugh:
 
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