The Under M1 Club: Come on in! part 01

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Hey Everyone! Thought I'de post a quick note before running off to study for my calc 2 and public speaking finals!

Skarebabe74- I'm sorry to hear about your chemistry test, but I'm sure that the next one will go really well for you!

Biodude-I hope that hospice is a great experience for you!(How can you get involved in it, because I'm really interested in the comfort and support aspect of patient care)

agent- good luck on that math final!

hrusky17-Welcome to the club!

Also I'm going to need to sign up for classes next year and would love any reccomendations as to what order to take the pre req's. Also are there are any philosophy and psychology majors in this club, cause I think that I'm going to double major (do you think that will be too much to take on with pre med classes?).

Thanks and best wishes to everyone!🙂


-ClaireBear
 
ClaireBear -- Yeah IMO that would be a lot since the pre-med courses would not be included in either of those majors, it'd be enough to push some ppl into a 5th year.

I've heard of ppl double majoring in Chem or Bio and Philosophy or Psych and Chem or Bio, but not two non physical science majors.

I took a look at law and while it might be a good career to provide for the family, i dunno. Med just feels more right.
 
Agent - good luck with the math class. I'm sure you're glad it's winding up, though, eh? 🙂

Speaking of old bat professors who can't operate a computer - I had one last semester that was actually trying to teach an online course! It was a wreck - I think she just ended up giving all the students A's!

Biodude - I know that burned out feeling. At least the end (of the semester, anyway) is in sight now. I always get psyched up about starting new classes.. I'm such a nerd. :laugh:

Skater - how sweet of your Bf! I'm lucky if I can get my husband to turn down his !@#*& metal enough for me to think over it. They were right when they said marriage changes everything. :laugh:

I've already signed up for micro at night for the summer, but the opportunity has become available for me to take an EMT-B class at night instead, so I'm debating over that. Seems like it would be interesting... any advice, anybody?
 
Good luck with your final Agent!

I'm personally trying to decide if I'm going to go forward with my last chapter in Calc 1 and the final or just sign up for the summer class and concentrate on my other stuff. That last test that I was pretty confident I knew my stuff on I got a 63! I don't get it....I do the homework, get the homework, get all the practice problems I found, yet I can't do it on her tests for whatever reason...I think I'd have to get a high B or an A on the final to get a C and given my performance on her other tests just don't know if it's possible🙁

Thanks for the confidence Clairebear...course the next test is the ACS standardized final that has an average of 50%! lol....and with this lab paper I haven't had time to even start reviewing the stuff from last semester for it, but I'll have all this weekend (I hope) to concentrate on that.

I'm working on a psych minor in addition to my chem and bio double major. As far as doubling in psych or philosophy and a science it's certainly possible (but you may need to add a 5th year). Doing both psych and philosophy and premed prereqs I think may be too hard to fit into a reasonable length undergrad tho. However, that kind of depends if you plan on taking the minimum prereqs or if you want to fit in some of the upper division bios too. You could major in a science and minor in the 2 nonscience without a problem tho...I'm going to have almost enough credits to qualify for like 5 different minors (except I'll be missing a few required classes like the final writing class lit minors need to take) but then again I've been taking classes off and on for the last 10 years and already had my cores almost completely finished before starting my majors. As far as recommendations as to what classes to possibly take if you haven't taken the intro to philosophy or the general psychology classes that's of course where you'll need to start. After that I'd recommend the abnormal psych and biopsych classes and whatever else peaks your fancy.
This is really more something an advisor at your school could help with tho since every school has different requirements for double majors and stuff...

LOL Manna...yeah I'm constantly fighting to hear myself think over my next door neighbors metal/hip hop combos, but my bf is really wonderful about this whole thing. I'll start to miss him or whatever cuz I haven't seen him much between his work schedule and my school schedule and he'll be the one to tell me no I'm not coming over cuz you need to study...lol. As far as being married changing everything I don't think that part of his personality would change even if we were married. He got 2 degrees from UT and so knows what's it like thankfully 😀

Hm...micro or EMT-B...well I guess that kind of depends what kind of work opportunities you'll be looking for while finishing school. I wuold think having that class would open up some more opportunities for you than not having it, but if you're like me you'll be worried about making too much money and getting screwed by financial aid lol. As far as which would be more helpful for premed? I would think micro simply cuz there will more stuff from that class on the MCAT than from an EMT class so I'd probably choose micro. EMT sounds fun tho😛

Anyway, good luck this week all!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Thanks everyone.. im really upset right now cause I was under the belief we'd be moving into a house soon and I guess it fell through. I feel like I'm never going to get a house because while I make a decent wage (quite a bit more than most undergrads) in BOTH my f***cking jobs without my wife working, we just dont make enough to afford one.. its disgusting me.

Sorry for the rant.
 
Oh, I wasn't trying to imply... I think that came out all wrong. :laugh: Oh well... I wish my hubby was a college kinda guy. Nothing against all those blue-collars out there, but I find myself (shamefully) being sorta disappointed with the fact that he has no desire to go back to school whatsoever (unless it's to become a luthier).

Oh well - I'd have to take the micro anyway eventually, so it's just a choice I'll get to make this semester. Just thought, like you mentioned, that going thru the EMT course might open up some interesting volunteering opportunities, or maybe in the future a weekend/part-time tech job. No worries about fin aid, though, since those guys don't make any money to speak of around here (plus having two mouths to feed offsets the EFC a bit I think) :laugh:

Agent - Sorry to hear about the house thing. At least your wife is able to stay home with the kids while they're little, even if it means some sacrifices.... do you think she plans on going back to work once they're older (school age)? Are yall in an apartment now? We live in a trailer, and as much as I despise it, it's decent and cheap, so we're not planning on moving anytime soon.
 
We live in a nice 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment right now.

This was just a great opportunity and now im just all depressed. I dont even feel like studying for the math final..
 
Aw Agent - I'm sorry you didn't get the house, but I'm sure you will get one eventually. Just keep the big picture in mind...you want to be a doctor. Hopefully that'll give you a little motivation for your final, but I soo know how you feel. The house will come....I promise...maybe not as quickly as you'd wish but it'll happen 🙂

Manna - I wasn't trying to imply your hubby wasn't supportive in the least...just giving an example of what an awesome guy I have lol🙂

--Jessica, UCCS
 
Hey agent, I don't know what to say...I do hope that you'll get into a house in the future though. And I'm glad that you chose medicine over law...I really don't like lawyers all that much, though I do see their neccessity 😳

Did you all know that about 96% of all the world's lawyers live in the United States? I guess it shows how much people like to sue eachother here 😛

ClaireBear - how did I get involved in my hospice? Well...it's more of a "right place at the right time" kind of thing for me, but what I think that you should do is go and see where your local hospice is. Ask for their volunteer coordinator. They should have one. When I got involved in hospice, I had to go through several training sessions on patient care and proper methods to keep clean, you know, so that I don't accidentally stick myself with a contaminated needle or anything 🙄

Oh yeah, I don't know if you saw one of my posts beforehand, but I'd just like to say again that I'm getting a MINOR in PHILOSOPHY

There was a Psych major posting here several pages back, but I'm not quite sure where she is at the moment. I think that perhaps you may have to extend your pre-reqs for a bit, but it's only about 32 semester units of science courses...1 full yr of biology, 1 full yr of chemistry, 1 full year of organic chemistry, and 1 full yr of physics...you'll obviously have to take English 101 or have already taken it, but it might be a good idea to take a second semester of English writing (I know I am).

Here's my advice on pre-req's. Please keep in mind that it's based on my opinion of the difficulty of courses. Some people may find chemistry to be way easier than biology (I know I sure did), while others may find that the reverse is true. I don't know your strengths and weaknesses, so please take this advice with a grain of salt.

The order I would suggest is taking bio and chem at the same time...of course if you can't handle that, then I would take bio first ('cuz I love bio, can't you tell? 😀 ), then Chem, then either Organic Chem or Physics (I'd suggest Physics first, but I know some people who would take it after Organic)...I would advise you don't take Organic Chemistry with any other science course if you can help it, so that you can study hard and get A's in it. In any case, these are the basic courses required by just about every medical school. You're welcome to take more if you'd like.

Here's MY planned schedule of MY pre-reqs from now 'til the MCAT (this schedule does not include GE's or classes for my Philosophy minor):

Fall 2003 - Cell Biology (5 units - 3 lecture, 2 lab), General Chem II (5 units - 3 lecture, 2 lab), Calculus (4 units) = 14 units

Spring 2004 - Genetics and Molecular Biology (5 units - 3 lecture, 2 lab), Advanced English Writing (3 units), Physics I (4 units - 3 lecture, 1 lab) = 12 units

Fall 2004 - Principles of Physiology and Ecology (it's one class) 5 units - 3 lecture, 2 lab, Organic Chemistry I (3 units), Physics II 4 units - 3 lecture, 1 lab (boy am I gonna hate this semester 😛 ) = 12 units

Of course, it's neccessary because next semester is...

Spring 2005 (MCAT time!) - Intermediate Molecular Biology (3 units), Organic Chemistry II (3 units lecture, 2 units lab), and then it starts gettin' fuzzy there...not quite sure what class to add to this list yet but I ain't gonna worry about that (it's a long ways away after all)

An alternative schedule would involve switching Organic I with English, and taking Organic II over the summer, but I ain't that hardcore...at my college, Advanced English writing is required by the beginning of junior year, because juniors have to take the English Writing Proficiency Exam in their fall semester...that's two big exams I gotta worry about when I hit junior level status, though of course I'll be worryin' about the MCAT more.

Philosophy major will make you stand out so much from the rest of us pre-meds...I wish I'd gotten a Philosophy major and Bio minor, but my school doesn't offer Biology minors. Oh well, my current course load is fine with me.

manna - LOL! A prof who was computer illiterate trying to teach an online class? That must've been really really bad! :laugh: I do hope that you're doing well and your little kiddies too.

Skaterbabe74 - ACS with an average of 50%? Oh man, thanks a lot for lettin' me know about that one! 😀 I have to take the ACS too, ya know...on the last week before the finals. Darn, I just hope that I score around 70% on that thing...that'll at least net me a B...speaking of Chemistry, I find more and more that it's uninteresting to me 😛

Well, I'm certainly glad that I chose the right major! Sure, it may not provide as many opportunities for work as a Chem degree, but I'm happy with bio. I got a test to study for tomorrow, Political Science. Easy as pie, too, I'll bet. It really doesn't take much of an effort for me to net an A or a B in that class.

Remember before when I ranted about how I wanted the semester to end? Well, now it seems like the semester is ending way to quickly for me! It's not neccessarily that I want to stay in this phase forever or anything. It's just that I feel like I have way way way too much work to do and not enough time to do it in. Darn, and I thought that my time management skills were excellent too!

A list of things to get done with (not including tests) before the semester is over:

1. Psychology - 7 page term paper worth 1/2 a mid-term/final exam (which is a lot more than a quiz)
2. English - 2 revised essays plus an in-class essay put inside of a portfolio. This will be worth as much as a final exam, and I'm already stressing out about it quite a bit.
3. Chemistry - about 4 more homework assignments to do for the rest of the semester, plus I have to do one more lab report...labs are becoming more fun than lectures, but it still sucks that I have to write elaborate reports on experiments...

List of tests and quizzes to do:

1. Psychology - 2 more quizzes and the final exam
2. Political Science - tomorrow's exam, another exam coming up in about 3 weeks, and the final exam (all worth the same amount - professor drops the lowest exam score so if I get A's on the next 2 exams I can ditch the final and get a zero on it)
3. English - English doesn't give out tests, and the portfolio (see above) is the "final exam" for this class
4. Chemistry - 1 test on Chapters 1 thru 9, the ACS standardized exam, and the final exam

Hmm...at least I know now WHAT I gotta do for the rest of the semester...now I gotta check on WHEN they're due! 😀

Current calculated grades for each class: Chemistry A-, Psychology B, Political Science A-/B+ (tomorrow's exam will be the tie-breaker), English B-

RANDOM NON-SEQUITOR THOUGHT

My birthday's on the same day as Tom Cruise's 😉

Last thing: I don't know what's going on, but apparently I'm not supposed to contact my patient anymore until my volunteer coordinator says it's ok to...this is quite typical for a hospice volunteer. It's very difficult to find a patient with whom to connect with, because there may be apprehension from the primary care giver, or perhaps the patient doesn't want a volunteer, or...well, there are a variety of reasons, and that's what all you prospective hospice people need to know before going into it. It's quite tough to actually be able to visit and connect with a patient. But I think that it is worth it.
 
Biodude - That 50% is for the year long final (Chem 1 and 2 together) so I'm sure it's slightly different for the 1/2 year test. Also, I don't know if your prof does this but at our school they take either your score or your ranked percentile (whichever is higher) and that will be your grade so if the average is 50% then a 70% would be in the 90th percentile and you'd have an easy A. At least that's how I'm praying it works lol 😀

Can y'all tell I'm taking my breaks on SDN lol....what can I say, it's a nice stress release when I'm getting bogged down 😀

My prereqs will actually all be done in the spring of '04, but my logic is that then in fall '04-spring '05 I can take Biochem, histology, and human metabolism all of which should be helpful for the MCAT

Thankfully, other than one week's worth of Calc homework (3 sections in the chapter), a 2 pg summary of a chem talk being given Wed, and my chem lab paper all of my "homework" is done for the semester. Both the Calc homework and the 2pg paper will be due at their finals so the only things I truly need to worry about this week are the Chem lab paper and my lab exam in A&P Wed, which is good since I still have notes to finish for A&P lecture and Abnormal Psych before their finals next Wed and Thurs 😀 . However, I'll be spending most of my time working through the ACS study guide and reworking problems from my chem book for that exam next Wed once I have my lab paper done.

Ok back to studying for me 😀

--Jessica, UCCS
 
Last night, I had another o-chem quiz. It was short, only ten questions and I think i did really well.

Schedules for fall and summer came out this week. I'll be taking Bio 1 this summer and then Physics 1 and Anatomy and Physiology 1 this fall. The only problem is that physics is offered 1 time--at night, and A&P is offered three times--twice in the afternoon and once the same time as physics. So it looks as though I may have to switch shifts at work (which I don't want to do because I lose the ability to work overtime--or pay $300 a credit to take physics at my alma mater. Well, I have to summer to decide what to do.

You guys won't see me post until next Monday, as I am off to Virginia Beach tonight!:clap: :clap: :clap: A much needed vacation--I can hardly wait, we are leaving tonight after work. This will probably be the LONGEST day ever.

agent, sorry you didn't get the house. I know how you feel. My wife has been on my case about purchasing a home for the last year. Luckily, I've been able to hold her off until I find out what med school I'll be attending. Anyway, no worries--when you are making a six figure salary as an attending and able to buy an estate, not a house, an estate--you'll forget all about this little blip on the radar. Keep your chin up!
 
Originally posted by CJ2Doc
agent, sorry you didn't get the house. I know how you feel. My wife has been on my case about purchasing a home for the last year. Luckily, I've been able to hold her off until I find out what med school I'll be attending. Anyway, no worries--when you are making a six figure salary as an attending and able to buy an estate, not a house, an estate--you'll forget all about this little blip on the radar. Keep your chin up!
Click to expand...

There still may be a possiblity that we may get it. Thanks everyone.
 
This is a test post. If you see it, it works, and you can ignore it and see my REAL post below.
 
Sorry everyone, but the last time I tried to post it became real screwy, and that's why I needed to do a "test post". Anyhow...

Skaterbabe74 - Hey, I hang out here quite often myself. I hope that the test will be graded like that for me 😛 I can't afford to get another bad test score, because my prof only drops one test.

CJ2Doc - hope ya have fun on your trip! Also...I do hope that you get the classes ya want instead of having to go through Organic again...

Okay, so I've just come back from my Political Science class and I guess I did ok on the test...not as well as I'm hoping, though.

English is next and man am I super-stressed about it because my lowest grade from any class so far is in English. I gotta go and pull it up!

Anyways I don't have much time so I'll try to keep it short (or type this really really fast).

Nothing new's goin' on with me, though I'm hoping to be able to complete my pre-reqs in the scheduled times that I set for my self.

Oh yeah, and I wanted to talk about how easy it is for Biology majors to get Chemistry minors at my school...I'm surprised that there aren't more Chem minors here, with how easy it is!

See the Biology major requires Gen Chem I and II, which counts for 10 units altogether. It also requires Organic I and II plus one semester of Organic Labs, which count for 8 units altogether. The Chemistry minor requires 24 altogether, with 10 units coming from Gen Chem I and II...so Bio majors only need 6 more units for the minor (10 + 8 = 18; 24 - 18 = 6)! I could just take an entire year of Biochemistry (3 units for each semester) and then boom, I'd have a Chemistry minor. Pretty simple stuff, huh? Too bad I ain't that interested in Chemistry, though it is real easy for me to snatch a minor in it.

I'd better go tell my fellow bio majors here who also have an interest in Chemistry but can't double-major.

Later everybody!
 
Does a minor even matter anymore?

I think its that easy to get a chem minor at most schools.

That reminds me I have to look at DePaul U today
 
Yay! I just thought I'd celebrate by posting my final grades for Winter 2003 semester.

Introductory Biology: Diversity--B+
Origins of Western Values: Medieval to Modern--B
Modern Art: American Sources--A-
Elementary French 2--A-

That leaves me w/ a 3.439 cumulative GPA. Needless to say I'm extremely happy considering I thought I was doing average (meaning B-/C range) in all my classes. Yay.

Well, after a whole week off of school, I get to start my summer biology class on Monday...grah it never ends! haha.

Good luck to everyone else on your finals!

-Niki-
 
Hey all~ Well today was relatively productive for me thankfully since I overslept again lol.

For my chem class we have to conduct a demo for the rest of class worth 25 pts. My partner and I are the last ones doing one on Friday so we did a run through of our two demos today. We're going to "melt" a polystyrene coffee cup in acetone (acetone breaks the bonds that keep polystyrene's shape), and burn sugar lol. The burning sugar one is actually the dehydration of sugar by sulfuric acid...you mix the sugar and sulfuric acid, carbon dioxide is released and the sucrose molecules expand and "grow" into a column. It's cool looking lol.

Then I turned in my summer and fall loan apps and got an "emergency" loan to cover some expenses before I get my loan check for the summer, bought a new mouse (my old was was extremely fickle), bought some light bulbs for the living room so I could actually type stuff on my computer at nite, registered for fall, and found out that 4 points were added to my last Chem test so I got a 76 instead of a 72 😀 . That's about equal with all my other exams so I feel much better about it now lol.

I got all my fall classes without any problem (boy does having senior status by credits help when registering for sophmore classes hehe). So in the fall I'll have Cell Bio (supposedly a prereq for most of the other bio classes, but it's really not), Research Methods for Biology (stats), Organic I + lab, and Physics for life sciences I + lab for a total of 16 credits and about 18 hours of in class time.

Biodude - We had sooooo many biology majors minoring in chemistry because of the ease...that's why they added in the double major for bio students. It works out to being one class more than a minor in chem and most don't have to add in any overloaded semesters or extra semesters to do it.

CJ2DOC - Congrats on your O-chem quiz, and have fun in Virginia Beach!!😎 $300/credit is a lot! That's a tough choice but at least you have a little while to decide...although I wouldn't wait too long for fear of losing a spot in those classes...

Agent - I don't know if minors "matter" to adcomms but I would think that minors become an easy way to show well-roundedness in a few different disciplines rather than just 1 or 2. Usually you end up having enough room to fit in a couple minors without too much trouble so if you're like me and have tons of interests you can take classes and have something on your degree that says you took these classes showing that you had at least some commitment to the material vs just taking a mishmosh of different classes...

What do you think of DePaul?

I've got my last A&P lab practical tomorrow over hormones and the reproductive systems so I've been reviewing the hormones off and on all day today lol. I'll spend some time with the diagrams in my lab manual as well tonite, but I'm hoping to make some real progress on my Chem lab paper...so far I've only gotten like 2 pages written lol. I'll probably be spending a lot of time on the computers at school tomorrow and Thursday since I can use things like ChemDraw and Excel there, and while I have a word processor and excel-type program on my home computer I don't know much about how to use them yet 😉

--Jessica, UCCS
 
Hey peeps, just thought that I'd drop in one more time before I go off for the day.

agent - Skaterbabe74's right about minors. They're for people who are interested in a field but don't neccessarily want to take all the classes required for the major. I mean, I was thinking about a double-major in Biology/Philosophy, but that would take 2 extra semesters, and that's assuming that I go FULL TIME (16+ units) without working at all! A Philosophy minor is much easier to complete in 4 years, considering the already huge courseload I've got for Biology. I'm not going for a Chem minor though. It just doesn't interest me enough.

Skaterbabe74 - hehe, that's quite interesting...strange that there aren't more Chem minors at my school. Also, I'm jealous of your senior status 😛 (if you remember my situation way back near the beginning of the thread, you'll understand). I hope that my summer classes will actually allow me to CHOOSE my classes this time. If I don't get the female prof for Cell Biology, I'm gonna take Cell Bio in the Spring of 2004...setting me back an entire semester, which will totally blow chunks. Speaking of Cell Bio, today I ran into someone else from my Bio class from last semester. He's taking Cell Bio with the male prof, and as soon as I told him that I couldn't get into Cell Bio this semester, he IMMEDIATELY told me NOT to take the male professor. Man, that prof has such a bad rep with these students! Oh yeah, what did your pre-med advisor have to say about your taking Organic Chem a year before MCAT's? 😀

LilSquirt1217 - NICE grades! I hope to be able to attain those grades as well (my semester will end at the end of May). Gettin' close to 3.5 there, the magic number! Also, I know how ya feel, it never ends...my summer school classes are gonna start on the Monday right after finals week! Plus, I was crazy enough to sign up for pretty much the entire summer session, so I'll be taking classes throughout the entire summer and have maybe 1 week of rest before Fall semester starts 😀

Long post over...no wait, I've got something else to say 🙂

After classes were over for the day, I found out 3 things:

1. The male cell bio prof sucks (well, ok, it's been said before but it was from a new guy)

2. My English class sucks. The students don't seem to be participating as much as they should! I sure do hope that I get at least a B in that class.

3. My activity TA for Chemistry just made my day by saying that the final for Chemistry is REALLY HARD. Thanks a lot Miss TA! 😡

So, in conclusion, Chemistry is sucking because it's becoming so hard and now I have 2 exams to NOT look forward to, English is sucking because of the speed with which I have to plow through my 3 "final" essays (like I said before, super-stress! They are due in on the Thursday before finals week), and I am 125% sure that I do not want to take the male Cell Bio professor.

That is all. 🙂
 
Woohoo - Wtg Lilsquirt...I can sooo totally relate to the whole not long enough break thing lol. This will be my second summer in a row, but I tend to break it up a bit by taking some online classes. I at least get 2 weeks inbetween, and I think 3 after the end of summer. Only one of my classes technically lasts all summer. The other only lasts a month, and my online class I can take up to a year to complete although I'm sure I'll finish it this summer.

Don't worry Biodude - just get online or on the phone or in line first thing once you're eligible to register. Besides taking summer classes will get your registration date moved up quick enough 😀 The other option if by some chance the female cell bio prof is full would be to try and be #1 on the waitlist...usually the first few will make it into any class (although I fully realize there is going to be a lot of competition for that class).

I actually never got a chance to go show it to him, but tomorrow the chemistry dept is having an advising session that I'm going to stop in on and who knows maybe he'll be there then. If not I'll just talk to the chem pre-health person (not the official premed advisor but from what my chem prof says this guy does a lot of the advising for the chem majors wanting to do premed).

That's always the problem with english comp classes lol. It's required for everyone and most hate the class so they just want it over with. As far as writing goes don't worry too much about your grade...it's all subjective anyway. My comp teachers didn't like my writing much, but my lit teacher loved it, and of course writing scientific papers is soooo different anyway.

As far as the chem tests....take a deep breath and relax lol. You've got a good grade going in so I'm sure you'll be fine (especially if you review well - I think 8 times out of 10 that's what makes the tests hard...students don't review the early stuff enough lol).

At the moment it looks like I'm looking at 2.75 cumm for the semester, but a 3.5 sci, but I'm hoping to bring the cumm up to a 3.0 or even a 3.25 depending on how I end up doing in abnormal psych and calc. Not really what I was hoping for, but at least it's an improvement over last semester lol🙂

Ok - back to my paper and reviewing😛
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Depaul is still an option since its going to be mcuh cheaper than NW.

Id rather go to NW. Congrats LIl squirt on your grades!
 
Hey there everyone! It's currently about 7:45 a.m. here, and I'm just typing away at a public college computer, as usual 😛

Skaterbabe74 - thanks for the encouragement. I guess you are right about that statistic...I didn't review for my last test because I understood just about nothing for it, so my grade was a 52...of course, that 52 was a lot higher than I expected to get.

As for English...it's "Beginning College Writing" and while I do like writing, I do not like the subjectivity of the grading. Besides, I'm gonna take Advanced College Writing later on, while my classmates in the Bio major are probably just gonna take the scientific writing class. Oh well, their loss...(ulterior motive for taking Advanced English Writing...my high school English teacher suggested this prof because he had her in college and knows how well she teaches; I smell another recommendation letter! 😀 )

For Cell Bio, there is definitely gonna be a lot of competition...I just hope that I can at least get into the time that I want (let's just say that it's hard to fit in two science courses, both of which have labs). Hmm, let's see here...by the end of this semester, I will have completed 29 units...I'd still be considered a freshman 🙁

But hopefully, I will have enough to be considered a sophomore by the time I register...man I was so mad last semester. Only got one stinkin' class that I wanted so I've had to resort to loading up on the GE's 'til now.

I wonder how few students the male cell bio prof is gonna have next semester? I hope it's very little (about 10 in a class that can hold 120) so that the Bio department finally realizes that he's better suited to teaching ADVANCED Cell Bio to students who are already familiar with it!

So you have pre-health advising for Chemistry majors at your school? Hmm...my school's only got one pre-health advisor, and he's a biology professor. That means anybody who's interested in bein' a doctor, dentist, optometrist, pharmacist, etc. only have a biology professor as an option, and from what I'm hearing, people are avoiding him. They have to ask me what he suggests (classes, volunteering, etc.) since those pre-health students don't see 'im! Well, I guess those people ain't gonna be takin' Immunology or Biology of Cancer (he's the ONLY professor who teaches these two courses)!

That's a pretty nice science GPA you've got there...it's gonna take me a while to get mine up to 3.5. My current science GPA is 2.0, my non-science 4.0, my cumulative 2.5...that's not including the community college course I took. Apparently, that's not included in my GPA at my university. After this semester, my non-science will drop, my science will go up and my cumulative will also go up, but that's assuming that I can pull the grades that I am getting right now! I'm looking at 3.19 cumulative, 2.71 science, 3.36 non-science. Of course, my non-science should go back up after my summer courses (since they are all non-science), and my science should go up after Fall semester (since they are all science or at least counted as science by AMCAS - I've heard that they count college math classes as science GPA) and my cumulative will go up no matter the classes 😀



agent - so what's with choosing Northwestern over De Paul, huh? Is it the reputation? Well, in any case, just be sure to be happy wherever you go, eh? 🙂

For my situation (as if it hasn't been discussed enough to Skaterbabe74 above) I have two lectures to attend today, I have some stuff I have to prepare for English tomorrow, and my dreaded chemistry lab is tomorrow. Well, dreaded may be too strong of a word, but I still get nervous and my chest still gets heavy whenever I walk up to the chemistry lab buildings...that'll be something to work on. Gosh, this week's passing by faster than I thought, and now that it's the last month of the semester, I am beginning to get really nervous regarding my finals. I sure do hope that I did well on that Political Science exam...and that I will do well on the next one, so that I can skip the final and spend more time reviewing for the Chemistry final (it's the day after my Political Science final) That sucks that the Chem final's gonna be worth all of the labs combined, while last semester in my biology class, all the labs had counted for 55% of the grade.

I also MUST DO WELL in my next Chem exam, my ACS, and my final in order to maintain the A in that class. My lab reports definitely drop my grade, and so do some of the homework assignments (mainly the ones I don't understand).

I dunno, I guess I'm thinking too far ahead here. But, then again...

I am still very frustrated with my lack of clinical experience. I hear about all these people and how they're working in a hospital (as a phlebotomist), or a doctor's office, or a pharmacy as a pharmacy tech (pre-PA, pre-med, and pre-pharm, respectively), and then I feel like I'm SOOOO behind on my clinical experience. Oh yeah, and did I mention that they're ALL FRESHMEN like me? Plus one dude's pre-dent, he's gonna be helpin' out at a dentist's office over the summer. I'm banging my head against the wall because my pre-med advisor and my doctor are saying "Focus on your grades right now, Biodude. You can save the volunteering until the summer." I can't just focus in on my grades and just stay out of volunteering, because now I feel behind on my clinical experience. 🙁

I really don't like saying "I'm pre-med" when I've got no clinical experience, because then I'm only "Type-A biology major who thinks he's pre-med" 😳

How many here think that sophomore summer (2004) is too late to start clinical experience if I plan on applying for the entering class of 2006?

I mean, well, I volunteer in a soup kitchen, and that allows me to be able to help the less fortunate. But what I really want to do is work in a hospital, and actually get to do some hands-on stuff, like taking vital signs, etc. Unfortunately, I have to wait until the summer of my sophomore year (due to ROP class preparation beforehand), and with so many other pre-medders already volunteering and working in these areas, I feel behind!

Well, that's my rant.
 
Today was great! I aced my psych, and Calc tests, and as a result of that I can fail my finals in both those classes and get an A (makes the 2 all nighters I pulled worth it), this is good because I need to get an A in my chem, and physics finals to ace those classes.

Bio dude are those 29 units of yours quarter or semester units? I to have heard tht AMCAS counts math as a science, IM hoping they do, because in all likelyhood ill end up getting a B in Chem 2 so my calc grade would softend the blow on my sci gpa....
 
I keep getting logged off...🙄 .Can't even remember the post I typed.
Anyway,I am patiently waiting for all my financial aid.I hav resigned myself to taking out a loan if need be-but only as a last resort.Are the ugrad loans attached to the medschool loans? After being here so long I should know the answer....😳
 
Bioduse,no I don't think that is too late to volunteer.i won't volunteer until next summer.(Of course I am appling for a research position and going to summer school too..😀 ) that is if I finish these 16 hours of science by then.I should tho,so we'll see.
Skaterbabe are you post-bac?
Sorry about the house agent.Hopefully it will all work out in the end.😉
Good work on the tests Valinor!!
To all,keep those gpa's up.:clap:
 
Hey all 🙂

Biodude - The chemistry pre-health advisor isn't a "real" pre-med advisor....that's the Bio teach that I have for A&P and who just about everyone avoids too (especially if you're a female or nontrad). I wonder if that's a prereq for being a premed advisor?!? lol. Dr. Shoffstall is the chair of the chemistry department and the person a lot of the chem majors doing premed talk to, but I showed him, my current Chem prof, and a language, arts, and sciences advisor the plan I have laid out and all said it looked good so that's what I'm going to go with. I may still change things here and there like I've thought about taking tumor bio but would have to cut out one of the exercise science/kinesiology classes I'd like to take to fit it in so we'll see...

The 3.5 science gpa would only be for this semester, taking into account my cumm science it should be around a 3.0 but that's not counting my calculus at all right now...that totally drags it down. And it's not counting any of my community college science credits either (Bio I and II, and an intro to genetics lower division class). It would still be ~3.0 tho I think...it's been sooo long since I took some of the bio that I don't remember my grades off hand lol.

It's definitely not too late to be "starting" hospital volunteering. Heck you have more experience then I do by far already and you're still a major young'un lol (not that you act like one at all). I did some hospital volunteering in high school, but other than that I really don't have any "medical related" experience or research yet either. I intend to get my CPR certification in June and then start volunteering at the hospital and finding docs to shadow....just keep remembering that your school isn't exactly the "typical" premed environment. You get a lot more of the gung-ho "I've already done all this" type of premed students then most of the rest of us do. You are definitely NOT behind tho!

2badr - How do you mean attached to med school loans? If you mean will you get to wait on paying them off then yes they are....if you mean will they get added into your total amount that you are able to borrow for med school then no they won't...

No, I'm still working on my first degree, but I had 95 credits going into this semester thanks to my taking classes off and on most of the last 10 years since graduating high school. (I accomplished about a year and a half worth of credits between 6 and 10 years ago, and another year of credits partially 5 years ago, and the year prior to this). I really didn't have enough in anything to come close to having the requirements for a major tho, but I do have almost all my core classes out of the way (plus some lol). The only things left that I'll have to take for my core stuff is a 300-level humanities prefix course, and an oral comm class for which we have a wide variety of choices so I'll take one of the lit options available...I don't intend to graduate until 2006 although I could cut stuff out and manage to graduate in 2005 if I really wanted to, but I'd rather not be taking Analytical Chem, Molecular Biology/Genetics, Biochem, and my Senior Seminar all at once along with the MCATs lol so I spread things out, added in more electives that I want to take and will have Molecular Bio/Genetics and Senior Seminar in 2005-2006. I'll definitely be over the 200 credit mark by the time I graduate lol...but this is also really the first time I've attempted and accomplished full loads in those 10 years.

Woohoo! Wtg Valinor! Wanna come take my calc final for me lol...maybe then I'll actually get a C in the class! It's not that I'm not getting it, cuz I am....I can totally explain what I need to do to answer a problem to someone else, and do the homework, but then it all gets messed up on the tests or she wants us to simplify further down than I do, or I make some stupid mistake in the simplifying and lose points that way. I am soooo fed up at this point!

I think my A&P lab exam went pretty well. I think I'll end up with a B on this one which will help solidify my B in the class🙂

I'm off to try and make some real progress on my chem paper (so far I have a page and a half of excel graphs, and about 2 1/2 pages typed but I still have a long way to go). I always write my papers like that tho. Regardless of how much time I'm given to write something I do most of my writing in the couple days before it's due lol. I brainstorm better those last couple days for whatever reason 😛

C ya everyone!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Skaterbabe74: It's not that I'm not getting it, cuz I am....I can totally explain what I need to do to answer a problem to someone else, and do the homework, but then it all gets messed up on the tests or she wants us to simplify further down than I do, or I make some stupid mistake in the simplifying and lose points that way. I am soooo fed up at this point!

I also find the hardest part is to actually simplify down and do the algebra, that and those incredibly difficult proofs...........😡

2badr- I hope you get that research position! I can't wait till i get the opportunity; unfortunetely this summer I'll be stuck in summer schools taking Eng and US history ( Stupid IGETC 🙄 ) so I'll be doing some heavy volunteering though it would have been cool to do a summer program. Oh well............working at the Bethany center will at least be fun.
 
Hey everyone, daily update on me:

Today's been an okay day so far. I do have Chemistry lab to look for, though, and well, like I said before, I seem to have an aversion to it. Here's the run-down for next week:

Chemistry - Homework due on Monday, 4th exam on Wednesday (and it's not cumulative, either! My Chem prof lied at the beginning of the semester! He said that ALL the tests were cumulative :laugh:) So, hopefully I'll ace this test and stabilize my grade.

English - Tuesday, I have to start on my in-class essay (my "final" for the class)...not so sure about Thursday though

Political Science - my current grade in this class is a B after Tuesday's test. Looks like I'm gonna have to take the final in order to get an A 🙁

Psychology - I still haven't started on my research paper yet. I have my next quiz next week.

Sorry about the rant before, but well, I really don't like to focus so much on studying when what I really really wanna do is help people. But, after the results of last semester (Fall 2002), I realize that I'm going to have to do like my pre-med advisor suggests: major volunteer work in the summer, major studying in the Fall and Spring. That's neccessary to keep my GPA strong, but I really wish I could volunteer more and actually dive right in with clinical experience. Heck, I haven't even gotten certification in CPR or First Aid yet, so I feel pretty embarrassed when I can't help someone who's hurt or can't breathe.

Thanks for the responses though. I must really have sounded like one of those "anal pre-med" types who want 4.0 GPA's, 45 MCAT's, and impeccable volunteering in addition to membership in Honor Societies. I apologize again for that outburst. Normally, I'm not like that, but well, whenever my mom asks why I haven't found work yet, I explain that I want to work in a clinic or a hospital and things start to get real messy.

Valinor - 29 units are semester units. At Cal State Fullerton, 30 semester units are enough to be considered a sophomore. 29 you're still considered to be a freshman. 60 for junior and 90 for senior. I'll have 92 units completed by the second semester of my junior year, assuming that everything goes according to my schedule, so I'll technically be a senior, even though I would still consider myself to be a junior (what with taking the MCAT and all).

Oh yeah, and congrats on your Psych and Calc tests! I wish I had that luxury so that I could study hardcore for my Chem final. I could have had it with Political Science, but well, my grade from Tuesday's exam won't allow it. I think that AMCAS counts math as science GPA...I'd have to go find the thread on SDN that states this, though.

Oh yeah, and I know this is off-topic, but since you are a CA resident, Valinor, have you been keeping up with the news?
Arnold Schwarzenegger ("The Terminator" "Conan" etc.) is planning to run for governor of California! LOL! :laugh: What would be really funny is if he got elected, like Jesse "The Body" Ventura did in Minessota!

2badr - research, eh? 😀 I think that I can start on research in January 2004 (the required classes for helping the science PhD's here include G. Chem I and II), but I would only be able to participate in Cell Biology research. I'm more interested in Genetics, so I'll probably be in the same boat as you (I can't take Genetics and Molecular Biology until after the Cell Biology class) and start helping in research over the summer.

Skaterbabe74 - Thanks for letting me know that. While the pre-meds at my school may be "gung-ho" in that aspect, they are actually quite nice and not gunners (well, except maybe that girl who punched me in the arm in Chemistry lecture yesterday after I told her my current grade in the class... 😀 )

On the other hand, those people going into clinical experience are getting worse grades than I am...probably because they spend so much time doing it and not enough focusing on classes? Darn, that's rough!

I certainly hope that whichever medical school I end up in, that I can get patient contact spaced throughout all 4 years or I am going to be one very unhappy camper.

Oh yeah, and if I was in your situation, I'd go to the Chem "pre-health" advisor, too! Avoid the actual pre-med advisor? Especially if you are female or non-trad? You're both, LOL :laugh:

I'd definitely be running for the hills if that were the case.


So, to close up this post, I would say that I'm doing fine. I'd like to be able to actually finish up on my stuff efficiently and well so that my grades this semester are a true reflection of how well I can do if I concentrate and work hard. Not like last semester where I fooled around and just barely got a C in Bio class (it was harder than I initially expected).
 
Hey all - Well I made some good progress on my chem paper last nite. I have my experimental (instruments and procedures) all written, and almost half of my results/discussion section leaving only the rest of that, my intro, conclusion, and table of contents. Shouldn't be too hard to finish it and type it today, and then tomorrow I have to get the rest of my data copied and condensed onto a couple sheets and turn it in by 4 😀. Nothing like waiting til the last minute huh? lol...but I always do that.

I also found out that the chem dept is trying to convince scheduling to allow for another O chem lab for majors that doesn't conflict with cell bio so those of us doing the double major can actually take the class where we truly get to use all the equipment rather than just hear about it all. The difference between the labs is the one for majors has two full days of lab, whereas the one for nonmajors has one lab and one short lecture talking about the subject. I'd much rather be working hands-on 2 days a week, then one and being told all about the stuff on the other day! Unfortunately the state has cut the budget for the coming year by 25-30% so they don't know if they convince budgeting or not....I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they do! lol.

No Biodude you did not sound like one of those "anal Premed" types....I can totally relate. I'd much rather be out volunteering my wazoo off but I know I need the grades even more right now so that's what I'm doing. The other stuff will come...

I'm actually not at all surprised that Arnold Schwartzenegger is running for governor. He's always been interested in politics and a die-hard republican forever. I'm surprised it took him sooo long to run lol.

What areas you can do research in is dependent on the classes you've taken Biodude? That totally sucks! Here they kind of want you to have some knowledge of the topic, but you don't have to have studied it already. You just need to know the prof and be able to convince them that you're really interested, and if they have room and like you they let you onto their team 🙂 I just haven't met any of the biology teachers yet (other than my A&P prof/premed advisor) cuz I haven't taken any classes yet). That's the cool thing I've noticed about the chem dept here, and why I've been soo drawn to them since getting here. They are really tight-knit. They know just about everyone, and have tons of get togethers and stuff, plus thanks to my honors class every tenured/research prof in the dept came and gave a talk about their research or at least their "branch" of chem so while they may not all know my name yet they at least recognize me and are able to say hello.

Your Chem prof didn't completely "lie" about tests being cummulative. If you think about it just about every test will use techniques learned in previous material, just not quite in the same way lol. While the actual material tested may not be cummulative, chemistry definitely is.....i still can't believe how many times I've had to relook up how to do a limiting reactant for my lab this semester lol.

Anyway, back to my paper for awhile...hope everyone has a good day! 😀

--Jessica, UCCS
 
LOL! arnold's got my vote! any of you guys ever seen "Pumping Iron"? it's such a cool movie!
 
Hi all.Glad to see that everybody is wrapping school up..that is until we hit summer school! 😉
The research "position" is one of those 6-8 week programs for undergrads.It is not vey easy to get into since a lot of students apply to this program.I am looking into 3 various programs for the summer (2004).I just want to finish up the science classes so I can add that to my application. The first apps have to be in by Dec. of this year.
The only problem is that I was suppose to shadow our FP for 2 months so the program(s) may overlap.I would really hate to not shadow since my Mom has already told the FP I would be there...so I guess I will have to wait it all out.We'll see.🙂
 
mean, well, I volunteer in a soup kitchen, and that allows me to be able to help the less fortunate. But what I really want to do is work in a hospital, and actually get to do some hands-on stuff, like taking vital signs, etc. Unfortunately, I have to wait until the summer of my sophomore year (due to ROP class preparation beforehand), and with so many other pre-medders already volunteering and working in these areas, I feel behind!


Hey Bio dude don't worry I think voluntering in your sophmore year because say it never too late to start. I just finished my freshman year an the only voluntering I have done is to soup kitchen not very often since it was in after when all my clases start. Here in madrid,spain at SLU madrid Campus there not much to do, The voluntering coordinator had couple of ideas which in the end didn't turn out.
By the way what are going to dos this summer? I just going take english called advanced strategies and retoric.
🙂 🙂 🙂
How's everybody I read that most of you finished of your final. today I just finish mine : today had History I and General Physiology. So I just so Happy.
Have nice summer holiday,


:clap: :laugh: 🙂
 
Good morning, everybody. 🙂

I'm having a bad week... and I guess I'm going to start being even more of a lurker on this thread, since I won't have anything meaningful to contribute....

I've found out in the past few days that the debt I owe to the state university (only 4 year school within 90 miles of me)... I thought we were going to be able to settle it with them, but they're not willing to budge an inch. I'm thinking of trying to appeal to the university controller's office, but not sure if it'd do any good or even if I could get an appointment with such a hot shot.

So looks like I'm going to be paying this bill for the next 6 or so years, and of course.. I can't get my degree until I can get back in school there, and I can't get back in school there until this is cleared up.

How depressing.

Anyone who would, I could sure use some positive thoughts sent my way about this whole thing. It's been a very discouraging few days around here...

Hope everyone has a fabulous summer.
 
Hey all,

boy, this semester is passin' by so quickly. I can't believe that it's Friday again! Last Friday felt just like yesterday...

Okay, so an update on my current situation:

I have Chemistry lecture today and Psych lecture today. Psych lecture doesn't help much except to give out answers to some of our study questions.


Skaterbabe74 - Well, at my school, students are required to have some knowledge of the research subject beforehand. I asked my pre-med advisor about it, and he told me that it would be a good idea to wait until the summer of my sophomore year to do research since I'm a genetics type of guy, and it would be a good idea to take Genetics and Molecular Biology before going into genetics research. Students interested in research also have to have some experience in the lab (G. Chem I and II) before they can sign up for it.

But then again, I don't need to take Genetics and Molecular Biology in order to help my pre-med advisor in his research (he's an Immunologist - PhD in Immunology from NYU, post-doc at Harvard Medical School). All that's required is Cell Biology, G. Chem I and G. Chem II. He uses rats in his experiments. I do feel sorry for the lab rats that he's using, because the students who help him out have to kill them and bury them when he's done experimenting with them.

Oh yeah, and I do hope that you do well on your Chemistry assignment! 😉

Valinor - I haven't seen Pumping Iron, but then again, are you a registered Republican? Arnie's a Republican, so Democrats aren't gonna like him much...

As for me, I'm registered "Decline to state" as in I will vote for whichever candidate sounds like the most able to run the government, regardless of political party.

minx - dude, I hope you are havin' fun. I still haven't taken my finals yet. 🙂

2badr - Hmm...I think that things will work out in the end for you. I can also totally understand why so many students apply though. After all, when you major in a science, you have to get experience, and most scientists do research 😛

But then again, one visiting scientist who teaches at Loma Linda medical school came in to say something, and that something has stuck in my mind after all this time: "Good scientists are not good doctors, and good doctors are not good scientists. There are exceptions to this rule. I've met fantastic doctors who were also excellent scientists. But, for the most part, this is the exception, not the rule."

My thoughts on exceptions: MD/PhD 😀

It got me to thinking. Physicians really use science more as a tool to help heal their patients, whereas scientists, well, science is their profession, and they can make some amazing discoveries through scientific research. Scientists don't neccessarily need the interpersonal communication skills that physicians need in order to communicate well with patients. Physicians don't need to conduct research, although a lot of them do. More clinical-based, but it's still research and it helps them by having safer procedures for patients.

Regardless of all that's been said above, medical schools are still impressed with research for the most part and some (*cough*Stanford*cough*) actually have it as sort of an unwritten requirement just like clinical experience, while most of the primary-care oriented schools don't really require it as much. Research can't hurt, so it's always good to have.

This computer I'm using is really screwed up. Whoops, sorry for digressing there, but it's a real pain to use! I gotta be more careful with public computers in the future.

So, anyways, it'd be real cool if I could go and do some genetics research...I believe that my top 3 (medical schools) all have good research programs. The last time I saw their rankings in research they were 7. UCSF 8. Stanford 9. Yale. Of course, Yale requires research and a written thesis on the research in order to graduate with the MD. The other two don't.

Plans for after this semester:

Summer 2003 (I'll be 19 on the day Tom Cruise turns 41) - 12 units of GE courses, sign up for the classes I want for Fall, and do some more volunteering in the hospice and soup kitchen areas. I might try to do a bit more in helping out the less fortunate if I can.

Fall 2003 - Study my behind off and attempt to get all A's if possible. Maybe I might take that Wu Shu class (kinesiology department, counts as 1 unit) just to refresh my body to the moves (I'm not exactly Jet Li, you know...I'm more like Sammo Hung in terms of body type 😀 ). Join the Wu Shu club. Continue in the SHPA (Student Health Professions Association). Take the ROP Hospital Assistant I Course. Sign up for Spring classes after consulting Biology and pre-med advisors.

Winter 2004 - Take the first class in my minor, Philosophy. Also try to contact the Genetics and Molecular Biology professors about my interest in that subject and also the research behind it. Hopefully I'll get to know my prof for Genetics and Molecular Bio before classes start. Volunteer in my free time in the same areas...probably find a job in a hospital too, if I can do it, though the patient contact would be more limited (in terms of procedures, not neccessarily sitting down and talking to patients) than if I wait and take the Hospital Assistant II course.

Spring 2004 - Take classes, and study my behind off again. Hopefully, I'll get an A in the Genetics and Molecular Biology class...it wouldn't help my self-esteem if I didn't get an A in the class that interests me most. The other courses, well...I'll still try my best, but I wouldn't be as disappointed with a B as G & M Bio. Continue with the Wu Shu club and SHPA. Join the Philosophy club. Take the ROP Hospital Assistant II course. Get to know my professor in G & M Bio to the point that he would want me to help in his research over the summer. Find a job in a hospital over the summer and start having fun with clinical experience - paid clinical experience 😀

All this and more as I go through being 19 years old (turning 20 over the summer)! 🙂

That's my plans for the next year. Until next time...later everybody!
 
Hey manna, just read your post after posting my really long post, and I'd like to say that I'm sorry for not being able to contribute anything.

Well, I guess saying "you'll find a way" isn't going to help much, is it? But, I do honestly believe that you will find a way...it's not like bad things last for ever and ever. There's really nothing in life, good or bad, that is truly permanent (with the exception of death), so it'll pass. Or you'll find a way through it, through the help of someone else, or through your own self. That's something that I have to keep reminding myself whenever I have my bad days. Bad days are just that, bad days. Meaning that there are good days in there too, aren't there?

Once again, I'm sorry that I can't contribute anything tangible to help you out, and I do hope that this situation of yours will pass, and that you'll be happy again.
 
Gawd it sounds like so much is going on with everyone else..

I wish everyone the best of luck
 
Woohoo! My paper is done! :clap: :clap: Well except for like 5 tables, 4 chemical structure drawings, and getting my spectra readings copied and downsized so they fit a couple per page, but that stuff needed to be done at school anyway cuz of the limitations of my home computer programs. It turned out to be 12 pages without graphs and tables so hopefully it's not too detailed but detailed enough lol. I wonder if we'll be getting them back? I want to see comments hehe!

Now I can concentrate and finishing up my remaining schoolwork and studying for finals. As far as things I need to turn in I only have a week's worth of calculus (don't know yet if it's due Wed like usual or the following Mon at the final), and a 2 pg summary on the organic chemistry lecture we receivied on Wed in Chem class.

2Badr - is the research through REU? I'd love to get in on one of those programs (need to get my grades up and through O chem tho). I'm sure everything will work out to do both the research and shadowing your FP. It sounds like he wants to give you the "real" experience which would be awesome!

Congrats on finishing your finals Minx! I didn't realize you were in Madrid! What's it like?

Manna - I am sooo sorry things are rough right now. I can relate....my bosses told me when I was getting laid off that maybe it wasn't a good time to be going to school due to finances and if I would work full time I'd still have a job. I was like I'm premed, I already "wasted" 4 years not doing school at all, and now that I've committed myself (and paid out the wazoo already) there was no way in he*& I was going to stop! I would try to get in and see the chancellor and see what happens, you will get through it, and things will get better. Maybe even consult one of those debt consolidation places - 6years is a long time! In the meantime, if you can swing it, take as many fun classes as you can, and read journals and stuff so you can keep yourself somewhat fresh and then try again.

Anyway I'm off to my Chem lecture (my partner and I are doing our demo today 😀 ) and finish my paper and get it turned in and then I think I'll probably come home and take a nap lol...definitely didn't sleep much last nite!

--Jessica, UCCS
 
Hey peeps, here's my last post of the day, after classes and the like.

Remember when I said that a girl in my Chemistry class socked me in the arm when I told her my grade (A-)? Turns out she's pre-med too, except that she's chosen a more difficult major than I have (difficult for me, that is 😀 ): Biochemistry! There sure are a lot of Biochem pre-meds at my school. I'm not a fan of Chemistry in the first place, so Biochem is uh...well, you know...I'm only takin' Chemistry because it's required in order to understand and appreciate Biology better. And it's also required in order to understand Molecular Biology and Genetics. Funny thing, isn't it? Chemistry is boring, but Genetics is exciting, yet I have to take the boring class in order to take the exciting one. Oh well, whatever.

Well, it's significant that she just totally hates the pre-health (my pre-med) advisor. I put two and two together and thought that she may have been the person that I heard about in a story with my pre-med advisor. Let's just say that the pre-med advisor didn't think that the person in the story shouldn't be majoring in biochem, and the person in the story is a she.

I don't quite understand why some people just hate my pre-med advisor. I dunno why he'd act differently to this girl or those people than he did to me...I mean, when I scored horrible grades, my pre-med advisor simply said that it's just the first semester, and that I could improve on the grades afterwards. Maybe it's my attitude (all the time I say to myself,"I will get an A in Chemistry!" 😀 ) that's been keeping him from attempting to discourage me like some other people beforehand.

Even if he did try to discourage me, my attitude and this thread, in particular, will still keep me going. I mean, it's totally neat how when one of us feels a lack of motivation, everyone else will jump in and start making the motivation level increase again. I'm gonna be a doctor, gosh darn it, and if I have to go through more BS, then I guess I will just go through more BS. Simple as that.

In other areas...

My Psych class was canceled today. Nothing significant, I guess. My Chemistry class, well, I have the 4th hour exam to worry about, so I'll be studying over the weekend. Hopefully, my mom will forgive me for not being able to spend as much time having fun with her as I would have to be studying on Mother's Day.

I'll also be working on revising my two English essays for the final - I mean portfolio. Might as well call a final, since it counts just as much. Then there's the darn 7 page Psych paper, but I'm such a procrastinator that I'll probably be starting on it 9 days from the due date (it's due on the day of Psych finals).

A friend of mine told me that he accidentally eavesdropped on two biology professors having a conversation. What he overheard was that they needed a new professor to teach the Cell Bio class that I plan to sign up for next semester. You know what this means? It means that word of the male Cell Bio prof's horrible teaching of the class has gotten out (not his teaching methods, per se, but his insane expectations).

Yippee! The Biology Dept is not as blind as I thought it was!

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Finally, I had an SHPA meeting today, this time to vote on next year's president, V-Pres, Medical Chair, Dental Chair, Pharmacy Chair, Optometry Chair, Publicity Chair, Minority Chair, and Secretary/Treasurer. The volunteer coordinators are chosen by the President who gets elected. I'm going to run for a position for the year after next, probably the Medical Chair, but since there are SO many pre-meds in the club, it's going to be quite a fierce competition. Maybe I can run for President or VP when I'm a junior-level student (senior if you count the units instead of the time).

Man do I love biology. I can't wait until this semester is over and I can sign up for another biology class for Fall of 2003, and take biology courses for the rest of undergrad.
 
Hey all -- Well I got my paper turned in...right at 4 pm when it was due lol, but it was definitely a time cruncher that I don't want to repeat again. Turned out that my word processing program isn't actually compatible with Word like it advertises so I ended up having to retype 3 pages that I only changed like 1 word on and that took forever! My tables took a long time to type in too. I ended up not having time to figure out the dang ChemDraw program to draw my molecules so I hand drew them, which we weren't supposed to do, so hopefully I won't lose too many points on it. I think it turned out really well though.

Chem lecture was hilarious today...we were supposed to be finishing the last chapter in our book (Nuclear Chem, which isn't included on the final), but instead we spent the entire time talking about the various research opportunities in chemistry and biology. Our prof got a $10,000 grant for one of his projects so he's now able to hire for pay a couple undergrads for the summer. Unfortunately I don't think the times will work for me cuz I have one class basically every afternoon for the month of June. I'm going to talk to him next week about next fall tho cuz that would be a great way to use my work study! He's working on 2 projects. One involves creating a fast-acting biosensor to read phenylalanine in urine levels (for those diagnosed with PKU)...that's the one he got the grant for. The other involves testing herbal teas to see if they contain the same health-benefit properties that green teas contain. For an analytical chemist he sure does some interesting research lol.

Biodude - As much as I've enjoyed my chemistry experience (I don't find it nearly as boring as you do but I think that's more because of the uniqueness of my lab and my prof - Chem 1 would have been extremely boring if Dr Weiss wasn't soo personable lol), I'm soo looking forward to next year when I can take some "real" bio courses. A&P is technically a bio course, but it's such a huge lecture (almost 200), and not taught by one of the "cool" research profs so I feel like I haven't "really" taken a bio class here yet since my Gen Bio were all done so long ago. I'm looking forward to hopefully having a similar experience next year in bio as I did this year in chem -- getting to really know profs, exploring the science of biology again, etc. I don't think that the Bio Dept here is quite as tight-knit a community as the Chem Dept, but I think we'll learn more about the bio research done at our school more next year. Heck a co-premed, bio/chem major in my chem class didn't even realize we did bio research! We have huge genetics and immunology labs here, but it doesn't seem like the bio dept tries as hard to get students excited about their subjects in the general classes. I got the idea today that the Bio researchers don't really talk to their students until they take cell bio and genetics (which kind of makes sense...gen bio is a much more popular choice for the natural science requirement than chemistry lol).


I've already mentioned my courses for the fall so I won't bore you guys with those details again, but I hope to take nutrition during the winter interim (if they offer it again - it was a one week class lol...don't know if I could take an entire semester of nutrition, but I can handle a week of it 🙂 ). Then for spring semester I plan on taking Physics for life sciences II + lab, Organic II + lab, Bacteriology + lab, and Genetics + lab (geez...just realized I'm planning 4 labs then...oops...oh well) for a total of 19 credits which means I have to get my cummulative gpa up over a 3.0 in order to get approved for the overload (18 credits is max here). I should be able to do that no problem...I think I'll be up to a 2.8 after this semester and will hopefully get A's in both my summer classes since I don't think I'll find comparative religions or biopsych too difficult.

Now that the paper is done I can concentrate on finals. Thankfully I don't have to go into the school until Wed for my first final which means I'll get 2 extra days when I don't have to go anywhere. (I study on the bus usually, but I still end up losing study time by going into school since I get more done at home than at school unless I hide upstairs in one of the corners of the library lol.

Have a good weekend everyone! Happy Mothers Day to those of you who are moms!

--Jessica, UCCS
 
[Hows madrid?
--Jessica, UCCS [/B][/QUOTE]
Hi everyone;
sSkaterbabe74:
Madrid is the capital of spain, it is a nice city with pretty nice weather most of the time : not too cold in winter ,but this get to O?C and very hot and sunny in summer over 40?C.
It pretty calm but people here,it is a nice place to live.i get lots of people from all over the world at my school since a study abroad. by the way I'm not spanish.People like too party a lot so go out very often , so there is a amazing night life.

AS well as cultural things with is more my style.
good luck in your exams.

Manna i sure thing will get beeter with time


:clap: :laugh:
 
Finals week! School's almost over! Just remembered about my club's pre-med conference, we are going to bring down a student pannel from stanford along with some stanford guy, and we are going to have guest doctors from different specialties talking about what they do, along with other health people. It's not exactly SUMMA, but it's going to be fun none the less.
 
Hey all 🙂

Minx - Madrid sounds wonderful...are you planning on coming to the states to finish ugrad or just come for med school? or are you undecided as yet?

Good luck on your finals Valinor!!

Your conference sounds like it should be very informative! You'll have to let us know what all you learn lol.

I've got my Gen Chem II and abnormal psych exams on Wed, my A&P exam on Thurs, and then a have the weekend to study for my calc final on Mon. So far I've finished writing my A&P notes (still have to type them in) and started my psych study guide. I'll finish that today and work on Chem too (I hope). And then tommorrow I'll work on Chem and start typing in A&P notes and finish those Wed nite. At this point I feel like there just isn't going to be enough time to be fully prepared for any of my exams cuz I should have been soo much further along last week than I was, but oh well. I'm sure I'll still do fine (and I'll probably even surprise myself...i usually do lol). Next year I am definitely studying during spring break even if I do go somewhere! I've felt behind ever since I got back🙁

My bf got me a "finals are done" present! Something he found on ebay (he shops there a lot lol). I hope he doesn't make me wait all the way until finals are done tho lol...I'm all about the instant gratification thing hehe. I don't think I ever could have done all this without him😀 . Sorry, getting mushy now, I tend to get that way if I don't get to see him at least once a week lol.

Ok I think I've woken up enough to study now lol...have a good week all!

--Jessica, UCCS
 
OMG! I totally failed my calc final! not that it mattered but still.....What a horrible way to start finals week off.
 
Ever have one of those days where you just can't get anything done? I should have been working on abnormal psych most of the day and then switching to chem about now, but instead I just couldn't study! I ended up going to sleep for like 5 hours this evening and now I'll study all nite, and most of the tomorrow, but dang i hate when that happens!

Don't you hate starting a week off like that Valinor! I have a feeling I'm gonna walk out of my chem final feeling like I learned jack all year, but then i have to remember that a 70 on the thing is the 100th percentile! lol Guess I should get used to the "I feel soo dumb" concept since that's how the MCAT is but it's not gonna be easy lol. I better not fail my calc final again. If I do I'll definitely fail the class....I have a high D right now and the final is worth 25% of the grade. It's supposed to be basic integral intensive but somehow I doubt it will be so I'll be working through problems all next weekend lol. I totally failed my calc final last semester...got my lowest score on an exam ever! Which is why I had to retake it in the first place cuz I had a B going into the final and then got a D in the class...this semester homework counts for a bit more than last which will hopefully help a little...

Anyway at least it didn't matter if you failed your exam but I definitely know it smarts! Good luck on your others!

--Jessica, UCCS
 
Well, I'm back from the beach. Can't say I missed this dank cubicle, but oh well. I got my latest organic test back--got a B+, ranked #3 in the class.

It's funny, because this teacher thinks she has me pegged and thinks she can predict how the class averages will end up. Then I go ahead and jump from #8 to #3 to f@cked up her world. Just wait until the next quiz and exam, when I'm #1--that'll really mess with her curve! (Can you tell that I have a bit more confidence?)

valinor, sorry to see you pooched your calc final.

Biodude, you should ask that girl out--maybe she has that third grade "I'm mean to boys I think are cute" thing going.

BTW, I think skaterbabe is trying to strip Biodude of the coveted Under M1 Longest Poster championship belt😉
 
Originally posted by Skaterbabe74
Hey all 🙂

Minx - Madrid sounds wonderful...are you planning on coming to the states to finish ugrad or just come for med school? or are you undecided as yet?

I will come to the states in the Summer of my SOphmore year to my undergrad edu in Biology(B.A), I will probably go to SLU's main campus in Missuri. then will see, I?ll stay in thestates i judt don't sure where i want to go I'm investigating.
This really started of in BS in spanish unersity where I studied two yaers before I tranfered to slu .

Valinor I wish you in Calc final.THINK POSITIVE

😉

BY the way I got my grades back which to bad i just had wished I go past the 3,0 barrer but no I'm at 2,82 right now. I would i have done If was not for the math : College algebra course cause managed to get a D i thought I was going to fail. I other i got B+'s in Intro to General physiology & history I and a B in CHEM II

see you Everyone , good in yours Finals.
Click to expand...
 
Hey there peeps! Sorry I didn't post before, and I was thinking of not posting today, because my next Chem test is tomorrow and I still haven't studied for it yet, and I had to start the rough draft for my "final" for English today. But, that's over, and it's only a rough draft. It's not like I'm gonna turn it in anyhow!

I gotta study hardcore now because another F is going to drop my grade in Chemistry to a B-, and of course I don't want to be dangerously close to a C.

CJ2Doc - Hmm, thanks for noticing, but I think that this girl already has a boyfriend. I'm still not sure why she punched me hard in the arm though :laugh: I don't understand why people would go ballistic because of an A-...I don't think that's good considering how well I could actually do in that class. Uh-oh, pre-med gunner mentality kicking in there...😀

Valinor - man, that sucks. But you said that you can fail the Calc final and still ace the class, right? I'd just put that behind me and study hard for my other finals if I were you. Speaking of finals week, mine is in two weeks. Oh yeah, and you are so lucky to have the Stanford dude come in to your school! Darn it, I wish I could be there! Stanford is one of my #1 medical schools, after all! Hope that it's informative for ya dude :clap:

Skaterbabe74 - I've had plenty of those days that you've described, except that it's mainly due to my procrastination. I definitely hate the last few weeks of the semester because it seems like I have so much to do and not enough time to do it in. I think that's maybe why your day seems like this. What I really should be doing for the rest of this week is studying for Chemistry exam, studying for my Psych quiz, doing my English homework, and studying for the ACS Exam for next week! The "dreaded" ACS...I still haven't found out yet how my Chemistry prof is gonna grade that, but boy do I hope that he grades on percentile rather than the raw score. Oh yeah, and I do have one thing to say about ebay. A lot of the items are ridiculously overpriced LOL 😛

I still haven't started my 7 page research paper for Psych yet. I also still haven't started revising my essays for my portfolio in English yet. I sure do have a lot of work ahead of me.

Until next time...hopefully Thursday.
 
BUTT--I think I kicked back.

21 problems (which means only one freebie), about half on the new chapters, and half the most time-consuming and annoying ones from earlier exams. The last problem kicked me up and down the street until ten minutes before the end when I did the whole thing over from scratch and finally got a reasonable answer. A couple more seemed off somehow, but most of them I think I nailed. "Most" is a slippery word, though. I won't know my grade for about a week.

So, tonight I trade backrubs with a friend, tomorrow I tutor, Friday I work at the hospice, so I think Thursday is when my husband and I go to dinner to celebrate the END OF THE FREAKING SEMESTER. Provided he's done being sick by then. And Sunday I start studying MCAT physics, since my current plan is not to re-take my 20-year-old physics courses before the MCAT. Summer session starts in late June, and then it's you-know-whats to the wall until mid-August.

But NO STUDYING TONIGHT!
 
LOL - I promise not to strip Biodude of his belt so long as we can share it...what size waist do you have Biodude? (totally kidding...don't really want to know hehe).

Glad you enjoyed the beach CJ2, and congrats on your orgo exam! I love proving teachers wrong lol.

Good job on your finals Minx. Don't worry math is my nemesis too lol. You'll get above the 3.0 barrier next semester I'm sure 🙂

Oh yeah I'm a procrastination queen Biodude. Yesterday I wasn't consciously procrastinating tho, but I'd answer a study guide question or two and be like I just can't do this right now and end up playing monopoly on the puter. Argh...Suffice it to say today I'm locking myself in my bedroom away from the computer with only my books and my music and study my a#$ off lol.

As far as ebay it really depends what you're looking at....he buys/sells/trades authentic movie posters (some signed, some not) and finds some incredible deals on there compared to "real" stores. I tend to buy clothes on there and get below cost on them, and I got a great deal on my scientific calculator too. The other good thing to shop for on there is dvd's although those you need to be careful to see if with shipping it brings them up to retail price. I do agree that big electronics are often overpriced tho, and some of the sports memorabilia/movie memorabilia, but if you're willing to really look through everything you can usually find good deals.

I'm sure you'll come out of that chem final great Samenewme! So what materials are you gonna be using to study for the MCAT?

Off to the dungeon of my bedroom to get ready for tomorrow! :laugh:

--Jessica, UCCS
 
Hey, I wanna be in your club. I'm a second year at UC Davis and I'm still doing my pre-reqs as well. Some personal family problems my freshman year caused me to have to put off the harder courses till I was more able to concentrate on them so I will be doing my O-chem series during my junior year. Still trying to figure out how that is going to play out with MCATs... Anyways, its nice to have some folks in the same boat I am. Hope to get to know you guys better!
 
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