The Under M1 Club, Part II - COME ON IN!

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Originally posted by vixenell
Welcome back, UICpremed!

Ashwin is a cool name. I actually know a guy named Ashwin (atleast, its pronounced that way... It might be Ushwin).
Click to expand...

Hi vixenell! Yeah my name is pronounced that way too. Thanks for the welcome!
Thanks for the welcome Biodude, how is the calculus coming? 😛 Yeah I know how some teachers can be, they just want to tax you with all this stuff. Maybe they once had teachers like themselves?

Skaterbabe- what are distillations? At my school I asked if they had any jobs in the science division. They did say that they had jobs for cleaning the used test tubes and glassware. But they didn't have any actual jobs like you do. that's cool!

Happy b'day DrSal!!:clap:


Ashwin 🙂
 
Hi, all. Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I've been working many hours at the hospital. Tomorrow is my last day. 🙁 On the bright side, the doctor whom I'm working with said he would be more than happy to write me a letter of reference.

I'm moving into my apartment on Thursday, so I should be around more after that little adventure. I start school the Thursday after that. 😀 I'm quite excited.
 
Hey all!

Biodude - I am exactly the same way when it comes to math, although I much prefer plug and chug to math word problems lol. Word problems that have to do with chemistry or physics are much more fun and manageable than geometry or financial word problems for math classes lol. Your prof is definitely insane tho...the most we would get is like 30 problems/class not 70+ lol.

Welcome back UIC! Definitely don't worry about the on and off thing...I was the master of that until a couple years ago lol. It sounds like you've got the right attitdue tho so go for it! And good luck with getting into UIC!

Distillations are something that you do to a liquid that you get out of the storeroom to purify it so that you can run various columns or spectral analyses to help identify other things. It's really quite boring, but it's stuff that needs to get done so the other people I work with can do their jobs. Do you go to a CC or to a different 4 yr school? If it's a CC I'm not surprised that there aren't more interesting jobs than the stockroom. Once you get to a research oriented school I'm sure you'll be able to hook up with some prof and help them with their research. I have the advantage of being eligible for work study as well which is a major reason I was able to get this opportunity. I work for the head of the chemistry dept in his organic lab...that's where I get to do the distillations, and the reason I'm primarily just doing distillations right now since I am just taking organic now lol. I also work 2 mornings a week in the stockroom cleaning glassware, making sure labs have DI water, acetone, anything they need for this week's lab, etc which is the kind of stuff you would get the opportunity to do in a CC.

Climberchick - Congrats on the 87 on the ochem quiz! and on a well deserved weekend with your bf!

Happy Bday DrSal!! :clap: It definitely sux to have to do a ton of stuff on your bday but make sure you make some time to celebrate this weekend! I know how you feel about the crazy schedule lol. I am definitely feeling more busy than I have in a long time lol. Hang in there tho....we will all get thru it...promise 🙂

UCLAstudent - Congrats on the LOR and the new apt!

Today went well. I went into work a bit later than I planned this morning, but since we were going to be bored to death all morning I'm glad I waited til like 10 to get there lol....only 2 hrs of boredom instead of 3 or 4 hehe. Then I had the lecture for orgo lab this week...which was boring cuz all he does is go thru a powerpoint presentation of what we'll be doing in lab this week which I can look up online instead. Basically I just kept reviewing for my exam on thurs lol. My lab instructor was nice enough to bring our lab reports from last week over for us tho...I got an 8/10 on the scavenger hunt thingy we did the very first week, and 25/25 on my lab report...so far so good in there...only missing 2 points total so far lol. Then I had physics lecture which is always fun. Today we started friction. Then I did my graph for my physics write up this week and started working on my second assignment for research methods (this one is just fooling around with excel...not too difficult, but takes some getting used to since I haven't done much with excel yet lol). Then we had the ACS meeting. Looks like we're going to hold a raffle toward the end of the year, help with Cool Science (a one day program for kids showing cool demos and stuff), and visit 2 local breweries (Coors and Fat Tire). We have to get the prizes for the raffle donated but one thing we're going to do is raffle off a $300 gift certificate for the bookstore (that one we're putting up the money for). If we raise enough funds I think we're going to sponser a small scholarship for hs seniors interested in chemistry and uccs. I think we'll have a very good year with ACS.....it's still a bit unorganized but things are starting to get going 🙂.

Tonite I'm gonna finish my physics write up and prelab and hopefully do some physics reviewing. Tomorrow I've got research methods, orgo lecture, and cell bio and then I'll be working in the lab for a couple hours and then finish reviewing for the orgo exam.


Hope everyone has a good nite!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Tomorrow will be an interesting day. I have Orgo in the morning for an hour, have a short break, then have the first test. Shouldn't be too bad, but I won't not study or anything 🙂 After that, we have a distillation lab, and I think we might be starting gas chromatography, but I believe that's next week.

Today I had another boring as hell analytical lecture, and made up part of the lab today. Much nicer when you do a lab when the whole class isn't there.
 
We got our first physics exam scores back today, and I didn't do near as well as I thought I did. I managed to score about the class average (which was around a 70). I was completely shocked, I thought for sure I nailed it.

BUT, I'm really not that surprised. I only studied for a few hours the morning of the exam. He didn't curve the exam because a couple people scored 100. He drops our lowest, but at least I have gotten a reason to be motivated to study routinely now. :clap: :clap:

I'm confident I will end up with an "A" in the course.
 
Had my first Orgo test today...pretty confident. We also went over aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids.

Classes after 12:30 are cancelled tomorrow, and friday class! Nice work, Isabel 🙂
 
Had physics test today🙁 In brighter news, Hurricane Isabel is a' comin (if that's any indication of how it went)...I probably didn't fail it. I definately didn't ace it (as I didn't finish).

Anywho, my week otherwise has gone pretty well. I have an A+ average so far in my genetics and bio II labs. I should get my genetics test grade tomorrow. I got a B+ on my orgo test.

I'm kind of out of it. This probably makes no sense. I think I'll retire early.
 
Wow, coz, classes cancelled already? My school operates on a "we'll see what happens" system. There could be 25 feet of snow, and we'd still have class.. as long as the roads weren't icy.😡
 
Hey all 🙂

JKD - Sorry your physics exam didn't go quite as well as you thought but at least it won't mess you up too badly since the lowest is dropped. And beating the mean is always nice 🙂

Vix - Sounds like you're having a decent semester so far....sorry your physics exam didn't go super well, but hopefully what you were able to finish you did well on.

Cozmosis - They canceled classes already? Wow...long weekend for you then lol. Glad to hear you think u did well on your orgo exam. Stay safe this weekend!

I overslept today so I only ended up going to cell bio but I really didn't miss anything at least. We got our cell bio quizzes back. The average was a 62. I did about what I thought I did - a 75 but he turned the quiz into straight extra credit so I have 7.5 points of extra credit and can miss up to 37.5 points on the 3 exams and still get an A. He did a much better job of explaining stuff today too which is nice. This is his first semester teaching so he's still figuring out stuff lol. And now we don't have to memorize all the amino acids anymore which is awesome since I didn't memorize them all anyway hehe. Now instead he'll give us a structure and want us to be able to say whether it's polar or nonpolar and then circle the part of the functional group that makes it polar if it is. Much, much better hehe. Tonite I need to finish up my physics write up and prelab (neither of which will take long) and review a couple more things for my orgo exam tomorrow and start reviewing for my physics exam on friday.

Anyway I'm off to get some work done. Hope everyone has a good day tomorrow, and those of you out east stay safe!

--Jessica, UCCS
 
Cozmosis,
I'm also in Baltimore, but my school is open for now. As I have no classes on Thursday, this doesn't affect me for tomorrow. However, if classes are cancelled Friday, I won't have to suffer through another physics lab where the TA doesn't even speak English. I would also have a quiz and a test postoned to the following week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Enjoy your long weekend and stay safe.
 
Woohoo! I got high speed cable internet (and digital cable) installed yesterday so now I can check this more often since it loads up so fast! I spent last night channel surfing trying to figure out what we've all got (and wound up watching Knight Rider😉 I used to love that show when I was a kid-it started my love affair with Firebirds that continues to this day (I own a '98-it's my fourth Firebird)!

Anyway, I managed somehow to ace my chem quiz. I spent last night going over it again and again to make sure I have all of it in my head....since I really wasn't sure I did it right in the first place. Quite a needed dose of confidence, let me tell you! And now I know why I got the stuff right so...

This weekend is going to suck, though. We were supposed to get rain tonight, however, Isabel is stalling the weather pattern so it's not coming until tomorrow night (and cancelling the cookout and backyard party we'd planned🙁 ) But I'm not complaining too badly, though, I know it's a minor annoyance compared to those of you who are getting hit head on-stay safe!

And I've got a major pre-calc exam tomorrow so I'll be math swamped tonight. My prof loves word problems and applications instead of just the plain functions and that's where I run into trouble, so we'll see how it goes...

Then on Monday I've got another chem quiz, a one page history role play thing due, and on Tuesday is the major anatomy exam on the skeleton....so I'm going to spend the weekend studying. Oh well...such is the life of a premed...but I'm actually really happy. Like the commercials for the McGriddles say, "bizarre, but yummy (in my case, nice!)

So now for several pages worth of replies....

Cozmosis- You're lucky you can make up your labs. My chem prof said "There will be no make-ups unless you call me from the hospital prior to the start of the lab". Fun, hey?

Biodude-Going back to your philosophical rant, I've gotta say I totally agree with philosophy being a good thing. I think I actually want to do philosophy as a minor-I considered it for a major but that would take an extra semester since I just found out that my first choice med school now is requiring certain specific upper division bio courses that are normally part of the bio major😡 Why do they do this? Good luck on getting the ER rotation you want for CCE!

Skaterbabe- Sounds like you're doing well...hope you're feeling better by now!

Vixenell-Congrats on your grades!

JKD-at least you got motivation out of the exam, tho it sucks that you didn't do as well as you hoped....good luck on the next one

Dr. Sal-Happy Birthday:clap: I hope you're planning something good for the weekend to make up for your busy day! I know what you mean about the stress too, I went through it except in kind of reverse order. The first week of school, I was really excited. Then the second week I started to get really stressed and had four bad days in a row walking around going grrrrr.... Now this week I've actually adjusted and am in pretty much a smiley state where I can laugh off most frustrations. I just keep reminding myself that this beats workin...

UCLAstudent-Congrats on the LOR-that'll be a nice leg up for ya!

climberchick-congrats on the ochem score!

UICpremed-Welcome! I so know what you mean about being serious. I've got a couple other premeds that I know of in my anatomy and chem classes and the difference between the three of us that are serious and the five or so who aren't is very apparent. One guy in particular goes around talking about how he wants to go to Harvard or Johns Hopkins (he's an 18-yr old freshman), yet he got a 60% on the anatomy quiz and 10/15 points on the chem quiz. And he spent anatomy lab this morning goofing off. Go figure!

Oh well, gotta go. There's the first meeting of the non-trad student club at noon so I want to get back to school for that-I love living four blocks from campus😀 Makes it so much easier to participate in stuff and get extra credit (my chem prof gives 2 pts for each science club lecture or ACS meeting we attend-I've managed to pick up 4 points already this way-have a feeling I'm going to need it to make up for stuff later in the semester!)
 
Hey Everybody,

Thanks for the motivation. My b-day went ok. I realized that i couldn't stay un-excited on my B-day, so my mood was much better on tuesday night. I had planned out what i needed to get done so that i can be all caught up. Wed's are my easy days, i finish at 1, so i got a good amount of work done.

And thanks to this wonderful hurricane (oxymoron), i get today off too, so i can actually get more work done. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for friday. i just hope that the hurricane doesn't create too many losses.

I caught up on my physiology reading. I'm now on the nervous system. I gotta read a french chapter, answer Q's, and write 2 journal entries (all of which was supposed to be done for today 😉 ). For physics i have to re-copy my HW, think about one last problem, read the chapter, and prepare for a quiz on monday. For my communication class, i need to finish a book about black feminism (i swear to god, i've looked at the syllabus like 3 times just to make sure i'm in the right class, it was supposed to be about gender and communication, i thought it was gonna be about Mars/Venus stuff...but it's still v. interesting), i also need to read 3 other articles for monday.

All in all, i'm in much higher spirits now. I'm also making a conscious effort to smile when i get really stressed, meditate, and just accept things, and it's been working!!!!

Have a great day everyone, and stay safe!!
 
Hey all! 🙂

On the rare occasion that I'm just wasting time in between classes I thought I'd stop in lol. Our physics prof forgot that he committed to giving a guest lecture in one of the freshman seminar's so he put off our review til tomorrow and our exam until Tues! :clap: :clap: . Now I can actually study for that lol.

Today's orgo lab didn't turn out quite as well as I was hoping. I started with 100 mg of something and only got 3 mg after mixing it with one chemical, and 14 mg mixing it with another. Oh well...if it's the unknown is what I think it is I wasn't supposed to get a whole lot in the end anyway. Still have to do the math for it to figure out exactly what my unknown was.

My orgo exam went very well I think tho. I actually felt very confident about it. Course that's not always a good sign, but in this case I think it will be. Now I just have to wait to find out how I did lol.

Have physics lab in about 45 minutes and then I'll head home.
Later all!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Hmm...didn't miss as many posts as I thought I did. Looks like I have to post whenever I want to see updates on SDN.

Yesterday was a long day and I don't think that I had any breaks. My Calculus test is tomorrow, so that's what I'll be studying for the rest of today. And you all know how fond I am about that subject after reading my rant about it.

I also went to see my pre-med advisor. Unlike my previous visits, I wasn't too happy about the outcome of this one. Granted, I did have an insane schedule planned for Spring (Genetics, General Chem II, Physics I...ALL WITH LABS), but it wasn't my fault that I got stuck in that situation! I hate the dumb class schedules at my school, and I am behind on the pre-med courses because of it. But that wasn't it. My pre-med advisor seemed to emphasize getting good grades over EVERYTHING else...I thought that medical schools wanted "well-rounded" students, who did some very cool and unique extra-cirriculars in addition to a good (if not great) GPA. Either my advisor doesn't know his stuff (which I highly doubt...he has served on the admissions of committees of Harvard Med school, University of Texas A & M Med school, and now currently at UCI Med school) or medical schools are filled with a bunch of liars.

So now I have to make sure to get straight A's from now on. Yippee 🙄 I wonder how medical schools expect people like me to maintain outstanding grades and also spend tons of time helping the less fortunate and going to martial arts competitions? One's gotta give in order to make the other successful...and I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet one of these days and drop some EC's (which sucks because I'm actually doing stuff that I like!) I hope that medical schools can understand that in order for me to achieve OUTSTANDING rather than just GOOD grades, I'd have to give up an extra-cirricular activity or two.

So now I am in a pickle, and when I did some calculations on my GPA, it looks like I'll have to get a 4.0 GPA for about 4 semesters to boost it up to about 3.63 overall 🙁 Great...I just wish that I hadn't goofed up my first semester of school. Actually, come to think about it, I wish that I hadn't done a ton of things, like take 4 summer school classes when I should have just stuck with around 2, or spent much more time studying Chemistry in the later stages because it was clear that I was beginning to understand it less and less...but the past is done, and there's nothing that could change it. I'm probably going to end up with white hair very quickly (combination of stress and heredity).

Now that my rant is done...


jenni4476 - geez, that is quite dumb about your first choice med school. Which one is it? My first choice (*cough*stanford*cough*) only requires the bare minimum pre-med courses, though they do recommend courses like Physical Chemistry 😱 I'm also glad to hear about the minor thing. I also didn't seek out a major in Philosophy because my Bio major already takes up way too much of my studying time relative to most of my other classes.

everyone else - I couldn't find anything that I could comment well on in my skim through. Anything I could say right now would sound pretty dumb. Sorry about that.
 
Hi everyone!

I've FINALLY made it through all of the first thread and all of this second one. You guys seem like a vibrant bunch of really motivated students, with a good mix of trads and non-trads. I am a non-trad.

I'm currently doing my undergrad work at a CC near Columbia, South Carolina. I'm 24, female, working fulltime in an administrative position at a manufacturing plant. I love my job, I work with really nice people all day and I do a lot with Excel, it's fairly challenging at times. The pay is great for where I am in life right now. I'm trying to pay off some debt that is left over from my divorce last year (I really should have gotten an attorney...) so I will do the full-time work/part-time school thing for one more semester and then hopefully be able to quit working and go to school full-time. I'll get a work-study job, but mostly live on loans and scholarships and grants. That's the plan, anyway.

This semester I'm taking Bio 102 and English 102. I'm still at the very beginning of my academic journey. After high school I moved to Boston to be a web designer and had a lot of success for five years. After the crash and my divorce I moved back to SC to be nearer to family. Now I've realized that the world needs more doctors who truly care about people (my mom's series of awful cardiologists is what got me really inspired). So here I am working on my bachelor's degree. I'm intimidated by the science, I've always been more of a humanities girl, but am seriously thinking of changing my major to double up on psychology and biology.

Anyway, just wanted to finally post after lurking for so long. I look forward to hearing about your trials and excitements in classes that I will someday take! =)

Jo
 
Welcome, Carolina_Girl! Wow, I don't think I ever made it through the first thread... must've taken months 😛

Biodude- to answer your question, "how medical schools expect people like me to maintain outstanding grades and also spend tons of time helping the less fortunate and going to martial arts competitions.." Simply: they don't. They do expect you to demonstrate competence in the basic sciences, while not being a total guionite, as we call them here. They expect you to have other experiences, and to excel in those as well. It all comes down to what you feel is most important, and describing how your volunteer/work experience has been most beneficial, even at the sacrifice of a flawless GPA, in your personal statement and interview. At this point, don't be so concerned about boosting your cumulative GPA. Just improve your GPA period. Your regrets about your first semesters sound like a good start for a PS... because it alone shows that you have matured. If you are willing to ditch some ECs to raise your GPA, then by all means do it. But only if YOU want to. Not because it will please some adcom. Since I KNOW that you're going to med school, these are probably the last years for a while that you'll be in complete control of your learning experience. Hope that made sense. Its all a blur in hindsight.

AAAHHH class.. (runs)

-e
 
Hey all! 🙂

jenni - Congrats on the high speed internet and the new cable! I watch Knight Rider all the time too hehe if I'm home when it's on now. So many of my old crushes are on tv again hehe...I'm just waiting for somebody to pick up Dukes of Hazzard and Trapper John MD again hehe😛 . Congrats on acing that chem quiz!! I felt the same way about my first gen chem quiz since my hs chem class had been soo awful lol...I was absolutely dreading the chem prereqs when I first started. Then I figured out that I actually got it now and did pretty well in it 🙂. Good luck on your precalc test today! I'm the same as you...i hate the word problems...give me straight plug and chug anyday lol, but definitely figure out a way to figure them out cuz once you get past the basics of deriving stuff there's a ton of word problems in calculus.

DrSal - Glad to hear your bday wasn't too awful, and that you've got a plan for getting caught up on your reading. If there's one good thing about a hurricane it's the extra time people get to do stuff they've been wanting or needing to do such as reading a good book or watching a good movie or getting caught up on schoolwork lol. I'm still working on refiguring out my plan for the weekend since I have to readjust for a physics exam on Tues instead of today lol. That's definitely a good thing tho 🙂.

Biodude - I know what you mean about the emphasis on grades vs well-rounded people. Unfortunately what I think med school's mean is that you need the awesome grades and then add some quality ECs on top of it and keep those awesome grades. They want you to be able to do it all lol. However, I think ugrad advisors place too much emphasis on the straight gpa especially in Cali because there is such an abundance of premed students. Numbers are an easier determinant for them. It sounds like your advisor didn't put that emphasis very politely tho which sux, but I was kind of wondering if maybe you weren't doing too many ECs this year. On the other hand your ECs will make for great personal statements and definitely get you where you want to be so don't worry about what the advisor said. Have fun with your ECs, but it definitely important for you to get the gpa up in general, and if that means cutting out a couple ECs to do it definitely consider it. You definitely don't want to overburden yourself regardless of how fun the ECs are and end up getting sick, or burned out cuz you don't have enough time.

Welcome Carolina_Girl!! Congrats on starting your journey! Don't let the sciences intimidate u tho....I was a science and humanities girl all my life lol and while I did well in the biological sciences in hs, and alg based physics, chemistry was awful for me. Now chemistry and biology are among my best classes 🙂. You'll probably find that you'll "get" the science stuff a lot better now that you're a bit older. Good luck to ya!

As for me, I took last nite off...watched Survivor (the only reality show I actually like), and hung out with my bf for awhile. Today I have to work in both jobs and then I have a review for my physics exam next week so a pretty boring day...

This weekend I'll have to study for physics, read the next chapter in that, read the next chapter in orgo, finish my research methods homework and start doing some of the lecture outlines so I can study for that exam in a couple weeks, and read a chapter in that, and read like 30 pages for cell bio. I'll probably save my lab write ups for Tues and Wed nites this week lol.

Hope everyone is having a good day!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Wow Jessica! That sounds like a lot to do this weekend! I have to finish a research paper for English (the use of setting in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"), and read the next chapter in my bio textbook and lab book. I'm also planning to run some copies at the library of the various life cycle diagrams that we are supposed to memorize. My lab teacher is very fond of pop quizzes involving life cycle diagrams.

Anyone know of a good "o-chem for dummies" type book? I'm looking for a really basic intro so that I can get a head start. I read on the main board that o-chem is the biggest indicator of how you will do in medical school, so I'm determined to do well in it.

Though I also read on the main board that I should wait to take o-chem at the university. I was planning to get an AS at the CC and *then* transfer, but now I am thinking that I should transfer as soon as I have enough credits (30).

Next semester I'm planning to take Spanish, another English, possibly p-chem, and probably algebra. I've been studying algebra (haven't had it since high school, got a B in it then ... my only B!!) on my own with the same textbook that they use at my college. I'm hoping to test out of the basic algebra class and take intermediate, then pre-cal, then cal. I have a good friend (who has a master's in math) who is planning to tutor me on Thursday nights. We usually watch Buffy together (just finished the season 3 DVDs) but are planning to do algebra for half an hour first.

How's your Friday, everybody? In class today? Luckily I have no classes on Fridays... yay! But I am at work, playing the "is it 5 yet?" game....


Jo
 
I loved "The Yellow Wallpaper.." wrote my final big paper on it last year.

My day is over, as I don't have to work til monday. I think I'll watch a lil more Highlander tonight or something. Then I'll probably study for the rest of the weekend.
 
cozmosis, I'm with you on that one! hope you're enjoying your day off 🙂
 
Vixenell, do you go to Sweet Briar College? That was one of the schools I visited way back when I was a HS senior. It seemed like a nice school but a little preppy for me (I was quite a punk back then).

Now I think I'd fit in just fine LOL...

How do you guys choose your "target" schools? I am starting to think about that, since it will affect which prereqs I take. I think I'd prefer a small school with small classes. I'm not all that worried about prestige .... I don't have time for all the volunteering and world-saving that you're supposed to do in your free time to get into Harvard or Duke. I think I'd like to stay in the South but I don't know where I'll be in my life in a couple of years (current boyfriend ... could head in the marriage direction ... he hates the northeast ... so I might not get to move back to Boston like I had in the back of my mind).

Jo
 
Greetings to another USC person, or at least I assume since you're in Cola.

And to maintain relevance to your question, have you investigated USC School of Medicine? I spent the day there with a student a year or so ago and it was really great. The classes weren't big at all, the environment was very friendly as well as the students and *most* of the faculty, and the campus is nice. Just a thought.
 
Hi JKDMed! Nice to meet a fellow Carolinian!

I'm still at a CC, but will be transferring to either USC or Columbia College next fall. Probably USC.

I'm honestly not sure if I want to stay in SC. MUSC in Charleston is a possibility, but I will probably apply to Duke and Emory (depending on my grades) and one or two in Boston ... though it would be awfully hard to live in Boston as a student, on loans.

Honestly, though, I don't know how to decide which schools I'd like to go to. Of course I'd like to go somewhere prestigious, because it would make getting a job after graduation easier ... but I don't know what my grades will look like so I guess I don't know how competitive I will be.

Looking forward to hearing how you guys pick your target schools....


Jo.
 
Hey all 🙂

Be thankful you didn't get hit hard Cozomosis lol. From what I've seen on the weather channel a lot of the area by you is majorly flooded lol.

Jo - Actually that's a pretty typical weekend for me lol. I tend to leave my reading for the weekend, and work on problems and lab write-ups during the week. Research methods chapters are really short tho so those aren't a big deal. For example the chapter I had to read this weekend was a whole 14 pages 😛 , and the lecture outlines aren't bad either since they are half filled out to start with...we just have to fill in the rest and I only have to do the ones that I wasn't in class for lol. I'm about 2/3 done with my homework for that class too....it's just getting familiar with some of the excel functions...nothing big.

As far as "ochem for dummies" I wouldn't worry about it too much yet. Maybe next summer before you take it go thru your old gen chem book and you should be fine.....judging by what we've done in class for ochem so far lol. If you really really want to do something now I like my textbook for ochem...we use Carey's text which I think does a really good job of breaking stuff down and giving you lots of practice lol. I agree that it would probably be a good idea to wait until you get to the university to take it but if you do well regardless of wether it's a university or a cc it'll be respected (for the most part anyway I think).

I really haven't decided on my "target" schools yet. Colorado only has one med school and it's an MD school....most likely I'll go to DO school since my gpa will be like a full point higher for DO than for MD so the country is pretty much open to me. I don't care about "prestige" but I would like to go someplace that has a decent city surrounding it. Colorado Springs is just too tiny for me lol. I miss having Chicago an hour drive away hehe. Right now I'm leaning toward Einstein in NY and UCSF as dreams, and then TX, IL, and other southern schools, but I haven't really tossed out any specifically yet, but I also haven't looked all that much yet either...I just think I'll enjoy the southern atmosphere and the warm winters lol...we'll see as I get closer to applying tho.

Right now I'm just concentrating on getting a couple of good semesters under my belt lol...that will help me figure out what my possibilities really are.

Gonna eat some dinner and get some work done. (I know it's Friday nite and I should be having fun, but this town is really boring and my bf is working tonite lol so I'll just be the nerd and actually work on a Fri nite hehe).

Later all!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Hi everyone,

Welcome Carolina Girl!

Skaterbabe- that's a lot to do, but I guess you have enough time to do it in -2 days over the weekend. This game is all about time management. speaking of which
BIODUDE, I think you should focus on maintining decent grades, the adcoms know that you messed up your first semester and they will appreciate a upward swing. Don't keep your plate full with EC's. My advise would be to keep 2 EC's besides school; your wu-shu practice and HOAG( 😉 I've been following your posts). It's about time management like i said earlier! my 2 cents 🙂

well, as for me, I am just taking regular courses now: Geography, History, Microeconomics and College Algebra. Yeah I know pretty dull subjects lol. I've taken these courses to see if I am interested in History or business. And also to complete my gen. ed. courses. I think I am going to major in History, not sure though. I am positive I will get admission into UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) for the spring semester. The admission letter should arrive any day!😀 Next semester I am going to start taking science courses.

That's all about me.
Later.
-UICpremed 🙂
 
Hi, all! I'm back! I have moved into my apartment, and, to my surprise, it has new carpet and paint. It is so spacious. I love it!

I start classes next Thursday. I'm taking psychology, genetics, and my last physics class. I am so excited for the new quarter to begin.

I'll have more to talk about when school starts. 🙂 I will have to respond to posts later. A friend just came over.
 
Hi all!

Well, the precalc test went well tho not as well as I'd have liked. The first 16 probs were straight plug and chug-real easy. Then came #17-a word problem, and I just had a brain fart and could not figure out how to do it. So I handed it in at the end of class and of course the answer hit me as I was about twenty feet down the hall+pissed+ At least that one was only worth 7 pts so I'm pretty confident I still got an A. And at least I know how to do it....

My chemistry prof, tho cool b/c he's so enthusiastic, is becoming rather annoying. He's so absentminded, he was having us work through a problem with ionic compounds this morning, and he was taking us in a totally wrong direction and all of us got really confused since what he had up on Powerpoint didn't match what he was saying! Then he kept changing his mind back and forth! And since it was at the end of class, he just let it go and didn't resolve it and left us all confused. I've gotta go in and see him Monday to clear this up....or I'm gonna get lost really quick. Oh well....

Biodude-It's University of Wisconsin and the requirement as best as I can remember it (I'm too lazy right now to dig out the printout) is that the second semester of required bio must be upper-level and either cell bio, genetics, or a couple others I can't remember offhand. Kind of dumb, I think....tho it doesn't change my plan any, so that's OK. That sucks about your advisor😡 Personally, I think you should try and keep as many EC's as possible without letting your grades go too low. Then again, I'm a Wisconsin resident instead of California, and our adcoms' emphasize different things, so take this as you will......I know you'll get in anyway😀

Skaterbabe-Yeah, cable rocks. I spent most of tonight watching Trading Spaces and While You Were Out on TLC. And I saw a cool commercial for a show on Monday nights called The Resident Life-must start watching that! They follow around interns and residents, it's on TLC at 9 and 12 ET if anyone else wants to watch....(you prolly all know this already but I'm just an excited cable TV newbie, forgive me😉 )

OK, getting tired, must go to bed now...gotta study like crazy this weekend.
 
Hey all,

thanks for the responses to my (rhetorical) question. I was just frustrated because I just can not believe the emphasis that pre-med advisors place on grades, grades, and more grades. I'm just not willing to give up my EC's so easily. I wonder if my favored med schools will understand that? I just think that it's dumb that it (seems) like all the emphasis goes to grades before people 😛

Now then, it's officially the last day of the 4th week of school here. Man, this semester is going to go by so fast, and I'm not gonna realize it. I have so much to do, and each week zips by in a flash compared to what I had before now. I'm probably gonna go to sleep, wake up, and find that it's finals week already! 😀

Today, I had my first Calculus exam...I can't believe how easy it was! Now I don't like my professor for making it seem like he was going to put in a bunch of shiz nit that would be insanely and ludricrously hard. Instead, he made a test of the basic questions and it was ALL MULTIPLE CHOICE! Multiple choice math is sssoooo easy! I mean, well, you don't have to work out the entire problem in order to arrive at the answer that way. For example, if you get a problem with a couple of really big numbers, you could look and see..."hmm...all these numbers in this equation/expression add up to an even number, so that eliminates answers (a) and (b) since they are both odd numbers...the second number in the answer is 4...that only leaves (c), since (d) has the answer 36...so the answer is (c)!" without even bothering to work out the ENTIRE problem! I have a good feeling...probably got everything right on this test 😀

Then I had Bio Lab, and well, today was quite long...next time I'll have the skills practicum (the TA will check to make sure that I know how to use a microscope, the aseptic technique, a mass spectrophotometer, etc.)

Today a representative from the UCSD School of Medicine (my 4th choice...) came in to talk about the school and to answer peoples' questions. Let?s just say that I?m not fond of being a Californian applicant right now. 10 medical schools, less than 1000 spots total, and 4000 Californian pre-meds competing for those spots. Yuck 🙁

By the way, I had a crummy morning...first, I forgot to bring along my math textbook to study for the Calculus exam...but well, it was obviously a breeze. Then, when I commuted to school, I accidentally locked my keys in the trunk of my car (I do that all the time).

Oh well, at least it's brightened up somewhat. I had Wu Shu practice tonight, and then tomorrow I'll be doing a beach clean-up and another Wu Shu practice. I can't believe how packed my schedule is after joining so many clubs and volunteer organizations :laugh:

Later everyone!
 
Biodude -

Don't give up your EC's for awhile! Take it from me, I took a "break" from JKD in June and I have yet to go back. It's really really difficult to get back into the routine once you've been out of it for awhile. One of these days I'll go back.

If nothing else, dump your volunteer work and pick it up later. Every premed volunteers somewhere, not every premed is a martial artist.

By the way, how does one lock his car keys in the trunk?
 
JKDMed - Hey dude, I know what you mean about getting back into the routine. Anyway, in answer to your question, what I did was open the trunk with a button press from the front seat of my car. Then I walked out of the car and locked it, at which point I went to the trunk to take stuff from my backpack that I wouldn't need on a Friday at school. Mainly textbooks from classes that I usually don't have on these days. I dropped my keys into the trunk without realizing it, and after securing my backpack, I slammed the trunk door down, thus effectively locking my keys inside 😳

I knew that I had done that as soon as I took 3 steps away from my car because I always have my keys in my hand whenever I walk away from my car. This time I didn't feel them in my hand, so I knew that they were locked in the car somewhere 😀
 
Urgh..
school starts next week!

Here are the classes:

EE 481(1)- engineering ethics
EE 613(3)-wireless propagation
EE 719(3)-advanced electromagnetics
EE 783(2)-honors undergraduate research
Microbiology 509(5)- basic and practical microb.
Chemistry 221(5)-analytical chemistry
Molecular Genetics 500(5)-principle of mol gen.
Dance 101(2)-intriduction to Jazz dancing


I am already anxious!!!!
I have been studying the textbooks for the past 3 weeks....
Urggh...


😡
 
Originally posted by Hermeone
Urgh..
school starts next week!

Here are the classes:

EE 481(1)- engineering ethics
EE 613(3)-wireless propagation
EE 719(3)-advanced electromagnetics
EE 783(2)-honors undergraduate research
Microbiology 509(5)- basic and practical microb.
Chemistry 221(5)-analytical chemistry
Molecular Genetics 500(5)-principle of mol gen.
Dance 101(2)-intriduction to Jazz dancing


I am already anxious!!!!
I have been studying the textbooks for the past 3 weeks....
Urggh...


😡
Click to expand...

All I gotta say is :😱 😱 😱 😱 😱
So many courses and tough ones at that! Is this all for one semester? Are you on the quarter system? How does it work?

UICpremed
 
Quarter system!!!


Sh*tty quarter..
oh well, if I ahve a 3.5++ for this quarter... I will give everyone a kiss!!!
 
Hey all!

Welcome Hermeone! 26 credits in a qtr?!? 😱 Holy cow. I guess we won't be seeing you for a few months lol. I don't think I could handle more than 19 credits a semester let alone a qtr! While the research is more like adding in a few hours of work a week and jazz dance is your stress relief I'd hate to be adding all the engineering stuff on top of micro, a chem, and molecular bio lol. Good luck to ya. Come up to breathe every once in awhile and let us know how you're doing!

UIC - I would have loved to major in history too lol....so far I've loved all of the history classes I've taken. I enjoyed micro in hs too....sounds like you're set for a breeze term anyway! Out of curiousity what school do u go to now? I lived in Chi-town burbs til I was 24 so I have several of my gen ed's from COD (college of DuPage). I'm sure you'll get into UIC no prob for the spring and be able to start those sciences that you're obviously excited about 🙂

UCLA - sounds like an awesome apt, and a fun qtr planned! Good luck!

jenni - That happens to me when I take tests with word problems lol. Next time make sure to write something down. Even if it seems totally wrong you never know you may get a few poinits out of it lol. At least it was only one problem though 🙂 Your chem prof sounds like my physics prof lol. Although my physics prof isn't really absent-minded so much as he'll start solving a problem one way and then realize that he was solving for the wrong variable and have to go back and figure out where he can switch to the right variable. Hope you get it figured out on monday...

I watch a lot of the Discovery Health shows, and try and catch Queer Eye for a Straight Guy since you liked Trading Spaces...Queer Eye is on Bravo but I'm not sure what times anymore (I think it's sunday and tuesday as well, but not sure). Each week these 5 gay men makeover some straight guy's home, clothes, and image....it's actually really fun to watch cuz the guys they choose are all such disasters lol...and in the end they look like presentable people hehe.

Biodude - Congrats on your calc exam being so easy! I've never had a MC math test in my life! lol...The only thing that sux about that is then there's no shot for partial credit lol. Sorry to hear you had a rough start to the day tho lol. I more typically would lock the keys in the car, or leave them in a jacket and then leave the jacket somewhere...now I try to make sure to put them in my backpack or purse immediately after leaving the house (or in your case opening the trunk lol)...but i've locked myself out of my house on accident way too many times lol. My lower lock stays locked....it doesn't unlock without the key.

Today I hope to finish my research methods homework, my cell bio and orgo readings, and then do my physics reading and just work review problems over and over and over tomorrow and monday nite for the exam on tues. And I'm still waiting on pins and needles for our orgo prof to put up the scores from the exam lol. Hopefully they'll go up sometime today 🙂

Have a good one!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Carolina_girl, Yep I'm at Sweet Briar. (I think the term you were looking for was "white," not preppy). While a good bit of the student fits the Susie Sweetbriar mold, most don't. I've managed to find a nice little circle and niche here. I love the science program here, the small class sizes, and the scenery.

Wow. I've got a lot of work to do.
 
Originally posted by jenni4476
...I spent last night channel surfing trying to figure out what we've all got (and wound up watching Knight Rider😉 I used to love that show when I was a kid-it started my love affair with Firebirds that continues to this day (I own a '98-it's my fourth Firebird)!...
Click to expand...

Hi Jenni,
I was looking at the previous posts and caught this one. I happen to like firebirds too! I am a car nut lol, I like the Trans Am WS6 and I am a member on www.LS1.com (LS1 is the engine of the Trans Am). I like the power of the car, its rated over 300 hp. I would have bought a TA but due to the ridiculously high insurance quotes on the V8's and gas guzzling, I did not buy it. hehe. Firebird's are nice too. Anyway nice to know a fellow pontiac fan.

Skaterbabe-
I attend Harper College in Palatine, I am in the northwest suburbs. COD is a nice college. As you know,a lot of people that go to UIC and other universities take some of their courses there too. I actually lived in houston until this past december. It feels like that town is not alive. Chi-town has its own atmosphere. Know what I mean? Even though its very cold in Chicago in the winters, its still a very vibrant and diverse city. I like it. 😀

-UICpremed
 
LOL UIC - My bf wasn't too thrilled with Houston either. I think if I do a Texas school it'll be in San Antonio so I'm not too far away from Austin....plus San Antonio sounds like it's got a cool vibe of it's own. I just miss being near a town that has a vibrant music/theater scene....colo spgs has absolutely nothing lol. The plays they get that they advertise as being broadway tours just soo aren't...they are like performances by showcases that various directors taught of their broadway shows instead. Up until this year we had like no live music clubs, and the places that occasionally had bands all had awful bands. Now we finally have a couple places that get decent sounding music every once in awhile lol. Denver is only slightly better lol.

Anyway back to studying for me 🙂
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Originally posted by Skaterbabe74
LOL UIC - My bf wasn't too thrilled with Houston either. I think if I do a Texas school it'll be in San Antonio so I'm not too far away from Austin....plus San Antonio sounds like it's got a cool vibe of it's own. I just miss being near a town that has a vibrant music/theater scene....colo spgs has absolutely nothing lol. The plays they get that they advertise as being broadway tours just soo aren't...they are like performances by showcases that various directors taught of their broadway shows instead. Up until this year we had like no live music clubs, and the places that occasionally had bands all had awful bands. Now we finally have a couple places that get decent sounding music every once in awhile lol. Denver is only slightly better lol.

Anyway back to studying for me 🙂
--Jessica, UCCS
Click to expand...

Warning, Rant ON:
There are a lot of negative things about houston. It was ranked the fattest city by fitness magazine, it's pollution from industry's effects on its citizens are worse than los angeles but not widely known. Real estate is bad because it is so cheap. The house we lived in did not give us any profit when we resold it four years later despite living in one of the best school districts. The weather - YUCK - it is almost always 98%-100% humid with 90 degree weather which feels like 105. You stink when you comeback into the house. It has like 11 months of summer and 1 month of winter. The only reason houston had grown as a city was because of the Oil Industry. And well, I am a liberal person and the people there are very conservative 😛, so obviously that did not help.
Rant OFF

Ok now that I got that off my chest, people if you had a chance to live in that city, you have been warned! 😀

Skaterbabe, Austin is an awesome town and even San Antonio, they have more bearable summers. UTSA is a nice campus I heard and town itself has a lot of history and culture. You have to check out the 'Riverwalk' in San Antonio, it's very nice. Austin is a party city what with UT's students. hehe. There is a street, I think it is called the 5th street, its awesome, has a lot of bars and clubs. Check it out if you ever go to TX. I thought Colorado was nice for winter stuff like skiing etc.??

Ok now I have to get back to studying.
later
-UICpremed
 
LOL - It's actually 6th street. My bf graduated from UT twice lol. I haven't made it down yet, but he loved both Austin and San Antonio, but hated Houston as well. Colorado is nice for outdoor stuff....skiing, hiking, etc but skiing is also really expensive so I haven't managed to even get to do that once out here yet...and I love being able to look at the mtns everyday...that I will miss, but the rest of it is pretty boring if you don't have a lot of money.Plus Colorado Springs is extremely conservative as well so that doesn't help the party scene lol. The place to be for decent music/culture in Colorado is definitely Telluride or Boulder, but I really like UCCS, just not Colorado Springs lol.

Later all!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
UICpremed-Glad to know I've got a fellow enthusiast😀 My husband used to have a '96 Cobra (until we bought our house) and several of my friends are Mustang freaks also so I'm outnumbered around here! My '98 is only a V6 (for unaffordable insurance reasons also-I was 21 when I bought it and the V8 rates were triple what my rates were😡 ). Now that I'm older and my insurance is way cheaper, I would love to upgrade to a '01 or '02 Formula, though, if I can find one in decent shape with the options I want.

I like the TA but I race my car and having a TA would throw me into super stock class where I'm competing against Corvettes and Vipers, whereas a Formula will keep me in G-stock against Mustangs and Camaros. Considering I don't have much money for mods, this is a good thing for me! I am planning to get a Flowmaster and K&N, tho (those are some of the few allowed mods for stock class).

I noticed you're in Palatine, my husband went to tech school in Glendale Heights and he's told me a lot about the diversity and atmosphere-it sounds like it would be a great place! He lived in a large apt building and he was the only Caucasian in it and he said it was the best place he ever lived....very vibrant and full of interesting things going on....

Biodude-Congrats on the Calc exam (and here you were so worried😀 -I know what you mean, tho...)

Skaterbabe-Hope you had at least a little time to relax this weekend😎 I slacked off yesterday and watched four hours worth of Trading Spaces, Resident Life, While You Were Out, and Queer Eye (I love it, thanx for the recommendation:laugh: ) so I'm up against the wall today. I figured out that if I just study my chem stuff outside of class and make sure I know it and pretty much disregard anything contradictory he says in lecture I'll be fine😀 Apparently he took the time to think things through when he was doing his Powerpoint presentations b/c those match what the book says...so that's what i'll go with. Also, I'll prolly be coming out to Colorado next spring for the OPM conference in Denver...were you thinking of going to that? It'd be really cool to meet you in person!

I'm sorry Carolina girl, I somehow managed to miss your posts! Welcome:clap: You sound pretty cool and I'm sure you'll fit in with all of us just fine. As far as how I picked my target school, I was pretty limited due to having a husband and children and therefore having a need to stay close to our extended families for the support and help, etc. I'm in WI, so have two schools close by, and I chose between the two based on their different atmospheres and neighborhoods. A friend of mine works at the major training hospital for MCW in the OR with a lot of the med students and she said it's just an ultracompetitive atmosphere, which is not what i want. Also, I'm more of a liberal person so I think I'll be happier in Madison (the ultimate college town in the state and the only liberal holdout in otherwise ultraconservative WI). Also, MCW has an avowed focus on primary care-which is not something I'm really interested in, and U of WI is more diversified in their focus. I'm not sure how much this will help you, but it's the beginnings of the process I took.

OK all, back to studying...
 
Hey all 🙂

I actually didn't get a whole lot done yesterday...vegged a lot lol...but I'm almost done reading Fellowship of the Ring hehe. I hated the Hobbit growing up..never made it thru, but now that I've seen the movies I wanted to try the books again. They are soo much better this time around lol. I did finish my research methods stuff, and about half of my cell bio stuff. Today I'll finish cell bio, read orgo, and work physics problems, and then tonite hang out with my bf for awhile once he gets off work.

Orgo grades went up today. I got a B (72/100). Not quite as good as I was hoping, but not bad either. 6 of those points I may argue about tomorrow. The question was to draw the 3 staggered conformations of 2-dimethylbutane sighting along the C2-C3 bond. I took sighting along to mean the same thing as sighting down and therefore drew them differently than he apparently wanted them. As a result I'll have lost all of the points for that question. It was an ambiguous question! I'll be curious to see how many others did the same thing I did. If it's enough of us maybe we'll get the question thrown out. Not that 6 points will make a difference in my grade, but it could help in the end lol. In the meantime I'm not worried or anything...it just means I need to make the time to review a bit more during the week before an exam vs just the day/night before lol.


jenni - It's cool that you actually race! Have you won or placed well in many? And no prob with the Queer Eye rec lol....the ones yesterday were actually both repeats but I'm still trying to figure out when the new episodes are on 🙂. Sounds like a good plan for chem....usually powerpoints are pretty reliable lol.

Right now I am planning on going to the OPM convention (Old Premeds for those of you out there that don't know - or nontrads). In the end it'll come down to whether I have the cash or not on hand, and when my summer classes start but I think it'll work out for me - after all I won't have a plane or bus ticket to worry about lol. The only thing that sux is that my bf won't be able to come with me cuz that's the same weekend as one of his 3 major sales/year...he'll be working insane hours lol. But hopefully I can get some of the "gang" from the convention to head over to Nordstrom and buy some stuff from him hehe depending on where it actually ends up being in Denver. I'm looking forward to meeting some of y'all in person finally too😀 and if anybody can take a couple of extra days to sight see they should head down to colorado springs and check out pikes peak, garden of the gods, and the Golden Bee pub at the Broadmoor!

Back to studying for me! Have a good one!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Hey everyone...

today has been pretty good so far. I didn't get much sleep but I do have quite a bit to do in the homework department. Anyway, I thought that I might once again document my experiences from volunteering in the hospital today. You know, a little bit like "Thank you" actually goes a long way. It did for me. I had the nicest bunch of patients today, and one even offered me pizza because she felt that I provided such excellent care for her 🙂 Also, I had to help quite a few others who took the time to thank me specifically and remember me by name (because of my name tag hehe 😛 )

Well, today was interesting because the first patient I went to see was a physician, so he knew all about the technical jargon that the nurses and PCA's kept throwing around (he was getting prepared for a CT scan...Radiologists who don't know what that is...shouldn't be Radiologists 😀 ) It was interesting to converse with him to say the least...Dartmouth College, Boston University Medical School, worked as a Pediatrician in L.A. Children's Hospital for 40 years...

I also ran into a patient with the same last name as me. A rare occurrence, I assure you all, because there usually aren't that many patients of my ethnicity on the Oncology Floor of the hospital I volunteer at.

Now I have to get back to my mounds of Calculus homework and the textbook readings for Greek Philosophy and Logic classes.
 
hello everyone
haven-t posted in a while because i didn-t get email notifications
how are you all doing . Its still pretty calm down except for the reading i have to do about 100 pages/week in total for all my classes
There not much happening i did go to themovies to see

*league of the extradionary men.
👎 not good at all 2 weekend ago

*:clap: the talented mr.ripley. great movie except for those old ladies seating next to me which didn-t stop talking not one minute.:clap:

I also trying to think an topic for my apllication to tranfer.anyy ideas
 
Am I the only person who liked League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Maybe its because I never read the graphic novel. And now that I've seen it, I never will.

Anyhow, another monday. Today: Physics, Environmental Toxicology, Genetics, then 5 hours working in the lab. I get to play with the new HPLC. I'll probably get my physics test grade today. I've got another organic test next friday, which will be fun😡. Other than that, I'll be writing up the labs I should have written up this weekend instead of Tae-Boing and watching my '24' Second Season DVDs.

But yeah. Have a good day, y'all.
 
UIC.. i posted yesterday...

Anyway, we had a power outage yesterday. From 10pm 'till about 7 this morning. Long enough to ruin all of the food in my fridge. This is the 5th power outage this semester. We didn't lose power during Isabel, but it just goes out for no reason. GRRRRRR.

But yeah. Today's organic day. I've got a lot of work to do after class.

Have a good day, all.

-no one
 
Originally posted by vixenell
UIC.. i posted yesterday...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just noticed that. I dunno what I was thinking? Anyway


Later
-UIC
 
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