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

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I just owned my third physics exam like a prison inmate. I *might* have missed one question out of twenty-one, earning me a nice fat 95. Pretty sure I made a 100 though. Got a 96 on the last exam, plus I have 6 bonus points 😱

We have one exam left before the final, and I'm pretty sure I'll own that one too. Means I should have like a 98 average going into the final exam 🙂 Got me an A in physics I I believe, folks.

That puts my DO science GPA at a 3.40 and my cumulative at about the same. I'm sure it's fine for DO schools.

My MD science GPA though will be around a 3.25 and cumulative a 3.40. I don't really care about going to any MD schools aside from the two here and USUHS. I'm crossing my fingers.
 
Mornin all 🙂

Congrats on your physics exam JKD! :clap:

I should find out later today how I did on my second physics exam a couple weeks ago.

Today I'll also finally get some reactions to work on for work so that I can start doing all of the hours I'm supposed to be doing each week. Yay! 😀 . For now it'll mostly be just stuff that we've done in lab but with different reactants but that's perfect cuz hopefully it'll reinforce the stuff I need to know for lecture.

My main orgo lab prof is being awesome about my having missed the lab last week. Since it's a computer simulation he just gave me the cdrom and the worksheet to do at home on my own time 🙂. Yay...I wasn't looking forward to spending my Fri morning doing an extra lab when I was supposed to be working lol.

Today I need to quickly do my physics homework that's due today, work on my orgo homework and then actually study for my cell bio exam tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll be doing my write-up for the physics lab I missed last week, and my prelabs for orgo and physics, and finish my orgo homework. Thursday I'll be doing my research methods homework that's due Fri, and then over the weekend studying for my research methods exam next Monday and finish catching up on orgo so that I can study for that exam which is next Thurs, doing the orgo expt i missed, and starting my extra credit assignment for orgo. This is definitely going to be a long week lol.

Our ACS is having a ping pong tournament Thurs nite that I really should go help out at, but there's just no way given how much catching up I still have to do. Oh well...

Have a good one everyone!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
finally surfacing from midterms....

congrats JKD!

Skaterbabe-I so know what you mean about missing daylight-I didn't get to see any today-up at school from 7:30 until 5:30 and then straight home to study! I did get to have a quick lunch in the lounge with a friend tho...

Anyway, I'm surviving and holding the 4.0 for now but things are getting hard really quickly. Strangely enough, the classes that started out easy (ie chem, history) are getting really hard while the class i was most scared about (precalc) is going quite well.

Speaking of chem, anyone know a good way to understand the more or less straight physics stuff about wavelength and energy-those formulas and symbols are getting to me. I can't seem to translate it into concepts like i was able to do with everything else....

oh well back to studying i'll be back with more personal replies later...darn schrodinger, why'd he have to come up with this stuff?
 
Hey all 🙂

Well we finally got our physics exams back yesterday. I didn't do so good on this one, a 76, but I'm not worried. Our homework is worth 10% of the grade, and I got a 90 on the first one. We still have one more exam and the final.

On a good note tho I finally got a project at work! :clap: :clap: My "goal" will be to find Diels-Alder rxns that are suitable for use in class settings since most of these rxns take forever (sometimes as much as a week). First, of course, I actually have to learn about diels-alder rxns (we haven't gotten to them in class or lab yet lol), then I need to work thru the ones that are in our lab text already, and then i can start exploring "new" ones.

jenni - Congrats on doing so well so far! As far as remembering and understanding formulas/symbols without specifics of what you're having trouble with my only suggestion is practice and memorization lol. We always got a sheet of equations for our exam so we didn't have to memorize most of them, but just plug and chug. If you want to IM or email me with specific questions I'll be happy to try and help (besides the AIM listed on my profile I also have msn messenger - [email protected], and yahoo messenger Skaterbabe1474).

I'm off to study some more for the cell exam later.

Have a good one!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Hey all 🙂

Ok I dislike cell bio exams lol. Or more accurately I dislike my profs review sheets. We had to know stuff in much more detail then our review sheet or even our review in class led us to believe 🙁. Thankfully even if you get it totally wrong but write something down you'll get at least 1 pt for the question lol.

On tap for me today is orgo lab (recrystallization and melting point), orgo lecture, physics lecture, and physics lab (something with a ton of calculus in it which isn't supposed to be in this class😕 ). Tonite I need to do my research methods homework which is due tomorrow at 5pm and then get cracking on writing my review for that exam on Monday.

Over the weekend I need to write up the physics lab I missed, do the orgo lab that I missed, start on my orgo extra credit, and majorly study orgo. Somehow I'm going to make sure I go to the supplemental instruction session for orgo Thurs morning cuz I've noticed that he actually uses a lot of examples from that review on the exam (or vice versa...writes examples based on the exam). I can use all the help I can get lol. I'm hoping I'll be able to figure out under which conditions things that can undergo substitution or elimination do which lol.

Hope everyone is having a good week!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Skipped analytical today. Couldn't get up.

Got a 96 on my Orgo lab test. Should be getting econ midterm back tonight. Will be finishing Lab 6 in Analytical today.

Life ain't bad right now.
 
Originally posted by Skaterbabe74


On tap for me today is orgo lab (recrystallization and melting point), orgo lecture, physics lecture, and physics lab (something with a ton of calculus in it which isn't supposed to be in this class😕 ). Tonite I need to do my research methods homework which is due tomorrow at 5pm and then get cracking on writing my review for that exam on Monday.

Eh? That was the first lab we did in Orgo. Odd.
 
Originally posted by Cozmosis
Eh? That was the first lab we did in Orgo. Odd.

Our first was identifying an unknown liquid based on their boiling points and refractive indices lol.

Physics lab was extremely annoying today tho. While we will all get the full 30 pts for the prelab cuz we ended up doing it in class since so many of us were having problems with it, the lab itself sucked. We were doing this thing where we had to push a cart toward a sensor and record the change in momentum. Well the program and sensors we use totally sucked...we couldn't get rid of all of the "noise" so we had a spike we shouldn't have had, and then we were supposed to determine the average force based on two different techniques. One was just pressing a button on the program to get an integral and then dividing that by the time. The other was using the change in momentum data/the time. Both should have been equal. We spent 2 hrs trying to get this thing to work right lol, and in the end it still doesn't but at least we know the "theory" so we can write it up. If only our TA would have told us in the first place that most likely our answers wouldn't be equal it wouldn't have been nearly as frustrating!

We're actually a bit ahead of schedule in orgo lecture so we get Monday off from class:clap: 😀 . Our prof will be around in case we have any questions since we have an exam on Thurs but it was kind of pointless to start on new material since it would be a full week before we got back to it lol. And we definitely did not want to push up the exam (well other than the girl i sit with who has a calc-based physics exam on fri hehe).

Later all!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
This looks like it could use a good bump.

Took an organic test last friday. I feel pretty good about it. That means nothing, of course, but I feel much better than after the last one.

No environmental toxicology all week! Still have to start/hopefully finish my paper. I still haven't recieved any of my books that I ordered from ILL about 4 weeks ago. I wish I had a car, that way I could just drive over to UVa and spend the day in the library. Since my prof isn't here all week, I'm on my own as far as work goes. I'm afraid I'm going to break something.

I started tutoring for the chemistry department last week (third job!), so the whole financial situation is working itself out. I've registered and all, got into all the classes I needed (plus Introductory Physics Lab II, I'll have to take the first semester next year).

Other than that, I've got an organic, genetics, and physics test next week.

Oh yeah. I went to an RA conference this weekend (my valid excuse for beingn off campus around Fall Formal). It was interesting, and me and one other RA managed to make total fools of ourselves in front of a bunch of other schools.

Coz & Skaterbabe-- Our first orgo lab was thin layer chromatography. We did recrystallization a couple of weeks later along w/ mp. We just finished an SN2 lab, and are doing our last lab, which is addition to alkenes. Not that you asked or anything. Its just interesting how diff schools have teach things in different orders. Or not.

That's all for now. Tengo hambre.
 
Hey all 🙂

Well like usual I didn't get quite as much done over the weekend as I was hoping to lol. I finished my make up orgo lab, studied for my research methods exam this morning and finished working problems for one of the chapters that our orgo exam is over this week. Tonite I have to do a physics write up (or 2 if I have time), and an orgo homework that's due in a couple hours (just finished reading that chapter hehe). Then tomorrow morning I need to do a physics homework that's due tomorrow afternoon and a melting point and weighing of my recrystallization so I can write that up tomorrow nite. Thankfully our research methods prof pushed off the take home portion of the exam from Wed to Fri or I'd have no shot of getting thru the problems for orgo before Wed lol. Now I can hopefully do those tomorrow as well and spend Wed just reviewing stuff for the exam on Thurs.

Vix - I'm finding it very interesting how different schools arrange their schedules for orgo lab lol. We did TLC in week 8, and synthesis of an alkyl halide from alkenes in week 6. We also did a virtual lab for nucleophilic substitution a couple weeks ago. We are doing NMR this week, getting caffeine from No Doz next week, a qualitative analysis of alkyl halides, alkenes, dienes, and alkynes the following week (this is our final and therefore figuring out an unknown from using our previously learned techniques), and then our final week we're doing a diels-alder.

Have you emailed the person you bought your books from? 4 weeks is a pretty long time to wait...

Congrats on your 3rd job! I feel like I don't even have time for my one job lol...can't imagine doing 3?!? All I know is that I'll be doing a lot of time during winter break lol.

Anyway I better go work on my orgo homework. Hope everyone has a good week!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
As I was opening up a can of whoopass on my partner, my fencing instructer told me that I'd make a good epee. Which was slightly disappointing, since I've had my heart set on sabre. But yeah, I'll take whatever I can get at this point.

Sk8r-- I didn't pay for the books or anything... its a program where we can have books delivered from (almost) any other college in VA ,and keep them forever (6 weeks). One (of three) arrived about an hour after I posted. So I can start my paper. Yay!

But yeah. I've got to write up my orgo lab, then I'm hittin the sack.
 
Ok all...

I've been away since the beginning of this semester. I've been working hard. Well when I came home this past friday, I recieved a letter of acceptance to St. Luke School of Medicine-my first choice med school. Now, I'm off to Pune, India in the fall of 2004. I'm so excited. All I have to do now is keep my GPA up. By the way, from my last post, I dropped my Math and Bio class per advice of my advisor. So far, I'm getting at least a 3.5 for this semester. I'm working really hard to get a 4.0 this semester. Next semester will be the killer. I'm taking Bio 100, Chem 130 and Physics.

Anywho, until my next post...I'm off to bed now...


Jasmine
 
I'd second the congrats. First choice med school, that is totally awesome, Jasminegab!! :clap: :clap: :clap:

Hey all, sorry I haven't been posting for a while, but my weeks are blowing chunks. This week's schedule is:

Monday - Take home exam from Calculus due

Tuesday - Workin' in the ER taking time away from finishing up on my take-home exam from Philosophy

Wednesday - Take home exam from Philosophy due; Mid-Term Exam for Logic

Thursday - Mid-term for Cell Bio

So, if I can survive tomorrow (MY LONG DAY), I should be able to survive the rest of the week.
 
Hey all 🙂

Nothing much going on for me...just procrastinating writing up my physics labs from last week and the week before lol.

Congrats on getting into your first choice school Jasmine!!:clap: And keeping your grades going so well this semester! India huh? Talk about culture shock next year lol...that's awesome tho!

Vix - Glad to hear one of your books finally came in. I hate using interlibrary loan services lol. 4 weeks is still a long time considering how small a state virgina is lol.

Wow Biodude - You are definitely swamped this week lol. I'm soo glad I don't have any "paper" classes this semester hehe. Writing up labs and doing excel worksheets is bad enough without having to write take home exams lol. Good luck on your midterms!

Tomorrow I'll have to write up my orgo lab and do the prelab for this week after weighing my recrystallization and getting the mel-temp. (I put it off til tomorrow lol). I'll also need to do my physics homework due Thurs, but mostly I'll be studying for my orgo exam Thurs. I really hope this one goes better than the last one did.

I'll be picking up my cell bio exam from last week too. I'm not looking forward to seeing that lol. The average was only a 60 🙁 . I don't know if he'll end up curving it or not either. I certainly hope so since it really wasn't all our fault - his review and the review sheet were way different than the exam. There was very little on the sheet that was actually on the exam and too much wasn't on the sheet, especially compared to the first exam.

Then I have to do the take home portion of my research methods exam thurs nite/friday. I should at least get almost full points if not full points for that part of it. It's just taking data and running various statistical tests and then writing a paragraph explaining what was going on for each of the 4 sections. The only thing that sucks is that we have to turn in both a hardcopy and an emailed copy of the worksheet by 5 on Fri. I hate having to go in just to turn something in lol (or I can get it done by like noon and actually go to physics lecture too but we'll see).

Ok back to physics write ups for me!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Hey all 🙂

I went and got my cell bio exam yesterday. I actually beat the mean lol (not by much but I did🙂 ). My prof admitted making this exam too hard, especially compared to the last one which was too easy in his opinion lol, therefore he's giving us the opportunity for 15 points EC on Monday. He told me to make sure I really know the correct answers to questions 2 and 3 (which had several parts each lol) so I think it'll just be a matter of looking up those answers and regurgitating the info which is totally fine with me 🙂.

The orgo exam totally sucked tho. Everybody thought it did. Our prof ended up dropping one of the syntheses cuz it was confusing but the points were redistributed among the other problems on that page. I hope I still did better than last time, but we'll see.

Suffice it to say I needed a night off last night lol.
My bf got me out of the apartment and took me to go see "Love Actually". It was cute and corny, but that's exactly what I needed lol. I just thought it was ironic that British movie critics get on American moviemakers for our corniness after seeing it tho lol. I mean I know this particular British movie was made with American audiences in mind, but I think it was way cornier than most of the movies the British critics were criticizing recently lol.

Now I need to go do my take home for research methods, but then I can actually relax (a bit anyway).

Have a good weekend!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
The circle is now complete. I received an A on the 5th organic tests, and will not need to take the 6th. Yay!

Just the final, and the lab final to go! Woo woo!
Also only 2 experiments left in Analytical. THANK THE LORD.
 
good job, coz & skaterbabe!
 
Got an 80 on my genetics test. Ruins chances of getting a solid A, but I can still shoot for an A-. But its all good.

Today: Physics, EnviroTox, Genetics, work.


Blah. Thanksgiving couldn't come sooner.
 
Hey all 🙂

Well I'm officially having a rough time with orgo. I got another really low score on this last exam 🙁. I won't fail, but now I'm in danger of not making the cutoff to move on next term. Problem is I'm not sure what else I can try. I get the concepts given a non-exam situation. I do well on the homework, work thru all of the supplemental problems, and old exams yet when it comes to the exam I still seem to be mixing it all up and getting the wrong products. I've talked to the prof and he has no suggestions either cuz I'm already doing all of his suggestions as it is. I think all I need is some sort of good organizational scheme that I can memorize and then run thru quickly with each reaction or synthesis problem we're given on the exam, and obviously the "schemes" we're presented with aren't working. The only "good" thing is that our final is 200 pts rather than 100 and is 1/2 new material (including some of the stuff I'm doing for work) and 1/2 old material.

Other than that things are going ok I guess. I rshould have A's in both orgo lab and physics lab, probably an A in physics lecture, probably a B in cell bio, and then research methods I won't know about until we get these exams that we just did back.

My bf got a really bad cold/virus over the weekend...missed 2 days of work which is really unusual for him, but he's finally feeling somewhat better 🙂.

Classwise I have research methods, orgo lecture, and cell bio today. I'm also going to talk to my orgo prof yet again (even though it will most likely be a waste of time), then I'm going to talk to one of the guys I work with, and my boss (who's the other orgo prof) and see if they have any ideas. We have the opportunity for extra credit in cell bio today so I'll be reviewing that stuff over my break, and then tonite I'll be working on my orgo lab (trying to figure out various NMR readings).

Hope everyone has a good week!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
Skaterbabe74: hang in there, I am sure that you're going to get a good grade by the end of the semester.

Cozmosis: good job !!!! I wish I had your grades in orgo.



I am trying to figure out my schedule for next semester, I am debating if I should Calculus I, OrgoII, BIO II and stastistics.


Do you guys think that it is going to a lot ? people say that orgo II is hard.

Or I might register for Orgo II, BIO II and Statistics.

I am undecided, I don't want to fail any of my classes.
 
Hey guys. Hope all is well with everyone!

Skaterbabe69 or whatever: don't worry too much about organic. I'm sure you'll end up with a respectable grade. Just make it up in organic II.

For my usually bi-weekly update, I finished my concealed weapons permit class this Saturday. It was actually a lot of fun. Three instructors were present, and we had about 13 or so students. The lead instructor was an ex-Marine. The youngest instructor, and also the range master, spent 9 years in Army special forces as a green beret and a year on Delta force. He saw combat in Panama, Iraq, and some other places he mentioned but I can't remember.

One of the students included a physician at the local hospital. He never said, "I'm a physician", but he said he worked at the local hospital, wore nice clothes, and drove a fairly new red Porsche 911 Carerra. Pretty sure he was a doctor. The instructor told me they get a lot of docs coming through the class.

The classroom was pretty straightfoward, and the instructors made it interesting. The range was quite fun. We fired 10 rounds each from distances of 3, 5, 10, 12, and 15 meters at silouhette targets. The head instructor set it up just like the Marine Corps qualification firing line and ran it just like one.

I started out using a .40 cal semi-auto handgun, but it jammed when I attempted to chamber the first round. I ended up having to switch it out for a 9mm semi-auto -- a pretty nice handgun. I ended up hitting 100% of my shots on target, and carved a nice big hole in one location. Not bad for my first time actually shooting a firearm.

Although my application is complete, I probably won't mail it in until late December or early January. No sense in spending the $50 fee until I have something to carry.

Still waiting on my new Cannonball tenor sax to come in as well. I ordered a "Mad Meg", a completely UNlacquered sax. 🙂
 
Hey everyone! Now that HELL WEEK is behind me, I have Thanksgiving to look forward to hehehe

Ok, well, if anybody wishes to know, I am currently waiting until I am allowed to sign up for classes. Has everybody done that yet? Anyway, for me, here's how it's goin'...

Well, as usual, I got a crummy sign up schedule. But this time, it's mainly due to the budget deficit that my state has run into. So, that means that classes in my major that are practically required to graduate have been swamped with juniors and seniors. I thought that I would at least get a break as a sophomore registering, but it seems that the budget cuts in education 😡 has caused the university to offer less classes for each major. It's really no wonder why everyone booted out Gray Davis and replaced him with the Terminator as our governor (yeah, I admit it, I voted for Arnold too) 😀

So, I had to resort to Plan D (A is obviously gone, B is gone because of Genetics, and C is gone because of English) this time around, thanks to the fact that my desired Genetics class has already been filled up even before I was allowed to register. I guess I'm complaining now mainly because Genetics is what I am interested in in the field of Biology, but more than that, I only got 2 general ed classes left to go! 😡 Oh yeah, I also forgot, all of the English writing classes have been taken already, which means that I'm pretty much screwed over there too. I hate registering for Spring semester classes now. They never have what I want.

Well, here's plan D:

General Chemistry II
Physics I
Asian American Studies (General Ed class)
Philosophy - Rationalism + Empricism (minor class)

Oh yeah, I will take my first series of Organic Chemistry over the summer, no matter what anybody has to say about that (don't worry everybody, it's the only class I'll be taking over the summer, so I can focus 110% on it). I'm tired of having the school screw me over in classes.

Later everyone! Hopefully I'll get my Plan D to work (assuming that those classes haven't been taken already when I am allowed to sign up +pissed+ )
 
Biodude - I know what you mean about spring semester classes. THEY SUCK. I sat through my stats lecture trying to figure out what to take... and its like all the classes I want to take are at the same time. I think I'm going to end up taking a Saturday class just so I can fit in another class during the week.
 
Thanks for the encouragement guys. I was right about talking to my prof being an absolute waste. Once again he told me that he's already told all of us what we need to do. I wanted to shoot him! lol...I wanted to say well obviously your way isn't working for me so what else can I try? Instead I walked down the hall and talked to my boss and he's going to go thru each exam with me and see if we can figure out what I'm really missing so I can get it down for the final.

I think I got all 16 of the extra credit points for Cell Bio so I should only need a 73 on the final to get a B. I got a 76 on the in-class portion of our research methods exam so right now I have a very solid B in there. I should do better on the take-home portion of that exam but I don't think our prof will have those graded until next week. I'm hoping to bring that one up to a B+ or A- in the end.

Despite my difficulties with orgo I think this will be my best semester yet since starting at this school, so while orgo is bringing me down a bit I'm quite proud of myself for everything else (especially considering how little time I spend on everything else lol).

TCB - I don't think your schedule sounds impossible, but keep in mind that Calc, stats, and orgo II are all very time-consuming problem-intensive classes. Rather than calc you might want to consider doing some humanities or gen ed class instead. On the other hand I'm planning on taking genetics, orgo II, physics II, and biomechanics/kinesiology so I guess I'll be doing 3 problem-intensive classes too hehe. I just "like" the problems for genetics so much better than the problems for calc or stats lol. Genetics comes easily to me (or did 9 years ago when I took an intro to genetics class) while calc is/was a bear for me. Whatever you decide I don't think you'll fail any of your classes tho.

JKD - sounds like you had a fun weekend. And yeah I'm certainly hoping to make up for my C in orgo I in orgo II lol. I think once I can find a way of breaking it all down I'll be fine even tho Orgo II is all about rxns/synetheses.

Biodude - I'm sorry to hear you're having such troubles with your school getting the classes you want/need. I don't get to register until Dec 4th, but our registration doesn't start until Dec 1st so I'm not really worried about getting what I plan (other than maybe genetics lab cuz there's only one section of 24 students for that vs the 150 for the lecture lol) but that's primarily a sophomore class for us so I should be registering before the majority of students who will be registering for it. I like the sound of your plan D tho, and I don't blame you at all for taking orgo over the summer lol. Just pray that you get whatever prof is considered the best for orgo at your school lol.

I think I may try Calc at my school once more this summer. As much as I'd rather take it elsewhere where the homework counts for more I think I want to "erase" the D at this school for my bio and chem gpa's. Sure it'll still be there for AMCAS but if I end up needing to get a masters or postbacc I think I'll feel better having it gone. If I take it elsewhere I'll get the credits but the grade won't go away. I'll just take that, biopsych, and maybe a humanities (so I can be considered full time and hopefully get a summer work study) this summer and then hopefully work a lot lol.

Today I intend to work quite a bit on my orgo extra credit, and then my NMRs (reading these are a pain in the butt!), and then work some more on cell bio.

Have a good week everyone!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
I have my orgo test tomorrow.... wish my luck guys. My professor told us that the test is going to be difficult. But I am glad it is only going to cover two chapters : Stereochemistry and Alkynes. ... I hate synthesis though..


Skaterbabe74: good luck with everything, I am telling you, some professors are just useless sometimes 🙂 .

BIODUDE: organic over the summer is going to be a Blood Bath !! but you can do it.. I am sure. Organic isn't hard anyway, I am just slow.
 
Well I don't exactly have too many choices for classes anyhow...

Looks like I had to go to plan E, as follows:

General Chemistry II
Ecology & Physiology
Philosophy - Contemporary Moral Issues (I like Ethics-related classes, which will be in my minor)
Asian American Studies (my last general ed to get rid of 😛 )

Oh, I didn't let everyone know about my experiences in the ER. Here follows my account:

My first day sucked. The nurses and ER techs didn't let me do anything at all (and didn't teach me much either, despite the fact that it was a SLOW day in the ER) 😡 🙄 So, all I did was wander around, stand, and watch. That's all!! Talk about a waste of time! And it couldn't come at a worse time either. My STUPID volunteer program regulations doesn't allow the volunteers to be doing any outside related stuff, like school, which means that those were 4 wasted hours that could have been spent doing something else (like studying for the Logic Exam I had the next day or putting the finishing touches on my Philosophy take-home exam) +pissed+ Instead, I had to stand around all day long, getting in the way of the nurses, techs, and doctors, and being made fun of by the patients. It wouldn't have been so bad if I actually had things to do, but I didn't. I tried to be assertive and I still got nothing at all to do!

My second day (yesterday 3 p.m. - 7 p.m.) also sucked. But it was better because there was another volunteer for me to work with. But it sucked again at the end because my coordinator came up and reminded us of regulations (STUPID REGULATIONS +pissed+ ). I understand that she was under a lot of pressure to make sure that we follow regulations, but you know what? I actually had things to do until she showed up and broke us up! We weren't even socializing!

Well, y'all can tell how I feel about volunteering in the ER now, can't you? 😀

I'm going to be much more careful the next time I sign up for a new department. This one sucks so much because of the STUPID REGULATIONS 😡

Sorry for the rant, everybody, but I felt a need to vent my frustration with the regulations regarding what volunteers are supposed to do in the ER. I wouldn't be so mad if what I was told to do actually was what I got to do. For example, my program coordinator said, "The ER nurses want the volunteers to be more assertive. That's how you get things to do." Heck, I was as assertive as could be, and I still got absolutely nothing to do except stand or wander around! I had plenty more things to do when I went around helping the other volunteer on my second shift 🙄 and because of the stupid volunteer program regulations, I had nothing to do again at the end of my second shift.

I'll stop now before I make it much longer with my ranting about the program's rules and regulations.
 
Hi premeds-
Long time, no post. But I've been faithful and I hope all is well with this group.
I wanted to interject some more words of encouragement for everyone.
I just left a little premed forum put on at a small liberal arts college in upstate NY called Hamilton College. It featured current MDs (speaking about their reflections on why they love medicine, and what it takes to be an MD in the near future), current students and residents (addressing the realities of medical school and hospital life), and finally, admissions directors from SUNY Upstate, University of Rochester, and UConn. The good news for so many members of this SDN group was the sentiment that non-trads have a distinct advantage in applications for admissions at the three schools represented at this forum, with the SUNY rep stating "All other parts of the application equal, the non-traditional applicant is held in higher regard". He even recommended to one traditional student, who expressed fears that she was "a science major with good grades like everyone else", that she might be better served by taking some time off to see the world. I felt emboldened by what I'd heard; so full steam ahead.
Otherwise, life is busy...I took this semester off to go to Europe for three weeks...next semester I'll battle the Orgo II dragon...and I'm actually studying for the MCAT now - maybe April 04?
And...I got promoted...I'm now the Director of Clinical Services, so I'm running Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech/Language Pathology, Audiology, and Education services...lots of stress and headache, but I guess nice for the resume progression...and my CEO gave me the okay to take Orgo II during work hours next semester, so I cannot really complain.
Best of luck to all!!!!!!

dc
 
Hey all 🙂

Well I had to put off going thru my exams from orgo until next week thanks to not getting enough of my other stuff done early in the week. No biggie tho, my boss is cool 🙂. Found out this morning that I have a physics test tomorrow so guess what I'm doing tonite lol. I am definitely glad I at least started the orgo extra credit earlier this week lol. And our orgo prof instituted a new homework policy (with only 3 assignments left😕 ). It's online homework and there's like 3 different versions of each assignment. Well we now get two chances to take the homework and our higher grade will be used. Why, oh why, couldn't he have figured this out like 5 assignments ago??? We'll be able to find out which questions we missed so if we get the same question on our next attempt we can try a different answer.

TCB - Hope your orgo exam went well 🙂

Biodude - I'm sorry to hear you're having such a rough time of things right now. Plan E again? That's just not fair. They either need to add more space to existing classes or get teachers to teach more sections! That's just ridiculous! Hopefully the ER will get better as this rotation goes on....

Bigdan - Congrats on the promotion!!! And taking the semester off for Europe fun😀 . Sounds like an awesome conference you attended too 🙂

I'm officially in my home stretch thank goodness. This has definitely been a long semester lol. Today was the last physics lab we actually have to do a write-up for. The week after thanksgiving we have one more lab meeting, but it's a demo day and our TA thought it was totally stupid to have us write something up on the demos so as long as we show up that day we'll get the full credit for the lab 🙂. After thanksgiving we have our orgo lab practical (it's just an experiment where we'll have to identify some unknown) and then the next week we'll run a Diels-Alder and that will be it for that. We'll have to come in for a few minutes the following week to check our lab equipment back in but that won't take long hehe. I only have one more homework assignment for research methods and no more exams until the final in both research methods and cell bio. The only things I still have a decent amt of work left in are orgo lecture and physics lecture. Woohoo! I am soo ready for a break lol.

Ok now that I've finished eating dinner it's time to study for that exam tomorrow. Have a good weekend everyone!

--Jessica, UCCS
 
bump.

Started my 10-day thanksgiving break on friday. Woo-hoo! I have a big paper to write.

I dreamt last night that I got a 96 on my organic test. Now I'm going to worry about it for over a week.

Coz- That schedule looks decent. Y'all have a class on Weapons of Mass Destruction? That's cool.

Skaterbabe- Hope your physics exam went well.

Bigdan- Welcome back! And good luck!
 
It might get a little hectic, but with analytical this semester, I've done more lab work then I probably will in those, so I'm not too worried.

WMDs is a new advanced lecture topic, offered once in a blue moon. Guy who teaches it taught at a Military college and helped UN weapons inspectors. Thats pretty damn cool if you ask me 🙂

Monday I have Organic, I hand in my compound report, then work till 10pm.
Tuesday I'll be handing in 2 analytical reports, and 2 analytical index cards. That should take care of 4/8 experiment reports, assuming I don't need to redo any. 5/6 will be done over thanksgiving break.
 
Hey guys and gals, I don't know how I let this thread slip by me but it did. I think it is great.

Biodude, ever think about maybe taking an EMT class?? I promise you will get more hands on experience and still get to be around other professionals and ask ALL the questions you want.

I am currently working full time and taking my prereqs. I am taking Org Chem II and Phys1 this semester. I am studying for the MCAT this spring and taking Phys II. These are two tuff classees to take while working the night shift full time. Not my best semester!!
😱

Anyway, I like this thread, keep up the good work y'all!!


🙂
 
Hey all! 🙂

Welcome deepsouthmedic! Glad you finally found us 🙂

Vix - 10 day break? How did you swing that one? lol...I hate having to wait on exam scores lol. I'm really hoping our physics prof finished grading them over the weekend, but somehow I doubt it. Our research methods prof didn't finish our take home half of our last exam yet either so we won't get that back til after the break. I think I did well on my physics exam tho...

Coz - Sounds like you'll have a fun semester 🙂.

I had a good weekend. My bf came over Sat nite and we hung out. Had a couple beers and just relaxed. Sunday we went to the Broncos/Bears game. We had fun, but it was an awful game lol. It was the coldest game ever (18 degrees Celsius) and the Broncos just played crappy. We both froze lol. I had on uggs, a pair of thick skating tights, jeans, 2 long sleeve T's, a hooded sweatshirt, and a down jacket lol. I was good for the first period and a half but after that, and especially once the sun went behind the stadium it was just brutal. Even my bf was cold by halftime and he's always boiling hehe. We had a nice day tho...breakfast before heading up to Denver, hot chocolate at the stadium, and he bought me dinner before dropping me off so I could finish my orgo extra credit 🙂.

I have class tomorrow, but we have the rest of the week off woohoo 😀 . I'll spend most of my break working on orgo stuff...trying to get everything in my head so I'll stop making really stupid mistakes that are costing me a lot of points lol. Dr Schoffstall and I went thru some stuff today and he thinks it's mostly a confidence issue....I know what I'm doing, I just have to do it lol. His other suggestion was to work backwards on syntheses which I try to do but often I get stuck on the first part when working them that way so I revert to going forwards in a synthesis. So I'll keep working things until I can confidently do them backwards. Between that and some suggestions of other friends I'll be writing "study guides" that are more difficult than the basic ones that we're "told" to work with and see how it goes. I also have some reading to do for my other classes, but I'm not all that worried about those. Finally I want to try and get some research done for my work project. My goal is to have several reactions to try out by the time the semester is over so that I can spend most of my days during the break working in the lab versus researching stuff and hopefully have some things to show Dr Schoffstall by the time break is over.

The chemistry and biology honor societies sponsered a thanksgiving dinner today which was nice. Unfortunately the food was running late so most of us didn't get any stuffing cuz we had to get to orgo class before it was all set up lol. Dr Anderson even delayed class by like 15 minutes to try and let us get some food. He let us out like 10 minutes early too tho so I managed to get a plate together on my way over to cell bio. Last year I got to bring home like 1/4 of a turkey from the leftovers but this year my timing was off and all the food was gone by the time I got back from cell bio lol. No biggie tho....my bf's mom will be making a turkey thanksgiving evening after they get back from the "family" dinner in denver for sandwiches and football watching hehe. My bf isn't the biggest fan of hot turkey but loves sandwiches lol. It'll just be nice to not have class for several days so I can actually get stuff done lol.

What's everyone else doing for thanksgiving? Going home? Staying at school? Having big friend get-togethers?

Have a good one!
--Jessica, UCCS
 
This needs a bump...
 
Hi all!

I've spent the last two weeks being sick, taking care of my sick daughter, and trying to catch up on all the things I missed-not quite done with that yet😱 But I'll be OK after this weekend...

Skaterbabe-I hope all your orgo troubles will work themselves out! I keep doing the same thing in math class-making stupid mistakes...just gotta keep plugging and chugging...

Biodude-Sorry to hear about your volunteering stuff-I've had plenty of similar stuff happen to me in jobs, etc. Is there any way you can talk to the coordinator to try and work something out? It seems to me like the nurses are saying one thing and then doing another--that's not quite right.

deepsouthmedic-Wow that does sound tough! Good luck!

Cozmosis-I wish my school offered classes like WMD-you're lucky...Your schedule sounds tough but you seem like you can handle it..you'll make it!

Anyway, my life will soon get even more complicated. My kids have been struggling with some issues in school and we are seriously looking into taking them out and homeschooling them. Which will mean that I need to drop to about 12-13 credits a semester and my husband will have to drop to 9 or so, but we think we can do it. We're totally willing to take five or six years to get through undergrad to do this...the way we see it is we can either let the kids go on the way they have been and have to deal with even more problems in the future or do something about it now and hopefully give them a good foundation and minimize future problems so we can then give our full attention to medschool (for me) and grad school (hubby-MBA) and later jobs.

The thing is that both my kids (and I hate to sound snobbish about this, please know I'm not trying to be😀 ) are very intelligent and curious, which results in them being constantly bored in school. Their teachers view them as "behavior problems", and are constantly reprimanding them for finishing assignments too soon, asking too complicated of questions, and basically bugging to move ahead of the rest of the class. So now they're having emotional issues too, not to mention being picked on by the other kids for this... I've tried conferences with the teachers, principal, etc, and have gotten nowhere...they are all telling me that the teachers have to make sure the whole class knows what they are doing and thus don't have time for enrichment activities. Also, budget cuts, blah, etc, which I understand, but it's still hurting my kids...

I could go on and on but i won't (this is long enough already)...basically what it boils down to is that right now hubby and I spend more time trying to "reverse" the problems that school is creating than if we would just teach them ourselves. We have a good deal of support from our parents, friends, etc...so it looks like that's what I'll be doing over the next few years.

Ah well, thanks for the venting opportunity...it's back to math homework for me (only three weeks left:clap: )

Have a good thanksgiving all! We're just going by the in-laws that day and then spending the rest of the weekend studying...
 
Hey all -

Wow Jenni - Sounds like you're having a rough time. Glad to hear you're feeling better tho. I can't believe your kids teachers are reprimanding them for finishing assignments too early!?! If anything that's a wonderful habit to get into lol. I don't blame you at all for considering taking them out and home schooling them. My grade school had an "extended learning program" for those of us that were more advanced in subjects. We still took some classes with everyone else, but for other things we'd have our own readers or go down the hall to another classroom with a different teacher for things. I loved that program. We got to do so many more fun things that way. Lots of creative writing (which resulted in me not knowing some of the grammar rules by the time I got to 7th grade cuz that was a middle school thing in one district and a grade school thing in my new district hehe, but I could write grammatically correct on instinct). Take a look into some summer enrichment programs for them too. There should be some things in the area somewhere. As a kid we had one that was done at Aurora University (I know that's probably too far south for you, but I'm sure other places have them too). We could take 2 or 3 "classes" in everything from spanish to theater to astronomy to computer stuff. They typically ran 2 weeks at a time, and there were a few sessions over the summer, and you'd get a little certificate at the end showing your competency in the class. I remember taking spanish and theater the summer between 6th and 7th grade. I learned numbers, colors, and greetings in spanish (which I know many schools start earlier now but when I was that age languages didn't start until middle school and high school), and in theater we had to perform an old greek dialogue which was fun. It was just really cool to be on a university campus at 13 years old seeing all the stuff that goes on. I saw my first cadaver then. The anatomy lab or storage area was right next to the theater we were using I think, and some of us went wandering one day hehe.

If I hadn't had those opportunities I don't know what would have happened to me. I know once I got taken out of that program by switching school districts I slowly went down hill academically lol. That was more cuz my new school district didn't have a clue how to translate the ELP program into their curriculum and I got shafted lol, but I managed to work my way back up in everything but math by the time I graduated high school.

Good luck with everything!

--Jessica, UCCS
 
Thanks for the good wishes, Skaterbabe! It sounds like you were pretty lucky...I hope I can raise my kids to say things like that one day.

We're definitely going to look into some of those things in addition to homeschooling them...I don't want them to fall behind socially. Right now that's not a concern, all their friends are either in our neighborhood or are kids they met at taekwondo or swim class anyway.

Our district used to be OK for advanced learners (it's where I went to school and I did ok) until the new superintendent took over about ten years ago. He's really into "equality" and "balanced classes" (meaning that all classes are set up to contain an equal proportion of each level of ability). Supposedly this helps "everyone get along" and encourages awareness of diversity, but I don't see how it's helping anyone in terms of academics-the lower-ability students don't get as much help as they need and the upper-ability students don't get challenged.

Also, there used to be a full-time gifted/talented coordinator at each school, but thanks to the state budget cuts over the last few years, now the six elementary schools in our district share one part-time coordinator. And extracurricular programs are being eliminated left and right....it seems like nothing's left. Oh well, I can't change the world so I just went and found my own solution that will work for us...😀

Ugh-I just got back from math class and I'm getting really lost in this last unit. Memorizing trig identities.......must drag myself back to it now...see ya later

P.S. Funny story to brighten your day-we had an extra credit lab in anatomy last night. The local school of massage therapy came in to view our cadaver (by this point, it's totally dissected, internal organs and everything...a real mess). Anyway, this big muscle-bound macho guy (who's also a personal trainer) that was swaggering around like he's all that during the beginning lecture...I'm sure you know what's coming...he passed out and fell face-first onto the floor when my prof was digging around in the intestines to show the location of the appendix (and explaining how if this localized area is painful, they should refer for medical attention...) When he came back to, he was acting like a total baby/spoiled brat "oh, this is so f***in gross, etc. We all had a really hard time keeping a straight face until he left, then the entire roomful cracked up. Apparently his classmates don't like him much either...:laugh:
 
bump.

Jenni, have you looked into montessori programs? They're really good... depends on your financial situation, but they usually offer scholarships. Classes are small, and most programs are self-motivated. Parents also play a major role in the program. Its a good alternative for K-6.

Enjoying my vacation... still nowhere near finished with my envirotox paper.
 
Vixenell-thanks for the idea. there's a montessori center where I live-I know it's mainly a daycare but I'll have to see if they have programs for older kids...something to check into. They definitely would have to have a scholarship-we had to rule out private school for the financial reason already. Two college tuitions and two private school tuitions and trying to support a family of four on one salary just won't work😡

Well, on a happier note, I'm sitting here waiting for things to bake and am bored for once today, I'm actually ahead of schedule for getting everything ready and where do I spend my extra time? (lol)...happy Thanksgiving to all😀
 
Hey all 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving!!😀

Hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing day today! I know I will lol. I'll be going over to my bf's late this evening once he and his folks get back from a meal in Denver at a cousin's. My bf's mom is funny tho...despite the fact that they are going elsewhere for dinner she's still making a full thanksgiving dinner today complete with her incredible pecan and raspberry chiffon pies lol. (My bf's not a big fan of hot turkey...he'll wait to eat the majority of his meal until he gets home and can make a cold turkey sandwich lol). I'll talk to my mom today too for a lil while before she heads over to my aunt's for dinner. Other than that I'll just be vegging and studying some.

jenni - Isn't having time to be bored for a lil while nice hehe.

Vix - good luck finishing your envirotox paper!

Everyone else, have a fun and safe holiday!

--Jessica, UCCS
 
hi ,
<font color= blue>
how are you doing a nice time</font>

Well I been very busy lately with my 2nd midterms and papers...etc...+ also forget to activate email notifications.

My shedule next semester will be:

Organic Chemistry II & LAB
Calculus I
Evolutionary Biology
Communication 100 (intro)

maybe add something to relaaaaaaaax
Painting I or dance what your opnion.
 
Hey all 🙂

Hope everyone has had a good weekend off! I vegged a lot lol. Haven't gotten nearly as much done as I originally planned, but I think I needed the breather to get my focus back for the last 2 and a half weeks. My bf's mom let me take home left-over turkey so I've had yummy stuff to eat the last few days hehe. I also finally watched both the Matrix, and Matrix reloaded. 🙂 Also my bf let me borrow a cd rom of games that has parchesi on it so I spent a lot of time playing that hehe. He also showed me a cool role playing game. It's based on CSI, and there's 5 cases you need to complete to get to a big bonus case, but you can't move onto the bonus case unless you get 100% on each of the 5 regular cases. You have to question people, find evidence, run tests on evidence, etc....it's really cool! So far my bf has managed to solve 2 cases, but he hasn't gotten 100% on either of them yet. If you get stuck you can also "ask" the CSI investigators for help, but you'll lose points for asking too.

Hey Minx - Glad to hear things are going well for you albeit busy. Your spring schedule looks perfect 🙂. Personally I'd choose dance over painting tho. First I'm an ex-ballerina so that's obviously more of a passion for me than painting, but also art classes tend to be way more time-consuming then we think they will be and harder to get A's in then we think they will be. Dance you pretty much show up and try and you'll get an A, painting you'll be spending a lot of time on probably. Besides dance will give you a good workout too hehe.

I get to register on Wed and it's looking like I'll have:
Orgo II + lab
Physics II + lab
Genetics + lab
Biomechanics/Kinesiology.

I had originally planned on taking Bacteriology + lab instead of Biomechanics but they still haven't posted the days and times for the lab and with my difficulties in orgo I don't think they'd give me the override I'd need to do it anyway. So I'll take it next spring with pathobio, human metabolism, and Biochem II + lab.

K I've rambled enough lol...off to study. Have a good week everyone!

--Jessica, UCCS
 
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