Vent/Complain/Whine/MISC thread!

[Picklesali]

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I'll add my two cents worth of venting here.

I'm extremely frustrated with how much publishing seems to count. Everywhere I go I'm asked why I haven't published and several people have commented that I would have much better chances if I had published.

To me, it seems whether an undergraduate publishes is often up to chance.

👍👍👍

Yeah - I had a friend who worked in a lab for one summer and was put on two publications!! (The experiment was already designed and all this person had to do was repeat the same assay over and over again...)

 

[seraph524]

Yea, unfortunately, that seems to be the trend...

I have yet to get a single publication, but oh well!

 

[tbo]

I'll add my two cents worth of venting here.

I'm extremely frustrated with how much publishing seems to count. Everywhere I go I'm asked why I haven't published and several people have commented that I would have much better chances if I had published.

To me, it seems whether an undergraduate publishes is often up to chance. Certainly, publishing doesn't necessarily correlate with training or future success, except perhaps in that "success breeds success." It seems ridiculous that those who are unlucky or simply less calculating than their peers would be disfavored so. Argh.

Oh, and interviewing sucks.

Yall seem to be doing more than fine with interview success/acceptances, so I wouldn't worry about it so much. I have a few publications but my stats can't compete with you folks. Alas, I'm not having as much success with interviews. All you guys need is to get into a good program and publications will be a foregone conclusion. No one will bother you by the time you graduate.

 

[solitude]

Just wanted to vent/whine/complain/misc about the inactivity on this forum. I don't know about you guys, but I've started school again and this is one of the easiest ways to procrastinate.

 

[magwi11]

I couldn't agree more. Now that I have offically survived interviews, and have nothing left but the thrill of endless hours of data analysis, you folks are really slacking on your procrastination assistance duties. Pick it up people! 🙄

 

[j-weezy]

What I don't understand is how I'm only taking 2 real classes this semester but I'm still on campus >13 hours a day...and yet where the hell are the results of my research??!!

 

[solitude]

What I don't understand is how I'm only taking 2 real classes this semester but I'm still on campus >13 hours a day...and yet where the hell are the results of my research??!!

Haha ditto. I'm trying to create three transgenic lines and write a thesis by April, 😱. You're done with interviews though now aren't you j?

 

[j-weezy]

Haha ditto. I'm trying to create three transgenic lines and write a thesis by April, 😱. You're done with interviews though now aren't you j?

UNC on Saturday - I don't need a ride (but thanks for offering). After that I'm FREE (kinda)

 

[solitude]

UNC on Saturday - I don't need a ride (but thanks for offering). After that I'm FREE (kinda)

alright, good luck!

 

[seraph524]

I'm venting...

Super Smash Brawl was supposed to come out early February, but is now delayed till March. 😡

 

[Dodo23]

Another person here who has to turn in a thesis by April. 😱 Given how my experiments have been going lately, I dunno how I'm going to do it.

And how come there was no activity on this forum right through my finals when I really needed to procrastinate, and a flurry of posting the moment I left for my last interview? At least we've started again, though. We need to keep this up through the spring semester. 😀

 

[seraph524]

Guess I'll add my two cents.

Still have yet to start my thesis...hell...still havn't even picked my committee members in which to defend my thesis...haha... It's amazing my graduate director hasn't yelled at me yet.

 

[robo]

Next semester is going to kill me. I feel like I'm gonna be swamped with work, and I need to get my GPA up because I just realized I wanted to mudphud. Is my social life doomed?

 

[seraph524]

Next semester is going to kill me. I feel like I'm gonna be swamped with work, and I need to get my GPA up because I just realized I wanted to mudphud. Is my social life doomed?

What's a social life?

Haha, just kidding. Don't do school at the expense of social life (relaxing and taking a breather, not partying and getting wasted). Being burnt out is not productive...

 

[LunderKind]

For any of you that have parents that don't understand or appreciate the higher education thing...

I showed my WashU acceptance letter to my dad today and told him about the stipend level and mentioned that I didn't have to pay the medical school tuition (something that I've attempted to explain to him multiple times about MD-PhD training programs). He did not say congratulations...instead he asked me a number of questions in order to figure out what the "catch" was...that it really couldn't be that good of a deal. Talk about a buzz kill on a huge accomplishment.

It doesn't take away the fact that I got in though.

 

[seraph524]

For any of you that have parents that don't understand or appreciate the higher education thing...

I showed my WashU acceptance letter to my dad today and told him about the stipend level and mentioned that I didn't have to pay the medical school tuition (something that I've attempted to explain to him multiple times about MD-PhD training programs). He did not say congratulations...instead he asked me a number of questions in order to figure out what the "catch" was...that it really couldn't be that good of a deal. Talk about a buzz kill on a huge accomplishment.

It doesn't take away the fact that I got in though.

Wow...that's too bad man... But congratulations!!

 

[LycianPenguin]

Next semester is going to kill me. I feel like I'm gonna be swamped with work, and I need to get my GPA up because I just realized I wanted to mudphud. Is my social life doomed?

As a fellow first-year ugrad, I can sympathize. Don't worry, it only goes down from here.🙂

 

[magwi11]

For any of you that have parents that don't understand or appreciate the higher education thing...

I showed my WashU acceptance letter to my dad today and told him about the stipend level and mentioned that I didn't have to pay the medical school tuition (something that I've attempted to explain to him multiple times about MD-PhD training programs). He did not say congratulations...instead he asked me a number of questions in order to figure out what the "catch" was...that it really couldn't be that good of a deal. Talk about a buzz kill on a huge accomplishment.

It doesn't take away the fact that I got in though.

My mom is awesome and supportive, but it took her about a year to stop looking for the "catch." Thankfully, she understood the deal in time to just jump for joy when I called her about my first offer.

Look at it from the perspective of someone who's been worried about the cost of school for their medically inclined child since age 4 or 5 or whenever you first got the idea, "Mommy, Daddy, when I grow up I'm going to be a doctor!" If your father worried about it like my mother did, it makes some sense that the fact that a school is going to PAY YOU to go there seems too good to be true at first. I'm sure that he's also VERY proud (as he should be.)

 

[meowkat444]

tell me about it. my dad is completely convinced that the government is going to, like, change their mind about me halfway through and yank my funding. not to mention that, despite having explained it slowly many times, i still get "what's mstp?" everytime i mention it.

 

[jlamacc1]

tell me about it. my dad is completely convinced that the government is going to, like, change their mind about me halfway through and yank my funding.

Well, you never know about funding these days. They could always change their collective mind about all of us. I recommend getting to know Bill Gates.

 

[meowkat444]

true. at least we wouldn't be in debt if that happened.

 

[LunderKind]

Thanks for the support. I knew some of you would get it. I think, for my family, it's also because were from a small town...it's amazing how backwards the values can be. Maybe MSTPs should start sending letters to parents saying, "really, no joke, we are paying your son/daughter for his/her medical and graduate education...and this is a huge deal!!"

Private funding from Bill Gates isn't a bad idea though. I have a friend from Mercer Island...maybe he can give us the hookup.

 

[Picklesali]

Another person here who has to turn in a thesis by April. 😱 Given how my experiments have been going lately, I dunno how I'm going to do it.

And how come there was no activity on this forum right through my finals when I really needed to procrastinate, and a flurry of posting the moment I left for my last interview? At least we've started again, though. We need to keep this up through the spring semester. 😀

Dodo, I have to turn in my rough draft in FIVE WEEKS!!!! When will I find time to write this thing?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

 

[Dodo23]

Dodo, I have to turn in my rough draft in FIVE WEEKS!!!! When will I find time to write this thing?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

Five weeks!?!? Holy cow. At least my penultimate draft is only due at the end of March. But I'm still doing experiments, with seemingly no end in sight. I haven't even started writing - need to do that soon. Yikes!

Well, at least all of us thesis writers can commiserate. to you Pickles, and everyone else.

 

[Dodo23]

Leaky gel boxes suck. I just lost a whole day's work in lab. 🙁

 

[Picklesali]

Five weeks!?!? Holy cow. At least my penultimate draft is only due at the end of March. But I'm still doing experiments, with seemingly no end in sight. I haven't even started writing - need to do that soon. Yikes!

Well, at least all of us thesis writers can commiserate. to you Pickles, and everyone else.

yeah...I'm still doing experiments as well. I think my thesis is going to be very scattered indeed. A whole lot of experiments and a whole lack of conclusions.... blah 🙁

 

[beats]

I wrote my thesis in about three weeks- and it was close to 100 pages! All was good though... until one night I realized I was driving home at midnight from Winn-Dixie with no headlights and a box of sweet and buttery popcorn propped up on the passenger seat

So you can do it... just expect to be a little insane by the end

 

[sternum17]

My turn to vent.

I'm just worried that I won't get in anywhere. I only had 3 American interviews (Penn, Northwestern, and Wash U). I came as close as physically possible to getting in to Wash U without actually getting in - the MSTP committee accepted me, but the MD committee swooped in and said no. My interview with the admissions committee member at Northwestern didn't go very well, so I'm not expecting an acceptance there, and Penn is, well, Penn. I didn't apply very broadly (only 8 top-ranked American schools), thinking that my high MCAT score and GPA and reasonably good research experience would get me more interviews, but apparently that wasn't the case. I really don't want to have to reapply, and if I do, I'll be scared schools will take a "why weren't you accepted last year?" or "why didn't you apply here last year?" attitude.

All done.

 

[Dodo23]

with Penn and Northwestern, sternum17!

Speaking of theses... I hear ya Pickles on the 'whole lot of experiments and whole lack of conclusions' thing. I fear my thesis will be like that, too, all completely scattered. I finally started writing my first draft, but it's so hard to find the time and will to do it when I'm still spending so much time in the lab. If only I could do just one of these things at a time, things would be so much easier, I feel. 🙁

 

[Ariodant]

My turn to vent.

I'm just worried that I won't get in anywhere. I only had 3 American interviews (Penn, Northwestern, and Wash U). I came as close as physically possible to getting in to Wash U without actually getting in - the MSTP committee accepted me, but the MD committee swooped in and said no. My interview with the admissions committee member at Northwestern didn't go very well, so I'm not expecting an acceptance there, and Penn is, well, Penn. I didn't apply very broadly (only 8 top-ranked American schools), thinking that my high MCAT score and GPA and reasonably good research experience would get me more interviews, but apparently that wasn't the case. I really don't want to have to reapply, and if I do, I'll be scared schools will take a "why weren't you accepted last year?" or "why didn't you apply here last year?" attitude.

All done.

If you reapply, schools you didn't apply last time most likely won't even notice the reapplicant mark on your primary. The schools you did apply the last turn will not pull out your past application and do some weird comparison or something. They may ask you about last year, just tell them you didn't apply broadly enough, and have since learned to be more open-minded and prepared. Med schools don't necessarily like perfect applicants, rather they like applicants that show the capacity of maturing and learning from the past. They want to know that you have potentials and can grow, not made perfect and just stay there.

 

[hondapride]

My turn to vent.

I'm just worried that I won't get in anywhere. I only had 3 American interviews (Penn, Northwestern, and Wash U). I came as close as physically possible to getting in to Wash U without actually getting in - the MSTP committee accepted me, but the MD committee swooped in and said no. My interview with the admissions committee member at Northwestern didn't go very well, so I'm not expecting an acceptance there, and Penn is, well, Penn. I didn't apply very broadly (only 8 top-ranked American schools), thinking that my high MCAT score and GPA and reasonably good research experience would get me more interviews, but apparently that wasn't the case. I really don't want to have to reapply, and if I do, I'll be scared schools will take a "why weren't you accepted last year?" or "why didn't you apply here last year?" attitude.

All done.

Sounds like getting into WashU for you should be simple. If I am not mistaken, if you past the MSTP committee and the MD committee says no then MSTP reflies you out there to reinterview. I would contact WashU to find out what was the problem with your app that the MD group is caught up on and then take appropriate measures to rectify this (i.e. if you dont have enough clinical exp then start shadowing/volunteering in a hospital immediately)

 

[Rfectea]

I just wanted to say I'm tired of waiting for a decision... SOMEONE PLEASE ACCEPT ME!

 

[j-weezy]

I just wanted to say I'm tired of waiting for a decision... SOMEONE PLEASE ACCEPT ME!

your status says MD/PhD student

are you applying for residency?

 

[seraph524]

Why was Super Smash delayed until March 9th??? I could have been playing it by now....*cries*

 

[notlikethat]

Why was Super Smash delayed until March 9th??? I could have been playing it by now....*cries*

I know right!!

 

[magwi11]

Valentine's Day.

Boyfriend still in Iraq.

 

[seraph524]

Valentine's Day.

Boyfriend still in Iraq.

🙁

 

[meowkat444]

Valentine's Day.

Boyfriend dumped me Monday.

Awesome.

(not comparing that to boyfriend being in Iraq, sorry. I hope he gets home safely soon!)

 

[tbo]

Valentine's Day.

Boyfriend dumped me Monday.

Awesome.

(not comparing that to boyfriend being in Iraq, sorry. I hope he gets home safely soon!)

Yikes... poor form. Happy V-day peoples. Sendin out the studentdoc love 😍 Aye on Iraq - hope he gets back soon magwi.

 

[magwi11]

Valentine's Day.

Boyfriend dumped me Monday.

Awesome.

(not comparing that to boyfriend being in Iraq, sorry. I hope he gets home safely soon!)

No worries, that sucks just as much if not more. Boys can be stupid.

(and if I'm lucky he'll be home in September, if not, December or January... but he gets leave sometime this spring, so I'll get to see him then... concentrating on that. Thanks to everyone for the safety wishes... that's all we can hope for.)

 

[violarocks]

hey guys,

I just realized that there existed an md/phd place to vent and support one another. It's amazing what just the process asks you to sacrifice. Last semester, I killed my honors thesis and my ex-boyfriend and I broke up partially cuz I didn't have enough time for him, so he went and got it somewhere else...

oh well. guess they weren't worth it.

 

[seraph524]

hey guys,

I just realized that there existed an md/phd place to vent and support one another. It's amazing what just the process asks you to sacrifice. Last semester, I killed my honors thesis and my ex-boyfriend and I broke up partially cuz I didn't have enough time for him, so he went and got it somewhere else...

oh well. guess they weren't worth it.

Ouch...what a dick. 🙁

 

[EpiGirl]

I would like to vent about the fact that this process is giving me stress-related acne. This is the worst acne I have ever had in my life, including puberty. I actually contemplated calling in sick because of a particularly disgusting "blemish."

 

[Dodo23]

Just thought I'd bring this venerable thread back up...

Why do figures for a thesis/paper take so much longer to make than you think they will? Very annoying.

Ok, end rant - back to the thesis!

 

[Inuranic]

Just thought I'd bring this venerable thread back up...

Why do figures for a thesis/paper take so much longer to make than you think they will? Very annoying.

Ok, end rant - back to the thesis!

Haha, I just had to make seven figures for a poster. Writing is so much easier - I feel your pain.

 

[seraph524]

Just thought I'd bring this venerable thread back up...

Why do figures for a thesis/paper take so much longer to make than you think they will? Very annoying.

Ok, end rant - back to the thesis!

👍

 

[Picklesali]

This is more of a freaking out then a vent/whine/complain...

Do you think that if I get an "NC" in a P/F class this semester (a non pre-req/non-science) that it could be potential grounds for withdrawal of admission???


<-- Just realized that the withdrawal deadline has passed at my school. GAAAAAH!


(Man, I sound like one of those "what are my chances" threads in pre-allo.)

 

[seraph524]

I can't imagine schools will care at this point, particularly for a P/F class... Just don't be getting 1.0s in your important classes 😛

 

[solumanculver]

Haha, I just had to make seven figures for a poster. Writing is so much easier - I feel your pain.

Don't you mean:

"... and the logical argumentation thereof" ?

 

[MNIkid87]

Hey, if you dislike complaining, swearing or the like feel free to ignore this but I just have to bitch about my pathetic excuse of a lab partner right now .
So, we are supposed to design an experiment for chem and hand in the pre-lab report tomorrow.
My lab partner, let"s call her L, already refused to do any kind of work when it came to the first part of the process, looking for experiments and getting one approved. So, this pre lab report has 3 parts, right, and we agreed that she only has to do one and I am going to do two...she even got the smallest one, one that doesnt require thinking, that even the rats in my neuro lab could do AFTER being lesioned. So, she was supposed to send me her part this morning .... I dont know what made me think she would actually dfo something this time, but I have been trying to reach her for the past hours and she pretty much ignored me...this is just taking the f**king piss.
Instead of being out with my buddies on St Patrick"s day getting hammered (which she probably is doing right now), I am sitting here picking up the slack for her.....