So I registered in 3 courses over the summer at UBC - in addition to the two online courses I was already in. Add in that I've had a lot of errands and a few events I've had to attend. All in all, it's made for a super busy last two weeks (when the term started), and I don't think it's going to stop.
For my classes, there is bad news and good news. Bad news is 1) that I hate my bio class and 2) I got under 50 percent on my first genetics quiz. Good news is 1) I love everything about my biopsych class and 2) I have several quizzes in my bio class, and we drop the worst mark, so my aforementioned quiz may not count for marks.
A lot of extremes here. For bio, I don't like the prof, I don't like the people I sit with, and I don't enjoy the content. For biopsych, I love the prof, the people I sit with are awesome and have become my friends, and the content is by far the most fascinating stuff I have ever learned.
I was smart enough to get into UBC but I really have to up my game. In addition to medical school, I wanted to win some awards and scholarships at UBC, and I can't do that with an average under 90%. I've been busy, but there is still a ways to go. I know I have to do more than just survive the bio class, that is not the right approach. There are aspects that fascinate me like the history and the problem solving, and if I get my foot in the door that way, then maybe I can start immersing myself in the material some more. I find when I immerse myself in a topic, then the marks usually follow.
I'll post more about my biopsych class and why it is so amazing in the future. For now, I have another quiz in bio on Monday so I should really go study.
Friday 22 May 2015
Saturday 16 May 2015
Canadian Med School classes of 2018/2019
I didn't apply to med school this cycle, but I believe acceptances for most Canadian medical schools are out now, so I just wanted to say congrats to all of the new med school students across the country! Also an extra special congratulations to Kay from http://premedpostmom.blogspot.ca/ (also known as Birdy on http://forums.premed101.com/). She was accepted into McMaster Medicine this past week and her blog is the inspiration for mine, (if you can't tell from the plagiarism already).
When I found her blog, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world how she documented all of her highs and lows, emotions, reactions,hard work, fun times, and great moments and everything else on this great journey that all of us premeds are on to try to get into medicine. I also became hooked to her blog and went back and read every post. I never knew very many premeds, and it was really cool to be on someone else's journey with them, and that is why I wanted to share my own journey with everyone else. If you read my blog, definitely check out her blog! She has a huge following and for good reasons, she is a great person and will be a great medical school student and an awesome doctor. Congrats Kay!
When I found her blog, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world how she documented all of her highs and lows, emotions, reactions,hard work, fun times, and great moments and everything else on this great journey that all of us premeds are on to try to get into medicine. I also became hooked to her blog and went back and read every post. I never knew very many premeds, and it was really cool to be on someone else's journey with them, and that is why I wanted to share my own journey with everyone else. If you read my blog, definitely check out her blog! She has a huge following and for good reasons, she is a great person and will be a great medical school student and an awesome doctor. Congrats Kay!
Sunday 3 May 2015
Maybe the best $203 I ever spent?
I just ordered the ABC TV medical documentaries Hopkins, Boston Med, and NY Med 1 and 2 off of the ABC News store online. I had found all of the shows on Youtube about a year ago, but today I found out I could order them online, so I decided to for a few reasons. The first is that I was concerned that the Youtube videos could get removed due to copyright infringement at any time, as it is not ABC that posted the videos. Second, is that the quality on the DVDs is going to be way better than the Youtube videos. Third, is that there is a lot of super interesting bonus material for the Hopkins DVD. So all in all, I was really happy that I found out I could order it officially online, and now I'm really excited to watch all of these shows! I bet I'm going to like all of these shows, but I heard NY Med is quite critically acclaimed. Although, I'm not sure if any of the other shows are critically acclaimed either though.
My must-watch list doesn't just stop at TV medical documentaries, as I also wanted to watch Grey's Anatomy, ER (George Clooney version), House and Scrubs. I've watched about half of House and it is one of my favorite shows, if not my favorite. I also started watching Grey's Anatomy, but I'm only on season two, and I think it's okay so far. I haven't started ER or Scrubs yet.
Last year I decided I would watch all of the medical documentaries, along with Emergency Room: Life and Death at VGH, sometime before I start medical school. I think an ideal time would be between my acceptance and two weeks before classes start, so basically between May-August of the year I get accepted. Another possibility is that I watch them between the time that I submit my application and my interview or my acceptance, so basically between August-February or August-May of the year that I am applying. Haven't totally decided which route I'm going to take, but it might be good interview prep to be exposed to real medical scenarios in the shows before I do my interview (MMI). But I'm really excited to watch these shows nonetheless! The thing is that, I'm hoping I receive the shipment without any trouble, because I had them ordered to my mom's house, and I'm just concerned if they ask someone to sign for the package but no one is home. I know they leave a slip on the door that there is a package, but I'm just hoping that they don't forget or if it gets blown away by the wind or if someone takes it. All pretty unlikely, but still I tend to worry about these things. I suppose worst case scenario, I just check with the post office in a few weeks.
Also, as an update to my school work, I've gone through 4/6 modules in my chemistry course. I have two remaining but I have a decent background on both topics. Although I won't know how far in depth the course will go into the remaining topics until I go through them all, I'm pretty confident in my ability to do well in this course just because I've had exposure to most of the course before I even started it. I've only tried some calculations so far, as I've mostly been wanting to read through all of the modules first to refresh my familiarity, then do the practice questions, then the assignments, and then the final. I did do quite a few gas law calculations though. There are only 6 assignments, but there are a decent amount of practice questions. Though, I was kind of disappointed that there wasn't more practice questions, just because I know that with math and chemistry courses, practice makes perfect, at least in my experience. Although, I've only completed 1 university course in either math or chemistry, so most of my experience is from high school. I don't think the course will take me too long to complete, but I do want to be sure I have enough time to be ready for the final, because the rules for all TRU OL courses is, if you don't pass the final, you don't pass the course. Kind of intimidating but at least it forces you to prepare, even if it is in fear.
Here is the link for anyone else interested in buying some or all of these DVDs: http://abcnewsstore.go.com/DVDList.aspx
My must-watch list doesn't just stop at TV medical documentaries, as I also wanted to watch Grey's Anatomy, ER (George Clooney version), House and Scrubs. I've watched about half of House and it is one of my favorite shows, if not my favorite. I also started watching Grey's Anatomy, but I'm only on season two, and I think it's okay so far. I haven't started ER or Scrubs yet.
Last year I decided I would watch all of the medical documentaries, along with Emergency Room: Life and Death at VGH, sometime before I start medical school. I think an ideal time would be between my acceptance and two weeks before classes start, so basically between May-August of the year I get accepted. Another possibility is that I watch them between the time that I submit my application and my interview or my acceptance, so basically between August-February or August-May of the year that I am applying. Haven't totally decided which route I'm going to take, but it might be good interview prep to be exposed to real medical scenarios in the shows before I do my interview (MMI). But I'm really excited to watch these shows nonetheless! The thing is that, I'm hoping I receive the shipment without any trouble, because I had them ordered to my mom's house, and I'm just concerned if they ask someone to sign for the package but no one is home. I know they leave a slip on the door that there is a package, but I'm just hoping that they don't forget or if it gets blown away by the wind or if someone takes it. All pretty unlikely, but still I tend to worry about these things. I suppose worst case scenario, I just check with the post office in a few weeks.
Also, as an update to my school work, I've gone through 4/6 modules in my chemistry course. I have two remaining but I have a decent background on both topics. Although I won't know how far in depth the course will go into the remaining topics until I go through them all, I'm pretty confident in my ability to do well in this course just because I've had exposure to most of the course before I even started it. I've only tried some calculations so far, as I've mostly been wanting to read through all of the modules first to refresh my familiarity, then do the practice questions, then the assignments, and then the final. I did do quite a few gas law calculations though. There are only 6 assignments, but there are a decent amount of practice questions. Though, I was kind of disappointed that there wasn't more practice questions, just because I know that with math and chemistry courses, practice makes perfect, at least in my experience. Although, I've only completed 1 university course in either math or chemistry, so most of my experience is from high school. I don't think the course will take me too long to complete, but I do want to be sure I have enough time to be ready for the final, because the rules for all TRU OL courses is, if you don't pass the final, you don't pass the course. Kind of intimidating but at least it forces you to prepare, even if it is in fear.
Here is the link for anyone else interested in buying some or all of these DVDs: http://abcnewsstore.go.com/DVDList.aspx
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