What they did not want you to ever find out is that your generation, the generation born between 1980-1995, actually outnumbers the Baby Boomers. They knew that if you ever turned your eye towards political reform, you could change the world. They tried to keep you sated on vapid television shows and vapid music. They cut off your education and fed you brain candy. They took away your music and gave you Top Ten pop stations. They cut off your art and replaced it with endless reality shows for you to plug into, hoping you would sit quietly by as they ran the world. We as a society are only as strong as our weakest link. Give ‘em hell, kids.
(Source: considerthishippie, via ahousefullofcondiments)
6:24 am • 19 April 2012 • 62,447 notes
Pursue your dream.
viniology:
Don’t let anyone make up YOUR mind for YOU. I see it and hear about it all the time, from med students and residents and even experienced physicians… They love to try and steer you away from becoming a physician. Don’t let them talk you out of pursing what you want to do. They’ll say all the same things; you wont have much free time, you’ll have to work really hard for little pay during residency, your student loans will be huge and the malpractice you’ll pay will limit your income. And they’ll try and persuade you into going into becoming a physician assistant or anything other than a doctor. But these are the things you should already know as a pre-med, and if you’ve already been persuaded into doing something else than you really didn’t want to be a physician in the first place.
Also, for those of you who are determined to go to med school… don’t let every non-A grade get to you. Just keep working hard, do extracurricular’s, maintain a good gpa and above all, keep your head up. When all of your communication, business, or journalism major friends are going out 4-5 nights a week, you’ll have to sacrifice and they wont. It’s not fair, but that’s what you have to do, unless your the exception to the rule because you’re a super-genius. Pre-med studies are hard, they’re like that for a reason; because it won’t get any easier. Trust me, even though I don’t start until August, I have a few friends in 1st and 2nd year, and they keep me constantly updated on their studies.
Bottom line, it’s not the easiest path to follow in life, but those are the things that are worth it in the long run, when you can look back, without regret, and say you were happy you did it.
(via ahousefullofcondiments)
4:00 pm • 2 April 2012 • 18 notes
internships part II.
this past Thursday, I got a phone call and an email inviting me to two different interviews for two different internships.
I had both today.
and surprisingly enough, I feel like they both went well. so I’m pretty satisfied.
but i need to get back to studying….finals start monday.
9:07 pm • 17 March 2012
Anonymous asked: Hey, do you mind saying what your current GPA is as a pre-med student? Also, why did you choose to major in Chemistry?
my GPA is currently a 3.376. Which is okay, I guess, but I always feel like I could do better since I slack off so much.
I chose Chemistry because I was always interested in science. I knew going into college that Biology was the most popular major for premeds, and that it’s really important to have a working knowledge of biology to be a doctor, but I have a hard time in biology, memorizing concepts is just not my thing. Chemistry is really interesting to me, and I don’t struggle with it because so much of it is problem solving. I know that I will need to be able to study biology and related subjects in medical school, but as an undergraduate, classes are difficult enough even if you do enjoy what you’re studying. As a chemistry major, I think you learn a lot about things that can be applied to medicine.
2:46 pm • 3 March 2012
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
if you’re feeling low on motivation, keep this in your records. never forget what you set out to do.
(Source: staybrutalalex, via ahousefullofcondiments)
3:40 am • 2 March 2012 • 135,235 notes
updates.
I applied for several internships a couple weeks ago for the summer, and the deadlines for all were within the last few days. Today was my mom’s birthday, so I didn’t get the opportunity to check my email until early in the evening, but I had received two from two internships.
the first said that only one of my letters of rec had been received, which means that the professor that agreed to write me one didn’t. I’m planning to track him down tomorrow, and if he can’t do it for some reason, I will use one I have from a different professor that was intended for med school applications.
the other was a reminder to click SUBMIT on an application. which i didn’t really realize I hadn’t, I also didn’t realize that i was missing an essay. which I had written already, just not copy and pasted yet. and then when I submitted it, it asked me for three recommendations; an academic advisor, a faculty/work supervisor, and a personal, non related recommender. luckily, I have options for all three of those recommendations, and I sent the requests asap, but I’m just hoping the people i asked will be willing to do it on such short notice.
ugh life is just so full of unforseen circumstances. all. the. time. it’s crazy.
12:15 am • 2 March 2012
on positivity and endurance.
apologies in advance for such a scattered post.
life is hard. and that’s a fact. things always get in the way of what you want to do, especially of your dreams. no one can ever be 100% at everything, and it’s extremely frustrating to know that.
personally, I always assume the worst outcome of any given situation, and I’m always making alternative plans. when things do end up working out, I’m really surprised, but usually a little suspicious of why things worked out because they rarely ever do. I know that part of my problem is I have such little faith in myself, even though I’ve proven myself time and time again.
I was having a conversation with a friend of mine that was struggling with spanish homework. she was increasingly frustrated everytime she tried to pronounce a word because she can’t figure out how to roll her r’s. I was trying to ease her frustration, and I came up with this little gem:
Yeah, you made a mistake. Okay, so maybe you made a lot. But you learned from them. You learned what the answer was not, and that increases the probability of finding what the answer is. Now you know what not to do.
Even though this was a discussion on academics, I feel like this kind of thinking can be applied to life. I know a lot of people who were unsuccessful in their first attempt to get into medical school and have been forced to take an alternative route. For me, I knew I was unprepared last year so I didn’t apply.
even though I haven’t been rejected from medical school, I’ve been rejected from many other things that I truly wanted. internships, apprenticeships, scholarships, etc. it could have been a poor application/essay, but it is more likely that it was just my poor life.
If you wanna have something you’ve never had, you’ve gotta do something you’ve never done.
I think it’s kind of unfortunate that the MCAT and GPA are two super important factors to having your application even considered. luckily, with MCAT, you can take it more than one time (even though two retakes are discouraged). with GPA, it’s a lot harder. for me, I have so many units that getting a 4.0 for a year won’t drastically alter my overall gpa. if you are a freshman or sophomore, you have a little better luck because first, there are many more resources (TA’s, SI’s, learning communities, study groups) that can help you get good grades in classes that are prerequisites for med school (bio, gchem, ochem, physics). for juniors and seniors, it’s quite a bit more difficult because your field of study is more specialized, which means less help is available because less people are guaranteed to know the subject.
I have a group of around 7 friends that are fellow chemistry majors. we all work really well together, and the best thing is that our minds all see things differently. whenever something is confusing, there will always be one among us who will know exactly what’s going on and will be able to explain it.
if you’re graduating, but don’t want to apply because of your gpa, you can do a postbacc or a masters program. post bacc programs work on improving both your gpa and your mcat score, while masters’ programs only deal with gpa. look around for options. I know they’re out there.
I think that with any kind of failure, you have to realize you’re doing something wrong. last year, I didn’t want to apply because I felt like I hadn’t done anything worthwhile with my life. so, I started doing things. leadership, service, basically building up my application. to get into medical school, you need to be a competitive applicant, but you also have to be compassionate. make sure you have determined that medicine is something you really want to do. not something your parents, teachers, friends, or family want for you. this is your life.
12:14 pm • 19 February 2012 • 5 notes
My name is Vanessa. I am a 4th year Chemistry major at the University of California, Riverside.
This is a secondary blog to chronicle my journey from undergraduate education, through internships and whatever else comes my way, into what I hope will ultimately be medical school. Feel free to ask me anything.
