2/18/2015 0 Comments Picking a Major By Martina Efeyini
Choosing a college major can be one of the most challenging decisions for young Scientistas. With so many interesting scientific problems to solve, Scientistas can suffer from the tyranny of choice : paralysis in the face of so many exciting potential avenues to travel! Even with a broad interest like vaccines, one has to decide between biology, toxicology, chemical engineering, pre-medicine, and immunology! The great thing about STEM is that many majors overlap and will help you build a satisfying career. This important decision is one that many undergraduate students face and it is normal.
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By Harini Sundararaghavan
Research is an important part of the college experience. It allows you to connect with a professor and graduate students, exposes you to possible career paths, and helps you decide if you want to attend graduate school. Your relationship with the PI (principle investigator, as many professors with labs are known) may be one of the best mentorship relationships you form during college, and you will almost certainly request a reference letter after spending a semester to a few years in the same lab. However, getting a research position is not always easy. Most PIs get 5-10 email requests for lab positions each week from potential students, especially at the beginning of the school year: some international, some local. On top of the normal stress of the beginning of the semester, answering these emails can be time consuming and is not often a first priority. Here are some tips on how to make your email stand out and how to get the coveted research position: Attending office hours is a great way to differentiate yourself from other students in the course and to get to know the professor a bit more. Office hours facilitate direct interaction with your professor, and an uninterrupted time to answer your questions about the course material. During office hours, you can ask for a review of specific questions from problem sets or of concepts that weren’t clear in lecture. As you discover whether you like your professor’s style, you can learn about other courses she teaches that you may want to enroll in.
By Jessica Li
As a high school student determined to pursue STEM and inspire other girls to do the same, I have found and participated in a number of STEM opportunities. Students entering high school may likely be uncertain about how to begin searching for STEM opportunities, and high schools typically do not promote information about such opportunities. I am sharing a list of high school STEM opportunities I have had the pleasure of participating in, tips for making the most of these opportunities, and ideas for opportunities students can create for themselves. Even if you are not in high school, you can consider starting your own STEM organization or opportunity for high school students, mentoring at one of the programs mentioned below, or sharing these opportunities with a high school student you know. Kristyn Borrelli
If I could eliminate anything about my undergraduate experience, thus far, it would be my fear of approaching professors outside of class. Here is some quick advice on taking advantage of your most valuable resource as an undergraduate—bottom line, don’t be afraid! In case you didn’t know, here’s why your professors are the key to your success as an undergraduate: The “I” Word: Secondaries
Verified. The race begins again. The same day I was verified, I received five secondaries. Every day, two more usually arrive in my inbox. The clock begins. To organize the incoming, outgoing, and progress made, I have made a pretty nifty spreadsheet, including the school, the website, username, and password. Staying organized will alleviate stress and help me keep track of all 21 schools as this process continues. By Chelsea Travers
Time: July 26, 2013. 11:22 pm. “Time flies. Time waits for no man. Time heals all wounds. All any of us wants is more time. Time to stand up. Time to grow up. Time to let go. Time.” – Grey’s Anatomy 9/23/2013 1 Comment The Primary Application - MD Vs DOThe Primary Application By Chelsea Travers There are two different types of medical schools in the U.S.: those granting MD (doctor of medicine) degrees and those granting DO (doctor of osteopathic medicine) degrees. The primary applications for MD and DO schools are very similar. Having finished both of them, I will compare and contrast, and then I will also describe the two types of medical schools based on what I have heard and witnessed in my time shadowing and listening to admissions representatives from both perspectives. This past fall, I had a friend come in and speak to the pre-med club about his experience applying to medical school. He had already interviewed at several schools by that point, and he would later be accepted to something like eight medical schools. He put together an entire presentation and included the very helpful visual below. This figure depicts the significance of each part of the medical school application. As you can see, MCAT and GPA are at the top. These numbers are entered into an algorithm that dictates whether you will get a secondary or not; the baseline is very low, so the majority of applicants get a secondary. Some schools may prescreen you and decide before receiving your completed app (primary with letters of recommendation, secondary and fees) that you are rejected. If this is so, you will receive a rejection email immediately after completing your secondary, but I’m getting ahead of myself. First, I will detail the format of the primary app, which encompasses the boxed subjects in the figure. The AMCAS Primary AMCAS (MD) is minimalistic. There are tabs, which are organized into sections, such as biographical information, transcripts, colleges attended, coursework, work and activities, essays, letters and schools to apply to. The writing-intensive sections are essays and work and activities. I started writing my personal statement on Christmas afternoon; this gave me plenty of time to rewrite most of it and have every PhD and friend I knew read it and give me feedback. Your statement will evolve dramatically, but the end product should display your most professional and accurate motivations for becoming a doctor. For the work and activities section, you will have a maximum of 15 opportunities to briefly explain other aspects of your life that exemplify your motivations, with a choice to expand on three of those experiences. There are many ways to tackle this section, but there are two goals to remember: 1) be consistent and 2) no spelling/grammar errors. The DO Primary When it came to filling out the DO application, I basically copied and pasted my details from my MD app. However, the interface of this app is very different, and—I would say—more user-friendly. There are fewer tabs and more subsections within each tab. The main differences are that the work and experience section is divided into extracurricular and paid, there is a designated space for awards, scholarships, accomplishments, etc., and the personal statement is significantly shorter. To summarize, I have included a Venn diagram. Regarding the institutional differences, traditional medical schools are the longstanding, more publicized schools of thought, often referred to as allopathic. Osteopathic schools began in 1874, inspired by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still’s holistic approach to medicine. The latter has gained prominence in the last decade due to the upcoming shortage concerns and the lower standards of acceptance. The magic words to any medical school are “rural” and “primary care,” and this especially applies to osteopathic intuitions. The bottom line is, if you hope to practice under the primary care/internal medicine umbrella or have a lower GPA/MCAT score, then DO schools may be a good place for you to apply. This article providesinsightful information regarding DO schools. One advantage to considering DO schools is that their graduates may apply to both MD and DO residencies, giving a doctor double the chances of matching. However, if you would like to explore more competitive specialty options, allopathic is the better pathway. Other Helpful Links: · Match: http://futureoffamilymedicine.blogspot.com/2013/03/future-of-family-medicine-2013-match.html · Chance predictor: http://prospectivedoctor.com/chance-predictor · Industry blogger: http://drkevincampbellmd.wordpress.com/ · For researching allopathic schools: MSAR · Your primary source: Student Doctor Network Learn to navigate the forums, they can answer almost any question you have. · DO App and MD App · Thread for MD app activities section: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=896983 Chelsea Travers is a biology major and chemistry minor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. Originally from Las Vegas, she has traveled from the desert to the rain in hopes to get closer to her dream of becoming a doctor. Comments? Leave them below!
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