Huh, that’s not something I ever thought I would add to my résumé. As of last Sunday (5/1) I directed my second 5K. It was a modestly sized event; there were about 50 runners, and 100+ people including volunteers and family. For me it has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, all the effort and stress that goes into an event is totally worth it, when people start thanking you for a great event as they leave the course.

Hundreds of safety pins, bibs, bags, plastic cups, bagels, and what not. Organizing such an event takes a ton of hard work and can’t be accomplished without help. My team this year was unbelievable, raising hundreds of dollars from sponsors, putting up hundreds of posters, passing out brochures and flyers. Organizing such a large event is a great way to learn the true value of team work.

Next year will be my last year as the race director, and I’m not looking forward to it. Hopefully I’ll be able to organize other races, perhaps bigger races 10Ks and beyond! If any one else is interested in organizing a race, and would like some pointers and what not feel free to contact me!

As a bit of a side note, I’m hoping to run a few races myself later on this summer and into the fall.

The experience was fairly normal, as expected. I sat in the waiting area with one of my close friends while waiting for them to allow me to begin. I started at around 12:45 PM. The test was just that a test and legal guidelines prevent me from talking about it. It was difficult, some parts were weird, and usually I have a pretty good idea as to how I did after taking an exam, but nothing after this.

I either did good, or really bad. I’m hoping that I did well. I would really like to take this post to thank all of the people who have supported me through this and dealt with my cranky personality during these few months. More importantly I’d like to apologize to all those that I’ve neglected for the past few months.

Other updates, we’re looking for writers at Pre-Med Hell.

Thanks for reading guys.

Signing out,

Mohammad

For me the most interesting part was learning about how shelters are managed and the interesting problems that arise while a shelter is operating, the social sensitivities that must be observed, and the effort and attention to detail that goes into these affairs.

As a new volunteer once my background check finishes, I will most likely be involved in basic tasks such as registration, which I don’t mind at all. I think it’s a great idea for people to take this course. The course lasts about 3 hours and at the end you will be a certified disaster relief volunteer. Usually the reserve corps isn’t mobilized unless there is a large scale disaster, and only the closest reserve corps are mobilized first.

The Red Cross pays great attention to ensuring that all their volunteers receive the same level of training so that they can work together seamlessly in a large scale crisis. An interesting fact that we learned was that the most common crisis the Red Cross responds to is the common house fire, and in most cities high rise fires are the most common reasons for opening shelters.

I think that everyone should try to take this short class and become a certified disaster relief volunteer. It’s easy, and you will be prepared to assist on a short notice.

Spring 2011 Schedule
BCHM 365 – Intermediary Metabolism
BIOL 372 – Genomics and Bioinformatics
PHYS 398 – Physics Research
BIOL 342 – BMB Cell Biology Laboratory
CHEM 295 – Chemistry Teaching
BIOL 229 – Biostatistics
HUMN 250 – The Contemporary World
PSYC 210 – Social Psychology

In addition to this the usual stuff, shadowing, research, volunteering, AMSA president-ing, etc.

Also I take the behemoth of standardized testing the MCAT in a few weeks, and apply to be interviewed by the Health Science Recommendation Committee (HSRC)…this will be fun.

Needless to say I am trying to get an A in organic chemistry this semester, which means studying a LOT. I’ve decided to set up a PBwiki for all of my notes, in every class. This way I can have all of my notes in an uniform standardized format. The benefit to this is that I am now able to log into my wiki and read my notes whenever I am free, and I don’t have to waste time looking for something specific. The way they are organized depends on the class; for instance in my organic chemistry class we have about 2 quizzes between each exam, so my notes are organized Q1, Q2, E1, Q3, Q4, E2, Q5, Q6, E3, Q7, Q8, F. This way I can continually reinforce concepts in my mind throughout the day.

Another tip that I have found to be helpful is to review my notes after every class, and then review them again before the next class. All in all, I try to review my notes about 3 times between each class. This way by the time the exam rolls around I will have memorized a good chunk of my notes.

Life

Life has been good, I have been keeping on track for my goals for this year. I just celebrated my birthday a few days ago. I have been working on growing my personal brand, as well as my other two brands, StudentEats and Pre-Med Hell. Also I have been working pretty hard to get our AMSA 5k set to go. We are probably as the AMSA board going to the AMSA national convention in Anahiem in March.

Blogging

I’m not going to lie its been hard to keep up with all my blogging since school started, I have been writing fairly long posts for my other blog “Pre-Med Hell” and trying to grow that. If your interested in writing for PMH let me know. I am also trying to keep up with Project 52, and so far so good I think I have managed a new post every week since the year started.

Any ways I thought I would throw out a quick update for you guys, and get back to studying for orgo. I promise a more meaningful and longer post next week, if you have any suggestions leave me a comment, I would love to read them.

-Signing off M.A.

I would like to take this space to welcome any readers from HackCollege. Also I would like to thank Kelly for appointing me as one of the first moderators on Discuss Campus. To my regular readers, please take the time to visit both sites, I assure you that it will be worth your while.

Finals, that time of the semester is upon us once again. Most college students will spend most of their student lives stressing over them. Why, they feel unprepared, they neglect studying, or they try cramming everything into the last few days. Needless to say this isn’t a great idea; it’s a perfect recipe for burning out. I tend to prefer a more structured approach to finals; break down your subjects, decide which ones will take the most effort to prepare for and start early.

Breaking down how I study for finals

This depends greatly on which class I’m studying for, in a biology class, such as my genetics class, I may spend a couple hours a week going over my notes. For a more technical class like my organic chemistry class, I may spend a couple hours a day going over homework problems, practice exams, and notes. Since, I too am going through the stress caused by finals; I will have to keep this post fairly brief. I may at a point in the future elaborate on this topic. For the sake of time, I will attempt to break all classes into three categories: Science-Technical (Chemistry, Physics, Math, etc.), Science-Non-Technical (Biology, Ecology, etc.), and Liberal Arts. Please keep in mind that these are broad generalizations, and may not work for everyone, or work with every course that falls within a certain category. I also focus on science related classes since I am a Biochemistry/Molecular Biology major.

Science: Technical

The only way I have seen that works for courses in this group, is repetition. I once had a math teacher in middle school that loved to say “Practice makes better,” and I don’t think that statement could be more right. You have to constantly repeat the mechanisms, equations, formulas, and methods, in order for your mind to accept it as second nature, and for it to come natural to you. One of the greatest causes of stress for students, taking exams, I believe is feeling unnatural. If you can look at a problem, and recognize it, you can take away a large amount of the initial stress. I have spend hours, repeating the same physics problem over and over, just so that I could understand every aspect of that problem, and solve for every variable, no matter what the professor throws at us. I know the underlying concepts of the problem.

Science: Non-Technical

Keep up with the material throughout the semester, do not fall behind; cramming for classes like these can bury you. The amount of material that you have to know for these exams can seem obscene at times. More than anything these exams are based on understanding and memorization. If you can memorize massive amounts of information, and apply it you will be fine. For classes like this I usually spend 3-4 hours the night before the final exam, going over the notes, since I have kept up on the material throughout the semester.

Liberal Arts

Now, I have the greatest deal of respect for liberal arts majors, but I have rarely found a need to study for most of my liberal arts classes (this is probably due to the fact that most of them have been in the 100 and 200 levels). I usually spend a couple hours before the exam going over notes, and reading up on summaries of the material. This might be, because I am a science major, and my liberal arts classes tend to be some of my easiest courses, or because I enjoy keeping up to date on most of the materials we cover in my liberal arts courses. Either way I would highly recommend that everyone have at least one liberal arts class every semester, they are a great way to not only broaden your mind, but they also give you great analytical skills.

Everyone has to find their own way of studying, some people prefer cramming, some people prefer a long term approach, and others don’t really study. Regardless of your approach, try to structure it in a format that will place minimum stress on you and keep you calm. A stressed student makes stupid mistakes, on exam day remain calm, and think everything out.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m not really a pen snob, never was, yes I do enjoy quality pens, but I would have no problem what so ever using a standard Bic pen. Recently one of my friends, who is, well not really a pen snob, but an over achiever, and quite possibly has the neatest hand writing on earth, suggested that I use a pen that I feel comfortable writing with, and one of good quality. I’m just like the next guy, I’ve been writing something and suddenly my pen goes out. So since early this year, I started doing science, well not really. I started trying out various pens.

The first pen I tried out was the standard Bic pen, as a control, it was everything you would expect from a Bic pen. Normal, fine but not extraordinary. Plastic-y and had that standard 9-5 day in day out office/work/school pen feel.

Next I tried a Pilot G-2. A slight improvement, the ink was obviously better, easier to write with, a bit on the short end, and a clicky pen, I’m not a huge fan of clicky pens, but none the less a good pen, but it felt really plastic-y in hand, and had a bit of a high school feel to it.

So I moved on remaining within in the Pilot line-up and tried my friends recommendation, the Pilot Precise V5. Quite an improvement, it had a cap, length was fairly decent tip was a bit flimsy, again whats with Pilot pens and feeling plastic-y. The quality on this pen left me wanting more, the writing was good, but the pen wasn’t pleasing.

So I tried another recommendation Tul pens, again clicky, plastic-y, but the quality was good, probably the best pen I tried so far.

Then I came across the Uniball micro 0.5mm and the 0.5mm onyx, and that was it, the matte black finish, made it feel not too plastic-y, it had a cap, it was great to write with, and reliable, not to mention it was classy, unlike the others which always carried a high school-ish feel to them. The onyx line is cheaper than the normal 0.5mm line, but both are great pens, I can’t tell the difference yet, I believe the standard 0.5mm micro has no writings on the pen body.

Yes, I know this is a topic that no one will find interesting or amusing, but I was bored, and when you have to write as much as I do, you will start to appreciate a good pen, especially one with good ink, for when you have to highlight your notes.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Let me preface this post by saying that I am probably one of the least qualified persons to write this post. I have only just finished my first year as a student on a Pre-Med course. Hence many people who have been on that course for longer may be offended by this post, I assure you that my intention in writing this post is not to offend anyone, it is just to speak on a phenomena that I have been witnessing all to often, in my peers and also amongst incoming students. This phenomenon is the lack of genuine interest in their major.

Most students don’t seem to realize that Pre-Med is not a major, or that it is not necessary to major in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, or if your crazy like me in a combination of biochemistry and molecular biology. Many of my peers and many newer students choose to major in these difficult and in their eyes mundane subjects, assuming that it will make their applications more appealing to medical schools, it may, or it may not.

The fact of the matter is that regardless of your major, the only requirements for medical school are your 1 year of general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, general biology, English, and calculus. Those subjects combined with a strong resume, MCAT score, and GPA, should from what I’ve heard increase the chances of you getting into medical school, more than your choice of major.

I think more than your major, medical schools are looking for your passion, if you are not passionate about your major, it will be hard to show medical schools that you care. So if you’re majoring in a hard science do it because you truly love the subject, not because you’re trying to get into medical school. Find a field that you are passionate about and study that, your major should be about something you enjoy, not about getting into medical school.

As students, of subjects that most people consider boring, we as science majors like to think that our levels of self-control and sheer willpower are greater than most others. If we do not have a genuine interest in the subject, how long do we think that we can keep motivating ourselves along that path? Most of the science majors, that I encounter are extrinsically motivated, which in my opinion is wrong, you can’t motivate someone to do something for which they have no passion; at least not forever. They will slowly start losing their motivation, and eventually burnout completely.

The most important question I think one should ask before selecting a major is “why?” If you cannot answer that question, I think you need to do some more thinking. I would say pick something you could see yourself doing if you were not doing medicine, for me I can easily see myself pursuing a career in biochemistry or molecular biology related fields, if for any reason I decide that medicine is not for me. If you’re major is biology and you decide that you are no longer interested in medicine, can you see yourself following a career path related to biology, if you cannot answer yes to that question, my suggestion would be to seriously reconsider your choice of major.

When you are extrinsically motivated, you find that it is harder to exercise self-control; when you’re are intrinsically motivated, exercising self-control becomes much easier, and you will find that the amount of stress that you find yourself under will dramatically decrease.

My opinion is that students on the Pre-Med track should select one subject that they are truly passionate about, stick to it and excel in it. I honestly think if you do that you will be able to show medical schools that you are truly passionate, not to mention everyone is looking for those “diverse” and “well-rounded” individuals now.

SCIENCE!!

What would this post be without any scientific backing?

In researching for this post, I came across a study called “Revitalization through Self-Regulation: The Effects of Autonomous and Controlled Motivation on Happiness and Vitality” published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. They did 2 experiments; the first testing vitality between autonomously motivated subjects, and those with induced motivation; the second to test the effects of internal control. Overall this was a really interesting study and I could write, a long summary of what they did, the results, significance, and what not; but I’ll just cut to the chase. Try to make as many things as possible in your life intrinsically motivated, not only will you be happier, you will also do better.

For those who want to read more about this study I came across a really good explanation and commentary on Cal Newport’s Study Hacks Blog [link] while I was researching for this post. Also you can read the study in .pdf format [link].

By the way the Study Hacks Blog is a great website, after I came across that post I started reading some of the other posts, I would advise every pre-med student I know to add him to their RSS readers, or to regularly read his blog, I was so impressed with it that I added it to my blog roll on the sidebar.

Photo Credits: JustABoy via [Flickr]