Congratulations to those who have been accepted into UC Berkeley!! And for those of you who have been rejected or waitlisted, don't be too disheartened. I promise that you'll love the place you end up at, and you'll say to yourself "I'm so glad I decided to come here : ) "
I know it may seem like the hard part is over (the waiting game we like to call college admissions) but I assure you the work has just begun. For a lot of you, deciding on where to go now that you have some options open will be one hell of a stressful time. For others, it'll be a piece of cake.
Please, take caution when choosing your college, since it's going to be where you live for the next four years and will be a great influence and how the rest of your career pans out. Don't go into college thinking you can just transfer whenever you want. It's not that simple- trust me, i've looked into it hahaha.
Make a pro/con list if you have to, visit the campuses, and talk to people you know at the institutions you're looking to go to.
Also, think about which college will be best for your career path and your major. Which college will have the best opportunities/job market? Which college gives the best financial aid, counseling, etc?
Choose wisely, and Best of Luck!
-K
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
On Research & Volunteering
So the majority of you come to this blog because you are interested in being pre-med and are thinking about coming to Berkeley or want to compare Berkeley with another undergrad school, such as UCLA, UChicago, whatnot.
A big component of why people choose to come to Berkeley as a premed and not other institutions where being premed is known for, such as UCLA, is Berkeley's world renowned research. Yes, berkeley has incredible research opportunities, but not for first and possibly even second years. A lot of the research is taken by undergrads who really need it (such as 3rd and 4th years who are applying to grad/med school and need the research experience) or by graduate students. Although Berkeley's undergrad is well known, Berkeley's graduate program is even more well known. Berkeley's graduate program is what makes Berkeley famous first and foremost- not their undergrad.
Now that I've cleared that up- don't be afraid to come to Berkeley. If you go to sites such as collegeconfidential and search for the likelihood of finding research positions at berkeley and/or volunteering positions, you're not going to get very good feedback and you'll most likely be thoroughly disappointed. Because it's damn hard finding research/volunteering at berkeley hahaha. But don't despair just yet. The people on those forums who make it sound impossible for the younger crowd to gain any experience haven't tried their hardest to find anything suitable.
For the past half year or so, I looked up and down the bay area to find a good volunteering position at a hospital (bay area as in Oakland, Emoryville, SF, Berkeley, Richmond, etc). However, the only problem with that is that each hospital requires two TB shots taken within the last twelve months. Meaning, if I got a TB test now, I would have to wait a few more months before getting the next one, and then go through orientation, interview, etc. I wasn't willing to wait a whole year before starting something. I wanted something now.
The URAP program berkeley offers (where undergraduates can work in labs at berkeley) didn't have anything that interested me (mind you, I was a bit late in signing up- those positions go extremely fast). Also, if you are interested in any of the positions available, you have to write a paper on why you are interested and whatnot. So, since I would have to wait a whole semester for positions to become available again, I decided to try a different route for research.
I noticed that a hospital somewhere nearby (I won't name anything for obvious reasons ; ) also conducted research. So, I contacted one of the researchers and long story short- I found myself a research position! I probably won't start for a while since the project is new and they haven't figured out much about it yet, but the job is mine if I want, or so they say hahaha.
Moral of the story: Don't give up on finding positions, be it research and/or volunteering. They're out there somewhere, you just have to look closely to find it.
Also, I wanted to start research early for multiple reasons but a majority of the pre-meds here don't begin research until their 3rd or 4th year and sometimes even later. So don't fret if you can't find anything for the first few years. When I first got to college, research was the last thing from my mind. I was so worried about my grades and adjusting to this life. hahaha : )
I'll let you know if I find any volunteering opportunities that are worth mentioning (one that doesn't take a lifetime to start - slight exaggeration of course ; )
-K
A big component of why people choose to come to Berkeley as a premed and not other institutions where being premed is known for, such as UCLA, is Berkeley's world renowned research. Yes, berkeley has incredible research opportunities, but not for first and possibly even second years. A lot of the research is taken by undergrads who really need it (such as 3rd and 4th years who are applying to grad/med school and need the research experience) or by graduate students. Although Berkeley's undergrad is well known, Berkeley's graduate program is even more well known. Berkeley's graduate program is what makes Berkeley famous first and foremost- not their undergrad.
Now that I've cleared that up- don't be afraid to come to Berkeley. If you go to sites such as collegeconfidential and search for the likelihood of finding research positions at berkeley and/or volunteering positions, you're not going to get very good feedback and you'll most likely be thoroughly disappointed. Because it's damn hard finding research/volunteering at berkeley hahaha. But don't despair just yet. The people on those forums who make it sound impossible for the younger crowd to gain any experience haven't tried their hardest to find anything suitable.
For the past half year or so, I looked up and down the bay area to find a good volunteering position at a hospital (bay area as in Oakland, Emoryville, SF, Berkeley, Richmond, etc). However, the only problem with that is that each hospital requires two TB shots taken within the last twelve months. Meaning, if I got a TB test now, I would have to wait a few more months before getting the next one, and then go through orientation, interview, etc. I wasn't willing to wait a whole year before starting something. I wanted something now.
The URAP program berkeley offers (where undergraduates can work in labs at berkeley) didn't have anything that interested me (mind you, I was a bit late in signing up- those positions go extremely fast). Also, if you are interested in any of the positions available, you have to write a paper on why you are interested and whatnot. So, since I would have to wait a whole semester for positions to become available again, I decided to try a different route for research.
I noticed that a hospital somewhere nearby (I won't name anything for obvious reasons ; ) also conducted research. So, I contacted one of the researchers and long story short- I found myself a research position! I probably won't start for a while since the project is new and they haven't figured out much about it yet, but the job is mine if I want, or so they say hahaha.
Moral of the story: Don't give up on finding positions, be it research and/or volunteering. They're out there somewhere, you just have to look closely to find it.
Also, I wanted to start research early for multiple reasons but a majority of the pre-meds here don't begin research until their 3rd or 4th year and sometimes even later. So don't fret if you can't find anything for the first few years. When I first got to college, research was the last thing from my mind. I was so worried about my grades and adjusting to this life. hahaha : )
I'll let you know if I find any volunteering opportunities that are worth mentioning (one that doesn't take a lifetime to start - slight exaggeration of course ; )
-K
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
On the Asian Rant on Youtube
For those of you who do not follow Youtube like a religion like many people do, there has been a video going around about a girl at UCLA who rants about Asians and their rude manners, especially talking in the library. There are a few things I would like to address about that video.
First, Asians did not come from Asia yesterday. I believe we've been here for some time... For those who have immigrated recently, I'm pretty sure they're smart enough to acculturate themselves with the manners here (not like they're very different)...
Second, Chinese, or any other Asian language for that matter, does not sound like "Ching Chong Ling Long Ting Tong", and if you're going to mock the Asian language, then get your dialect right at least...
Third, the video showed a complete lack of regard for the people affected by the Tsunami in Japan.
I understand that the girl in the video probably didn't expect the video to blow up like it did, but that's no excuse for posting the video up in the first place, where it can be accessed and spread like a disease. I talked to one of my friends at UCLA and she said she got an email from the dean. She thinks the girl might be expelled because the dean stated in the email that they do not tolerate this on their campus and so on and so forth (although in my opinion, expulsion is slightly extreme).
Speaking of UCLA, Congratulations to those who got accepted! And if you didn't, who wants to go to a school with those kind of people (meaning the racist prick) anyway? ; ) If you didn't get in, no worries, it just wasn't meant to be, and wherever you do end up will be the school where you say "I'm so glad I decided to come here : )"
-K
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
On Organic Chemistry Part I
I know its been a while since I posted (again) but I was busy with my classes. Once again, I apologize. :)
So, this semester, I'm taking the dreaded and notorious organic chemistry. Like many before me, I was terrified of ochem, mainly due to the horror stories about how difficult ochem is and how it's the biggest weeder class in college, etc etc. However, lucky for me (and the rest of my ochem class), our teacher this semester is none other than Carolyn Bertozzi, and to put it frankly, she's a genius- literally. Look her up on google hahaha. Supposedly, she won this prestigious 'genious' award at a very young age. Anyhow, everyone was scared about her teaching because she was known as the 'new' ochem teacher since she hadn't taught in over ten years (nothing on courserank and ratemyprof). Bertozzi is, how should I say this... she's very cool- a lot like Obama. Obama might be old and elite, but he's someone that a lot of the youth can relate to and very down-to-earth. He's cool. And so is Bertozzi. She makes jokes here and there during lecture and it's like talking with a friend more than an internationally renowned chemist.
Enough about the teacher.
Today was our first ochem midterm (out of the two midterms and one final we have to take for the class), and I would have to say that it was o.k... fair... more difficult than the practice tests but fair nonetheless. Not like genchem where we didn't know what to study for and the lectures were absolutely pointless...
But I can't say anything until I get my results back, in which case, you will be the first to know!
Between genchem and ochem however, I would have to say that I like ochem far more than general chemistry. Usually its the other way around, but for the kids at berkeley, ochem over genchem seems to be the general consensus : )
I have a math midterm tomorrow and a classics midterm on friday...
Wish me luck!
-K
So, this semester, I'm taking the dreaded and notorious organic chemistry. Like many before me, I was terrified of ochem, mainly due to the horror stories about how difficult ochem is and how it's the biggest weeder class in college, etc etc. However, lucky for me (and the rest of my ochem class), our teacher this semester is none other than Carolyn Bertozzi, and to put it frankly, she's a genius- literally. Look her up on google hahaha. Supposedly, she won this prestigious 'genious' award at a very young age. Anyhow, everyone was scared about her teaching because she was known as the 'new' ochem teacher since she hadn't taught in over ten years (nothing on courserank and ratemyprof). Bertozzi is, how should I say this... she's very cool- a lot like Obama. Obama might be old and elite, but he's someone that a lot of the youth can relate to and very down-to-earth. He's cool. And so is Bertozzi. She makes jokes here and there during lecture and it's like talking with a friend more than an internationally renowned chemist.
Enough about the teacher.
Today was our first ochem midterm (out of the two midterms and one final we have to take for the class), and I would have to say that it was o.k... fair... more difficult than the practice tests but fair nonetheless. Not like genchem where we didn't know what to study for and the lectures were absolutely pointless...
But I can't say anything until I get my results back, in which case, you will be the first to know!
Between genchem and ochem however, I would have to say that I like ochem far more than general chemistry. Usually its the other way around, but for the kids at berkeley, ochem over genchem seems to be the general consensus : )
I have a math midterm tomorrow and a classics midterm on friday...
Wish me luck!
-K
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)