Outstanding Pre-Med

Are You a Pre Medical Student In the Process of Building Your Application?

Well I have good news for you!

I just found a new website: www.outstandingpremed.com that looks very promising for pre med students.

I was lucky enough to read and review the Ebook that is available on their website... and it's because I read the Ebook ("Outstanding Pre-Meds") that I feel that this new website has lots of potential for really providing value and good information for pre-meds.

"Outstanding Pre-Meds" How Good Is It?

The Pros:

1. I personally really liked the chapter where she explained why it's a big mistake to schedule the MCAT test date according to when you are planning on going to medical school.... I made that mistake myself, and I wish I had read that book before hand.
2. The book cover most of areas important for pre meds: MCAT, Letters of recommendation, volunteering, procrastination and motivation, and how to schedule your pre-med years.... And they all contain really good advice!
3. She includes case studies, and examples from other premed students that had "outstanding medical school applications" and what was their strategies (to get into Harvard... for example)

The Cons:

1. The book is self-published and there are some typos... But this is common in self-published E-books. (Most self-published authors don't have the money to hire very expensive editors!) While I wish the book was better edited, I'm still glad I got to read the book because the information is of good quality.
2. It doesn't talk about medical school interviews, how to write your application essays, or how to study more effectively as a pre-med.... Maybe these will come in a future book
3. The Ebook is only available form the outstandingpremed website so far (and there are no hard cover copies).

OK, so that's my review of the book...

I would definitely recommend it to my friends, plus it's free to register on their website.

One Step at a Time

I tend to look at today as if it was the future.

By that I mean that I constantly tend to measure myself today with who I wish I was in the future. One problem with this approach is that I never get satisfied with what I have now. Then tell myself, "I should do something about it! I'm so behind" which, as you might imagine, creates in me a constant state of urgency.

I end up constantly thinking that I should be doing else, something more... and I do. But by so doing, I have less focus on the things I should be doing well today.

Finding a healthy balance in life can be somewhat difficult. How much time do you dedicate to studying, to taking care of the house, to eating healthy, to exercising, to relaxing, to trying to get ahead and learn more things...

Optimism vs Pessimism

My second biochemistry midterm of the summer is coming and I've been finding many ways to procrastinate studying ... ;-)

In the midst of all that procrastination, I was wondering why is it that I am not able to enjoy my biochemistry classes as much as I wish I did. I rationalized that it's because I do not see the purpose of that class since I am not planning on using that knowledge at all in the future. I thought to myself, "when I was younger I didn't care whether something was useful or not. If I was told to do it, I just did it. But I've grown to be less and less patient with doing things that I find to be 'useless' regarding my future." So basically I was thinking that as I grew up I've trimmed out the uselessness away from my life; whereas, when I was young I just did things because I liked them or found an interest in them.

But then, somehow, it hit me that my "rationality" might just be the voice of my pessimism.

Indeed I realized that an optimistic person might have "rationalized" the same situation very differently. Had I been more optimistic, I might have rationalized my taking biochemistry as a way to understand more about the wonders of the body so that, even though I might not use it in my work, I might be able to use my knowledge to explain things to my (future) kids. I know for sure that being able to answer all my kids questions about the human body will please me greatly!

Why am I talking about Optimism vs. Pessimism? Because recently I've been reading a book by the 'father' of modern theory on "learned helplessness" and "optimism", Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin E.P. Seligman.

I was reading this book out of personal interest since we studied some of his theories in class. Anyway, I always thought that I was a fairly optimistic person. I knew I was far from being the most optimistic person, but nevertheless a pretty optimistic one. You can imagine how profoundly surprised I was when after doing the psychological test he describes (these test are widely accepted in the psychology community, and regularly used as evaluation tools by clinical psychologists) I found out that I was in the Severly Pessimistic category! I couldn't believe the results of the tests! I still think that I am not that much of a pessimistic person, and the discrepancy with what I feel and the results might be due to different cultural values. However, instead of going into obvious denial I decided that I might have something to learn, and to gain, from adopting new, more optimistic habits.

If optimism (or it's contrary learned-helplessness and depression) are topics that interest you, I recommend you read this book. It is very interesting and written by someone that has had considerable influence in this field of psychological research.

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin E.P. Seligman

Earthquake in Japan

Last Friday there was a terrible earthquake in Japan.

I have friends that I haven't be able to contact yet, and I hope everyone is safe.

I would like to send a prayer to them and everyone who is in need of help.

皆のために祈りをします。

Just a little update

Well, it's been a long time since I wrote on my blog....

So, I went back to France during this summer break. It had been 3 years since I had seen my family so I was glad to see everyone again. I also got to swim in the sea almost every day!! :-)

Now, I'm back at UCLA. I think it's gonna be a pretty hard quarter, but I am kinda really excited about it. Basically, I am taking two neuroanatomy class (my favorite subject) and one neurophysiology class. On top of that, I am taking MCAT classes (three hours three times a week--> 9 hours of extra class a week).

So, I might not have as much time to write on my blog as during the previous quarter, but I'll still try to write a post from time to time. :-)

Good luck everyone!

Navajo woman

Today, I went to borders and I was looking at books in the metaphysical section. At some point, a woman who was standing next to me asked me if I could recommend any interesting books that she read. Before I had the time to reply, she told me which books she liked and who recommend. The conversation became interesting and lasted over an hour.

Among other things, she told me a little about her life. She told me that she was a ????, but that the government called them Navajo native Americans. In her family, both her grandpa, and her uncle were healers. She told me how they should cut plants, (but I didn't understand which kind of plant she was talking about), which roots to leave so that a new plant may grow, and how they should always give a prayer to the plant before cutting it. She also told me about some of the ceremonies that they have when a girl becomes a woman, when a woman becomes pregnant, and when someone dies.

I asked her why was she looking for books when she had such a rich background in the "unexplainable" realm. She said that she wants to know more, and understand more; that she is looking for (explanations?) that her people do not have.

She also told me how the government forced the children to go to boarding schools (and missionaries?) in order to get educated (when she was a young girl). There if the children were found to be talking in their own language, they would force the children to eat (donuts?) filled with soap, beaten with electric cords, and sometimes forced to stay up all night to scrub the floors.

She spoke many times in her native language. It was the first time I heard it. For some reason I felt really happy about it. (I realize how stupid it is, but somehow I was expecting something close to spanish, but it was very different!!)

At some point she took my right hand between her two hands, then released it. (I was surprised.) She said one or two more sentences (that I don't remember and left as if in a hurry.

This is how my one hour conversation with this Navajo woman ended. I wish I had at least asked for her name.