MCAT Day Survival Guide

     With the end of the school semester quickly approaching, I figured that many of you will be taking the MCAT following the end of the school year. In order to help you kick butt on MCAT day, I want to share a couple of the things that I did in order to make it through.

Day Before Prep

     The most important thing that you can do the day before your MCAT is to just relax. By this point, I'm pretty sure you've learned as much as you'll be able to remember on test day, so spending the day before cramming yourself with information won't be that helpful and will most likely just drain you out. If you were about to run a marathon, you wouldn't want to run one the day before. So why do that for the MCAT? The day before my MCAT, I spent time with my family, went out to dinner, and did something fun. If you absolutely must review, I'd say keep it to under an hour. I think all I looked over the day before were some of the formulas, but that was it.  Plan out what you are going to wear the next day and what you will need to bring with you. Make sure that you wear something comfortable as this will be a long day. I am pretty sure I wore some yoga pants, a t-shirt, a zip-up hoodie, and a comfy pair of shoes. I think it's smart to wear layers because you don't know what the temperature will be like in the testing center, and you want to be able to adjust yourself to keep at a comfortable temperature.  Don't forget your ID! You'll be needing it to check in. Also, make sure you get to bed at a reasonable time, as being well-rested will greatly benefit you. The whole goal is to keep your stress levels low, so you can walk in on test day refreshed and ready to bring your A-game.

MCAT Day

Before The Test

     Wake up at a reasonable hour, so that you have enough time to get yourself ready. I know that some people don't like to eat breakfast, but on MCAT day, it's a must. Make sure you eat something that is filling. I am pretty sure I had some steel cut oatmeal because I had read that it would slowly release glucose, and glucose is what will help you power up your brain. Try to avoid anything too sugary because too much sugar will cause a crash later in the day and you obviously don't want that. I remember I also made a Starbucks run on my way to my test so that I could be well caffeinated. For coffee intake, follow your own judgment. I always start my day with some coffee, so I knew it was something that I needed/wanted.  Make sure to bring some healthy snacks and some gatorade. I brought almonds because they are a great source of healthy fats and are good to help boost your brain power in between test sections. The gatorade is to stay hydrated. I would normally say drink lots of water, but on mcat day you want to avoid having the need to pee during the test. I don't know about you, but having to pee really breaks my focus. I read that gatorade was a better option to avoid having to pee because it doesn't filter through your system as fast as water does. I followed this and it worked pretty well for me. Make sure to leave for the testing center with plenty of time. You want to have enough time to figure out where you need to go and get yourself settled in. Also, try to keep calm as you are getting yourself there. I know MCAT day jitters are common, but just keep the mentality that you are ready for this.

What to Expect 

     After you check in, they will call everyone in one-by-one. When you get called back, they take your picture, take your finger prints, have you sign some forms, have you shake out your pockets, and will run one of those detector wands over you. Then you get escorted to your seat and you begin. There is a whole protocol when you enter and leave the test room, so just be aware of that. You'll also have cameras on you while you test, and a proctor will be going around the room every so often to make sure that no one is doing anything sketch. 

During The Test

     While you are testing, try to treat each section like it is it's own separate test. What I mean by this is that don't let a previous section bog you down. Try to do the best you can while you're on a section, but once you move on to another section, don't worry about the previous one. There may be cases where you feel like you are struggling through. I hope this isn't the case, but if it happens, work through the section and move on. Remember that your score is important as a whole, so it is important to keep going no matter what. Also, don't stress about individual questions. I know that you will want to get everything right, but it's most important to make sure that you finish everything as best you can, so spend some time on a question, and if you just can't get it, move on and if you can, come back to it later. TAKE YOUR BREAKS! I know that you might be tempted to just power through, but it is so important to step away from the computer when you can. I know that this was important for me, and will be super important now because the current MCAT is super long. I believe you get ten minutes ( At least that's what I had when I took my test. I'm not sure about the current MCAT.), so take the time to quickly go to the bathroom, have a little bit of your snack, and a couple sips of gatorade (don't drink too much though!).

After The Test

     At this point, I am pretty sure your brain will feel like mush. I remember feeling like I couldn't think anymore, so my best advice is just go home and rest. For the next 30 days ( I hope that's still the post test waiting period), don't even think about the test. You've done everything that you could and now it is out of your control, so don't stress. Go back to enjoying life, catch up with your friends and family (Who I'm sure were put to the side while you were on your MCAT grind), and just relax. You'll have plenty of time to worry about your test score later, so don't do it before you actually need to. When scores are finally posted, don't freak out too much. It is just a test. This does not define you, but just how you performed on a single test. So, no matter what you get, don't worry.

     I hope these tips help you as you are headed to your big test day and I wish you all the luck in the world. Many have made it past the beast that is the MCAT and so can you! I hope you are having a great week and I'll talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

Creating Balance In Your Life

     Looking back on my senior year of college, I had a full schedule. I was taking classes full-time, volunteering, working, managed to exercise, and still had somewhat of a social life. If you are a fellow Bio major, I'm sure you're wondering how I achieved the impossible. So, for this post, I want to share my tips to creating a balanced life and getting things done.

Step One: Organization

     In order to get things done efficiently, you'll have to have a plan. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I am a total planner. I can probably take it a little too far at times, but it works well for me. So, I do what I know. For me, my planner was set up in two major sections, the monthly view and then the weekly view. For the monthly view, I wrote down all of my major events (ex: birthdays, exams, due dates for papers/projects, meetings, and work hours). This way, I could look at my monthly view and then assess which weeks would be busier than others. For my weekly view, I would break down what was going on for that particular week. Here, I would write down smaller assignments as well as the major events that were going on. Another feature for my weekly view was my weekly post-it ( I'll talk more about my weekly post-it in a later section). My week view was pretty much my reference point for when I needed to get things done and it helped me to keep things moving along. If I was having a particularly busy week, I would sometimes break down my days into hourly sections, so I could visualize how much time I had and how I could use it. Now, you don't have to go into that much detail, but I would suggest having a general framework for your time. Knowing what you need to do and when you need to do it, will help you be more efficient.

Step Two: Prioritize

     So now that you have an idea of what needs to get done, you need to decide what is most important. On my weekly post-it, I would write down my tasks for the week in order of importance. This would help keep me from wasting my time on the paper that was due next week when I still had an exam to study for this Friday. There were some exceptions to the post-it, but in general, I tried to stick to it. Also, when glancing at my monthly view, If I saw that my week was manageable, I'd accept invites to social things. If I knew I had two quizzes, a meeting, a test, and a paper due the following week, I would stay in that weekend. There were occasions that I had to break this rule (i.e. it was my bestie's birthday), and during those weeks I tried to get as much as I could possibly get done Monday-Thursday. This wasn't always smooth sailing, but hey, that's life. 

Step Three: Use Your Time Wisely

     In general, I had a pretty good layout of what needed to get done when, but sometimes I'd randomly have little pockets of time and I'd use these to work on my post-it list. Even if I couldn't finish an entire task, I would at least try to do the ground work, so that when I went to do the actual work, it would be easier. Another thing that I would do was to make use of travel time. For my school, I was fortunate that I could rely on public transportation to get to places ( for me that meant getting from campus to my workplace), so I would make use of my travel time by going through flashcards or through some of my notes.

Step Four: Know When To Deviate

     I am all for being organized, but for me it is also super important to be able to live a balanced life, and a major part of that is knowing when it's okay not to stick to a schedule and go with the flow. Sometimes, I'd have a pretty set schedule, but something would come up and I would deviate from what I planned. Something that comes to mind when I think of this is a time that I had planned to go home after work on a Saturday so that I could work on some homework but instead, I took up a last minute invite to go see a movie I had wanted to see. When my friend asked me earlier in the week, going out on Saturday seemed like it would hinder my academic goals. But when she asked again on Saturday, it was totally doable. Also, there were certain days that I would just use my work commute to de-stress. Realize that in order to work like a well-oiled machine, you need to be human. If you're having a rough day, take a break to just breathe. As you get to know how you work, you'll know how to do this while still achieving your goals.

Step Five: Accept Imperfection

     I like to think of myself as an imperfect perfectionist because on some things I settle for good enough instead of obsessing over every detail. Working in this manner has helped to keep me sane and from stressing over things that I shouldn't. Of course, take things seriously, but realize that it won't be the end of the world if something doesn't get done exactly the way that you wish you would've. Were there times that I wish I would've done things differently? Yes, but I also tried to balance things the best that I could at the moment, and that was good enough for me.

     To all my pre-meds (and also non-premeds), I hope this post helps to guide you along a bit and also gives you some motivation to push through whatever you need to get done. I hope you have a fabulous weekend and I shall be talking to you soon!

~Genesis<3

     

How Working Retail Has Helped Me As a Premed

     As someone who has worked retail for the past couple years, I have noticed certain things that I thought would help me in my future role as a doctor. As it has helped me to notice these things, I thought it would be a good idea for me to point them out and hopefully, if you are in my shoes, you'll see how it's not just a job, but training for your future (haha).

What You Gain

You Learn to Be a People Person

     I'm sure it goes without saying that when you work retail, you interact with a ton of people. If you are a shy person, you'll have to get over that really quick in order to do your job (trust me I've been there). Over the years, as I've worked at different stores, I've seen my comfort level evolve from hesitant to approach a customer to bubbly boutique associate. Of course, whether or not I'm the latter really depends on the day. But, in general, I'd say I'm pretty confident being around people. In addition, I've also noticed how it has changed my interactions. When you're that interactive person, typically the customer will interact back and it'll be an overall good encounter. I believe as a doctor, this will be true as well. When my physician is warm and inviting my experience at their office is enjoyable. I'd rather have that than to just have someone who rolls through what they have to do like a robot.

You Learn To Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

     Depending on where you work, You might be placed in situations that you never thought you would ever have to be in. For me, this is incredibly true as my current job has me dealing with underwear and as a bra-fitter, I stand in front of half-naked women every day. At first, it felt a bit odd for someone to show me their bra or ask me to check the back of their underwear to see what style they had previously purchased. But with time, it all just became a part of my job. Now, seeing half-naked women is just a norm and I'm sure going into medicine won't be drastically different. In medicine, you will have to do many "awkward" things (I just had my friend Alissa tell me about giving her first prostate exam the other day...joy.), so get used to stepping out of your comfort zone. Disclaimer:Do this within reason, of course. I don't want you doing what the creepy customer says just because you want to step out of your comfort zone (haha).

You Learn to Keep Your Calm

     One of the major things you'll learn about working retail is that people can be really rude. I can't tell you how many times I've had a customer give me serious attitude over something that wasn't in my control and really couldn't do much about. In these situations, the only thing I could do was to smile and keep being pleasant because if I respond negatively to their anger that would make the situation worse. Also, it's my job to stay calm. As a physician, I'm sure I'll still have situations like this. Of course, I won't have to deal with people being angry about not being able to use an expired coupon, but about their health or how I do my job. I think I've mastered the exceptionally calm and pleasant on the outside, but seriously seething on the inside thing. So, I'm good to go.

You Train Your Empathy

     As shopping can be people's way of letting go, you can encounter many different situations. One of the most prominent is someone out shopping after the death of a loved one. Just the other day, I was helping a woman find a bra when she casually dropped that she had just lost her husband in our conversation. Now, I didn't jump to hug her or anything, but I did offer my condolences and made sure she felt comfortable. Working in retail you'll be presented with every situation in the book and learning to respond in a positive manner is great practice for when you work with patients dealing with difficult things. I am no way an expert in this area, but in general, I've learned that what people desire most is to be heard and know they are not alone. Also, that a warm smile goes a very long way.

You Raise Your Own Awareness 

     I would say that by far the greatest thing that I have gained from retail is learning my role in interactions. Whenever I am out and about, I pay attention to how others treat me and how I treat others. I take my time to be polite and if I see that the salesperson is struggling, I try to be reassuring. I also try to remember that everyone is a person and deserves to be treated as such. I can't tell you how annoying it is when someone walks into the store on their phone and just hands a receipt and bag to you while they quietly mouth "Return". I know there are unique situations where this is necessary, but if possible, avoid being on the phone. Being present allows you to notice so many things, so I urge you to try it.

I know this post was a little different, but I'm sure you've already noticed that I like to get you thinking about different things. I hope you have a really great weekend and thank you for taking the time to read this post. Talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

What You Can Do In High School If You Are Interested In Being Premed

     Now, I definitely don't want to scare anyone into thinking that you should already know whether you would want to be pre-med in high school. But if you are interested (like I was), there are a few suggestions I have that could help you as you work your way towards college and exploring your interest in greater depth.

1.) Seek knowledge about the profession
    
      I think one of the best things that you can do if you are considering studying medicine, is to get familiar with the field. Sophomore year of high school, my English teacher had us do a project where we had to research our "future career". Of course, as a little sophomore, it was quite daunting to think about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but I think it was a great exercise. Back then, I was interested in becoming a pediatrician, so my research focused on that. For my project, I had to look into the overview of the career (pay, job responsibilities, etc.), research the academic track to becoming a pediatrician (the amount of schooling seemed really scary back then), and then I had to interview a person in that career ( I interviewed my cousin's pediatrician). Overall, the project was very informative, and I obviously wasn't deterred by the amount of work it took to become a doctor. Of course, you might not have to do what I did for school, but I think it would be helpful to do something similar, especially interviewing a doctor. Something that I wish I would've done in high school was to shadow a doctor because it would've allowed me to get a better sense of the clinical environment ( which didn't really happen until junior year of college). Doing your research will help you see if this career is a good fit for you, and I think it is important to start looking into it early on.

2.) Volunteer

     For me, one of the things that reinforced my desire to become a physician was my volunteer work. I did most of my volunteer work in a clinical/hospital setting, but those aren't the only areas that you can volunteer. The medical field is at its core a field of service, so getting yourself familiar with that aspect is very important. I think it's also very important for you to find a cause that you are passionate about, and what a better time to do that than in high school? If you can find a hospital/clinical setting to volunteer in, that's fantastic. You'll be in a good place when your med school apps come around and you can write about how you've been volunteering in a clinical setting since high school. But, I think it's very important to show that you are dedicated to giving back to others, and that can take many different forms.

3.) Focus On School

     I'm sure this one might seem like an obvious one, but it is very important. I think high school is a great time to start getting yourself on the track towards being a great student. Take your classes seriously, challenge yourself, and definitely, find what works best for you. I know your workload might not be exactly comparable to what you'll experience in college or medical school, but it is a great time to start developing the habits that'll help you succeed later on. Aside from working on getting good grades, I think it is important to work on being well rounded. For one, it'll help to clarify whether you love science enough to pursue it as a career. Also, it'll help integrate other skills that will aid in your work as a physician. The greatest example that I can think of is reading. One of the reasons that the MCAT has a verbal reasoning section is because being able to dissect important information from a larger component is something a doctor deals with every day. One day, you'll be listening to a patient giving you loads of information and it is up to you to pick apart the pieces that are pertinent to their diagnosis. Of course, high school isn't the time to become an expert on this, but it is a good time to get your practice in.

4.) Find Yourself A Mentor
     
     This point kind of goes with the first point, but I think it doesn't only have to be a doctor. Your mentor could also be a college student, medical student, etc. The point is to find someone that is going/has gone through the journey that you are interested in. I always find it less intimidating if I know someone has already done what I wish to do, and it's so helpful if they tell me how they did it. Also, it doesn't always have to be a live person. For me, I love to read blogs or follow medical students and doctors on social media. It allows me to get a glimpse into their experience, and that allows me to better direct my own journey.

5.) Do What You Love

     When you apply to medical school, one of the things that they'll ask you about will be your hobbies. If all you do is school, there won't be much to talk about. So, take the time to do the things you love, or take the time to discover what these things may be. Aside from that purpose, I think it's so important to live a balanced life, especially in high school. In high school, you are still in your safety net (you'll get exactly what I mean when you get to college) so enjoy this while you can. Have fun, go out with your friends, and live life to the fullest. There will be plenty of time to be focused on your career and your future and on all the responsibilities that come along with them. Don't start worrying about it all too early.


     I hope you guys all had a great weekend and that you have a lucky St. Patrick's Day week;)
I'll talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

When You Don't Get Into Your Dream School

     I wanted to preface this post by saying the title might not be a hundred percent applicable in my case (as you know that I actually got into one of my top choices for medical school), but I still want to address the topic and talk about my personal experience.

    All through undergrad, whenever I thought about medical school, I always thought about one particular school, my alma mater's medical school. I would always think about how I could see myself there and when my really good friend got accepted, it seemed all the more likely that I would want to attend. My heart was set on this school and when application season rolled around, you better believe their application held first priority. When I finally hit submit, the waiting began, and to my dismay, their reply took quite a while. Months passed, other schools invited me for interviews, I got accepted into these other schools, and I still had heard no reply. Until, last week. They sent me an email stating that they had reviewed my application but that they could not offer me an interview invitation for this cycle. If I had received this email months ago, I would've been devastated. Instead, I finished reading it, and I just shrugged.

     You see, in the months that it took to receive this email, I came to the realization that even though this had always been my "dream school", Any school gave me the opportunity to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor would make me happy. This notion didn't really hit me until I received a letter from one of my schools congratulating me and telling me what an accomplishment it was for me to have been selected. I had applied to a larger state school that gets many applicants. In the letter, it stated that they get over 5,000 applicants for the 300 spots they have in their program. I had about a 6% chance of getting in and I did it. I remember feeling exceptionally proud in that moment and when I was accepted to my other school I felt even more blessed. At the end of the day, I was going to be given the opportunity to add an M.D. to the end of my name, and that's all I had ever wanted.

    Also, I came to the realization that my "dream school" wouldn't get me everything that I had wanted. Whenever I thought of myself in medical school, I envisioned myself living in the city, and the school I originally wanted to attend is actually outside of the city. I remember that I was originally considering living in the city and commuting out of the city to attend this school. I don't know what was going through my mind because that was a bit crazy. Thankfully, this won't be the case with the school I'm planning to attend because it is located right in the heart of the city. So, in all actuality, I got exactly what I wanted.

     I'm sure by this point, I sound like a broken record when I say that getting into medical school is no easy feat, but I want to remind you to not let where you are accepted discourage you. Getting accepted into any medical program is an incredible accomplishment, so always keep that in mind. And if you aren't accepted this cycle, keep trying. If you honestly can't see yourself doing anything else, don't give up. I knew that if that was the case for me this year, I was just going to try again next year. Because when you have a dream, you should pursue it even if you've failed the first attempt. If it is meant for you, it will eventually work out.

     I hope this helped encourage some of you on your journey and that you had a great weekend. I will talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

Studying For The MCAT

     So, I'm sure by this point my MCAT people have already begun their studies, but I thought it would be a great idea to add in some of my own study tips to help guide your studies or possibly help you re-focus if you've been struggling with how to study for the beast that is the MCAT.

My Study Tips:

Create a Schedule

     If you've been following me, you know that I am a fan of schedules, but I think for MCAT studying this is particularly important. Having a schedule of when you need to study will help you stay organized and also make it more likely that you will go through with your plan.

Break Down the Material

     What makes studying for the MCAT such a daunting task is the fact that there is SO much information to know. One of the things that helped keep me from feeling overwhelmed was to not look at all the information I needed to know overall, but instead to focus on what I needed to know at the moment.  This also goes back to making a schedule. Try to break down your study topics by the subject/subjects that you'd like to review that session. For me, it would usually consist of reviewing a topic ( let's say electrostatics) and then doing practice questions or a practice quiz. Having a "goal" for your study session will prevent you from aimlessly looking through all your practice books and weeping over all the material you must know.

Utilize All Your Resources

     Your primary resource for MCAT studying will typically be your designated set of practice books, but that doesn't mean that your practice books are your only resource. I am a very visual person, so at times just reading something in a book doesn't always click with me. In these cases, I would try to see if I could find a different explanation and most of the time I was lucky enough to find a YouTube video explaining the topic. If you can't find a YouTube video, find a different explanation online. I know certain textbooks suck at explaining things, so sometimes you can find a better explanation elsewhere. Also, consult your peers and your professors. Sometimes hearing someone else explain a topic helps me understand it better, so don't be afraid to ask for help.

Practice your Endurance 

     One of the most difficult parts of the MCAT  is having the mental endurance you'll need to make it through consecutive lengthy exams. Your MCAT studying is the best time to get yourself accustomed to sitting through hours of material, practice your focus, and also your timing. By test day, you should be used to sitting through the length of each section and the length of each exam That way you don't burn out in the middle of the exam.

Use Practice Tests Wisely

     At the beginning of your studies, Using multiple practice tests can be wasteful. Why? because you most likely haven't reviewed all the material you need to know to do well. Practice tests ( mainly the full-length exams) should be used to gauge your progress. I'd recommend taking one at the beginning of your studying to see your starting point and then maybe every couple of weeks to see your progress. Closer to exam time, you should be using them to get yourself in exam mode and I'd recommend taking them as if you were taking the real exam.

Review Your Practice Exams

     I'll be the first to admit that after taking a practice test, the last thing I wanted to do was go over it.But, it is super important that you review every question, and yes I do mean every question. It is important to know why you got a question wrong, but even more so why you got a question right. Sometimes you just got it right because you are a really great guesser, so it's important to know the concept behind the questions so you can get it right on test day. Also, reviewing your practice exams is a fantastic way to see where you are lacking. If you've taken several tests and you keep getting kinematics wrong, you know you need to do some pretty serious review.

Don't Study What you Already Know

    

      I know, I've been there too. Sometimes studying what you already know or enjoy can be such a confidence boost because you get the questions right and you feel like you have a handle on the whole MCAT thing. But, let's be real. You're not doing anyone a favor. I know you'd love to spend hours on your favorite topic to avoid wanting to cry while studying what you struggle with ( ahem kinematics), but you've gotta struggle through the hard stuff.

   Do What Works for You

     Every practice company is going to promise you that their method is going to get you a high score or whatever, but ultimately you need to do what will help you do your best. It might be what the test prep company teaches you, but most likely it'll be something you've discovered while studying. So take your study time to figure out your method, so come test day you know what to do.

Don't be Hard on Yourself

     I'll be completely honest. On test day, you will more than likely not know every little thing that is on the exam, but that's okay! The purpose of studying for this exam is to get you familiar with having the necessary foundations to answer questions. So, study with the intention of being pretty knowledgeable about what you need to know, but don't stress about every little detail. 

     I hope that these tips help guide you on your studying journey. And remember, you are not a test score, so don't obsess over a certain one. Study as best as you possibly can and go in with the aim to kick serious butt.  If you'd like more MCAT studying tips, check out this blog as well. I hope you have a great week and I'll talk to you on Thursday!

~Genesis<3

     

How to Make the Most of Your Semester

     Spring semester should definitely be in full swing for those of you still in school (yeah, that'll be me too next year). So, I thought I'd share some of my tips to make sure that you get the most out of the semester and close out the year with a bang.

     For me, I'd say Senior year was the year that I had the whole college thing figured out ( It only took me three years, but whatever...), and I found myself feeling pretty balanced with what I needed to do, which was a lot. But, I'll definitely be the first to admit that by Spring Semester, senioritis was starting to kick in, so I needed to keep myself focused in order to make sure that I finished my college career kicking butt and taking names. Below are a few tips that helped me.

Become BFFs with your syllabus

     Not even going to lie, Syllabus week was one of my favorite weeks of college. Not only because we had a couple of classes where all the professor did was talk about the course, but because we got the schedule for what was happening in the semester. This meant that I could promptly head back to my apartment, whip out my planner, and write in all the important dates ASAP. Although you might not be a planner nerd like myself, I highly recommend doing this. It is really great to be able to know what your overall semester will look like and what the workload will be. It will also allow you to see what weeks will be the busiest and which ones you can have some fun. Mainly, I'd recommend putting in due dates, test dates, quizzes, and projects. If you want to write in what will be covered in your classes each week, that could be helpful too, but I never really did that as professors don't always stay on track with the scheduled topic.

Schedule in your activities

     Of course, this mainly means your extracurriculars but for me, it also meant my gym time. From my previous post, you know that I used to fit three runs in per week. So, what I would do at the beginning of the semester was figure out where in my schedule I could fit in the time I would need to run and make that my designated run time so that it was easier to stick to. Another thing that would be beneficial would be to block out your study times. I worked my last two semesters of college, so this meant that my weekly schedule could vary. But, at the beginning of each week, I would see what my week was going to look like, and I would designate where I could fit in the bulk of my studying.

Prioritize

     One of the most important parts of being productive is definitely learning to be strict with yourself. I know there were weekends when the last thing I wanted to do was spend quality time with my biochem book, but if it needed to be done, it needed to be done. This also goes back to my first point. You'll know which weeks this will be particularly important, so try to not schedule anything unnecessary into these weeks.

Plan Ahead

     If you know next week is going to be a hell week, try to get as much done before then. This will relieve a tremendous amount of stress for the weeks that you have two papers, a quiz, and an exam all in the course of a couple days. Even if you can only get the foundation work done, you'll be greatly thanking yourself.

Be Flexible

     I'm sure that you are well aware that life happens. Sometimes you have to make the time to go see a professor, or to help a friend, and you definitely didn't plan on it. That is perfectly okay. The most important part of organizing yourself is realizing that it is all just a framework and that you should use it as a guide, but also go with the flow adjusting yourself as necessary.

Remember to Have Fun

     I know that if you are anything like me, you will want to be able to do it all. But in the process of being awesome, know that it's perfectly okay to have fun. College is one of the best times of your life, so enjoy it all that you can! I know that now that I'm out of school, I am so happy that I took out the time for all the impromptu meet ups with my friends, or just occasionally breaking from my schedule to do something fun. It will help you feel rejuvenated and also more likely to stick with your plan overall. So, don't be afraid to have your occasional Netflix day. Grey's Anatomy on, my friend.

     I hope these tips were helpful for you! I know these are pretty standard, but it was what I used and it worked out pretty well. I hope you've been having a great week and I'll talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

     

Being a Biology Major.

     One of the ideas that has been at the back of my mind ever since I wanted to begin a blog/YouTube was sharing my experience of being a Biology major. Being a Bio major shaped quite a bit of how my college experience went and as I didn't know much about the major (other than the fact that you study biology) when I started college, I wanted to talk about it a bit.

     I felt the best way to present this information was in a YouTube video, so I hope you guys enjoy it! I really enjoy making them, so if I can present the information best in a video, you better believe I will do it. Of course, the video is just a general overview about the major, so in the future I might do an accompanying blog post about smaller details, but for now I just want to start with the generals.

     On another note, I have something different I want to try out on the blog, so I will most likely be debuting that on Thursday. I hope you guys are having a great start to your week!

~Genesis<3

To Prep or Not To Prep?

     I know that the time of year has come where many people are getting themselves ready to begin studying for the MCAT and one of the necessary considerations is whether or not to take a prep course. So, I want to dedicate Today's blog post to reviewing my experience with MCAT prep courses and what my thoughts were after actually taking the MCAT.

     I believe I should preface all of this information by saying that obviously I haven't taken every MCAT prep course available, so all I can really speak to is what my personal experience was and how it worked out for me. The prep course that I do happen to have experience with is the Kaplan Prep course. Kaplan is one of the major ones that I know are available, so hopefully this post will help many of you!

The Course

     When I went to choose an MCAT prep course, I knew that what most students went for was one that offered in-class sessions. Kaplan happened to have a relationship with the pre-med group at my school and they offered a small discount ( I think $200) for taking the classes on campus. The class regular price was cheaper than the Princeton Review one, so it was a no-brainer for me to take this class. I believe I ended up paying approximately $2000 for the in-person course offered on campus. The class consisted of 6-hours of class per week ( I had mine 6:00-9:00 Monday and Wednesday) and it ran Jan 29th-April 2nd. The $2000 included all the books for the Kaplan course as well as access to the online database that had lots of online content for you to study from. 

Pros: 

-Signing up for the class meant that you had a built in MCAT time in your schedule if you actually attended class. I never missed a class, so that was always my major MCAT time. 

- You were with other students, so you got to see how other people went about answering questions.

- The course package offered you tons of material ( I didn't even get through all of it) and you had access to it well past the dates of your course ( I actually used it to study the second time around). 

Cons:

- In class portion took a lot of time out of your day, and I happened to have a full day Mondays and Wednesdays, so sometimes it felt like a lot.

-Class time wasn't always used effectively, so I didn't feel like I was always getting the most out of it.

- There was a lot of material to get through before each class session. I remember it being like 100 pages per class or something crazy. Towards the end, I wasn't doing all the reading because I didn't have the time with my school work. 

- The price! Looking back on it, I can't believe I paid so much, but when you want to be well-prepared you don't really think about that. 

Overview

     Personally for me, the in-class portion wasn't very helpful. The class structure consisted of the instructor going through a lesson book and answering questions with us to help us learn the "Kaplan method". Often times, the instructor would ask a question and wait for someone to volunteer to answer it and as no one really wanted to answer, it always took forever and wasted time. What I did find helpful was the online component. The Kaplan online database offers a ton of study resources and since you can access it at your convenience, it makes studying less hectic. The first time around  my MCAT score wasn't my best. I don't solely attribute that to the class, but I do think my style of studying wasn't effective. The second time around I studied more at my own pace using the Kaplan books and online database and that worked out really well for me. The database had 12 full-length exams. It also had some official AAMC exams ( I can't remember if those were included in the 12), and they were really good predictors of my MCAT score range. The Kaplan exams were pretty good as well, but some felt like the scores were inflated as I was scoring way higher on them in comparison with my AAMC practice test scores. I should add that the second time around I was also skimming through the Exam Krackers MCAT books and the content in those was really good and condensed ( My friend actually took their prep course and liked it a lot). 

     Also, if you are still interested in Kaplan, they do offer other course options. They have a Live-online course ( same price as in-class) where you take the classes at home with an online instructor ( we had some of these for the organic chemistry classes and I thought they were more helpful than the in-class classes), or they have a "self-paced" option ( $400 cheaper than in-class & live-online) where you get access to the database and the books. The second option would probably be closest to what I did the second time around, and I thought it was what worked best for me. 

Overall, I say choose whatever will work best for you. You know how you study and what will be most effective. Also, you might have a different experience, so keep that in mind. I hope you guys found this helpful and that you have a great weekend!

~Genesis<3

Sister Tag!

     This Thursday's post is about a sister tag I filmed with my sister, Eme. Fair warning, the video is filled with lots of giggling as we were just have a great time and being silly with the questions. We had such a great time filming and as you can probably tell from the video, we get along really well!

     Just to let you know, this video is a two-part video. Eme will be posting the first half on her channel (it will be linked in the description of my video) and I posted the second half. Something people might not know is that I am a huge fan of youtube. I have been following many YouTubers for quite a few years now and I've always wanted to make my own videos, so now that I've actually started posting my own videos, I am super thrilled. I really hope you enjoy them, as I had a fun time making them:)

     I hope you guys have a great week and definitely check back on Tuesday as I am planning some new stuff for next week! As always, if there is anything you guys would like me to blog about, leave me a comment. Talk to you guys soon!

~Genesis<3