Beginning of Second Semester
Hi everyone! Here's a recap of how my second semester started!
January
Things started out kind of slow- we just had a two-week winter break and I felt absolutely unmotivated coming back to school. I felt a bit cocky to be honest. I earned great grades my first semester and I felt like I knew how to study for all the classes now. Boy. I had a rude awakening after the Gastrointestinal Unit! We added in 2-3 new classes and I felt overwhelmed. Holy Moly. The material was harder and there was even more coming at us!
| January 18, 2018 | We dressed up and went to brunch before class and it was delicious! So thankful for these gals right here- keeping me sane through it all!
| January 23, 2018 | During our Health Promotion Disease Prevention (HPDP) class, we had a very special guest, Dagmar. She's part of the amazing faculty in our LEAD office and also a Type 1 diabetic. She demonstrated for us what it's like to change out her insulin pump every three days. We had two brave classmates, Amir and Yasmin try it! This was so great because we can better understand our patients with insulin pumps. We were given valuable insight to how life-changing this diagnosis can be for patients.
| January 24, 2018 | Video content:
Spiral bind your books at FedEx / Kinko's!
Classmates after IPE
High Fitness LA workout!
Studying
Zenni Optical Blue Blocker glasses!
Me dancing lol
| January 27, 2018 | Bestie's birthday celebration in Hollywood :) Definitely make time for your friends and family if you can! They keep me so sane!
February
| February 2, 2018 | Video content:
Applied Clinical Reasoning course - Getting PIMPED by our professors- preparing us for rotations!
Musculoskeletal unit
Cramming for Pharm quiz
Studying for HPDP midterm
| February 2, 2018 | #FailForwardCampaign started by @medicineinmichigan! I love this idea about sharing our failures on social media! We’re all human and we’re not perfect- even if it might seem so through our curated feeds! My 5 failures:
1️⃣My dream college was University of California Irvine and I was rejected TWICE even after an appeal letter.
2️⃣I went into college wanting to be a Dance major. I auditioned for UCI’s dance program and on the very day of auditions, I forgot my ballet flats! My competitors were prima ballerinas whom danced since they were babies!
3️⃣I tried out for UCI’s hip hop @cg_danceteam and went to UCRiverside. My first quarter at UCR - I failed a pre-calculus class and had to give up dancing. I spent so much energy dancing at UCI (yes I drove 100+ miles every night just to dance) that I neglected my studies.
4️⃣My GPA at UCR was my lowest EVER. Swipe to see - 2.75 ! Then I worked my butt off - got a 3.33 and transferred into USC. I felt so overwhelmed at USC because EVERYONE was brilliant. I felt really dumb and inspired at the same time lol.
5️⃣Somehow my GPA regressed to a 3.10 when I applied to CASPA my first cycle. I was rejected from all 4 programs because I didn’t follow simple instructions. My second cycle, I was still at a 3.10 but only had 1,000 patient care hours (rejected from 8 programs). My third cycle, I bumped it up to 3.33 by retaking most of my prereqs! Since I went to USC for undergrad, I wanted to continue grad school at USC. Overall, I was rejected TWICE (actually 3 times if you count my mistake on my first cycle) from USC’s PA program.
LOOK at me NOW. I am RESILIENT. I am KEEN. And most of all, I am THANKFUL. My failures have molded me into who I am today. I’m not one to be flashy about my grades (swipe above) but I AM SO DAMN PROUD of myself for getting a 3.8 for the very FIRST time in my life! GPA in PA school doesn’t matter - just pass! However, I’m taking a moment to pat myself on the back, heck - I’m giving myself a hug for this growth!
| February 3, 2018 | This morning was A M A Z I N G ! Some of us volunteered at God’s Pantry Health Clinic along side first year DO students! Under the supervision of our professors/attendings ~ we conducted full physical exams for the uninsured people of Pomona! Alex (DO student) & I worked on patients as a team and it was so cool! I was super nervous about presenting to the attendings but it turned out better than I anticipated! I’m so thankful for this experience! It was crazy to realized that I was almost able to do a full physical! Thank you Pomona Community Health Action Team (PCHAT)!
| February 8, 2018 | Had so much fun visiting and speaking at UCI's Pre-PA club, Physician Assistants Coming Together (PACT)! Our group raised awareness for Mental Health & Depression among collegiate students. We handed out Patient Health Questionnaires and assessed for symptoms of depression and provided campus resources. Additionally, we all shared our pre-PA journeys!
| February 12, 2018 | Splinting workshop! Had so much fun learning about thumb spica splints, sugar tong, ulnar gutter, etc! It was great to practice on each other too!
| February 15, 2018 | Chinese New Year! Went to our Taoist temple to pray for the new year. Unlike Buddhism, Taoism has many gods and goddesses! We also engage in many traditions like Lai See aka the Red Envelopes! Red symbolizes energy, happiness and good luck. Giving red envelopes is a way to send good wishes and luck into the new year!
| February 16, 2018 | This Genetics & Metabolism exam... I FAILED it! Got a 68%. Yep. It was a tough week- we had a quiz and exam Monday through Friday and this was the very last one. I didn't spend as much time studying for this one.. and it definitely showed! I sulked for an hour after seeing my score and just let it go. Next exam, I'm going to do so much better!
March
| March 2, 2018 | Arielle and I won a FIGS giveaway for Galentine's Day! This huge prize included amazing scrub top and bottoms (embroidered), compression socks and a $50 Starbuck gift card each! So incredibly grateful for this online medical community!
| March 11, 2018 | Baby shower!!! So excited to meet these little buns in the oven!
| March 12, 2018 | Video content:
Started my first IV on my classmate! I was so nervous but had the support from the faculty and my classmates!
Medical ethics class
Crazy week
Ranking rotations meeting!
Meds midterm studying
| March 16, 2018 | Celebrating Bryan & Gryska's birthday in Fullerton and kicking off SPRING BREAK! Man, what a crazy week and first half of second semester! It was another amazing night seeing 30+ classmates boogie! I love my classmates so much!!
| March 17, 2018 | EXACTLY ONE YEAR AGO, HOLY MOLY. I am so thankful for everything that has happened so far.
Thank you so much for reading this post! I hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned for the end of my second semester!
