Thoughts of the future

The first full week of classes after break has finally ended and life is officially back to normal. You may remember me discussing the practice MCAT last week; I did indeed end up taking it and let me tell you, it was easily the hardest test I've ever taken. My performance set the tone for the week and my feelings of worry were only made worse by my junior seminar class on Wednesday. Every biology major has to take junior seminar in the fall of their junior year. Junior sem is a class that meets once a week and is taught by all of the biology professors. We do a variety of things in class, all designed to give us guidance in planning our post-college careers as well as an advantage over biology majors graduating from other schools.

This week in bio sem we had an assignment due where we had to look at various graduate or professional schools (medical school in my case) and find out what the requirements were. We then had to analyze where we stand in relation to these requirements and begin to make a plan that we can follow to improve our standings. You can see how this can be a stressful, yet necessary, experience. In doing my assignment I found that I am actually closer than I though I was to the requirements. The areas I need the most improvement on are volunteer service as well as my internships (or lack thereof). So as of late most of my energy has been devoted to searching for internships, as well as studying for my developmental biology test earlier this week.

In happier news though, the weather is finally getting colder! Ski season is right around the corner and I couldn't be happier. In fact, I actually just ordered a new pair of skis for this season from Berger's Ski Shop in Corning! Hopefully they'll get here soon so I can stop daydreaming about them.

A much needed break

Midterm break this year was short but sweet. I was able to spend some time with my girlfriend and her family as well as catch up with one of my friends whom I haven't seen in a while. Also, I don't think I slept less than 12 hours any night, a much needed change of pace. And so, well rested and with a stomach full of home-cooked food my girlfriend and I drove back to Elmira on Tuesday, ready for a nice half week of classes to ease us back into the daily grind of college life.

Unfortunately, like all good things, break had to come to an end. So now, after writing a four page paper on the Black Death for European History, I'm currently preparing myself to take the Kaplan practice MCAT today. Every year Elmira offers two free Kaplan tests for students to take advantage of and being as how I need to take the MCATs for real this May, I figured it might be a good idea to take advantage of this and find out what the test is like. Wish me luck everyone!

Once I make it through the test though, I'll be able to unwind and hopefully watch the Phillies come back against the Giants. Also, tomorrow ACS (American Chemical Society) is holding their first ever science major volleyball tournament. The tournament is a competition between class years and naturally I will be proudly representing the 2012s who, of course, are going to emerge the victor.

Frog Development Lab

Breaks, to me, are a mixed blessing. On one hand, it's a much needed change of pace from my hectic school schedule. A chance for me to go home, relax on the couch, catch up with friends and family, and in general do a whole lot of nothing. On the other hand, it seems the weeks before breaks are the most stressful of the year. That being said, I decided that for my first post I would share with you one of the several reasons for the previous two weeks of sleep deprivation.

One of the classes I'm taking this year is developmental biology, a 3000 level lab class. The class is a challenge for sure, but at the same time I have to say that it is one of the most interesting classes that I've ever taken. Three weeks ago in lab (Thursday afternoons) we took freshly fertilized frog eggs and separated them into three groups. We incubated one group at room temperature (22 degrees Celsius), one at 26 degrees Celsius, and one at 28 degrees Celsius. Then over the next three days we came into the lab at planned intervals (3-4 hours to start and then about 8 hours once development slowed) and observed what stage the eggs were at. For you alert readers yes, that means we had to come into lab over the weekend, I was in the lab staring through a microscope at three or four in the morning more than once during my weekend.

Luckily for you, I took pictures of the eggs/embryos at their various stages of development so you can all get an idea of what it is that biology majors do here at Elmira. The pictures are in order from egg to a very early tadpole. All of the pictures were taken using a regular digital camera held up to a dissecting microscope. The magnification for every picture is somewhere around 10 times.




Well, I am officially home from break and it is now time for me to relax. Expect more posts soon! If you have any questions just let me know, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

On a completely unrelated note, let's go Phillies! First game of the NLCS tomorrow, and I finally have time to watch.