G.O.A.L.S.

The University Honors & Scholars Center at The Ohio State University serves high-ability, motivated undergraduate students. While embracing diversity in both ideas and people, the Center fosters purposeful learning communities that enhance students’ academic and social experiences. The Center facilitates impactful, rigorous, and unique opportunities that further student success and involvement in our G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement.

G.O.A.L.S.

A:

I did my upperclassmen interview with my RA and HSS member, Aaron D’Amore. Aaron is a third year who is on a pre med track. In my interview with Aaron, I learned that he is currently studying for the MCAT. He is prepping for the MCAT by taking classes through Kaplan and he has been taking full length practice tests every Saturday for the past 8 weeks. Aaron is also graduating this semester. He loaded up on credit hours to be able to graduate a year early, he does not necessarily recommend this as he is overwhelmed with a dense course load while also trying to study for the MCAT. Aaron recommends getting involved in undergraduate research and volunteering. Aaron wishes he had done more shadowing and recommends starting early. He also suggests shadowing one or two doctors long term instead of multiple doctors for short periods of time. This would help form relationships with the doctors which is important when its time to get letters of recommendation. Overall, I think talking to Aaron was very helpful and gave me a good idea at what I should be doing now.

 

S:

For my service requirement first semester I volunteered as a swim timer at the OSU swim meets. Although I was providing service to those who needed it, this experiment was not as fulfilling as I would have liked. It was hard to see how my service was really making a difference in anyone’s life so the day was kind of exhausting. Looking back, I could see how the service the volunteers provided were critical in the production of the event. For second semester, I volunteered in the theatre at my high school. I was involved in the theatre program all throughout high school and the experiences in the program helped build my self confidence and was a key component of what shaped me into the person I am today. My high school puts on a musical every spring and they begin preparing around January. I would go in and watch their rehearsals and give notes on how they could better improve. When it came time for the musical, I filmed and edited the show so the cast could watch the show and be proud of how well their hard work paid off.