Now that I have become better adjusted to life on campus, I have gained a better understanding of who I am and what I want to during my time here. Academically, I hope to continue to hold myself to a high standard and remain on Dean’s List for the rest of my time at Ohio State, and to continue to take higher level courses that challenge my assumptions and skills. Furthermore, I want to incorporate more humanities courses into my schedule so that I can find a balance between the technical skills of STEM classes and the interpersonal skills that come through engaging with literature of philosophy first hand. It is my hope that when I graduate from Ohio State I will have the skills necessary both inside and out of the classroom to succeed in my desired field, and to do this I must be a well rounded student. This desire to be well rounded and connect with others is something I also plan to show in my extracurricular involvement at OSU, as I hope to continue being a guide for new members of my fraternity, and to take leadership in clubs that represent these values. Professionally, I hope to get into a research lab and put the technical skills I have been mastering into practice in my laboratory courses. Hopefully I will be able to do this in tandem with continuing to work in a clinical setting, getting me used to the setting of my future career. I also plan to continue to network with both other pre-medical students through Alpha Epsilon Delta and with connections I have made with students in medical school and doctors in the field to gain a better understanding of what I will need to do and the resources I can use to do it. Overall, if I can become a more well rounded student and allow my passion for helping others and forming connections to make a difference, I will be satisfied when I graduate.
Month: April 2021
Narrative and Medicine
I took Narrative and Medicine in the spring semester of my freshman year in hopes that it would be an interesting literature GenEd, but the class ended up being much more influential than I originally thought. The course focused on how illness and our experience with failing health is not just a list of symptoms or a problem to solve, but instead is a story, and thinking of it as such can allow us to have agency over our experiences dealing with the medical field. Throughout the semester we read a series of narratives in different formats to show different choices and portrayals of illness, which helped to combat the idea of the experience of sickness as the same for everyone involved. Exposure to these different narratives taught me that everyone experiences illness differently, and being able to write about or express ones illness on their own terms may allow them the emotional processing or understanding they need to choose to stop or continue forward in their treatment. My professor was a graduate student himself, so he understood the rigors of life as a student and strove to make the class relatable and impactful for an undergraduate. Overall, I think the most important thing I came to understand through this class was the relationship between the sciences and the humanities, and how important it is that future STEM majors are not just learning all math and science in their undergraduate careers. Studies have shown that exposure to the humanities fosters skills that STEM classes do not always emphasize, so by implementing a curriculum that is comprehensive we are creating well rounded students who are more equipped to understand and take on the world around them.
Spring Semester 2021 and Sophomore Year
Though the biggest challenge of sophomore year was online courses and navigating a global pandemic, there were definitely quite a few smaller challenges that tested my resolve as well. I had finally made it to organic chemistry, something I had dreaded taking since I decided to pursue a career in medicine in high school. While the classes were hard, I think that organic chemistry has taught me lessons both inside and outside of the classroom. I learned this year that I did not have solid study skills or a good way to ask for help in making a study plan, forcing me to use OSU resources to rework my habits. This has been incredibly rewarding and important, as I feel that I have finally found a healthy way to study efficiently and avoid burnout, something that was a recurring problem in high school and freshman year of college. I am confident that I can use these newfound study skills to enhance my future learning and excel in my future courses. Outside of the classes I took this year, I also officially changed my major from biology to medical anthropology. While I still love learning about the natural sciences and their application, I felt drawn toward the humanistic views of the anthropology classes and was excited to learn more about how our biology has historically influenced our culture and what our place in the world looks like. Now that I have completed the introductory courses, I am excited to dive further into anthropology and learn about the theory behind the science and how I can further apply it as a physician.
Outside of the classroom I tried to stay as involved as possible, continuing my participation in Alpha Phi Omega and becoming a pledge guide to welcome new members to the fraternity. This was a rewarding experience as it allowed me to meet new people with similar values and feel like I was giving back to my fraternity after they helped me in many ways my freshman year. I also became a member of the newly formed Magazines for Literacy club at OSU, which allowed me to further my passion for literacy in a tangible way and help my community. Hopefully I can continue this passion next semester in an in person format and continue to make a difference through my involvements in the campus community. Overall I would say that this year was definitely challenging, but also showed me that I am resilient and can continue to succeed in adverse circumstances, giving me the confidence to continue to take on challenges in the future.
Merging Science with the Humanities
Ironically, I didn’t plan to take one of the most influential classes I have enrolled in at Ohio State. Somehow my scheduling appointment glitched and in addition to my science classes, I was enrolled in a History of Ancient Medicine course as well. As someone who has always had a strong interest in both history and science, I decided to not to drop the course and see what it was about, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made in college. This class was a breath of fresh air for me as it helped to break up all of the science classes I was taking, and gave me the opportunity to gain a better understanding of how the sciences and humanities can come together to make more competent and empathetic physicians. At the end of this class we were required to write an essay about how the inclusion of humanities and ancient thought can better the practice of medicine today, something I was very proud of and have attached below. I hope to continue this passion by taking more humanities courses both in and out of the classroom in the future.
