Did Some Review For Our Botany Quiz On Monday! I Accidentally Fell Asleep Throughout The Entirety Of

Anti-Indigenous things to quit saying/doing:

- Stop saying “off the reservation”. It’s a reference to the pass system that was in place restricting Native people from leaving without permission.

- Stop making “1/16th”, “great-great grandmother”, etc. jokes. All of these reference blood quantum, a system designed to “breed out the Natives”. Indigeneity isn’t defined by a percentage, fraction, etc. Quit policing Indigenous identities and quit joking about genocidal tactics.

- Stop calling things your “spirit animal”. You don’t have one. Only Indigenous people from specific nations have spirit animals.

- Stop making dreamcatchers. They are sacred Anishinaabe culture and are not cute trinkets, crafts, etc. Buy them from Anishinaabe artists.

- Stop buying those little cloth “teepees” for your kids/pets/whatever. Also stuff with tipi prints

- Quit referring to your “tribe”. Enough with the “bride tribe” nonsense and all the rest. Stop trivializing tribal affiliations.

- Don’t wear “war paint”. Don’t put a feather in your hair. Don’t dress up as Native people or characters.

- Stop referring to your meetings/side discussions/parties as a “pow wow”.

- Stop supporting sports teams that use racist terms and logos and caricatures of Indigenous people.

- Stop using white sage. It is sacred and overharvested. There are lots of types of sage you can use instead.

- Stop “smudging”. Smoke cleansing exists in many forms in many cultures, use that. Non-Natives can’t smudge.

- Stop tokenizing your Native friends, classmates, in-laws, half siblings, etc.

Please add more!

from a few days ago; stu(dying) for my abnormal psych final tomorrow! I’m gonna miss this class | ig: coffeesforstudiers

What made you get into bioethics? Like, what about it captivated you enough to go to school for it?

As with all the great passions of my life–theology, every boy I’ve ever liked–it started with an argument.

The summer before my junior year of high school, I went to a summer camp where we stayed on a college campus and took mini “classes” and generally nerded it up for three weeks. You got to choose your “major”–the main class you took–but you were also assigned a random “minor”. The minors were unusual, like Hebrew or pottery or the history of war.

I was put in Bioethics. 

My teacher was a professor of philosophy from a nearby university, and I fucking loved every second of it. I loved the articles we read, I loved watching Gattaca and talking about genetic manipulation and individuality, I loved the professor and the insights he brought up (one day class was totally derailed by the question of why we refer to the soul as “my/mine/ours” what’s doing the owning there? that blew my little high school mind.)

Most of all, I loved the arguing, I loved the wordy back and forth of it–I’d been reading Stoic philosophy in Latin and ethics is endemic to theology classes, so I had a vague grasp of the territory. The rest was being quick on your feet, taking in information and then twisting it, trying to articulate vast things, poking holes in someone’s argument and defending your own. Looking back, I am dead certain I was insufferable–there were whole classes that I spent just arguing with the professor, while my classmates looked on. But I was too excited by this new toy not to…be an asshole about it, basically.

The social dimension of science has always fascinated me–I can still remember our physics teacher sitting down and explaining the reason that Aristotelian physics hung around so long was because it bolstered Catholic theology, my AP Bio teacher talking about how Rosalind Franklin’s work was ignored. So when I was reading through UChicago’s course guide, and I saw their description of the major, I was sold.

And honestly, it was a perfect choice for me. “Bioethics” is a very simplistic way to put what I studied; the major itself was the history, philosophy, and social studies of science. So it was a chance for me to just glut myself on knowledge–one quarter I would hurry from my Cancer Biology class on the science quad to Magic & Medicine in Ancient Europe in the history building. I went to lectures about the social factors influencing kidney donation, and international medicine. I wrote my BA thesis on how bioethics has failed to respond to the changing way medicine is done.

There are things I regret about my undergrad career, but my major was absolutely not one of them.

[ 02.05.16 • 4/100 DAYS OF PRODUCTIVITY ] 4 days till my exams yikes D: my first exam isn’t even geography but the subject is so content heavy so I’m studying first even though I have 8 days to the exam ahhhh didn’t really bother putting a super nice set-up for the picture because meh good luck to those having their mid-years or their finals!!

Quick reminder, especially for you younger undergrads: Discipline is a skill, not a character trait. And just like any skill, it can be practiced and improved upon incrementally. Try not to get discouraged if you have a day, or multiple days, where you are less disciplined than you would like or need to be. Don’t quit. Don’t spend the next week binging Netflix because you think it’s a hopeless endeavour. Just get up the next day and try again. Each day you try is more practice, and each day you practice, you’ll get a little bit better, and that continual improvement will pay dividends in the long run.

Keep at it.

GOOD STUDYING VS BAD STUDYING

GOOD STUDYING

Use recall. When you look at a passage and try to study it,  look away and recall the main ideas. Try recalling concepts when you are walking to class or in a different room from where you originally learned it. An ability to recall—to generate the ideas from inside yourself—is one of the key indicators of good learning.

Test yourself. On everything. All the time. Flashcards are your best friend. Use quizlet if you don’t want to hand-make flashcards. Get somebody to test you on your notes.

Space your repetition. Spread out your learning in any subject a little every day, just like an athlete. Don’t sit and study one subject for 2 hours, do half an hour every day.

Take breaks. It is common to be unable to solve problems or figure out concepts in math or science the first time you encounter them. This is why a little study every day is much better than a lot of studying all at once. When you get frustrated, take a break so that another part of your mind can take over and work in the background. You need breaks in order for your brain to retain the information. Try the Pomodoro method if you have trouble timing breaks!

Use simple analogies. Whenever you are struggling with a concept, think to yourself, How can I explain this so that a ten-year-old could understand it? Using an analogy really helps. Say it out loud, like you’re teaching it, whether it’s to an imaginary class or your sister who couldn’t care less.  The additional effort of teaching out loud allows you to more deeply encode.

Focus. Turn off your phone / iPad / any distractions and clear your desk of everything you do not need. Use apps like Forest if you can’t stay off them!

Do the hardest thing earliest in the day, when you’re wide awake and less likely to push it aside.

BAD STUDYING

Avoid these techniques—they can waste your time even while they fool you into thinking you’re learning!

Passive rereading—sitting passively and running your eyes back over a page. This is a waste of time, frankly, and doesn’t do anything to help information pass into your brain without recall.

Over-highlighting. Colouring a passage of text in highlighter isn’t helpful at all. It’s good for flagging up key points to trigger concepts and information, but make sure what you highlight goes in.

Waiting until the last minute to study. DON’T CRAM!!!

Doing what you know. This isn’t studying! This is like learning how to juggle but only throwing one ball. 

Neglecting the textbook. Would you dive into a pool before you knew how to swim? The textbook is your swimming instructor—it guides you toward the answers. 

Not asking your teachers for help. They are used to lost students coming in for guidance—it’s their job to help you. 

Not getting enough sleep. Your brain practices and repeats whatever you put in mind before you go to sleep, as well as retaining information and repairing itself. Prolonged fatigue allows toxins to build up in the brain that disrupts the neural connections you need to think quickly and well. 

hello! for your college prompts, what advice would you give the students who don't really have any outstanding achievements? the ones who didn't join any contests or have any notable experiences to write about :(

Hi, thanks for the question! 

Honestly, every experience can be written as notable. It really depends on how you word your answers. Personal stories, like caring for ill siblings can be described as inspiration for students going into the medical field or school art projects, like painting self-portraits can be described as an eye-opening experience in self-reflection for students planning to study arts. 

It’s really important to remember that even though high achievements and notable experiences contribute to an individual’s application, it does not necessarily make or break an individual’s profile. This might sound deceptive, but honestly play up your strengths. (You might not think you have any really good ones, but trust me they’re there!) I’d recommend doing a bit of research of your field of interest’s general responsibilities and focusing on any transferable skills that you currently possess that can be detailed in a college essay or application form. Many scholarship and college committees are looking for students willing to think outside the box, identify transferable experiences for field compatibility and show a clear interest in studying at the school of application. The experience is not the important thing, the reflection and lessons learned are what’s most important. If you show evidence of your ability to commit and work diligently, while showing clear signs of potential; schools will definitely be interested in taking you under their wing. 

Hobbies can also play a key role in applications, even non-school or organization held ones. As long as you can show evidence of progress (i.e. photography, videos, maybe a participation certificate) for an activity, self-taught instruments or languages are very impressive. Other hobbies such as crafting, machinery or creative writing can also be assets! I suggest making a list of your daily activities and going from there. Sometimes activities that you may not have considered (i.e. cooking, baking, etc) can greatly contribute to an application. Here’s just a couple examples that could possibly be helpful in the formatting of this sort of writing:

Baking (Have you considered baking something for a charity event? Baking a cake or a tray of cookies can add to your application because you can include the title of charity event volunteer and contributor or that you’ve baked to support charity events.) 

Blogging (Even Tumblr blogging! As long as you can show evidence of original posts with a socially acceptable theme (I’d recommend “educational (meaning anything you can learn,)” current-event or literature-based content) you can say that you enjoy writing articles in your spare time and host a blog where you contribute original content.)    

Travel (Travel a lot with your family or friends? Spin this experience into a cultural exploration activity and focus heavily on personal reflections of your trip. By doing this, you can say that you have a strong interest in sociology, modern anthropology and ancient anthropology.)

It’s never too late to pick up new skills! Keep an eye out for new opportunities to expand your abilities and community involvement and who’s knows maybe you’ll even find an activity you become extremely passionate about! Here’s some other tips to show off your skills:

Use a higher variety of language in writing: This means, use a thesaurus for application writing! A higher language variety shows that a student has a higher linguistic interest. In saying this however, do not change every word in sentences or an obvious pattern such as one-change-per-sentence! Contribute where you feel you can be fancy. 

Name-drop: By that meaning, cleverly mention the names of organizations and companies you’ve been involved with. Involvement refers to any sort of assistance with physical evidence. (Remember that baking example I mentioned earlier? Say that the organization in question was Free the Children - you could add Free the Children charity event volunteer and contributor to your application.) Do not call out organizations randomly but strategically - if it just so happens that the charity in question was present and involved then it doesn’t hurt to add that to your application. This shows that a student is well-connected in their communities as well as being apt at networking.

Strategic self-reflection: In detailing how you felt and what you learned, include references to any historical/current events, academic curriculum or personal interest educational content! For example: 

As I explore the streets of Greece, I cannot help but appreciate cultural identities that are in constant evolution. Greece, once a centerpiece of economic power now lies in a new era; one of economic uncertainty in the shadows of the growing strength of several new power players - the United States and China. 

This shows that a student has high intellectual ability, is good at problem solving and applying their knowledge where it can be used.

This is what my revision wall looked like this time last year. So gutted I got rid of these note cards. I’m so dumb.

Medical Textbooks (PDF versions)

Hi Everyone!!

I was asked by @dankamphetamemes to share my holy grail textbooks and I did, but I thought I’d do you guys one better. I recommended that you should check them out in PDF versions before you buy them because honestly they’ll burn a hole through your pocket - so I gathered all the books I use and a couple of others for you to check out!! 

Heres a list of books you’ll find in my google drive:

- Robbins and Cotran’s Pathological Basis of Disease

- BRS Pathology

- Lippincott’s Biochemistry

- Lippincott’s Pharmacology

- Physiology by Linda Costanzo

- BRS Physiology

- Moore’s Clinically Oriented Anatomy

- Gray’s Anatomy Flashcards 

- Unfortunately I couldn’t find a PDF version of Medical Microbiology by David Greenwood - Ill keep looking and upload it when I find it

Extra books/flashcards:

- Guyton and Hall Textbook of Physiology

- Clinical Microbiology made ridiculously simple

- Netters Anatomy Flashcards

- Snells Clinical anatomy by regions

If you happen to face any trouble downloading them or accessing them shoot me a message and let me know

Here’s the link - enjoy!!

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByVv1ccrvWveUGVuZFRCQWp3MDQ&usp=sharing

4 Legal Ways To Get Free Textbooks.

1. Open Culture:  Not a large a selection, but high quality texts. If you just want to skim a book to brush up on a course you took in ninth grade, download one of these. I have yet to be disappointed.

2. Book Boon: Provides free college-level textbooks in a PDF format. Probably the widest range of subjects on the web. The site is also pretty.

3. Flat World Knowledge: The worlds largest publisher of free and open college textbooks. Humanitie texts are particularly difficult to come by, this site has a great selection in all disciplines.

4. Textbook Revolution:  Some of the books are PDF files, others are viewable online as e-books, or some are simply web sites containing course or multimedia content.

5. Library Pirate: I’ve always had an addiction to torrent based pirating. When this site opened a few months ago, I went a little overboard. After dropping two hundred on a paperback spanish textbook, I downloaded the ebook version illegally. I also got a great Psyc text i’m obsessed with.  It will be interesting to see how this site grows- they already have a great selection.