u/verdant_squirrel

Slightly nontrad future applicant, doing a DIY postbac.

This goes for medical school and grad schools in general. I know it's not advised to disclose ASD, etc in applications. So I never will. This is a vent.

It's just that, this was my hardship. Hell, I had more than one. I had a 3.3 GPA. Bad. I also had a year of repeated emergency surgeries and subsequent mistreatment by the ROTC (national guard enlisted to scholarship) leadership b/c it was gynecology related, so they thought I'd made it up (their words), leading to forced absences while they kept me overtime to yell. I can never provide documentation for why my grades fell because the UCMJ fallout after that is predictably classified.

More to the point. Having multiple 'hardships'... maybe I could just say that I had a physical medical situation that is fully resolved. It won't change that every school would rather take a student with a 4.0 than a 3.something and a very good excuse. But what about when more than one thing went wrong? What about experiencing homelessness after my housemates learned my family's background and kicked me out with violence for good measure? When the cops provided no documentation because my roommate chasing me with my own chefs knife (my beloved) was a "civil matter?"

What about the good ol' autism-ADD 1-2 combo (I know, "everyone and their mom has it now," it's likely just one or the other in my case, but who knows) that went undiagnosed my entire life until a year out of university? Unmedicated and unmanaged? Finally in treatment and realizing what life and learning can be like, and rushing to make up for my deficit in extracurriculars and research.

Two things, much less three things, would understandably make anyone in admissions, perhaps even reading this, suspect the issue was me in some way. Trust that I have tried to identify what I could have done differently, too. 'Multiple struggles? Are we sure you aren't making it up? Leaving something out? Cluster B, much?' Not to whine, but nothing adds insult to injury like not being able to speak honestly about an experience because you know you'll be disbelieved due to the absurdity of a situation.

Idk. Can anyond relate? Weigh in? The only advice I've gotten was "then maybe you just aren't cut out for medical school" from a pgy1 from a double MD family and next to no debt, so suffice to say I'm seeking other perspectives. I'd like to believe that drawing a few shitty cards doesn't mean I have to answer for it like some sort of personal merit failing for the rest of my education/career, but I may just be delusional for that.

I used to think I was hopeless at math, to the point we thought I'd inherited my mother's dyscalcula disorder. In reality, it was her ADHD and my dad's (an engineer) autism. I graduated university with a liberal arts degree in something I no longer see a career in, international relations. Predicting global events comes to me intuitively, but the job market for cranky oracles dried up a few hundred years ago, no matter how flawless their track record for calling diplomatic fallout (let me flex, I have to cope).

I want to be an engineer. I know a number of professors who did not major in engineering and are now collecting engineering accolades. As all I want is a stimulating career, I figure it may be possible with enough leveling and then grad school. The only issue is that my previous attempts at STEM courses failed. It wasn't that the content of the courses was too difficult exactly, and it's hard for me to find words for this... I just wasn't learning in class. I wonder if this is relatable for others here: being so caught up with making sure you behave right, are tracking everyone's movements and expressions, making sure you understand lab instructions correctly or aren't coming across as an inattentive student.... that you fail to actually learn the information you're there for. Excellent.

I'm now teaching myself from the ground up. It took a bit to abandon the little (big) piece of ego that told me I couldn't take courses for middle schoolers to address foundational holes in my math know-how, but I started by taking Algebra Basics on Khan Academy. I'm now mapping out lesson paths that culminate in multivariable calculus (also on Khan!) so that I can teach myself physics (Phys 1 was previously dropped twice. Real genius hours). I'm relearning chemistry for the... third time, and since I'm teaching myself, I can investigate all of my little questions about the why and how certain things are the way they are before moving on to having to build new knowledge on information I don't yet feel I understand. In other words, because I am the teacher now (well, the Khan Academy guy does most of it, but I decide when to rabbit hole down YouTube and pdfs of textbooks), I don't have to rely on meaningless rote memorization, but a more comprehensive understanding.

And lo and behold, this shit is so easy now wtf. Everything. Even with my rabbit holes, even past the point of information I'd previously seen in class to brand new information, I'm learning much faster than it usually takes. I'm kicking myself for not being a STEM major, for dropping out of pre-med. Of course if I'd stayed with it, I'd have to have learned everything before lecture and then sat there for the most part bored during it and forcing myself not to ask tangential questions that could distract the other students, which is generally regarded as a dick move. And now, when I take course leveling, since you can't test out of everything, that is precisely what it will look like for me in the future. But jeez. How many hours of crying as a kid was wasted? Math is just logic and I made great grades in philosophy haha.... ):

TLDR: math and science is easy as hell when you teach yourself at your own pace and around your own questions. I wasted my entire education. Anyone relate? Cheers!

Hi, I just started Strattera, on a baby dose of 10mg because I've got that sensitivity trait. I know side effects when you just start are not representative of how the drug will treat you later on, but I'd like to be able to stay on it long enough to get to that point! So I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this, if it will go away, and how to deal. Suffice to say, I am so hungry.

It's not even my stomach. It's like my brain is. If you've ever fasted or missed a few meals when you were running around, expending energy, it's like that. My brain is begging me for energy. Acting like I'm pushing it too hard. It's interesting, because day 1 and it was hitting me like adderall; I was cleaning and getting all sorts of things done. Maybe I'm just.... burning more energy cognitive-wise? Should I be loading carbs?

I'm a cogsci researcher attached to a lab and they had a debate.

While colorblindness is genetic, I understand that how we are able to process data is more neurological.

I'm reminded of that experiment in 1970 by Blakemore and Cooper, where they only exposed kittens to very specific visual input (stripes in either a vertical or horizontal orientation) and then saw how they behaved when they were older in environments with additional input. The cats appeared not to comprehend edges that were at a significantly different orientation than the painted lines they'd been exposed to as kittens.

Human babies are only able to see black and white at birth. Assuming normal rods and cones, and ignoring the.... ethical considerations of this and the lack of natural light exposure... would raising an infant in only a black and white environment lead to an older child without color acuity?

יש לי בן אחד. הוא בן עשרים ואחת.

The number is one gender in the first case and another gender in the second case. Why is this the case? How will I know which is correct?

Hi, so I graduated last year with a Government degree, and am applying to some schools abroad for my master's. One requirement I've seen from a few schools is to have been "in the top third of the department" or similar phrasing. So top 33% etc etc, not unusual.

I understand that UT doesn't really do class rankings. However, what about by department? Even if the school doesn't publish it directly, is there a way for me to figure my own ranking out? And per department? I don't see these schools accepting an explanation from me that my undergrad simply doesn't do that; they will surely just reject me in favor of someone that can prove they hit the mark.

סליחה על העברית שלי

אני צריכה לצעוק. רק צרחה טובה. ברור שאם אעשה את זה בשכונה, המשטרה תגיע. האם יש מקום כזה? כדאי לי הולכת רחוק ברגל לנגב?

אני נשבע שאני לא משוגעת. יש לי פשוט הרבה רגשות תקועים ומטפלים הם יקרים.