The End of Histo

Nov. 4th was our third midterm for histo. Luckily it finished in plenty of time for me to drive around and find my sketchy sketchy polling station.

What's worse is my station was at an address completely different from the one on my voter registration card. Conspiracy theorists ENGAGE!

As I said, the next morning I received my acceptance email from UTSA (now in my 326th hour of celebration). The only downside of that email was that it made it almost impossible to study for the histo final, which we took just three days after the midterm.

The final for histo is the histology mini-board. These are small (2.5 hours, ~120 questions) standardized tests on one subject. It's very difficult to study for, because you have a ton of material and you (and your instructors) have no idea what the test will focus on. Last year's solitary AMP student said that those who studied and those that didn't performed basically the same. I wound up just perusing my notes from throughout the trimester and going through my PreTest. We haven't received our grades yet, and the AMPs are getting nervous.

Slow week

We had Exam II on 9/30, and only one day of classes since then. Most of us AMP students have been using this time to catch up on med school apps, and almost half have left town to visit friends and family.

I've spent the last two Thursday's at a friend's apartment watching The Office. We even dressed up in character for the season premiere (that's Dwight and Phyllis on the couch playing Guitar Hero). A few of us also went bowling at the White Plains AMF on Friday ($20 for two games, ouch).

We only have 3+ weeks until Histology is over, we begin Physiology AND Biochem, and my carefree lifestyle comes to an end. I forsee fewer visits to NYC, more QT in the library, and less (more?) drinking amongst the AMPs.

Second Exam

I spent the weekend in NYC again. I think I've only spent two weekends total in Valhalla. This time, however, I had a good reason for going out of town: tickets to a Ratatat concert! I bought them a month ago, completely forgetting that I don't like concerts. It took two awful opening acts, a 2.5 hour wait, and second-hand smoke to unleash the memories of my few hateful concert experiences. Plus side: I got a sweet t-shirt.

I will pay for my unfocused weekend by studying nonstop for our midterm on Thursday. This one will include a practical test, where we will be asked to identify and describe light and electron micrographs, not all of which we've seen before.

We only have a month more of histology lectures! After the mini-board we'll have a few weeks off (except for biostatistics) before we start the second trimester and (dun dun duuuuuun) biochem/physiology!

Study Break

The lab test on Friday took all of 15 minutes. I messed up a question because I was too nervous, and all of my partner's telepathic advice was not helpful. Later that night a lot of the AMPs and first years went out to a bar/dance club called "The Thirsty Turtle." That night the club had a carnival theme, so there were balloons, carnival games out back, and this creepy guy walking around the dance floor on stilts.

Standing in front of the stiltwalker is a first year I don't know, but refer to as Sawyer for ponytail reasons.

All classes are canceled on Thursday because it's a "study day." One of the cool things about being part of such a small institution is that they can make a day off whenever they want to. In undergrad the only day off we got was MLK day. At NYMC there are days off for all of the major Jewish Holidays plus a few study days.

Lab Quiz Prep

My parents were at the same showing of "Spring Awakening" I saw. Apparently my dad and I got some of the same impressions:
Anyawkward (thank you, michael k), today we started gearing up for our first lab quiz. On Friday students go into one of the lab classrooms with the histo instructors two at a time and answer questions about slides projected on the wall. "What is this structure? What would the EM of it look like?" That kinda stuff. It only counts for 3% of the class' grade, but since there are only going to be six questions we want to be on top of our game.

Of course, the really big news is that the AMP students of the female persuasion have decided it's time for a ladies' night. The boys in the group are somehow already super chummy, with their flag football games and pickup basketball.

Fun fact: there are 12 dudes and 8 ladies in the program. I found that surprising because most med school and post-bach programs I've looked at make a huge deal of trying to keep it even. Then again, this is a pretty small program...

I wonder what will make up Ladies' Night...I don't know what the other women are into, but I've learned that Taboo pretty much equals instant friendship.

First Exam

Today was our first exam in Histology. It was a 65 questions, multiple-choice, and pretty tricky. They had the answer key on the school's database (the DCDB) in an hour or two. Unfortunately I can't figure out my grade until I see the stats on the rest of the AMP and first-year med students. AMP students are graded according to what percentage of the med school students they scored in. I think you have to score in the top 20% to get an A.

The fun part of your fist histo test is that upon its completion the second years get together and buy beer for the first years' immediate consumption. The second years are really into it, and even sent out a cute little powerpoint detailing the history of this lovely gesture:

Last week my mother came to visit, which meant I could use her rental car to drive around and actually buy some furniture. It all came from a combination of craigslist and Target. We wound up having to rent a truck from the Home Depot to carry a dresser I bought to campus. They charge ~$20/75 minutes.

I live on the second floor so getting the dresser into my bedroom was difficult. It was way too heavy for me, but I couldn't reach any of my friends on campus. At one point a med student with burly arms walked by. I ran after him to ask for help, yelling, "YOU WITH THE ARMS!" but he drove off before he heard me/ignored me until he could get to his car. Eventually the super was able to help me out.

I spent most of last weekend cramming for the histo test, but I spent one day visiting in New York. I got cheap tickets for Spring Awakening from TKTS. I had a lot of problems with the story, but the music is still in my head and it was great to see people from undergrad.

Histology

The second week of classes starts tomorrow. Since the AMP (Accelerated Master's Program) students take half of the first-year med classes I only have class twice a week. This leaves a lot of time for enjoying beautiful Valhalla and bunny spotting. It's there. Keep looking.

Our only class now is histology (micro anatomy/cell bio). We'll have 3-4 hours of lectures on Tuesday, and 2 hours of lecture with another 2-3 of lab on Thursday. Lab is mostly learning about a structure and then immediately looking for it in a section.

There's a lot more memorization to this class than anything I had in undergrad. I've already begun luring classmates, troll-like, into study sessions with promises of pizza. Luckily all the other master's students are into communal focus.

We'll start a biostatistics course in a few weeks, but I've heard it's not the kind of class you lose sleep over. Until then I'll keep reading the histo class transcriptions ($110/semester) and strengthening my relationship with wikipedia.