Gross Anatomy is coming up for the upcoming year of students applying into the OT program at my school in a month so I thought this would be a great time to share my experiences with the course!
Let me start off by saying, I ended up with a C. Now, when you see this on my transcript, you might think, "meh" or "She didn't apply herself hard enough". In actuality, I went from a below F on the first exam to an A on the last. Slightly embarrassed about what grade I received, I hopefully to always remind myself that I could have failed, but I emerged victorious at the end. I personally believe that as long as you apply yourself and make things right, there is no reason to be ashamed.
The Gross Anatomy course I took at my school involved PT, OT, ES and a few medical students. It's duration was 8 weeks from the May 18th (I think?) to July 12th. I had chosen the morning class, which was from 8am-noon, 12:30-2pm, however extra lab hours were at 7am-8 am and for the pm class, 6p-7pm. Eventually after I saw how poorly I did on the first exam, I started staying on campus from 7am-7pm most times with a group of two other people, one of which was one of my freshman year room mates, and her friend - they are both PT students.
If there was one thing I would say about this course was that PT and ES students were a LOT more prepared than OT students. The advisor had told me that more OT students had failed. I think it's because OT and PT/ES students had a different general anatomy requirement prior to taking Gross Anatomy. OT students took a general anatomy that any major could take to fill requirements (however this year OT students now take the same anatomy as PT/ES) while PT/ES students had this online anatomy, interactive course that would have been a huge help in terms of being able to see the muscle groups, vessels, function and overall anatomy of.
Getting onto the 1st block of the course, we got our scrubs the first day and was reminded that these bodies were gratefully donated to us. We even got these little pins with butterflies on them that say "Our greatest teacher". Our lab is also a certified morgue, so we got to see a lot of other things not really related to the course, which I thought was quite fascinating. Our school also has a yearly ceremony and invites out any families or relatives to the wonderful people who have donated their bodies to science and releases butterflies at the event (hence the butterfly pin).
An experience our group had together was cutting open the bags to remove excess fluid and we started making the first cuts starting on the back (larger structures). Something about this course that I hear is a lot different than other schools are that... we literally were given a "prosection" then we had to do everything on our own. of course with help from TAs. The way we were taught was very "free for all", for lack of better wording. A lot of times it was like, "I think this is it, is this it? I found it!! No that's an artery, no it's supposed to be round, that's flat, oh... I think I cut it..."
So my experience with the exams: I did very well on the written exams, even on the first exam where I failed miserably, I had gotten somewhere a pretty good grade on it. However, it was the lab practicals that I was very stressed over. After the first exam, I had asked my freshman year room mate (aka, my best friend) and her friend if I could study with them. They opened my eyes to a whole new way of studying, and this is the main reason why I had ended with an A on an exam that costed 40% of my grade.
The first exam, I studied about 4 hours a day. Some people may believe that 4 hours is good enough. Apparently, by the time I hit the second and third block, I was studying 13 hours a day, give or take. I was also working with the group of girls in my dissection group which were very unhelpful and did not seem to accept me into their "posse", so I ended up doing a lot of work at home and was always distracted by doing other things.
My new studying techniques as I learned from my new study group helped me immensely. I have always been an index card, high lighting, under line, decorative type studier. However, for Gross it took a new approach, such as simply going over the day's notes, then following it by the day before it and the day after that. It was HIGHLY monotonous, but it worked out in the end. We would go straight to the library after lecture and book a group room for 4 hours, go over our notes, quiz each other and draw out things like dermatomes and the brachial plexus on the chalk board. This concept was completely different for me because I usually studied alone. I always felt that working in a group was hard because people often get off track and don't end up doing work - but these two meant business and that's what I liked about it. A lot of times when my group didn't have to dissect 2 times a week (we only had to present our cadaver to other students, then walk around and listen to other presentations. We were able to leave after until lecture), I'd go to the library and go to an individual room to study by myself. By implementing the same methods I had learned from my friends, I was finally able to be on the same page as them and know just as much.
On the weekends we would go to each other's apartments and study as well as go to open lab on the weekends. We only had open lab two weeks before the exams because we weren't allowed to see the cadavers a day before the practical. It was very intense.
On to some of the fun parts of Gross!
- I was able to dissect the knee joint, only after I took a saw to the joint and cut off the leg. That was... Awesome.
- Our cadaver's name (or we named her) Roxanne.
- Our school has a brain museum! We were able to see it after labs a lot of times, I enjoyed it.
- At the end of Gross, we had to take a bone saw and cut through the skull to obtain the brains and the brains were put into a container with solution called "THE THINK TANK", because it's full of brains, haha, get it?
- Every time you found an artery or nerve and didn't accidentally cut it.. Success!
- One of the TA's would draw super heros on the white boards, and they were amazing. He now is drawn a whole booklet of pictures for the Gross students this year.
I might add a bit more later on, but this is all I could think of for now. Enjoy!
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Friday, May 2, 2014
5 Year BS/MS vs. 4+2 Schooling
I thought I would write the pros and cons of attending a 5 year BS/MS Occupational Therapy Program vs. a 4 year undergrad + 2 year Occupational Therapy Graduate Program.
Some questions that you might ask are:
Are those that start OT as a 5 year degree "ahead" of those with a 4+2?
Which one is better?
I attend a 5 year BS/MS, so these are just my opinions. I know that not many individuals are able to go straight into a BS/MS program and have to do with a 4+2.
Pros:
- The only real positive I can tell from starting OT from your first year of college is that you know from the start that the courses you take go straight into your pre requisites. A lot of times many people graduate with an undergrad degree and do not know that OT programs require a set of pre requisites for admissions.
- Slightly more exposed to the fields of OT, ability to know what your future career may look like. When I first took Introduction to Occupational Therapy, we would have to do several tasks analysis papers, learn the history of OT, learned how to converse with a client through an interview in my Therapeutic Interactions course, etc.
- Slightly easier to get into the OT program - my program asks for a minimum 3.2 to get into the program while I know many OT schools will look for a more competitive score such as a 3.5+
- My program did not require a GRE score (however this is a con for me because I want to get my DOT sometime in the future
- Ability to take Gross Anatomy earlier within college career
Cons:
- Less exposure to other courses that may be available to you through your institution. I wanted to learn another language, take various sexuality courses, take an archeology course... But I didn't have time for it. Even with having a multitude of college credits transferred from high school, I barely made the deadline to apply into the OT program because I still had many courses to take.
- No room to take GPA booster, filler classes etc. All science, all the time.
- Somewhat stuck with the same group of people until you graduate. Essentially the majority, of not all the peers you meet in your pre-requisite courses will go into the program with you and graduate with you.
- Regarding the last bullet, this could be a problem if you are the type of person who constantly needs to meet new faces.
- No undergraduate degree, aka, "fall back plan". If you do not get into the OT program, you must change your major completely, retake course requirements or apply to another school starting from square 1. At least as a 4+2 you could make money on the side with your undergrad degree as you work through OT school vs. not having any type of degree with a 5 year BS/MS and possibly only qualify for various odd jobs.
Some questions that you might ask are:
Are those that start OT as a 5 year degree "ahead" of those with a 4+2?
Which one is better?
I attend a 5 year BS/MS, so these are just my opinions. I know that not many individuals are able to go straight into a BS/MS program and have to do with a 4+2.
Pros:
- The only real positive I can tell from starting OT from your first year of college is that you know from the start that the courses you take go straight into your pre requisites. A lot of times many people graduate with an undergrad degree and do not know that OT programs require a set of pre requisites for admissions.
- Slightly more exposed to the fields of OT, ability to know what your future career may look like. When I first took Introduction to Occupational Therapy, we would have to do several tasks analysis papers, learn the history of OT, learned how to converse with a client through an interview in my Therapeutic Interactions course, etc.
- Slightly easier to get into the OT program - my program asks for a minimum 3.2 to get into the program while I know many OT schools will look for a more competitive score such as a 3.5+
- My program did not require a GRE score (however this is a con for me because I want to get my DOT sometime in the future
- Ability to take Gross Anatomy earlier within college career
Cons:
- Less exposure to other courses that may be available to you through your institution. I wanted to learn another language, take various sexuality courses, take an archeology course... But I didn't have time for it. Even with having a multitude of college credits transferred from high school, I barely made the deadline to apply into the OT program because I still had many courses to take.
- No room to take GPA booster, filler classes etc. All science, all the time.
- Somewhat stuck with the same group of people until you graduate. Essentially the majority, of not all the peers you meet in your pre-requisite courses will go into the program with you and graduate with you.
- Regarding the last bullet, this could be a problem if you are the type of person who constantly needs to meet new faces.
- No undergraduate degree, aka, "fall back plan". If you do not get into the OT program, you must change your major completely, retake course requirements or apply to another school starting from square 1. At least as a 4+2 you could make money on the side with your undergrad degree as you work through OT school vs. not having any type of degree with a 5 year BS/MS and possibly only qualify for various odd jobs.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
New Beginnings
I've decided to start this blog because I usually blog about my stresses and struggles on my tumblr, but I'm going to start posting here instead. Too many personal people from real life follow me on there and sometimes I feel as though they judge me for my inner feelings about a lot of personal things that I might say. However, I'm so excited to start blogging on this and I can't wait to share my personal experiences, thoughts, stories and of course, graduation!
I have no doubt that I will be able to keep up with posting. If you are reading this, don't worry because there will always be constant posts!
A little bit about me and my journey finding Occupational Therapy:
I knew that I was always going to be within the healthcare field or a Veterinarian. However, the idea of being a vet quickly went out the door due to it's incredibly competitive admissions (more competitive than medical school!) so I decided I wanted to be an OB/GYN for the longest time, starting high school, I believe? I started college as a biology major thinking I had to become a doctor... Freshman year of college was a really low time in my life and everything you've heard about bad room mates was the epitome of my college experience, even up until today! I honestly did not enjoy the courses I was taking, I was failing miserably... I did not want to be a biology major. Then, I switched to nursing and I did a lot better, I had gotten all A's in my pre requisites, however I felt as though being a nurse would be personally unfulfilling to me.
In the midst of not knowing what to pursue, I went to career services at my school to figure out what I resources I can be given to find the major I wanted to pursue. The advisor had given me a site called myplan.com, with the school's access code. It's a GREAT website. Basically, the site gives you various surveys based on your personality, characteristics, skills, etc (questions such as: would you rather build an orphanage or construct a building type questions) and in the end it gives you a master list of degrees that is offered at every education level from associates to PhD. I scored pretty high with Occupational Therapy, but also with OB/GYN, teacher, SLP, and PT. I found out that OT was offered as a 5 year BS/MS at my school (although, I had several set backs in which now I am pursuing it in 6) and the rest is history!
I named this blog T-3, OT because I am going into the third year next year, also known as upper division. 2017 is the year I will graduate and I can't wait to discuss my journey with you all (or none, haha)
I have no doubt that I will be able to keep up with posting. If you are reading this, don't worry because there will always be constant posts!
A little bit about me and my journey finding Occupational Therapy:
I knew that I was always going to be within the healthcare field or a Veterinarian. However, the idea of being a vet quickly went out the door due to it's incredibly competitive admissions (more competitive than medical school!) so I decided I wanted to be an OB/GYN for the longest time, starting high school, I believe? I started college as a biology major thinking I had to become a doctor... Freshman year of college was a really low time in my life and everything you've heard about bad room mates was the epitome of my college experience, even up until today! I honestly did not enjoy the courses I was taking, I was failing miserably... I did not want to be a biology major. Then, I switched to nursing and I did a lot better, I had gotten all A's in my pre requisites, however I felt as though being a nurse would be personally unfulfilling to me.
In the midst of not knowing what to pursue, I went to career services at my school to figure out what I resources I can be given to find the major I wanted to pursue. The advisor had given me a site called myplan.com, with the school's access code. It's a GREAT website. Basically, the site gives you various surveys based on your personality, characteristics, skills, etc (questions such as: would you rather build an orphanage or construct a building type questions) and in the end it gives you a master list of degrees that is offered at every education level from associates to PhD. I scored pretty high with Occupational Therapy, but also with OB/GYN, teacher, SLP, and PT. I found out that OT was offered as a 5 year BS/MS at my school (although, I had several set backs in which now I am pursuing it in 6) and the rest is history!
I named this blog T-3, OT because I am going into the third year next year, also known as upper division. 2017 is the year I will graduate and I can't wait to discuss my journey with you all (or none, haha)
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