Category Archives: Caitlyn

STEM Abroad

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I know that most people are looking forward to fall break, but I am in the midst of my third week here at Trinity and am just getting settled into my classes, or so I thought. Prior to coming to campus, I intended on taking two biochemistry courses, which were approved by the department head at Keck and by the SAGE office at Scripps. I was excited to have the opportunity to take science courses at a larger university and experience a different environment in lectures and in labs. What I found out after registering for the courses, was that the courses were designed specifically for international students and would not have any lab portion to them. 

At first, this was exciting news! I wouldn’t have to take any labs, in addition to my lectures, which would mean more free time during the week and less time in class. What I began to realize as I mulled this over, was that I might have a harder time getting these courses approved by Scripps, now that I had this new information.

For science courses, they generally need to align with another course at Keck in order for them to transfer and replace a specific course. I was hoping that my course entitled “Protein Structure” could take the place of “Biochemistry” at Keck, but would only cover about two thirds of the content at home, so would not be eligible for a direct replacement. The other course, entitled “Cell and Membrane Biology” was similar; there was not enough overlap between it and “Cell Biology” at Keck. Additionally, there is a lab portion required for the course at Keck, but not for international students at Trinity. In any event, I ended up having to drop these two courses, trading them in for two English courses, which I am very excited to be taking. The moral of this story is that often, study abroad programs are not tailored to science students, and there are very few places where the expectations for assessments and labs will match up with those at Keck or other universities in the United States. That was another factor in my decision to drop the courses. At Trinity, you take one final at the end of the semester, and that decides your entire grade. To me, that sounded very stressful, and quite frankly, I am glad that I don’t have to go through that experience.

As of now, my schedule is much more free, but I know that I will be very busy fulfilling my major requirements when I come back in the spring. Although it may be stressful to be taking more science courses at the same time, I think that it would’ve been more stressful to try to adapt to the system that they have over here, in regards to assessments.

Studying abroad has presented many challenges already – getting used to a new registration system, learning the ins and outs of navigating a larger campus, and learning to feel comfortable with 150 other people in a lecture hall – but I’m excited by the opportunities I have had so far and am interested to see how I feel about science after a semester off from it.

Medical School or a Masters Program?

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Happy Wednesday Scrippsies! I’m sure the weather is as beautiful as ever, but it’s been pretty cloudy in Dublin and I am definitely missing the sunshine.

  vs.  As promised, I will be sharing with you my list of pros and cons that I’ve made for myself regarding medical school. It ended up morphing into a list of things that I want from a job and questions I had about whether or not my life goals would fit into the timeline that medical school inserts into your life. Without further ado:

What do I want from my job?

-I want to be challenged daily

-I want to work with people, preferably kids

-I want to be able to help people

-I don’t want to do the same thing every single day

-I want to develop a relationship with the people I work with

What do I want out of my 20’s? Could medical school hinder those plans?

-I want the opportunity to travel

-I eventually want a family

Although this is a pretty short list at this point, it has given me a good idea of whether or not the medical field might be right for me. I believe that most of the things I want from my job would be fulfilled by working in medicine, which is promising.

Being away from Scripps, surrounded by new people, I’ve had the chance to reflect on myself in a completely new way and find that I am more sure of myself and my abilities as a student and more confident in who I am as a person than I might’ve realized at Scripps. I think that these are key qualities for anyone working in medicine, which is also promising.

Besides medicine, I have also been considering a Masters program, run by MIT, that specializes specifically in teaching students how to communicate science to the general public. I’d be particularly interested in examining how this sort of communication, be it writing, museum exhibits, or other forms of technology, can be geared towards kids. The program is only nine months and connects graduates with a local business or corporation at the end, with examples such as The Boston Globe and Boston Children’s Hospital. This program is of interest to me because of the interdisciplinary approach taken to science and the arts. I have also felt torn between the two worlds and this program seems to offer a solution to the strain I often feel.

Working with kids this summer at a summer day camp, I knew that I needed to find a way to incorporate working with kids into my future occupation. At the start of the summer, I assumed that I would get bored of watching them at a certain point, or run out of things to do with them, but they always kept things lively and interesting and I always looked forward to going to work. That was the first time that I felt so certain about my future and why I would hope to work with kids if I choose to work in medicine.

Based on what I’ve just written, it’s easy to see that I am conflicted about what my future might, or should, hold. But knowing that that’s okay and giving myself time to really think about what I want for my future is comforting.

Have any stories or questions about your own path, or just want someone to bounce ideas off of? Shoot me an email, or comment below! I’d love to hear from you! ([email protected])

Post Grad Planning while Adjusting to Studying Abroad

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Hello Scripps! I apologize for my hiatus this week. As I’ll discuss further in my post, many schools do not follow our standard when it comes to registration, which can make things very stressful and time-consuming, hence my lack of a post.

I landed in Dublin on Friday the 15th and was greeted by a man in a green sweatshirt who ended up taking me and the thirteen other people on my program to their housing accommodations. That first day is truly a blur, as I was running on about four hours of sleep and trying to cram an obscene amount of information into my brain, all important and all regarding my stay in Ireland. One thing to take away from that was to sleep as much as you possibly can on an international flight. Even if you don’t feel tired, you will be so much better off if you’re as rested as possible.

The next few days were better; I could feel myself retaining more of the information that I was given, I was sleeping through the night, and I was adjusting to my new living space. I am living in an apartment with a roommate and two other flat-mates. My roommate and I get along so well and I’m pleased to report that I don’t think we will have any major issues. But, if we do, I feel that Scripps has prepared me well to combat those issues and discuss them in a respectful and inclusive way. This past week was orientation week, where students register for classes and clubs, entitled “Freshers Week” here in Ireland.
As I mentioned earlier, the registration process is much more traditional than what we experience at Scripps, and even though we often find our process stressful, this experience has brought a whole new level of appreciation for the way Scripps handles registration. At Scripps we can register from the comfort of our desks or beds, commiserating with friends as we do so, but here at Trinity, each class must be physically signed off on by the professor teaching the course.

  vs.  This means that much of the day is spent walking to and from buildings, hoping professor will be in their offices and that they will bestow their signature upon your registration sheet. Although it is much less convenient, it was a great way for me to get to know the campus better and to learn more about the departments I would be taking classes in.

I know that there are many stages of the study abroad experience, and I know that I am still in the honeymoon phase. That means that there will be a point where I don’t feel as excited to be here, and I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for when that time comes. Even though that’s very hard to do, I know that I have a great support system here in Ireland, and back home, that will help me through those feelings.

While I’m enjoying getting settled in my new place and program, I know it’s important too keep moving forward on my post graduate plans and have started a pro/con list about Medical School which I’ll share in an upcoming post. 

For those interested in studying abroad, either at Trinity or elsewhere, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I would love to talk to you about it, or put you in contact with someone else who might know more about a specific program.

Dipping My Toes in the Pool of Medical Professionalism

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This past week has been much more relaxing than the week before and I’ve started to become more content with my uncertain future. I finished up my time at both of my jobs at home and am now in Claremont visiting friends before I leave for Dublin!

Before I left, I had the chance to talk with three different medical professionals, all women, and all very excited about their work. One was a PT, and MD, and an NP. It was really interesting to hear them all talk about their schooling and their work environment, soaking up the pros and cons of each. The biggest idea I took away from the conversation was that they are never bored at work and often feel like detectives, trying to figure out what’s wrong with a patient, and developing the proper treatment plan for each individual. This felt promising, as my main concern for most potential jobs is that I will get tired of them.

Even though I could’ve guessed that their day to day work likely remained interesting, even after many years, to hear it from the source comforted me and is now a big factor in my potential decision to enter the medical field. Another distinction they made between their patients was that, even if two patients presented symptoms pointing to a particular illness or disease, they could rarely address the situation in a similar fashion. They noted that oftentimes, patients present different symptoms that reflect their living environment and that is when they really have to play detective.  

They must dive into their patient’s medical history and develop the best treatment plan for that individual. In that way, the MD noted that, talking can be the best way to figure out what’s wrong with a patient. She described an experience with a patient where she needed his family’s medical history and ruled out many potential diagnoses based on that information alone. This was also exciting news to hear and made me realize that social skills are very important in medicine, as they can help you, help your patient in a less invasive way.

I consider myself to be a social person and know that my friends feel comfortable confiding in me because I will listen openly. Based on my conversation with these medical professionals, those to qualities seem like they would help me be a more effective medical professional and help me patients more in the long run. I was also able to talk with a friend who has decided to go to nursing school, and eventually become a nurse practitioner. It was nice to have her perspective, as she is still a student in Claremont and also went through a period where she considered both nursing and medical school. She suggested that I make a list of the pros and cons for each profession and really highlight what means the most to me.

Although it’s hard to determine what might be important to me in the future, there are definitely things, like whether or not I want to have a family or travel the world, that will be big factors in the list as of right now. I think this list will allow me to figure out what is most important to me and will help me figure out if one profession will allow me more chances to accomplish those things or if it will hinder my ability to do them. Here’s to a great week, and some list making!

A Whirlwind Summer and an Uncertain Future

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Hello Scripps!! Welcome back to campus! I hope everyone is settling in and getting excited for an amazing semester. I will be off campus, studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland this fall and am very excited to blog about my experiences there. In addition to blogging about my time abroad, I will be blogging about my experiences this summer. I am a chemistry major and physics is one of the many requirements needed to graduate. I knew that I wouldn’t have room for it in my schedule during the school year, so I decided to take it over the summer. In addition to this summer class, I worked three different jobs, that have given way to several new potential career paths that I’m excited to share. Even though this summer was full of new experiences, I am feeling just as unsure as ever about what my path will be after graduation. In this first post, I wanted to discuss how I’ve been dealing with this uncertainty and how I think that, in many ways, it’s actually a good thing.

Ever since I was in elementary school, I can remember talking about college with my parents. It was always something I had heard about, knowing that it was something that would likely make getting a job easier and would help me financially. I knew that it was a part of my future and that my parents would support me in getting there. When I was a sophomore in high school, my family and I visited colleges during our Thanksgiving vacation and again during spring break of my junior year. By the fall of my senior year, I was applying to colleges, talking about my top choices, and what it would be like once I was on campus. I was always ready to go off to college and that plan was always secure in my mind. I realize, now that I am not so certain about my future, that I really latched onto this plan. It became something that I never had to worry about because I already knew what was going to happen.

As the summer is coming to an end, I find myself questioning the classes I’ve taken while at Scripps, the major I’ve chosen, and the path I will take in the future. Having a future that is so wide open is a new experience for me, and not one that I am particularly comfortable in. As of right now, I am trying to be okay with the fact that I have no solidified plans for myself. The world is my oyster, as they say. I know for a fact that I would not have had many of the experiences and job opportunities I had this summer if I hadn’t been open to the idea of trying something new. That is the best piece of advice I can give anyone in college, and the best advice I can give myself: be open to trying new things. Although it may sound cliche, there are so many opportunities that college will present to you, and it’s important to take advantage of as many as you can. You really never know what you’ll like until you try it.