Dr. Rochin's Advice

A few weeks ago we had guest speaker Dr. Rochin come in and speak to our FREX class about his life reach and how he got started in his profession. That ultimately led us to the discussion of how to become more involved with our profession or major. He told us the three key things that would give us a good head start on accomplishing our goals. Number one the first thing to do is build up on your associations by looking for scholarships that maybe justify your major basically it’s like finding an internship. The second goal is language you have to understand the language of your profession or major so that you know what you’re doing. In a sense you’re letting people know that you are serious about what you’re doing and you’re willing to pursue it. As of now I’m majoring in Sociology and to be honest I’m not too sure about its language. I feel like I’m still undecided about what it is that I really want to pursue a career in. However I think that an interview with Professor Boehm which is the sociology professor here at TLU will help me obtain a good feel for this major so that I can understand it better. Lastly, Dr. Rochin mentioned building up your contacts by networking. It’s good to get to know the people that share the same interest as you. It’s also good to search for internships and look into maybe understudying a professor in your major for good guidance. Sometimes who you know can get you very far and I believe Dr.Rochin shared that with us as well.

By not having any good insight on my major it’s difficult to begin this three step process. I guess that’s why everyone is told to be sure they’re doing what they want to do and explore which is why I can also understand why TLU is a liberal arts university. It’s not to scare us away but it’s to get us to recognize what connects to us to make us pursue a certain career. This is just the first step of many to get me going. In order to learn you have to explore and search and once I’m done with that then I can take the advice of Dr.Rochin.

               

Midterm Break

Today is the last day of mid-semester break and I’m very agitated. Before the break even occurred I had two test to prepare for which was not a problem for me because I’d rather take my test before the break rather than after. That way seems more logical to me just because when most students take any break away from school they’re not focused on school related issues which is why I don’t understand why my math professor assigned a test Monday. I would think he would take the break into consideration and maybe push the test back to Wednesday or Friday. My break didn’t feel like a break at all. There will always be professors that require you to do some type of assignment during what’s supposed to be a student’s time to relax and have fun to do whatever it is that they want.  I had plans to do a lot during the break and I ended up not doing anything. I was supposed to visit my sister at UT in Austin and stay with her but my plans were canceled. After not being able to drive up to Austin I just spent time with my family. When I wasn’t with family I was sleeping or doing homework. I’ve also been studying for my upcoming math exam that I’m not too excited about. I should feel proud of myself for actually taking the time out and forcing myself to do this work that I can’t seem to escape but I’m actually mad at how much stress that’s building up.  It feels like everything goes by so fast and there is no time to be free and do fun things. Now I have to face reality and get back to sitting through boring lectures and doing assignments that to me serves no purpose. I know college is more demanding and time consuming but I expected a lot more than what I’m getting now. I’m so ready for the next break we have coming up even though yet again I know that I’ll be doing assignments. I don’t know why I haven’t transitioned into college like I thought I would, I think I expected too much out of myself.  I’m realizing that for any incoming freshman you must be open-minded to new experiences and take it one step at a time because if you don’t you will be thrown off track.

Midterms and Midsemester Break

This week I had my midterm for lab. It was very stressful to study for this test. I have never taken a test like this before there were 2 different parts that included a written and a practical. On the written there were a few multiple choice questions and the rest were fill in the blank that did not include a word bank. I can understand fill in the blank questions with a word bank but to have 60 questions like that is ridiculous. You would have to read the 6 chapters thoroughly in order to pass. For the practical you had to know all the bones in the body and the different parts of the bone, cells of the body, body organs, and the organs of the rat. So we walked around the room to identify the different parts of each and the exam was over. Before I took the exam I heard about how hard it was especially the practical but I thought the practical was easier than the written. After studying and getting through that exam I had to start studying for yet another exam, anatomy and physiology. Even though it’s open book and notes it’s still really hard. There are 100 questions so if you didn’t know an answer to a question you would need to look through everything but then you’re wasting time searching and losing out on answer all the other questions. This class besides math is the only class I really have to focus on because entails so much memorization. Along with studying for this exam I have to juggle all my other work into the schedule.  Such as the four page English paper that’s due next Wednesday. It’s hard to find a set schedule or time for me to get my work done because when I’m out of class I just feel lazy and every time I say I’ll get something done I don’t and I wait til the last minute when I’m tired. I’m so happy to be that the midsemester break is coming up because I need a break from all the stress. I don’t want to even think about homework, studying, or TLU at all. A break is a break and I’m just ready to get Monday through Wednesday over with so I can finally feel free.

Study Habits

So this week in FREX class we discussed getting out of our comfort zone while studying. Usually I listen to music while I study and since I like to sing I end up singing along to the music. However I have my times where I’m able to tune the music out and just focus on my work but it is probably better if I just work without music. With the suggestion that I should try new study habits I tried the “no music while studying” suggestion and I was able to get a lot of studying done. I also told myself that I would study without my phone and my friends but that was very unsuccessful. Throughout the week after all of my classes are over I stay on campus and do homework in the library  with one of my friends, for three hours and although we have good intentions to get our work done we end up talking about things that have nothing to do with our work.  I know I should spend more of  my time focusing on my work but I after being at school all day I would much rather talk to my friends. That’s something that I will need to work on but I doubt that will change. I feel like I have to study on my own terms without someone telling me. If I’m not in the mood to study or do homework I guarantee you that I won’t do it. If you wait to do something when you are ready you are more likely to get your work done and focus. Whenever I have made myself do something against my own will I just did it because I was forced to and I didn’t put much effort into it. At the end of the day I screwed myself over but I’ve learned to pace myself so that I don’t feel overwhelmed. No matter how much I may procrastinate I know that I will get everything done…on my own time. So with all of this information that I have digested I think that my study habits will be my study habits done my way. If I’m not comfortable then my studying is not effective and if my studying is not effective then my grades are not good. Basically it’s my way or no way at all.