2 Interviews Down, 5+(hopefully) to go

Ahh, procrastination rears its ugly head once again. I'm debating whether or not I want to suffer through another semester of statistics. Unfortunately, next semester will be ANOVAs and regressions, which is pretty much how we analyze fMRI data. (one thing that i have definitely learned is why we use z=1.96, but I won't bore anyone with the details.) Although class can get pretty dry and boring, my teacher does share some funny stories about working in the government and FDA, and the sneaky ways pharmaceutical and tobacco companies are using statistics to show that their products are still safe (because the number of adverse events are not statistically significant...YET!)

Taking this class has also reaffirmed how much i don't like working with numbers....maybe i should rethink doing research, but maybe it's something i can get over....(that's what statisticians are for!)

Anyway, last weekend was my 1-2 interview punch: Friday at SUNY Stony Brook and Monday at the University of Rochester. Both went okay, I guess. Christian was worried for my sanity because I was so stressed that week: "Total personality change...too introverted!"

There was 1 interview for Stony Brook, and it lasted about an hour with the faculty member who will present me to the admissions committee. He worked in the neurology department and was really nice....I mainly talked about activities I did in HS and college, and then he got into the meat of things: why medicine, what problems do you see, and why do you still want to do medicine despite all that? MAN! I hope i survived that all right. Otherwise, it went well. I stayed with a group of girls who'd all gone to UPenn for undergrad, and since the MS classes are small, they said it's just like high school - a couple of other girls came over and they were all doing their PBL problem set together. In between discussing issues about the lungs, COPD, and other pulmonary-related things, they were gossiping about people in their class (and the class above). It was a short day there: the tour also involved going into the anatomy lab and they showed us one of the cadavers. Kinda freaky, but I prepared myself for it. (I wasn't expecting to see one, but the tour guide (who TAs anatomy for the 1st years) asked us if we wanted to see one, and there was this awkward silence until one girl piped up, SURE!)

Everyone and their mother was going back west for the weekend, so the LIRR train back to manhattan was pretty crowded. a lot of kids got off along the way. I stayed with my brother's godmother and her husband in Manhattan that weekend, it was very chill. We went shopping in South Street Seaport, saw Kinsey, and ate lots of food. All free :)

Sunday, after seeing the tree in Rockefeller Center (with the really pretty Swarovski star made of crystal), I flew over to cold, cold Rochester (so cold the flight attendants on the plane wouldn't divulge the temperature when we arrived!). It was around 30 degrees. My host and her boyfriend took me to a really good BBQ place in downtown Rochester; I paid for dinner as a thank-you. The neighborhoods around the university are pretty quaint; nice victorian looking houses, many decorated for the holidays, it was very festive.

The next day (with an early wake up call of 6:30 am), my host dropped me off at the admissions office. The other interviewees were really cool. 2 guys and 7 girls (there was 1 guy and maybe 6 girls at Stony Brook). One is at the SMP program at Georgetown and knows Suraj. The other guy was cool, he'd gone to URoch as an undergrad and was getting his MPH at Yale....but then he did call me an overacheiver when I already had a photo of myself ready for my application (the admin sec took digital photos of the interviewees). I hope it was a joke. He was cool otherwise.

I had 2 interviews here...neither had looked at the questions I'd answered prior to getting to Rochester. I talked about my research, activities, why Rochester, etc....my first interviewer was a Radiologist so he was interested with my fMRI stuff...but then he started talking about the school, and then turned to me with the "problems in medicine" question. I think i answered better than i had done in Stony Brook, but then he went on to ask me about stem cells, which then led to a question about my Governator. MAN.

My second interviewer was a lot more relaxed, she was a woman who'd been there for a loong time and I had an excellent time talking with her. (I need to send her a thank you card just for the good time). She took an interest with my interest in neurobiology, and was fascinated with my bird research. I hope she puts in a good word for me. Overall, I had an excellent time at Rochester, but it was SOOO COOOLD! It snowed during the day!

So, it was back to work...finally got GroupAna working with my Group Data (it takes 7-11 hours to run!), and Alex is happy with the ANOVA. PHEW!

Oh! Erin, Christian, and I also saw The Pixies in concert. It was a lot of fun; it was more fun people-watching. During one song, one guy in the section next to us stood up and was dancing all emphatically with the words. it was quite amusing.

And more good news this week: I got an invitation from U PITT (one of my top choices! Christian was VERY HAPPY:) ) AND Albert Einstein! Unfortunately, both are scheduled in February (Pitt early Feb (along with NYMC), Einstein is in late February), but after the holidays I will try calling them to see if any cancellations have made any open spaces.

So, I should get my ass going on these statistics problems again. Till next time!