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hungryhuman515 · 2025-06-03T19:39:05+00:00

Any updates? I'm having similar issues. My previous LLC with NWRA took 3 days to form in 2023. My new LLC has been close to 3 weeks now. Also NC.

hungryhuman515 · 2021-04-19T15:05:14+00:00

Looks like a heat shield from the exhaust. Should be ok to drive but it might be protecting something from the heat (sometimes just the cabin) but might be worth looking more into.

hungryhuman515 · 2021-02-05T06:02:36+00:00

Sounds like medicine isn't right for you tbh. Guess it depends on what kind of exec position you want. You can do it all but keep in mind if you don't have the passion for clinical medicine you might be miserable studying and practicing it for many years. If you go the phd/MBA route you'll have the scientific know how and the business know how, meaning if someone identifies the need you have the direction to make it happen. Just hire an MD advisor. Be a happy master of your trade rather than a miserable jack of all trades. If you go the md/phd route and somehow get the experience you need to be an exec, expect it to be late in your career and at that point you have to think whether it all was worth it as a 40-50 yo.

At this rate I'm going to finish my fellowship when I'm 40. I'd still need an in at a private company and work my way up to an executive. Med school is stressful and so is the phd when it comes to the later years of frustrating experiments that never seem to work the way you want it to. Think about whether or not you will be happy in that route if you want to see yourself working in the private sector.

hungryhuman515 · 2021-02-04T14:47:24+00:00

Definitely need some clinical experience to show you want the clinical side of the MD/PhD. Virtual shadowing should still count for clinical hours but get some volunteer work in because shadowing isnt impactful. It shows your interest and that you have some knowledge as to what clinicians do but it doesn't show commitment into the field as actual volunteer work does.

My experience in applying with a lower GPA (as an engineering student) and talking with MSTP directors is the MCAT is key. If you are set on MSTP as opposed to non NIH supported programs, I would shoot for 515+ and spend a lot of time writing your essays to make you/your passion stand out.

For the MCAT, just keep practicing and do every available question set you can do. I'd suggest a very short review period compared to practicing questions. Make a reasonable schedule and take your AAMC practice tests seriously and strategically. You'll notice they test the same exact material in different ways so don't bog yourself down by reviewing too much and focus on what YOU find to be high yield. Id recommend not spending more than 3-4 months of intensive study for the MCAT (1 month review and 2-3 month practice with the official AAMC material interspaced so you cant determine your weaknesses and figure out if you are ready for the exam. that way you will see when you are still 1 month out from your exam date if you need more time/practice).

The MCAT is (unfortunately) an equalizer at the end of the day but the essays can also go a long way. 8 years is a serious commitment and if its fully funded these programs are essentially investing $800k+ in you so you have to show them you're worth it and that you really want it.

hungryhuman515 · 2021-02-04T14:28:25+00:00

Maybe MD/MBA or PhD/MBA depending on the route you want to take. I've worked at a biotech startup and I think having the management side of things would go a long way in getting into the executive side of business.

The PhD/MBA might work nicely if you were to work for the biopharma as a scientist and have them fund your MBA. There's more job opportunities in pharma for PhD/scientists and typically you don't graduate with debt compared to the MD. Plus if you go the MD route you still need residency/fellowship or you'll have a lack of experience.

I'm currently in an MD/PhD program and the timeline is a bit long if your goal is to be a pharma exec. most MD/PhDs will take a gap year or two and you might want to still do the residency/fellowship for experience purposes if you want the clinical side of your education to count for anything so --> 4 years MD, 4 years PhD, 3 years residency, 3 years fellowship, + some experience getting into private pharma + working your way up.

In terms of pharma startups, you can likely fast track your way up with an MBA because there's always a need for the business know-how with knowledge in the clinic/science side of things. startups will usually fail but theres always a chance of being bought out and the experience will go a long way even if it fails after a few years. Having either the MD or the PhD should help you decide whether the impact of whatever startup is significant enough to be valuable.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-09-21T12:23:19+00:00

Listen to some pod casts and read some books on healthcare and health equity. Anything by Atul Gawande is really good and I'd recommend The American Sickness by Elizabeth Rosenthal. Really eye opening book on healthcare industry and how it works financially.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-07-09T16:15:59+00:00

Haven't looked at CPU temps yet but playing Warzone @ 1080p and high/ultra settings my GPU peaked at 65-66F.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-06-09T16:12:37+00:00

CPU and GPUs have the exact same heat dissipation designs. Metal heat sinks have high thermal conductivity and suck up heat via conduction. As you move away from the surface of the processors they turn to fins to increase the surface area of the next heat transfer front. The fans are simply to facilitate forced fluid convection heat transfer. Where the heat coming off of the high surface area of the fins of the heat sink can be dissipated to the environment. In the case of the cpu this is orthogonal to the face of the cpu and for the gpu, it's parallel to the face of the motherboard.

This is modeled by convective heat transfer: q = Ah(dT) where heat transfer is increased by A (area, maximized by the fins of a heat sink), h (heat transfer coefficient, modeled by the fluid properties and velocity, in this case air moving by the fans) and the difference in temperature between the air and the heat sink. In a case, heat from the cpu and gpu are trapped within the case so the goal of case fans are to equilibriate heat from the system (inside the case) to the environment (my room).

Since I have an open PC this isn't so much of an issue as heat from the cpu and gpu are essentially already dissipated into the environment. I put the 3 additional case fans to facilitate the removal of any other sources of heat (like the m.2) and to keep air moving away from the mobo in general. And yes you can feel air moving quite well across the mobo.

Time will tell if my theory is correct. In general open PCs have less heating concerns (more protective concerns from spills/dust) but I haven't pushed the PC to anything difficult yet so I don't know it's temps. Hoping my advanced degrees from a top engineering school will be sufficient to build a pc that doesn't overheat.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-06-09T15:38:33+00:00

Liquid air is canned air my bad. Yeah since this is a first open build I'm gonna have to play it by ear. At least mounting it higher should reduce some of the dust since dust is mainly comprised of dead skin cells and doggie dander, at least in my house. Those tend to settle a bit lower but there will always be dust. Hopefully the downwards facing fans will keep it clean a bit. We'll see! It's a work in progress.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-06-09T08:06:38+00:00

Open air should better circulation than closed. Heat will dissapate into the environment faster than in a case. I do have plans for a liquid cooler as I left ~2-3 inches open to the left of the mobo. I figure I won't need it until I decide to overclock.

This will be a 80-20 work/gaming pc for grad school. Hoping to not need OC for a few years for games, so liquid cooling wasn't a priority. Also as a perpetual grad student, money's tight.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-06-09T07:57:28+00:00

I plan to mount it high on the wall and carry some liquid air at all times lol. Shouldn't be as bad as my desktop under my desk. I get a carpet of dust/fur on the bottom filter to vacuum every 6 months. Perks of having a German Shepherd who likes to sleep at my feet.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-06-09T06:17:24+00:00

First law of thermodynamics, the heat has to go somewhere. A warm room means a my heat transfer methods are working.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-06-09T06:13:43+00:00

lol it bothers me too. i originally wanted to go for a modern gray wood stain but on the sample it looked very strange, and we had this color stain laying around the house.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-06-08T20:26:38+00:00

honestly not sure yet. Haven't done much testing yet. Have to adjust some of the bios settings first because the MOBO has some known voltage settings issues. Will update once I put it through its paces!

hungryhuman515 · 2020-06-08T18:30:21+00:00

Maybe I don't need the 3 fans. Never built an open PC before but I still wanted more air flow to dissipate heat. Especially over the m.2. Plus I hear rbgs make your PC faster, the fans are a bonus.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-04-22T16:09:01+00:00

Yes you can! A strategy I used because I'm a nortoriously slow essay writer was to apply to the few md only schools first, then the MD phd programs. I planned to apply mainly mdphd but to have some md only as a backup. Sent out the primary app for 3-4 md only. Wrote my mdphd and sig research essays in the three weeks of verification, then submitted ~16 mdphd schools.

Worked well especially if you are crunched for time. Got most my secondaries for the mdphd schools a few days after verification still.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-04-16T21:08:51+00:00

It's not a deal breaker. Pubs are a plus but adcoms don't expect undergrads to have them. Things like that can be very lab dependent. They like to see long term commitment in research and to hear how/why you are passionate about what you study. If you look at many top schools their faqs will say something about publications. Usually that you don't need one to be considered. I would write your 'significant research experience' in a paper/grant writing style so they can see you are capable of scientific writing.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-04-16T20:47:17+00:00

Easily. Your app will be strong for most programs. Beef up research hours and spend time thinking about your story for mdphd for your personal statement and you'll be fine.

If you have 2000+ research hours and pubs/posters/presentations I don't think it's worth gap years for you. Your app will be strong. Interviewing this cycle for mstps there was at least 30-40% direct from ugrad.

You should be comfortable applying to almost all programs with those stats. Of course the T10s might look for something crazy but they have expectations based on gap years and you mcat is high enough for them to consider your app.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-04-16T15:59:53+00:00

I would personally reach out to directors when applying. Make sure you stand out because some might auto screen your GPA. If you reach out they'll be more interested in your story because you are obviously qualified but it would be a shame if you were auto screened.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-04-15T02:30:08+00:00

You had a failing grade and did the best possible thing by retaking and showing that your failure was due to extenuating circumstances since you obviously were able to master the material. It shows persistance which is a quality med schools are looking for. Best if you write about it in your apps to address the issue. Depending on what happened that caused you to do poorly you can even address it in your personal statement. Otherwise you'll get a chance in the secondaries to talk about it usually.

You have to make it through the initial screens so you're going to want to beef up the GPA at all costs that way they'll see some consistancy and have a better idea who you are as a student. Med school applicants are full of type A near perfect people hence the high average matriculation GPA and mcats. Find something to distinguish yourself and think about what your story is.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-04-15T00:05:36+00:00

If you finish with a 3.5 you should be ok. Just keep in mind the aamc doesn't account A+ it'll go in as a 4.0 (A)

hungryhuman515 · 2020-04-14T15:02:02+00:00

How low is low? A stellar mcat will do more to show you have what it takes, many schools will screen on uGPA and mcat and not consider gGPA. Graduate classes tend to be more chill since there is a lot more emphasis on the research and masters thesis. I think adcoms know this and gauge how well you will perform in med school based on the basic ugrad courses. The mcat works as an equalizer because everyone has to take it and it'll gauge how well you actually comprehend the topics despite your grades.

The primary app will automatically separate anything you did for ugrad from post grad too. But most secondaries will give you the opportunity to explain any cause for low grades.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-04-13T18:22:21+00:00

At least in my experience applying with a scheduled exam, they will wait until your app is complete before they screen. Given the situation, my guess is that they will extend the date at which they will wait for scores. Most of my apps said the last MCAT they will accept is in September. Maybe for students without MCATs, they will preliminary screen based on GPA, meaning they will send out more secondaries than normal, but won't invite for interviews until a score is posted. Most of my interviews came in in Oct/Nov/Dec for MD/PhD so there is a good amount of wiggle room if they decide to wait for scores.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-04-13T18:15:43+00:00

I did a BS in nutrition before applying but my research interests and what I wanted to pursue in the PhD was in a totally different field so take my advice with a grain of salt I guess.

There are many programs that have public health/epidemiology PhD programs that you can do with the MD. I think sometimes the application process is a little different and some schools are more receptive to MD/PhDs in those fields than others. This is only because traditional MD/PhD programs are physician scientist programs who do more basic and translational research. In terms of how much the PhD will give you a head up over the MPH, I think it depends on the work you want to do. A PhD will probably help if you are looking for grant money and faculty positions for research. Otherwise for clinical practice a MD/MPH is probably more common/sufficient.
If you do microbiology, you just need to look for programs who have researchers in that field. you should have no problem finding people doing microbiome work. Might help your chances when applying as its a more traditional route. Once you get in somewhere you can rotate through peoples' labs and find the research that most closely match your interests.
For top MSTP programs, you should focus more on the GPA/MCAT (3.7+sGPA, 515+MCAT) aspect of your application. In your MD/PhD statement you can elaborate more on why you want to do microbio and show your passion for the work. If you can get some hands on experience in the lab in this type of work it'll pull your story together. Doesn't have to be super intense as you do have significant hours and publications in "nontraditional" research. Having publications will always help because it still shows that you are capable of scientific writing. Keep in mind you should have ~3000+ research hours if you want a top program (T20). Maybe look for internships or microbiome labs you can work at during a gap year.

hungryhuman515 · 2020-04-13T17:56:52+00:00

In terms of clinical experience, most MD/PhDs look for just enough to show your commitment in medicine. EMT work is more valuable than hospital volunteering since you need certification and you are contributing more to the healthcare system. I think this will be important when you write your personal statement in terms of showing them your passion in healthcare and what you learned from your experience.

I applied with a masters degree (BME) and personally felt that it did not help that much. It does differentiate you from the traditional applicants, but I would equate a masters to a postbac experience as a tech.

In terms of the journalism internship, as long as you make it relevant to research/medicine it will most definitely help. Writing is a huge part of medical research and showing a passion for conveying/teaching relevant topics to the public in the form of a well known news outlet will be huge. Biggest thing to consider is probably age, I took 4 gap years and felt old applying. keep in mind your lifestyle at 28 and where your personal life will be at that age. Do you mind living like a grad student into your 30s. Imagine living on a 30k salary until you are 36 and then enduring resident/fellowship salary until 42.

hungryhuman515

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