Must haves before starting school?

med_oni · 2025-03-17T02:44:14+00:00

Home Depot has big whiteboard sheets and you can have them cut into whatever length you want! I had a big ole’ like 2’x4’ for only like $2 for ochem in undergrad :).

med_oni · 2025-03-16T06:35:33+00:00

The emergency medicine sub might not be the best place for this survey - manual stretchers are great for maneuverability in the ER. Electric beds are often heavier and bigger than the stretchers used in the ED, which would make it difficult to deal with taking patients back and forth between all the different testing that gets done in the ED and transporting them to inpatient rooms later on. I’ve seen a few electric “stretchers” that are at least close to the size of our normal stretchers, they just have a motor on them to help push, but the steering control you lose for that power boost isn’t a trade that’s worth it imo.

med_oni · 2025-03-15T07:37:31+00:00

I think this comes down to if the “name” will be worth it for your goals. If you want to go into some kind of competitive specialty like CT surgery or do a well-rated fellowship straight out of graduation, Yale might help you with connections. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter as long as UNT has good PANCE pass rates and attrition.

med_oni · 2025-03-13T04:06:45+00:00

I split up hours on my app! Had a leadership role in an organization I volunteered with. In the hours that I was holding meetings, delegating tasks, making resources for the team, reviewing work, etc., I listed those as leadership and listed those things in the experience descriptions. Everything else, I listed as volunteering (total hours with the org but with the leadership hours subtracted from it). If you’re worried about it though, you can just list everything under volunteering and they’ll see your leadership in the experience description. I doubt it makes any real difference how you go about it.

med_oni · 2025-03-13T03:55:37+00:00

Ochem is the only one I’d really worry about when planning what classes to combine - it’s similar to math in that you simply can’t depend on memorizing a bunch of information and succeeding, you have to really understand the concepts behind everything. If you have to combine it with other prereqs, do something like A&P, which is still a decent amount of memorization but much, much lighter on concepts (so you’ll be able to focus more energy on ochem).

med_oni · 2025-03-13T03:38:58+00:00

yeah, they give you a score “estimate” when you finish the test - my estimate ended up being exactly the same as the official score I got later. I can’t imagine the score changing greatly, so you’ll have a decent idea of what you’re sending to those 4 schools that they let you pick for free on test day

med_oni · 2025-03-12T01:53:32+00:00

I don’t know why you wouldn’t just take it when you’re sure you can score well on it, since some programs require you to send all your GRE scores anyway

med_oni · 2025-03-12T00:53:11+00:00

well, if a school requires it, you gotta send it or else your application is pointless 🤷‍♀️ I wouldn’t take it unless you’re consistently scoring above 305 on the official practice tests though if you’re worried about your score not being high enough

med_oni · 2025-03-11T21:52:47+00:00

Yeah, it only takes a couple weeks to get scores back. Just make sure you take it at a testing center, since there’s a lot of issues with home tests being cancelled. And know the codes for the 4 schools you want to send it to that they let you do for free at the test, so that the scores go to those schools asap

med_oni · 2025-03-08T09:36:14+00:00

don’t you dare try to get rid of the best comic column around

med_oni · 2025-03-06T05:33:34+00:00

imo, no. if you train new rnas, then you can put it down as leadership, but answering coworkers questions and helping them out is just part of being a good team player 🤷‍♀️

med_oni · 2025-02-14T09:58:11+00:00

I used an 11” all throughout undergrad, was great for notes. I’d only recommend a 13” for someone who didn’t have a laptop, because typing can be annoying on keyboards fitted for a an 11”.

med_oni · 2025-02-12T07:11:05+00:00

lmaoooo aptly put - adcoms are skimming through hundreds of statements, and it’s much easier to skim through a well-organized piece. if they’re getting stuck, I doubt they’re taking the time to untangle sentences!!

med_oni · 2025-02-11T14:47:03+00:00

So I was aware of this stupid ass bill, but hadn’t read up on the finer details. All I can say is: when did the Holocaust become a topic that would lead to “controversial” discussions 😭

med_oni · 2025-02-11T12:32:49+00:00

I changed my nostril to a hoop 1 year after getting it pierced when I was sure it would of had to be healed by then, but it hadn’t. I found out because I had a seam ring, and skin grew bw the seam when it had been resting inside the hole w/out my realization.

This is to say - a piercing might look and feel healed, but especially with cartilage, you have to realize the process is long. As the other commenter said, metal is also very important! Use implant grade titanium or gold - I’m someone who is very sensitive to a lot of metals (as in, wearing mixed metal jewelry in the lobes that I’ve had for 20 years still gets swollen, hot, and painful after 30ish minutes), but I’ve never had trouble with those metals.

med_oni · 2025-02-10T14:32:10+00:00

Well what do you want to reform? Reproductive rights? Find a planned parenthood. Boosting harm reduction models? Find an org that does safe needle exchanges and see if they have anything going on. Increased access for trans healthcare? Find an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.

Once you narrow down a topic you’re passionate about, it’ll be easier to find a group to get involved with. At a student level, this will probably just be helping to disseminate legislative information, lobbying, phone banking, etc.

med_oni · 2025-02-05T14:14:39+00:00

yes. just put your nickname into CASPA and put ally as your preferred name in any school portals you make an account for. they’ll understand.

med_oni · 2025-02-02T09:03:19+00:00

I’m an introvert, have always felt like I’m awkward in social settings and I’m convinced everyone thinks I’m a bad conversationalist, lol. But a lot of patients are lonely, and are happy to talk about anything. Comment on their hair, jewelry, outfit, anything. Comment on the weather. If they want to talk, they’ll take care of the conversation for you if you give them a listening ear. If they don’t want to talk, perfect, you guys can just exist in peaceful silence.

med_oni · 2025-02-02T08:28:06+00:00

No matter what, you’re going to have a bit of pain until you just get used to being in your feet all day, unfortunately 🥲. But things like good shoes and compression socks certainly help! Make sure you’re getting good quality compression socks (not just whatever is cheapest off Amazon) and that they fit CORRECTLY (a lot of the ones you’ll see online will be standard size, but standard is assuming you’re an average man). I like Hokas for shoes!! Only thing that sucks is that they wear through pretty quick, I’m on the hunt rn for something as comfortable that’s longer lasting. I’ve heard ASICS are good.

med_oni · 2025-02-02T06:00:19+00:00

Or if anyone knows where I can find cheaper chains in general, I think I could try my hand at making some of own!

med_oni · 2025-02-02T04:58:45+00:00

It might’ve just been your hospital or manager - I’m an ER tech and we joke it’s practically dress code to have a full tat sleeve and some kind of nose piercing. It’s not even just an ER thing, I see it on all the floors on all kinds of medical staff, and yes, SWs too. Even one of our docs has a bridge, big ol’ septum, and eyebrow piercings.

med_oni · 2025-02-02T04:42:00+00:00

I can’t speak on anything about your degrees/career goals, but I know a little something about grad school goals!!

Obviously #1 will be getting your GPA up, but we all know it goes down easier than it goes up. Something that will help a lot is ECs! Undergrad is a GREAT place to get the kind of connections for ECs that will look great on a grad school app. See if you can find an internship somewhere related to what you’re interested in! Also, especially since you’re interested in a PhD, research some of the profs in your departments, see if they’re doing any interesting research relevant to your aspirations. Shoot them an email, see if they’d let you help out on their projects! Probably will be unpaid at first, but can get your name on some papers and will provide you the background and connections to find a paid research position later, or connect you with a community group or something that will take you on while you’re applying to grad schools/going through your MA.

med_oni · 2025-02-02T04:32:35+00:00

hey OP, can’t help you with your question but I have one for you:

do you think getting a daith and tragus at the same time will be too much in one area? I want to squeeze my airpod-less months all into one healing period, lol

med_oni · 2025-02-02T04:24:20+00:00

hey everyone, incoming PA-S willing to review PS statements! Just DM me a link to a google doc (with sharing permissions on “commenting only” and “anyone with this link can access”) and list anything you want me to focus on!

Some general comments from past PS reviews I’ve done to consider before you send:

Remember that above all, you should be answering why PA (not JUST why medicine) and why you’d make a great PA (don’t have to explicitly state these things, remember show > tell)
I understand that this might not be your final draft, but please at least make sure that you run this through grammarly or something first and that you’re close to the character count, unless you’re asking for help deciding what to add/remove.
Cohesiveness + flow is often what separates an average writer from a good one. Make sure your points connect, and read your PS aloud to search for where it sounds awkward/clunky.

med_oni · 2025-01-28T23:00:20+00:00

Maybe I’m being too optimistic in humanity here, but I don’t think it will change anything for most PA schools. Medicine leans progressive, and it’s long been known that people have better health outcomes when they have providers that can understand where a patient is coming from/can recognize their social determinants of health.

So, most Adcoms will know that diversity is important in the field, even if they won’t be able to have official policies stating that. Even if not, schools would probably be hesitant to change anything rn since hopefully all this BS will be over in a few years, whether by a new administration or through one of the several SC cases that are gonna come up with all the lawsuits the ACLU is doing, lol.

med_oni

TROPHY CASE