(“Butterflies” is a # 1 hit from MJs album “Invincible,” from 2001.)
Howdy!
I’m gonna do a 2-part blog for the next week or so, about my experience with one of my freshman year classes and how that experience has helped me thus far at Hopkins. Which class? Chem Lab! A class required for pre med/health students and even for many engineers.
Honestly, Chemistry Lab at JHU has a bad reputation, one I heard about way before I even enrolled in the class.
“Be prepared, Dominique. It’s really hard. And ridiculous. And way too much work for a little 1-credit class. And the professor is really strict and mean and never laughs or smiles. And no one helps you or answers your questions well. The TAs are stupid and not very helpful. The professor gives everyone ethics violations for stupid things. AND ALL SHE CARES ABOUT ARE SIG FIGS.”
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So naturally, of course I was totally freaked out about the course before I even started. I don’t plan on being a doctor, and even back then as a freshie I didn’t plan on it (I’m doing the pre med courses just to keep my options open for things…plus pre med isn’t the only thing you can do with those courses) so people were asking me why in the world would I put myself through that torture.
So the class. Yep, it was hard and a ton of work for 1 credit. Yep, I spazzed out every lab period and had to give myself a Coldstone therapy session after every lab. Yep, I was the crazy student who would always go to the help sessions and ask 1 million questions on our online discussion forum about the homeworks. Yep, I was the one in lab who would always think she was doing something incorrectly and call the TA over a bazillion times in lab to make sure my experiment was not going awry. I did it all. Each lab period left me with some serious butterflies before and after it was over because it always made me so nervous. Looking back, that was ridiculous because it wasn’t even that bad.
But somehow, in the midst of all of my doubts with the class, I ended up doing well in the class I thought was going to be the end of me. And trust me, I am in no way a science genius or even that great in science…at all. I just figured out the secret that other students didn’t seem to find out, and it had nothing with being a genius or extraordinarily brilliant.
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What’s the secret? Well…I used all of my resources and asked for help. Duh! you say. But seriously, I was and still am amazed at the number of students who don’t learn how to use the resources available for this class. The professor, Dr. Pasternack, puts up information about the chemistry for each experiment online. She has an online discussion forum where she answers questions about the assignments, and she answers them all day every day. She has help sessions Sun-Thurs where students can come and get one on one help from TAs with the homeworks. She even answers questions during her office hours or via email for the brave students who aren’t afraid to approach her. Because I did all of these things, I was able to do well in a class, THE class that so many before had warned me about.
I truly think that is one of the hugest keys to success in college…being able to find all of your resources and knowing how and when to use them, for your advantage. You don’t have to be an Einstein genius to do well in school..it would be nice but we’re not all like that.
So if I have any advice for you all in high school, and even for you all in college, it’s to do your homework and to find out alllll of the resources available to you for a class…and then don’t be afraid to use them!
So ya, my next blog will be about why this class is still affecting me, 2 years later. ;)
Till next time!
Dominique
