Feed Your Mind

Hey, everyone!!

We just got back from spring break on Wednesday, and I was welcomed by a physics exam. Yay. I'm very happy that it is over. Now I just have to do well on the final….

After my exam, I went to a panel discussion that included two people who work for the admissions offices at the medical schools at Stony Brook and Mount Sinai. It was definitely an informative 2 hours because both women were able to answer a wide variety of questions and were incredibly honest with us about the reality of the application process and what med schools are looking for in applicants. I think that there is a misconception that med schools want some super student who has a ton of research and clinical experience with an awesome GPA and a high MCAT score. The two panelists made it clear that they don't want a super student. They want somebody who is passionate and who believes that he/she can contribute to society in a positive way by being a doctor. They want you to do the things that you love during your undergrad years. If you do that, then your hard work and passion will show through. I love when Hunter offers these kinds of events. They're always helpful.

After the panel discussion, my friend and I hung out in Central Park for a couple of hours. I've been going there fairly often since the weather became warmer. We sat on the rocks for awhile and just talked and took in the scenery. I love that we can just go to this world-famous park anytime we want. It's a privilege that most college students in the world don't have.

I had to go to the Apple store again this week because my MacBook is telling me that the battery needs to be serviced. One of the guys at the Genius Bar ran a diagnostic test and told me that the battery needs to be replaced. He told me to back up my data and bring in the computer at a later date so that they can replace the battery. The repair takes 24-48 hours. I'm planning to take it in tomorrow when I head to the UWS for Macaulay's annual Arts Night (I'll post pics from the event in next week's post). This is the first time I'll be without my computer since I first received it in freshman year. It will be a strange feeling. haha. I'll have to use the family PC in the meantime.

In my last post, I mentioned that my middle school friends and I hung out last Saturday. We had a great time in downtown Manhattan. We ate, we drank, we cracked jokes, and we walked a lot. It was one of the highlights of my spring break.

Columbian writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, passed away last Thursday. I thought I'd leave you guys with a quote from one of his novels:

To him she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else's heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He had not missed a single one of her gestures, not one of the indications of her character, but he did not dare approach her for fear of destroying the spell.

                             ~ Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

S.

College Tip of the Week: Read. 

Read everything and anything that you can. Read what interests you and what you think will bore you (you might be surprised if you actually enjoy it). Read small books and big ones. Simple ones and complicated ones. Read about teenage romances or economic theory or sustainability.

Your college years often serve as an introduction to your intellectual side. Develop that side of yourself by opening your mind to all of the great literature out there. Read books, and have discussions about them. Let books challenge the way that you think and feel about yourself and everyone else. Let them serve as both a form of escapism and a form of reality.

Feed your mind.