oh! really, mel?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T13:14:00.001-08:00

Have a beautiful Happy Thanksgiving Day! I am going to watch "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and relax until the food is cooked. It's awful, I know, but since I did not cook anything I have no problem cleaning up for the people who had to cook and stand in a hot kitchen all day. :)

Oh no...the semester is almost over!

2009-11-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

After this week there are only two weeks of actual school left. uh-oh...reality is settling in. I should probably write that paper, finish that lab report, start that other lab report, finish some physics homework, and drink two cups of "act right" and "responsibility" or there will be no Dean's List this semester.

Race & Academics

2009-10-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

What I understood from this blog entry:

Asian-Americans are NOT underrepresented minorities
If there are 100 White, 75 Asian, 20 Hispanic, 5 Black students applying to a university, only 33% of the Asian population of students will be offered admission
Affirmative Action does not imply that unqualified students of ANY race are accepted because they are underrepresented: If you do not qualify, it does not matter if you are White, Black, Asian or Hispanic, you are NOT getting in. Period.

Pieces of the Entry Reposted from: Racialicious

"Basically, the admissions percentage is low for Asians is at least in part because so many college applicants are Asian/Asian American. You can think of it this way: if 50 White students, 25 Asian students and 5 Black students are accepted to a college, but there are 100 White applicants, 75 Asian applicants and 10 Black applicants, your probability of being accepted based on race is as follows: 50% for Whites and Blacks, and only 33% for Asians — even if the absolute number of acceptances are still higher."

"...admissions boards often favour applicants who have acceptable scores but who have also demonstrated a diversity of talents or interests, including music, athleticism, or art."

"The bottom line is that underrepresented minorities are not skating through the admissions process. Universities will only accept applicants that meet a certain minimum standard for GPA and SAT — so no student, be they Black, White or Asian, accepted into college is actually unqualified. Moreover, the characterization of lower-scoring applicants who are accepted into college based, in part, on affirmative action relies on the assumption that SAT scores directly correlate with success in college life"

Racialicious is one of my favorite blogs to visit! Especially because only lately have I been really interested in racial backgrounds in relation to academics. I never considered race until I looked at the registration for the MCAT and I thought, "wait, does this mean that if I check the "URM (Underrepresented Minority)" box, I get a better chance of getting into University of Washington?!" NO. It definitely does not mean that. I know I need to prove that I can take on multiple responsibilities, earn excellent grades, show my dedication to my life-long goals...all without faltering under pressure.

All I can Do is Keep Breathing

2009-10-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

I cannot get this song out of my head! After I saw it on Grey's Anatomy (I am so late watching this show!) Ingrid Michaelson is such an amazing singer and performer.

I think that the only thing to push me through pre-medical studies is to keep breathing. I need to hold my head above this metaphorical tidal wave I feel during the middle of the semester. I am sitting on some great grades right now, I cannot let the laziness persist.

Do you realize??--première entrée.

2009-10-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

This song has been on my mind all day. It's so amazing to me. Sometimes I wish I could share this with someone.