If you are reading this blog, you must either be an interested student, a random blog-surfer, or my mom... Continuing as if you are the first, welcome! As a student at PCCF things are always changing, and I hope to give you a taste for that through my weekly blogs.
First things first...
Making the decision to come to chiropractic college is one of the hardest I think you'll ever have to make. There are days when I wake up and wonder, "Why on earth did I do this to myself?" and rightly so... our schedule is crazy, the classes are hard, and the impending clinical experience is daunting, to say the least. Through all this, though, the promise of seeing my own patients someday and helping them to actually improve their lives is what keeps all of us going. That's the key, really... to do this because you love it--because you have a passion for it. BJ Palmer said, "get the idea, all else follows," and I think that's the best advice. Choose something you love generally, and chances are, you will be able to love the details. All that being said, let's get down to how to choose to come, and how to choose to come to Palmer.
Visit
One of my various activities on the Palmer Florida campus is the Campus Guide Association. As a girl who took a tour and now a girl who gives them, let me tell you, it's the most valuable thing you can do at any school. This may seem obvious... and it is. What isn't obvious is what else you should do when you come for your tour. If time allows, spend some time in the area. Go to the local restaurants, walk around campus without your guide, sit in the library, people-watch as the students go by, listen to their conversations. I like to think of this part as reconnaissance... you are making a mental note of everything you see, hear, and feel, and reporting it back to yourself later on when it is time to choose. I visited a couple of schools before choosing PCCF... the clincher for me was the curriculum...
Compare
Knowing what is individually important is the key to all this choosing. Like I said, the curriculum was the final factor. Let me explain: I'm an incredibly varied learner. In order to know a subject, I like to see it from all angles. In undergrad, I majored in Behavioral Sciences... specifically Medical Anthropology: how healthcare has been and will be seen all over the world, by different groups of people. It was very holistic, actually--looking at large trends. Well, I knew that sitting in classroom for 30 hours a week without any hands-on opportunity would not cut it for me. When I came to the Florida campus, I learned about the "track system." Basically, instead of having a class called "embryology," we learn the embryology of each system as we go through it. Let me give you an example: when we studied the gastrointestinal system, we studied its anatomy, physiology, histology, and embryology all at the same time that we learned its related physical exams and thoracic/lumbar chiropractic set-ups. This completely sold me. While it's not always easy to change gears so quickly, I have found that I have a lot more clinical prowess than other chiro students at my same point in the program. Super pleased.
Feel it out
In a healing profession, we rely a lot on our tactile sense... but as we get more experienced we will also be relying on our intuition. Put that into practice now, where ever you feel at home, feel comfortable, feel relaxed, go there. My guess is, if you come to Palmer Florida, you will probably feel all those things. Come look me up on your visit and I'll show you exactly what I mean. :)
Until next time,
Christabella
