One of the scariest days for any chiro student is the day board scores come out. Today is that day...
Six weeks ago all the 7th and 8th quarter students here at Palmer Florida emptied out our pockets, went through metal detection devices, defended our identities twice, and sat down for what is arguably the most important test we have taken in our lives to date. Part I boards are notoriously anxiety-inducing. The reason for this is their relative insignificance to the practice of chiropractic. The sections include Biochemistry, Microbiology, General Anatomy, Spinal Anatomy, Pathology, and Physiology. While these sections may seem to make sense for what we are doing, the actual questions asked are typically no more than useless trivia about exceptions to general rules and the most rare diseases that exist.
All of this being said, most students find ways to pass these on the first try. Palmer Florida students have been above the national average for passing Part I for the last several years. You can check out our pass scores here: http://www.palmer.edu/uploadedFiles/Pages/Academics/_pdf/pccf_nbce.pdf
Once we are passed these (both literally and figuratively), the next three sections of the boards make a lot more sense for practice. I'll have more to say about those in March!
Wish me luck!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Week 2
Hi Friends!
Week one... the week that seemed interminable... has finally ended. It actually ended very well. Let me recap this weekend's activities.
The Palmer Connection
This event was put on by my school's Admissions department in order to educate pre-health advisers about our program and admissions process. It was really neat giving them tours and sitting on a panel for questions. Their questions were different than that of typical prospective students.
I'm in nutrition right now and there is something I need to rant about. We are discussing an initiative to implement statin drugs in an over-the-counter capacity to those who eat in fast food restaurants. How ridiculous is this?! It all comes down to the idea that putting one chemical into the body can have a single effect on the body's chemistry. Readers, I'm assuming that most of you have at least some knowledge of basic physiology, but even if you don't, doesn't it stand to reason that a system as complicated as our body's chemical mediator system has enough variables to make any one chemical ineffective in impacting only one body system?! This fact, which is so obvious to many of us, sits in direct conflict with the allopathic paradigm of biochemistry as a primary healthcare intervention. I don't want to get too into this now... but later, we will be talking about paradigm a lot more, I think. :)
Week one... the week that seemed interminable... has finally ended. It actually ended very well. Let me recap this weekend's activities.
The Palmer Connection
This event was put on by my school's Admissions department in order to educate pre-health advisers about our program and admissions process. It was really neat giving them tours and sitting on a panel for questions. Their questions were different than that of typical prospective students.
I'm in nutrition right now and there is something I need to rant about. We are discussing an initiative to implement statin drugs in an over-the-counter capacity to those who eat in fast food restaurants. How ridiculous is this?! It all comes down to the idea that putting one chemical into the body can have a single effect on the body's chemistry. Readers, I'm assuming that most of you have at least some knowledge of basic physiology, but even if you don't, doesn't it stand to reason that a system as complicated as our body's chemical mediator system has enough variables to make any one chemical ineffective in impacting only one body system?! This fact, which is so obvious to many of us, sits in direct conflict with the allopathic paradigm of biochemistry as a primary healthcare intervention. I don't want to get too into this now... but later, we will be talking about paradigm a lot more, I think. :)
Friday, October 8, 2010
Beginning 9th Quarter
I noticed today that my blog has been officially added to the Palmer website. I'm quite pleased by this since this means there is a chance that someone will actually read my posts! :)
This is week one. At Palmer Florida, our life has been reduced into segments of 10-week decathlons. By this I mean that we struggle and push ourselves for 10 weeks (each of which holds different challenges) and then collapse during breaks. The particular push right now has to do with my clinic transition. Here at PCCF we begin seeing out-patients in 10th quarter. During 9th quarter, we see student patients and get acquainted with the clinic while still taking a full 30-hour course load. In addition to school and clinic responsibilities, I am the president of my class and, newly, the president of the Campus Guide Association... so I'm rather busy. During the last week I have probably done more than I did all last quarter--even with boards. Between arranging meetings, making schedules, introducing myself to tons of clinic staff, and honing my diagnostic skills, it has been crazy!
This morning I came in at 7:30 and I have not been home since. Soon I will head home to change and eat and then head off to a new event we are hosting this year called the Palmer Connection. Admissions representatives and career counselors from colleges around the country are coming to meet with our admissions department to better assist their students who are interested in coming here. It should be really fun. As I'm sure you've figured out, I love to talk about the school... this is a different way of getting to do it. I think this group will have very different questions and concerns than a typical prospective student would.
Anyway, if I can make it through this busy time everything will start to calm down. I'm excited to take on this new quarter and even more excited to fully move to the clinic next term. I think it's going to be a fantastic journey. More to come soon!
This is week one. At Palmer Florida, our life has been reduced into segments of 10-week decathlons. By this I mean that we struggle and push ourselves for 10 weeks (each of which holds different challenges) and then collapse during breaks. The particular push right now has to do with my clinic transition. Here at PCCF we begin seeing out-patients in 10th quarter. During 9th quarter, we see student patients and get acquainted with the clinic while still taking a full 30-hour course load. In addition to school and clinic responsibilities, I am the president of my class and, newly, the president of the Campus Guide Association... so I'm rather busy. During the last week I have probably done more than I did all last quarter--even with boards. Between arranging meetings, making schedules, introducing myself to tons of clinic staff, and honing my diagnostic skills, it has been crazy!
This morning I came in at 7:30 and I have not been home since. Soon I will head home to change and eat and then head off to a new event we are hosting this year called the Palmer Connection. Admissions representatives and career counselors from colleges around the country are coming to meet with our admissions department to better assist their students who are interested in coming here. It should be really fun. As I'm sure you've figured out, I love to talk about the school... this is a different way of getting to do it. I think this group will have very different questions and concerns than a typical prospective student would.
Anyway, if I can make it through this busy time everything will start to calm down. I'm excited to take on this new quarter and even more excited to fully move to the clinic next term. I think it's going to be a fantastic journey. More to come soon!
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