The Semester is Over! The Grind is Not.

I have grown immensely as a person this year, and as a student. I have absolutely no regrets in getting my master in pharmacology at Tulane. I have sustained some great study habits, met some great people including the professors and everyone else involved in the program. This last month was one of the easiest in the programs, but I was still studying for the DAT for my goal of becoming a dentist. The year went by pretty fast honestly. I still remember the little details about the very first day, going in early, everyone foolishly sitting in one corner of the room, wondering who I would talk to for the whole year and who I talked to the first day. It's crazy to me that it's all over now. This is only the start and it was a great start for me. I really am glad I chose this program over any other master I signed up for. I finished all of my volunteering at KIPP and on easter weekend.

I would like to thank Dr Clarkson, Dr Katakam, Ms Phyllis, Ms Linda, and Ms Debbie for all of their hard work and for helping me further my life.








Service Hours: 12

The Shelf is Done, But Not Everything Is!

I thought the NBME shelf exam was pretty hard. Not that I didn't study enough, but some things I just didn't study properly. A lot of study tools were great, a lot I tried weren't so great. Some where so great, that I ended up studying something that didn't even appear once on a 113 question test. One of my favorite, useful, simple things to study was chemo-man. A very simple visual representation of various forms of chemotherapy and it lists the chemo drugs in a simple anatomical cartoon classifying them by something important: their side effects. Whether its the cardiotoxicity, or fibrosis, or cystitis, chemo-man really made it stick. I wish I studied more about anti HIV, virals, and fungals though! If I had focused more on that stuff (only a few questions) and looked at the cardiac and ANS various receptors and been able to differentiate which went where I feel I'd be way more confident. Not that I needed a high score to keep my grade anyway.

Now that's out of the way, I need to fill my month of April with volunteering and service in order to get my semester's 12 hours done. I'm no stranger to keeping stuff like this until last notice so I'll be fine!


Chemo man! himself!

-Ujaan

Service hours: 0

The grind is (Almost) over

We're done with almost every single thing in this program. We just completed our psychopharm module, which I nearly completely aced. I feel that I've learned a lot this last 6 months, both in and outside of the classroom. Study habits, the need to relax, balancing the aforementioned and being able to be a social person all at once. All of these are important and I believe this has all been beneficial to me. I've improved immensely at my ability to study and put in work while maximizing the time I put in to my studying. This, contributed with the volunteering I plan on taking advantage of is crucial for me to improve as a student and more importantly as a person.

I think it's something that me and some classmates can be proud of: improving how we study, something that is important for us both now and in the future no matter where we proceed academically. I think in terms of study habits, work ethic and maturity, I think this year I have grown more in this one not even full year than I did in all 4 years in college.
The whiteboard. One of my essential study tools. I wrote all of this from the top of my head the night before the test

Back to Work! A New Year. Not A New Me

It was really nice to be back home for nearly a month. Few headaches, meals cooked by my mom, waking up passed 2 pm every day, It was really nice.

Anyway, I'm back in New Orleans and focusing on important things now and working on being more productive and moving my life forward. Breaks are all good, but if a break was prolonged that would defeat the purpose of it. I ended last semester with the grades that I came here to get, and was proud of myself and thought I earned the messed up sleep schedule. Now it's up to me to keep up with what I've already built on and prove to myself that this is the caliber of student I am now.

The passed module was diabetes and endocrine pharm, something I find relevant since there are many people in my family who are diabetic. It was interesting to learn about the complex mechanisms of insulin, glucose, obesity, and diabetes. I had no idea diabetes spanned SO many different diseases and side effects. I need to keep my diet in check and stay physically active to maximize my GLUT-4 translocation and keep my PTP in check!

Oh yeah, and keep my grades up, and feel smart and hard working.

-Ujaan

just a little picture showing the potential complexity of pancreatic cells and diabetes


edit. service hours: 0