10th Post, 5 Days Left, 3 Exams, 2 Essays, 1 Vacation

courtesy of picturesof.net

                Guess what? This is my tenth blog entry! Isn’t that awesome? I know you’re just as excited as I am. We should celebrate. Let’s have a party. Right now.

                Anyway, in my last entry, I talked a great deal about the stresses of Hell Week. What I’m discovering, however, is that the crunch time can really increase one’s focus. I’ve been so much more productive recently that I haven’t felt the huge deal of stress that I was anticipating. That’s not to say this week has been easy, but it’s manageable. Things are actually starting to wrap up for the semester. There’s still a lot left, but I think I’ll be able to leave for vacation on Tuesday – pretty cool, right?

                There’s still a long list of tasks to be completed. Luckily, I don’t have a final exam to worry about for the Art and Science of Management. We had a cumulative exam a couple weeks ago, and right now, my group and I are finishing up our final paper for project as the imaginary computer company Zammcom. We didn’t do as well as we had hoped. Fine... We got last place. We had a good idea of what we were doing, but had a major over-sight in our third week of decision-making. We had opened up two new locations to sell computers, but somehow we missed the section of hiring employees for those locations. So we ended up with three offices, but only one actually producing computer. That was a big waste of money.

                In environmental science, I am going to be working on my take-home final. Our professor has emphasized several times that we are not permitted to discuss the exam with anyone. That includes you. Sorry! In calculus, our final exam will be online and I believe it will be posted on Tuesday. This is a cumulative exam, so I have a lot of reviewing to do!

courtesy of studenthacks.org

                Biology is just in love with giving us tests. I had a biology lab practical exam on Monday which tested us on the material covered all semester in lab. It wasn’t as bad as I anticipated, but I could’ve gotten by without it. Also, we have our fourth exam this Friday. Following close behind is our final exam – the first final exam at Clark University – 8:00 AM on Tuesday. The exam will be all multiple choice, a change from our past exams which were multiple choice and short answer. While multiple choice questions can be tricky, I am glad that the exam will be formatted that way. It makes it easier for studying purposes.

                From now until my Biology exam, I am going to eat, sleep, and do work. That’s it. I probably won’t be tucked away in the depths of the library like most Clark students, but I can concentrate just as well in my room. The dorm I’m in was renovated over the summer and each floor has a study room which has served me well all semester. The only down side is one wall is entirely windows and it’s located in the lounge, so seeing other people playing Monopoly and watching tv can be distracting. I don’t think that will be a problem this week though. Vacation, here I come!

Have yourself a merry little stress week....

                Welcome to week one of the most stressful time of the semester. Finals are approaching, projects are wrapping up, and essays are being written. Even writing this blog entry is stressful because the rest of my day is going to consist of two more essays. That’s okay though. This is more fun to write.

                I’m working on four essays for my management class. Yes, four of them. One is an extra credit assignment. In small groups, we held conversation cafés about a topic of our choosing.  A conversation café is basically an open discussion in which, ideally, no one is judged or criticized which allows each person to openly express and understand their own experiences as well as those of others. I paired up with a girl from my class and had a conversation café about the many challenges of living on campus, whether that be roommates, drugs and alcohol, parties, etc. It was really interesting and now I’m going to attempt to write four to five pages about it. The next essay incorporates key concepts from our textbook with articles from the Wall Street Journal. This allows us to see how what we’re learning applies to day-to-day life. The third essay is a rewrite of an earlier essay which is much like the previous one I described. Hopefully, I will be able to improve the grade and as a result, increase my average for the class. Last is the management project I’ve told you about. My group and I will be working on an eight-page paper which describes all of our decisions. I will be writing about our first decision, so I’m hoping it will be manageable enough.

                In biology, we’re taking test after test after test. Our fourth exam is covering material that we’re learning about right now in addition to the lectures coming up this week and next week. In lab, we’re having a test called the practical exam which will cover material from all of the labs of the semester. Finally, our written final will cover all of the lectures of the semester. There are three lectures each week, so the studying has already begun.

                In environmental science, I’m working with my friend on our final problem set – math problems which are applications of the material learned in class. Right now, we’re working with risk assessment. Some of the problems we solve are finding the lifetime cancer risk of someone who smokes twenty cigarettes each day for about thirty years. The numbers are astounding and it’s curious that we can solve for something as complex as smoking with a rather simple equation. We’ll also be receiving a take-home final exam. I’m not sure what to expect, but our professor mentioned that the movie we’ll be watching in class next week will help extensively.

                In calculus, I have the great privilege of preparing for a cumulative final. This covers four chapters of material, which may not seem like a lot, but the math is rather complex. This final will be online, but the answers are multiple choice. I think there’s someone out there who purposely makes tiny mistakes to come up with the three wrong answers. They’re so convincing. I should get hired for that kind of job. Wrong Math Answers Assistant should be the title of that position.

                As you can well imagine, the week’s stress level is accumulating minute by minute. I have developed fairly good time-management skills which will certainly pay off. When this is all done, my fellow classmates and I will be rewarded with a month of vacation before the cycle starts up all over again for Spring Semester. I’m really looking forward to a change of classes though, so I’ll be happy once these projects, papers, and tests are all over.

Spring Semester Courses!

                This morning was tremendously stressful; freshmen course registration opened at 8 am. Because I have a 9 A.M. class, I decided to get up before registration to get breakfast, then register, and go to class. I did my homework for registration and had all of the course codes written down so I could sign up right away. It certainly paid off. I was registered for all of my first choices by 8:01. I kid you not. It took me one minute and then I was registered.  At Clark, registration starts with seniors, followed by juniors, sophomores, and finally freshman. It was a relief that I got into all the courses I wanted.

                Anyway, I’m sure you’re bursting with anticipation of what those classes are. Psychology 101 is a basic introductory lecture – also one of the largest classes offered at Clark. However, it is balanced with a Friday discussion group of thirty students. I am taking this course to see if I want to steer my education in the direction of psychology. I am also taking Economics 010. From what I know about the subject, it doesn’t spark any passions, but maybe the class will surprise me. I’m taking it as a requirement for a possible accelerated master’s degree in business. I’m also taking a philosophy class called personal values. It just sounds like an amazingly cool class. Of course, I don’t know anything for sure, but I read that Professor Donahue is really great. Finally, I am taking managerial communications which is definitely the class I am most excited about. It meets once a week for three hours. There are obviously many pros and cons to that, but I think I will get a lot out of it. Management fascinates me and the class focuses on improving verbal and writing skills as well which I could benefit so much from.

My Beautiful Spring Semester Schedule

                One of the best parts about choosing classes for college is that you can design your schedule however you want. There will be some classes that only have one time slot, but whether you take morning or night classes is in your hands. I really like how my classes are organized this semester except for one. Biology, management, and environmental science all fit nicely together and calculus is several hours after those. It works, but I don’t like having so much of a gap. Speaking of class gaps, somehow I configured my schedule so I will only be taking classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It’s pretty cool, but I think it will be a test of my time-management skills. It will be so tempting to blow off doing work on Tuesday and Thursday, but the other days are so congested with class time, that it’s really the only way for me to be spending my time.

                Overall, I’m really looking forward to next semester. This semester was definitely too much science for me, so I’ll be really appreciative of my break from that. Although I have not declared a major, I am very curious to learn about psychology and continue my studies in management. The courses I chose for next semester will really help me develop an idea of what I want to pursue in college. What’s even cooler is that there is an add/drop period, so if a class doesn’t work out or there’s an opening in one that looks more interesting, I have the ability to switch. I don’t think it will be necessary, but it’s good to keep my options open. Thanksgiving is in one week… Happy Thanksgiving!! 

I couldn't resist. I love dogs!

Course Selection Update with some Risk Assessment and Zammcom

                Hello everyone. As course selection is fast-approaching, I am finding myself drawn back again and again to the course list page to see if upperclassmen are filling up the classes I want. Class selection starts with seniors, followed by juniors, sophomores, and finally freshmen. So far I’m safe, but it’s definitely more and more stressful every day. As a slight change in my course list, my first choices are Psychology 101, Economics 010, and Managerial Communications. Obviously I will need a fourth course, but I’m trying to be flexible depending on how quickly courses fill up. I’m looking at multiple English, sociology, and philosophy courses. Next week should be awesome.

                The slight change is Economics 010 which is a requirement if I want to get an accelerated master’s degree in management. Clark University offers several programs in which you can get your master’s degree and bachelor’s degree all in five years. Accelerated master’s students will begin taking their master’s classes in their senior year of undergrad. Another cool perk is that at Clark, the fifth year is free tuition. It doesn’t get much better than that. To learn more, you should check out Dylan’s blog. He is a senior here who is currently working on his accelerated master’s.

Reproduced chart from Chapter 4 of my Environmental Science book

                Aside from that, this week has been generally uneventful. My classes haven’t been doing anything out of the ordinary. What I thought was interesting, however, was the discussion we had in environmental science today. We discussed the risks of certain behaviors. For example, there is a risk factor of one in a million from consuming forty tablespoons of peanut butter. This is because there is a natural pesticide that in given amounts, can be harmful to humans. Another interesting fact from class today is that it is more risky to be a farmer than to drive a car. To the right of this blog is a table with a few risk factors you may find interesting. The table is from my textbook and then are several others, but I thought this was the coolest one.

                At last, I am finally going to talk about the management project. I have been promising this for two weeks now and I am ready to tell you the details. In my group of five people, we have created an imaginary company in an online simulation in which we are creating and selling computers. The multiple groups in our class are in competition to see which company can be most successful. My group decided to name our company Zammcom. It’s a pretty awesome name and we thought it would be taken seriously by the computer industry.

                There were several decisions which needed to be made in our first week. The main decision was what kinds of computers to produce. Our options are “workhorse, traveler, and mercedes.” These, respectively, are computers for the average worker, a consumer on the go, and a consumer who wants high-end technology. Our group decided to appeal to the traveler and mercedes groups. We named our computers Zammportable and Zammpremium. Other decisions which were made consisted of how many computers to make each day, what features to have in each computer, where to market, and many other specifics. It’s a really cool project because it allows us to conceptualize and make decisions from a company perspective. We’ve been learning different methods all year, but now we actually have the opportunity to apply them. So far, our group is in second place out of five. Wish us luck and I’ll update you on our progress next time!

Choosing New Classes and an Advisor Already?!

                Hello! I hope you had a really fantastic Halloween. The day itself wasn’t very eventful for me seeing as it was Sunday night, but on Friday previous, I went to a drag ball which was a lot of fun. From what I’ve heard, the drag ball is held annually. Yes, I was dressed up as a man.  Guy clothing is really comfortable, actually. Here’s a picture with my friends that we took after the drag ball. I know I look kind of ridiculous, but isn’t that the point?

Me in man clothes courtesy of my friend Dana

                Anyway, course selection is coming up. The dates for class registration start with seniors and end with freshman. This makes sense because upperclassmen need to fill requirements and underclassmen have more opportunities to take courses at a different time. I am actually looking at courses that are rather different than those I am currently taking. It’s not uncommon for students to completely change their track of study, but I didn’t think mine would be so dramatic.

                As you know, I am taking biology, environmental science, calculus, and management. I came to Clark University thinking I wanted to pursue a career involving the improvement of the environment. However, the courses I’m looking at right now are courses in philosophy, psychology, management, sociology, and English. I never knew until I took so many science courses how much I would miss analyzing literature. Recently, I’ve been steering much more towards psychology and management and away from science. It’s interesting how quickly everything changes.  In high school, I wanted to study everything from pre-veterinary medicine to English education. Now I’m thinking about what kind of career I could really love in the management field. I’m not going to go into too much depth here about which courses I’m looking at, but that’s just because I’d be sitting here writing all day. My course registration starts on November 18^th, so you can expect more about that in my blog either on that day or the following week. I am also meeting with my advisor this evening, so I may have a better idea of what classes are realistic for me to take afterwards.

                Another thing that has been occupying my time recently is trying to figure out who my advisor should be. Right now, my advisor is in the biology department because my first-year intensive class is Biology 101, but because I am focusing on psychology and management, it makes sense for me to make a change. I have been working on writing a letter to one of my professors requesting her to be my advisor. It was a challenge to figure out exactly how I wanted to approach the letter, but I think it came out pretty well and I’m working on revisions before I send it.

                This entire entry has focused on future classes, so I’ll write a brief summary of what’s going on in my classes now. In my biology lab, we’ve been working on a formal write-up of a lab we did on the Threespine Stickleback. In this lab, we are testing to see if predation levels in different lakes affect the length of the external spines as a defense mechanism on these fish. In environmental science, we are analyzing growth of resource exploitation such as oil and more recently, are looking at human population models. In today’s class, we discussed the political, economical, and environmental effects of such a dramatic increase of human population. In management class, we’ve just recently started up new online projects which simulate how a computer company chooses, makes, and markets its product. The group which is most successful actually gets out of writing a paper at the end of the project, which is definitely a nice incentive. Finally, calculus class has been working with implicit differentiation. The words themselves sound a bit intimidating, but the concepts are rather straight-forward.

                I realize that in my last entry, I promised to elaborate a bit more about the management computer simulation. My group is having our first official meeting tonight, so I will be more informed for next week’s blog and I will definitely discuss more of what the project entails. Have a great rest of the week!