I'm Cati; I have a lot of thoughts.
Too many for the social media platforms I currently use. So, at
the recommendation of several friends and family members, I have
decided to take up blogging. I don't exactly know what I am doing, I do not have
and editor, and I am not a professional writer. Therefore, you should expect
typos. Please don't berate me for them. Of course, this only matters if I can
even get anyone to read this blog.
I'm 25 years old and I am about to
move from sunny Southern Arizona to chilly Upstate New York. I am working
towards a master's degree in clinical dietetics, but I have a passion for
research. I did undergraduate work in Public Health and Nutrition, at The University of Arizona.
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| High school Caitlin. Note the sweet foil hat. |
I decided to go to college, mainly to
have fun. My boyfriend was going to the same school, so I just had to hold him
down until he graduated. I figured I would drop out in 2010, and marry my
boyfriend. While in college, I realized that I had
grown tired of my boyfriend.
I met a lot of cute boys, and I was quite attractive (5'5, 120 pounds, 34C cup
bra, shiny blond hair, flawless skin). I got a lot of attention from potential
mates. Plus, my boyfriend was doing poorly in his freshman engineering classes,
despite being amazing at math. He couldn't pass chemistry in the fall, and he
still couldn't pass it in the spring. He was kicked out of school for having a
D average. I broke up with him (I know, 19 year old Caitlin wasn’t a great
girl. But don’t worry karma punished me). He went to community college to be an
auto mechanic. He later went back to school, earned a bachelors degree in
economics, and is now employed for a major home loans corporation. But, I
digress.
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| 19 year old Caitlin. She even looked like a bitch. |
I earned a 2.5 GPA freshman year, the
result of 3 Bs and a D in sociology 101 (I didn't like the idea of categorizing
people and using stereotypes, even if they were statistically validated).
I started working at Jamba Juice in the spring semester of freshman year; I
quickly made my way to assistant manager. I loved all of the money I made from
working full time. I also made a lot of trashy friends. Sophomore year, I
couldn't have cared less about school. I started dating a mall employee who was
not very bright. He came from a white trash family and was chauvinistic,
rude, immature, and a little abusive. He wanted to be a firefighter; I figured
he would have enough money to support me, so I rode it out. Too bad, the fire
academy exam was too hard for him. He became enraged when I tried to help him
with the chemistry and first aide portions of the exam. He didn't understand
simple physics. "How can a pound of feathers and a pound of lead possibly
weigh the same amount?!" He would become frustrated, yell at me, and
eventually hit me.
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| Jamba Juice days. |
I put up with him for all of
sophomore year. Fall of sophomore year, I was placed on academic probation for
having a 1.87 overall GPA. I had stopped going to class, only showing up for
exams. I still feel guilty about all of the money I wasted that semester. Fall
of sophomore year, I had to earn a 2.0 semester GPA to stay enrolled in
college. I was enrolled in 3 classes: History of Western Civilization.
Economics, and Introduction to Communication Disorders (a class I had
mistakenly taken, thinking it was a communications class. I wanted an
"easy" major). I chose to attempt to stay in college because both of
my parents hold masters degrees and I couldn't imagine telling them I had been
booted from college.
I fell in to old habits. I missed
almost every day of History of Western Civilization because it was at 9 am, and
I was consistently out partying with my mall friends. But, I wrote
strong papers that earned me 100% every time. The night before the midterm,
Valentines Day, my boyfriend began withdrawing from some drug, I think it
was cocaine, but it may have been oxycontin. He was very sick. He kept me up
all night with his whining and vomiting. I slept through my midterm. The course
was graded on 4 papers, a midterm, and a final. I emailed my TA, I told him I
didn't have a great excuse, just that I had just overslept. He told my
professor I was a great student, which was sort of a lie, as I had missed
almost every day of discussion section. He didn't even know me, aside from the
As I had earned on the first two papers. He told me I would be allowed to take
the final and have it weighted to account for the missing midterm. The only
condition was that I didn't miss any more discussion sections. This was a lot
of pressure; I could not screw up on the final. But, I hadn't studied for the
midterm, so it was actually a blessing. I attended maybe 4 of the lectures
following the midterm. I went to discussion, but didn't participate. Finals
week rolled around, we were given 5 essay prompts and were told that 3 would be
on the final. We could select one of the three on the exam. I did not study for
the final (stupid, I know). But, by some miracle, the prompt regarding the
bubonic plague was on the final. I was fascinated by disease and had studied
read all about the plague in my free time, all throughout high school and
college. I also, happened to participate on the discussion section
regarding the plague, so I learned all I needed to know about the social and
economic impacts. 70% of the exam grade came from the essay, and 30% came
from defining terms. I got 100% on the essay and 18% on the terms (I only knew
the terms that pertained to the plague, like flagellants.)
Possibly by divine intervention, I earned an 80% in the class.
I struggled in economics, despite doing all of the homework and never missing class. I earned Ds or Fs on all of the exams. At the end of the term I was earning 55% in the class. My professor gave the class the option to take a final and have the grade from the final be our final grade. As they say in economics, there is no free lunch. The score from the final would be your course grade, even if it was lower than the grade you had earned during the semester. At the end of the final, I told my professor that I feared I had earned a much lower grade than 55% on the final. He said that he would curve the grades such that 55% was a D. Then he said I could throw my exam away. I walked away feeling uncertain about my future. I didn’t know my history of Western Civ grade yet and I had earned a C in Communication Disorders. My fate was very uncertain and I hated myself for it. I managed to pull off a 2.0 semester. So, I got to stay in school.
I struggled in economics, despite doing all of the homework and never missing class. I earned Ds or Fs on all of the exams. At the end of the term I was earning 55% in the class. My professor gave the class the option to take a final and have the grade from the final be our final grade. As they say in economics, there is no free lunch. The score from the final would be your course grade, even if it was lower than the grade you had earned during the semester. At the end of the final, I told my professor that I feared I had earned a much lower grade than 55% on the final. He said that he would curve the grades such that 55% was a D. Then he said I could throw my exam away. I walked away feeling uncertain about my future. I didn’t know my history of Western Civ grade yet and I had earned a C in Communication Disorders. My fate was very uncertain and I hated myself for it. I managed to pull off a 2.0 semester. So, I got to stay in school.
I worked 50-60 hour weeks for the
summer between sophomore and junior year. I now had two jobs. One was a dull
customer service job. I realized that I need intellectual nourishment. I needed
a career in science and I needed to start applying myself in college. I was
lucky enough to be given the chance to redeem myself.
I went back to school in the fall uncertain of what major I wanted to choose. I took courses in astronomy, planetary science, biology, atmospheric science, physics, and acoustics. I discovered a love of biology and health science. I decided to pursue a career in health. I loved research, but I felt limited by my perceived lack of creativity. I couldn’t imagine coming up with useful studies. I had an urge to practice medicine, but I knew no med school would take me. So, I declared public health, with the intent of working as an industrial hygienist. I also began making the dean’s list every semester. I had turned my poor academic performance around.
I began volunteering at a hospital and was exposed to all sorts of career options. At the time, I had an excellent chance of getting in to physician assistant school. I was also taking a clinical nutrition course that I loved. By the time I was ready to apply to grad schools, the PA school requirements had changed to match med school requirements. Admissions counselors consistently told me not to waste my time applying, even though, I had pulled my GPA up to a 3.0 in 2 years. Feeling discouraged, I applied to a nutrition graduate school. To my surprise, I got in.
I went back to school in the fall uncertain of what major I wanted to choose. I took courses in astronomy, planetary science, biology, atmospheric science, physics, and acoustics. I discovered a love of biology and health science. I decided to pursue a career in health. I loved research, but I felt limited by my perceived lack of creativity. I couldn’t imagine coming up with useful studies. I had an urge to practice medicine, but I knew no med school would take me. So, I declared public health, with the intent of working as an industrial hygienist. I also began making the dean’s list every semester. I had turned my poor academic performance around.
I began volunteering at a hospital and was exposed to all sorts of career options. At the time, I had an excellent chance of getting in to physician assistant school. I was also taking a clinical nutrition course that I loved. By the time I was ready to apply to grad schools, the PA school requirements had changed to match med school requirements. Admissions counselors consistently told me not to waste my time applying, even though, I had pulled my GPA up to a 3.0 in 2 years. Feeling discouraged, I applied to a nutrition graduate school. To my surprise, I got in.
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| I guess I'll have to get used to grant writing. and yes, I do know that is a erlenmeyer flask, not a beaker. Photo credit: Cyanide and Happiness http://bit.ly/11ShDm4 |
As I get deeper in to my grad school
career, I will post articles on my findings. In the meantime, I will focus on
social and political issues (with emphasis on healthcare and internet rights),
corruption and fraud in academia and the government, health science/public
health stuff, and technology. I have been referred to as insightful and
hopefully that wasn’t just flattery. I am also quite skeptical, the information
on this blog will include legitimate sources and will make note of
shortcomings in data, much like the discussion section of a peer-reviewed
paper. I will also strive to provide both side of the argument. I am not here
to convince you to think just like me, I want to open your minds to a world of possibilities and
hopefully teach you to question everything. Please read; please offer
comments and constructive criticism. I am open to all idea, provided differing
opinions are presented in a mature and constructive fashion.
Thank you for visiting!
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| Just so you know who you are dealing with! I'm the blond one...obviously. Note the skull and cross bones shirt. The skull has lab goggles and the bones are test tubes. Also, the darker Jewish boy is my current boyfriend (Jordan) The lighter one is fat Roey (he's now called buff Roey : )) |
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