December716

I was born and raised in the area you are referring to. (Sad you don't even need to give the name for me to know that). I don't know if it's getting worse, or if I'm just not used to it anymore since I've lived in Seattle for the last three years, but I was just down there and it seemed worse than ever. Outside the new Super Wal-Mart, my husband and I were harassed by a group of guys who were obviously on meth, wanting money. They would not take no for an answer. It was actually quite scary. You shouldn't have to feel unsafe in a town of 9,000 people, but when meth is involved, it makes everything unsafe!

Wellbutrin has been my wonder drug (that and Lithium, I ended up with a bad rash while on Lamictal and had to stop it). After years and years after doctors forcing SSRI's and SNRI's on me, finally a hospitalization and Serotonin Syndrome lead to me being on Wellbutrin. I'm so glad. I hated every single SSRI I was put on (I was tired and sluggish and had zero sex drive), and despised the SNRI's worse (Cymbalta is the one that made me so sick I ended up hospitalized). This isn't to say I don't think SSRI's have a place. My husband is on Zoloft and does great! But in my case I was getting incredibly frustrated being put on SSRI after SSRI when I was always plagued by intolerable symptoms. Anyway, being on Wellbutrin is like night and day compared to the other antidepressants 's I've been on (Celexa, Prozac, Paxil, Cymbalta, Remeron). My Lithium generally made me tired, but when I combined it with Wellbutrin, I have the energy and motivation that I lost for years. I'm like a completely different person. If you would have stepped in to my house six months ago, you would have seen a complete disaster. I was always too tired, worn out, and generally had no motivation to do anything. Now it's spotless, I attend my classes regularly, and I feel really good in life. I advise you to stick with it, but if you're not happy with the results, keep pushing for better. I didn't believe I'd ever feel good in life for a very long time, but with persistance you can find the right meds. No one on here can say for sure what that is, though. So much of these things is trial and error, unfortunately.

I took three last quarter, all with labs, and it was more manageable than I expected. But I don't work, so I have all the time in the world to study (doesn't mean I do though). I would take Chemistry even if you don't know where you're going. It's a pretty basic pre-req for most nursing programs, and in the very least, it'll help with other sciences.

When I was admitted to the hospital, we had two nursing students from ECC. They were great, incredilby social and wonderful, and loved their program! I was very impressed with their bedside manner, compared to some other nursing students from other colleges in the area.

At my college, Bio is a pre-req for Micro. The first day of the class, the instructor gave us an average grade of the students she has had who have done poorly in Bio. Basically, they didn't pass her class. She's a tough instructor, though, and I don't know what your class will be like, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you can study and have a good understanding of certain components of Cellular Biology. We just breezed over glycolysis, cellular respiration, fermentation, but we were expected to have a full understanding of these topics, since they are taught in Bio, and they can get kind of tricky if you haven't studied them before. At the level my teacher expected us to know them / understand them, and at the level she tested on them, it wouldn't be something you could learn in the amount of time you would have along with learning the other stuff you need easily. I devoted many weeks to just studying the cellular respiration with a Bio tutor during Biology just to have an understanding of it. I don't think it would be impossible, but I think you should definitely get a study guide or something similar for Bio to assist you with some of the important topics that apply to Micro.

I loved Micro so much. I had just come off from taking Botany, so Micro for me was so much easier. I admit, I'm a very bad student. I could have gotten a 4.0, but I sometimes didn't go to lecture so I missed a few quizzes, and I didn't study as hard as I could. I ended up with a 3.8 and the class average was 2.4. I also took Micro with two other lab sciences, but my grade did suffer in one of those courses, which I think is because I focused so much on Micro. I think if you fully understood a lot of the processes from Cellular Biology, some of the more difficult subjects in Micro won't be so bad. I did find the Immunology section to be the most challenging to truly understand, and got the lowest grade from that test. Good luck everyone!

I'm so sorry for you! I know how much it is terrible to have life events interfere with school. Have you thought of withdrawing from the class to save your GPA if you can? Just until you can get a little more settled maybe? You're going through a lot right now! Does your school have counselors available for you to talk with? Sometimes they also have career centers to help assist students in getting jobs that are flexible with their schedules so they can afford to rent and what not. Also take out loans and aid if you can so you can move. Or maybe you and your sister can move into a larger apartment to share, so you don't have all the responsibility of the rent.

I'm in Inorganic right now. I have to take an entire year of it (three quarters). I'm not sure what Chem 1A etc. stands for, though. Inorganic Chemistry is also called General Chemistry. The pre-req for Inorganic Chemistry at my college is recent high school chemistry or Intro to Chemistry (Chem 101). Is the Inorganic Chemistry you are taking part of a year long series, for pre-med, pre-engineering majors? If so, it is extremely helpful to have a solid background in chemistry. The lectures are so vague that if you don't already know the stuff the professor is talking about, you just wouldn't get it. If the class is not part of a year long series, and it's a one semester/quarter thing aimed at majors that only need one semester/quarter of it, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Just practice practice practice! Also, check out the Chemistry Club thread. There's some great links to wonderful sites that really have helped me! Good luck!

We have our first exam on Thursday and I haven't studied on bit. My bio class is insane and I barely have enough time for anything but it (it has two two-hour labs every week, and we usually have two lab reports due for each one, so that's four lab reports a week. Today in lab we're doing THREE labs, so I'll have three labs due just from today). I really need to get to studying. A lot of it is familiar stuff from Chem 101, but it's still really intense! Wish me luck everyone.

This is the BEST Chemistry site I have found on the internet. It's aimed toward high school chemistry, but it has been such an asset for me. http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/ChemTeamIndex.html It is so good. I print off the pages on what we're going over and do all the practice problems. It really helps you get the basics down so that you can master the subject.

1. Go from cubic feet to cubic inches, from cubic inches to cubic centimeters, which is the same as mililiters: 1 cubic foot x 12 cubic inches / 1 cubic foot x 2.54 cm^3 / 12 cubic inches = 30.48 militers of water 2. First, remember that density of mass divided by grams. Just remember DMV (like the place you get your license). D=M/V. Second, just convert the liters to millilters for the first part: 1 Liter x 1 milliliter / 0.001 liter = 1000 millilters Now you already have grams, so just divide the grams by the 1000 milliliters: 1032 grams / 1000 milliters = 1.032 grams/mm The second part of that question just needs you to convert the grams into kilograms: 1032 grams x 1 kilogram / 1000 grams = 1.032 kg Then divide by one liter 1.032 kg / 1 liter = 1.032 kg/l Phew! I hope I did that right and that it helps! I like to show all my steps to make sure I don't make mistakes.

At my school, Biology is a pre-req for the A&P and Micro courses. The Biology course had A LOT of Chemistry to it. People who hadn't had it were struggling for day one in it. So it depends. I find (Inorganic) Chemistry to be a fairly easy science, though, once you get the basics down. I think it helps build a greater understanding of the sciences that you have to take ahead. Don't be intimidated by the math. It's simple with a litle practice and understanding! Good luck!

Go after what you dream of doing and don't worry about money! Money can't bring you personal satisfaction at the end of the day! I applaud you for making that big step to bring change into your life! Good luck!

My school's system: 95-100% = 4.0 80% = 2.6 70% = 1.6 Seems a bit tougher than the ones posted here so far.

You guys are great with these tips! Anyone have any tips for memorizing polyatomic ions and their charges? I had to do it for intro to chem and just skimmed by with it, but its rearing its ugly head again in Inorganic Chemistry.

Good luck getting into whatever program you decide! Just have persistance. Have you completed all the nursing pre-req's and everything? If you do decide to go the RT route, they're probably similar to the nursing pre-req, which is always nice! I, too, was intimidated by the math. I skated by in high school, never enjoying it or understanding it, but now I'm actually taking the time to practice and study and understand the why's and it's so much easier. I did a lot of my nursing pre-req's, but unfortunately only a couple were similar to the Microbiology/Lab Medicine pre-req's, so I've basically had to start over in a lot of ways. I have three years left, or so, because of how science--oriented it is and it is a double major in both microbiology and lab medicine. I might decide against doing a double major, but I really love microbiology, and I figure why not just go for it. I'm almost finished with my year of biology requirement, and I just started my year of Inorganic Chemistry requirement (but I will be finished with it before Fall 2006), then I start my Organic Chemistry and Physics requirement. It was a little overwhelming to be taking two lab sciences and a math class at first, but I've seem to have fallen into a nice pattern. I'm in lab 10 hrs a week though, but I actually enjoy lab. Good luck with everything! Let us all know if you get in! :)

It wasn't a mistype. I still love and respect nurses, though, so I come on here and post still :) It wasn't just the volunteering. I worked as a CNA also, and as I took more and more science classes, I found that I had a huge desire to do something move "behind" the scenes, so to speak. I could see myself getting extremely burned out as a nurse (heck, I was burned out as a CNA in an extremely short amount of time). So I'm now pursuing a double major in Microbiology and Medical Lab Technology (which means I'm in classes with a bunch of overacheiving pre-meds!). Good luck with your goals! Volunteering and getting exposure to the occupations will be a great asset for you no matter what. Colleges love that stuff on applications!

You have to follow what you want to do ultimately. Have you tried shadowing RT's or nurses to get a feel for what their job might actually be like? I know that working as a CNA and volunteering in a hospital in a nurses unit (along with the science classes solidifying my love of science) really gave me the perspective I needed to know that nursing wasn't for me. So get involved as much as you can with actually RT's or nurses and see how it feels to you.

Many universities look at more than just your GPA. Background, including perseverance in the face of many obstacles, being the first in your family to go to college, economic hardships, etc., are weighted along with GPA. It's a holistic approach to accepting people into their schools, not one just based on numbers. Her being a mom might fit into a much larger picture that the university appreciated, and there might be more to her than you know. Also, if she says her GPA is "not that good" and didn't give you numbers, it still might be pretty high. I'm in classes with pre-meds all day who tell me they have horrid GPA's, only to find out its a 3.7 or something.

I'm starting Inorganic Chemistry (the year long series of Inorganic Chemistry). I did well in Chem 101, but what intimidates me about Inorganic is that it seems so far to be very intense. The lab is separate (2.5 credits = 5 hrs a week in lab) with a separate final and exams, and the lecture is 4 credits, it works out to be about 9 hours a week all together, which if you go by what the college recommends, is 18 hrs of studying outside the classroom a week. That's on top of taking Biology II and Pre-Calc (icky). Good luck to everyone! Just remember, acid into water when diluting!

1) Eat better and exercise! 2) Attend lecture every day! I'm bad with attendance. Oops. 3) Study smartly, not just cramming. 4) Sleep better. Sometimes (like now) I get too amped up and can't sleep, so I go to school with little sleep. 5) Engage in more social activities with friends and the community. Sometimes I get too wrapped up in school. 6) Stay healthy! I just got on the right meds and I hope that I can stay as healthy as I feel right now! 7) Drink more water! This is so important for one of the meds I am on, and I haven't been doing it! So I end up feeling really icky!

I was a CNA in the Seattle area and they are definitely needed. Hospitals jobs, however, are hard to come by if you do not have experience. I really wanted a hospital job and applied to every hospital in the area, but never could get in. So you'll most likely end up working at a long term care facility, for at least a year, and then I don't know how easy it is to get a job in a hopsital after that.

Sorry if I was oversensitive. I just get irked when people equate "crazy" with bipolar. I know too many people who use bipolar as a generic term for craziness.

Why do you think she was bipolar? Because she was out of her mind? Just curious, as someone who IS actually bipolar and has never thrown a temper tantrum, nor had people dislike me, even during my most manic phases.

It probably depends on which state you are in, but in Washington, I see an Psych NP who runs his own practice. There is no difference between him and a psychiatrist, from what I can tell. He writes me my prescriptions. He doesn't consult with anyone. He's INCREDIBLE! I've been to three psychiatrists who treated me like garbage and didn't even correctly diagnose me before seeing him and I'm astounded by how amazing he is! He's a ARNP, with a master's in counseling and nursing. Very amazing guy and his job seems awesome! His fees are high, so I assume he is making a pretty penny. But he is in Seattle and has the luxury of being recommended by so many therapists.