romanticizing my education

k ✨ gemini ✨ biology major

[stembarbie]

hello there

this blog will be dedicated to academia. i’m planning to start posting tips or just overviews of my study routines, maybe both, not sure. i’ll also try to document my process in applying to graduate programs.

about me

name: katherine

work in progress: bs - biology

class: senior

loading… PhD

first generation college student & woman in STEM

i’ve always been exceptionally curious about things on the microscopic level. particularly, as a kid i was very intrigued by the question “are viruses alive”. subjects like the [incurability of HIV/AIDS], [H1N1], and other diseases garnered my attention.

id like to research disease or genetics or both in tandem after getting the necessary education. i’m currently involved in undergraduate research regarding the alkanes emitted by the gut microbiota of cattle.

feel free to join me on my journey. or just stop by every once in a while. either way, i’m glad you’re here.

masterlist

coming soon (hopefully)! come back by later to see what’s new.

[stembarbie]

microscopic view of plant tissues

[viralfrog]

[katzenschlafs]

y'all literally. you could have accomplished the same by writing it up to ask for help on reddit, or to ask for help from a friend. hell, i had this experience while writing a reddit post a week or two ago. a thing had been bothering me severely, and by the end of writing a post for public consumption (and making the problem actually clear), i had the solution.

the thought process you need to ask for help effectively often hands your brain the next step (the solution or answer) before you've entirely completed the question. and you don't need AI for that. a draft message in Discord or your notes app will very likely accomplish the same thing.

[stembarbie]

this right here: that’s what i be tryna articulate- “the thought process required in asking for help is the same thought process in deducing the next step”. recognize what you don’t know and either go from there to fill that gap yourself or reach out to a trusted advisor/instructor/colleague and ask for help.

[quasi-normalcy]

STEM people: be honest, did you go into your field because of science fiction?

Yes

No

(Not a STEM person)

Voting ended onSep 9, 2024

[stembarbie]

when i was a kid i hated that HIV was incurable bc it sounded awful, and H1N1 was a thing so i saw clips of people at the CDC with their cool little vials and freezers. so i’m a senior biology major and looking to go to grad for cellular/molecular biology. unfortunately i’ve never really been into sci-fi. i fucked with fantasy though

[catchymemes]

[stembarbie]

i’ve been tutoring a lot of math lately, especially this class called “quantitative reasoning”. it’s very simple math, and i personally consider it like remediation considering it’s college now. i.e. for it to be college it’s not very difficult math.

one thing i tell all of my students (i DONT tell them that they’re doing high school level math) is that sometimes, the problem is needing to step away and regroup. once you get off-kilter in math or anything related to problem solving, sometimes you just gotta step back and breathe for a minute and come back to it with fresh eyes.

don’t give up on your math homework, and don’t think to yourself “i’m about to do this bs i don’t even understand”.

“i’m about to do my math homework. i’ll work through one using the teacher’s/textbook’s example and then i’ll practice some myself”. and if you go back and it doesn’t make sense, don’t stress, watch a youtube video. if that doesn’t help, work through a problem until you hit a wall and take it to your instructor. it’ll help them help you to know EXACTLY where you’re struggling. vs not understanding well enough to explain it and getting frustrated that they’re not explaining the part you needed help with.

it’ll be okay! you don’t have to love math to kick it’s ass 🦵

[animatedtext]

requested by constellyations

[sunsbleeding]

[anxietyproblem]

[stembarbie]

me in 2016 probably still couldn’t imagine living past my teens. i’m still here though, and in less than four months i’ll have a bachelor of science in biology.

typing that made me realize how much i have left to do, and how little time i have to do it. but if i didn’t learn anything else (emotionally, that is) from the last nine years, i learned that life goes on. sometimes when it seems like hope is lost, it’s time to change perspectives.

when i’m spiraling, my dad (probably a lot of peoples parents or mentors) likes to hit me with the ol’

“if you can’t change something, you gotta change the way you look at it”

and it never feels good hearing it, it almost feels like being told to suck it up. but it’s true, we often feel helpless and like there’s nothing we can do. while maybe we can’t physically, we’re the creators of our mind.

change perspective and you’ll be able to keep looking forward.

[stembarbie]

study tools

everyone knows about quizlet, but it’s hard to get a well-rounded review when you have to meticulously create questions. and it’s especially not helpful for learning diagrams. here are some of my favorite study tools right now. they were a lifesaver for A&P this summer (other classes too but especially that one).

for studying facts, i highly recommend gizmo. you can use it on desktop or download the app. there’s somethings you can pay for but ultimately you do not have to purchase anything or start a subscription to use this tool. here’s a few images. and a video of me using it to review a deck real quick will be at the end of the post. in the video, you’ll see “coins” i’ve earned displayed in the top right- i didn’t purchase them but obtained them by “playing” aka studying. as you get questions right/earn xp, you get coins you can use to replenish hearts or freezes if you run out and don’t wanna wait for more.

for learning structures and memorizing diagrams, i liked purpose games. i feel like a lot of people have probably seen this before, but you could look up what you’re needing or make you own. for example, google “cranial bones quiz” or go to purpose games and search similar terms and you’ll almost certainly get tons of options to take as many times as you like for free. if you couldn’t find exactly what you needed, or didn’t like the ones there already, you can make an account and create your own quizzes for free. here’s their logo for easy location/recognition:

hopefully i’ll be back with another helpful post soon! i might try some with my notes and study routines for different classes. i’ll have to get into routines first though lmao. thanks for reading, and i hope one or both of these websites seems/is helpful for you. as promised, scroll down to see gizmo.ai in action.

[roseofyesterday]

soooo turns out that having to use a daily planner, a monthly calendar, two dry erase boards, and alarms once an hour to keep my life together or else i break down doesn't make me "type a" i just have adhd

(although my parents weren't surprised at all)

anyways if ur adhd and u have a studyblr let me know! or if u just struggle w organization at all! bc i would love to hear y'all's takes/ advice :)

[stembarbie]

y’all are hyping me up omg imma have to start posting soon. lil blog been sitting here chillin. let me come flex how i went from being a 4.0 student, down to a 2.something (too devastating to recall), and finally got back to hitting honors lists at the end of the semester 🥹

[dunedreamr]

02.08.24 //

I stayed up until 1:30 to get these bloody notes done. I only have 2 days to finish my notes for my other class, and to catch up on practice questions :,) might increase my tea intake to 3 cups day and cut back on sleep (not so much that it's detrimental, of course) in order to get this shit done. ugh.

today, I

completed week 2 notes for mechanics and thermodynamics (headings 3.9, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6) - my hand hurts.

finished part 1 of the way of kings.

studied for: approx. 4h (I wasn't really keeping track)

media

📖: the way of kings - brandon sanderson

🎧: empire of the sun

🎞️: olympics basketball (australia is cooked)

[stembarbie]

love this ❤️ imma do something with this blog soon 😮‍💨