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Back in Bidness

I forgot I had this blog, and then I decided I wanted to start blogging my experiences as a pre-med student and then I remembered THIS blog. So I'm back and bloggier than ever.

I have always been a fan of blogging/blogs/bloggers specifically those of the pre-medicine/ medicine variety. it's always so lovely to read blogs of lady MDs who have made it through med school and residency or med-school babes. But I haven't come across a lot of PRE-med blogs or even blogs that have posts from the pre-med stage. I love reading advice about how to pick the perfect specialty, or tips for residency matches, but I would just love to have anything about the nature of being a pre-med student. So this is where I come in
I'm not an expert and I don't have this all figured out, I am just a pre-med student posting about my journey through undergrad in hopes that some other pre-meds out there can look to my blog for advice and we can get through some of the most stressful years of our schooling together.
So this is me:
I'm Katie Franks and I grew up in Centennial, Colorado. It's about 30 minutes from Denver and about 30 minutes from the mountains, which proved to be a very perfect place for a city-loving, mountain-hiking kind of gal. My undergrad experience has been a bit rocky so far. I've been to 4 different school and tried out 4 different majors. I am absolutely the type of person that needs to try on several pairs of pants before I can just choose one. Each of the schools I went to before didn't feel right until now. I am currently finishing my third year at University of Colorado in Boulder. I love it. It's close to home, it's a beautiful campus, but more importantly the opportunities I've seen, blow my mind. From research, to clubs, to on-campus EMTs, this school has everything. (also check out this view....) I'm currently an MCDB major, (which is Molecular Cellular and Developmental biology) with a global health minor. I'm also a big big fan of creative writing which is another reason I wanted to create this blog, to use as an outlet for my writing needs, because you don't get to do a lot of fluffy writing in a pre-med major.
I am also a TA in a CURE laboratory on campus. CURE stands for Cumulative Undergraduate Research Experience and is the BEST thing that's happened to me. Instead of taking a regular gen bio lab where you do everything out of a cook book and you can find all of the answers online if you wanted to (but who wants to?), you get to do REAL LIFE research in a REAL LIFE laboratory for REAL LIFE researchers. When I was in the class I worked under Dr. Corrie Detweiler doing antibiotic resistance research, and now I'm the TA for the lab working under Dr. Tin Tin Su doing cancer research. Undergrads are capable of doing great things, never forget that.

I'm trying my hardest, and working even harder. I'm not sure on a lot of things, but what I do know is that with every action there is a purpose, once you find your purpose, those actions become a lot easier to do.
So welcome, and I hope you think I'm as funny, witty and smart as I do.
hip, happenin, and happy every DARN day.

 Meaningful Experience as an Undergrad

ANYONE that has looked into the requirements and "suggestions" for medical schools and graduate schools know that meaningful experience is so so so important. A couple schools I am looking at right now require ridiculous (seeming) community service, doctor shadowing, clinical, patient care and research hours that quite simply are almost impossible to get while also taking full course loads and maintaining a glimmer of mental sanity.
Even beyond just meeting minimum requirements for occupational schools, it's also so vital to dip a toe into the field you plan on spending 12+ more years in school for as well as the rest of your life. If you start working in a hospital and you realize you literally hate hospitals, maybe medical school isn't the best option?? Likewise if you start working in a lab and decide you hate the tedious yet rewarding life of a researcher, becoming a PhD just might not be your rodeo. Doesn't mean you CAN'T, it just means you should reeva… Paying for my Undergrad

I would say one of the biggest stressers that comes with college for ME is paying for it. Due to some circumstances, when it comes to school costs, the last three years of my undergrad, I've been all by myself.
My first year paying alone was tough! I was new at this whole "being responsible for my own finances" and I took out a crap ton of private loans (with ginormous interest rates) yet didn't really understand the concept of being frugal. From those first loans I've already accrued at LEAST $700 in interest. Yeah IN INTEREST! Pretty gnarly if you ask me. It kind of makes me itch just thinking about it.

As I was building up that exorbitant amount of interest last year, I learned a few things about saving and making money, and I like to think of myself as more independent and wise if you will.

So if you too are alone in your finances (or even if you are still under your parents money wing, I'm sure you'll be on your own one day), here are some of the thi…