Hello everyone,
Today's post is actually from May. I had started the draft, but did not have much time to write it until I was on holiday in the Philippines. To my luck, my pocket wi-fi failed due to staying at a remote province where I grew up, so I am submitting this only now.
I hope you all had a wonderful and restful summer. As we approach the start of the new academic year, I hope you are excited to dive right into the new courses.
In my case, I struggled to reach the finish line with my second year courses. Although the content was enjoyable (I really enjoyed Clinical Syndromes of Disease), a whirlwind of activity at my current place of employment made completing the assignments on time challenging. Wrapping up a rough influenza season, preparing for summer projects, making do with departing staff, all the while keeping up with my own licensure training has been a handful! I'm honestly surprised I was able to complete what I could, and I certainly could not have done it with my Tutor, Dr. Medhat Khattar. He encouraged me to do my best even at times when I had wanted to give up. Certainly that's not something you would want to hear from a graduate student, but it is part of the very real emotions I experienced while under such intense pressure. I'm glad I was able to pull through and finish my courses.
Looking back, I know there were many things I could have improved on course-wise and work-wise. Time management is the number one item I would have liked to work on. I had difficulty in staying focused due to the sheer number of tasks I had to complete, and caused me some problems with assignments such as discussion boards. However, I also experienced some success, such as during one of my more difficult units in training, Parasitology. Here is an example of the schedule I followed for an entire three weeks, Monday through Friday:
04:30 - wake up
05:15 - leave for the metro station
06:45 - arrive at work
07:00 - 12:00 - work
12:00 - 13:00 - lunch
13:00 - 16:30 - hands-on parasitology training
18:30 - arrive home
20:00 - 21:30~22:00 - listen to parasitology lecture
22:00 - 23:00 - listen to CMID lecture
23:00 - sleep
Regrettably, I almost always fell asleep between 18:30 until 20:00 due to exhaustion, otherwise I would have started the lectures earlier. It was certainly a challenging time, but it was worth it in the end, especially since I passed my unit exam, lab practical, as well as my CMID course. I felt extra proud when I received a recommendation from the instructor, all the while knowing no one else at my program knew what I was undertaking.
I think one of the most important lessons I've learned so far about overcoming challenges in undertaking a master's program while working full-time is to not be afraid to ask for help. There is absolutely no shame in doing so and I am thankful the University provides ways to make up for extenuating circumstances. For example, during my mycobacteriology unit training, I was required to travel to distant labs (about 2 hour drive away) for training and as such virtually had no time to dedicate to my CMID courses. I was afraid I would fail, but Dr. Khattar encouraged me to apply for special circumstances, which were granted, and I would not have known about such a program had I not approached my Tutor and asked for help. They are there for a reason, so if you ever need any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact your Tutor, course instructor, and the like. They want to help you succeed!
For any new students starting off, I would like to give some advice: set up a schedule for completing course assignments and lectures. It is very easy to put things off last-minute or even forget about them when also working, taking care of family, etc. At least with a structured schedule, you know where you stand and can manage tasks as you complete them (or if something comes up). Then, you get the satisfaction of ticking items off your list as you complete them. Give it a go!
Until next time,
Mark
Friday, August 31, 2018
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Juggling the Act of Juggling
Hello everyone,
I hope you are all well. Please accept my apologies in lacking any posts since the end of last year. I hit quite a few roadblocks and unfortunately needed to divert my time towards more of my personal and work tasks. As of this weekend I can finally take a breath, and am here now to catch you all up on what I've been up to.
The first course of the year was Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases. I found the course to be quite enjoyable and recently, relatable as I began to travel at the end of last year. It is important to keep healthy while abroad as you are no longer in a familiar environment and essentially will need to fend for yourself. I certainly felt this when I traveled to Norway for my birthday last year, and the first airline ended up losing my bag, so I spent a week in below-freezing temperatures without my winter gear! In the spirit of class, what kinds of detrimental factors had I been exposed to? I am glad I spent the latter portion of my undergraduate education in Alaska, as I was able to improvise, but I digress...
Average temperature was -10°C to -12°C!
Class-wise, I found the content enjoyable. My favorite parts included written assessments that were different compared to the assessments I have seen in my program so far. This involved reading a fictional travel blog and following the adventures of two travelers, culminating in a report on what diseases they exposed themselves to and how they could have avoided it. The final assessment required writing a recommendation to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic committee to reduce any health hazards that may occur during the summer Games. I felt like I was writing a fictional e-mail/story as opposed to a formal essay and I quite enjoyed it. I hope there will be some more variety in future assessments like this.
The second course of the year was Molecular Diagnostics of Infection, but unfortunately I was not able to completely focus my attention to it. At the beginning of March, I was selected to participate in licensure training at my work, which I was elated about since landing a spot is quite competitive. The caveat was that as opposed to a full-time program, it would entail part-time participation while still going to work until the afternoon, and then needing to travel to various county laboratories for hands-on activities. This is on top of listening to lectures after work and studying (average of 2-4 hours every week night) while still trying to keep on top of my Masters program. Naturally, this was incredibly difficult. In the end, I missed the deadline for my discussion boards and was dejected for a while until my Tutor encouraged me to submit a Special Circumstances form to see if it could be reversed. Honestly, there is no shame in doing so, and I was able to prepare sufficient evidence and submitted it before going on to complete my final written assessment, which was a poster. It seems my wish from Travel Medicine had come true, as I also enjoy creating posters and I created a few in the past during my undergraduate research fellowship. Again, this was a nice change to the usual essay we are assigned. Confident I did well on my poster, I went ahead to the current course, which is on HIV Infected and other Immunocompromised Patients.
Probably the most difficult thing I experienced was just trying to juggle everything. Work had been at surge capacity due to the severity of this year's flu season but it seems to be finally winding down. I was able to keep myself afloat simply through creating a schedule for each day of the week and making sure I stuck to it. Naturally, I was still exhausted and found myself falling asleep while I listed to the pre-recorded lectures so I just did the best I could. Thankfully, I was able to pass a grueling 3-week intensive unit on Parasitology and can rest for a good month while focusing on my HIV class! For any one else trying to handle multiple things at once, make sure to outline a schedule! It really is a big help.
I figured this would just be a quick catch-up blog but I will write more now that I feel like I'm back in the swing of things. I hope everyone's year has been going well!
- Mark
I hope you are all well. Please accept my apologies in lacking any posts since the end of last year. I hit quite a few roadblocks and unfortunately needed to divert my time towards more of my personal and work tasks. As of this weekend I can finally take a breath, and am here now to catch you all up on what I've been up to.
The first course of the year was Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases. I found the course to be quite enjoyable and recently, relatable as I began to travel at the end of last year. It is important to keep healthy while abroad as you are no longer in a familiar environment and essentially will need to fend for yourself. I certainly felt this when I traveled to Norway for my birthday last year, and the first airline ended up losing my bag, so I spent a week in below-freezing temperatures without my winter gear! In the spirit of class, what kinds of detrimental factors had I been exposed to? I am glad I spent the latter portion of my undergraduate education in Alaska, as I was able to improvise, but I digress...
Class-wise, I found the content enjoyable. My favorite parts included written assessments that were different compared to the assessments I have seen in my program so far. This involved reading a fictional travel blog and following the adventures of two travelers, culminating in a report on what diseases they exposed themselves to and how they could have avoided it. The final assessment required writing a recommendation to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic committee to reduce any health hazards that may occur during the summer Games. I felt like I was writing a fictional e-mail/story as opposed to a formal essay and I quite enjoyed it. I hope there will be some more variety in future assessments like this.
The second course of the year was Molecular Diagnostics of Infection, but unfortunately I was not able to completely focus my attention to it. At the beginning of March, I was selected to participate in licensure training at my work, which I was elated about since landing a spot is quite competitive. The caveat was that as opposed to a full-time program, it would entail part-time participation while still going to work until the afternoon, and then needing to travel to various county laboratories for hands-on activities. This is on top of listening to lectures after work and studying (average of 2-4 hours every week night) while still trying to keep on top of my Masters program. Naturally, this was incredibly difficult. In the end, I missed the deadline for my discussion boards and was dejected for a while until my Tutor encouraged me to submit a Special Circumstances form to see if it could be reversed. Honestly, there is no shame in doing so, and I was able to prepare sufficient evidence and submitted it before going on to complete my final written assessment, which was a poster. It seems my wish from Travel Medicine had come true, as I also enjoy creating posters and I created a few in the past during my undergraduate research fellowship. Again, this was a nice change to the usual essay we are assigned. Confident I did well on my poster, I went ahead to the current course, which is on HIV Infected and other Immunocompromised Patients.
Probably the most difficult thing I experienced was just trying to juggle everything. Work had been at surge capacity due to the severity of this year's flu season but it seems to be finally winding down. I was able to keep myself afloat simply through creating a schedule for each day of the week and making sure I stuck to it. Naturally, I was still exhausted and found myself falling asleep while I listed to the pre-recorded lectures so I just did the best I could. Thankfully, I was able to pass a grueling 3-week intensive unit on Parasitology and can rest for a good month while focusing on my HIV class! For any one else trying to handle multiple things at once, make sure to outline a schedule! It really is a big help.
I figured this would just be a quick catch-up blog but I will write more now that I feel like I'm back in the swing of things. I hope everyone's year has been going well!
- Mark
Monday, December 26, 2016
Catching Up
Hello everyone,
Apologies for the incredibly late reply. Now that Christmas is over, I feel I finally have some time to breathe after a rough first semester! It certainly wasn't due in part by the classes per se; in fact, I just had a lot of things pile up on my plate as a surprise. For example, not even one week after my first course Introduction to Immunology began, my family and I needed to start moving to our new home that is roughly an hour drive away with minimal traffic. With our staggered work schedules, we really only had time to do the move during the weekends, so this took up precious study time. Combined with my responsibilities at work (which started to pick up due to the incoming flu season), I reached a point of stress that I actually contemplated leaving my program. However, after consulting wonderful individuals that supported me throughout my ordeal including my mentor, I persevered and made it through the move, all while staying afloat in my courses. I didn't get the best marks I could have... but it certainly allows me to see where I can focus on and improve for next semester's courses. As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?
Aside from moving, studying, and working, I also had the opportunity to return to my undergraduate alma mater in Anchorage, Alaska during a business trip in order to finally wrap up my research thesis. I will include a future post complete with some beautiful pictures of snowfall in October!
I hope everyone had a great first semester of the academic year and are enjoying the holidays. Let's finish up this year with good tidings, and start up a new one with good cheer!
- Mark
Aside from moving, studying, and working, I also had the opportunity to return to my undergraduate alma mater in Anchorage, Alaska during a business trip in order to finally wrap up my research thesis. I will include a future post complete with some beautiful pictures of snowfall in October!
I hope everyone had a great first semester of the academic year and are enjoying the holidays. Let's finish up this year with good tidings, and start up a new one with good cheer!
- Mark
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