Life by PJ

I'm at a point right now where every goal in my life seems like some distant dream, or fairy tale that I'm never going to achieve. Dental school applications open in 127 days. Am I ready? Do I have what it takes to stand out amongst the thousands of qualified applicants who want this as much as I do? Whenever I tell people I'm applying this summer, they all say the same thing: "PJ, you're a shoe-in. Quit worrying." But honestly, I wish they would stop saying this. A "shoe-in?" I know it's hard for other people to know just how competitive applying is, but no one is a "shoe-in" when it comes to dental school.  Every time I'm driving and that One Republic song "Counting Stars" comes on, I always get sentimental. "Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep/Dreaming about the things that we could be." I know he's not talking about anything I'm going through but I have literally been losing sleep thinki...

The start of a new semester is always nerve-wrecking for me. I always feel so out of place and unsure. However, the sub-zero temperatures and routine snow storms don't help much to bolster my mood, either. Figuring out what my study schedule is going to be like is especially challenging this semester. (I'll just study in all my free time, right? Oh wait.)  I have labs (specifically Anatomy Lab - cutely coined "Cadaver Lab," and a Physiology Lab I'm TA-ing for) at night three days a week, so I'm trying to learn how to divide my studying time adequately. Usually when I get out of lab, I'm exhausted. I tried coffee, but I think I drank too much on an empty stomach the other night and got a case of the shakes. In any case, I know I'll be able to settle in soon, but right now there's a certain degree of uncertainty and nervousness associated with everything that I do. However, I'm almost certain this is how the majority of students are feeling right...

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year! I just got done taking my DAT this weekend and due to the two snow days my college has called for today and tomorrow, I decided that I could use the extra time to write a How-To Guide of sorts for taking the DAT. I don't know about any of you pre-dentals reading this right now, but I read a lot of online DAT guides before my exam that terrified me. I kept reading things like, "I studied for 12 hours a day for 6 months before the exam," "I completed the DAT Destroyer 15 times and memorized it forward and backward," and "I sold my soul and gave up my first-born child for a 20 or better." (Okay, maybe the last one is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.) I knew that I would never be able to live up to these expectations and I figured that I would also fall short in my score because of this. I was extremely busy in the months leading up to my DAT, and I know many of you will be too. We're pre-dentals! Be...