It is hard to believe. Getting admission into a Med school without the hard sciences, that is, Organic Chemistry and Physics. And more shockingly, no pre-med exam. Yes, you needn’t write the dreaded MCAT.

Oh, sure, there is a catch: you have to be a very bright Humanities student.

Where? The Mount Sinai medical school on Upper East Side, Manhattan has this Humanities and Medicine Program. 35 students every year, each with a 3.5 grade average. The results of a study published in Academic Medicine show that the academic performance of students passing the MCAT and those who jump in directly is equivalent.

These are the arguments that support the program: Taking in students for the med-degree based grade-point average, performance in organic chemistry/Physics and MCAT excludes a lot of bright kids wanting to do medicine. It makes medicine an unattainable sphere, not a science that affords an insight to the biology of human disease, not an area of exploration and discovery or a chance to provide a way to heal.

There is one more thing: pre-med courses and top scores in MCAT do not ensure a doctor comes into the field with a mission to heal or has the interpersonal skills to comfort the patient. Ability to read the blood analysis to determine treatment does not automatically make the doctor a caring, well-rounded human being. Is single-minded focus on hard sciences enough to make a complete healer?

There are schools that admit students into the medical program without MCAT. But they too insist on traditional science grades in high school.

The question that Mount Sinai program explores is this: Is MCAT the only way to assess the students aptitude to be a healer? Are there other methods to judge a student’s readiness to take on this mission? Shouldn’t humanities part of the preparation for human care?
CONTINUED…

The Week published a study skills survey list aimed at determining your study habits and attitudes. Answer YES or NO to the 20 questions given below honestly to find out how effectively you spend your study time. Read the check- list in the end to assess yourself.

[1] I wish I could understand faster what

I’m reading. I find myself getting lost in details. I have trouble identifying the main ideas. YES/NO

2. When my teachers assign homework I feel there’s a lot to do and I can’t get started. I try to complete it in the last minute. YES/NO

3.I have difficulty organising my thoughts on paper. As a result when reviewing it does not make any sense to me. YES/NO

4. I spend a lot of time studying but I don’t seem to learn much. YES/NO

5. When I spend time on social activities, I have no time to study. If I concentrate on studies, I just have to forget my friends. YES/NO

6. I normally spend several hours cramming before an exam. YES/NO

7. When I sit to study, I like to have the music system or TV switched on. YES/NO

8. I become restless, tired or distracted after only a few minutes of study. YES/NO

9. I attend my classes regularly. But I often fall asleep or daydream. YES/NO

10.When I review my class notes, I find them difficult to understand. I even have wrong material in the notes. YES/NO

11. I do not review my notes every day. That is left for the day before the exam. YES/NO

12. Even though I follow my study schedules and study enough for my tests, my mind goes blank when I see the test paper. YES/NO

13.When I think of the next test I panic. My study pattern goes kaput.YES/NO

14. When I complete revising a chapter I cannot remember what I studied just now. YES/NO

15. I read and re-read my text and notes. But I cannot identify what’s important. YES/NO

16. I prepare well. I am in fact thorough with my material. But I lose marks on essay questions. YES/NO

17. I am confident over some material. But I tend to take the difficult portions lightly. YES/NO

18. When I have difficulty understanding the material I seldom approach the teacher because I’m afraid he/she may think I’m not intelligent. YES/NO

19. I understand most of what I study. But where are the examples? I can rarely find them. YES/NO

20.When I miss classes I blindly copy the missed notes from my helpful classmate. But I can’t understand a word of what I’ve written! YES/NO

Rating:
If you have one YES or none at all, you are doing quite well. You don’t need special coaching. However, read more of what interests you.
If you ave two or more YES, you have to revise your study habits. Your attitude to learning has a big gap.

Right, now you know the do’s and don’ts of preparing the thesis and punching in the dissertation. But wait. In what order will you key in your magnum opus? What will be your Canonical Organization? There is no particular sequence in the middle after the introduction, summary and acknowledgement. But it helps to know the beaten path.

The accepted sequence is (a) state the idea that motivated the research, (b) tell why that idea is important, © list what others have done, (d) describe the latest in that field, (e) describe experiments that validate the contribution, (f) draw conclusions. So, it is
Abstract: A short (few paragraphs) summary of the the dissertation. Describe the concept and the research approach. Make a clear thesis statement. Emphasize what is original in this concept.

Chapter 1: Introduction: An overview of the problem – why it is important, summary of extant work, statement of your hypothesis or specific question to be explored.

Chapter 2: Definitions: New terms only. Make the definitions precise, concise, and unambiguous.

Chapter 3: Conceptual Model: Describe the central concept of the dissertation. It is the theme that ties together all your arguments. It provides an answer to the question posed in the introduction at a conceptual level. If necessary, add another chapter to give additional reasoning about the problem or its solution.

Chapter 4: Experimental Measurements: Describe the results of experiments that provide evidence in support of your thesis. Usually experiments emphasize either proof-of-concept (demonstrating the viability of a method/technique) or efficiency (demonstrating that a method/technique provides better performance than those that exist).

Chapter 5: Corollaries And Consequences: Describe variations, extensions, applications of the central idea.

Chapter 6: Conclusions: Summarize what was learned and how it can be applied. Mention the possibilities for future research.

Order for writing: Begin by writing the middle chapters (3, 4, 5). Describe your research. Collect terms as they arise and write a definition for each. Define every technical term.
All done! Now watch this video for a multi-media presentation.

Man peddles from Paris to Johannesburg, said the website, since rectified to the correct spelling – “pedals”.
Catch “Pedal Joe” at

Hey, to peddle is to sell something. A pedal is a foot-operated lever, the kind you see in a bicycle.
Peddle is a verb. Pedal is a noun. The confusion seeps in when you use pedal as a verb. To pedal is to use that lever which you operate with feet or hands.
What was this guy doing? He was pedaling – he pedaled for two years to reach the World Cup venue in South Africa. Great story, when you get the right spelling.
If you write “He peddled” the question would be “What did he peddle”? As in what did he sell? But that is not the story, right?These sentences should make the difference between “peddle” and “pedal” clear.
Bobby pedals his bike around the neighborhood on his newspaper rounds. He also peddles fresh fish. I don’t know if he wraps the fish he peddles in the newspaper he throws, but he certainly pedals a lot of miles in these rounds.

“Peddle” by the way, is a product of back-formation. It comes from the word peddler”, one who sells things while moving from place to place. You’ve seen the peddlers’ carts everywhere, haven’t you?
Here is a cute sentence on it. “If you are delivering newspapers from a bike you can pedal it around the neighborhood (perhaps wearing “pedal-pushers”), but when you sell them from a news-stand you peddle them.”

[4] Environmental science: environmental engineers
After the ongoing oil spill, “green” concerns are bound to demand engineering ingenuity. Environmental engineering is expected to grow by about 30%, in the fields of climate change, greenhouse gases, energy supplies and air/water pollution. Waste disposal, alternative energy technologies, conserving natural resources and public health where jobs will be aplenty.

Qualification: Degree in biology, chemistry, engineering. The right combo here is environmental science + engineering or a chemical or mechanical engineering degree with science courses.

5. Business administration: marketing survey researchers
Sales and marketing will never die, will they? The U.S. Department of Labor expects opportunities for college graduates in marketing survey research go up by 30%. The job means developing surveys on consumer behavior and preferences, collecting and analyzing survey data.

Qualification: A bachelor’s degree in marketing or business administration. It helps to master’s degree in BA will help further career. MBA is widely available as an online degree.

If you’re still unconvinced about the need for a college degree, read this…
*The number of jobs requiring at least a two-year Associate’s degree will outpace the number of people qualified to fill those positions by at least three million in 2018, according to a report by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University.
*The partnership with American Public University, a for-profit school with about 70,000 online students, will allow some Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club employees to earn credits in areas like retail management and logistics for performing their regular jobs. The university will offer eligible employees a 15% reduction on tuition, and Wal-Mart will invest $50 million over three years in other tuition assistance for the employees who participate.

I can’t give you a more powerful argument for doing well in high school and moving up to a college degree. Check out this information coming out of the US Department of Labor.
Employment projections for the next ten years show double-digit growth in many career paths in technology, health care, and business services. The average salary in each case is a whopping $60k. Something within your reach if you have a bachelor’s degree.

1. Technology: software engineers and network analysts

A dream job if you’re a techie and they’re in networks and software development. It’s a rosy future for computer software engineers – with growth at 34% for applications engineers and 30% for systems developers.
Qualification: Four-year bachelor’s degree in computer science, or a more career-focused degree in computer engineering, software development, or management information systems (MIS).

2. Finance: financial examiners and personal financial advisors

Here, opportunities will arise from increased financial scrutiny and regulation, which means more financial examiners (41% growth). Personal financial advisors will tap into an aging population in need of assistance with investment, retirement, and estate planning.

Qualification: A bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, business, or economics.

3. Health care: biomedical engineers

Growth in employment of biomedical engineers will be 72%. Biomedical scientists develop medical devices and procedures such as prostheses, medical information systems, diagnostic instruments, and care-delivery systems.

Qualification: A diverse background in mechanical and electrical engineering, medicine, biology, and mathematics. Pursue a specialized bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering, or a general mechanical or electrical engineering degree with an interdisciplinary science curriculum.
CONTINUED…

College readiness is connected to what’s called Minimum Learning Level. That is the academic comfort level while in high school. A certain ability to read, understand and write in English. Do Math theorems and riders with ease if not expertise. Grasp of concepts in Science. You should have gone through tests in the last two years in high-school with confidence.

Let me put it in the form of questions:

[1] When you read the History book, did you understand the text? (Reading comprehension)

[2] Could you write a cohesive, error-free summary of an experiment or a chapter in History? (Writing skill)

[3] Were you able to compare facts in Geography and write it down? (Analytical skill)

[4] Could you do the four Math functions? Percent, measurement and algebra? Follow word problems?

A politico asked me: colleges give admissions on certain criteria. Which means they take in students they feel will be able to cope with the college curriculum. If they do the work honestly, shouldn’t students be able to pass college courses?

This is a specious argument. When a teacher enters his college classroom, he assumes that the students have cleared the learning levels expected at high school. The teachers’ job is to build on them. They can’t start at ABC in English, nor Addition, etc. in Math. They have a syllabus too and books covering it. You can’t give a college freshman the same book given to a third grader for a book review.

So what makes you college ready?
A decent-level mastery in the four skills in English – listening, speaking, reading, writing. At the high-school level this translates to reading and writing.
Unless you are a literature student, higher-level comprehension of poetry and pure literature are not necessary to survive the freshman year.
But you do need the ability to read History, Science and Math texts with comprehension. And then write summaries of information and concepts you understood. Can you?
We will help you do that at classof1.com

It’s June, 5, Earth Day. We are at the crossroads from where the future of the only habitable planet we know looks bleak. The oil spill is about to engulf our beaches. Forests and other habitats are being destroyed much faster than they can grow. The heat this year is unbearable and soon the storms will be upon us. Where are we going?
Today, I walked down to watch this movie in which a bird of paradise waits nearly three weeks in the same spot for the female to arrive. It then presents a dance that can only be described as celestial. I can still go to the Amazon forest to watch this live. Will my grandchildren be able to do it? I don’t think so.
I sound alarmist. Ok. But I am not alone. Watch this.

New research into the adolescent brain shows that it does not fully mature until the age of 25. The one to happen last is the decision-making process. So, till the age of 25 or thereabouts our kids need some mature advice and guidance.

But this cannot include telling them: “Don’t go to college. You will fall into debt, boozing and spendthrifting.” That is blasphemous.

Colleges must be “student-friendly”. That phrase should refer to the facilities that should be available to make education meaningful. It means constant interaction between teachers and the taught, the influence of faculty, staff or safety officers, and authority that is visible and firm. Sadly, the phrase is mis-interpreted and made an excuse for lack of rules and their implementation. It is not the concept that is at fault.

You cannot treat kids just out of school as adults. We cannot open the gates and expect them to stay inside. Some of the high-school rules must continue here with freedom enough to help them make informed choices. They must be schooled to use their freedoms responsibility and the college campus is the place for it.

Effort must be taken to channel their energies the right way. Colleges have done it successfully. They have put peer pressure to good use. They have exerted non-obtrusive supervision. The emphasis should be on good behavior and hard work at academics.

There should be remedial courses for those who need extra help. And of course, there should be stricter time limits for obtaining degrees. Why should they have “free time” in college? Students expect strict rules. That’s when they feel cared for. They view such institutions, contrary to what they say, with respect.

For those who lag academically, there are online coaching facilities. Why should a student feel he/she is incapable of getting a degree? It is for the adults to tell students the benefits of getting a degree and the need to work hard for it.

We have gone through this before, but preparation tips for SAT are never dated. You swot and slog, your parents help out with love and care and the school coaches you in reading, writing and Math.

Teachers know in which subjects you need more work and get you to repeat tasks. You stay back for coaching if you need it, or take online help from websites like this one.

A New York School, PS 172, discovered something else that was bothering the kids. A speech therapist’s report led to their organizing a dental clinic which treated kids for toothaches, a possible source of inability to read well.

At PS 172, some 80% of the kids are poor and are eligible for free lunches. About 25% get special ed services and generally the kids come from backgrounds that are not known for high educational qualifications. Most – Hispanic – do not speak English at home.

But in 2009, this 580-student primary school topped New York City in 4^th grade Math scores. All but one was marked Level 4. In English the students finished among the top 12 city schools. P.S. 172 regularly outperforms its neighbors in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, the school has a waiting list of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes. P.S. 172 is also called the Beacon School of Excellence.

What is the school doing right? They budget their resources carefully. See that their cost per child is lower than in other schools. Academically, their mantra is simple: “Teach, assess, teach, assess.”

CONTINUED…