This blog post was written by senior Pooja Shivaprasad, a peer advisor in the Elliott school majoring in Middle East studies and minoring in biology.
I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have the opportunity to spend four months in Morocco for a semester abroad. My decision was made quickly without much thought, and I had no idea what life would be like across the Atlantic. My Arabic language program with AMIDEAST gave me the opportunity to take insightful and challenging classes ranging from Islamic Women’s Studies to Political Science and everything in between.
Rabat, the capital city of Morocco, is situated right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. My homestay was just a few feet from the shore, and I enjoyed running down to the beach in the evenings with my roommate, Haley. Life in Morocco was unlike anything I experienced back home in DC. Every weekend I was in a different city and sometimes even a different country. There is only nine miles of water between Morocco and Spain, so it was easy to take a weekend to travel to countries throughout Europe. Having the chance to interact with new cultures provides you with knowledge and skills that transcend a classroom setting.
Morocco was not short of beautiful scenery, incredible people, or fascinating cultural experiences. I had the opportunity to teach English in a small school in the Middle Atlas Mountains, where people traveled hundreds of miles by donkey to get to the next town. On another weekend, I found myself camping out in the Sahara with a family of Bedouins just on the border of Algeria. One of my favorite cities was Chefchaouen, which was a city in the mountains painted entirely in a stunning ocean blue. Studying abroad makes you incredibly independent and it can even give you reverse culture shock when you come back home.
There were certainly many cultural barriers and language miscommunications; however, people were always more than happy to help you. Morocco is oftentimes seen as one of the “go to’s” for students learning Arabic, but I highly recommend this program for French speakers as well. The awareness you gain from traveling to a country like Morocco is invaluable, and I’m so glad I didn’t think twice about going there!
Tag: AY1516
Food for Thought with Prof. Malone-France
Please join us for November’s Food for Thought next Thursday, November 5 at 12 PM in the Club Room! Professor Derek Malone France will be discussing “Religion, Science, and Philosophy: Considering the Limits of Human Understanding from Three Very Human Perspectives.”
It’s going to be a good one! Make sure to RSVP here so we can make sure to have enough sandwiches!
Spring 2016 Registration Guide #Official #Verified
This is not a drill, people. Spring 2016 registration is upon us! But before you can register for next semester’s classes, you have some housekeeping to do. Find out how to get your holds removed and where to find the best courses for you next semester.
Registration Schedule
*** Tuesday, November 10: Freshmen & sophomores (Privileged Registration)
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November 11
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Wednesday
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90 or more hours (credits) earned
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November 12
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Thursday
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70 or more hours (credits) earned
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November 13
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Friday
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50 or more hours (credits) earned
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November 16
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Monday
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30 or more hours (credits) earned
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November 17
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Tuesday
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0 or more hours (credits) earned
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Registration is open from 7AM-10PM.
Upperclassmen, if you’re not sure when you register, you can check your earned credit hours in GWeb using the following path: Student Records & Registration Menu > Student Records Information Menu > Transcripts > View Unofficial Transcripts. Make sure you’re looking at overall hours earned for the accurate total!
Urgent Hold Information
Check your record via GWeb regarding holds prior to your scheduled registration time. Any hold on your account will prevent access to registration. You can view any holds on your account by looking at: Student Records & Registration Menu > Student Records Information Menu > View Administrative Holds.
Make sure to check now and again in the days lead up to registration. Check early, and check often! BADLY TIMED HOLDS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE. DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU:
*Please note: Sophomores in the Columbian College can meet with an Honors program advisor to have their holds lifted. Freshmen must meet with their POD advisors.*
Spring Registration Advising
All honors students are encouraged to see a Honors Program Officer before registration. Make sure you are prepared with a tentative course schedule using the Spring 2016 Schedule of Classes and Honors course descriptions. As new course information and revisions become available we will update the website. Please re-check the information on the Schedule of Classes and the Honors site before you register to ensure that you’re up-to-date!
Please use our wide selection of dates to your advantage – plan on meeting with an advisor at a time that is most practical given your registration date. Students may discuss registration (and remove an advising hold, if applicable) by one of the following options:
- Attend an advising party:
Monday, November 2nd from 4 to 6 p.m. – pizza in the Club Room on Foggy Bottom!
Tuesday,November 3rd from 1 to 3 p.m. – pizza in the Club Room on Foggy Bottom!
Friday, November 6th from 12 to 2 p.m. – pizza in the Club Room on Foggy Bottom! - Make an appointment with an advisor online at http://honorsprogram.gwu.edu/make-appointment
#HonorsProblems: The Official 10-Step Guide to Major Changes
Your guide to finding (and losing) a second major, by Eva Martin. Eva is Vice President of the Peer Advisors, and is a junior double majoring in Middle Eastern Studies and International Affairs with a concentration in Security Policy. Or is she?
Step 1: Get really excited about your second major. It’s a perfect fit, you just declared, and now you MUST be super marketable for all the jobs you want.
Step 2: Take some classes in your major. Because you love the topic, you already know a lot of the basic stuff. The classes aren’t super interesting, but you like being able to nod along and put together the pieces of what you already know. And you get to write papers about whatever you want that’s related to class, so you investigate some very specific things you’re into. Which is pretty awesome.
Step 3: Sign up for some more classes about things that you are into. They sound super relevant, and you’re excited to investigate further the things that you like.
Step 4: It’s a new year. You’re doing some leadership things, so it takes you some time to feel settled. The classes are okay. You go over some things you already know (like where the Sunni-Shia divide originated… for the seventh time), but you’re confident that soon enough things will get interesting.
Step 5: They don’t. You’re learning the same things you know. Over and over. With people who don’t know them, so they ask questions you know detailed answers to, and professors give them a quick 30 second rundown. And your papers are all on assigned topics, and it feels like high school (“Describe two challenges the Ottoman Empire faced and how the way they were resolved shaped the structure of society.”).
Step 6: Get frustrated. This isn’t why you wanted to take this major. You wanted to delve into the details and build a complex knowledge base. You wanted depth of knowledge, and instead you’re hitting some arbitrary bottom, again and again.
Step 7: Decide this major isn’t for you. You aren’t getting anything out of it. It’s frustrating. You don’t want to go to class, which being a typical Honors kid is weird. You usually LOVE class. You don’t feel like yourself, and it’s not right.
Step 8: Talk to everyone you know who you trust as an advisor. Talk to Catherine and Mary. Talk to your favorite professors. Talk to your friends, even though they have no idea what’s going on. Tell them what’s going on, tell them how you feel, tell them you want out.
Step 9: Tell your parents. It’s going to be okay. You can still get a job. Actively explore your options.
Step 10: Go to your official advisor. Fill out a form. Drop your major. Experience the freedom of saying “no (more).”
If you ever want to talk about a major not fitting, shoot me an email (evamartin@gwu.edu). I’ve been there. Dropping a major isn’t a failure. Knowing something isn’t right for you and letting go of it is a sign of personal growth. Now I can take classes I like rather than ones that fulfill requirements. I can take an internship for credit, I can dedicate more time and energy to being an RA and peer advisor, and I can maybe graduate early. It turns out major changes (get it) can be a good thing.
Senior Thesis Pizza Party
If you’re a Senior and you’re anything like me, the idea of having real thoughts about your thesis may be a little overwhelming.
But the time has come to start having some real conversations about your thesis! Do you know how you’re satisfying your Honors thesis requirement? Did you know that the time to line up an advisor for the spring is now? Do you hate pizza?
If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, stop by the special PIZZA PARTY just for you guys Thursday, October 29 12-2pm in the Club Room. We’ll talk it out, you’ll be reassured by having taken the first step, and everyone is going to feel great about it.
If you can’t join us then, stop by any of the registration pizza parties:
Monday, November 2 4-6 PM in the Club Room,
Tuesday, November 3 1-3pm in the Club Room, or
Friday, November 6 12-2pm in the Club Room.
Tuesday, November 3 1-3pm in the Club Room, or
Friday, November 6 12-2pm in the Club Room.
Let’s make sure you graduate with minimal panic attacks!
Pumpkin Carving with the UHP!
If you won’t carve the pumpkins, who will?
This is not a trick, so get ready for a treat…come to our pumpkin carving party! We’ll provide you with carving tools, a pumpkin ($5, paid for at either the Townhouse or MVC Office), and goodies to eat. As always, feel free to bring your own pumpkin and/or heavy duty carving tools!
Come with your best ideas! There’ll be a competition for best carving!
Plus, an opportunity to win some swanky new UHP t-shirts!
Please RSVP here.
Post Hall, Mount Vernon Campus
October 30, 2 pm – 4 pm
Grants for Spring 2016 Unpaid Internships
Applications are now available for GW’s Knowledge in Action Career Internship Fund (KACIF). This award provides up to $3,000 to students with unpaid internships. If you have an unpaid internship lined up for spring 2016, consider applying by Sunday, November 1. You can learn more about the award and apply here.
Intern Files: RWJ Summer Clinical Internship Program
This blog post was written by Shelly Sharma, a junior in CCAS studying Psychology with a concentration in cognitive neuroscience. Shelly is also pursuing the pre-health track.
As the summer of 2015 was quickly approaching and it occurred to me I had no definite summer plans, I quickly began perusing the interwebs to find either an internship or something medical related to do during the summer. After constantly finding about programs where the application deadline had passed, I finally found the RWJ Summer Clinical Internship Program (SCIP.) I knew I had to apply to the program right away for two reasons: 1. The deadline had not passed yet and 2. It was in NJ, close by my house, so I did not have to worry about finding housing for the summer! After filling out a quick application, asking professors for recommendations, and waiting frantically for a decision, I heard back and was accepted into the program. Going into the SCIP Program, I had absolutely no idea what to expect and how this would be one of the most pivotal moments in my pre-med journey.
The doctor I was shadowing, Dr. Gupta, was trained in endovascular and vascular neurosurgery. Thus, during my six weeks, I got the opportunity to spend time in the operating room (my favorite place), the angiosuite, where endovascular neurosurgery takes place, and the clinic, where patients would come in after surgeries for a checkup. Additionally, during lunchtime, different doctors would come in and talk to the SCIP students about their specialty in a seminar series. Thus, I was not only learning about neurosurgery, but all the different fields in medicine, such as from OB-GYN, Emergency Medicine, and Pediatric Hematology and Oncology.
Dr. Gupta was an amazing doctor to shadow because he cared so much about teaching students about the wonderful field of neurosurgery. When the program first began, I was so afraid of asking Dr. Gupta or anyone else on his team questions because I did not want to sound dumb. However, the whole neurosurgery team at RWJ encouraged asking questions and maximizing learning, so once I let go of my fear, I would constantly ask questions. Many times my questions were answered by another questions. At first what was frustrating was the best learning technique ever! I was constantly thinking and working to find my own answers, well with the help of the doctors and nurses, of course! This was especially beneficial for my SCIP presentation where I had to in about five minutes explain how to treat a brain aneurysm!
Why was this such a rewarding experience?
Although I was merely a shadow, I saw such amazing procedures, met wonderful doctors and nurses, and learned that being a doctor is the career for me. There were times where I was in the operating room and unable to properly see the procedures going on, but I still learned about the procedures. The surgeons either talked through the procedure or explained what was going on afterwards. All the doctors at RWJ are committed to their patients. Even though the doctors were in a constant rush, if a patient or a member of a patient’s family ever needed to talk to the doctors, they took the time to talk to them. Seeing this everyday was how I figured out that being pre-med is the right track for me. I cannot imagine doing anything else, but coming into a hospital every day, meeting with patients, doing surgeries, and working so close with other doctors. Doctors are students for life, constantly are learning about new techniques and improvements in medicine, meeting new people, and changing the world.
Six weeks, and what felt like a thousand plus hours later (okay it may have just been about 380 hours), I have gained the clinical experience that medical schools look for, but more than anything I have found my calling in life. The journey to medical school is hard, but seeing how incredible all the doctors at RWJ are I know it is all worth it! I only wish this program lasted longer, but alas all good things must come to an end.
After being a part of SCIP, here is my advice for pre-meds:
- ASK QUESTIONS! No question is dumb. If I was not encouraged to ask questions this summer, I don’t think that the experience would have been as amazing! Shout out to the neurosurgery team at RWJ that would answer my questions during surgeries!
- Carry your phone at all times! This one is kinda weird, I know, but it is needed so that you can quickly be called to the other side of the hospital if an interesting case comes by or simply to take notes.
- That being said always, always in a clinical setting take notes! Information is constantly being thrown at you, the names of everything medical are complicated, and there is only so much that you can remember!
- Keep in touch with your mentors. Mentors are not just wonderful people for letters of recs, but they are there to answer any questions you may have about the field and can give you a glimpse into what your future may be like!
- If you are looking for clinical experience or summer internships, here is an awesome website that has a complied list of programs!
- Being pre-med is not easy, but if you are truly passionate about it, stick with it because in the end it will all be worth it!
If you have any questions about being pre-med or about my internship or are just fascinated by neurology or neurosurgery, feel free to email me at shells_sharma@gwmail.gwu.edu!!
What's Up Alum? – Eleanor Klibanoff and Paul Organ
Eleanor Klibanoff (SMPA ‘14) is a public radio reporter in Pennsylvania. Paul Organ (CCAS ‘14) is a research analyst at The Brattle Group in D.C.
The class of 2014 recently celebrated our one year reunion. A reunion is a great chance to see friends, catch up with professors and prove to all the haters that you’re still better than them. It’s also a great chance to reflect on the lessons you learned during your four years at GW.
We learned a lot in the classroom. (Professors notice 1.5” margins.) We learned a lot in our dorms. (Please take out the trash more than once a semester.) But now that we’ve been in the real world for ~18 months, we find ourselves relying more and more on the skills we learned sitting behind the front desk at the Honors townhouse.
There are a lot of reasons to not get a job in college: your schedule is too busy, you don’t like waking up early, your diamond shoes are too heavy. But once you enter the work world, you’ll realize there are some skills a classroom can’t teach you.
Time management.
Remember high school? When you were at school 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then did sports and theater and debate and homework? Adulthood is a bit like that, except you have to make your own dinner. If you spend four years of college going to class at 11 a.m. and pulling random all-nighters to catch up on procrastination, going back to the 9-5 grind is going to suck.
At the UHP, we learned to balance normal, busy schedules and use office downtime to do readings and study. It can be a bummer to go to work at 9 a.m when your friends are still sleeping, but you’ll get work done, earn a little cash and mentally prepare for the endless slog that is the real world. Win-win-win.
Dealing with adults.
We all have that friend who thinks poop jokes are hilarious. And don’t get us wrong: there is a time and a place for a well-placed poop joke. But spend enough time in Thurston Hall, surrounded only by other freshmen, and you might start to think poop jokes are always appropriate. They’re not.
Working in an office gives you a chance to interact with professors, administrators and staff outside a classroom setting. You realize that adults are people too, with interests beyond assigning reading and docking participation points. That’s helpful, because between graduation and starting a new job, something magical happens: you become those adults. Knowing when to make a poop joke and when to avoid one is an important skill. Otherwise, your new boss is going to think you’re immature, and say deuces.
Basic office skills.
When you graduate and get your big, fancy job in the real world, you’re going to have a lot of questions about everything, all the time. Don’t make scanning one of those things.
Know how to make copies, answer a phone professionally and send a fax. (A fax is like, a…never mind. Your boss can show you.) If you learn to set up AV equipment before class presentations, you won’t be frantically learning to set up AV equipment before the crucial board meeting that decides the fate of your company’s future.
Go get hired.
Whether you’re a freshman or a senior, it’s not too late to get that job life going. Ideally, you’ll get to work in a department or field that you’re involved in. But even if you’re a theater major working in the biology department, you’re going to learn office skills that will come in handy after graduation.
Surely you’re all going to get your dream job right out of college, based on your fantastic cover letter, impeccable resume and dreamy references. But getting the job is different than being good at the job–or being well-liked. If you know how to function in an adult setting and how to unjam the copier, you’re going to go far.
Probably. In all fairness, we’ve only been adulting for a year. But neither of us has been fired, so we’re definitely right about everything.
Food for Thought with Prof. Kuipers
Join us next Thursday, 10/22 from 12-1 as Prof. Joel Kuipers, one of this year’s Faculty Fellows, gives our next Food for Thought talk! He will be discussing “Linguistic Piety: Politics and Performance in the Indonesian Arabic Speech Register” over lunch from Corner Bakery! Make sure to RSVP here.
