Today’s inane image of the day:
…now I wait until Friday, March 20th at 1PM EST to find out where I will spend the next 4 years of my life!
I Matched! [the wait begins…]
Uncategorized
How to upgrade your 2011 or 2012 Macbook Pro RAM (with Step-by-Step photos)
Today’s inane images of the day will be scattered throughout the entry.
Sometime in late 2014, I was complaining to a current 3rd year about how slow my Macbook Pro [13-inch, Early 2011 model] had become. I like running ten to twenty Chrome browser tabs along with the whole Microsoft Office suite and FaceTime [so I can chat with Mike, of course] all at once. It doesn’t take a degree in computer science to know that this will inevitably slow down the performance of my laptop. Anyway, that genius 3rd year suggested that I look into upgrading my RAM and even went as far as to send me a link to the memory he purchased to upgrade his own laptop. After some hesitation [I really didn’t want to screw anything up!], I decided one frustrated evening when my laptop was operating at snail’s pace to just do it.
Pre-Match Day anxiety
Today’s inane image of the day:
It’s the weekend before Match Day… and I am freaking out.
Random appearances around the internet
My 5 low-tech study/work essentials
Today’s inane images of the day will be scattered within the post.
I absolutely love my laptop and iPhone but when it comes down to crunch time [e.g. exam-time, research-time, AMWA-time…] they prove to be more of a distraction than anything else. I mean, why would I want to review the Krebs cycle when I could be stalking people on Facebook or “Liking” everything on Instagram? Or, I’ll find that a great blog post idea strikes me and I just have to write it right now otherwise it will fall out of my head. Yeah. Right. [Excuses.]
Advice on crafting your MS4 schedule
Today’s inane image of the day:
I hear from my panic-stricken MS3s that this weekend marks the beginning of the MS4 scheduling lottery. I also hear that they are running things a bit differently than last year [which, from what I’ve heard, sounds like an incremental improvement over the system we had last year]. Because I don’t quite know the details of how the different rounds of the lottery are organized this year, I’m not going to provide strategies on ranking courses, only ideas to consider when planning out what to do for the 10-months that constitute the best year of medical training.
Selecting the best MS3 clerkship track order
Today’s inane image of the day:
The problem that arises with writing blog entries is that sometimes you have to stretch the truth in the title to grab your prospective reader’s attention. Am I going to go over a couple of factors to consider when selecting your 3rd year clerkship track order? Absolutely. But is there some magic formula to picking the “best” or “perfect” one? No. Plus, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter all that much. Yup, I went ahead and shared the dirty little secret… clerkship track order really won’t make a substantial difference on your success as an MS4 – no, that’s up to your individual effort. So, even if you do not get your 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd choice, please, do not panic and make the best of it.
Nervous about NRMP Match 2015/thoughts on rank order list
Today’s inane image of the day:
Time has decided to take on a mind of it’s own and fly faster than I could ever imagine. Earlier this month I complained to anyone who would listen about having to wait almost 2 months to finally open an envelope containing the fate of my life for the next 4 years. But today, I’m not so sure I want March 20th to come any sooner.
Preparing for the USMLE Step 1 [includes a study plan + tips for success]
Today’s [flashback] inane image of the day:
This past week I’ve had the pleasure of participating in a number of local AMWA at OUWB activities including a networking event and dinner with an Emergency Medicine doctor. Through these events, I’ve run into M2s that are in the midst of freaking out over the USMLE Step 1 exam. Since most of the entries on wrote with tips on studying for the exam were posted on Kaplan’s MedSchoolInsight [now no longer live], I decided to post an updated version that includes a study plan and tips for success.
On networking, research and improvement [preparing for MS4]
Today’s inane images of the day:
![The perks of being a Delta Medallion member! [It was a short flight... but I'll take it!]](https://i0.wp.com/blog.amandaxi.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_2711-e1423006547562.jpg)
There are a number of current 3rd year medical students whom I’ve counseled in the last couple months about planning for 4th year – to all of you, this will probably be redundant information. But for those of you who are interested in how I prepared for my 4th year, this entry may contain a couple pearls to consider.