One of these vials contains: a concentrated solution of denatured proteins; elemental and polyatomic ions; deoxyribonucleotides; a bit of RNA for good measure; and freshly replicated DNA strands that, when visualized on a polyacrylamide gel, will provide the final evidence confirming the hypothesis of a seventh year PhD student. The other contains water.

Life Science students spend a lot of time worrying: worrying about grades; whether or not to buy the $150 textbook for the ‘suggested’ readings; residence life (in a few cases); relationships (in even fewer cases); and grades. But there is something else we should be banging our heads against the biosafety cabinet about: the nature of biomolecular research.

I may not be saying anything new, but a significant portion of Life Sci students do some kind of lab research. You’ve probably already heard plenty of negative things about the long hours, thankless lab mates, inconclusive results, and distant profs, but I want to share some other aspects of lab research that you may not hear about until it’s too late.

This machine will become your new best friend. Without it, there are no numbers for science to work with!

Biomolecular research consists of mixing one colourless solution with another by pipetting miniscule volumes. Labeling these vials of clear, colorless, odorless liquid results in 80% of your time being spent with permanent markers, so prepare to sniff plenty of fumes.

After properly mixing all your nondescript liquids and labeling them (don’t forget today’s date!), you place these liquids in a complicated half-a-million-dollar machine designed by  some corporate engineers. As far as we’re concerned, the real magic happens inside this machine and it just poops out numbers on a monitor. These numbers are then processed by a grad student’s statistics software and voila! You have results.

There isn’t anything particularly wrong with this situation – it’s just the way it is. Think of it as one more strange and unusual environment we undergrads must persevere. And, for those who do, honour and glory await (or at least your chequing account is $4000 richer thanks to that summer grant)!

What ROSI looks like in my head. "WAITLIST"

For all the first years (and anyone who suffers from ROSIphobia), here are some course selection tips and tricks I’ve learned throughout my years at U of T. Hopefully they’ll help you beat ROSI at her own game: (more…)

That special time of year is just around the corner and for first-year students (and all other students, for that matter), it’s a pretty important time that always requires some planning. Yep, it’s course selection time.

Starting off, first year courses are pretty important. They may not be the most interesting, but we all have face the unbearable one day and first year can be exactly that. For your first year, just have an idea as to what general field you want to get into. For example: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, English, and so on. You’ve got to have a general idea because that determines what kind of courses you have to take to start working towards your Subject POSt/degree. Having to switch part-way through would be frustrating since you’ve already put in so much effort working towards your first choice. So choose wisely in order to avoid such a tragedy. And I mean that. Seriously.

You’ve also got to look into whether a slightly ‘harder’ version of a course is recommended or needed. What I mean by this is that there can be multiple courses that count towards the same thing. However, certain majors require/recommend one over the other. Let’s take Physics, for example. If you’re taking Physics in first year, you essentially have 2 choices: PHY131/PHY132 and PHY151/PHY152. Both are a set of 2 half-year courses. From what I know (don’t quote me on this), Physics programs recommend PHY151/PHY152 while other Science programs (excluding Computer Science) allow you to pick between either. So if you’re keen and into Physics and want to do a Science program, you can go ahead and pick PHY151/PHY152. The only downside, if it even is a downside, is that not a lot of people in the same program take the ‘higher’ and ‘harder’ (note the quotes = not literally) courses. PHY151 and PHY152 are ‘harder’ and more in-depth than PHY131 and PHy132. So yeah. That’s pretty much the main thing you have to watch out for. Usually, though, the majority of people are indecisive when it comes to what they want to do, so it’s nothing to get too uptight about. Just keep some ideas in the back of your head.

Lastly, even though it’s a minor thing, is deciding whether you want to do a specialist, major, or a minor. Specialists are more in-depth versions of majors. And minors are… well, you get the point. Of course, there are pros and cons for each one. In my opinion, majors are more flexible and allow you to do more than one thing. So, if you want to focus on two things, a double major might be best for you. Specialists are for people who are seriously interested in only one subject matter and want to take a lot of courses centered around just that discipline.

Hopefully this helps you out if you needed help on this whole course selection thing. If it did, I’m glad I could help. Until next time!

Click here to see this year’s course calendar.

You’ve just received your offer of admission from the University of Toronto. Congrats! While you may feel excited and hopeful now, there’s still time for you to encounter the dread and anxiety experienced by most students about to start university. You might even be missing high school already. Never fear! U of T knows just how to handle this – let me introduce to you… the seminar course.

I see you.

(more…)

We’ve come to the end, friends. It’s finally time for exams, which means we’re that much closer to seeing that metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel. SO DAMN CLOSE! Just a few more sleepless nights and precious moments shared with your books in Robarts and you’ll be free!

On behalf of the blogUT team, we’d like to wish you all luck on your exams and extend an early congratulations cuz we know you’ll rock ‘em.
And of course, a little video that accurately describes our lives to distract you all!

From the blog asianssleepinginthelibrary.tumblr.com

C’mon, we’ve got our study habits. Some of us bite our nails, while others rest their heads on their books because being in close proximity to them “helps you study” (guilty). I’ve asked people what their study habits are and… well, you’ll see.

Groovin’ and Movin’

Sorry! I know that was a cheesy heading. I blame it on peristalsis and rhythmic muscles of the gastrointestinal tract.

We all have our jams and playlists. I either listen to intrumentals (I recommend Chris Botti if you love jazz trumpet) or something that is easy to sing to (Richard Marx, anyone?). Some of you may also do drum solos on your laptop, desk or wall. Others may belt out solos like nobody’s business (guilty again). Whatever it is, remember to be considerate of your neighbors/roommate/comrade-at-arms. You may think you’re doing a wicked solo, but your roommate may not. Unfortunately, not all of us are the next Susan Boyle.

Point of no return

It’s 4am, and your mind is so scrambled you could eat it instead of eggs. You are what you eat, right? blogUT co-editor Lori says that when she gets to that point in studying, she forces herself to finish the last paragraph and really understand it before stopping.

So you’ve stopped studying, your nerves are running high and now you’re just staring at the ceiling, contemplating your impending doom. What should you do? Someone said that she would watch a movie before going to bed. I would recommend meditation to get you back in the zone.

Maybe you shouldn’t do that…

We are all civilized young people. We have a colourful vocabulary. It should come to no surprise that many of us cuss like a pirate with his leg chopped off. Admittedly, it’s a form of stress relief, but remember to not take that language to the street! I once watched a friend swear while she ranted about her final only to be scolded by a grandmother walking with her grandchild. Probably not the best thing that can happen.

A friend told me he enjoys watching TV and cramming during the commercials. I call that guilty pleasure. I mean, I know I do it by going online and cramming while a YouTube video loads, but we all know that that is definitely not a good way to study.

Another friend of mine chooses to take 5-hour “naps” and wake up at 3am to study before going to sleep again. Another pulls allnighters consistently throughout the week. What I do when I have to keep myself awake is look for the strongest tea and coffee I can find and brew them together. Caffeine galore, but please, don’t do it too often (or at all). The shakes lasts for days.

We do some pretty crazy things when we study. What are your weirdest, quirkiest study habits?

Image via blogs.umdbk.com

As school dwindles to a close, all students have one major thing in common: the crunchtime breakdown. Don’t act like you don’t know what that is. The crunchtime breakdown (according to my own personal dictionary) is known as your reaction to having all the essays, labs, tests, what have you all in the span of two weeks or so. This reaction happens in a few ways: anger, frustrated tears, accompanied by an overall sense of “How the #@*%-ing hell am I supposed to do this all in ___days?!!”

Although I am definitely not an expert on how to relieve yourself of this inevitable stress, I can offer some tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years here at our ever so loving school:

1. Go ahead, have your breakdown. Once you’re done freaking out about the never ending list of things to do, you can take three big deep breaths and just get through it. (This may occur more than once depending on how overwhelmed you feel.)

2. BREATHE. Make a list of things to do and tackle each item one at a time. Remember it’s better to do things one at a time so you can put all your focus and attention on that one task instead of attempting to multitask a million things at once.

3. Pace yourself. You know that at the end of the day it’s just going to work out, so relax and work at your own pace.

4. If you can squeeze in some time at the gym, DO IT. Even working out for an hour, can help you release your stress at the gym and feel relaxed.

5. Go to the library with your coffee or poison of choice, donned in comfortable clothes and just do what you have to do. We’re THIS close to having summer, so finish it on a high note.

My tips and tricks might not be your cup of tea, so I ask you this: how do you deal with the inevitable crunchtime breakdown?