<p>I’ve always been a klutz(and introvert). I tend to get the highest test scores in my science and other classes, because I read the textbook and take really good notes to study. I like sitting down, taking notes, and some social interaction. I also like when a teacher asks a question and I blurt out the answer, it feels like a trivia game to me.</p>
<p>However, when it comes to labs, I am VERY VERY VERY awkward and clumsy. My data is usually skewed because I am not really sure what I am doing. I pay attention to the teachers, one actually shows the class the process before we do it ourselves, and I am so dumbfounded. I do everything wrong and the rest of the class is aware of it because the teacher is always coming to me and trying to fix my errors. I let my lab partner do the experiment and I answer the questions, but I know I will not always have that luxury because most people will be downright annoyed :P. I really don’t want to let labs get in the way of not being a pharmacist, but they are a huge portion of the science fields. It’s hard to ignore them and my teacher is always saying that next year, when we go to college, the labs will be 3+ hours. I love science and the logic behind it but I am just not a very hands on person. I also grow extremely apprehensive when I walk into the labs because I don’t know what I’ll be doing or what data I’ll be receiving.</p>
<p>Any help or suggestions as to how to overcome my fear, fix my laboratory skills, become more hands on etc? Any books on the market to prepare me before I even go to class?</p>
<p>M2CK may have a point, but you should at least try one chemistry lab course in college before giving up. (The disorientation is more of a problem than bad hands would be.) It might be very different from what you’re doing now – who knows?</p>
<p>Maybe you just need to prepare a bit more before your lab (reading over the procedure). Most teachers make kids do a prelab where they summarize the procedure. If you know each step, then you can focus on what you’re doing with your hands.</p>
<p>Bluedevilmike, I am currently taking a chemistry class through Syracuse University(Forensic Science) and I am literally on the verge of tears every time a lab is near. Last week, I miserably failed the paper chromatography lab, which according to her was an easy lab. I couldn’t even figure out that the solutions had to go on the paper. My teacher, although a very nice and genuine woman, was going to lose it! I had to repeat each step at least three times and the rest of the kids eventually finished and watched me growing more and more unsure of what I was doing. It made me nervous and very self-conscious.</p>
<p>BTW, what do you mean about the disorientation in labs? I thought it was bad enough in the public school system where we literally have 4-5 kids to a beaker and three kids trying to fill a graduated cylinder ;)</p>
<p>I am literally on the verge of tears every time a lab is near. Last week, I miserably failed the paper chromatography lab, which according to her was an easy lab. I couldn’t even figure out that the solutions had to go on the paper. My teacher, although a very nice and genuine woman, was going to lose it! **I had to repeat each step at least three times **and the rest of the kids eventually finished and watched me growing more and more unsure of what I was doing.</p>
<p>this really indicates that you’re “out of your element.” That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place for you somewhere in the healthcare industry. </p>
<p>My older son always felt odd during chemistry labs…it just wasn’t his forte. He changed from ChemE and became a math major and excelled. On the other hand, my younger son loves this chem lab kind of stuff. </p>
<p>A pharmacist has to be “in his element” when doing these things. </p>
<p>What are you good at? When do you feel that you’re excelling?</p>
He means that you should be more worried about the fact that you don’t know what you’re doing than the fact that you’re clumsy.</p>
<p>Being “clumsy” or making mistakes while performing techniques in lab is normal, and it’s something you get better at with practice. However, not being able to figure out what you’re supposed to do, not having any clue what goes where, that’s a problem. Do you read up on what you’re supposed to do before a lab? It’s the same as studying for a test or quiz, and if you do fine on tests and quizzes, then you should not have problems figuring out what to do in a lab.</p>
<p>A little confusion is normal. A lot of confusion is a problem (especially if you do well in other academic arenas).</p>
<p>More to the point, give a lab one more shot in college. See how it goes. After that, if you think the field isn’t for you, totally understandable. But give it one more shot.</p>
<p>Mom2collegekids, I actually love math and was very serious about going in that field. About 80% of my family have jobs in the math fields BUT in today’s day and age, I feel that majoring in math could be a hit or a miss. It is definately a GPA deflator and the most common careers are accountant, engineer, or teacher. Not saying they’re wrong careers, but they’re just not for me.</p>
<p>Also, pharmacy has a lot of math and logic in it especially in the chemistry and physics areas. I like the fact that I understand my body and know how to treat it when I get sick. It really is a job that benefits you a lot. It’s not really a high stress job, you’re not moving all the time, there’s soooo much flexibility as to where you could work, and it’s a job that will always be in demand. These points are really important to me because I want to start a family in the future and I would like to spend time with my kids but also go to a job that is mostly relaxing and pays well. And, I could eventually start a business.</p>
<p>GoldShadow- I am VERY confused. Even when I read the procedure, I can’t visualize what I am supposed to be doing. I would LOVE to have a teacher going through each process step by step and us following her, just like in Simon Says, but I guess that would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?</p>
<p>Bluedevilmike, I’ve read countless posts of yours over the past couple of months and I truly respect your opinion. But I’m afraid about the labs. If I can’t handle a watered down version of a lab in High school, how will I handle it in college? And being in a classroom for 3+ hours instead of 80 minutes could feel like torture!!! I really think the field is for me and I’ve stated why. I just don’t understand why we’d have to do countless labs, wasting hundreds of hours, to recieve data that our professors are expecting us to get. We’re not discovering new methods. Instead, we’re doing procedures that thousands of people have done before us. And as a pharmacist or doctor, when are these science labs really going to be handy. It really feels like busy work to me, maybe because this really isn’t my type of idea for learning.</p>
<p>There are so many other options for a math major besides accounting, engineering and teaching. Bioinformatics, financial analysis, risk management to name just a few. Plus fields you haven’t even heard of yet. Both my Ds have math majors (D1–physics and applied math; D2 bio and applied math) and have many math major friends so I do know. </p>
<p>I’m really confused–if you dread/hate/struggle with lab work so much, why are you so eager to go into a field that’s going to require you to have significant lab requirements all the way thru to the graduate level (to get your Pharm.D.), plus will require (depending upon your specialty) significant lab work for the rest of your career?</p>
<p>There are many other health-allied careers which won’t require you to spend the rest of your career in lab.</p>
<p>Perhaps you don’t see the purpose of the labs now because you don’t yet have the knowledge to understand how the knowledge gained by employing certain lab techniques are applied to learning about the human body.</p>
<p>MyPencilCase: can you provide us with an example to illustrate exactly what you’re talking about? I’m having trouble understanding your problem. How would you respond to the following situation: (I’ve done tons of titration labs and you maybe have encountered them in high school already, so I’m just going to briefly outline one for you).</p>
<p>-Pour 20mL of Acid A, available on the bench in a labeled container, into a flask.
-Add 3 drops of the indicator solution, available on the bench in the labeled container. The indicator will change colors from clear (acidic pH) to pink (basic pH) throughout the experiment.
-Pour 40mL of Base B, available on the bench in a labeled container, into a buret.
-Place the flask containing Acid A under the nozzle of the buret.
-Turn the valve on the buret to allow Base B to flow into the flask containing Acid A one drop at a time.
-Record how many mL of Base B are required to change the indicator from clear to pink.
-Calculate the molarity of Acid A and Base B using the formula MV=MV.</p>
<p>I think there’s some possibility that you just have teaching which isn’t a good fit for you. Sometimes things just click once you get to college. Don’t kill yourself for it, but I’d give it one more shot before you change your career plans entirely.</p>
<p>And FYI, college labs are a LOT easier, because its usually individual. Now before you go on saying “Individual? I would die!”, trust me when i say its a LOT easier to do labs individually, mainly because having 3 kids to one beaker adds the pressure to do right, and too many hands is not a good thing. at all.</p>
<p>I always hard a partner in college, but the underlying point is that college labs can sometimes be quite different. Try one before giving up entirely.</p>
<p>*There are so many other options for a math major besides accounting, engineering and teaching. Bioinformatics, financial analysis, risk management to name just a few. Plus fields you haven’t even heard of yet. Both my Ds have math majors (D1–physics and applied math; D2 bio and applied math) and have many math major friends so I do know. </p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Like the above…maybe some here can suggest some areas in the healthcare industry that a math major could do since it sounds like math is this kid’s forte. </p>
<p>I know that some here can’t imagine having this issue in labs, but I can tell you that there are very smart people that just feel awkward with this kind of stuff and do much better with pencil and paper…or computer and keyboard. Sometimes the issue is limited fine motor skills, sometimes it’s depth perception issues, or some other limitation.</p>
<p>Example 1: D2 will be working for professor of medicine at UWash SOM this summer. The program will be using real patient imaging data (PET, CAT, MRI) to study growth patterns in gliomas and develop computer models to predict tumor growth. You would think the prof must be a MD, right? Wrong–she has a PhD in applied math.</p>
<p>Example 2: D1 (before she decided to go medical school) had been accepted in a Bioscience PhD program at a SOM where she would be attempting to use quantum mechanics and applied math to model human consciousness.</p>
<p>Example 3: developing mathematical models of the human cardiovascular system for use by bioengineering and pharmaceutical firms trying to develop better cardiac assist devices (D1 has a friend who does this)</p>
<p>Example 4: doing statistical analysis of drug trials to determine the efficacy and safety of new drugs</p>
<p>Example 5: using math and computers to develop 3-D models of drug molecules (or DNA data) in order to help understand how the molecules interact with human cells</p>
<p>I have bunches more of examples, but you can start to see how powerful a tool mathematics is in medical/pharmaceutical research.</p>
<p>Another area–risk analysis for hospitals. Uses probability theory to assess the chances of certain events happening and calculating the best ways to offset/mitigate these events. (D2 did a small amount of risk analysis in her probability class last term and found it very challenging and interesting.) Risk analysis is huge growth area right now.</p>
<p>Still another area–medical information management. (Leans more toward the software and data management side, but still requires a substantial foundation in math)</p>
Most of my college course labs were not individual. Not including myself, in the following classes, I usually had the following number of partners:
Intro bio: 0-3 partners
Gen chem: 1-3 partners
Intro physics: 1-3 partners
Organic chem: 0-1 partner
Biochem: 1-3 partners
Microbio: 1 partner</p>
<p>Basically, I spent more time with a partner (or multiple partners) than without one.</p>
<p>Also, this post takes on a totally different meaning if you place your mind in the gutter.</p>
<p>I had…1 partner in chem 2, 1 partner in chem 3, 1 partner in organic, 3 partners in biology, 2 partners in physics 2, 2 partners in physics 3. Then again, I’m also coming from a big midwest state school.</p>
<p>Just a follow up. I worked on a Chemistry Lab, basically dealing with identifying drugs by mixing them with a bunch of different liquids and really enjoyed it. Didn’t feel like a klutz at all becuause I didn’t have to move around often, basically only to clean the beakers, and I saw a lot of awesome reactions. </p>
<p>So, what I’m saying is, I liked this activity because I got to sit down and work on my own. Yes, I’m a bit antisocial, but that stems from my shyness and insecurities.</p>
<p>Are the college labs similar to these activities?</p>