Good to be Back

Hello readers!

It’s so great to be back at Wellesley :). Ignoring weeks when I’m studying for tests, I love the pace of life here. I’m always busy, there are always friends around, I’m learning new things every day, and I’m completely in charge of my own schedule. One of my friends was telling me that the fact that we’re in control of our schedules is a bit misleading, since we basically have the choice between doing work, or doing a different kind of work. This is true, and I’m so pleased that the expectation is that we’re always doing “work,” or something that will advance our understanding and our futures!

Happily, my schedule has settled down for the semester, and I’m now in the happy groove of things where I’m barely keeping up with my homework :). This is why test weeks are so rough—because I can’t help myself, and schedule things so that I’m always working at pretty close to my capacity, even during “easy” weeks when nothing extra is going on :). The usual course load is to take four classes per semester, with two lab classes if you’re an upperclasswoman and science major. (I asked a humanities-major friend what she did with the extra seven hours each week they weren’t spending in lab. Turns out, they do things like take extra classes, or lead organizations, or get involved in the community, or go abroad. Have I mentioned how I love that everyone’s busy? ;P). This year, I’m taking five classes, in anticipation of classes I will be taking at MIT next semester. I’m actually missing quite a few pre-requisites to take the classes I want at MIT, so this semester is a “prep” semester for the move!

Quick background: Wellesley has an awesome cross-registration program with MIT. Wellesley students can take up to two classes there per semester, and even receive some credit towards their majors! We have a free shuttle bus that runs every hour to MIT during the weekdays, and it runs on weekends and Friday nights too, but becomes $3 each way. It’s about fifty minutes, and is very convenient, especially if you have a friend to chat to on the way :).

I want to take two classes at MIT next semester, Introduction to Neural Encoding and a science writing class. I’m very pleased to say that I now have a much better idea of what I want to do in the future, and I can tell people that at this moment my plan is to go to graduate school (I would love to go to MIT, but I’m not going to speculate on the mysteries of admissions processes) in computational and/or psychological neuroscience. You should see my plans for senior year—graduate-level neuroscience classes at MIT are definitely in the works :). But as I know just as well as anyone in college, plans change, so I’ll leave that for next year!

This year, I am taking:

Psych 217: Cognition, with Professor Keane (she is wonderful, and was chosen for the Wellesley’s 2012 Pinanski teaching prize)

CS 332: Computer Vision with Professor Ellen Hildreth (who I had before for CS 112, and am delighted to have again.) (ps, CS stands for Computer Science)

Math 205: Multivariable Calculus with Professor Lange. Funny story here— I informed my parents ages ago that I would not be taking Multivariable, as I have never been very fond of math. I insisted very stridently upon it, and drilled it into their heads for several years. Then this year I discovered I needed to take Math 220: Probability and Statistics as a pre-requisite, so I showed up to the first class rearing to go. Then I found out that the pre-requisite to that pre-requisite was Math 205. So here I am! On the upside, I love my teacher, who is enthusiastic as can be and enjoys my “math charades,” as she calls them, which is my natural inclination to gesture answers so that I don’t have to raise my hand or interrupt anyone else. Right now, it’s actually my most enjoyable class, because I’m a big fan of visualizing objects and the energy in the class is so high :).

Phys 107 with Professor Robbie Berg. Whew, finally time for physics! In my very first iteration of my four-year plan, I had planned to take this intro class my junior year (and be a bit of an oddity.) Then I decided not to take physics for a while, when I decided I didn’t want to be pre-med. Now I need it again, since physics is a pre-req for everything at MIT (including Intro to Neuroscience. Why one would need physics for Introduction to Neuroscience is a mystery of the MIT gods.) It should be good fun :).

And… *drumroll* … English 203 with Professor Jimmy Wallenstein! What is this nonsense, you ask? It is finally time to fulfill my Arts and Literature distribution requirement! Wellesley has a series of general education requirements that we call distribution requirements, and this section is the only one I haven’t fulfilled. I am absolutely thrilled to be able to take an English class, which was my favorite class in high school and one I’d been putting off in favor of Preparing Myself for the Future (which meant taking science classes ;P.) On the other hand, I have to write a short story for class on Monday, and I’m having to exercise skills I haven’t used since middle school. For example, the question of where my plot should go and how I should assign idiosyncrasies to a character is not something that lends itself well to a problem-set mentality.)

In addition to my classes, I’m blogging (as you know :)) and continuing doing research with Professor Conway at Harvard Medical School. Professor Conway is a Wellesley professor, but his main lab is housed at HMS through a series of complicated connections that I haven’t seen many other Wellesley professors replicate. This means that I’m taking the Wellesley Shuttle bus into the city on Friday afternoons (this is where I am right now, in fact, on my second bus to HMS), staying the night at Galina and Kaitlin’s or another friend’s, working on Saturday as well, and then returning to Wellesley late Saturday night. It’s a bit strange, but this is the best plan I’ve had yet for minimizing transportation hours into lab :).

However, with all of this activity, something had to go, and that was varsity swimming :(. This decision has been a long struggle for me since ending the season last year, and I have progressed from waffling to decision to waffling to “maple syrup,” as Suman calls it, which means I have made a final decision that is as decided as molasses. I will miss the team greatly, and have loved my experience of the last two years. However, I feel that junior year is a turning point for me, when I turn more of my attention to my studies—a conflict that has always existed for me, but was tipped over the edge this year with the anticipation of taking computational neuroscience classes at MIT.

So that’s my plan for the semester :). Since I’m doing so much school, I figure I should involve myself in other Wellesley activities that might be of interest to you on the blog! One such activity is Flower Sunday, a Wellesley tradition wherein upperclasswomen—the big sisters—are assigned a first-year—the little sisters. It’s a great opportunity to give first-years a peer mentor, and upperclasswomen a new friend :). On the date itself, the big sisters give flowers to their littles, then move en-masse to the Chapel, where a multicultural performance takes place that includes a sermon, poetry readings, dance, senior reflections, and singing. After that, we’re left to our own devices—I hope to check in with my little once a month just to make sure everything’s going well :). My little this year is Emily, who is also a science major and pre-med, so I’m happy I’ll be able to offer her some solid advice on research, classes, and the like. She’s also a fellow Munger-ite (that’s my dorm) so I should be seeing her around!

That’s all I have for now, readers :). Sorry this post is late—next week it will be before 4pm! Questions and comments always appreciated, and hope you all have great weekends!

Monica