Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Thomas Jefferson
The next installment on my series of famous people for the MCAT is Thomas Jefferson. He seems to embody good things like government and freedom of religion and other abstract ideas that work well for MCAT essays, so here goes:
Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 in Virginia. He was the son of a wealthy land-owner and had high social and political status. The conflict with England broke out when he was 33 and the Continental Congess called on him to write his most famous document, the Declaration of Independence. He considered it one of his best achievements and it is referenced on his epitaph. The most famous quote from the Declaration is this.
He also authored another similarly remarkable bill called the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. After the Revolutionary War, Jefferson became the Ambassador to France and was a vocal proponent of the French Revolution. This was a dividing issue for the two parties at the time, the Federalists and the Republicans. Jefferson gradually assumed control of the Republicans and expounded a vision of America as a state of yeoman farmers. He was elected President in 1800 due to an electoral tie that allowed him to be elected by the legislature at the time.
His presidency was marked by a massive downturn in federal spending, acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase and a resistance to involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. He also funded the Lewis and Clark expedition which explored the Western frontier. After two terms as president, Jefferson retired to his famous home in Monticello to work on fathering the University of Virginia and contemplate existence.
Famous Jefferson quotes
Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 in Virginia. He was the son of a wealthy land-owner and had high social and political status. The conflict with England broke out when he was 33 and the Continental Congess called on him to write his most famous document, the Declaration of Independence. He considered it one of his best achievements and it is referenced on his epitaph. The most famous quote from the Declaration is this.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights;
that among these are life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness.
He also authored another similarly remarkable bill called the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. After the Revolutionary War, Jefferson became the Ambassador to France and was a vocal proponent of the French Revolution. This was a dividing issue for the two parties at the time, the Federalists and the Republicans. Jefferson gradually assumed control of the Republicans and expounded a vision of America as a state of yeoman farmers. He was elected President in 1800 due to an electoral tie that allowed him to be elected by the legislature at the time.
His presidency was marked by a massive downturn in federal spending, acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase and a resistance to involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. He also funded the Lewis and Clark expedition which explored the Western frontier. After two terms as president, Jefferson retired to his famous home in Monticello to work on fathering the University of Virginia and contemplate existence.
Famous Jefferson quotes
An honest man can feel no pleasure in the excercise of power over his fellow citizens.
I would rather be exposed to the inconviences attending too much liberty, than to those attending too small a degree of it.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without the danger of losing it.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Too much time to think about it
Well that was quick. I am now one of those "convience bloggers." I get all excited about it at first and then after a few weeks, the posts start to fall off sharply. I was hoping that I was going to be able to blog on here regularly, but that kinda went down the drain as soon as I took a little vacation from MCAT studying. Oh well, I'm not doing this as a career or anything, just for fun.
I'm mostly back on here again because I'm still questioning what I want to do with my life. I'm also starting to think that maybe I have a little too much time on my hands with which to contemplate what the hell I'm doing. Unfortunately, I don't have a perfect career. Most of my friends seem to have something that they have been driven to do since birth. Whether it's being an environmental activist, pilot, or firefighter, they have absolute confidence in the section of our society that they want to work in. There are a few friends who are in the undecided boat with me, but most of them have jobs and know what they're going to be doing for the next couple years.
It just sucks because I don't know whether to persue the things I really like doing now that probably won't lead to any kind of career that I might like, or sacrifice a little right now for a career that I might like in the future (the very, very far future). Like so many things in my life, I am looking for a compromise. It's odd having to compromise with yourself. I do it all the time when I make decisions like whether to stay up late and finish the rest of the new Harry Potter book or go to bed because I have to study MCAT tommorrow morning. College for me was one giant balancing act. I could've partied every single night, but I decided to try to balance classes / work /and fun. Fun probably won out a little more often, but I did get pretty good grades in a relatively hard subject and I worked about 20 hrs a week at jobs I really liked.
I really believe that balance is the key to living a happy life. Balance in you life is extremely important. There is a reason people eat a balanced diet and are balanced emotionally. If you are balanced correctly, you can handle any blow in your life and remain balanced. You can lose loved ones, your job, or your health, but as long as you have factors to pull you back the other direction, you will remain happy. For me the most important things to balance are my friends and family, money, excercise and free time. I am worried that a career in medicine emphasises too much on the money side of the equation and would throw my life out of balance...possibly permanently.
I guess I have to admit that where I'd really like to be right now is flight instructing as much as possible, teaching an MCAT course, and volunteering or working at a Hispanic medical clinic. I think I would much rather have 3 part-time jobs that take 100hrs/week rather than one job for 40 hrs a week. Let's analyze how long it would take to get into such positions. The volunteering at a Hispanic clinic would be the easiest. In order to know Spanish, I would want to live in Guatemala for 4 months and that would cost $3,000 I could probably move out to Cali right now and do that. I would like to know Spanish first though. The second easiest would be the MCAT course. Those don't start up until the Spring, and I have to do well on the MCAT first. The hardest would be the flight instructing. It would take me about another 50 hrs to get my commercial rating and that would cost about $6,000.
Let's see how much I could be making at the end of the day. If I was flight instructing a lot, that would be about 15 hrs a week at $35/ hr = $525/wk. The MCAT class would be one or two nights a week at $18 hr for 4 hours = $72/wk. And, if I got a job at a medical clinic part-time for 20 hrs/wk at $10/hr = $200. Add that all up and we have about $800/wk or 3200/month. That goes to about $40,000 a year. Adding up the hrs it looks like it will be about 40 hrs/ week. This actually doesn's sound too bad. I could pay off the loan I took out for flight instruction and maybe even save a little.
So, what are the career prospects for someone like that after a couple years. I will still have good MCAT scores, so I can apply to med school if I decide I want to. I'll probably have a bunch of hours by that time, so I could concievably go to an airline career. I will also have tons of teaching time so I could become a teacher. The problem with this is that I haven't really specialized in anything. Maybe I'll come to discover something that I really like along the journey and I can get into, bu right now, this seems like the best of all worlds for me. I'm gonna do it. ( I said that last time).
I'm mostly back on here again because I'm still questioning what I want to do with my life. I'm also starting to think that maybe I have a little too much time on my hands with which to contemplate what the hell I'm doing. Unfortunately, I don't have a perfect career. Most of my friends seem to have something that they have been driven to do since birth. Whether it's being an environmental activist, pilot, or firefighter, they have absolute confidence in the section of our society that they want to work in. There are a few friends who are in the undecided boat with me, but most of them have jobs and know what they're going to be doing for the next couple years.
It just sucks because I don't know whether to persue the things I really like doing now that probably won't lead to any kind of career that I might like, or sacrifice a little right now for a career that I might like in the future (the very, very far future). Like so many things in my life, I am looking for a compromise. It's odd having to compromise with yourself. I do it all the time when I make decisions like whether to stay up late and finish the rest of the new Harry Potter book or go to bed because I have to study MCAT tommorrow morning. College for me was one giant balancing act. I could've partied every single night, but I decided to try to balance classes / work /and fun. Fun probably won out a little more often, but I did get pretty good grades in a relatively hard subject and I worked about 20 hrs a week at jobs I really liked.
I really believe that balance is the key to living a happy life. Balance in you life is extremely important. There is a reason people eat a balanced diet and are balanced emotionally. If you are balanced correctly, you can handle any blow in your life and remain balanced. You can lose loved ones, your job, or your health, but as long as you have factors to pull you back the other direction, you will remain happy. For me the most important things to balance are my friends and family, money, excercise and free time. I am worried that a career in medicine emphasises too much on the money side of the equation and would throw my life out of balance...possibly permanently.
I guess I have to admit that where I'd really like to be right now is flight instructing as much as possible, teaching an MCAT course, and volunteering or working at a Hispanic medical clinic. I think I would much rather have 3 part-time jobs that take 100hrs/week rather than one job for 40 hrs a week. Let's analyze how long it would take to get into such positions. The volunteering at a Hispanic clinic would be the easiest. In order to know Spanish, I would want to live in Guatemala for 4 months and that would cost $3,000 I could probably move out to Cali right now and do that. I would like to know Spanish first though. The second easiest would be the MCAT course. Those don't start up until the Spring, and I have to do well on the MCAT first. The hardest would be the flight instructing. It would take me about another 50 hrs to get my commercial rating and that would cost about $6,000.
Let's see how much I could be making at the end of the day. If I was flight instructing a lot, that would be about 15 hrs a week at $35/ hr = $525/wk. The MCAT class would be one or two nights a week at $18 hr for 4 hours = $72/wk. And, if I got a job at a medical clinic part-time for 20 hrs/wk at $10/hr = $200. Add that all up and we have about $800/wk or 3200/month. That goes to about $40,000 a year. Adding up the hrs it looks like it will be about 40 hrs/ week. This actually doesn's sound too bad. I could pay off the loan I took out for flight instruction and maybe even save a little.
So, what are the career prospects for someone like that after a couple years. I will still have good MCAT scores, so I can apply to med school if I decide I want to. I'll probably have a bunch of hours by that time, so I could concievably go to an airline career. I will also have tons of teaching time so I could become a teacher. The problem with this is that I haven't really specialized in anything. Maybe I'll come to discover something that I really like along the journey and I can get into, bu right now, this seems like the best of all worlds for me. I'm gonna do it. ( I said that last time).
