Dear Andrea,

After meeting you, I gotta say something. I can't keep it in. You are too interesting.

First off, you are very smart and sassy for your age and I know that those two characteristics will make you a strong and brilliant women one day. 

You're better at legos than I am. You built that birthday cake in minutes, and if given just a little more time, you would have built that rescue ax too. You like to challenge yourself. You even said "if I don't try the hard stuff, how am I gonna learn?" Wise words, Andrea. Wise words.

You are a hands-on person and you like to learn new things. You picked up that juggling book and out of nowhere and you decided that you would learn to juggle. While it may have been inappropriate to throw around paper balls at the church, I know you will practice when you get home.

You may not have the strongest family system. You don't have a consistent Daddy any your Momma is a very busy lady just trying to pay the bills. And maybe your older brother can be a bit of a dolt sometimes, but you know what? You got beauty, brains, and brawn to overcome it all. A strong women is one who can build a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at her.

And I'll be there for you to hand you those bricks, just as I did the lego pieces. And once again, I will stand amazed at what you can build. 

Sincerely, 

Your mentor,

Sufia

Organic Chemistry's natural affinity to a love-hate bonding relationship with Students

I am a freshmen at CWRU enrolled in Organic Chemistry (capitalized because of its Godly Importance).\

I am taking several other courses towards a Biomedical Engineering degree, but they are all irrelevant compared to Ochem. My other classes are like the much older children of a mother who has just given birth to a precious new baby. Nobody cares or has time for the other children. The baby demands your full attention - actually, it ionically steals your attention.

It makes me stay up until 2am. It makes me cry when I just can't figure out the right confirmation. It makes me skip a meal. It makes me hold in my pee until I'm finished with an assignment. It makes me watch kitten videos and rom coms just to remind myself that happiness still exists.

But like a mother to her baby, I love it. It's fulfilling and gratifying. It trains your brain like no other subject, and it makes you smarter, more calculated, and logical.

It is a required course for pre-meds. Most of the pre-meds I have spoken to hate the fact. Ochem is the bane of their existence. They don't understand why they have to take it....And just a few years ago, they actually didn't have to.

It's a new requirement. And its generally known as the weed-out course for pre-meds. If you can't handle Ochem, maybe you're not ready to handle the stress of med school or of being a doctor.

And they - whoever makes up these rules - have a point. Organic chemistry requires judgement and decision-making. There are always several possible solutions, but there will always be one "major contributor", i.e. best solution given the "constituents" of the issue.

It requires logic and problem solving. An Ochem student must search through the library of their brain to knowledgeably assess the situation, narrow down options, and ultimately choose the most likely successful arrangement.

Logic, common sense, and judgement - three necessary components of a good doctor that the wrote memorization of a typical biology class will never teach you.

So, yes, it sucks.
But it's necessary and if you study it enough, you realize that it's beautiful.

Hang in there future Ochem students.
And read this article on Harvard Ochem: How to get an A- in Organic Chemistry

The irony of this post: I wrote this to distract myself from Ochem. I have an exam tomorrow...